So Smooth. So Clean. So Optimistic.

Breath Of Life - Nov2011 - acrylic on canvas - 12 x 16 in

     It's been awhile since I did a painting like this. So smooth, so clean looking. Takes me back to the eighties. It's not how I was expecting to paint it. But this is how it turned out and it was really quite out of my control. Maybe the other way I wanted to paint it is not really me, and this way is? One should not have to think about how one should paint a picture (in terms of style), but as an illustrator I've always exercised that option of having various ones at my disposal, so,  I do find it interesting when the painting, and this is from that first moment the paint touches canvas, that the future of the painting is already dictated sometimes irregardless of ones thoughtful projection and what one ends up with is an illustration of the heart.

    

Subatomic Consciousness

When We Become Smooth - Oct2011 - oil on canvas - 16 x 20 in.

     There will be a time when all the workings of the universe will an integrated part of our innate understanding, not necessarily knowing all the physics of it but the feeling of it. This knowledge will be part of our total being, the point when our body remembers and when everything makes sense.  

Oasis - Oct2011 - oil on canvas - 22 x 22

     This is the beginning of a new series of work called presence. I would like to become more aware of my surroundings. This includes the energy of the space around me as it interacts with the energy that is generated by my internal being.  

And now for something completely different.

Jayce In Space - July 2011 -  pencil crayon on paper - 12 x 16 in.

 

     Even though this is not an actual painting but rather a pencil crayon work, I am including it here in new paintings. I used to do quite a few of these instead of painting. I've always thought of these drawings moreso as a painting because for me it took the place of the actual act of painting and I have always shown them side by side with the paintings. I did not consider them just drawings because of the heavy application of the color that I use which makes me think more of painting. So because of these reasons plus I don't have a blog to highlight new pencil crayon work in, here it is now. Jayce (jay-cee) In Space

     This work is an actual portrait of a little boy named Jayce that I did for the parents. This is from a snapshot they had of him with a scrub brush in hand jumping off the deck into .... the playful universe to find some galaxy to clean up. 

And now for something completely different.

Mirage - Sept 2011 - 22 x 22 in. - oil on canvas

     Last fall (2010) I started to paint in oils for the first time. I've always worked in acrylic so it is a bit different. I don't know how I want to paint yet in this medium. Below are my first two goes at it. I like them a great deal. I did four paintings at this time but two of them I may go back to work on.  One is a figure and one is a memory flower.  This fall I did a few more, and the image above is the first of them. I was planned for it to be a background for something, but I couldn't bring myself to paint the next layer. When I snapped out of painting mode I was surprised by its blurr and liked it all by itself. next week I will show the next two I did.

 

Petals - Oct 2010 -  16 x 20 in. - oil on canvas 

Moment - Oct 2010 - 22 x 22 in. oil on canvas

When Giants Go Visiting

There Were Giants - aug.2011 - acrylic on illustration board - 18 x 30 inches - 46 x 76 cm

     There are 4 levels of 2 sets of beings present in this painting plus one giant onlooker, plus one carry-on. At the bottom, two figures are meeting, and so are their higher selves and so are their higher selves and so are their higher selves. Click beside the image to see a larger view.

     To find out where paintings like this come from, go to my Doodle Babel link up top right.  

Seed Mechanics

Embryo Seeds / Potential  /  Germinate  /  Growth  /  Movement  /  Form  /  Birth

All is One  /  All is Flesh  /  Crystal Light  /  Sound  /  Sight  /  Third Eye  /  Flight 

Chariot Of  The Nephilim - July 2011 - 8 x 13 in. - acrylic on matt board

 
Out of Flesh - July 2011 - 9 x 13 - acrylic on matt board

     Both of these paintings were started in 2001 and were in a 'finished state' and exhibited as a series of 3 paintings, one of which was sold (Flight of the 3rd Eye). As with most of my Meta Figure paintings, they start off very quick and rough so to speak but are complete on their own in that they structurally house all that there is in the work. I liken it to an out of focus image of a person. They are all there but you can't see the details. I love abstract work and that is why I love the beginnings of these paintings and hold on to them so dearly, but over time, I tend to want too see more and focus on the finer details of these figural structures.

    The first sessions in these works last 30 - 60 minutes. After this, Out Of Flesh was not worked on again until January of 2011 and 16 hours later over 5 months time it was finished. Sometimes a piece never seems finished, which usually means that it is not finished. It takes a very special feeling to know that you are seeing all that there is to see in that particular work and to know that you will no longer need to visit it again.

     Chariot Of The Nephilim as I mentioned was also started in 2001 (2 hours) (as a matter of fact it was right after the Metanomacies show at the Manitoba Legislative building) and was not worked on again until Sept 2007 ( 2.5 hours), then in Nov & Dec 2008 (8 hours) and then was finished in Jan, Feb & Mar 2011 (7 hours) for a grand total of 19.5 hours work. It's funny to think that something that would normally take so little time, maybe a weeks work, took so long. But what is time?

   

Creation Myth #99

This year I have only done a hand full of paintings and since it is nearing the end of the year I will start by posting the ones from the beginning of the year and soon we will get to the present. These are still all new paintings as they have not really been out there yet.

ENTER THE NEPHILIM

February 2011 - 13 x 20 in. - acrylic on matt board

     Adam and Eve were at the beginning of the 4th race of Man. This was the Atlantean era. Before this, it was the Lemurian era, the 3rd race - the Nephilim, a very different race of beings but the forbearers of mankind. The Nephilim were androgenous and procreated through a divine conscious will. 

     The 4th race is marked by several natural evolutionary traits. The hermaphrodite was separated into male and female. This was the beginning of that 'separation' from God and the 'fall of man' (that I will simply say now was our grounding on the earth), the forming of skin on our bodies, the intake of physical food (there IS an evolution of our senses as we did not always have hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell) and the decline of our penial gland/3rd eye intuition.

      This painting is part of an ongoing series of Adam and Eve paintings.

  

  

     This painting actually started in 2005 then was worked on in 2006 and 2008 briefly, then was finally finished over a month period early in 2011. My schedule was such that I was only be able to paint for 1 or 2 hours at a time. Then if could not resolve the painting it would sit there. At various times it seemed it was finished, but eventually something would make me think that there needs to be clarification in places. Because I have no reference, it becomes a staring match, waiting untill I have some idea of what to do next. Then, I will also admit, that sometimes the courage is not there to challenge the painting. This is one reason why there are large gaps in time, and weird as this may sound, sometimes the planets are not in the right place. Oh sure you laugh, but I have experienced on a number of occasions, where I have not worked on a painting for months or years then when I finally have the urge to work on it again, I realize that it's the same date of the month or to the year from when I last worked on it. Interesting.  

Artist Palette Remains

These are some of the 30 palette remains that I saved over a 25 year span of painting. They have all been peeled off of the same ice cream pail lid that I still use today! I did not know what I was saving them for at the time but since I like to repackage, resuppose and reinvent, I came up with this item as a novelty art object for a previous show I had at Martha Street Studio called Visual Chew. This package is an original silk screen, designed and printed by me. If you would like to buy one, they are $150.00 each post paid.