The Corner Store

 Winnipeg in the North End had a lot of corner grocery stores when I was growing up. A lot of these stores had large hand painted 7-UP advertising murals on them. Now a lot of these corner stores have disappeared and/or the murals have long ago been painted over. 

  I was really missing them lately and I’ve always loved that late 60’s early 70’s graphic art style popularized by Peter Max. Missing them so much so, that I painted one on the side of my garage.

Nephelim Dimension

 Self Portrait - previous incarnation as a Nephelim - Sept 2012 - acrylic on canvas - 12 x 16 in.

Here are two new paintings that came out of nowhere. I did not plan these. I just wanted to paint without any preconceived notions of where the painting will take me. I start with a line down the center then I start to paint arced lines or spaces. I've done many paintings this way. They all turn out differently with most becoming part of a family or group of work called meta figures. These all seem to mirror the notion of our meta-selves through geometric and energistic patterns. When I finished the top painting shown, there was an aspect in it that I greatly identified with, but the thought was also coupled with the idea that this was a painting of the Nephelim who were a race of beings before mankind. Because I saw myself in the expression of the face, I wondered if it was also me. I do often think of the canvas as a mirror reflecting the artist. Is not every portrait also a self portrait? Is not every painting a self portrait?
  
A spaceship moves through space. A spaceship is a container of space moving through time. A spaceship is time moving through dimension. A spaceship is dimension moving through nothing.

 Spaceship - Sept 2012 - acrylic on canvas - 16 x 12 in.

Energy Sculpting

 Energy Sculpting No.1 - August 2012 - acrylic on cloth bound book cover - 14.5 x 10 in.

Here are two paintings done close together. The top one is very flowery and female in form but it is also a landscape if you turn it right (also female). I seem to do this a lot to my paintings(turning them). I was originally intending to do another more exact bilateral symmetry work like the one below, but as I really had no specific idea as to what I was going to paint, they just seem to take a life unto their own.

The painting below is both male and female and is a bit of a departure for me. It's a bit more physical.... well no it's not really..... maybe it's the juxtaposition of the real with the abstract.  It's also a departure because I stopped myself very early from making this a 3 year painting. I start these paintings with symmetrical shapes and they build from there. Some are simple and are done within a day and some take years with work done here and there over time. These longer ones are very difficult to know when they are done. But then again, often with the 'quick' ones, I will enjoy them for the moment, then six months down the road I will see it again and start working on it, only because I am in a different place and I am seeing differently and I want to see more In them.  I am learning to just start another painting already, because often when I start painting over a previous one, I will kick myself right away because at that moment I just realized that I just started a long road trip to finishing it and it was fine before and why did I mess it all up and create more work for myself. And it's always a struggle to get there, because you don't know where you are going with it. Then you are never quite sure if you have arrived. The questioning tells me that I haven't arrived. Sometimes I will have sat down for a 3 hour session to put into a painting, then after 5 minutes I realize that it's finished. And you know it is finished, beyond any real knowing because you can feel it. ........

Energy Sculpting No.1 - Aug 2012 - acrylic on masonite - 12.5 x 18.5 in.

Moving Landscape

Time Out The Window

acrylic on matt board 11.5 x 15 in.

Past Present Future

I like it when a painting presents new ideas for me and it is specially nice when one of my own paintings brings forth ideas or concepts that I was not necessarily thinking about at the time nor was intended at the start or conception.  Sometimes, after enjoying certain paintings of mine under a certain understanding, all of a sudden one day, even years later, I will realize an extended or even a totally different meaning for the painting. I like it when a painting can grow and move along with you.

Dissolve

This painting was originally intended to be a figurative work (it still is actually if you turn your head) but because I often see the figure in the landscape and vise versa, I feel they are so linked and at times so interchangable. This painting holds a shape I draw intuitively quite often I am finding in my unconscious doodles. It has become an important newer 'symbol' that I feel should be in our consciousness. This symbol which I call the trifinity symbol plays upon and extends the older world infinity symbol from its dual parts, to one where the midpoint of that symbol - that point between the past and future of which are the two spaces where we spend most of our time in - to one where that midpoint, that crossover point between past and future, the present, is made significantly larger and thereby increasing our time spent here in the now.

Loop de Loop  

Forgotten Prairie Landscape

Forgotten Prairie Flesh - 2012 - acrylic on matt board - 14.5 x 9.5 inches

This is the first painting in my new studio. A bit of a hybrid between my landscapes and meta figure paintings. This actually was intended as a meta figure work (which are generally vertical) but this was not going to go anywhere. A frozen moment in flesh. As soon as I turned it sideways (I always turn my work around on all sides to look at it) It gave me such a prairie landscape feeling and right away I envisioned a grain elevator in the spot I put it. Grain elevators of this era are disappearing on the prairies and so too are my memories as I meld into the flesh of the city on prairie soil.

Body As Bridge

From One World To The Next - 2012 - acrylic on illustration board - 15 x 20 inches

I am in a time of great transition right now as I am moving my studio of 21 years in downtown Winnipeg, to a new location in my just-moved-to new residence. A lot of change. Perhaps too much. It took me 6 weeks to paint this 17 hour painting. To me it's a long time, though some of these paintings have taken me years to finish because I just did not know how to resolve them at their various stages, or they just seemed to want to have more detail in them. But for this painting, I just did not have the time. From packing up the house for months and moving at Easter, and then right after starting to pack up the studio, all I've been doing is packing, sorting and reflecting. The only other art time is a bit of doodling.

There has been a lot of reflection, memories, realization of a loss. I came across a new piece of old music that I have not heard before by one of my early favorite musicians , Jean Michel Jarre. The piece is called En Attendant Cousteau in the Cd of the same name. This music came to me at a time that seems to reflect in a great deal this inner sadness and loss(?) and cosmic memory.

Change is good they say. I don't see it yet. I'm not sure where I am headed. There are parts of me that even wonder If I will paint anymore. Do I even want to?  I don't even have room to paint in the new place! This painting was a struggle as it seemed that I was forgetting how to paint. Like a dream that is there when you first realize that you were dreaming, then when you are fully awake there are only fragments left.

This painting is a rendition of a painting I did in a few hours, a couple years ago at a painting jam at the Keycon sci-fi convention. I liked the painting a lot, but there was something that needed to be explored more, and I had wanted to create another version of it since. When I started the painting in March of this year I did not know for a fact that I was moving the studio.  It seems appropriate now.

I will let my higher self lead me to higher ground.        

Godzilla Attack

Godzilla - acrylic on illustration board - 15 x 20 inches

I've been wanting to do a Godzilla painting for quite some time. It makes it hard when you can't decide which of the many ideas to do first. A fight with Rodan and with Mothra are on the list but for this first one I wanted to loosen up with Godzilla solo and I wanted to give that thing on the top of his brow a bit more focus. I don't think it's talked about enough. What is it? Most all the detail is focused at the top portion of the painting making Godzilla larger than life and move forward in slow Toho monster motion while he methodically blast the bejebez around itself.

    

Entrance

Entrance 2080 - Feb 2012 - acrylic on board - 40.5 x 71 cm - 16 x 28 in

I like how this painting looks in b&w and in sepia  and I love this painting in different sections and orientations. It really changes the dynamics. Is this a spaceship painting or a figurative painting? 

This painting is from one of my Breath doodles of May 2006. The background was painted in August 2011. I liked it as is so I lived with it for awhile as a landscape painting. I knew sooner or later I would have to put the figures in. I see these figures as waiting at an entrance, and if I want to get more specific, you'll have to get a hold of me to tell you where it is.

Remembering

I Always Think I'll Remember - Jan 2012 - 14 x 18 in. - acrylic on canvas panel

 

     I always think I'll remember is a phrase I always believe to be true at the moment in time that I think it, but proves to be never the case. I think it to be true because if I remember something a few seconds after the thought or action I think it will be obvious that I'll remember later on. Why wouldn't I, I think. If for example I filed a certain sketch under 'G', the reasoning is obvious at that time. But really it is ONLY obvious and related to that moment in time where certain pathways are made by the neurons in my brain.  Time then juggles those pathways in life and creates constantly differing views of an instant. So then when it comes time to find the sketch I realize I could have filed it under various letters or it's tucked in a book because of some other connection I had made to it.  Or when I've had a dream in the middle of the night and have awaken from it, I think about about writing it down but I convince myself "that of course I'm going to remember this wacky dream. How on earth could I forget it?". But then, when your halfway between awake and dreams, your simply not on this earth anymore. I don't know what any of this has to do with this painting.

     I Always Think I'll Remember was painted from some sketches I did in 1995 for a series of works to be called Presence. I am slowing working on them, plus there are always newer ideas to paint which is why it took so long to get back to this one.  There is another sketch on the same sheet  that turned into a painting in 2001 and there is another sketch on the same sheet that I would like to do soon. I seem to be getting back into my cosmic surreal stuff - phase 2. 

     It's interesting that this is only the second time that I have painted on a canvas board.  The first time was exactly 30 years ago! The general notion back then was that these boards seemed kinda cheepy or used by amateurs. Now, I don't know what the general take is on them. I actually don't mind'em. Wish I had some more. Check out my 30 years ago blog to see the other canvas panel painting.

     

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.