After moving my studio from kauai, to california, to idaho… I’ve finally had time to lay down some serious paint. These are three new pieces in progress… To be finished after the second commission of the year. Thank you to my new and old collectors…
When you look at a piece of art do you know what it represents? It is the culmination of the artist’s thoughts and feelings and inputs all coming out as an expression. In the case of “Let Your Light Shine”, I was in internal strife dealing with input I received from an Art curator, my own dis-belief in my abilities, and a new studio that is not ideal. I worked many hours on this painting, struggling with these feelings and constantly questioning my life and how I am spending my time.
I don’t know if I resolved anything during this process, but I do believe that the painting represents a new level for me. This painting has much more depth and meaning than any of my other paintings. I named it “Let Your Light Shine” because it means to me that whatever abilities we have, we should let them shine – regardless what others may think – regardless of how you think you stack up to others – regardless of the outcome. Let them shine.
I’m thankful for the many positive comments regarding this painting. From lucious and fluid, to full of energy, to having shakti energy. But my favorite is that it is “scary spiritual”. That comment seems to resonate with me most. I believe that our gifts are given to us by God – and we are simply conduits for His work to be done. Our quest is to get His light shine through us.
Of course we all know about the lava flow that created our beautiful islands. This lava keeps flowing on the Big Island and was in my thoughts as I painted this picture. I love how the contrast of the excitement on the left is balanced with the calmness on the right. See how the lava wants to push its way to the middle of the picture?
When I took this photo, I thought a painting would be amazing. Especially a very large one. I also wanted to be very free and throw paint very much as I did when I first started painting the painted bark series. During the process I felt this expansion and the feeling that there is so much more that is happening beyond the frame of the canvas. Forms are extending, lines are running off the top… So much more I want to see
“V”, a commission for a local doctor. This painting spoke to me and told me what to paint. It ended up fitting the type of work performed at the office perfectly.
Proxima B is a newly discovered, roughly Earth-sized planet orbiting our nearest neighboring star that might be habitable. What does the topography look like? Is there beautiful blue water? Shall we pack our bags to Proxima B on board a SpaceX transport?
Keeping with a happy pallet, this painting highlights the length of the tree. So many layers, wide range of colors, always changing, always reaching up.
This painting is a representation of Gum wood bark. Eucalyptus camaldulensis is the most widely distributed eucalyptus species in Australia growing along watercourses throughout the country. It lines the Murray River for most of its length. The trees are usually 20–35 m high with some over 45 m, with a diameter of 1–3 m
“Barkology”, the study of bark. In this painting, I focused on detailing and texturing the bark to make it look more 3 dimensional. This painting was Juried into the Art Kauai Show and highlighted in the Honolulu Star newspaper.
Show stopper is named for the type of red paint I used in this painting. So many choices for red paint. Kandinsky made the point that red is a very important color in paintings since we associate things like blood and fire to the color red.