The Butterfly Effect...

 People often ask me where I get my ideas. When I make something, I'm not thinking of any one thing, but rather a myriad of possibilities and meanings.  Of course the work should be attractive.  I mean that quite literally; it should attract the viewer, drawing them in for a closer look.  Varying textures, colors and style of painting contribute to making an interesting and attractive work.

But for me, the work must have meaning on another level.  Often my paintings and assemblages are based upon my interpretations of natural phenomena; science and the weather.  I prefer to think of them as "atmospheric".  I often add quotations to the titles, or inscribe the backs with poems (sometimes my own) and quotations that are clues to what I was thinking.  Sometimes I let the mystery be.  I'm fine with having the viewer interpret a piece any way they wish.

Here a few shots of a commission in progress.  The client wanted a cheerful transition from her kitchen to her study; something that would make her smile.  The guest powder room is off this hall as well, so she wanted something pretty and noticeable. I've based the overall design on the theory of the Butterfly Effect and how it relates to spirals, whirlwinds, chaos and fractals.  Thus, I have had a bit of fun making a swirly faux finish and overdressing it with vining spirals that end in colorful leaves and tendrils.  The client loves birds and butterflies, and several more will be added to symbolize nature at its most ingenious. 

Small decorated hallway.  Can you see the nest?

Some iridescence on vines and leaves...

Singing...

Blackbird on a Wire

I am often asked how I come up with ideas; how to be creative - how to be imaginative.  I can't answer these question/s because I don't understand how else to be.  I don't comprehend a negative.  My head is filled with so many ideas and the world is just as full of materials, textures, colors and sensations as to be a constant source of inspiration.  If I could live a dozen lifetimes I can't imagine that I would ever be bored, ever run out of things to make or do or think.

Blackbird on a Wire  36 x 28 acrylic on deep cradle panel

Don't you want to make something?  Don't you just want to make something that is yours alone - but that can be shared with peers who understand the drive?  And don't you just want to make something - some things that is/are yours to keep?

We are each unique.  Our thoughts are our own to explore.  We each have purpose and a hunger to create.  Let's feed the hunger and turn it into purpose.  Let's make something that would never have been...

So if you are feeling confined and boxed in - do what Elvis does: Bust out of that cage.  Poke your paws out of that box.  Expand your horizons.  You'll be more comfortable...

 

Had to get this one out of my system....

When Trees Bleed, 24 x 24, acrylic on deep cradle panel

I'm a Midwesterner by birth; raised in the flat plains of Central Illinois where the wheat and soybeans and corn often stretch as far as the eye can see - and well beyond the curve of earth's crust. To this day, I'm convinced that my early impression of so-much-sky is for me the ultimate symbol of what landscape is. The photograph below is one of many taken on a trip "home" a couple of years ago.

I had rounded a curve coming off the interstate when I glanced over and saw this little row of very green trees standing as sentinels in the triangle between onramp and interstate . My immediate thought was that the trees had bled onto the grass. My second immediate thought was that the trees had dropped red leaves in June...

My third immediate thought was that I had to photograph these guardians of red phenomena. By then I had realized these were poppies - and that it was the angle of my approach that magnified the intensity of the red. There was no way to (safely) capture just what I had seen from my van - but the image was imprinted on my memory and I've known I had to reproduce it. Thus the title comes from that first impression and my own commitment to the trees of our earth. We cut them, burn them, destroy them and replace the diverse species with concrete, blacktop and genetically engineered facsimiles. Do they not bleed? Do they not bleed for us?