Sometimes it's hard for me to be objective about my work, what classification it fits into, especially since I have never taken art theory or any such training.  I paint what I like, what the muse brings . . . that which touches me.  Sometimes I paint a subject to gain the skills it can bring me.  Even so, I put my soul into each work - how could I do otherwise?  I did not become aware of the correct classification of my paintings until a site we linked to listed my works as Expressionistic.  I had to look it up.  Apparently expressionism came into vogue during the early part of the 20th century.  It emphasizes subjective expression of the artist's inner experiences.  This is true for me in my art as well as my writing.

There is a purity in the animal kingdom. In computer terms it's called WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get. It's one of the reasons I love animals. They are who they are. Programmed by genetics and that which is passed down one generation to the next, they are life without malice, without conniving. I also see them as beings with consciousness. While some say it is anthropomorphic to think my cat loves me, I do not. To me they are beings like us, only better. We, humans, like to think we are above the animal kingdom. I disagree. There is much we can learn from them and their acceptance of what is. When I paint animals I try to capture the looks - the consciousness in their eyes. I try to reflect the soul within. I strive to honor and respect them.

Raised in a rural setting I grew up in the trees.  I swam in a salt water slough that ran past my parents' pastureland.  Though my parents didn't have much money, they provided all I needed to develop an appreciation for the natural beauty on this planet.  I am part of the land, the trees and all that is of the earth.  When painting landscapes I endeavor to capture the essence of the natural. I feel the energy.  To me there is no such thing as insignificant being, be it animal, plant, stone, the water we drink or the air that we breathe.

When I was nine-years-old I was asked if I was Native American.  It was the cheekbones that gave me away.  My dad thought we were.  It seemed our grandmother several generations back was named Gooselberry.  While my ancestry is largely northern European, I am a genetic mutt.  The idea of being Native American gave me great pride.  Later we learned that Gooselberry was an aunt by marriage, not a grandmother.  I was very disappointed.

Over the years I began exploring various cultures, including their spirituality.  I learned to value Native American spirituality, specifically the way they honored the land, the animals, all living beings, all things - the spirit world.  Once I came to believe in the possibility of reincarnation I accepted I might have been Native American during other lifetimes.

While learning to paint I became inspired by the images and beings I saw with my mind's eye.  Some of these beings appeared to be Native American.  I began to paint them.  If we are to survive as a species, if all other life is to survive, we must learn to respect all that is within, on and around the earth.  We must step up to the Native American way of honoring All-That-Is.

I am especially drawn to paint portraits - exact likeness.  At present I'm working on developing that skill.  I consider some of my animal paintings portraits as well, though I assign them to the animal category.  When I paint portraits I try to connect with who the individual is.  If that person is deceased, I reach out to their spirit, so I can incorporate that spirit into my painting.  I've painted three portraits in that manner: my friend Tosca, Otto and my sister Anita.  If I knew the person in life, painting their portrait helps me work through the loss.  I talk to them.  I hear their words.  It is an intimate experience.

As we think of our lives, it is often not the events we recall or movies of events, but snapshots burned into our memory, photos that capture the essence of moments in time.  One of the functions of creativity is to show forth the most unusual of these moments, be they tangible or illusive.  The wise ones tell us that we are limited only by our imaginations.  Art accentuates this process.  For me, sometimes images come together to tell an unusual, perhaps intimate story of the world as I see it, or as I fancy it to be.

I grew up on the West Coast of the U.S.  I loved to play at the beach, sculpt sand persons, explore the rocks, wade in tidal pools, feel the waves and sand slip between my toes.  I love the ocean.  My goal when painting it is to capture the beauty, the peace that it brings me, even on a stormy day.  Much of my life has been stormy.  I am now at one with the storm.

There is a debate over whether or not we are spiritual beings having a physical experience or physical beings having a spiritual experience.  I believe in the former.  When we are young we identify with the body.  We look in the mirror and think we see ourselves.  What we see is the house.  The contents are hidden.  That which is hidden is our spirit.  That spirit/soul is the essence of who we are.

From within, from that soul, beauty and creativity are born.  My paintings, my writings originate there.  Sometimes my works are inspired by others.  Sometimes they are inspired by nature.  Most often it comes from my very soul - my spirit - that which I am.  Usually the inspirations are nebulous in origin.  Whatever the source, the creation comes through the spirit.  In essence all the paintings are spiritual.  For a painting to receive a spiritual designation, means it steps into a higher realm.  It touches on All-That-Is.  Some call that God.  Some call it the One.  There are many names for it - but it is one and the same.  It is origin, infinity, Zen.

10- 7-08 Paradise Found

I drew in the house and blocked in the underpainting.  I extended the river, covering over part of what had been the shoreline.  Behind the house I wiped out part of the closest mountain, and made that part of the mountain peak ridge, so there would be a good view from the other side of the house.

10- 6-08 Paradise Found

I painted in the mountain reflection.  Doing exactly the same thing in another place, upside down is challenging.  I'm not recording my technique for the mountain reflection because this is the first time I've painted a mountain's reflection, and I'm not sure what I'm doing yet.  Next I added more trees, closer in.  I had to paint over some of the underpainted green along the shoreline, covering it with sky pink.  I will re-add that green in the form of tree reflections later.

10- 4-08 Paradise Found

I added trees to the second layer of mountains and tree reflections in the water.

10- 2-08 Paradise Found

Using a 1 inch Creative Mark Ebony Splendor synthetic wash brush, I streaked the sky with an alizarin crimson and white mix and a little blue and white here and there.  I then underpainted the tallest peaks and the background mountains with mixture of ultramarine blue, diox. purple and white in varying combinations.  The next layer of mountains forward needed to be darker, so I did them with a combination of Payne's grey, raw umber and white.  For the foreground, I added a touch of green to the mixture for the evergreen trees.  The closer I got to the front the darker I made the mixture - that's standard.  The closer things are the darker they look, in general.

Once it was all underpainted, I returned to the tallest peaks and added the next layer.  This time I used the #8 Creative Mark Ebony Splendor synthetic brush to add the craggy parts of the mountains.  I used alizarin crimson, a few touches of Indian yellow, raw umber and Payne's gray in varying combinations to make the mountains look like they are in the sun and taking on the color of the sky.

I'm loosely following Bob Ross's painting called Mountain at Sunset.  It's in his book The Best of the Joy of Painting.  The major problem is that with his step by step instructions, the painting is in black and white.  Only the finished product is in color.

10-1-08 Paradise Found

After looking over what I'd done yesterday, I decided to redo it.  It was too smoky looking.  I gessoed over it all.  This time I did the bottom and the top, blending just the ultramarine blue into the gesso.  I started at the bottom and top edges, not blending in very far.  Then with alizarin crimson and Indian yellow, I started in the center and blended up and down.  I think I should have added less yellow.  I will scumble in more alizarin crimson and white, once it all dries.

The verdict is still out on the sponge brush.  It works good at applying it all, but in the final feather-blending, I seem to need a hake brush.

9-30-08 Paradise Found

This time I decided to do the background with a two inch sponge-like brush.  It's called a poly-brush - a very fine-celled sponge with a tapered/chiseled end, on a stick.  I got tired of the hake brush leaking hairs onto the canvas.  I applied white gesso to the entire canvas using Xs.  To that I double-loaded the brush with Indian yellow and alizarin crimson, applying it to the center of the canvas and blending up; then added more of the same colors and blended down.  To the top I added ultramarine blue and a little burnt sienna and blended down and nearly lost the peachy color.  So I had to keep adding the first two colors in the center so the sky would not be all grey.  I also had to be careful not to mix the blue with the yellow or my sky would have turned green.  So far it looks like the sponge brush has done a good job.  I'll have to wait until it's dry to see how it looks relative to the blending.