I paint large scale canvases with bold invented color - lyrical and very expressive color passages of natural images viewed so very close up only part of the external contours of the particular mages are seen. I don't use the internal natural details normally seen with such a view. Currently I am painting flower images, mainly from the iris flower. These images are meant to be more than visual illusions or mimics of iris flowers - they are intended to be metaphors or doorways into visual, emotional, and sometimes even spiritual journeys - into flowerscapes of peace, order, beauty, and unity. They are metaphors of the human condition, of the magnificent yet fragile nature of our humanity and our constant dependence on our Creator for inspiration, protection, nurturing, and restoration. I realize humans are capable of extremely ugly horrible cruel things also, which is worth addressing in paint as well. Presently my work is both a joyful celebration of living, having purpose on this earth, and bearing fruit and also addressing issues that arise on the earth from mankind leaving an intimate relationship with our Creator and thus mismanaging our stewardship of the earth.
I began painting in the summer of 1967 trying to paint as faithful to what I could see, concerning organic objects from nature. I suppose this makes sense for one working in a visual medium like painting, since we are trying to understand what we are “seeing”. But “seeing” depends on why we are looking. Over the next 13 years or so, when I had opportunity to paint I experimented with various forms of expression trying to find my own voice. I strayed away from strict realism or naturalism, but still maintained a strong respect for drawing – to the point where at the very end of that 13 year journey I had reduced myself to basically illustrating personal philosophical ideas, a very left brained and impersonal place for me. This kind of expression is fine for some but certainly wasn’t my “voice”. Artistically, rather than exploring further “outside the box” I only shrank farther and farther into the box – I didn’t just paint myself into a corner - I painted myself into a corner inside a box.
Finally out of a moment of artistic desperation I managed to enter into a completely 180 degree paradigm shift moment of right brain expression. I entered the world of wet-on-wet spontaneous intuitive watercolor expression. At the time I began working in this manner I didn’t have any known historical influences. I simply wanted to paint spontaneous wet on wet bold color watercolors of nature subjects that were significant to me. The desire was to paint very large (around 6 by 8 feet images). I couldn’t find any watercolor paper this large so I developed a way to paint in a wet-on-wet water color approach on canvas. After I worked like this for a while and became sensitive to this kind of painting I became aware of some historical work. The color field painters during the mid 20th century were painting large canvases with stained color areas. Painters Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler were working in similar ways. I also liked Emil Nolde’s bold color watercolors. However this work has been my own revelation and I am continuing to develop it.
The Kingdom of our Creator is described as right order (righteousness), peace, and joy. When I paint I seek what I call precarious or dynamic balance between order on the one hand and chaos on the other. I believe when this is achieved it produces a visually presented peace and can help prepare the viewer to receive inner peace. In a world so full of inner and outer turmoil, this quality of life is very valuable and when obtained can result in great expression of joy, or joyful celebration.
I can describe my formal interest in strong edges or exterior contours of objects in nature, especially the iris flower, in spiritual terms: the edges are apostolic boundaries and the content within them is prophetic expression. This is like the thought of King David of Israel: “the lines have been drawn for us in pleasant places”.
From the beginning of painting in this manner I have valued the two dimensional nature of the canvas and considered the formal balancing of relationships of color areas, shapes, values just as strong a purpose as presenting the subject concept. Recently I have begun to see that holding the intrinsic nature of painting on a two dimensional surface as valuable in itself seems to be an issue of integrity. Just as it might make sense to expect that a vessel be used to contain some substance, it seems right that a flat surface used for presenting visual elements not be expected to be used to create an illusion of natural spatial depth. Using the surface to present formal spatial depth could lead to the essence experience of natural spatial depth or the viewer’s experience with natural spatial depth could lead to formal encounter of spatial depth on a canvas. Allowing the flat surface of canvas or paper to live independently of artificial allusions of illustrating natural representation gives the artist the freedom to explore the essence of natural experience.
I once was working as a house painter and was working on a many paned bay window. I became aware that each of these panes was one of my 6 x 8 foot canvases. In front of me I could see one large multi-paneled piece. The idea of many panels has intrigued me ever since. The commission for Washington Regional was a triptych. I have been recently thinking more about what is significant to me about this and realize the metaphor of a window means a couple of things to me. For one it reminds me of Apostle Paul saying in the New Testament of the Christian Bible that we see in a glass dimly, realizing our limited ability in understanding some of the mysteries of life.
The other idea is related to the notion that seemed to exist even in Roman art and later in Renaissance pretty much until Cezanne. That is painting about nature as if one were looking through a window out at it. With that idea of looking through the window, devices were developed such as spatial depth and picture plane illusionistic portrayal of one frozen moment in one’s observation of something that is, ironically, not frozen but quite alive. Because I like to treat the painting surface as a flat surface and enjoy formal relationships of picture depth with or without reference to natural illusion, it occurs to me how fitting it is to use the canvas not as something one has looked through a window to see, but something that is a window one looks at to look at nature through or to look deeper into nature, life. This certainly can be approached with a single canvas, but the use of multiple canvases in a single piece enhances the metaphoric quality of it.
I began painting in the summer of 1967 trying to paint as faithful to what I could see, concerning organic objects from nature. I suppose this makes sense for one working in a visual medium like painting, since we are trying to understand what we are “seeing”. But “seeing” depends on why we are looking. Over the next 13 years or so, when I had opportunity to paint I experimented with various forms of expression trying to find my own voice. I strayed away from strict realism or naturalism, but still maintained a strong respect for drawing – to the point where at the very end of that 13 year journey I had reduced myself to basically illustrating personal philosophical ideas, a very left brained and impersonal place for me. This kind of expression is fine for some but certainly wasn’t my “voice”. Artistically, rather than exploring further “outside the box” I only shrank farther and farther into the box – I didn’t just paint myself into a corner - I painted myself into a corner inside a box.
Finally out of a moment of artistic desperation I managed to enter into a completely 180 degree paradigm shift moment of right brain expression. I entered the world of wet-on-wet spontaneous intuitive watercolor expression. At the time I began working in this manner I didn’t have any known historical influences. I simply wanted to paint spontaneous wet on wet bold color watercolors of nature subjects that were significant to me. The desire was to paint very large (around 6 by 8 feet images). I couldn’t find any watercolor paper this large so I developed a way to paint in a wet-on-wet water color approach on canvas. After I worked like this for a while and became sensitive to this kind of painting I became aware of some historical work. The color field painters during the mid 20th century were painting large canvases with stained color areas. Painters Mark Rothko and Helen Frankenthaler were working in similar ways. I also liked Emil Nolde’s bold color watercolors. However this work has been my own revelation and I am continuing to develop it.
The Kingdom of our Creator is described as right order (righteousness), peace, and joy. When I paint I seek what I call precarious or dynamic balance between order on the one hand and chaos on the other. I believe when this is achieved it produces a visually presented peace and can help prepare the viewer to receive inner peace. In a world so full of inner and outer turmoil, this quality of life is very valuable and when obtained can result in great expression of joy, or joyful celebration.
I can describe my formal interest in strong edges or exterior contours of objects in nature, especially the iris flower, in spiritual terms: the edges are apostolic boundaries and the content within them is prophetic expression. This is like the thought of King David of Israel: “the lines have been drawn for us in pleasant places”.
From the beginning of painting in this manner I have valued the two dimensional nature of the canvas and considered the formal balancing of relationships of color areas, shapes, values just as strong a purpose as presenting the subject concept. Recently I have begun to see that holding the intrinsic nature of painting on a two dimensional surface as valuable in itself seems to be an issue of integrity. Just as it might make sense to expect that a vessel be used to contain some substance, it seems right that a flat surface used for presenting visual elements not be expected to be used to create an illusion of natural spatial depth. Using the surface to present formal spatial depth could lead to the essence experience of natural spatial depth or the viewer’s experience with natural spatial depth could lead to formal encounter of spatial depth on a canvas. Allowing the flat surface of canvas or paper to live independently of artificial allusions of illustrating natural representation gives the artist the freedom to explore the essence of natural experience.
I once was working as a house painter and was working on a many paned bay window. I became aware that each of these panes was one of my 6 x 8 foot canvases. In front of me I could see one large multi-paneled piece. The idea of many panels has intrigued me ever since. The commission for Washington Regional was a triptych. I have been recently thinking more about what is significant to me about this and realize the metaphor of a window means a couple of things to me. For one it reminds me of Apostle Paul saying in the New Testament of the Christian Bible that we see in a glass dimly, realizing our limited ability in understanding some of the mysteries of life.
The other idea is related to the notion that seemed to exist even in Roman art and later in Renaissance pretty much until Cezanne. That is painting about nature as if one were looking through a window out at it. With that idea of looking through the window, devices were developed such as spatial depth and picture plane illusionistic portrayal of one frozen moment in one’s observation of something that is, ironically, not frozen but quite alive. Because I like to treat the painting surface as a flat surface and enjoy formal relationships of picture depth with or without reference to natural illusion, it occurs to me how fitting it is to use the canvas not as something one has looked through a window to see, but something that is a window one looks at to look at nature through or to look deeper into nature, life. This certainly can be approached with a single canvas, but the use of multiple canvases in a single piece enhances the metaphoric quality of it.