I have sketched this image out so many times and have added and subtracted from the original idea. My main focus for this image is the depth, the road takes you back into the sunrise. Its a scene I see all the time as I drive around the country in north Texas.

It was a hard transition from New Jersey to Texas, the landscape is totally different, I have had to find beauty in things that are different from where I grew up. As you can see no water and no night sky which have both become my specialties over the years. I wanted to concentrate on the details in the foreground and let the viewer be able to get lost in the sky and the field in the background.

Even the colors are a bit of a departure from my standard work, this series is kind of a jumping off point as I am trying to enlarge the scope of what I paint and not be bogged down by not being as familiar with the image or techniques but the payoff has been a fresh spontaneous approach to my painting, the closest I have ever painted to en plein air. I have really enjoyed this new series and feel like it is a stepping stone to what I am really interested in painting and perfecting. Stay tuned, many new and different images are already finished and about to be revealed. Thanks for reading.

Detail of Sunflowers

First of all, this is not my photograph, my phone battery happened to run down on the day we went on Tenkiller Lake in Oklahoma. So this is my sons image from his phone. It was another amazing evening watching the colors of the sky change and getting skunked again by the illusive smallmouth bass-I’m eager to get back to the largemouth, a more cooperative species of bass-that’s my story any way.

So on this lake, I was amazed with the clarity of the water-you could see to the bottom and the color of the water was deep blue to green getting more vibrant blue as the sun faded into the horizon. We were in a perfect place for the smallmouth, deep areas under rocky ledges, giant slabs of stones in deep cold water areas and yet nothing. I swear they’re laughing at us down there but I digress.

It was still an incredible evening, we watched as the sun went down and as he continued to fish from shore I photographed the trees as the sun made shapes and silhouettes of the branches. After a long time of just enjoying being there we stayed in a cabin and realized we had bought too much fish-all in all a wonderful night and even though we didn’t catch a damn thing-the time we had in nature, just kayaking and enjoying the moment-it was a priceless perfect trip.

When I returned from the trip I painted an image to show just how clear and amazing the water was, I was impressed with the colors of the autumn leaves floating across the electric blue water. I studied the depth and clarity of the water and from sketches and photos created the third in my new series of paintings.

This is from my recent trip to Lake Murray Oklahoma. Late in the evening my son and I watched the stars looking for shooting stars. What amazed me the most is the silence that was so distinct that evening as if the earth had taken a deep breath. You have not other option but to be amazed at how small and insignificant you really are in the universe. The experience made me want to learn about all the stars so just as I did with botany I could not only see stars but really observe them because with knowledge forms interest and with even a limited interest of a subject we look deeper and notice more than the casual observer.

The main idea of this painting for me was to keep it quite simple. If you look at the stars there are several different layers of stars from the tiniest hints of blue and greenish stars to the larger stars that blink in and out of the image. I slowly worked up the glow of each set of stars, some I would blend back into the sky and others I would define-the final result was the fact that the stars twinkle in the viewers eye as some stars appear and the focus goes to other stars, I think it is the first time I intentionally did each star and attempted to create depth in the blackness-the thing about the scene that struck me was the immenseness of space and how the stars had so much space around so I started with them as a focus for the image. The water was left simple although there is more detail than can show on the image I included, I’m still working on perfecting shooting such a dark image.

I want the viewer to feel the silence I felt and the mysterious quiet that was overwhelming to me that evening. I hope this might inspire others to learn about the stars, go camping with your kids or simply look up at the sky at night for just a moment and be still.

I was talking to another artist today and we talked about illustration and drawing. We talked about how to draw or illustrate well and I tried to put the process to the simplest form. I remember when I was in drawing class they would have us either draw blind contours or draw the image upside down to fool the brain into drawing what it sees and not try conscious or subconscious to fill in the gaps with logic.

The conscious deciphers the images it sees. It will fill in much of the blanks and make assumptions of temperature, texture and distance, a conscious image of what it sees with cues of what it remembers. The problem with drawing an image is that most of the time the conscious naturally takes over the process and draws what it thinks or assumes it sees and not what it actually there. Some aspects of depth and texture might need to be exaggerated by the artist to convey the distance or texture since we transfer a three dimensional image that is real to a flat image that is obvious to the brain that it has no depth and no actual temperature. These visual cues are how the artist or the photographer captures the illusion of the image and explain to the viewer what they should expect of the image, these cues will hopefully be subtle but that is up to the artists style and intention.

An aspect of photography is directly related to this process of explaining to the viewer what they should feel or see when they see a flat image. On one of our trips I explained to my son that the reason his photograph seems flat and bland compared to what he saw is the fact that he left out the visual cue that would explain what he saw. The camera automatically is trying to create an even grey value of the image, mix this with the fact that there are no cues to explain distance and most point and shoot cameras shoot with a wide vantage point-the image is destined to be flat and bland unless the photographer adjusts and creates the cues needed to convey the space-the palette of the artist is not much different than the artists’; proportion, value and change in texture all explain to the viewer what they are seeing ad how it should be interpreted by the eye and the brain-the illusion of a sweeping canyon or the endless ocean scenery, even though the image is a flat, non-dimensional image. Once he used images for proportion and adjusted how the camera saw the value of gray-suddenly he had a photograph he was proud of.

Beside the basic loss  of depth and dimension the artist has to work with, the fact that the conscious is trying to fill in what it thinks it sees which means the actual image is not capture correctly but is almost like the very abridged version of  a novel where all the main ideas are left out. My best example of this is the rendering of droplets of water-on first notice you would over complicate the process and yet the image is very simple- a block of dark color that the droplet is on and a transparent area that is lighter than the object, add a highlight of light and the droplet is complete. As artists we must capture what we actually see instead of allowing our brains to ignore the actual the eye sees and fill in the blanks with a conscious attempt at seeing.

A challenge- go and look at a field that is on a hill and try to explain why the hill looks like it descends-how would you capture the image and explain that the field dips down when all you have is a square flat image to work with. Another great example would be to look at a road and capture it in a view finder-realize that  miles are capture within a square that is very small-what makes the road appear to be long and expanse when it fits within a small area when view through a viewfinder. Looking at a landscape this way will help in drawing and photography. I hope this was helpful.

Go out and find it-What an amazing, empowering task, circle something of interest on a map and go find it. It is what freedom is for me, the idea that any place on the map is accessible, all you need is time, money and did I mention time? This road trip was different than any previous tour we’ve taken. Instead of the zoo, aquarium, gemstone and ghost hunt idea-this was camping and just falling off the map with kayaks on various lakes.

We stayed at Lake Murray for two nights and I got to enjoy the idea of being off the map and yet still realizing how much the older I get I appreciate the simple necessities we take for granted. My back did not like the cold ground, my body was looking forward to warmth as when you camp there is no escaping the elements-but still we loved the whole experience.

I enjoyed and yet reluctantly kayaked in the wind in cold, realizing that all it took was a fall in the ice cold water and a dangerous situation would occur. I enjoyed watching my son do the work, not because I was lazy or unable but because it was nice to see him cook and build a fire with a sense of confidence that made him seem older than his years.  He cooked an amazing steelhead trout-who would have thought that steelhead trout thrive in Oklahoma-okay they don’t, we brought our own and learned that you can buy too much food for a camping trip. Also who would’ve thought fish can be edible after four days in a cooler, we reluctantly ate the fish although it was kind of tasteless after being on ice for the week.

It took me those two days of camping to be appreciative of a hotel room but it also took that time to get away from the rush and stress of my daily life and get back to nature. I sat on the ground and actually listened to the birds and watched the water, part of the time sketching and much of the other time just listening and feeling every cool breeze. I was that child again, the calm peaceful child that was so enamored with nature and the absence of the rushing around.

The next day, the most amazing thing was the freedom to be able to drive up to the top of Oklahoma, instead of that long drive seeming like a chore, it was a priveledge I didn’t take lightly. I couldn’t wait to get to the mountains, the woods, the wild out of the way places. We looked for places to camp but instead the idea of a hotel seemed wonderful so we stayed near Lake of the Ozarks in a nice warm hotel-I slept on the floor to pretend I was still camping-I’m kidding. Another aspect of being away with my son, we had actual conversation uninterrupted by our electronic devices, we talked about life, religion and the stars. We actually layed on the rocks and watched for shooting stars-he kept missing them but I saw a few.

Near Grand Lake, I sat down and wrote and sketched, again it was that feeling of the world stopping, of hearing everything around and enjoying the absence. I was excited about getting to our next lake, Eucha lake-another crystal clear lake with a fast running stream that ran into it. I watched the water and listened to the sound that never gets old. We didn’t catch any fish but again, I studied the clarity and color of the water and was inspired. I love the fact that we had vague ideas of where to go but nothing specific-we stopped and fished where ever we felt like it.

We learned about some local color and because of some scary story we heard, decided instead of camping we would find another hotel-I was okay with the idea but we both laughed at the story and how it definitely swayed our plans. We kayaked on the lake and enjoyed how clear and beautiful the water was-still didn’t catch anything but it was peaceful and relaxing just the same. The sunset is the image of Lake Eucha as the river feeds into the lake.

We stayed near a place I saw on the map and just wanted to go see-my son wasn’t interested but we went anyway. The name of the state park was Natural Falls State Park. It was worth every moment-the first photograph is the falls as we could see it from the top and than you get to walk down to the bottom and view it from below. My son went from uninterested to very excited-he wanted to walk all the trails and he literally wore me out but I’m not going to admit it to him.

Here is the waterfall from the bottom of the falls, the amazing thing about this waterfall area is that the water was literally pouring through the openings in the rocks. The sound was incredible and the landscape was breathtaking, especially since it was off the beaten path and you would never know it was there unless you found it on a map.

The next lake we went to was Tenkiller-I had heard it was one of the more beautiful lakes in Oklahoma, we weren’t disappointed. The water is clear and the landscape around it is just amazing, there are mountains surrounding the lake and the wildlife is everywhere, we listened to the crows and after finding several places to camp-we ended up getting a cabin, which was more than adequate and very enjoyable. We started a fire and after discovering lighter fluid made a great fire and cooked a ridiculous amount of fish. The cliffs were surrounding the lake and we couldn’t wait to kayak. I have done several sketches and paintings as I was so inspired.

The water was even clearer than previous lakes we had been at. There are cliffs that go deep into the crystal clear emerald green water. I think the fish are laughing at us as we were skunked again and we threw everything at them. We stayed into the sunset and while he fished from shore, I took more pix of the trees in sunset and felt like I had gotten my eye for photography back, the images just seemed to create themselves, I just had to frame them correctly.

We enjoyed a wonderful night in the cabin and planned for the next day to visit broken bow and a family member that lived nearby. The morning before we left I got to see a bald eagle fly which was an awesome sight and so close I didn’t even need my binoculars. I loved the ride down toward Broken Bow and we were able to fish in a trout stream-finally he caught one, maybe the curse was broken, but probably not.

On Broken Bow lake, I believe it was the most clear yet, I was actually laying the lure on the bottom, again no fish but we were told that the fish were starting to get active on the north side of the lake. I also got to catch a trout in the spillway but still the lack of being able to find fish was wearing on both of us. One quality of a wonderful trip is the idea that getting back does not upset you as you have been so relaxed and off the map that getting back seems appropriate. The feeling of being relaxed and calm followed through the next few days and I was able to paint almost from memory of the amazing trip and we are already planning our next place to explore. Until the next blog-get out there and explore.

The last post about dreams really resonated with people and this is in response to one of the comments I received. The idea of dreams being prophetic is something we can all debate. The feeling after the dream and the feeling you have when the dream memory is processed is what I focus on. If you describe the feeling of a ghostly presence anyone can explain the coincidence about the feeling but it’s the feeling we get in our gut, the chill you get is what separates just coincidence from feeling. It is hard to explain to someone unless they experienced it.

I had a dream that was very dramatic at the time but didn’t effect me with a strong feeling until years afterwards. I had a dream I was in a hotel with my spouse, the rooms were all white and the hallways were long and polished. I went outside by myself for an unknown reason but when I walked outside a great wave came and consumed me, I woke as the water dragged me out of the entrance of the hotel.

Again- nothing dramatic although it did have a feeling as that we feel when you fall in a dream. Many years later, my son was in the hospital and my spouse and I were in the white room and the long polished hallway was outside-the memory of the dream did not clarify itself until I walked outside, beneath a drainage area there was a torrent of water- a rushing sound of water and a flood plain that had been inundated with the recent rain. This is when the memory was accessed and the insignificant dream made itself known-the hospital was the hotel with the white rooms and the polished hallways. The rushing water was the waves that took me and the being lost and consumed by the wave was the feeling of having a son in the hospital very sick.

So here is todays’ challenge- Have you ever experienced a prophetic dream? Did the dream come true and how was the feeling of the prophecy? We should all have fun with this one. Thanks again for reading. Again feel free to follow the blog and post pix and words on my facebook page-https://www.facebook.com/WordsAndPix.

Okay, this is not going to be always about Sunday Morning, it’s going to be more about seeing the small things among us everyday and describing them right or wrong with the perspective of America, past, present and future. Please bare with me one more time in relating a story I heard on the news show.

It was about an Egyptian comedian and talk show host, a previous heart surgeon that is creating quite a stir in his land. His satire has landed him in jail, they compared him to John Stewart and while the show is based off of John Stewart’s show, the comedy and basic idea can be compared there is a difference. In America, you can say what is not popular with the government or the people and you don’t go to jail. We have freedoms here that we don’t seem to realize or appreciate. I have always said that today, freedom is an old vintage car that is in our grandfathers’ garage-it was cool once, it’s interesting but we don’t really get it or drive it anymore.

Our soldiers get it, they fight for it, they watch their brothers and sisters die for it, they go to countries that don’t have freedoms and see the hardship and tyranny firsthand-instead in America we fight against people that would wear a sign or shirt we don’t agree with, we find so many ways that our freedoms are trampled on and yet I feel we don’t have any perspective about what freedom is nor the lack of it. Unfortunately, we become the victim that we are portrayed as, we are like the reality shows that fight with another while they are in a great, free high rise and someone else just disrespected them, we need some perspective.

Freedom is something we have all taken for granted and the idea of freedom is something we have lost all perspective of. My freedom shouldn’t trump others-If I don’t like your opinion I don’t have to like it but I shouldn’t want you not to have the freedom to express it. These days, we have enough laws on the books but somewhere along the line the idea of needing to have a law to protect funerals from protests and personal attacks on the deceased was never something we ever thought we’d need. If we as people treated others with the respect and understanding we should as basic civilized people we wouldn’t need the government to keep interceding on our behalf.

We need to realize the freedoms that are inherent in living in a free country, although there are points that are lacking in America as in any country we need to enjoy and embrace what we have. We shouldn’t take for granted what we have, improvement is always necessary as we grow but we need to embrace the core values of America and realize John Stewart doesn’t go to prison for satirizing the government-we should be happy to live with the freedoms and not take them for granted.