“I may be more whole now than I have ever been in my life” a quote from a soldier that had lost both his legs and his right arm in battle. Those words resonate with me so much because I have realized divine moments in the darkest times and who better to bring that point home than a wounded soldier whose life is altered forever.
Life is measured much with things, wealth, power-and next in line is appearance-which is usually thin and perfect and where nature fails there is always Photoshop to fill in the imperfections. Our children are taught what is successful and what is of worth by the bombardment of the media with images of what is beautiful and what is considered successful while well meaning parents insist the opposite is true. Bullies are celebrated on the news and in every fashion and tabloid blurb as the line between tabloid trash and news blurs. In the midst of a lack of empathy and respect for our neighbor, we try to teach our children that bullying is wrong. Trophies and fabricated accolades boost our children’s self esteem on a weak and empty foundation while the powers that be insist we don’t keep score. I believe that these are all flaws of living in a world that rejects the divine and where science attempts to explain all miracles. The statement that the soldier made would turn our secular utopia on its ear on the premise of logic if nothing else.
How could one be whole and feel joy when their legs and limbs are gone, that which we consider basic necessities to our fulfilled life. This is where nature and the divine directly contradict our whole idea of what is good and meaningful. I watched Sunday morning today, something I have mentioned in previous entries, and I finally realize and can articulate why I love this show so much. The show celebrates people, their struggles and successes and connects us with how life is not the tidy or perfect and how meaning and worth far transcends our mere appearances. The quirks in us make the mundane amazing, our failures make successes valuable and our lives are measured by the wisdom and joy of our experiences not the worth of our belongings. Stories of the unattractive, by media standards, that become the leading actor or the successful face to launch a campaign are celebrated and people that find new lives and possibilities in the darkest times.
Back to that soldier, he was singing Leonard Cohen’s’ Hallelujah and only after losing his limbs realizes its meaning. He is singing with Roger waters with other soldiers who have all lost limbs or eyes and they are finding worth, meaning in their lives that have been altered, to me this is a testament to find worth in our lives despite tragedy or the misfortune. I see the divine as the miracle that fills those gaps and make our struggles and failures mean something. While we have lost and suffer calamites, against all logic, we are never more whole.
I have been absent for a while, not for the lack of desire to write, only for a lack of clarity. Life moves so quickly that we barely hang on to the rails never mind see where the journey is leading. In essence recently I gave in-allowing my higher authority to have its’ way with my life and direction-we humans have a difficult time giving up the reigns I guess but I just decided to allow myself to stop being so in charge of my daily struggle. The result has been a bit of clarity but more importantly a feeling of joy that I have had a hard time fathoming lately, I would prefer there was something standing in the way of feeling joy but instead it was my own lack of awareness.
I walked again today and the realization of how much a child can see and enjoy the simplest things while the adult doesn’t have time to stop or smell anything occurred to me. Even if there was a rose around or the occasional garden to stroll through, when do we stop and listen to our environment. I am finding that every time I walk I end up realizing my surroundings and have a better understanding of life and more of a desire to write. The feeling would be like a person walking around with dark glasses and suddenly taking them off, the colors seem brighter, the surroundings clearer. Add all the other senses to that same awareness and the artist or writer feels as if they have just woken out of a dream.
I watched the cool gray colors of the lake, the silence of the empty field was extremely relaxing even if I was sweating from being very out of shape, okay my son would appreciate me admitting this fact. I could see the cars flying by on the bridge, the same bridge we had walked many time before, but now those cars almost seemed like a view from outside the treadmill. I took a break from everything, I listened to the birds and the breezes without listening to politics, the media or friends and family with their own distractions. I suddenly am aware of solitude, I can smell the cedar from a recently stained fence, notice pigeons high in the sky acting more like eagles than lowly pigeons.
My perspective changed, I have heard that exercise causes endorphins in the brain to rage, well I could feel those endorphins and it was pretty amazing. I also think a body or mind in motion tends to stay in motion. I think we too often dig ourselves into the politics of the day and the anger and frustration without realizing our lives are smaller and more intimate than the media would have us believe. We need to find joy in the simple things that we do and the happiness we lack is the byproduct of experiencing the simplicity of joy.
I have a friend that lives with a passion, she is a cook, an author, a creative and she lives her life like an artist uses a brush, I think I can see better into others’ lives than my own and realize how well or unwell others actions affect their own happiness-this realization has not only grown my admiration for a life well spent but intrigued me to live closer to the idea of being free to feel and experience my life, not as a long and boring repetitive sequel but a painting with many different colors and strokes for texture, each person that comes into my life will add the different hues and create a subject matter that I can be inspired by.
It’s amazing what a walk can do-brings us questions and makes those answers not only clearer but strikes up more questions for us to ask. This is the impetus to write and this is the purpose for clarity. I would love to know how my readers find clarity. Do you search for clarity in writing, philosophy, exercise-what is your process for allowing the muses to have their way with you?
A pond shot with my really cheap camera phone-just the idea more than a finished work
I can come up with every reason why I don’t walk, first of all it is so much of a minor exercise for my age and supposed condition-I should be working out and running-not true but it helps to excuse myself from walking. If I had a mountain or somewhere beautiful nearby, I would walk everyday-another excuse although partly true, I think if I were to live in the mountains or by the ocean the privilege to be able to explore would be hard to avoid and every time I have visited the desert I have not missed a chance to walk. I think one major issue that does keep me is the fact that you are out there, it almost feels strange to be walking alone without a steel cage to protect you from the dogs, thugs or anything else that seems to be threatening our city streets these days, there is no quick escape and no backing out once you are a mile away from your house.
I made the unfortunate mistake of getting my dog involved yesterday-the first day of my journey into getting in shape and losing weight. I think if I am on the lower level of being in shape, he is even lower on the path of getting fit. I was a mile away from my house and suddenly the dog started showing signs that it was too much, we were walking slowly but it wasn’t the pace it was the distance. He came home to a state of being warn out and I realize we will both have to work a bit slower to achieve our goals, he looked at me with disgust as I walked out the door and if he could talk I know he would have said, I got this, I can keep up. I chose to be safe and out I went alone-again it seems odd, at least with a dog you have someone that is keeping you company, without him it was just me and my thoughts-good news, bad news.
All morning I have had this urge to write or do something. My painting series is well on its way but I feel like I am stumbling a bit on some of the details. I have not had that creative shift where I get lost in the color and process. I tried writing and although a small amount of my horror stories trickled out and a bit of commentary on today’s politics, the flow came to an abrupt stop and I was off on my walk.
The first thing I noticed was how blue the sky is, it’s late September and autumn feels like it is near, that alone excites me. I walked by a small pond near my house and was happy to see a swarm of dragonflies, what is it about dragonflies that is so intriguing? They are like fighter pilots much like swallows in the avian world. Their colors were amazing blues and greens that I could barely catch on canvas and their grace was just amazing. I saw various sizes and several different shades of blues and greens, I would have stopped and watched them but it was time to walk and I was eager to keep my promise to myself.
An amazing thing in the suburbs is that it is like a ghost town. I saw one family outside and a few pedestrians but other than this no one walking dogs or jogging-perhaps I was a bit late as most of that probably happens in the morning. I wound up near the lake and although I am positive chiggers will soon make themselves known it was a beautiful walk. Again dragonflies swarmed me along with question mark butterflies and the occasional sulphur. It felt more like spring with the buzzing of insects and the singing of birds. As I walked along the edge of the lake I could see turtles floating up to the surface and disappearing into the green as I approached. A huge egret flapped its wings and disappeared across the now pale blue sky. I saw a mother duck with her babies and as I approached the edge of the rocky jetty a great blue heron croaked as if I had annoyed it with my disturbance.
It is amazing how clear things become, there is nothing but you and the landscape around you, even if the landscape has a bit more concrete than you would prefer nature does persist and while I am trying to get back in shape my creative side enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded in a semblance of nature. I will go further and further and who knows what I will find while my waist line shrinks so does my apprehension to the act of walking. I have photographed and added a study of dragonflies to my painting list and am excited for the possibilities of my next walk. I still miss the oceans and the mountains but by the time I get to see them I will be able to walk further and climb higher so it’s all good I guess. Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoyed the walk as much as I did.
Painting from a previous walk with my son-same place near Lake Ray Hubbard
Under painting+ of A restaurant balcony- a work in progress-
It has, in the past, been difficult starting painting when your first process is just under painting. Especially when there is a strong urge to create, the underlying image had always seemed like a slow walk when the creativity was desperate to run. I often want the immediacy of a product that looks more like a ghost of a finished product rather than the scribbles of a mad abstract artist. In recent times the under painting has actually become the backbone of the finished product, it is the stage hand that sets the atmosphere for the play, it is the building block to colors that form only in combination with the colors that show through from beneath.
If I am left cold on the initial image, chances are the finished product will not have the atmosphere or depth that I need it to have. I don’t paint pretty landscapes, not that there is anything wrong with that, I strive to paint moments in a place that happens to be a landscape. I hope that there are psychological undertones which I believe begin with the rough under layers. All objects, light and shadows form from the spine that is the under painting. All subtleties are created by how well the underlying scene appears and how the creative vision bends and twists the original rough image of that reality.
I almost think the psychology of the under painting is the sadness, the euphoria or the basic feeling of darkness and separation, these elements that perfect themselves in the original sketch and under painting. No one would have a clue of the finished product from the original sketch on canvas but the initial color and layout should explain, not necessarily in form but by atmosphere the painting and its undertones that will come together if everything works as it is supposed to. Another aspect that is often in the background is the music I am listening to which is directly related to my psychological state at the time. Much like my writing, there is usually a basic story that is happening and can be taken as lightly as a waterfall on a spring day but the feeling behind it is always there and that is the task I aim for the viewer, to feel something they may not know or recognize on first view.
If the under painting is the backbone, the details are the guts and the spirit is the feeling, the music that is captured without clarity. I hope to possibly haunt the viewer with whatever underlying feeling I have at the time the under painting is created. For other creatives, what does the under painting mean to you? Do you start with an under painting or go on directly to the finished work?
Autumn begins, I mean really begins, in Texas of all places. This weekend we had a cold front come in and suddenly I am in the creative mode somehow. In the far past, like twenty years ago, I used to write all year, photograph half the year and paint the rest of it, not specifically with intent, it just happened that way. I have not gotten back to photography in a while as my eye has somehow lost its purpose but I think it’s coming back slowly although it has taken years to get back.
I love the immediacy of the art form, yes I said it as I’ve seen much debate lately on what is art and what’s not. Recently, I have found a specific photographer that really embodies what I consider the art form at its best-Christine Lebrasseur. I have often tried at points to capture something deep or interesting and often if the inspiration and eye is not on, you end up with something that is just cold but interesting but Christine captures portraits with that compelling and very interesting aspect of the face without trying to be deep or manufacture interest. I am actually planning on a separate review specific to her work so stay tuned. She captures a moment with her subject, an intimacy where the viewer is almost pulled out of their comfort zone. We can’t look away and yet we feel we’ve interrupted their space and can only be enthralled for a moment by what we learn from them. She celebrates the beauty, the ugliness, the light and dark of her subjects and they stand out from so many other photographs. The quality of the process, the position and honesty of her subjects and the personal journey into them which the viewer just can’t resist, that’s my take on her work and she has inspired me to not only pick up my camera but to see things from a different perspective without trying to see things from a different perspective. I hope you all will check her work out and let me know what you think.https://plus.google.com/103667447824502944926/posts?cfem=1
I am in the process of getting back into the creative mode and recently have begun starting my next series of paintings, they are all large and seem to have a tighter feeling of space and light perfecting the end of the previous series. Maybe it is the feeling of Autumn coming, the change in temperature the closeness and availability of nature where previously in the Texas summer heat seemed distant and unapproachable. As only a fellow creative can appreciate, we go from dark to light, to feeling nothing to feeling everything and than there are those in between moments where the idea of creating something new becomes almost euphoric. I am excited about this series and the chance for seeing things differently both artistically and photographically.
For all other creatives-how do you describe that feeling of getting inspired to work. What season brings on the feeling and what is the process of turning it into finished work.
First of all, teens are teens, they are slowly breaking away from us and that is the truth and the way it is but there are moments when the parent and teen can transcend that feeling of being adversaries and lessons can be learned during the most interesting of times. The only reason I include this piece in the this life creatively is because how we deal and react with what happens often defines who we are and how we live our lives-be it creative, logical, aggravated, peaceful. There are many choices for us and how we live our lives and before I digress any further, I will explain.
I have had a shortage of peace in recent months, probably why my writing has been sparse, I am looking to feel that feeling that transcends understanding and lately I’ve just missed it. I feel often like my life is moving ridiculously fast and I am barely there for the ride, I am drifting with a violent tide that is promising to leave me a broken shell in the surf and I barely feel like I’m even there. So here is where the fish tank comes in-why would someone that is extremely busy and has a shortage of time and money decide to build a fish tank-it offers no logical theory-exit the logic, enter the creative.
My fourteen year old son finds an old thirty long tank in my studio and decides its time to start a fish tank, not only does he clean it out himself but he educates himself on the fish he wants to put in it. Here is another wonderful thing, it is an old passion I’ve had that I have stopped doing and now my fourteen year old not only wants to grow his interest but he wants me involved. We decide how much money it is going to cost and reluctantly I agree, the worth of us having another common activity that we both are passionate about seems like a no brainer and money well spent.
We set up the tank, pretty tank but it’s empty. Enter the helpful aquarium store person that tells us to start with a couple of fish, we reluctantly buy a couple of cichlids, stuff, more stuff and chemical kits to test the water, now my fourteen year old is even learning chemistry because it interests him not because he has to-another benefit. We are both learning more and more about the building of a tank and the fish that we can get for it. The conversation grows, both of our interest grows, my teen is enjoying a hobby and we are both igniting a passion for a childhood interest that I sadly grew out of. He was very stressed as the levels were high and attachment to the couple of fish where making us both feel a bit guilty about introducing them early, lesson learned-fishless cycles are great-patience is a virtue and impulse buys are over rated.
It has taken literally a month of waiting for the cycles to get where they’re supposed to be and this weekend we were finally going to put in fish. It’s probably the cheapest part of our purchase and after exploring for weeks several pet shops in the area, another old passion of mine-we decide to buy our fish at The Fish Gallery, a very amazing place for any aquarium enthusiast to visit. We bought four fish from there and another two fish at the local Petsmart, we got exactly what we wanted and both were excited about finally getting the tank done.
We enjoyed them for a good fifteen minutes, the fish seemed to love the home we made for them, including the holy rock and the plastic plants. They are adapting well with each other and I am excited about a nice nap and being able to paint and relax for the rest of the day. Five minute nap and those words a homeowner never wants to hear-we got a problem.
He comes running out just as my eyes close-we got a problem-the tank is flowing water out over the dresser and onto the rug, we are sunk. We cover the bottom of the tank with towels and decide to buy a new tank-I was easy and calm about the whole affair as we had both talked about our next endeavor being a 100 gallon tank for our living room. We go to the Pet Smart and buy a 55 gallon tank-why bigger you ask-because bigger is better and why not? We earned a bit better of a tank with all the stress, so we bring home a new tank and more sand and we tear down the old tank. Our first step is to stop the panic of the leaking, so we calmly got the fish to safety, eliminated the problem of the leaking tank, we were set to rebuild the tank. It went much quicker than I even imagined and before long, the new tank was on a dresser and we were adjusting the rock again. Unfortunately the tank was too close to the wall which didn’t allow us to put our larger filter in and more importantly, what we thought was a solid dresser was a sagging mess and the tank was taking its toll on the wood.
We drove to the store looking for a solution, I decided right than, a real stand that we can get to finish the job-our patient fish are in a small jug of water and we are both nervous about them dying from the stress. Our first objective-get the water out of the tank-we bought seven five gallon buckets to help with this process-if anyone needs a gently used bucket-well we cleared out the first tank as I had visions of it collapsing by the time we go the stand erected. Both of us learned much about reading instructions as a son and dad usually do when putting something like this together, quickly and with a bit of exhaustion already a factor. We got the stand together and moved the tank-all that careful planning and water adjustments seemed pointless and overdone at this point as we had a murky disheveled tank with PH and nitrites probably all over the place-there was nothing we could do but hope for the best, after hours of fish in a barrel-they are not as fun as monkeys but I digress, the fish lived and at 2 in the morning we turned the lights on to a tank that looked like the thickest fog you’ve ever seen.
This morning-I woke up to a tank that was still recovering but the fish lived and the clarity was improving. I realized something though, with all the exhaustion and stress, I somehow found peace, my son and I both never lost our tempers or snapped at each other, we both taught each other lessons during the whole ordeal and while my expenses were bleeding out I found peace despite the circumstances. We both woke this morning to success and a beautiful tank out of the chaos of the evening before but I realized for that whole time, I was there, I was present, both mentally and physically-we both handled the situation, it didn’t handle us and through the great stress and trying circumstance I found peace, a feeling of accomplishment and a relationship-building circumstance I could not have bargained for. God works in strange ways and often directly to the opposite of what we think should be-it’s how we act and how we handle the daily struggles that finds peace in a stressful place.
Now it’s your turn-family projects?? What have you learned from hobbies with your teens? What was the worst family vacation you ever had? What did you learn from these experiences-did you meet it with logic? Creativity? Aggravation?
I have been working on Paint Rowlett Plein Air contest and than an image for a gala at the Warwick Melrose Hotel last night-it was a fashion/music/art gathering. As previously mentioned in a prior post-I stepped out of my comfort zone and completed the second portrait of my career. I actually loved the experience because it forced me to pay more attention to details and because the scope of what looked good was greatly reduced as a portrait doesn’t allow a wide latitude of realism.
First Portrait of Son
Another thing I learned is that I love to work with gold leaf-it was something I thought of as a way to heighten the texture of the Russian ttheatre-the name of the painting is a night at the opera. The gold leaf connected details and made the texture of the background become more finished and full of depth. I will definitely incorporate it in the future, including a painting I sketched three Christmas eves ago, it is an image of a rainy evening with people in blues and purples holding umbrellas outside a church, inside the light is warm and red in the decorations for the season and the gold leaf will heighten the intensity of the light inside. This image will be in the new series which although I have digressed, that is what this post is about.
I have finally finished other projects and can now devote my time to the new series. An exciting aspect is the fact that I am coming full circle painting larger canvases, something I used to do more when I was much younger. Just today I have underpainted four paintings and got back to a large canvas of the coast of Florida. I have much better focus in mind, I feel I am closer than I have ever been to the work I am doing probably because these images are all within the last few months instead of years. It is the closest thing to working Plein Air-you capture the image in your mind and than go home to paint while the image is still fresh, with photographs and sketches to support the details necessary to complete the painting.
Source for Painting-the Forgotten Coast
I have sketched out seven paintings of the Florida coast-specifically, the forgotten coast of the panhandle of Florida. The paintings are all very large-at least thirty inches or so and the light and dark are dramatic. I want the viewer to look out of the darkness into the beauty of the ocean-one painting is a restaurant in afternoon where people are having lunch-you see the ocean but it is framed by the darkness looking out from a dark room, where people are eating. Another image is a storm coming in while terns suspend in the light around you. I have also gone back to an image of San Francisco with people spending the day at the beach. I believe it will be a very varied series with many aspects of water and the evening sky. Two images that I am very excited about but are a bit from the past is a painting of the fountains at the harbor in Rowlett at night with the lights shining through the water and a painting of fish at the surface of the water as I am forty feet down looking up at the moon-again this one is from a long time ago but I’m hoping to capture an amazing deep blue and a surreal feeling of being suspended in the darkness of Shark River Inlet in Belmar New Jersey.
I am really excited about this series and I feel like it perfect where the previous series left off. I finally have a great focus on the finished product and with the new skills I have recently adopted am excited about new paintings. Please stay tuned.
I have always loved nature and the outdoors, it has fueled my creativity and given me peace in the middle of my busy life. Recently, I have had great difficulty stopping and enjoying nature, almost as if that piece of my life has become so distant that I can’t get back to enjoy it and more importantly-I’m not sure how to relax these days.
A friend of mine told me about Youtube sounds that she listens to and I turned off the usual music I listen to and tried the sounds of nature. I started with a waterfall-that was very nice and relaxing but something was missing, I turned on a bird song video and turned the waterfall video down a bit and now I was listening to the waterfall with the birds in the distance. Again, something was missing-I found a video of rain and thunder and suddenly, I was in the forest right before a storm.
I listened to the sounds of a forest as the rain approaches and suddenly I had all these urges to go photograph and get back to nature. I have had several art events in the last few weeks and as they have now passed, I plan on going out next weekend and finding a waterfall. Just by stopping long enough to listen I realized what I am missing about nature.
I am a graphic designer by day, one of the things I love about my job is the ability to explore new software and design options that often I am completely unfamiliar with. I have a problem saying I don’t know, in that vane I tend to learn as I go. Recently I have learned to do scripts for Flash, interactive powerpoint and multiple software interfaces which has been just as enjoyable as it is exciting to learn. So why is it that painting tends to be more uncomfortable to step out of my comfort zone? I believe it is the time that is very limited outside of work and the fact that while I am wasting time painting something I am not good at, I could be painting pieces that I do feel comfortable with.
My homage to Gustav Klimt-The Kiss
I believe this is how an artist digs him or herself into a rut. Attacking something that is not in your comfort zone is kind of a reboot on the creative as well as the logical side. Several things that you are forced to do when you step out is try harder than you usually do. The normal short cuts you have adopted over the years of doing the same subject matter are not available. You have to work harder and use more inner discipline to capture what you are not used to creating.
The best out-of-the-comfort zone experience I have probably ever had was creating a painting of the kiss from Gustav Klimt. I have never painted another artists’ painting and the challenge began as a commission but what I learned through the experience really improved my overall creativity and skill as an artist. It was a large image, four foot by three if I remember correctly, I laid the image down on the grass instead of having them sitting up as in the original. The wonderful thing about creating an image like this, there is a right and wrong way. You can’t rely on what you feel your interpretation of the painting is, the client wants the painting to be the kiss or the closest thing to it, not an image you envision. The painting forced me to push myself to be accurate and attempt to capture an essence of the image you are seeking.
Plein Air Art Contest-Koi Pond
The next painting was a painting of my son, he still doesn’t feel I hit the mark but again portraits are not my thing but attempting it is a great way to strengthen my observation techniques and discipline my perception of proportion, light and shadow. In recent, I have added Air painting to my list of experiences-the idea of painting outside in Texas in the Summer is kind of maddening by itself, if the chiggers and mosquitoes don’t kill you there always is heat stroke. Again, the experience taught me to see the images in a spontaneous, immediate perspective. When you paint from memory or from images you have sketched out long ago, there are many details that become less important or overlooked taking a backseat to the overall inspiration, Plein Air changes the whole process, all of the details are still fresh in your mind’s eye and they appear very easily onto the canvas.
A night at the opera
I am in the process of finishing another portrait, this is another image that is a bit out of my standard subject matter. It is called A night at the opera and there is a story that is actually being written in tandem with the painting describing the mystery behind the image, these things tend to create themselves over time so the painting might be done long before the story. This image has forced me to capture two portraits and architecture as well, it has been very enjoyable learning through this whole experience.
How have you pushed your own creative envelope? How has the experience changed you as an artist and what has it done to your creative process?
It’s been a very busy week. Three paintings in four days, I did choose smaller sizes to make it a bit easier to manage. Again, all I can say is the spontaneity and immediacy of the images were amazing. I enjoyed the fact that the image was so close to the actual inspiration. This first image is of the Big A cemetery in Rowlett-it’s behind a Target and all I can say is that the peaceful presence takes you out of the busy roads of Rowlett.
I wanted to capture two things, first of all, the age-I went back where the oldest stones were. I wanted the viewer to be able to see into the distance freely and yet still not be able to focus on any one place-the perspective is across the right side and again behind the initial stones, I want the viewer to stop for a moment and feel a bit of that chill of an unseen presence and yet also realize a divine light that glistens among the old stones.
The next sketch was of a Koi Pond in a nearby residence, we had permission to paint it but I must admit I still felt like I was trespassing. I actually plan on enlarging this image as the initial image was focusing on the bird of paradise plants in the foreground but concentrating on dragonflies that buzzed around the pool and landed on the plants in the foreground, the size of this painting is quite small and although intimate the dragonflies would have been distracting to the overall effect. I do plan on expanding on this image though and will post the image as I finish.
The final painting was of a landscape I am quite familiar with, Lake Ray Hubbard and more specifically Paddle Point-this is another painting that changed from its initial direction. Originally I wanted to focus on the ducks and egrets in the foreground. I created this image with lots of darks in the foreground and the sky and felt although it made the like shine it didn’t accurately capture the feeling of water and the look of the sky. I overlayed lighter blues over the darks and made the water look more like water, in the end the ducks seemed to be more of a distraction. It’s funny how you lose your point of interest sometimes, something is working and you just go with it, it is not until you fully study it again before you realize it was all wrong. I am now continually questioning my initial thought on a particular piece and reassessing during the process instead of afterward.
The show will be at the Rowlett Library on Main Street in Rowlett, Texas-an awards ceremony will be held on Thursday September 5th and the pieces will stay on display for a week I believe. I am excited about working more plein air in the near future and already planning my next images. I didn’t realize these images were so close to my home.
Artbygordon: Original oils on canvas, Original pastels on paper celebrating the beauty and mystery of nature. Water and night skies are my specialties.
