THE SURFACE OF A MUSHROOM

I came across these amazing photographs of mushrooms by Steve Axford, a photographer living in Australia. What astonishes me is that even though I have been alive over 50 years there is still so much to see. Just peering into this world of mushrooms fills me with...

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ART AND SOUL

Detail from "Berkeley No. 33" by Richard Diebenkorn, oil on canvas, 24" x 29", 1955   Even though I have spent since January painting it has really been in the past 4-6 weeks that I have done most of the work. Things have finally gotten easier. Paintings tend to...

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ABSTRACT LIFE

Here is a 25x magnified drop of seawater, photographed by David Liittschwager. When I look at this it reminds me of abstract painting. Something is defined as abstract when it is “apart from concrete realities, specific objects, or actual instances.” We look at this...

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PARTS OF THE STORY

Generally we think things have a beginning, middle and an end. Movies are like this, stories, instructions, cookbooks, the lives of our pets, and I guess our lives too. But lately I have been realizing that art making doesn’t always follow this pattern. Ideas,...

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ECLIPSE

I had never seen a full moon eclipse till the other night, but sitting in the hot springs overlooking the sea on the Big Sur coast of California made waiting and watching this very slow process palatable. At home I probably would not of even taken the time to walk...

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THE LOUD AND THE QUIET

One of the challenges in Art is seeing it objectively. The reason it can sometimes be difficult is because there are two ways, two important views of what you are doing, that need to be seen simultaneously. Firstly, there is the close up view. I refer to this as the...

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EXHALE

As I was painting today I was thinking about breath. In yoga there is a very deliberate inhalation and an exhalation to every pose. I was noticing how I hold, or slowly inhale, my breath when I work. This seems to occur when I am trying hard to do something. It comes...

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STOP AND START

About 4 months ago I had an Achilles surgery to fix a chronic injury caused by over training for long distance running. I am now on the road to recovery and am not only walking and hiking but also starting to be able to run again. I am doing only 5 minutes of running...

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THAT THING, AGAIN

There is this thing that I know. It has to do with making your art – no matter what discipline you create in – more authentic. I am now convinced, from my personal experience that it is one of the primary pieces of information needed to make remarkable paintings. This...

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