Wandering

 

Featured image: Wandering I

"Not all who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

Erased Painting

 

Featured image: Intersections

Erased Painting

Gen Z

Ever since I realized that if I wanted to be an artist, I needed to find a way to support my artwork, I realized that it was going to be a very, very hard job. And to add to that, to find the kind of work I needed to support—contemporary, abstract, conceptual—I don’t think I could have chosen a more difficult job on the planet. Nope.

When I went off to college, my parents kept drilling into me, “You can’t major in art.” Well, I did. And just for a safety net, I took a second major, education, to support my “love” of art. Being a teacher was good. I was good at teaching. The trouble is, I was good at teaching. Back then there were no art classrooms; it was art in the trunk of my car and art on a cart, and it was hard. And many times, I was too tired to make something of my own, but I did. I did “art fairs” on the weekends. And so I supported my love, my strong need to CREATE.

I WAS A CREATIVE FROM KINDERGARTEN TO THIS DAY. I have always believed it was my calling, that God’s Spirit was in me calling me. Oh, I have fallen off the wagon many times—He knows. One time for over 2 years. But He keeps calling. And I have heard other creatives say the same thing. There must be something to this spirit within that we cannot see.

Yesterday, there wasn’t one person who stepped into my gallery/studio during the Northwoods Art Tour, not one—and I kid you not—even the ones who knew nothing about contemporary, abstract, conceptual artwork—who didn’t say, “I just love your work; you are so inspirational; you make me so happy.” NOT ONE. Were they saying that to me? No, they were saying that to the Spirit within.

Thank you, Spirit within. Thank you, beautiful people who know and love creatives. For our culture needs them more than ever now, and our culture is losing them quickly. I am finding the shift from 9-to-5 jobs to Gen Z culture a very interesting shift and a difficult conceptual shift for many. But if you follow history on a linear path—which many like to think of themselves as historians—I myself think of myself as a closet historian—they are a product, yes, a product, of what they were taught.

I take what I was taught, and I am a glorious mixture of contemporary, conceptual abstractionism, and a 9-to-5er. I, with all my heart, believe in what the Gen Zers believe—entrepreneurship, creative ventures. Where we differ is in individualism and uniqueness, that extremely, extremely important element in abstract expressionism that gets erased—like the painting by de Kooning erased by Robert Rauschenberg—where the act itself was the creative act.

His Will For Me

 

Featured image: The Present

The Creator’s Creation

When I was teaching young adults, and they would do something outside of the classroom—something incredibly stupid (yes, stupid—sorry, I can’t think of a better word for driving on a slippery patch of ice on a curve, fast, as a challenge to see if you can defy all odds)—they always seemed to think at the same time, “Oh, but it won’t happen to me.”

Well, it happened to them—and it happens to them. Their “won’t happen to me” eventually runs out. All of my own “won’t happen to me’s” have run out, too. I try not to do those things anymore, but, well, they still happen to me.

For the most part, my magic wand still works for some reason—but the magic feels different now. I seem to be, I feel to be—at least lately—visualizing almost constantly the task that has been before me for most of my life. Maybe it’s because I realize more than ever that life is so, so precious—and yes, so short—and all I truly have is today.

Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

But today—today—is a gift.

He believes in me. I believe in Him. His spirit runs in my veins—always has. I can feel it. I have always felt it.

I am the Creator’s creation. I am a creator. And while I still do “stupid” things, thank goodness I still feel His spirit—His magic wand—in my soul, in my heart, and in His will for me.

Say Yes

 

Featured image: The Key II

Say yes and
 Know you
 Are not alone
Gently explore
Creatively expand
Say maybe
Look for mystery
  Magic
Align yourself with
  Your Creator
     Be intimate
  With the Source
  Of all things.

Raindrops

 

Featured image: Rain

Raindrops

 So many raindrops

Hummer’s wings beat

 Throaty humming

 humming

 Ruby throat

Jays calling

Raindrops

 So many raindrops

I gather energy from these things

To fuel me for the day.

When I need some, I close my eyes, and

I gather it in.

Art Isn't

 Featured image: Celebrate Innovation

Art isn’t about art, but about life and its struggle to make meaning out of everything. Art gives the artist a way to speak about their sense of reality and its ups and downs.

Red Oak

 

Featured image: Leaves at the Base of an Oak Tree

Every once in a

 while your gaze

 just stops—stops in

 its tracks. Something

 wonderful has caught

      your eye.

Just stops

 your gaze in its tracks.

 Just stops your gaze

 in its tracks.

Today my eyes caught the

 sunlight glowing on top of the

 red oak leaves

      in the woods.

      They have turned… early.

     The red, a beautiful

      golden red,

      stopped and

      bathed in

      God’s glory.