Creatively Thinking

  Featured image: Hummer VI The pine tree shoots are almost 8" A different color green Lilies in the garden blooming Lilacs are blooming All this color overwhelms. The peonies need pinning back. They are about to burst. Little chipmunks are stuffing whirligigs into their cheeks, which are exploding. In goes another one. Amazing. The things that you notice sitting still The only thing moving is your pen. A hummer buzzed me. So still.

  Featured image: Sculpture - Wings Have you ever just thought about the air? I know I haven’t. It’s just there. It’s invisible. Yet, if you really think about it, it is so important. Things like air just pop into my head sometimes—like this morning. Without air, birds couldn’t fly. Their wings would be useless. Birds could not take flight. So what’s the use of wanting to be able to fly if there were no air? You have to have faith to take that first step from the nest, spread your wings, and fly. It takes courage. There is nothing there—just air!!! After all, if I stepped off the top of a flight of stairs and spread my arms out, I certainly wouldn’t fly like a bird. Gosh darn.

  Featured image: The Real and The Imagined One of the things I really love about being an artist is that I can create a space that exists just beyond a fixed reality. I can experience life, see life differently. Some people cannot accept “differently,” but then there are those who do—those who move toward this different reality. I can feel them when they visit the studio—the minute they walk through the door and their eyes light up. And besides asking where the bathroom is, they ask questions right away. “How did you…?” And it doesn’t stop until they walk out the door. It’s the imagination that triggers that first question.

Featured image: Daffodils In A Vase with Yellow Stripes The waiting for that first drop of color to appear in the gardens this year has ended. Oh, not the ones I planted, like the marigolds and the impatiens, but the ones that sprout up from the earth. Once the color that rises from the earth appears, then I know that summer has arrived. Just like when I shed my socks, paint my toes red, and put on sandals, then I know summer has arrived. So it has happened. The daffodils have bloomed, the Russian irises are almost here, my mom’s irises are here, and my socks are gone for the season. Yea!!!!

  Featured image: Roller Coaster Ride Have We Become Nothing More Than Wind-Up Toys? I have been thinking about this idea for some time now, ever since I started doing 3-D work about this time last year. This idea has become something special, an idea that has been ruminating in my head for over a year, ever since I began gathering antique wind-up toys. I am naturally afraid to start it, though, because the idea is soooo big. I think I might have already painted it, and it has been in my head for over 15 years. The work I did a long time ago called Roller Coaster Ride was red and very, very big. Some of you have seen it, and some of you haven’t. I was saving it for so long—not knowing why—but I sold it last year to a very, very special couple, and we helped them hang it. When I saw where it was hung, I knew the minute we hung it that it belonged there, in their lovely home, with all their other wonderfully collected art. I knew I had made the right decision to sell it. But now—can...

  Featured image: Hawk III I’m honored and grateful to share that my painting Hawk III has been accepted into the San Diego Watercolor Society’s 46th International Exhibition. This year’s exhibition received 671 entries from 345 artists representing 20 countries and 35 states. From this remarkable field of work, juror Ana Laura Salazar selected just 105 paintings for inclusion. I’m deeply honored that Hawk III will be among them. For as long as I can remember, birds have found their way into my work. Nature has always been my greatest teacher, and the hawk’s soaring perspective reminds us to rise above the immediate and see with greater clarity. In Hawk III , I wanted to capture not only the beauty and power of this remarkable bird, but also the spirit it represents—the courage to rise above challenges and trust one's vision. Thank you to juror Ana Laura Salazar, the San Diego Watercolor Society, and everyone involved in organizing this exceptional international exhibition. I’m g...