There is this idea about creativity and art production that says that powerful art can only be produced when an artist is in a state of sadness or deep depression.  There is an even stranger notion floating about that the current cult of “happy” is threatening the arts?  It has simply become a “bad habit” and “comfort creature” to use sad times as a catalyst for creative inspiration.

Forget happy or sad.  Let’s for a moment, flip over another rock and see another real posibility.

Because so many artists have created negatively inspired works, like lemmings, we humans, continue to produce works using the same habit.  Somehow people seem to find comfort in misery because it is what is known to be true.  New truths can be discovered and pursued… even in the 21st century.

As artists we should be producing work from a positive or neutral source within, so as to model to viewers what it feels and looks like.  Inciting positivity and neutrality as the comfortable norm instead of melencholy.  

So I say… change your parking spot or sit in a different seat on the train or bus…change feels good.

Hey artists break the “melancholy creative crap habit” and start producing works that inspires as result of having been conceived in a positive or neutral place. I challenge artists to go against the proverbial grain and scratch the word JOY into their work by going into their creative place when they feel GREAT and crank out some positively good work!

Brown a triadic colour scheme that speaks of harmony and balance. 

What is a triadic colour scheme you ask? Quite simply it is when you use any three colours around the colour wheel that are equidistant from each other.  The notion of visual balance exists in my artwork, through the use of metaphorical depiction of my subjects, but also reinforced through colour theory. 

Why not look at brown as a mosaic colour.  Mix red, green and blue and you get a tertiary colour called brown.

Brown is not the only colour that I use but it is the “grounding” colour in my most recent works.  Brown in my work says strength, dependability, and authenticity. It is an earth colour associated with all things natural and wholesome that viscerally connects us with our shared source.

Put some “brown energy” in your life when you want:

• a firm healthful feeling
  
• to feel a sense of  belonging
  
• a connection with earth 
• to get in touch with your wild or instinctual side
• to feel grounded
• authenticity
  

Here is a little story about a Downy woodpecker that landed in a tree above a path not far from home.

A Downy woodpecker lands on a soft spongy fungus growing on a young white barked birch tree. One life piles on top of another, each taking what is needed for growth and survival. The taking cannot be for more than the other can give, as all the lives depend on that truth. Every branch every tree trunk has possibility to the Downy Woodpecker. It is not concerned with success at every try. It keeps pecking holes with the knowledge that it will eventually attain its goal; food. When listening to a woodpecker imagine with every rhythmic strike against the bark the sound of tenacity. Like a never ending metronome click click clicking to the beat of itself. The thin bark of the birch tree does not daunt the Downy woodpecker he will do on that trunk what he has been built to do even if it does not produce optimum results. Why? Because he listens to his instincts that tell him, to keep going. It only takes one tree, one time and one peck to attain what his being so desires. The male Downy is in a feminine cradle—one cannot be without the other if balance is to be achieved. Red—on the woodpecker and around him indicates that desires should be pursued with an instinctual passion.

The underlying structure of my work is an exploration of the discourse between nature and artistic expression. The reductive quality serves to set up juxtapositions such as nature and nurture, simple and intelligent, contemplation and observation, action and inaction, sentient and inanimate… Rich colours and textures as well as a sense of playfulness are used to create impactful pieces that evoke a sense of simplicity and calm —”grounding” the viewer in a visceral experience.

Great value is placed on inert intelligence practices that over-interpret and over-analyze the world around us to its detriment. I believe that complex realities are often best articulated in the naiveté of playful representation.   

My works live at the meeting point of the materiality of the art piece, the idea of nature and the interaction of my memories with the constructed imagery.  Exploring the subtle inaccuracies of visual perception as well as being defiantly reactionary to a society that is addicted to amounts is at the core of each piece.  Bigger is better, more is better, more money is better, more food is better, higher grades are better, busier is better… Balance is an idea of particular importance.  When is enough a reality for society, what does that look like? My work is a social statement of opposition where I put more emphasis on balance than on counting amounts.

I ignore personal limitations and enjoy the challenges presented by working with various mediums, disciplines and imagery. This consistent pushing of boundaries allows me to live what I purpose to question and answer in my work.

Regardless of status or stature one must speak out and protect what is right with conviction and ferocity. All beings innately know what is right.

Simply choose the morally just route.  

It is within everyone to do so.

Do you ever marvel at the similarity of things, inanimate, plant and animal?   Do you ever look at the similarities to the “things” that are attracted and surrounding you on a daily basis?  

It is not by accident that similar beings and objects can be found interacting.  

There is a pattern.  

What is the pattern that surrounds you?

I recently became fully conscious of the slippery slope that the art community has been descending in the realm of “appropriation art” as a honest form of art.

Honestly, how honest is using the work of another without giving credit.  

Let us not forget to use compassion and empathy in the pursuit of success.  

Artists must operate on a higher moral plain.  Artists must project a higher moral standard in the pursuit of “success” than what is being displayed currently. I recognize that original thought is absurd.  Everything comes from somewhere observed.  But let us not forget that the universe has a great accounting system, and that there is room for all. There is no need to proceed at the expense of others.

Let’s play nice out there!  

Well she has been many months in the making but I have finally finished her.  

My latest mixed-media effigy is titled “Éliane”.  Her name makes reference to her sun like qualities and a character trait of lovability.  

Strength, Warmth, Brilliant, Grounded, Love—were the words that formed the structure of this effigy.  As each piece was joined together these words were present in my mind.

She is dressed in the colours of the earth and stars.  The beading is chaotic in nature yet if you look long enough the small circular objects appear to align themselves into understandable patterns. There is order to her attire with hints of unpredictability.

The effigy Éliane has the number four at her core.  Four is a composite number that is a positive integer and has positive divisors.  The number four has three divisors.  Three being a number that suggests duality.

I have often been asked why do I frequently use animals other than humans as my subjects?  To begin with, I seem to gravitate towards animals and forms that have an ancient feel.  My instincts lead me towards animals and objects that are strong archetypes.

All too often answers to life’s questions are better understood if presented by those perceived as most different from us. Realities about the human condition are reflected back to the observer through nature.  People have preoccupations with their material needs rather than the spiritual, putting humans and non-human animals at the same level of intellectual evolutionary development. What would happen if the masses began see through the eyes of nature?  Possible intellectual progress…

Another reason for my paintings and drawing having non-human animals is that they transcend cultural barriers.  There is a visceral reaction to nature that I want to tap into. We will see ourselves in nature conversely nature will contain humanity within it.  We are rooted in nature as nature is rooted in us.  Every thing physical on this earth comes from the same stuff.  Common sense tells us that everything will reflect similarities in one another.

Embedded in all my work is a story of awakening and moving towards Intellectual Evolution. 

Everyone has the potential to be more than simply material.

Two cylindrical hollow stems cast shadows of truth down upon the water surface.  Below the water surface the reality of the tall grasses is not what is revealed from above.  Is the truth about the rushes evident from above the waters surface?   Can it not be seen that the once strong and healthy structures can no longer support themselves, much less another being?

Penetrating below the surface is not given any thought.  What is convenient is what is real.  The rushes will be used.  There is denial that any connection exists.  Absolution of responsibility sets in.  There is no integration perceived by the Red-Winged Blackbird.

The rushes collapse under the weight.  They move further away from their once centered position, a place that gave strength to all those involved in the collaborative community. 

Now the Blackbird is without the support or connection of the grasses.  It is on its own and over-extended.  Will it look down below the surface of the water to see what can be revealed about its situation, or will it simply look at the surface and see only that it is no longer supported?  Will it fly away without giving thought to the destruction it has caused to the community (and thus itself) for the sake of its ego? 

The over-extended Blackbird tells today’s real story of egocentricity. 

Getting real should mean going beyond the surface of the water into the depths where the tall hollow grasses are rooted.

Upon first glance the hollow grass seem to be just that, empty.   By looking beyond the hard stalk exterior of the rushes, what is exposed is that they are filled with the echos of completeness.  The open spaces of these narrow containers call for the Blackbird to come back to help and built a link between the broken stems, binding the two to form a new and authentic connection.