Abstract Landscapes

As the scenery in our technological society is constantly changing and nature continues to be affected by our shortsighted behaviors, I often wonder what our world looked like before we altered it. I also question what it will look like after nature has reasserted Her dominance. Since my disability interferes with my desire to just wander about in the wilderness, I explore these questions from a more abstract point of view, using colors to express emotion. This will be a continuing series for me.

New! July 2006

"Lavender Roses"

12" x 16"

Original - Signed

$500.00

New! July 2006

"Mardi Gras"

18" x 24"

Original - Signed

$700.00

New! July 2006

"Masks"

18" x 24"

Original - Signed

$700.00

New! July 2006

"Windmills of..."

18" x 24"

Original - Signed

$700.00

''What do you See'' 

12 x 16 Original $500.00

''Wild Flowers''

12 x 16 Original $500.00

''A Rose is''

16x20 Original $600.00

''Dog Day Afternoon''

9 x 12 Original $250.00

"Cotton Candy"

9" x 12"

Original $325.00

Taken!

One thing that I have discovered to be completely true in this life is that nothing remains the same for very long. Things and people always change. Sometimes we are aware of our passage from one life era to another, many times we are not. A lot of people look backwards trying to recapture the feeling that accompanied a past experience; sorry they didn’t realize at the time just how much fun they were having. Many times it’s the friends we choose that defines a life period; the things we do together, the fun, the fights, whatever it is we do together, will be forever tied in our minds and hearts to that time and those friends. When we lose or add friends, our whole life can and will change and we enter a new era. I know that at this time in my life, at this very moment I am moving from one life experience in to a whole new one, and I feel lucky enough to recognize it. I’ve had the great fortune and pleasure of two very close friends, they are more family to me than anyone I’m actually related to. We’ve played Uno every Tuesday night for about 15 years. Sometimes we had additional friends playing with us, but only the three of us have been in it from the beginning. In the next couple of months, I know they’ll both be leaving me. The realization hit me hard and it hurt, still hurts, but it also gives me the opportunity to express how important both of these men are to me, and I do.

I found myself doing more abstract work as a way to deal with my emotions; it allowed me to stop thinking and just paint. The Circlism pieces came about because of my life experiences in general; how often I’ve repeated the same lessons over and over again until I finally got the point. The different colors represented the different people and personalities I choose to surround myself with in order to learn. When I realized that my “circle of friends” would be changing, I found myself painting the canvas black, as black and heavy as my sadness felt. Then I found myself putting color to the black to represent the pigment of personalities available in this world, and filled the darkness with the light of color. I realized that I can choose the actual lifelines that I want to intersect with, we all can, and as much as I’ll miss and mourn what was, I’m eager to create and stand in what is.

Spiritual/Abstract

My spiritual path has always been of the utmost importance to me. I lost my baby sister to leukemia when she was just 10 and I was barely 13. The experience propelled me to begin a quest to find the meaning in death as well as the purpose of life. I’ve always felt drawn to Native American spiritual beliefs and practices but I also explored my Methodist roots and my ancestors Quakerism; I was a lay minister and a traveling preacher/musician for Metropolitan Community Church, By the Shore. I’ve attended Catholic, Baptist, Episcopal and other churches; read and studied the writings of C.S. Lewis, Sylvia Browne, Rosemary Altea, Robert Fulghum, Joseph F. Grizone and scores of other wise and learned authors. My spiritual journey has been extremely interesting, satisfying and varied. I remain true to my Native teachings, but I am now also a practicing disciple of Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism. Drawing on the truths that I have discovered on my path, especially since I became disabled, I try to create a visible image of a spiritual experience or truth. Colors are of major importance to me in portraying and projecting a mood or emotions. In many of my abstract pieces, there is a lot of unintentional secondary imagery. I love when people point out what they see since it validates what I think I see. Some times they point out things in my paintings that I didn’t even see.

New July 2006!

"Captivity"

14" X 18"

Original - Signed

$500.00

New Collections as of  December 2005!

''Broken Pieces''

7 x 12 Original $175.00

''Self Examination''

16 x 20 Original $600.00

''Wine and Women''

12 x 16 Original $500.00

''Quietly''

9 x 12 Original $250.00

New!

Circleism V

"16 x 20"

$600.00