Painting of the Week: "To Calm a Storm with a Single Breath"
I struggled to choose a painting to highlight today. Many times, at least for me, it’s tough to find the words to say about something. More so, it’s tough to find the desire to say anything at all. I just didn't feel like "talking" about it. I believe strongly in using your words consciously, and that when you’re unsure of the message or the result you desire, silence is best. Sometimes it’s a good idea to just marinate for a while. Life can pull us in many directions and deliver a cacophony of experiences to sift through all at once, and adding to that noise usually heeds headaches rather than clarity.
Breath is a bridge to the peaceful inner-self that lives eternally within us.
So today, I chose a painting about being quiet; “To Calm a Storm with a Single Breath". It’s about those times of tumult and a reminder to return to the breath when the universe tosses us into a storm of uncertainty. The painting is small (16x20”) and pulls peaceful shades of blue against darker, foreboding hues. Texture reveals the tiniest bits of gold; flecks of hope piercing the veil of night.
No matter what rages on outside of us, our breath allows us the ability to stay steady and true to ourselves through it all. Each inhale and exhale empower us. Breath is a bridge to the peaceful inner-self that lives eternally within us. That infinite light glows in silence like the ever-present eye of the storm, waiting to welcome us back to center.
Connecting to the breath can happen in different ways. It can be as simple as sitting and counting a cycle of inhales and exhales. We can find it in a yoga practice, on a long run, or even in the midst of lovemaking. The truth, is that our breath is always there for us. You don’t need to work hard or struggle to find this constant in the chaos. All you need to do is take a moment and notice what you were doing all along, through every up and down, without even trying. Just breathe.
Painting of the week: "Islands"
I talk a lot about language in regard to my paintings and how the titles I choose are many times, as important as the visual expression of the painting itself. The work is usually threefold in meaning; first, as a representation of an abstract, connective concept that we as humans experience and strive to understand. Second, the paintings are autobiographical, using color, texture and words to encapsulate the energy felt around a memory or experience I am having. And lastly, they are often double entendres, being either spiritual or sensual in their meanings. Always, they are explorations of what it is to be human and expand further into understanding our experiences as intellectual, spiritual and sensual beings.
The painting, "Islands"
is an entry in my diary about isolation, intimacy and escapism
“Islands” is this Monday’s painting of the week. Its reds, golds and oranges are a rarity in my work, and it was a time of waking up in my life. I was at the start of a budding relationship, and such, beginning that luscious exploration of newness and intimacy. We were islands. Close to one another and representing escape & adventure. A fresh perspective that pulled us out of our every day. A much needed change of pace. We were islands in our isolation; each a separate entity of uncharted territory. Dangerous and exciting. Visiting and then leaving each other behind.
It was also a time of deeper isolation for me. I had been living in Malibu for 7 months, and what had begun as a respite from a difficult time had become very isolating for me. I was far from friends and loved ones. While the distance did allow me focus, it also showed me the importance of connectedness to my well being. Malibu may as well been an island in regard to the rest of Los Angeles. And I was certainly becoming more and more of one in regard to my friends.
The painting “Islands” is an entry in my diary about isolation, intimacy and escapism. It is bright and happy and reminiscent of tropical culture and sunny summer days. At the same time, it is an anomaly of color in my work, similar only to “Close” which is its partner painting. It’s interesting how we can’t really experience intimacy without the contrast of isolation, isn’t it? How does this pair show up in your life? What have you learned about who you are from your feelings or isolation and your moments of intimate connection?
Painting of the Week: "Across the Room"
Across the Room
“Across the Room” is about connection. It’s a painting about passion.
Passion takes on many forms in our lives, and flows through us in various ways. It can manifest as a drive or sense of purpose for a cause that we take up or a career or creative path that we feel pulled toward. It can come through us as a general vivacity for life and ability to greet each new day or moment with a heightened awareness and presence. Or, passion can come to us in our love and our lust for one another. It can take hold of us and toss us into rapturous romances & transcendent affairs with another magnificent man or woman, intertwining us completely with another universe of being.
Connection, on the other hand, acts as a catalyst for passion. It is that tiny jolt of electricity, that strange sense of hazy familiarity, or that seemingly out of nowhere feeling of knowing that something or someone is about to take on great meaning in your life. It is a mysterious happenstance, and often alters our path greatly if we have the awareness to feel it, and the audacity to honor it, explore it and see it though.
With its deep crimson body, hints of green and glowing pink, purple & melon hues, “Across the Room” is meant to embody the rush of emotion and empowerment that passion permeates us with. It’s that millisecond of eye-contact that cuts like a laser through a crowded space and tells you, “there.” When connection & passion play together, it can feel as though the universe has placed its hand on your shoulder and ushered you toward something or someone with such clear purpose that all you can do is glance up and say, “Well, okay…thanks!”
Honoring the connections and passions in our lives is very interesting. It can be as simple as showing up to a job or a practice every day or it can be much more involved and complicated. In the instances of love and lust, it can feel dangerous or selfish. Regarding a career it can feel foolish or like the odds are stacked. But passion can transport us to a whole new version of who we are if we are conscious of it and come from a place of love, awareness and allowing.
How do you honor your connections and your passions in your life? How have they shown up for you and shifted your life in ways you couldn’t have imagined? Do you remember that first moment when you felt that tingle of possibility? Will you feel it again today?
"EASY."
"Easy."
The interpretation of the title of this painting once resulted in tears & yelling. And there's a reason for that...
I am not a talker, but I am fascinated by words. Language is so powerful, not only in its ability to convey precise meaning, but to allow us to reveal ourselves and our perspectives and experiences. At face value, words can be very abstract. Sure, they have concrete, agreed upon definitions, but we assign a lot of personal meaning to them based on our individual views of reality. Our ability to be exacting in our selection of vocabulary empowers us to paint a picture for others that gives beautiful nuance to how we feel, what we think, what we want and why.
The titles of my paintings are an extension of the abstract experience. They are an ode to my love of language and a detail that creates nuance to the relationship between the viewer and the artwork. The colors and textures of the paint are open to visual interpretation and draw upon perceptions, experiences, memories and moods of the mind they are interacting with. But the words assigned to the painting act in the same way. While visual communication may be the primary entryway into the painting, the language in the title remains an open door for exploring meaning as well.
My goal most often is to draw the minds of my paintings’ viewers in toward the painting, and then, more deeply inward toward themselves. The meaning found in any of my paintings is personal to each, individual trio of eyes and mind that take it in. There is a give and take that happens, and in that exchange, a moment of self-reflection manifests. It is our nature as humans to search for meaning and seek out patterns. These are the building blocks of our reality, and when we begin to take notice of how our minds are using them, we can wield that creative energy in magnificent, life changing ways.
And just in case you were wondering, the person who got so upset about "Easy" being the title of this painting was the person who taught me how to paint in this style. He was affected by his interpretation that I was commenting that painting in this way and the experience attached to doing so, was "easy". That could not have been further from the meaning I had found in pairing that painting and that word together. What meaning do you find when you explore these colors & textures along with this word? What memories or ideas does it bring to mind? At first glance, it's just a bunch of paint and letters. What reality have you built of it?
Within. Without.
“Within. Without” is probably my favorite painting. It is named for the Hermetic principle of Correspondence, “As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul…” It is a reminder that the world we perceive is one that we create, for it is a projection and a reflection of our inner selves. It’s easy to get swept up in the chaos of the everyday and forget that we are empowered with the ability to transform and shape our realities. We wield this power best when we allow ourselves time each day to take a breath and move beyond the constant, reactive chatter of our thinking minds. Meditation doesn’t mean that the noise stops. It merely allows us a little bit of breathing room to step back and consciously reclaim and redirect our energy so that our world within can bring the world outside into alignment once again.