A Few Things . . .

I would like to begin by thanking everyone who has subscribed to this blog and everyone who reads it. It's good to know you are out there. It's pretty cool when someone contacts you from Poland. Here is his beautiful site.

Second, I have finally begun to raise money for my foundation (notice the Amazon donation box on the right-hand side of this page . . .as one small example). The funds raised will help families of children cancer patients. I work for the Texas Cancer Registry, and see on a daily basis what cancer does to people's lives and what their families have to go through. It is devastating. I see how many children are stricken with cancer. Surely my art can be put to use to help these families. I believe this is why God put me where he did. Please help me spread the word of what I'm trying to do with this artwork and fund raising. Please share this reminder with as many people as you can.

Finally, you will be able to view a new image in just a few days. An additional new image will be available for viewing in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks again.

- The Light Within . . .

Is It Pop Art?

Roy Lichtenstein is one of the major influences in my artistic life. I am drawn to the simplicity and the abstract qualities. I am drawn to the childlike colourations. I am drawn to the graphic purity which permeates his work. I feel his influence very strongly in this painting. You can see examples of his work here. My work has been considered to be Pop Art by a reviewer in New York, but I don’t think of it in such a way.

There are angels everywhere in our culture, as has been the case for over a thousand years. However, one of the tenets of Pop Art is it’s lack of substance. For the most part it is extremely shallow and meaningless. There is nothing but surface. The angels that come to me through the paintings are full of substance. They are full of meaning. They are powerful.

The painting above was began five years ago this Easter, thus I always think of it as an Easter painting. A few months into working on it, a friend of mine was having a major operation. I had had some visions of it not going well and they bothered me quite a bit. While I was working on the painting one day I was overcome by the need to repeatedly as for my friend to be brought through the operation safely and with no complications. My prayers were not only heard, they were answered, because everything turned out alright. This is a painting of the Archangel Michael.

Every painting is a new journey which reveals to me new depths within this style. I didn’t find this style . . . it found me, at a time when I needed something to turn my life around. Through this painting I discovered simplicity and purity of abstraction using simple lines and vibrant colour.

Many thanks Roy.

The Light Within . . .

The Calling of the Fall . . .

Lately I've been feeling Autumn's call pulling at my soul. Even though we're still several weeks away from the most glorious of all the seasons, I'm already beginning to sense its coming . . .a shadow over here . . . a ray of late afternoon golden light over there. I'm looking forward to the early evenings, when the treetops are alive with color and everything below rests in the shadows of the day. The calling of the Fall . . . it's a tangible sensation I feel in my heart and soul. Fall inspires my poetry and the two are deeply and lovingly connected.

The beauty of Fall is always accompanied by the music of George Winston. His series of the seasons (Autumn, December, Winter Into Spring, and Summer) and his interpretations of the music of Vince Guaraldi have touched my life deeply. Each note of his music expresses gently falling leaves and long shadows of late Autumn days. His musical tone captures the longing of the season to remain through the inevitable shortening of her days. It is sublime beauty tinged with sadness and love. I am grateful beyond words for his talents and vision.

I was introduced to George Winston's music, his art, exactly ten years ago this fall (how appropriate). A 1996 sampler cd from Windham Hill Music arrived in the mail quite literally out of the blue. It contained nearly 50 song samples from various artists, and Winston's music touched me immediately. The universe dropped the gift of his music into my life and it becomes more special, meaningful and reverent with each passing year. I cannot imagine my life without it and that's why I'm sharing it with you.

- The Light Within . . .

The Spirit of Light II . . .

There is something about light. It speaks to my soul. It beckons me to open up and let it in.

Light is ethereal, light is eternal, light is divine...it often serves as a metaphor for the spiritual. Physical light is the closest approximation to spiritual light in our lives. It serves as a means of revealing God's presence in our universe and in our lives.

The goal of my art is to capture a single instant of each angel's eternal existence and share it with people all over the world. Since they are made of light and color, capturing them in paint only makes sense . . .with the tightly finished lines acting only as an infinitely thin boundary, expressing the energy and light within.

These angels have had tangible affects on people's lives, inspiring them to look within and examine what they can do for others. How can you tap into this energy and create your own light . . .and release it into the world?

When I was doing the line work for this painting, I had an experience which I have not been able to put into words. There was a moment when I felt completely surrounded by warm, golden light. It was a tangible exchange of energy between myself and the image on the canvas . . .I could feel it in my hands . . . it engulfed me.

To this very day, this particular canvas emits a certain energy. It has a presence about it.

The Light Within . . .