New Painting - Underwater

I've been working on a new painting called Dreaming - The Beginning of It All... While I've had a specific vision around what it should look like, the painting itself seems to have a path of it's own. Underwater is one of these alternate paths. It bears no resemblance to what 'Beginning' will ultimately look like, but it turned up during the process.

I like it for many reasons; it reminds me of the Caribbean, one of my favorite places in the whole wide world; it also evokes struggle and challenge, which there always seems to be some of that, and yet at the same time, a calm and peace.

I will continue to work on 'Dreaming' but maybe there are metaphysical forces guiding the process...

As always, let me know what you think!

My Fred Jones II Day

Not sure if I wanted to write this down or not... so thought I would start and then decide afterwards...

Today I cleaned out my office. For those of you that don't know me, I had a day job (art being a passion and not a career for me). My day job was in risk management for the corporate & investment banking division of Wachovia. If you follow the banking sector at all, you know that Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia, which put me on the subordinated side of the deal and it thus far has not worked out the way I had hoped.

Career-wise, my time with Wachovia has been my most satisfying. I have enjoyed being at work - such that often it didn't even seem like work. I've enjoyed the people I've worked with - sharp people that cared about the firm and our customers - definitely not the evil bankers that are now the target of such media mire.

So today was a sad day - actually all the days since last fall have been touched with sadness, for many of us - but for me, today was especially sad. I cleaned out my office, which is an admission of the inevitable, that I am left to consider the next step for my career in financial services - and I suppose, to consider if it should even be in financial services.

Today is my Fred Jones day (a Ben Folds reference). I feel like I am deliberately drifting away, quietly and without any fanfare - we've all said the things that we needed to. My colleagues, my teammates, and those I've worked closely with. I am no longer a decision-maker, a goto leader, and my phone doesn't ring off the hook daily. I no longer get 300+ emails a day. But I did my job and the work has been neatly packaged and handed over to the acquirers who will be the stewards going forward.

So as I un-pack my boxes, and think about my time spent - and a lot of time was spent - I could think only of Ben Folds song Fred Jones II... and now, I'll smile, think about the possibilities, and move on...

Dreaming A Walk in the Woods

Dreaming A Walk in the Woods, was inspired by a walk through Latta Plantation on a cold winter morning. My son was walking our dog and as I watched them from behind it was as though all else fell away.

The silence, the crispness of the air, the brilliant morning light danced through the darkness of the forest practically enveloping them and me. It all swirled together for a few magic moments, where nothing else existed but the next step forward, and the swirl of color around us.

This painting is a part of the Dreaming series, so it combines the photo-realism as I depict the boy, the dog, and the details of the trees, leaves and moss. The impressionism is the swirl. In this painting it is all around the boy and dog, speaking to the effect and emotion of the moment.