Dreaming The Beginning Of It All

Dreaming the Beginning of It All is DONE! This has been a tough one to execute. I started and re-started this painting at least 7 times over the past three months. It has turned out to be far more abstract than I originally thought it would, so here's the outline from concept to why it gets to stay in the 'Dreaming' series.


When I first started it, I had a concept for it. The concept was driven by an original photo that I had taken in the Caribbean. The photo was taken from underwater shot up towards the sky.

My idea for the painting was to be able to view a stellar event, a natural fireworks show, like the Northern Lights, or a meteor shower imbued with every color of the rainbow, and have this stellar event wind it's way into the ocean waters, so you could see the drops of water themselves dancing with life and potential.

The paintings in 'Dreaming' capture profound moments from a particular perspective. Usually a person and nature. In this case, the water itself has perspective and the experience and emotion of the natural event fall within it.

Technically, this painting is different than the others in the series thus far. One example is that for most of the painting a much smaller un-textured brush was used. This gives a higher level of detail at a point level, which made sense as the colors are the light and the action.

This final version of The Beginning of It All, has a warmer tone to it. Using a concentration of earth tones across the top. In prior iterations, I tried a cooler more sea-like palette, but liked the feel of this one the best.

Artist Statement

Since the early 1980s, photography has been my primary artistic medium. My early application of photojournalism techniques evolved to fine art photography over time and along the way, a great passion for the shot itself extended to passion for the technical aspects that occur in the darkroom. In the last few years, my creative evolution has followed a natural path into the digital darkroom and to actual digital creation.

My current work is about combining photorealistic elements with impressionistic or surreal settings via a digital paint palette. ‘Sky-scapes’ tend to be a pre-dominant influence for me right now. I spend a lot of time regarding the skies and drawing their patterns, their energy, and many of the colorful cadences that are found there. The simple swirls that are evident in both the Whimsy and Dreaming Series, provide a way to capture and convey the time, space, and emotion of a moment that is sometimes metaphorical – as in Dreaming Storm, as a young girl is an onlooker to a coming storm – depicting the turbulence and longing of youth on the pinnacle of adulthood.

I usually work on a few works concurrently, which is particularly helpful when I get lost on one and need some time to think about.

The two specific bodies of work that I am working on concurrently:
"Dreaming – The Beginning of It All"- is a work intended to portray the beginning of something; the beginning of all time, the beginning of a new stage of life, the beginning of a new job, etc. I began the Dreaming Series in 2008. The Series sets out to capture profound moments. As I began the series I sketched out the portfolio as I envisioned it conceptually – what did I want to convey? What moments in time? There are currently two completed paintings in this series, Storm, and Walk in the Woods.

"Whimsy - Parade" - is a work intended to show change over time and both the complexity and simplicity of relationships. The Whimsy Series was also started in late 2008. This Series applies emotion and interest to, from, or around an inanimate object. The first painting in this series was ‘Trees Take Flight’ a ‘whimsical’ take on aspiration, as trees decide to leave their roots and in a swirl of passion and excitement, become meteoric observers of the planets below them.

My works often try to convey hope and aspiration. I am a tremendous fan of positive change and have a sense that each moment is an opportunity or a jumping off point for something wonderful.

140 Hours of Fame

Its been a very busy summer - and thus the summer has seemingly flown by. I cannot believe that the kids will be going back to school next week! Also, being busy and traveling a lot, there has been no blogging and very little progress made on 'The Beginning Of It All'. In point of fact, I have just restarted said painting for the sixth time. My execution is just not living up to my vision of what this should look like. Strange that it should be so difficult - the most difficult one for me so far - and I know what it should look like...

I will have a painting in the 140 Hours of Fame auction by the Galerie St. George. This will be a unique online, real-time, global art auction. http://www.140hours.com is the official website which won't be active until October.

I've selected Whimsy-Sunrise for this event. Gary Brant, @garybrant, is the owner of the Galerie St. George. I found Gary (or he found me) via Twitter. If you are on Twitter, follow Gary! This fantastic event is his brainchild and should be a wonderful experience.

In case I haven't mentioned this before - I love Twitter! I am still a relative newbie to Twitter but appreciate the ease in finding artists in other locales and being able to see their works, read their blogs and share communications with them. And yes, guilty pleasure for sure, but I do enjoy the tweeting repartee of @neilhimself and @amandapalmer also.

Will post more on '140 hours' and on the progress of 'Beginning' soon! Comments always appreciated!