exploring by way of a series

 

sometimes you dont know where you're going until you get there...

the past few days i've been exploring ritual masks of various cultural groups--

african, mexican, american -- first nations...  and thinking about the transformative power

of something hand made that took a dancer or shaman and assisted them in transcending

from the day to day world to a more magical spiritual realm...  i hope to capture a taste

of that ritual magic in my work and bring it back to our day to day lives.

images here of recent carved block and silk screen images in progress

sometimes i wonder how many little blocks will i have to carve before i am done with a topic.

sometimes you're never done and you revisit that imagery over and over for years not realizing the deeper theme but just following where the inspiration leads you.

sometimes exploring art is really you exploring yourself.

sometimes it is just fun to make things that look really dang cool.

just keep working, you'll know when you get there.

when i see this, i make this

I recently spent a weekend in Palm Beach/West Palm Beach for an art event and was amazed by the hedges and shrubbery walls in use. It gave everything such a green lush yet private feel. And it reminded me of my love of strange topiary.  A good friend lives near a house with one monolithic shrub out front that the owner must pass thru to enter the front door. It seems magical like Edward Scissorhands was there.  If only....

now what?

so... after a week away from the studio i have to figure out where i left off and where to begin again...   it is like turning the water back on after leaving a house vacant for a long period of time... it stutters, pipes shake, there are spurts, and the first expelled stuff is kinda icky but then things clear out and you're good to go again.

art is everywhere even in cabbage

we as artists can't improve on nature
we can reflect upon it and be inspired by it and relate our impressions to others and try to communicate our fascination but nature is the source of art.
at least for me.
turning a simple pot of vegetable soup into a study of line, color, texture... i  see pencil drawings or block prints and yummy contrasts and colors.
people have come to manufacture a lot of things, lacy delicate things but they can only imitate a cobweb or a cabbage. look around you, art is waiting already made.
my job is just to point it out so you don't miss it.