Moving along slowly

Well, I've been living with my underpainting for a while now, picking at it and trying to make some sense of it. It wasn't working. I was getting too "nitpicky" and not feeling the dynamics of what I had established with the underpainting. The poem has a beautiful, quiet strength to it yet that's not what I was seeing happening with my work. I don't know that the image seen here is clear enough, but there are some wonderful, peaceful swirls gracing their way through the painting. They were what was important to me when I did the underpainting, yet I was ignoring them once I started to try and put this thing together. Also, I had the reds fighting with the blues, neither dominant so it just created more turmoil. I was frustrated. Showed the piece to a friend and his response was.... quote... "if I lived in Puerto Rico I would come kick your a...." LOLOLOLOL What he meant was I needed to trust my spirit, I think, and let go of what I've done with paintings in the past and let this one take me forward. Sooo..... I went in to the painting seeking some peace. Life is good.

There's no horizon today

I'm sitting here in my studio looking down on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico and am struck by the fact that I'm not seeing the horizon today. The sea is so very calm that it is a perfect mirror of the sky above. Where does one start and one end? Obviously, it doesn't matter! It's all the same universe after all.

Want to watch a painting?

I started another big abstract oil painting recently, and thought it might be fun to post images of the painting in progress. The inspiration for this one is a poem titled "Triggers" written by a friend, Philippe Pascal, and it's about the touch of a pianists fingers. I listened to Chopin while doing the underpainting and now I really have my work cut out for me! I'll post pictures of my progress as I get them and we'll see where we go from there. Hope you enjoy~

Rainy days are nice too

It's been raining here in Puerto Rico a lot lately. I find that kind of nice, actually because there's nothing quite like being in the rain in the rainforest. You really come to understand the water..... millions of raindrops shooshing down on the huge hanging leaves of the forest canopy, down the trunks and in to or on to the ground..... and in to the creeks and the rivers with a WHOOSH as it tumbles down to the sea. It's both soft and LOUD at the same time.... mother nature surrounding the senses.... sounds.... your skin is moist even when not in the rain itself...touch.... everything is close, shrouded in mist....sight.... it's life at my fingertips.

Life is good.

I'm a field trip!!!

I am so excited! I'm going to be a "field trip" for students visiting the island from Clayton State University in Georgia! Ha! They're coming to Puerto Rico to do volunteer work up in El Yunque's Caribbean National Forest and they'll be visiting my studio as something extra, playing with one of my group painting projects designed for small groups and families. It's always a joy to work with young students.... always leaves me with a fresh perspective on things.

Life is good!