New work making good progress.

When I first put up this site, I wasn't quite sure what path I would follow. Though I've never been a star at any particular aspect of art, I've been good enough to gain some attention and compliments. I've been working with technology for so long that I've acquired some skill and enjoy to process and results, ranging from photography to digital animation and most everything in between. I like all of it, as long as I get to offer my creativity as a pathway into my experience. For this reason, the joy of creativity, I put everything into the site and opened it for the world to see, if they so desire. 

As my time at the university began to fade a bit, I've found my way to what creates the greatest level of satisfaction for me, working with paint. There are a lot of creative process I'm blessed to have skill in but, only one of them seems to connect to my deepest levels and that's painting. 

For that reason, I've been working hard on a new batch of paintings, which you can see featured on my site. I've taken all the other galleries and nested them within our links so, you'll have to do some snooping to get to older and other stuff. 

The new work stems from the collection of digital images I began working on in the late nineties. Interestingly enough, the digital images all had their original in traditional studio media. When I first embarked on the pathway to digital art and design, I based a great deal of the initial work on drawings and photo collages I'd generated previously. So, it went from traditional to digital and then back to digital. 

Ignore this blog (not)

FYI, below is what I wrote originally, when I was still finding my way. In the meantime, with the help of wonderful friends, I've come a long way and now I'm ready to do this for real. So, I'll leave the original posting here for your interest, if that comes to mind. Otherwise, I'll start updating this on a regular basis and monitor it attentively.

"I've usually ignored blogs and it seems the online world is littered with them. I guess I'm taking this effort seriously because this is the second time I've posted to the blog and that's not something I usually do. I made some progress with another image and I've got a couple of good ideas about finishing the remaining works in this series. 

I know I should be attending to my grading but I've got Art on my mind (with a capital "A") and I'm thinking that's what I'm going to work on after dinner." 

Here we go....

I'm nervous as hell but, here I go, into the breech. This site (and this post) is my initial serious effort at art since I left Tahoe. The new work is compelling and I'm thoroughly engaged but, this time around, I'm trying something that's riskier than anything I've done in a long time.

When I first came up with the idea for the current work, I was reading a book by Jane Hirshfield, "Nine Gates," about the writing of poetry. In it, she mentions a quote by Gerard Manley Hopkins, the English poet who said to push your uniqueness. So, I decided to take my unique vision, voice and skills, put them together and explore them in ways that, perhaps, only I can do. That means that I have to concern myself less with the commercial viability of the work and go deeper into the authenticity of meaning, two approaches to art making that aren't always complementary. Pablo Picasso (not that I'm comparing myself to him) once said that he was sick of being an interior decorator. Being uncompromisingly true to your artistic vision is scary business.

That's a tough one to resolve. My friend, Veronica, when I talked with her about this work, asked me what I want it to do and I responded by saying I want it to change how people think and feel. That's a bit grandiose and it also lacks any monetary motivation. At this point, I don't have any idea how I will support myself on this pathway but I've started these footsteps through the forest of possibilities and, if I stay aware, I won't step off any cliffs. I'm hoping that, if I'm true to my vision and don't give up, the pathway will reveal itself and I'll be able to continue this work.