Studio Reflections

red balloon escapes the child’s grasp sunrise floats away New Day, 6 x 6″ monoprint “Poetry is good for unleashing images.” – Paula Rego I am planning on periodically adding short haiku poems I’ve written to my postings, as this is a poetic form I’ve become interested in. Traditionally the pairing of haiku with painting…

Shoji 1, 6 x 6″ monoprint “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” – Rumi I’ve always loved this quote from Rumi – actually had it on my website homepage for years. What great words for an artist to live by. We “do” beauty, which makes the word more than an…

Oriental Grunge, 10 x 15 acrylic, ink “In mathematics the complicated things are reduced to simple things. So it is in painting.” – Thomas Eakins As artists we are taught that it is better to simplify what we put in our paintings – as Robert Browning said, “less is more”. When we start to paint…

Ikebana 1, 10 x 15″ acrylic, inks “When the snake decided to go straight, he didn’t get anywhere.” – William Stafford Our artistic paths have a trajectory that is unique to each of us. About the only thing they have in common is that they are not straight, often to our dismay. It seems like…

Dreamcatcher, 11 x 15″ acrylic, ink “The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.” – Robert Henri Maybe if we focus more on what this state is and how to get ourselves into it and less on making art, more art would get made. While this…

Dreamweaver, 11 x 15″ acrylic, ink “You must learn […] to manifest the wildness of an artist. This wildness has many faces. It is an amalgam of passion, vitality, rebelliousness, nonconformity, freedom from inhibitions. Think of this wildness as ‘working naked’.” – Eric Maisel Maisel recommends taking this literally –  take off your cloths to…

Graffitix, 9 x 9″ acrylics, ink “Genius begins great works; labor alone finishes them.” – Joseph Joubert Do you feel excited when finishing a painting? Do you feel like you are in the grip of a creative impulse? How would you compare your feelings, emotions, state of mind at the end of the painting process…

Urban Sunrise, 9 x 9″ Acrylics & Ink “But the artist who is more interested in creating deeply than in ridding herself of anxiety will refuse to know too soon.” – Eric Maisel In his fascinating book, Fearless Creating, Eric Maisel talks about the necessity for the artist to invite in and deal appropriately with…

Crimson Angel, 9 x 11″ Acrylic “If the path before you is clear, you’re probably on someone else’s.” – Joseph Campbell How oddly reassuring. As artists we all struggle with knowing if we’re on the right path. There are usually obstacles looming ahead of us on that path – bumps we stumble over, forks we…

Tropical Deconstruction, 6 x 6″ monoprint “As artists our job is to keep the faith and help humankind to remember beauty and thus the promise of happiness. Our work defends hope, the most precious homeland for any soul.” – Todd Plough I love everything about this quote. It says that what artists do matters. That…