The Seeds of What's to Come

One of the joys of studying art history or the career of an artist is seeing the progression of ideas. Looking at a collection belonging to them is like connecting the dots to their thought process. Changes occur due to life experiences, material experimentation, travel, and developments in technology. Places they visited, things they read. Relationships. Certain works are exciting to me because I can see the ‘seeds of what’s to come.’ When explaining this to students, especially to those who are new to talking about art, I break it down like this:
An artist’s work reveals their focus of attention. It is an invitation for the viewer to share this heightened awareness… essentially saying,
“Look at this, pay attention to this.”
One of my favorite examples of artistic seeds is , Le D’ejeuner sur l’herbe by Claude Monet housed in the Musée d’Orsay. It’s a huge visual delight to behold, and it shows exactly what’s to come: LIGHT. There are beautiful areas and moments in this work that can be discussed for hours: That little food still life, the homage to Manet, the lush chromatic grays to name a few. However, the star of the show is this painterly dapple of light and shadow on the blanket in the foreground. It’s contrast and elegance jumps off the painting and announces Monet’s fascination with light. Done in 1865-1866, it is a precursor to the Grainstack paintings of 1890-1891, and the Rouen Cathedral Series of over 30 works that examine changing light conditions (1892-1894). His obsession with atmosphere and how it affects light led to his unique use of color that he applied to later works. This culminates with his studies of Water Lilies, a subject he explored over 250 times until his death in 1926. “In viewing Water Lilies in its entirety, one can see the progress and subtle changes that take place not only in the natural world, but within the artist as well. " -Tom Gurney
Seeds of What’s to Come: My Own Work
Looking for clarity in my own work, I recently sorted through a pile of old paintings.
The majority are oil on canvas, since I focused on realism and portraiture for a large part of my artistic development. There is a blatant shift away from figures to abstract mixed media on paper at a certain point, a reaction to life experiences. Now that I have had some distance from this earlier work, it’s easy to see common threads that weave through out. The mixed media pieces are of particular interest because they are the seeds of what's to come. The work illustrates experimentation with materials and surface treatment that would lead me to paint with encaustic wax years later. It is also clear that my subconscious reality pushed forward considerations of impermanence, connection and transcendence. I even love that word:
Latin prefix trans- meaning ‘beyond’ and scandare- meaning ‘to climb.’
​Climbing Beyond. Ego transcendence (beyond ego), Self transcendence (beyond the self: the other) and Spiritual transcendence (beyond space and time). Moving beyond ordinary limitations, or our physical reality. Both within and beyond the universe; in it, but not of it.
The sacred 'other'. Things extraordinary. A spiritual state beyond the world surrounding us.

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Gold Passage, Acrylic on Canvas 2006                Violet Passage, Mixed Media on Paper 2007

When I am asked what my art is about, I often stumble to find the right words.
In artist's statements I mention my interest in our physical and spiritual journey through life, the conscious choices we make vs. that of chance. I am interested in how our life paths unfold.
A deeper look into those piles of old work helped me to see my intention with more clarity.
Impermanence. Connection. Transcendence.
My work explores inner dimensions of human existence, our need to seek connection with the universal, to something bigger than ourselves. My paintings are the result of the intuitive mystical found in the creative process when our mind is escorted to another place.
​A spiritual place where making or experiencing art inspires connectedness and reflection.
And this magic is available to us all.
What a gift.

Red Realm, Encaustic on panel 2023