Sea Shell As Spiral Galaxy...

A sea snail shell found this morning in Cardiff. As WIlliam Blake said, "...the universe in a grain of sand..."

More Icons

There are all kinds of sacrifice. Some are things we do to help the greater good. Others are things we must give up and move beyond in order to find a way back home. While we should honor things of value in our lives we should also try to realize when they need to offered up as totems that no longer serve us.

Expressionism and Kafka

SO, I'm always struck by the 1920's - 1930's German Expressionists. The nightmarish, interior as exterior landscapes are fertile grounds for contemplation. To my eye this is best represented by the films and woodcuts of the era. Movies such as "The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari", "Metropolis" and "M" are filled with the intense shadows, exaggerated features and disorienting angles so indicative of Expressionism. The stark and high contrast woodblock prints are almost an emblem of the style. The desire to give staging to the inner world and its conflicts is what I try to pull out to use in my drawings. The piece above is called "The Jury". It's a response to that Kafka notion we all experience at one time or another of being persecuted. Judged as it were by an unthinking and deeply unsettling branch of some omnipresent bureaucracy.

Too much news lately...

Everybody's talkin' 'bout this-ism, that-ism....

Bits and Pieces

Sometimes when it's all too much I find it best to retreat within and re-connect with my rainbow and star powers!
This is my vision of Captain Beefheart in full flight-out in the desert shaking bones at the full moon!

Icons and Offerings

I'm really attracted to religious art. Everything from the stained glass windows in Europe's cathedrals to Voudon altars in Haiti. The aspiration, longing and in particular sacrifice is emblematic of our shared humanity. Maybe what hits me most is the desire for transcendence. We are these Earth-bound beings with spirits that long to take to the sky. That feeling might not always be possible to obtain but through art we can get there every time.

New Ways

A few new drawings. Trying to find new ways of depicting bodies. The bottom one is where I'm trying to head.