"Imagination"

($125.00....6" x 12"....Water Soluble Oils on 300 lb HP.....mounted on a 1.50" depth clayboard)

"My imagination is fully alive in the spiritual realm of the unknown." Removing all of the obstacles to living a full life is best accomplished by living in the spiritual realm where the Holy Spirit resides. (This piece is a possibility for an upcoming exhibit.)

This gestural landscape is part of a series of experimental pieces I have been creating to allow for a backdrop for gestural writing and mark making. By nature of the challenge, I must keep the imagery simple with minimal detail. Most of these pieces have been created from a mental reference of what constitutes a landscape rather than looking at a reference photo.

In spite of the abstract quality I am looking for, I am still taking lots of pictures of skies in all kinds of weather. Just filling my mind with these images absolutely informs placement, shapes, and color notes. It is also fun to depart completely from the colors that typically describe a skyscape.

After creating 103 oil paintings in recent months, I can verify that it is an excellent way to speed up the learning process, but I can also verify that there is much more to learn and think about in every part of the process. My next thought is to do one right after the other until my internal critic is dead and the paint just flows and "fussing" over the piece completely stops.

So my encouragement today is to set aside a few hours and simple sketch, paint, create a glass collage, etc. until the process becomes free flowing. Shut everything else out of your mind and simply do it. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.