Following a conversation with a friend last night, I have been thinking about how my spiritual perspective is imbued in my work and whether this is obvious to you, my viewer? (Complex questions for a brief news article!)
Like many artists, I allow my spiritual practice to underpin the images I create and the feelings they evoke. It is not a simple, equation-like formula, but rather a set of subtle relationships that are held in delicate balance. Art that appears to serve a message, whatever the topic, does not interest me, therefore I don't make that kind of work. Instead I choose to make paintings that invite you to engage with my experiences of spirit as you also explore your own.
Nature plays a large role in the 'narratives' explored on my canvases. It is through connecting with nature that I experience spiritual and physical awareness and renewal. The processes and wisdom of nature teach me truths about life, spirit and the human condition. Mary Oliver's poem expresses in words what I cannot:
“There are things you can’t reach. But
You can reach out to them, and all day long.
The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of god.
And it can keep you busy as anything else, and happier.
I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.
Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around
As though with your arms open.”
With this image of standing with arms open, I invite you into contemplation through my paintings. In them I express what I see when I am "looking" with attention and amazement at the world around me.
Works in Progress
What I learned on my desert journey…