Confessions Of A Worried Polymath
My writing and painting flow from deep within. This is not just my nature, but the very way I was shaped as an artist.
Photographs are not my muse. Instead, I immerse myself in my surroundings, letting every sensation and thought seep in as I create. My journey began as a child, learning to paint in oil along the rugged shores of Rockport and Gloucester, Massachusetts. I can still hear those who taught me to paint beyond the rules and regulations: “Observe the sky and rocks and ocean. Feel the waves and movement. Get them inside you. Make them part of you. NOW PAINT!”
Some things, like riding a bicycle, never leave you. Even now, in nearly every creative moment, I return to that way of seeing and feeling.
The idea for my California Cruising series took shape during a trip to visit my son and granddaughter in California. I left my peaceful studio in Northern Michigan, unsure of what awaited me. It was the winter holidays, and while I was excited to see them, a quiet worry lingered beneath my happiness.
Without delving too deeply into personal matters, a divorce unfolded, leaving my son as the custodial parent. Beneath the surface of every polite family gathering, my writer’s eye and painter’s heart caught the flames of tension and the heaviness of stress.
A few days before our next family gathering, I felt the urge for some emotional relief, so I set out alone on a spontaneous two-day road trip. This was when my California Cruising series truly began.
Merry Sustainable Memories, 5 feet x 9 feet
I slipped onto the 210, the Foothill Freeway, in Pasadena, letting the road guide me alongside the San Gabriel Mountains as they climbed skyward to my left. The colors along the highway dazzled me, their lush green slopes so vivid I felt an urge to capture them in paint.
Looking at the lower reaches of these painted canvases, you can see a darkness alive with a secret, joyful energy. For me, this perfectly represented the beginning of my journey.
Sold. Color Me Beautiful, 12”x12”
Sold. Color Me Cheerful, 16”x20”
Sold. Color Me Inspired, 20”x20”
As I pressed onward toward the desert, rain began to fall, casting darkness, while in the glow of headlights, traffic surged around me.
In this series, this multiple-lane traffic moment comes alive through tangled stems twisting in every direction. The tiny stem leaves reflect all the headlights.
How many lanes of traffic can you count here? The tangled flow inspired me to capture the same restless energy in my painting of twisting, turning plant stems. Internally, I kept comparing this experience to my tiny town in Northern Michigan, where there isn’t even a single traffic light.
This was among the very first paintings I created for the new series. Each of those early pieces found a home almost as soon as the paint dried. I began with smaller canvases, and I believe it was the vibrant colors and fresh originality that caught collectors' eyes.
Another early painting. I started out on the 210 highway, with the darker green trees to my left and right, as is artistically represented in the lower half of this canvas.
Suddenly, the landscape shifted before my eyes. One moment I was cruising along the 210, and the next, after merging onto I-10, it felt like I had crossed into a new dimension. Lush greens faded into shimmering golds and earthy browns. Dense thickets gave way to wide-open spaces painted in the colors and hues of the desert.
Surrounded by the endless desert, I let the sky melt into a shade the color of sand. Long ago in childhood, my art teachers urged me to see with my heart, to let my feelings guide my eyes. Art, they insisted, is about seizing the spirit, not just about mirroring the world.
In the upper portion of these paintings, the desert hills and mountains are represented through the oranges, blues, and golds.
The happiness from this trip lingered with me, inspiring me over the next few months to capture its spirit on larger canvases. I painted two pieces, each 30 by 40 inches, and both found new homes before I even had the chance to share them online.
To keep the memory of my journey alive, I also made a video called COLOR ME HAPPY.
What I cherish most about art is how it can transform sadness or worry into something beautiful and uplifting.
