"My Brightest Idea" - 36"x48"x1.5" - Acrylicy on Canvas - $525.00 SOLD

This is my fourth and final installment of the "Bright Idea" series.  Acrylic on canvas and measuring 36" x 48", this piece represents my struggle to break free of convention and capture that which truly inspires me, or most accurately identifies who I am as an artist.  The irony is that I am a Gemini and as such it is nearly impossible to hang a single label on my work.  (Look back at "Green With Envy" to see what I mean.)  I know that most artists develop a "style" and with that it becomes easy to identify their work visually.  It seems that we the viewer find a certain comfort in that ability.  I am just not sure that is the type of artist I want to be however.  More accurately, even if that is what I wanted I am not sure I have the patience or ability to settle into that mold.

The face in this painting is the artist.  He has two eyes but several more eyes scurry about near the bottom of the painting looking and searching for that next bit of inspiration.  Hoping again for that moment of discovery when the light bulb (represented as the bright idea) shines forth and illuminates my way to create something truly inspirational.  The large eye at the top should not be overlooked for it represents everyone around me (and God) who watches what I am doing and what I am creating.  Even though I try constantly to be true to myself it is very difficult at times not to conform to the expectation of others.  I am holding my own so far...  Otherwise all of my paintings would be topped with a layer of glitter just to make my wife happy!

Elemental Nobility

This is a 24" x 79" acrylic, painted on a refurbished hollow core door.  I am really enjoying painting on these door panels.  They are light weight, easy to hang, very durable, inexpensive and do not need to be framed.  In addition they are repurposed and that makes me smile.  Everthing and everyone deserves a second chance!

Once again I have tried to blend art and science into something meaningful.  There are six noble gasses and they are all, for the most part, inert and non-reactive.  I like to think this infers that they "play well with others".  In addition to showing the gasses floating lightly in the atmosphere I have included two physics equations.  The first on the left is the terminal velocity equation for objects in free fall.  There have been many times in my life when I have felt like I was "free falling" and it is comforting to know that even in these frightening moments, our life is ordered and has purpose.  The second equation is that of gravitational attraction between two objects and it is meant to be allegorical of the attraction between two people.  I am afraid however, that the equation for this human connection would be much more complex!

"Elemental Energies" 36"x79"x1.5" - Acrylic on hollow core door panel - $625.00 SOLD

When I was 22 I enlisted in the US Navy.  I ended up going to Nuclear Power School and working as a chemist on a fast attack submarine.  I was very interested in radiation, the way sub-atomic particles interacted with each other and the subsequent energies that were released.  This was a huge departure from the early bohemian lifestyle I had been leading as a starving artist and college student.  When I underwent the psych battery that all potential submariners have to pass, I found that I was over 80% right brained.  Recently, after the navy and 25 years in the corporate world I was tested again and this time the reults were much different.  I tested at almost a perfect 50-50 percentage between being right brained and/or left brained.  That's just not right...

What this has left me with, is a strong desire to incorporate science into my art.  With Elemental Energies (36" x 79" acrylic on refurbished door panel) I have tried to balance the beauty of color and composition with the incredible and sometimes destructive power of the atom.  In the mushroom cloud we see the energies of atomic particles illustrated (no, they are not sperm cells) and the elements listed as if there were part of the periodic table, are mostly resulting isotopes from fission reactions from an atomic bomb or nuclear reactor.  Perhaps the most powerful element of all is listed in the lower right hand corner; (Hu) or the "human" element.  Without this human element there would be no potential for the generation of almost limitless energy or sadly, such unbelievable destruction.

"Eviction Notice" 24"x79"x1.5" - Acrylic on hollow core door panel - $525.00 SOLD

 

This piece is the beginning of a new series of paintings that will be painted on re-purposed hollow core door panels.  We are fortunate to have a Habitat for Humanity here in Springfield and I am able to purchase these used doors for a very reasonable price and at the same time stay the course in my efforts to create "green" artworks.  Going green isn't about "saving the planet" for me.  I believe the earth has and will continue to protect itself from all influences be they natural or human.  I am a big believer however, in not being wasteful, which I am sure can be traced back to the influence my mother had on me as I was growing up.  She herself grew up in the depression years and the impact of those years never left her.  

Eviction Notice is a 24" x 79" acrylic piece that started out as a very small ballpoint pen doodle on a piece of scrap paper.  I created a mirror image of the drawing and blew it up to fit on the large door panel.  As I began to paint the figures in the foreground I noticed that in creating the mirror image I also created a new form in the center that I wasn't expecting.  To me, it appeared as a frontal view of a serpent's head complete with fangs.  With that in mind, the other two figures quickly evolved into representations of Adam and Eve in the Garden.  As the story goes, the serpent appeared and beguiled Eve who then disobeyed God.  Adam followed suit and they were soon "evicted" from their paradise.