Art is the Soul’s Inner Pictures

Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye.. it also includes the inner pictures of the soul. – Edvard Munch Imagine a scene: A clan of Ice Age people huddle together in a cave shelter. The dim sun drops below the horizon. Bitter winds howl through the valley below. The light of …

Your Personal Renaissance

An artist must have his measuring tools not in the hand, but in the eye. – Michelangelo According to the dictionary, a freehand drawing is “done by hand without the use of instruments, measurements, etc”. You use your hand and observational skills. All children know how to do this, and some remember how after they …

Art and Artifice

Art blazes from the soul. You are an artist. You express your art within your life. Your life’s work flows from the art of balancing creative, passionate anxiety. Art is not exclusive to artists, rather art is the creative expression of life. Living is an art. Art is life. Art is a lie that makes …

Off the Beaten Path in China:Part 3

To a mind that is still, the entire universe surrenders. – Zhuangzi Su Shi was ethically unyielding. The subtle political context of one of his poems caused him to be thrown into a dark prison cell for one hundred days. The hopelessness of his miserable condition changed the great genius forever. This terrifying experience further …

Off the Beaten Path in China:Part 2

Journey to the end of the world in China. Part 2

Creative Visualization

One eye sees, the other feels. Paul Klee Our minds are miraculous. Our senses ceaselessly gather information about our environment which is instantaneously sifted and sorted through a myriad of interconnected memories. Certain information is critical to our survival – stoplight!; fire; hunger;… Some information is gathered but is not readily of use, and our …

Inspirational Poetry

This is a sample of my recently published book of poetry, Shine a Splendid Light: Poems and pieces from a restored life. It is Volume One. From the Artist the Universe Demands Art and image, subject and artist are bound together forever. Something beckons to the artist’s eye causing his head to turn and notice …

Oceans Within Me

…I will sleep no more but arise / You oceans that have been calm within me / How I feel you, fathomless, stirring, preparing unprecedented waves and storms… Walt Whitman , Leaves of Grass In the morning, after finishing my coffee and humble breakfast, I wander down the road to the ocean. As I grow …

Manifest Your Inner Artist

“Art is standing with one hand extended into the Universe and one hand extended into the world, and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy.” Albert Einstein All creativity involves revealing one’s inner self to the world. The urge to create forces the artist to remove portions of their self-protective barriers. A connection must …

The Great Artist is a Simplifier

The title above is a quote from Vincent Van Gogh. Artists summon creativity from out of the void. The pure unrefined energy channeled by the artist is transformative. In Taoism the Void is not emptiness, but potentiality. All reality is summoned from out of the seeming nothingness. Seeing the display of this summoned force one …