Highlight

I found this shell on a nearby beach, well known for washing up beautifully formed conches. Conches are wonderful to hold. They also carry within their form the symphony of the ocean waves. Conches themselves can be blown (provided the tip isn't sealed), as they are in temples in India and around the world; their powerful sound can shift energies and remind us of our own inner strength and beauty.
This is an 11 by 14 inch oil on hardboard. May the sound of the conch be with you on your journey through 2012!

Separate

"Although she was separate, she was in the company of inner wisdom, her old, constant friend."
This is a 20 by 28 inch oil painting, painted outdoors, in the alive company of woodland creatures (including this Blue Jay)! Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by. : )

More Watercolor Studies: Stripes!

Have an inspiring, expansive week!

Whales!

Soon it will be the annual Right Whale Festival in Jacksonville! This piece is a 6 by 12 inch watercolor on Arches cold pressed paper.

Imperfection

Imperfection is a signature of our humanness. Yet the less we dwell on our benign imperfections, the more space we have for inner contemplation. In my painting, I have two red-bellied woodpeckers, with their almost-perfect, mesmerizing black and white wing design! Have a great week! : )

Perpetual Motion

In honor of our perennial north Atlantic dolphins, manatees, sea turtles, rays, and their ability to somehow remind us to live our lives expansively and with deep humility. This is a 12 by 12 inch linocut, carved outdoors. Have a great week!

From Beginner to Ancient

So here in Florida, turtle nesting season is upon us. Ancient turtles, swimming vast distances, will leave the ocean for one night. They'll build their nests, release their eggs, and then leave as mysteriously as they arrived. The little ones will have to fend for themselves when their time comes. Just below the surface of our lives, we too shift and churn in mysterious ways, somehow guided within a wise framework of connections, epiphanies, and inner simplicity and trust that there is something far greater going on.
This 12 by 12 linocut was carved just a few hundred yards from the ocean. May the blessings of the ancients be with us as we continue on our course. Have a great week!

Morning Harmony

This is my longest and narrowest completed piece yet, 13 by 24 inches. It's an embrace of the perpetual song, the orchestra of motion, we touch and feel every day.
One of my favorite woodcut artists is Munakata Shiko. His large pieces with beautiful titles (like "In Praise of Flower Hunting" and "Cherry Blossoms in Mist") are bold and unfathomly gentle black and white prints, reaching deep into the spirit. From Munakata directly, "The life of a woodblock print, in which I have placed my far-reaching spiritual belief, does not come from the life of the board itself; it is the mystery created through a single point and a single line."
Thank you for visiting and have a great week!

Cultivating Compassion

This piece is a meditation on cultivating compassion. Sanskrit texts talk about two birds living within the tree of the body; one is the observer and the other is the enjoyer. When we turn toward our inner guide, we show compassion to ourselves. It's natural, then, to show compassion to others, both human and animals.
This is a large painting, and the seed of it came from this linocut I carved some time ago. Thanks for visiting!

Surrender: Traveling the Path of Many Hills

Surrender as an expansive, ever-expanding and contracting field. Once one hill has been crossed, there is another to climb. All the walking, all the searching, it's all vital. This is a 12 by 12 inch linocut, carved outdoors and just printed. : )
Thanks for stopping by!