Forest Mandala

A recent 12 by 12 inch hand pulled linocut. Have a great week!

Whiskers

Any pet owner or caretaker will confirm how animals have clever ways to entice their caregivers to play. For example, I've seen a huge bull delay harnessing in favor of a cat-and-mouse game.

This is a 12 by 14 linocut, carved meditating on the gifts the oxen and cows offer us. They deserve our protection.

And if you are vegetarian-friendly, here is a wonderful site: www.purevege.com

Right Whales!

Another recent painting from my series of 9 by 12 inch ocean-related watercolors! Thanks for stopping by!

Mirror

The Bhagavad-Gita, the oceanly deep conversation from 5000 years ago, talks about this world being a reflection. The exact analogy expressed is the Banyan tree, with its upward roots and downward branches, symbolizing the binding nature of this material world. Yet the tree echoes a deeper reality; it turns out the tree, or the external world as we know it, is a reflection that can also point us in the right direction.
This is a 12 by 12 inch linocut. With relief printing, a cut can't be erased, and a design as minimal as this one is always risky. But when I pulled the first proof, the image resonated and I was grateful!
Have a great rest-of-the-week!

Identical

Narwhals from the Arctic! And it's the males that show off beautiful tusks. Down here in northern Florida, there'll soon be a spirited celebration of whales at annual Right Whale festival, hosted in Jacksonville at the sea walk pavilion during the month of November. In comparison the nawhal, the northern right whale population is *extremely* sparse.
The Nawhals' mottled skin is perfect for watercolor; there is a beauty in the spontaneity of the colors moving about.

And here is a pic of the new piece I am carving in the perfect studio—outdoors, with a "Lifetime" portable table ("lifetime" is branded on the top of the table, as if singing a metaphor). Thanks for stopping by!

Inner Teacher

We all have an inner teacher in our heart. If we are fortunate enough to have friends who have moved through a patch of deep confusion, they are our teachers too; they usually guide us back to the clarity of what we know, deep down in our expansive self, to be true. This linocut is 16 by 18 inches, and so a large press helped me pull the print. : ) Hope you are having a great week!

Kurma

Here is Kurma, the wonderful tortoise incarnation of Vishnu, with the diatyas and demigods suspended above (they are actually churning the ocean of milk using a sacred mountain as a churning rod and Vasuki, the celestial snake, as the rope). Kurma is kindly providing support while having his back scratched at the same time! This is the history behind the fascinating Kumbha Mela festival, celebrated in India every 12 years. Up to 70 million human beings attend!
This is a large gouache piece. I painted this, along many others in the same series, after spending months painting freely, in the process-painting mood, with an array of Lascaux gouache. Have a great week!

Refreshing!

Creating, when you really get into it, is a long, refreshing, adventurous walk; it shifts complacency and limitation.
This is an untitled 12 by 12 inch linocut, started in Hong Kong and finished in Florida, a few miles from the ocean's roar. Have a wonderful week, honoring your beautiful essence! : )

Secret

Often our own greatest gifts are secret to ourselves; the inner world is rich and vast yet hidden mysteriously just below the surface and layers. This recent 12 by 12 inch linocut's formal title is "Incubation." Thanks for visiting and have an inspired week!

Return

Return to oil painting! Here is some detail from new work, including (improvised) Hong Kong birds. The Crested Bulbuls are my favorites; they fly around in pairs with almost perfect synchronicity. Have a great week!



And for all you printmaking fans, here is a Charles Brand press with a 4 foot roller! It is housed, and used, in the beautiful Visual Arts Center in Hong Kong Park, as pictured here.

Suspense

Raptors, often seen sitting on electric wires in rural areas, are surrounded with suspense. And suspense, in human terms, can be energy giving; there is an aliveness to the anxiety associated with unknown outcomes, a sense of being on a threshold. This is a small watercolor, painted on an Arches block pad.


Above is a scene from the Hong Kong Park. The park itself is small, but it's beautiful. And just above the tea house, as you enter, there's a museum dedicated to hand carved soap stone seals, or chops; printmaking at its finest!
Thanks for stopping by!