Week 25: "Adaptation of Harmonics"

Week 25: "Adaptation of Harmonics"

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It is my belief that music is the boat that takes us on the river of our souls.  Many works of mine are inspired by music, and how the melodies and lyrics make me feel. This week I was inspired to paint the sensation that a certain piece conjured. 

I see sensations as being different than emotions. Emotions are rooted in one core feeling such as anger, sadness or love, but a sensations to me is the layering of many emotions all at the same time.  In music the pairing and clustering of notes played simultaneously is call a chord, and the way the notes interact with each other is the harmonics.  It's my theory that feelings are the notes and chords while sensations are the resonating harmonics to our soul.  

This week's work was inspired by one of the very few compositions that have moved me past these mer solitary emotions.  "Adagio for Strings" (Angus Dei) by Samuel Barber with it's simplistic chord progressions is one of those works.  As I listen to it I find myself filled with thoughts of love, passion, hurt, sorrow, ecstasy, elation, longing, acceptance, rejection and many others all at the same time.  The piece transcends my simple feelings into reverberations of layers upon layers of humanity.  

I believe music can inspire the soul or make you closer to a higher being.  Like notes upon notes, chords upon chords, through music I have found that my soul can experience the true adaptations of harmony.

(Listen to "Adagio for Strings (Angus Dei)" by Samuel Barber below)

Week 24: "Fireflies"

Week 24: "Fireflies"

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During one of the warm summer evenings this week, I saw a sight that made my heart skip and my brain begin to wonder.  As I stood there watching a million dancing lights flash along the rolling lawns of the court yard, excitement that I had as a child began to swell inside and my adult mind began to fill with questions.

 As a child, my summer evenings were filled with attempts to catch proverbial lightning in a bottle.  Across the back yards of my friends and I's homes my heart waited in anticipation to see the yellowish green orbs appear.  Then I would dash across the dark grass in hopes of catching one and placing it in my keepsake jar, which was usually an empty jam jar with holes punched into the the top by a bottle opener key.  Those nights were spent in the euphoria of the Earth's mystic beauty.  Yet now as an adult, up until recently, I would look out into fields and think to myself that there are to many bugs out there.  When did that child with wide eyed amazement turn into the adult that couldn't stop to take part in the small things that the world gives us.

I have found as I grew older, I had become immune to the small beauties that are always in front of me,  all in hope to see the greater, larger beauty.  Yet something happened the other night.  Is it the because while working on this blog I am delving deeper into the parts of myself that I have lost.  Or is it a realization that it's not the large things that are important, but the collection of all the small beauties that make the grander picture.  So while standing there watching the night become speckled with flashing beauty, my heart, like the child I remember from all those years ago, once again began to dance with the Fireflies.

Week 23: "When I Look In the Mirror (A Portrait)"

Week 23: "When I Look In the Mirror (A Portrait)" 

 

 

A portrait's purpose is to capture the subject's inner essence in visible form. ~ Unknown

This week I decided to take a risk. This piece is something that not many have seen me do, a self-portrait.  Even though I have been creating art for many years, I have only ever painted one other self-portrait.  The first was ink on paper, which resides in my parent's home. The reason behind the lack of self-portraits is the introspective nature of this type of work.  When I begin to really look at each minute detail of myself, uncomfortable feelings and extreme insecurities comes into play. 

Just like a photographer or director, artists are observers of the world, but when the camera is turned they become unnerved, as do I.  While studying myself, I had to look deep at each unwanted twist, turn, and curve.  The only problem for me is that I am my own worst critic when it comes to how I look to the world. As many in this world, I see the flaws before I see the beauty.  I am drawn to my most hated flaws and end up emphasizing them more that the parts that are "aesthetically pleasing".  Do I do this with all my subjects? Why do I scrutinize my flaws rather than praise the beauty? If I were to concentrate on the beauty of myself when I look in the mirror, what kind of portrait would I paint then? 

Week 22: "To the Core"

Week 22:
"To the Core"

They call the apple the fruit of knowledge.  It has been used in biblical scripture, and also one of them "keeps the doctor away".  In my journey of this blog to know myself internally, spiritually, and artistically, I have been left amazed, shocked and at times completely confused.  

Once again I find myself painting iconic religious subject matter.  The interesting thing is that I never intended it to be.  I'm not an artist that paints still lifes.  Lately I am surprised at what comes from my brush strokes.  I thought to myself  "I am seeing new unknown sides to myself".  That's when I realized that this was the reason behind this week's painting.

In my life I have struggled at times to figure out "Who Am I?"  Constantly searching the outer and inner influences to find the answer to the who, what, where and why of myself. Yet when I think I have myself pegged, all of a sudden these new subject matters pop up and I find something new.  So to find the answers to myself, I have to know one thing.  That I am a living, breathing being that is ever changing, ever evolving to the core.