Sea of Life 3

The Sea of Life paintings were done in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles.

We had moved to Los Angeles from Cape Cod some time before I began these paintings. They started as a series of blueberries, foliage, seaweed, cranberries, and colors that I missed from Cape Cod. I called the grouping Tree of Life.

While working, I noticed that fish and birds began to appear in the movement of colors, and the more I worked, the more fish and birds appeared. They weren't any kind of fish or birds I'd ever seen, they were new species, the kind that thrive in the deepest part of the ocean. And, they all had eyes like people's eyes, and were swimming around each other, morphing into one another, creating even newer species.

Beyond the blueberries, I realized what I missed about Cape Cod was the ocean. So, I followed the fish and birds back to Cape Cod and renamed the grouping, Sea of Life.

I make most of my own paint from raw powder pigment and oils. This way, I'm able to invent my own colors from scratch. When I paint large pieces I have to make paint as I go along, I can't go to a store and buy it. It's a delicate balance making colors, an ancient process that takes attention, time and patience. It's the kind of process that makes me slow down.

I feel that what people love about art is the madness that went into creating it. That's how I feel about art, anyway.

I work hard to leave clear traces of my process in the texture and lines of each painting. The surfaces of my larger paintings approach sculpture with folds and deep creases molded into the canvases with layers of paint. Even if a viewer doesn't see the process, I want them to feel it. From my experience with art that moves me, feeling the process is what supplies the music and movement to the colors and overall design of a painting.

My paintings evolve over time. I do a great deal of layering the colors, so, the deeper you look into each painting, the more you'll see. I want for the viewer to see what I saw, hear the music I heard and feel what I felt while creating the paintings. I want viewers to take part in the process, experiencing the process I experienced. So, I do what I can towards that end by making the process not only visible, but intrinsic to the paintings.

The Sea of Life paintings are predecessors to works like "Beginning", "Morning Fish", "Criss Cross Fish", and "Hot Time in Paradise".

Most of the colors used are hand-mixed from raw pigment and oils. I also used gesso, aerosol, leather paint, oil crayons, latex, pencil, organic inks and dyes.

Sea of Life 3 reflects the real beginning of the images forming into a dance of faces, fish, birds and animals.