As with every show, I try to dig deeper into the mysteries of the land and it isn't always easy to find a clear path. Usually when I try too hard the path is blocked, but when I come more from a receiving place then I get somewhere. This year's "Sacred Lands" at Waxlander Gallery is the culmination of 5 months of steady studio work and 25 new paintings. All have been an attempt to uncover more, but one in particular, "The Story Sunflowers Told", brought me to a place I've never been before. Though I have interpreted flowers on canvas for years, this piece was entirely new for me. Using a photo as reference, I first used a grid system to sketch it out on canvas because is was critical to get the myriad of sizes of the flowers right as well as their organic composition. This more exact approach led to a tighter composition, but one that wasn't constricted. When I finished it, I felt I had captured that brief moment in time when the wind caught this grouping of sunflowers, each with there own voice in the arrangement across the 52"x122" diptych. Yes. I wanted it large and something to be experienced and not just looked at.
I talk about "The Story Sunflowers Told" because I consider it the "mothership" of the show where all the other pieces can dock. I dug deeper and found this piece or so i'l like to think. The mundane, the normal, the familiar, like those sunflowers I saw on a walk with my dog, are always next to us. But beyond all of it, is another experience. And that is what I want to paint.
Hope to see you at the show.
The Story Sunflowers Told, oil on canvas, 52x122 diptych, 2017