"In The Flow" how intuition is my major influencer
When painting this series, I worked very hard at relaxing into The Flow. It's a bit like working hard at your meditation practice, so the more you relax into it, the better you get at it. I find it really funny that the media is called flow acrylics, as if I needed a constant reminder as to what I was growing into.
The Universe is like funny like that sometimes. As odd as it sounds, I'll say it anyway. I think the Universe has a genuine sense of humor.
Can you feel how I captured those abstracted moments of calm? The temporary bits of calm in between huge swells of rough and scary moments.
When I was a young adult, I looked for ways to be in the world other than just making art. Mostly I was terrified of embracing the starving artist mantra, if I were to truly live an artist's life and be another starving artist. However, in a hyper-energized search for some other way to live, I sold everything I owned, bought a 1-way ticket, and moved to Alaska. While living in the last frontier state, it seemed quite natural to take the next step and enroll in the the geophysics undergraduate program.
Was I following the Flow back then?
In any case, all these years later mathematics, rocks, minerals and landscapes permeate all aspects of my life. So it shouldn't be too surprising when landscapes and waveforms appear in my abstracts.
(for more discussion, scroll to the bottom of page)
The Universe is like funny like that sometimes. As odd as it sounds, I'll say it anyway. I think the Universe has a genuine sense of humor.
Can you feel how I captured those abstracted moments of calm? The temporary bits of calm in between huge swells of rough and scary moments.
When I was a young adult, I looked for ways to be in the world other than just making art. Mostly I was terrified of embracing the starving artist mantra, if I were to truly live an artist's life and be another starving artist. However, in a hyper-energized search for some other way to live, I sold everything I owned, bought a 1-way ticket, and moved to Alaska. While living in the last frontier state, it seemed quite natural to take the next step and enroll in the the geophysics undergraduate program.
Was I following the Flow back then?
In any case, all these years later mathematics, rocks, minerals and landscapes permeate all aspects of my life. So it shouldn't be too surprising when landscapes and waveforms appear in my abstracts.
(for more discussion, scroll to the bottom of page)
"The Way Of Water" 60x48-in acrylic on aluminum; --Available as print on fashionable dress, scarf, mask, and more. See "Art as Fashion" link.
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"Coast" 20x20-in acrylic on board
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"Tranquility" 36x36-in acrylic on board;
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"Blue Joy" 12x12-in acrylic on board
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--SOLD--"Sunrise Canyon" 48x36-in acrylic on aluminum
Available as print on fashionable dress, scarf, mask, and more. See "Art as Fashion" link.
"Study in Mauve" 10x14-in acrylic on board
Available as print on fashionable dress, scarf, mask, and more. See "Art as Fashion" link.
"Sunny Skies"
12x12-inches acrylic on board
--SOLD-- "Arctic Borealis" 14x12-inches acrylic on board
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--SOLD--"Corral and Sea Foam" 12x12-in acrylic on board
--SOLD--"Red Rock Latte" 10x14-in acrylic on board;
"Sands of Time" 18 x 11-in acrylic on board;
--SOLD--
"Blue, Brown and White" 16x20-in acrylic on board
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SOLD "Cloud Hidden" 40x30-in acrylic on aluminum;
--SOLD-- "Raspberry Foam" 8x10-in acrylic on board;
--SOLD--
"Marigolds II" 10x8-inches acrylic on board
--SOLD--
"Time Is An Ocean" acrylic on board
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(From the top ...So it shouldn't be too surprising when landscapes and waveforms appear in my abstracts.)
Lying in bed in the dark watching YouTube videos, I learned about the flow acrylic methods. This happened always during the witching hours, around 3 am. In the quiet of the night, for no particular reason other than it popped into my head, I opened YouTube and was presented with videos of a very odd type of painting.
My first impression of these videos was that I stumbled onto a weirdo merger of an art studio and a baking show demo. They used spatulas, wooden panels, wire cookie cooling racks, and plastic cups filled with layers of liquid paint. The take away for me was a flow art materials list and how to calculate percentages of medium-to-pigment. Although the authors of these videos clearly enjoyed themselves and sold many of their panels, I categorized their painting "techniques" as crafts as they lacked soulful artistry.
It was then, as a humbled intuition devotee, I was rewarded with a relentless demand to assemble a new studio setup designed for flow paintings, after which I developed a distinctive technique and named it the Intentional Flow Method.
As I worked with this method more and more, I experienced a sort of out-of-body quality of life, which it lasted over six months. During that time, the new method was ingrained and reproducible. While the new flow techniques were assembling in my subconscious, I did not pause to analyze or question what was happening—I simply gave myself over to my muse and followed my intuition. If a technical problem showed up, an answer appeared by morning. It was a sublimely serene time, even though I was energized and excited as I worked around the clock creating this new series.
While embracing this style of totally intuitive trance-like of creativity, I stepped into the intuitive flow while fully present, relaxed my will, and let go. No preconceived ideas. No plans. Just magical results.
After I completed a dozen new paintings worthy of hanging in a gallery, I began to see how my inspiration-fueled studio experience had a common theme to my journey from disabling illness back to health. Once that connection clicked, I could see how my previous series, Ethereal, the paintings identified by gashes, scapes, and cuts, had documented a long period a major, life-stopping, excruciating pain.
Lying in bed in the dark watching YouTube videos, I learned about the flow acrylic methods. This happened always during the witching hours, around 3 am. In the quiet of the night, for no particular reason other than it popped into my head, I opened YouTube and was presented with videos of a very odd type of painting.
My first impression of these videos was that I stumbled onto a weirdo merger of an art studio and a baking show demo. They used spatulas, wooden panels, wire cookie cooling racks, and plastic cups filled with layers of liquid paint. The take away for me was a flow art materials list and how to calculate percentages of medium-to-pigment. Although the authors of these videos clearly enjoyed themselves and sold many of their panels, I categorized their painting "techniques" as crafts as they lacked soulful artistry.
It was then, as a humbled intuition devotee, I was rewarded with a relentless demand to assemble a new studio setup designed for flow paintings, after which I developed a distinctive technique and named it the Intentional Flow Method.
As I worked with this method more and more, I experienced a sort of out-of-body quality of life, which it lasted over six months. During that time, the new method was ingrained and reproducible. While the new flow techniques were assembling in my subconscious, I did not pause to analyze or question what was happening—I simply gave myself over to my muse and followed my intuition. If a technical problem showed up, an answer appeared by morning. It was a sublimely serene time, even though I was energized and excited as I worked around the clock creating this new series.
While embracing this style of totally intuitive trance-like of creativity, I stepped into the intuitive flow while fully present, relaxed my will, and let go. No preconceived ideas. No plans. Just magical results.
After I completed a dozen new paintings worthy of hanging in a gallery, I began to see how my inspiration-fueled studio experience had a common theme to my journey from disabling illness back to health. Once that connection clicked, I could see how my previous series, Ethereal, the paintings identified by gashes, scapes, and cuts, had documented a long period a major, life-stopping, excruciating pain.
Physical problems like what I had, trigeminal neuralgia AKA the suicide disease, demands strong pain meds to withstand even the simplest daily activities or physical contact with any part of the face. Nothing cut the pain completely. Drugs made it so life was borderline tolerable so I could eat, or talk, or lay down on a pillow. Even so, I hated the price of a foggy, depressed, state.
Even in a debilitated state, I pressed towards a seemingly endless search for an answer; was it something I could physically heal or was it an emotional scar, something I could not easily gain access to? Maybe this pain and suffering was part of my spiritual path? These were the questions I discussed with doctors, healers, shamans, family and friends. Now, on the other side, I know the answer to my complicated case was a combination of all of those things with help from all those people.
The thing about soul-inspired artwork is you are never quite sure why you are making something until it is long ago finished and you have time to step away and look back at what you did. Even then, it may still not unveil the answers until you sit still and write about it.
My intuition is my major influencer leaving no room for starving artist syndrome. By living in The Flow amazing things, of which I never would have imagined on my own, suddenly appear in my life.
Even in a debilitated state, I pressed towards a seemingly endless search for an answer; was it something I could physically heal or was it an emotional scar, something I could not easily gain access to? Maybe this pain and suffering was part of my spiritual path? These were the questions I discussed with doctors, healers, shamans, family and friends. Now, on the other side, I know the answer to my complicated case was a combination of all of those things with help from all those people.
The thing about soul-inspired artwork is you are never quite sure why you are making something until it is long ago finished and you have time to step away and look back at what you did. Even then, it may still not unveil the answers until you sit still and write about it.
My intuition is my major influencer leaving no room for starving artist syndrome. By living in The Flow amazing things, of which I never would have imagined on my own, suddenly appear in my life.
The Break Through series of my intentional flow paintings, debuted at an exhibition in Redwood City, CA "The Main Gallery" in winter/spring of 2019.