two landscapes

Pictured above are two different scenes that I inhabit during the year. One is in my backyard where nature is full with abundant natural space and clean air. The other video is what I experience another time of the year - city life and it's massive culture. The second video was shot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the Batu Caves. The towering caves are made from limestone and you walk up 227 steps. Along the way, we experienced Hindu blessings and services.

I haven't been inspired to say anything lately, but today is (another) cloudy out and I find myself sitting down at the moment rather than painting and slashing it out in the studio. Also, I find the video making fresh and I love the challenge of pasting the scenes together with my capricious editing program that I use.

At the moment, I am experiencing dullness, very similar to the gray dark clouds that I see outside our computer room along with the metronome of the wind swaying trees. Perhaps I suffer from a cogent direction or a discontentment of what I have been painting. They are newer works of the figure and I seem to latch onto these images because they give me substance and a new ground for making work. Thinking and observing what you paint is as difficult as the physical act of painting. The inner necessity of having to say something and having it be good work is my main focus and general preoccupation. There is that ongoing continuation, that process that we forget much of the time while making the work and I often look towards the finale which is deceptive and absorbs useful energy that could be put back onto the canvas. Moreover, I find that work has to sit, incubate and gather energy throughout time, where it surprises and catches you off guard. It is truly a metaphysical journey. A friend's quote at the bottom of her emails reads, keep loving, keep fighting. It couldn't be better expressed!

bird fluff

The past few years, I have noticed that robins have been building their nests around our home. I hear that is good luck. Anyway, here is one bird using our birdbath. I caught this clip from inside the kitchen and miss the slight sounds. Last year, the birds nested in the eaves of our carport and this year they are nestled and well hidden in the center of our Mayday tree. I am happy they find peace in our yard and I love having them around, seeing them scurry for their food and flitting here and there.

nature and more nature

We spent four days at the Upper Tangle lakes with some friends; a four hour road trip from Anchorage became a beautiful and non stop scenic view that seemed to go on interminably becoming breathtakingly unbelievable in scope. This morning, I was reviewing the video tape that I filmed of this region and couldn't believe the immensity of landscape. (The Tangle Lakes extends 160 miles of winding and convoluted lake terrain; is 120 miles south of Denali National Park and can be portaged between locations, the further area called the Lower Tangle Lakes is where it ends called Dickey Lake.) Once we arrived at the drop off, we headed out with our canoes for a two hour row and found a camp site that gave us a view that extended for miles. The next three days, we hiked and relaxed. The bugs could get bad at times so we put on our head nets. Otherwise, the weather cooperated and was cool and not unbearably hot. We didn't see too much wildlife except for some waterfowl and a beaver warning us with the slap of his tail to stay away from his abode. I found a caribou rack on one of our walks with some fresh skull still needing more attention from the maggots. Bleached wood attracted me and I managed to squeeze out a nice bundle for perhaps an anticipated art piece.

Below is our Himalayan Poppies that we harvest each year in our front garden. They have doubled in size and the color is unusually stunning because you are not so lucky to get this type of blue. I am fortunate because I live in nature. I don't live in Los Angeles anymore and miss the avid art scene. It is a trade off I guess where big city dwellers miss the purity of the outdoors and where I miss the ruckus of city life. These days however, I seem to make it a fit and have determined to make this place a home, for now, and will adjust it to my art and style, to my life and call it a grand existence.