Wild spirit

"Wild spirit," 5 x 5 acrylic on canvas

We hear a lot these days of people who are "spiritual" but not "religious."

Given the turmoil and politicalization with many organized religions, it's no wonder, and the more I read and study of different cultures, a question comes to mind.

What is spiritual? Depends on you you are, your culture, your beliefs and much more.

I can't help think again of Native American cultures and the way they, and others, hold certain parts of creation as sacred. 

Thus, today's little acrylic, another sacred icon. I believe it is also important, in these over-regulated and political correct times,  that such a creation is also a symbol, a beckoning,  of wildness, of freedom. This is my second of the subject. There will be more.

Soon available at In Your Eye Studio & Gallery in Paseo Arts District.

Autumn colors

"Autumn winds," 11 x 14 acrylic on canvas board

The favorite season is here, even with mixed up weather in Oklahoma and elsewhere Depending on where you live, the colors of Nature in change add texture and memories as every day grows shorter.

Today's painting captures that season, I hope. The largest I've attempted in acrylics, taking chances, learning, having fun painting on the back porch. Study in complementary colors, and a barn, again. Brushes and palette knives. A little tinkering left tomorrow (that road is just too straight).

Soon to be framed, and available at In Your Eye Studio and Gallery in Paseo Arts District.

Season of colors

"Sunflower Season," 5 x 5 acrylic on canvas

Autumn...season of colors, nature's paintbrush, the most beautiful time of year.

We think of our lives differently, of aging, of approaching death, and rarely of the color of our lives. Perhaps we instead should draw inspiration from nature, that these times should also be our most vivid, most full of the beauty of life.

I especially love the colors of Aspen and Cottonwoods in New Mexico, in the strata of the Southwest, and of the brilliant hardwoods changing in the upper Midwest and New England.

Yet I only have to glimpse the roadsides of Oklahoma for more of the colors. 

Thus today's acrylic painting, sunflowers. My lesson to my autumn self. Available soon at In Your Eye Studio and Gallery in Paseo Arts District.

 

Spiritual Encounter

"Spiritual Encounter," 5 x 5 acrylic on canvas

There are times when you come "face-to-face," for an earth-bound lack of a more appropriate word, with something beyond physical reality.

You just feel it, or know it, or wonder, whenever that "eye-contact" happens. It might be a butterfly, a bird hovering too close, or something else you just can't explain. For me, I always get a sense of it when I see the eyes of a what, or a bison, though you can't get too close. 

Given our heritage, I don't think that's surprising. I don't question the native American reverence for the spiritual strength of a rare white buffalo. Thus, this painting, finished today. Soon at In Your Eye Studio  in Paseo Arts District

When the Spirit Moves you

Getting started, 5 x 5 acrylic on canvas board

Sometimes you need magic, something beyond the ordinary to move you to breathe, to think, to live, to create.

Trying to come up with a composition for an Oklahoma landscape today lead down empty roads on the Great Plains, and into my imagination.

I, and countless others have painted bison, the iconic symbol of the American West. I will do so again, on a larger canvas. But today I ran across photos and articles about the Native American spirit bison, the White Buffalo.

So here's the start. Much more to come, out of the mist of snow and the past and spirits.