Good Vibe-rations

"Edmond Icon," UCO's Old North in the Snow,  8 x 10 acrylic, gallery wrapped canvas 

Next Thursday, April 7,  I'm excited to be one of 70-plus visual artists and many performing artists  taking part in Edmond Vibes,https://edmondvibes.org/ , the first Thursdays summer arts festival in downtown Edmond, from 5 to 9 p.m.

Come browse and visit--I'm hosted by Prime Time Travel, https://www.primetimetrvl.com/ 18 N. Broadway this month, and they offer refreshments. The program is an event of the Edmond Fines Art Institute. https://edmondfinearts.com/

I will have more than 30 works of art displayed --watercolor, acrylics and oils-- inside their spacious foyer, priced from $35, and I'll be  painting a watercolor landscape that evening too. You can also view some of my unique Christmas cards and view some of my commissions.

That's the reason behind this latest acrylic, just completed and for sale April 7 during Vibes:  "Edmond Icon, " UCO's uco.edu historic Old North in the snow,  8 x 10 on gallery wrapped canvas.  

Full Moon Rising

"Full Moon Rising," 9 x 12 acrylic on canvas panel

Look at the moon.

When I need hope for today, for a future, in these dark days of war and hatred, of discrimination and unfairness, of propaganda and politics, of inhumanity and hypocrisy, in  Ukraine or the United States or even Oklahoma, we need hope. When helpless amid war crimes against a country, or hate crimes against races, or political crimes against genders and religions and beliefs and words,  I treasure nature, and especially the moon.

No, it won't make any of those attacks on our humanity go away. But it's one light in the darkness that we need so much...a reminder that we are brief, that you can count on nature, that creation can be beautiful in spite of us. And that is hope.

Today's painting. No matter humanity or its lack of humanity,  the full moon will rise.

I-magic-nation

"Magic Forest," 12 x 12 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

The world, creation, humanity, burdened down with the "reality" of  technology, science, cultures and "logic" spirals out of control with war, inhumanity, pandemics, with so-called "sapiens" living unintelligently, committing eco-suicide by killing the planet.

Most seem to have forgotten, or lost, or squandered or negated another reality--that of imagination, of the spirit, of magic.

Yet there are still places of magic, of the super-natural, of health and happiness in the crevices of our minds that we never touch or have drugged with everyday existence. You find them in all the arts, in nature itself, if you look, if you imagine.

We desperately need magic more than ever, to rescue us from our depressing "reality" that is not working intelligently for us. 

Amid this latest carnage, I began thinking of physical places that are magic to me, where I am closest to creation and the creator. Only then does creativity take place, from close contact, in my imagination.

A few of those are deep forests, in fact, or in fiction, like Tolkien's Mirkwood,  or Robin Hood's Sherwood, or the Pacific Northwest's rainforests, or ... 

Thus this painting.

Remember Home?

"Homestead Memories," 12 x 12 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

Where did you grow up? Was there an old family home? 

I was thinking of that this past week as more than a half-million freedom-loving people were being driven from their homes in Ukraine. Their flight for survival means leaving possessions and memories behind as a Russian tyrant invades and commits war crimes. Real patriots are fighting  and dying for real freedom there.

Meanwhile, in America, spoiled, selfish and shallow so-called patriots, in convoys and on street corners and in public meetings are protesting vaccination and mask mandates as violating their cherished inconsequential "freedoms."  It would be laughable if it weren't so stupid and tragic. That tells you all you need to know about what's wrong with America these past very few years. 

This anger has been brewing inside me for longer than the Russian invasion, but the character and courage of the Ukrainian people contrasts so strongly with these people who are wrecking America. They're causing a ruckus over masks and then go home to their air-conditioned  homes. Pathetic.

It's time for Americans to remember what is important, like the old home place. I didn't know it when I started this painting, but it is in response to my emotional reactions to all of this.

Thoughts took me down Oklahoma's back roads, though small towns, seeing the many frame houses, some still occupied, others abandoned, all carrying stories and memories.

Thus the painting, palette knives and brushes. Soon available at In Your Eye Studio & Gallery at Paseo Arts District.