“Blue Lips” represents three frozen visages seeking warmth. In life, people are often trying to warm up, to be accepted, to come in from the cold. Winters in Edmonton, Alberta, where I grew up, were frigid. Anything above minus 15 degrees was warm enough for my pals and I to toboggan, play hockey or snow mobile. We would stay outside until our lips turned blue.
“Bushido” was the warrior code of honor among the samurai in feudal
Canis Lupus is the Latin name for the Grey Wolf.Growing up in northern Canada, I sometimes heard the distant howling of a wolf pack. Wolves have long been regarded by Native Americans as teachers and pathfinders. Wolves are fiercely loyal to mates and have a strong sense of family while maintaining individualism. “Canis Lupus” represents the wisdom, freedom and independence of this ancient breed.
Last summer, I visited Multnomah Falls, a beautiful cascade on the banks of the Columbia River in Oregon. I have always loved waterfalls, carving deep canyons, exposing earth?s secrets from millennia past. “Cascade” evolved out of my subconscious as an image of a feathery descent of water, which has a complex symbolism. The liquid flows are both life sustaining and life changing. Metallic, shimmering ribbons of color evoke the rich layers of stone that are exposed over time, as water carves new patterns in the earth.
Commute is the daily travel to and from work. While going to college in the Bay Area, I worked as a delivery driver. The roads were a maze of highways, alleys, streets and bridges. Stuck in traffic jams with commuters, I would gaze up at the serpents of concrete overpasses and down at the signs, lights and skid marks.”Commute” represents my memories of urban roadways.
A courtesan was a mistress of a king or wealthy man of nobility. In Japan, geisha were the courtesans of wealthy men. After reading Memoirs of a Geisha, I wanted to create an image of a beautiful, mysterious woman whose face was obscured in shadows.”Courtesan,” the female volcano, is a woman surrounded by dark, rich colorful lava that masks her secrets, her bubbling depths. Bright metallics hint at hidden sparks of passion like a volcano starting to erupt. The courtesan stands, temporarily imprisoned, in her long, flowing dress, but her “magma” is starting to break free and “flow.”
Currents are the flow of air or water. Currents are caused by liquids or gasses of different temperatures or pressures seeking equilibrium. “Currents” illustrates the striving for nature’s balance with streams of color flowing together to attain harmony.
The idea for “Daybreak” comes from the brilliant hues we saw through smoke veiled skies last summer. I once drove to a highpoint east of Bozeman before dawn to witness a spectacular sunrise. “Daybreak” represents the dawning of a new day, a new beginning, a fresh start with limitless opportunities. Daybreak is a time of quiet solitude accompanied by the whisper of wind, a hint of change.
“Depth” has many levels of meaning.”Depth” can be defined literally as the measurement from top downward, or as perspective, a way of looking at life. Throughout life, depth can be searched for within ourselves. This piece melds a search for depth with the love of the ocean. Water has a powerful, primal attraction, a limitless depth. The vastness of the ocean and the fact that it is largely unexplored, make it mysterious. Varied blue tones characterize different levels and obscure hidden secrets yet to be discovered within the depths.
“Diffusion” has multileveled meanings.”Diffusion” can be defined the intermingling of molecules, a scattering of light rays, a reflection, and the dissemination of ideas and culture. In this “Diffusion,” an “idea” is represented by the fracturing, purple circle. Tendrils of “thought” reach across to meet and exchange new information. The broken field of colors, as well as the subtle blending in the background, symbolizes the daily mixing of cultures in a world that grows smaller each day.