“The First Two Years – July 2009 to July 2011”
After living all of my adult life in cities like New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Los Angeles, and an important center for art, Santa Fe, I began the current “Life Chapter”in a location with no “tourist attraction” distractions (maybe that was the important factor for self-activation).
On the first of July 2009, I had a conversation with myself, during which time I finally “got” what I had heard others say so many times: “Someday is NOT a day of the week!!!” So…I faced my fears (“what if I can’t paint or am lousy at it?”), began stretching canvas and started to paint two Collections with Santa Feand its lore as the underlying themes. I decided to use Santa Fe and its eclectic topography, histories and cultures as the common “thread” for
all paintings - eliminating a common problem among many painters who constantly ask themselves, “what am I going to paint next?”
Not wanting to limit myself to only one painting style, I began to paint two Collections: 1) Realism (“Santa Chi”), and, 2) Combining
Impressionism, with whatever styles I felt were necessary to convey the message of the painting (“Santa Fauve”).
Once these two Collections are complete I have many other topics and themes I want to express on canvas. For example, I want to explore further Figurative paintings of Saints, Icons, Deities, etc. – similar to my interpretations of “Brother Sun” and “Our Lady of Guadalupe. I also want to experiment with the various ways I might express a Collection of studies and still life compositions, much in the style of my first Impressionist painting, “Geranium Morning.”