Untitled (color-burst) #1

I love the way layers of color can be added to adjust the original image.  The red in the top left corner just started spreading, almost bursting out.

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Sidewalk Art

I found this brass plate embedded in the sidewalk I was walking on in downtown Canton, OH.  It is from the Berger Manufacturing Company.  It advertised the thick glass sidewalk lights installed at the storefront entrance of one of the downtown businesses.  They are beautiful and unique.  A little Google research gave me a reproduced copy of the original brochure.  I took a picture of this brass plate and decided to paint it.  I love old stuff.

Attic Spaces

 

We all have stuff that we don’t use that gets “stored” away somewhere.  I think attics are metaphors for our hearts.  This painting is less about our belongings and more about our souls.

Street of Desires

 

These streets are as an enchanting part of New Orleans culture as they are popular culture.

Red Sky at Night

 

A recent work.  My girlfriend asked me what prompted me to do this painting and if I had been to the place it depicts.  I said the image was just in my head and that it wasn’t a place I had been.  She spent a number of years out West specifically in California and she said it reminds her of things she saw while living there.  The sky in this painting draws me in as do the mountains in the background.  I guess I paint places I’d like to be, in conditions I would greatly enjoy.

In the Storm

 

Sometimes life is hard.  The waves kick up.  The waters foam.  And yet we don’t give up.  We’re in the storm but the storm doesn’t have to own our hearts.

Soul’s Lament on a Perfectly Melancholy Day

I look around the room and I see the things that are in it.  I know this is where I live; I call this place home but it doesn’t feel like it.  I park in the same old parking spot in the same old parking lot at the same old apartment in the same old neighborhood but I still wonder how I got here.  I watch the cars around me when I go places.  People together talking, sharing, living.  I want that and yet it feels out of reach.

I guess I’m just missing you.  I want the life we have when we’re together.  That feels like living.  What is this?  What is this thing we do when we’re apart?  God my heart aches.  I savor the moments we have like a really good glass of wine.  I want the taste on my lips forever.  I want that warming feeling never to go away.  I want the fullness of those moments to last forever.

I’m sad today; feeling vulnerable too.  I’m not going to lie to myself or to anyone.  Sometimes I feel like there’s a billboard that hovers over my car saying, “Watch out for the sad, lonely dude, he’s probably not paying too much attention to his driving.”  It’s actually true.  I am pretty sad and my mind is almost never where it should be when I’m driving.

I miss you.  Come home soon.  I don’t know if I can handle this life.  I want to live our life, the life we have together.

Coincidence…Maybe?

                                          

I’m just saying it looks fishy to me.  Intergalactic take over attempt….you tell me!

Sturdy Giant

Your skin rough, like a sea-hardened sailor.
Endlessly you reach for the sky, soaring the heights.
Your fingers firmly anchored to the earth,
snaking their way deep into the ground below.

Your grandeur and majesty beyond comparison,
nothing dares challenge your sovereign reign.
Alone you take your stand, outshining your diminutive peers
gazing at you in silent reverence.

You immovable giant, whose poised strength
wins the admiration of all who look upon you.
In quiet beauty you rule earth and sky.

The Blank Stare

I couldn’t help but notice. She was full of life, vibrant and talkative. He just sat staring this endlessly empty stare. I could see that it frustrated her and despite her attempts she could not gain his elusive attention. He got up and slowly shuffled away to get more coffee.

I sneaked over to their table, looked her in the eye and said, “Something happened to your husband that’s really changed him. I bet that’s hard.” Instantly the tears began to form and she replied, “Are you in the medical field?” I said, “No, I can just tell.” She told me he had a stroke four years ago and is now battling cancer. She said it is so hard to watch him changing from the man he was before his stroke and ensuing battle with cancer. I told her I can only imagine how challenging it is for her. She nodded in quiet, tearful agreement.

He came back to the table and we chatted a bit about their family and what brought them to Ohio from the thumb of Michigan (a beautiful place to visit if you ever get the chance). He went on to tell me about his job of 45 years for the same company. I told him I am always impressed by anyone who can stay in the same job for that many years. I could see how proud he was of his job and of the way he made his way through the ranks by working hard and being devoted to the company (a good lesson for us all).

I shook his hand and thanked him for chatting. As I left to go back to my table I started reflecting on those two. I’m sure they’ve been married for many years. I’m sure like every couple they’ve worked through some difficult things together.

I thought it strange and a little sad, that at the point in their lives when they have the time and resources to travel and see the things they always wanted to see, they are faced with the challenge of ailing bodies and frail health; yet their commitment remains and they are carrying on loving each other as they vowed to do many years before.

Love is both feeling and commitment (choice). The feelings do come and go, but real love remains committed no matter what. Today, I was blessed with a real-time illustration of love in action.