Life, the Universe and Everything

The world of art is a big one. Even when you narrow that world down to artworks that you can hang on your wall. Everyone who creates art has a whole  unique world inside themselves and life experiences that no one else has ever experienced . Even if they are only five years old. But especially if they have been repledged to live a long life. Like me.

My photograph in a show at Gilcrease.

When I was younger, especially in college, I never considered this question. I drew and painted from my own experiences. I painted float trips and fishing trips. I painted places I knew around Claremore and Oologah, where I grew up, and Philbrook where I took art classes as a child. Of course, I painted the obligatory still lives required in my college art classes and nude models too. I even tried my hand at abstracts.

But what about now? Luckily, I've been able to travel some, and luckily, I've taken pictures wherever I've traveled. I even got to live in Australia for two years. And I've learned to see with a photographer's eye, unique to myself, so I have a lifetime of photographic memories to explore in paint.

In the last decade, I've taken two magnicent car trips to the West Coast, taking different routes each time, through national parks and historic places. The American Southwest is mindblowing. So much is uninhabitable but starkly facinating.

I want to visit so many places I may never get the opportunity to see...The desserts of Iran, the coast of Crotia, and the vintage mansions of Romania, for instance. I'm not giving up those dreams, but I already have a thousand images from around the world and my own back yard to inspire my art.

I have been sharing my photography for some time now, selling my pictures internationally and showing in Philbrook, Gilcrease, and Living Arts of Tulsa. So now it's time to share the world I've seen and experienced in paint as well.  What do I have to say about life, the universe and everything? Maybe something that shares just a little of what life has meant to me in a way that connects with a few special people who see something that has meaning for them when they look at it.