The pilgrimage to Haystack Rock happens at least once a year. The quaint seacoast town of Cannon Beach Oregon, full of kite shops, art galleries and seafood restaurants beckons tourists. But the real joy is the salty air with seagulls screeching and the tidepools brimming with life when the ocean tide recedes. I have been on this beach with my little kids in hand....and later those same kids with their own kids in tow. I have eaten crab, drunk wonderful Oregon wine, picked blackberries, held hands, beachcombed and flown kites here. And now, this weekend, a painting workshop that promises to thrill my artist's heart. Life is good and Haystack Rock is waiting.

The beautiful mystery of nature.

Spring comes with melting snow and rushing rivers,
tender leaves budding into new life and blossoms that
will turn into apples and apricots and juicy plums.
We awaken as the sun warms the new season and whispers
sweet nothings to the bare branches.
Happy first day of spring.

"Any profound view of the world is mysticism." Albert Schweitzer

Beneath the surface.

Science sophisticates and faithful mystics can agree that our connection with nature teaches us many things. It doesn't really matter whether you believe there are natural or supernatural forces at work....we arrive at the same place...sharing a common sense of reverence, an appreciation of beauty, communion with our environment and a common bond and moral code that we must care for and balance the relationship between man and the plants and animals he lives with. Beneath the surface of the argument of evolution and creationism...is a common bond of honoring nature. Art blends both.
"We touch this strength, our power, who we are in the world, when we are most fully in touch with one another, and with the world." Carter Heyward

It would seem from years of observation that whenever I perceive the world is in chaos, or I am in chaos I begin to paint "Still Life". Standing knee deep in the flood of human conditions and accepting that life is turbulent, powerful and unpredictable, often evokes the artists sensitivity. Life isn't still and we cannot "fix" it or make it stand still at our invitation. So while Japan and the Northern African countries are in turmoil, my heart is longing for a moment of quiet beauty captured for a fleeting moment and expressed on today's easel. It is here that I can sort, shape and transform the chaos into art and distinguish the jewels from the junkyard, the shadows from the light, the drama from creative expression. Art transforms the world....and in the process....the artist.

Creativity takes us to places we did not plan to go.....places inside ourselves, places where we get lost and where we do not have control. Places where we take risks and find out we can do things we didn't know we could do are waiting there. We discover places that explore our deeper self, a higher and better self. Most of all, when we take the scenic route, we meet each other and find companions of this adventurous creative journey. Many times this creative journey has warned me against adapting to a situation or circumstance that numbs the pain of life and comfortably shields me from the pain of others. I do not wish to adapt....but to explore and adventure. I wish to create, even when fear takes me to the edge of being fully alive. In a novel, The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields she identifies what happens when we adapt too well and get too comfortable. "The larger loneliness of our lives evolves from our unwillingness to spend ourselves, stir ourselves. We are always damping down our inner weather, permitting ourselves the comforts of postponement, or rehearsals." What are we waiting for?

"All are needed by each one: Nothing is fair or good alone." Ralph Waldo Emerson

No sacred story is told without ears to hear, no masterpiece is exhibited without eyes to see. The daffodils bring the fragrance of spring to those that notice and the birds chirp their song to our senses. Tsunamis bring fragmented lives within our vision to stir our empathy and loosen our hearts to include our fellow human beings. In the crevices of chaos we find Oneness. I stop the blur of images that rush past me to pause and honor this journey we take together in this time and space on our beautiful blue planet. Our earthly reality is we really do need one another.

"Be it life or death, we crave only reality." Henry David Thoreau

Desert Thirst.

To enter the wilderness of desert or mountain, ocean or space you must make friends with the unexpected. True of artists as they explore their expressions in color, texture, form and line, inspiration is often unexpected. As we embrace the time and space at the easel, the dance floor, the concert stage, the blank page, passion is awakened. The art of embracing is to free the mind of preconceived ideas and let the flow of ideas bubble up from the subconscious. A thousand regions, yet undiscovered, lie in the fertile ground of your mind and quieting the static of noisy distractions will release them. I often hear the question, "What are you going to paint next?" My answer is always, "I'll see what comes." And it does....the lacey pattern of ice rimming a pond, a bird sitting on a trembling branch, a wild river rushing to the oceas, a mountain jutting up from the valley, a face filled with light or a memory of planets floating in space....it comes....always.

The landscape of the soul.

Here within our creative spirit and our physical body are the sacred rivers, the mountains and valleys, the sun and moon that connect us to the Universe. The temple of our creative force contains a holy restlessness that brings body and soul together in a landscape of textures, colors and form. It is the force that draws us toward the light and investigates the shadows. "All wilderness seems to be full of tricks and plans to drive and draw us up into God's light." John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra.

Toward The Light

Artists are light chasers and every stroke of the brush is focused on what the light is doing....there are no lines....only patterns of light and shadow. One is just as important as the other.....we cannot ignore the shadows. "Beauty is as relative as light and dark." - Paul Klee

The contrast creates the beauty. So as we appreciate the contrast, we begin to give thanks for both shadow and light.