Big Vision Arts

"Chaos & Nature". It is a reflection of how I feel about life right now. All these abstract fertile rhythms and shards of spinning that somehow in a certain light reflect something sacred and fierce, but when I look again... just seed pods. This piece is very illuminated and the color and tone change with the light source due to painting on top of luminous copper.

One of the Copper Sedona™ series, this piece went through many changes, as art often does. But once I discovered this interesting animal face in the sky that wasn't going away I realized it's name. The warm copper color in bothe the sky and the red rocks is soothing with the floating winged creature in the clouds.

Copper clouds offer a sense of stillness to this illuminated landscape. Authentic copper adds a dimension of desert light.

These tiny moths, Arctiidae (tiger moths) arrive at my studio in the late summer, and I find their little bodies left under the neon light, where they rise to the heavens. A copper labyrinth showed up in my mediation a few times, so I began to build one on a wooden panel. Of course I had to add patina-ed colors into the mix because transparent oils on copper is luminous, but still doesn't come close to the perfection of beauty in these tiny creatures. A stylized Arctiidae moth dons a halo here, to show it's infinite qualities. Natural life (as in the moth's) is a small piece of infinity within in our finite world where we as humans are sure we have all the answers.

Nikola Tesla said "everything is light". This makes me imagine everything emitting light and being made of light; constantly moving, and transparent to the eye. I experience this sensibility while dancing. I sense I am transparent and that light moves through and around my body and flickers with the air. The landscape here looks as if it is solid but it's reflection is dripping with liquid. I am in love with patinas that bounce off copper leaf, and when I flow them onto a copper covered board, magic occurs that sets a direction for a painting. Often that direction changes as I move into conversation with the mystery that is unfolding on the board. I am interested in the transparent quality of light and our lives as we move through them, boosted by the elements: air, water, fire, earth and spirit.

North Star refers to a still point of contact when all else changes around you. This painting began with an interesting circular labyrinth in copper, but at one point I painted over it, it's magic still there beneath the final layer. The calmly lit sky felt so transcendent by itself, I left it right in this stage of still point calm.

This painting reminds we that are seekers, that all that sparkles is not always light. We are like ravens chasing candy wrappers. They look and smell so good, but often there’s nothing inside. On our path we sincerely seek what is whole and real, but are distracted by the myriads of light breaking through the beautiful vista. We have to discern what is authentic for us, and what is a light show of distraction. This piece is one of a series of 'essence portraits" I have painted. It illustrates my interest in humanity's connection to nature. I believe nature is comforting to us because it is comfortable in it's beauty. Human are always moving, striving, looking and turning over leaves to find that simple comfort in themselves. Much of this painting starts with wonderful turquoise patinas over copper leafed board, which left symbols and indications of a story to be solved with oil paints and portraiture.

This is the first large format painting in my Copper Sedona™ series. During the pandemic I found myself outside hiking the landscape more, dabbling with landscape paintings, and looking for a way to make them look more dimensional. I kept seeing the labyrinth in the sky in my mind's eye, so I decided to put it all together, and with copper as the red rocks! This gives the formations dimension quality that really illuminate under any lighting. It creates its own realistic shadow world. I am very excited about this new series.

Clearly I am intrigued by moths. Maybe it is because so many fly around by my studio by the creek. I am a moth magnet. They are small and large, hairy and smooth and most importantly, perceptive of light. I like to honor them in my art because it is so easy to not notice them as I sweep away the dust in the corners, but they are such an important part of our ecosystem. Luna moths are already starting to become extinct in some areas... thus the Butterfly Effect. Consider your human connection to such a small creature, and what they mean to your life and what you mean to their lives.

Authentic copper repoussé adds dimension and illumination to the breathtaking Sedona landscape. This piece portrays a familiar view of Snoopy rock which is seen as you come into the heart of town, where I still after twenty years get the sense of coming home.

Some of the landscape is painted and some is sculpted in copper. It depicts a familiar place where red rock meets green mesa at the heart of town, where the two main highways cross, also where Big Vision Arts studio/gallery lives. So it is a very familiar landscape to me. I wanted to accentuate the strong edges of the rock by the pyramid shapes. The sky is singing blue and golden yellow with winged motion. The numerous circle labyrinths portray their own universes, spinning through out time, within this time.