play...

Crux   watercolor   21.5 x 28

and the importance thereof........anyone who is seriously creative understands the true value of play.  Too often we approach our work as warriors.....with the express purpose of the conquering, the control.  Now that summer is here, just the feeling of cold splashing water recalls the years we spent at the shore with our friends the McGarveys.  We had 6 boys altogether.  Evenings after dinner were spent at the beach, of course, with each boy given a turn at playing in the surf in a kayak.  The response of the kayaker is a yin response....the ocean leads.  To stay afloat is like a dance...instantaneous decisions, not well thought out at all, are a matter of responding to a rhythm and a force outside of the rider's control.  YAHOO.  Sometimes the boat inverts.  Sometimes the rider is able to right it again using a move called the Eskimo Roll.  Sometimes not.  Sometimes the rider emerges from the ocean sopping wet with the boat in tow.  Play.  Out-or-control control.These are the moves that help one to respond to all kinds of kayaking scenarios when faced with white-water and rocks.  Staying on the edge.  Facing a crux.  Continually.  What a rush.  Like painting. YAHOO.

Crux in on display at Akron-Canton airport.

In the Flow - Literally

Crux   watercolor   21.5 x 28

Nothing is harder to paint than moving water. I confess that I am not much of an outdoor painter.....I guess that I am not fond of mixing the elements with the concentration that I require as a painter. But the real reason is that painting is private to me, and painting in the open seems to leave me as exposed as if I were wearing no clothing..........oh, the thought. Because my family and friends are all paddlers, the canoe and kayak kind, I am forced to paint using photographs. I have tried to make up for the stationery image by using lots of movement when I paint. I splash, splatter and gyrate in an effort to bring the water to life. "Crux" is such a painting. In it, my husband is playing in the surf at the beach......something he and friend Pat taught our combined 6 boys when they were younger. I think that I carried the painting a tad too far.............but he loves it. "Crux" is one of 20 or so works that I am showing at a local winery Viking Vineyards during July and August. The owners Jeff and Dana Nelson are terrific........hope you can stop by.