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As I thought about this week’s IllustrationFriday.com word, “Flawed”, I had no problem visualizing a vast variety of possible images. The world is abundant with flaws and ripe for criticism. Should I depict the flaws in US foreign policy? Or illuminate the many masked flaws of religious constructs in our culture? Or pass judgment on influential figures in our society who have utilized their influence to deceive? After a fiery debate had finished raging in my mind only one image remained… Me.

It is an artist’s goal to create works with holding power. You walk into an art museum and scan the paintings as you saunter by. Occasionally you stop to examine a piece closer and are trapped in the artists world for a moment. That moment is like a drug… we want to partake of these moments as much as we can. The masters would fill their painting with symbolism and detail in hopes that you would never tire of uncovering complexities. Later artist would employ different techniques from the bold and obscene to arrogantly simplistic. Unfortunately like most drugs the dosage must continually be increased to achieve the same euphoric state and the more I expose myself to art the more I am increasingly convinced that the moments may eventually face extinction. This fear is only eliminated by the knowledge that as long as I continue to paint I will always have those moments.

One quiet Saturday staring blankly into a book of works by Franz Klein I considered all that was required to achieve that moment. The work I was staring at projected a sense of honest boldness that lacked any uncertainty. Franz Klein did not stress over any mundane detail. He seemed to simply be caught in the moment of creating the piece and was letting that moment create itself. While considering all this I realized that what I enjoyed so much in his piece was the connection it mas making to my life. I was reveling in the memories of my own creations while staring at his work. With all that still floating around in my head mixed with my own personal opinion that art should be exclusively inclusive the following concept came to me.

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Absorb 1

is white acrylic painted over aluminum. The paintings below are all the same piece under a variety of lighting settings and angels.

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It is also important to note that they were all taken in a white room at the same time of day. The piece is unique to each viewer standing before it and will never repeat itself.

32″ x 35″ – watercolor & acrylic:

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There is a mysterious element to the distant glows of lights on a dark winter night. They blur forms and wash out the physical while simultaneously igniting the snow to reveal the vibrant spirituality of the moment. These moments bring a higher state of clarity we usually muffle with the chaos of life.

60″ x 40″ – 4 panel acrylic:

and a small section magnified:

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I’ve become quite comfortable working with watercolors; pushing the envelope on color saturation and contrast. However, occasionally watercolors fail to fully capture the image as I think it should appear – which is when I turn to acrylics. A medium I usually find adequate for illustration but sadly lacking when attempting to paint a piece that needs to make its own decisions as I coax it along. This time acrylics did no disappoint.

Mixed media painting (Water Color, Acrylic and Indian Ink).

Digital Photograph.