Have you ever noticed that van Gogh’s “Wheatfield with Crows” sings with the flag of Ukraine? An azure sky above with flaxen field of wheat below. I’ve always felt the painting stirs with questions about the mystery of death:

I painted this just yesterday. In a moment, the entirety of the picture bloomed in my imagination during a time of productive melancholy. I used acrylic paints very much like watercolors, in transparent washes. It has a somber mood and mystery that stirs me. #art #fineart #painting #acrylicpainting

In this painting I ponder on the timeless, relentless, and deeply humbling qualities of the ocean, where the meeting of land and sea breaks and reforms—as it always has—at a scale beyond imagining.
#art #fineart #painting #watercolor #pleinairpainting #seascape

A plein air painting from years ago. I remember still the kind woman at #CampTilikum who let me paint in the few hours between camps. #art #painting #fineart #oilpainting #pleinairpainting #landscapepainting #camptilikum

I had the great pleasure of painting this beside my brother—another talented artist—sitting on our parent’s back porch in my hometown in California.

Art can begin to feel so valueless on social media. Turned immaterial and drowning in a flood, we lose the whisper, the ache in your heart, the gentle depth of spirit. The fast is celebrated and that which moves the soul gets covered in moss and left behind. And yet, here we are, alive, together.

I love the classical aesthetic, and I think it takes tremendous skill to pull off—a worthy target for any student. Even so, I think today we must find voicing that sings above tradition into our own peculiar times and beyond.

Bernini could create such drama in the very shapes and forms themselves. This original oil painting revels in that drama with a monochromatic palette and confident alla prima technique.

#art #painting #oilpainting