Orbs as Guides

After painting Out of the Darkness I experimented with allowing the first marks on my canvas to come from within and to leave my logic and judgment behind. The Orb Series and the Journal drawings are the result of giving the artist within me permission to step out into public .

I'm grateful that I stuck with it long enough (about thirty years) to get to this point of painting from within and allowing myself to experience the marks, the colors and the forms as they play with one another on the canvas without forcing them to behave in a manner that I think will result in a good painting.

Prior to this, I had experienced momentary flashes of what I would describe as creativity. Now I experience it for hours at a time and I am totally addicted to it. I'm curious and excited to see what sort of paintings I will be doing in a year, in five years, in ten years.

At this point, the orbs express themselves as spheres or as ovals, occasionally suggesting the heads of figures. The ovals appeared in the painting I posted yesterday, Rebellion in the Harem. They have crossed the line between my abstract work and my figurative work.

Image: Three Guides . Oil on Canvas