Behind the bars and new adventures

'Behind the Bars' is an oil painting I begain after hearing of the death of T.T. of Powhatan, A young soul shot down too early in life. With such a large spirit and a smal glimmer of hope for escaping Powhatan now permanently traped behind the bars of the ultimate fatal obstrustion. The choice of cool colors contradicts the violence of his death but acts as a glimmer of hope that one day the light from within his earthly soul will transend the bars of violence and earth and float gracefully into the afterlife. Peace be with you T.T.

Between the Bars

BETWEEN THE BARS oil on canvas 12"x16"

As with anything I seem to do, this to seems incomplete to me. The design is set but I think it still needs more layers. Dimension and texture variation would help.

This painting was started on Monday 6/30 after a day filled with morning for a slain student. A funeral unlike any I have ever attended. One life still holding on and one life passed. My community is rattled; many families fractured, my students devistated, my coleagues stunned and me? I paint it. I've learned from 2 great artists that it is not neccessarily the recording of an event, but the expression of the effects of the event and the avenue in which the artist chooses to take in that expression is of greater importance. While I don't paint realism; I instead break down more complex memories, thoughts and specific details into the most basic elements. Line, shape, color, texture, value and form. No matter what I end up producing I am bound by finding and creating a good composition. Even if the subject does not make sence to anyone but me.

I am so fortunate to have a job that forces me to learn more about my most favorit artists and my own world an d history so tht I may share that with my students. What I absorb finds it way into how I view and create. It's inevidable that the artist creates from which they live. All actions have reaction. All experiences change the next.

The 2 artists: William Turner and Pablo Picasso