Peace In the Valley Painting

When I went OCS (Officer Candidate School) in the late sixties I had to list all the places I had lived in so they could run a security check on me…the list which was 21 at age 19 now stands at 30 at age 67. When thinking about the typical “About Me” I decided to not use the typical description of where I was born or what I have done professionally. I decided to use some of the words from a favorite song: Look at this face I know the years are showing Look at this life I still don’t know where it’s going … Look at this man So blessed with inspiration Look at this soul Still searching for salvation… I have always been inspired by the magically world of art. I started drawing at a young age and you might say this artistic inspiration has touched everything I’ve ever done in my life. I play the piano, the guitar and the base guitar. I write poetry and even wrote a book ‘Santa Fe Rose’. What I’ve learned from all this is that each and everyone of us is a story-teller. We are born into this world to tell our story…and whether we admit it or not…that’s exactly what we do with everything in our lives. We tell our story. To me, watercolor painting, which I just took up after 27+ years away from it…is simply using another medium to tell my story. And what is a story…is it not an interpretation of the life around us? Watercolor is simply reality being interpreted through my eyes, my life journey, my brushes, the paints and of course, the white paper in front of me. And so, when I pick up a brush…I’m not just painting…I’m telling you a story about my life. A story infused with inspiration…a story where I am still searching for salvation…and a story that’s still not sure where exactly it’s going. Sometimes I can’t see the trees for the forest…but I know the trees are there. It comes down to what I think should be there or not. Another favorite quote “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change”. And for me, this is what watercolor asks of me when I pick up a brush…what do you see? Are you sure? And what if you changed the way you look at things? What would you see…what would you paint…what would your story say?