WATER LILIES Painting

Over a decade ago, I painted a series of The Four Elements: earth, air, fire, and water; however, in recent years, I have gravitated to the specific element of water. I spend much time in, on, or near it, and the Indian and Atlantic Oceans in South Africa, and the many beautiful rivers and Great Lakes in Canada, inspire me. I observe the interplays between light and water, and water and sky, and find them mesmerizing. The ebb and flow of water provides me with a continuously changing picture: the constant movement of the water combined with the ever-changing light and its reflections results in renewed and limitless sources of creativity and perceptions. Are we looking at water or sky? Are we seeing what is above or below? Whatever appears in the water is no longer what it originally was (a fish, a tree, sky), but has become something weird and wonderful. In other words it has become re-contextualized. It is this re-contextualization that can make us aware of nature’s majesty. I make use of natural reflection to abstract reality. Through the water, light transmutes recognizable objects, and this transformation creates the appearance of new objects and shapes that, when seen together, is greater than the sum of its parts. I call this approach Abstracted Realism --- Abstracted because the work is not merely an attempt to replicate a real life object, and, Realism, because the work always makes reference to the natural world. Within this approach, I consider myself a formalist artist, as my main concern always lies with the use of colours, lines, shapes, and rhythms that, together, form the essence of the work. I want to use these artistic elements in beautifully-crafted and highly-detailed ways, in order to stimulate an awareness of different levels of reality and of being, ultimately eliciting in viewers an elevated emotional response. In its totality, my art is a celebration of life.