more OPEN HEARTS

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LAYERS

One after another, the layers of our disillusion are peeled away...Now we see all too well what the repercussions of corporations, governments, and individuals acting in their own self-interest in secret, can cost us all, and our children, and their children, and their children, and their children...

And although my heart is breaking for the wildlife, the people, and our Mother Earth, I feel strangely optimistic. More than hopeful, I feel inspired! We have the power to free ourselves from the chokehold of big oil. And then we can free the rest of the world from it too!

A great opportunity for positive change was squandered after 9/11. An environmental catastrophe can be a wake up call for us all, not just the people directly affected.

Open Hearts

The Story of OPEN HEARTS

After 9/11 I began a series that I titled "Open Hearts". My original intention was to make one for each person who died that day....Each of the "Hearts" that I made was numbered and on the back I put a card with a little explanation about what it stood for. Well, my goal was a little over ambitious and after 200 or so I kind of got burned out on them so I stopped making them. But people kept asking for them. In fact, I sold almost every one I created. But, I needed to work on other things and the ideas for the "Hearts" just weren't coming to me. So I shelved the series for a while. I figured I would probably start making them again someday when it felt right.

Now, after years have passed I have started making "Open Hearts" again. This time I am going to post them to my blog as I finish them. A friend of mine who is a fan of the "Open Hearts" told me they are like mandalas to help people focus on opening up their own hearts. All I know is making them does do something special for me...and if others find their own healing in my art then the original intention has come full circle.

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Art That Transforms

Years have passed since the creation of "Seasons of the Soul" and since its publishing in the early '90s, numerous people have contacted me to tell me how meaningful this artwork is to them in an ongoing way. People relate to me how it gives them insight in their day to day lives as they look at it and pick out where they are in the continuum on that particular day.

I am always curious to find out how and where people first discover "Seasons of the Soul". Many have seen it in the offices of physicians, psychiatrists and psychologists, counselors, ministers, massage therapists, etc... I am pleased to know this work has taken on a life of its own. I am touched and humbled when individuals contact me to order a print for a friend with cancer...or the woman who was going through a "twelve step program" and wanted it to help give her inner strength and guidance and numerous other sincere and touching stories. This gives meaning to my pursuit of a career in art.

I have had a number of people contact me for permission to have one or more of the figures tattooed on their bodies. One woman came up to me in a Whole Foods and said, "I have your art on my body!" Then she proceeded to show me, she had two figures, one on each calf. A few weeks later I ran into her and she said she had been to see a friend in Oregon and when she knocked on the door and her friend opened the door, there on the wall was a "Seasons of the Soul"! She told her about meeting me and showed her tattoos, to which her friend replied by turning around and lifting her shirt to show a "Seasons of the Soul" figure on her back!

If you have a "Seasons of the Soul" story, I would love to hear it.

Doodles in a Sketch Book

"Seasons of the Soul" originated as doodles in a sketch book of mine many years ago. And they may have remained just random little doodles if I had not picked up the book after a year or so and as I flipped through the pages I noticed the figures seemed to be telling a story.

At that time there were only ten figures and I realized there needed to be at least one more figure to complete the process. I later came up with descriptive titles for each of the figures to help convey the feelings associated with each figure. From left to right, they are "confusion", "resistance", "submission", "aquiescence", "the plunge", "rebirth", "fortitude", "elation", "symmetry", "harmony", and "movin' out".
It took some time before the final figure, "Movin' Out" came to me in a flash as I was watching an episode of the old television
series, "Fame" and Debbie Allen was dancing her frustrations away in an empty dance studio. When she struck that pose as
she moved across the floor, I knew that was the answer I was looking for.

Seasons of the Soul

This artwork is available as an open edition signed print from the artist. The price is $40 plus shipping. See profile for contact info.

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