Abstract Paintings

These pieces came from a process of learning to listen. Listen to what? Well, put simply, listening to myself. Unlocking the creative process for this work involved a lot of inner work over a number of years.

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Some of earlier work, for instance (see “Outside the Box”), was cathartic in that it allowed unresolved or repressed feelings to come up. This was a largely unconscious outpouring of feelings that had been held down for the longest time. It was more of an eruption of emotion than an invitation for feelings to come forward. No invitation was needed. However, in this work, the feelings seemed to stem from a deeper part of myself. This meant that I had to inquire into them. I had to meet these feelings halfway, so to speak. Some feelings speak to us like an old friend or a forgotten child. 

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However, sometimes when feelings are met, there are no words. What I found through the creative process however is that while these feelings were not verbal, they could still be expressed. In fact, they demanded expression. There was no intellectualization in the creative process here. Instead, another form of intelligence took prominence. For lack of a better term, this could be called emotional intelligence. 

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What’s depicted here is far from random but cannot be understood by the intellect alone. It can only be understood or resonated with through the heart, through feeling. The loving yet impersonal nature of the feelings that inspired this work leads me to believe they are a part of every one of us. It is my hope that they resonate with a peaceful and authentic aspect of consciousness. I intuitively realized that I wanted to express these feelings through paintings. I used acrylic on canvas as well as a variety of other surfaces. The use of colour has always excited me as an artist and the variety of colour chosen reflects the range of emotion involved. I quickly realized that I couldn’t use a brush for this work as I felt it was somewhat restrictive here and wouldn’t allow me to create the texture and forms being inspired.