Sea Light, egg tempera painting

Sea Light is a new egg tempera painting that just came off the easel. It flowed from my brush, a gift from memory or muse. Which one is a mystery to me,

I have been doing this for a long time; you know. Imagining paintings.

All my painting life I have wondered where is this place that images are born? These days, feelings of gratitude welcome their arrival. Who knows when the fruitful vine might wither?

Last night I dreamed of two paintings. Both images were about “rising.” I did not know this until I wrote these words. Images and words whirl in my mind like Rumi’s dancers.

Lately, I’ve been having new inspirations. Sudden flashes that appear at random, a luminous scene plucked from the decades. A moment in my life, crisp, and clear, and quick. Then it’s gone and a good feeling lingers, making me smile.

Time seems a blur nowadays, overlapping years like incoming waves. Yet, sometimes the night is so long. Then daylight comes and that first cup of coffee and mornings by the sea are divine.

Some days it seems I got nothing. Listlessness sweeps over me. One day, an idea strikes with energy and passion drives me to paint this one thing. It’s a roller coaster.

Sea Light is an affirmation, a renewal of the reasons I paint. Stemming from beliefs that resonate in the core of my being, to keep me alive and in a state of wonder. Maybe it’s a continuation of Six For Gold.

I entered Sea Light in the American Marine Society’s 19th National Exhibition. The show will travel to the Albany Institute of History and Art and the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. It is available for purchase.

Creating beauty is the artist’s answer to the darkness and counterweight to sowers of discord and ugliness. Painting for me encompasses my spiritual practice.

Maybe Sea Light is a calling to the Light.