Jacob's Dream

Jacob’s Dream 23032201

Jacob's ladder is a continuing theme in my work because it’s a powerful symbol of transcendence. A story from the book of Genesis, it tells of Jacob's dream of a ladder stretching up to heaven with angels ascending and descending upon it. At its core, Jacob's ladder is a bridge between heaven and earth, but it also represents our ongoing journey of self-discovery and transformation.

I chose to use bold, bright colors to represent the energy and movement of the angels on the ladder. By tapping into the the connection and movement between heaven and earth, I have tried to create a painting that speaks to the deepest parts of our human experience to inspire feelings of wonder.


Jacob’s Dream 23032201 is a digital and physical mixed media painting using pigment ink, acrylic, mica, gel ink and love on stretched canvas, framed in oak. Size: 12 x 17 x 1 inches.

Nesting

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This summer, I hiked the Michigan dunes and was inspired by these “nests” formed by waves. They are easily overlooked. Get closer. Examine the beauty of the random natural elements, and you begin to see the frenetic energy of the waves that formed them. This is my first composition. More to come.

Dark Rain

Dark Rain, 2013

Dark Rain, 2013

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Dark Rain is a one-of-a-kind 4x6 inch painting using watercolor and oil pastel on Strathmore watercolor paper. Available for sale.

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Spring Storm
by William Carlos Williams

The sky has given over
its bitterness.
Out of the dark change
all day long
rain falls and falls
as if it would never end.
Still the snow keeps
its hold on the ground.
But water, water
from a thousand runnels!
It collects swiftly,
dappled with black
cuts a way for itself
through green ice in the gutters.
Drop after drop it falls
from the withered grass-stems
of the overhanging embankment.

Things my father told me

 
Things my father told me

Things my father told me

 

Last week my phone was shuffling through songs when I heard the dulcet tones of Louis Armstrong. I immediately remembered my father on road trips popping in a cassette tape of Louis. It made the miles fly by. My father, now long gone, still comes to mind with regularity, and when I think of him, I think of these nuggets of wisdom he passed onto me and how I, more often than not, had to learn things the hard way.

Walk in like you own the room. Don’t slump, slink or shuffle just because you feel shy. Walk with confidence until you find your way. 

Music makes everything better. He never said that in words, but he indeed expressed it by his actions. He played music, sang, danced, and always had an album playing somewhere throughout the day. 

Get outside. Most parents use that to push you out the door. My dad considered it the best way to get us to explore. He encouraged camping, biking, hiking, hunting arrowheads. 

Love unconditionally. Dad never stopped telling us how much he loved us in his actions and words. He had decided to have kids late in life and considered his sons a gift from God. 

the blue dream of sky

 

Got a rare visit to our cabin in the woods by the Mississippi River. Too many bugs from all the rain, but it was a luscious tropical green when the sun parted the clouds in the afternoon.

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I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.
— ee cummings
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Mom’s Waterflowers

This weekend I drove by my former childhood home and noticed that the garden my mother had so carefully tended in the past had become a wild jungle of overgrown green. Her flowers were still there, gently reminding me of her talents.

“My mother grew morning glories that spilled onto the walkway toward her porch Because she was a woman with land who showed as much by giving it color. She told me I could have whatever I worked for..” Jericho Brown

Waterflowers, 2019