Blog: Umbrellas

Featured image: Lily Pads by the Lake

My artwork is like a story board that speaks to my philosophical beliefs about life, the roads I have traveled and the questions I have asked and tried to answer. My work speaks to the concept of choice and the changes choice brings about. For me choice is all about individual freedom, a freedom that can or cannot help form our realities and what we believe in.

I have developed quite a few icons and marks that relate to my philosophical beliefs. I believe that life, and how we understand reality come from our foundations and that as we progress through life we build upon these foundations. These foundations are unique, to every individual which makes the individual unique and one of a kind – like a work of art. These foundations also become part of the life forces, the life energy that lies with the individual and what does or doesn’t drive them. What we do with these life forces, what we choose to do with them is personal, unique and individual. These forces can transform us or trap us.

There are some marks that keep appearing in my work – they tell a story. The ladder, the wheel, the ball of yarn, the triangle, the grids. These marks or icons can relate universally to all of us, but most importunately they are unique to my work and they represent my philosophical beliefs about life and art, they tell a story. They are conceptual. They are rooted in my foundations, and I have remixed these icons into my current conceptually contemporary work.

Recently I have been placing an umbrella in my work. Usually with raindrops and in the piece I am posting here with a rainbow. This piece with the red umbrella has a rainbow off the side. The umbrella represents the power within you that protects and shelters you and your heart and your soul. It is always with you. The rainbow represents a glass half full, always looking forward not back.