Blog Art-Science-Politics

Art Work 2023

May June Pour Paintings

Acrylic Pour Painting and Ink Illustrations

Artwork for Drinking Liberally

Wedding gift to Amanda and Jeremy, a flip cup acrylic pour

Acrylic Pour Painting

Acrylic Pours are so fun and so unpredictable. Here are samples of recent work: March 2023 photos

Artwork of 2022

Best Artwork of 2022 included Acrylic Pour Painting with added Planets and Constellations

Some of the acrylic pours are inspired by the James Webb Space telescope.

After working on some inks I am addicted to the acrylic pour technique. You can make colors play well together and it is always a surprise.

Water Based Ink Paintings

I took an online course through the website Domestika with Carne Griffiths on water based ink portraiture which led to some experimentation with the water based inks, the acrylic inks and acrylic pour techniques. These experimental art pieces inspired me to branch out from traditional oil portraiture.

Water Based Ink beginning pieces and use in portraiture and drawing.

Oil Painting 2022

Betty Ford Gardens Vail CO

Article for GJ Sentinel on Climatenomics

This article is based on the book Climatenomics by Bob Keefe. The cost of climate disasters is growing exponentially according to Adam Smith, Applied Climatologist with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). We have intensive fires and drought in the west, flooding and hurricanes in the Southeast and violent weather events in the Midwest. Four out of the last five fire seasons have eclipsed the 10B dollar damage mark, and that has never happened before 2017. Our annual damages from violent climate events averages 150B dollars. It is not just an ecological emergency, it is an economic threat. The World Economic Forum issued its 2021 Global Risks Report and ranked “climate action failure” as the second most pressing risk facing the world with only infectious diseases ranking higher. Climate change is an economic issue that is killing our economy. We are all a part of the solution. It starts by understanding it is a big problem and we are the government, and we are here to solve the problem. We have irrigation resources in the Grand Valley that required collective action long ago. We built a railway system in the west by using investment money from the Railroad Act. Tesla had its start in part because of a 2009 DOE loan guarantee, and the R&D in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contributes to the lower cost of wind and solar.

Russell Riggs, Director Environmental and Sustainability policy for the National Association of Realtors explains the property losses due to flooding and fires are increasing home and business insurance costs. These costs often impact low to moderate incomes even more as they already have thin margins. Historically low income communities have difficulty accessing federal assistance, making this a matter of social justice. In the future we will likely see mapping for the various risks that could make home and business insurance unavailable.

Davon Goodwin is a first generation farmer in North Carolina. His land is suffering from standing water and loss of topsoil. He has experienced three 500 year floods in less than 20 years. Many farmers are simply walking away from the land because they can not recover. He faces increasing crop insurance and even when he has a successful crop year he struggles for economic recovery. He needs federal assistance for cropping support and methods to decrease his own agricultural carbon footprint. He states that as food production decreases, food prices increase and food abundance goes down. Western drought is already here and increasing the threat of food insecurity. Protecting our local food sources will require assisting farmers to adapt to dryer conditions.

Bob Keefe, the Executive director of E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs) states that if any other phenomenon were causing 150B dollars in damages to our economy, perhaps we would see Congress move on solutions. 150B dollars is more than the gross state product of at least 17 states, and more than the earnings of Microsoft. He also understands the climate crisis presents real economic opportunities. For example, E2 has been tracking jobs over the last decade and we now have about 3 million people working in clean energy jobs. Prior investments in energy efficient appliances and building improvements are saving consumers billions of dollars today.

Currently, the 550B Reconciliation bill (Build Back Better Act) is critical to invest in clean technologies to scale up the deployment of these products. It is a response to the reality of the rising cost of climate change while providing economic opportunity. Mitigating the impact of our high carbon lifestyles and dependence will require bold action from government policies, businesses and investors. It also will require public sobriety about the threat of inaction. Inflation is more complicated than a partisan blame game. These investments are critical to fueling our transition into the next generation of energy development with R&D, domestic manufacturing, energy efficiency tax incentives for both businesses and individuals, and agricultural assistance. They will drive healthy economic growth in the right direction and give us tools to live within our environmental limits. Research and development will secure our place in the next level of the global market and manufacturing jobs and will make our communities thrive in the global markets. The Reconciliation bill is critical to meet the scheduled emission goals in a well considered progression. The US House of Representatives will send the package to the US Senate to continue negotiations and most climate-related provisions are likely to remain in the bill following Senate negotiations. Like many investments you often get used to the benefits and are unaware of the consequences of not making those investments.

Womens March 2021 and Artwork

Tanya Travis 2nd Speaker

Oil Work 2021

Online course with Svagrik
Drawing of Miles
Easter Hill Tree
Domingues -Escalante Fall
Dan Loge class

2020- Artwork

Recent Projects during CoVid-19 keep me motivated and provide purposeful days. Drawing classes had to be postponed but Art and Science are big headlines in our world right now.

Brigitta

Brigitta
Brigitta, The Beloved Chicken

Late Fall 2020

monument landscape
Monument study

Portraiture

Portrait of Renata
Portrait of Renata

Art to Influence Change – Pre Election Work 2020

During these divisive times, words fly and the noise becomes toxic. Sometimes an image can make us laugh, calm us down and help us broaden our minds. There are images that break our heart and images that mend it. Artists have used images to impact change. The posters on the wall in Washington placed by peaceful protesters were collected by museums and art centers. Logos capture a concept or a message with a simple symbol.

After researching female activists, journalists and corruption fighters I used their stories and images to do a series of oil portraits on those that have paid the price of their work with their lives. It is not a complete list and frankly it is a daunting list of reporters, artists and ordinary citizens that are standing up for equality, or exposing corruption or the horrors of civil war. The video below is my work to honor just a few women from around the world who paid the ultimate cost. The project served two purposes. It gave me a chance to develop my skill with oil painting portraits, and it furthered my purpose and desire to use art for political change.

Oil Portraits of Women Journalists and corruption fighters who have lost their lives due to their work.

Portraiture and Family Friends

Please contact me for commissioned portraits including our furry friends!

Adventure of Occupation Therapy Travel Jobs

Checking on the musician, his dog and urban culture

The Urgency of Money

My remodel loan required immediate attention. I am energized by the wet green Northwest, the urban environment of Portland Oregon (not the traffic), and my kid – and the solution is an occupational therapy travel assignment. It pays a per-diem that is tax free money and if I can find affordable housing, I can make some money and spend time in the city with the kid. But, it means working 40hr/week in conditions that another therapist would not accept because of reasons you don’t know until you get there and go to work.

It usually involves learning more about my profession, adapting to change and accepting people for who they are and the pressures that drive their behavior. It is practice for not reacting but in paying attention in a very distracting environment.

My youngest kid loves the city, so I come to have a guide with this vast sea of people who dress funny, come in unique colors, talk crazy and have a kind of happiness not related to group think or conformity. Portland’s motto, is to “Keep Portland Weird”. It is the antidote to Mesa County Colorado, a Republican stronghold.

Vashti and the politics of the feminine in Abrahamic times

  Vashti, Pastel @ 2006

The biblical story of Esther does not highlight the story of Vashti, the wife of Xerxes I of Persia (Ahasuerus).  She was banished from his court because of her decision to defy his order to appear naked before his drunken friends.  A new beauty contest was then in order to find a more obedient wife.

Continue reading Vashti and the politics of the feminine in Abrahamic times

Sensory Processing and our Psychological Identity

Sensory Processing collects the world around us to give us our place and helps us plan our response to this gathered information. We take having a psychological identity for granted.  The Mind appears to be unified. When we are awake, we think we know who we are. This is a mystery that continues to baffle brilliant neurologists. Mindfulness training helps us question who we think we are. What would we do without mirrors, language and our sensory perceptions?  Would you be you without your surroundings, and other human beings?

Sensory Processing and My Identity Please

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Humans need something reflective to hold in their hands so that they can feel real, that they exist, that they matter, that they are uniquely qualified to be alive and relevant.  Imagine yourself alone on a flat empty infinite surface.  Who would you be?

If we have a relationship with an object or another person, we form an identity.  It could be a painting, a child, an architectural accomplishment, a garden, a meal, a God, a job, a car, an act of kindness, or an act of heroic war effort.  Without something to reflect back who we think we are, we fall into the trap of no purpose, no value, no identity, no sense of self in relationship to each other.   The nothingness that exists when we are on an island, or estranged from our society is captured by Tom Hanks in Cast Away.  We simply have to invent our meaning.  It is very difficult to accept our meaninglessness, our emptiness and our profound and beautiful mind, without some attachment and reflective relationship.

Continue reading Sensory Processing and our Psychological Identity