Charles Burchfield said : "An artist must paint, not what he sees in nature but what is there." There is a history locked within the earth. Each leaf, rock, stump, tree, pebble, dew drop has a story to tell about how it was manifested into our material world. It is there for all to experience. We only have to open ourselves to it.
"Different places on the face of the earth have different vital effluence, different vibration, different chemical exhalation, different polarity with different stars: call it what you like. But the spirit of place is a great reality." D.H. Lawrence My art has always been about the magic and mystery of life. Inspirations drawn from dreams, myths, and the underlying spiritual content reflected in our material world. This series of paintings was inspired by the spiritual power of the world found in the landscapes that surround us.
I grew up in a "back woods", rural environment. As a child my surroundings were primitive but never hostile. As I grew older and ventured deeper into my environment I became intimate with certain areas of the wilderness. I was empathetic to those places and would seek out those special places to invoke the emotions associated with them. Nature spoke to me.
I believe there is a place in the woods in (and for) all of us and I hope I have conveyed a little of this sense of magic, childlike wonderment, and connectivity to nature in this series of paintings.
To date there are a total of 47 paintings in this series.
(All paintings are oil on canvas unless otherwise noted)