Today is a big day. In just a few hours I will be going to the opening reception for the 20/20 show at Kennedy Gallery in Sacramento. This day marks the official beginning of a new period.

Looking back at the years that got me here, I see the various aeons I went through. Artists often go through periods where they focus intently on a particular medium, technique, subject-matter, or color scheme. You’ve probably heard of Picasso’s “blue period,” a time for him that was filled with internal turmoil, uncertainty and suffering.

Well, I am coming from a series of periods that were artistically invisible, but no less impactful on my work as an artist. I painted inwardly instead of on paper, sculpting and shaping inner landscapes. But I stopped drawing portraits. Stopped painting. Stopped creating. Stopped really “living” and instead kind of just existed from one day to the next.

You see, I took the wayward and winding way to get here. I spent too many years following what was in front of me while moving further and further away from living authentically. Or so I thought.

Now, I can see that every step – every agony and delight – was required to give me the skillset I needed to do what comes next. (More to follow on that in the coming weeks.)

But for now, this show at Kennedy marks the beginning of my coming back into the light, as it were. Each of the pieces I created, affectionately called “Feelscapes,” are representations of different emotions. The tree in each work is the outgrowth of a feeling, a thought-seed that is planted and watered each time we experience our emotions.

Some trees we nurture, for good or bad. Some we let die. Some pop up in unlikely places. Each one is unique and changing. They are flawed and in some cases messy, tangled, and imprecise. But so are we.

I did not name them. When I ask others what they see in each piece, every answer is different. So, I leave you to your experience – my work here is done. 🙂

I hope you are able to make it to the show. It runs through the end of May, 2017. Please stop by and take a look!

Kennedy Gallery
1931 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95811