When I think about what I want to paint I have many choices that appeal to me. I always like to paint trees and not so realistic landscapes. Usually, my trees and landscapes have a metaphorical aspect to them. Occasionally, an idea will come to me straight from my unconscious with little awareness of meaning to me. When that happens, it is always a challenge for me to try to intellectually and psychologically explore the concept that I have decided to paint. Many of my paintings have given me and others an idea of what may be lurking in my unconscious. For example, I have painted chairs in a jungle, ladders in a meadow and a tree leaving home.

Portals

Last year I had such an experience with four paintings that I completed. They were of doors that were somehow associated with water. Some people saw the doors as monoliths or pillars. Perhaps they are. While I was paintings this series, I gave little thought to the meaning of individual images. After I finished four paintings my practical self told me to stop. I stopped. I did not allow myself to explore more images of portals, thresholds, or entrances although I now see that there are hints of doorways in subsequent paintings.

Stone Voices

Much to my surprise this was a successful group of paintings. Two sold before I could formally show them and two were in my last show. One of them Adrift (left), received the Best in Show award for “The River” competition in the art and poetry journal, Stone Voices, Summer Issue.

Once in a while I look at these images and still try to figure out what I was trying to say. Sometimes doors are the opposite of entry ways. They can be blockades, barriers, obstructions. I am not sure what metaphor they represent or why they are in the water.

Do you have any insights for me?