Where gold and glory no longer matters

There is a kind of treasure - an enrichening of experience - which turns everyday stuff and moments into pure wonder. While painting, I sometimes come across little sparks of this treasure, and it makes the paintings come alive - it makes me come alive. At such moments I'm no longer a painter, but a wizard, or a receiver of true treasure. As far as I know, this sort of gold cannot be sold or given away. We all have to find it for ourselves. The painting below did it for me. I wonder if it may do the same for you? Did any of the magic stick to the canvas? Can colors carry it?

'Beyond Gold and Glory' - Acrylics on canvas - 50x61 cm

A Secret Valley

Most titles show up while I'm painting the piece. Some while I'm done. Others I have to consider for a while. They're not very important and reflect my own interpretation rather than the painting itself. I wasn't sure about this one. Should it be 'The Secret Valley' or 'The Sacred Valley' or perhaps 'Twin Kindgom Valley' as a text based adventure game for Commodore 64 was called?

I see a valley, and there is something mysterious about it. I like mysterious.

'The Secret Valley' - Acrylics on canvas - 61x50 cm

A dancing world

In the Orient, and perhaps in Japan especially, many regular activities have developed into activities of great art, like serving tea, raking gravel, archery, writing characters, and trimming trees. The focus and presence required to perform these arts successfully can lead to inner development and to spiritual progress - they can become meditation.

Abstract Expressionism, on the contrary, is a Western discipline, completely lacking the strict forms and precise manners of the Eastern arts. As such, it can potentially lead to the same results but takes the practitioner on a path much closer to magic, and much closer to madness. Unbound and unruly, it may lead the mind astray…
...especially if combined with potato chips and diet coke on a regular basis.

Now, you don't need to enter very deeply into madness to realize that the whole world is dancing. … or do you? In that case, let's rephrase it into something like; everything is energy, and as such it is not still for a moment.

'The Music and Dance of Everything' - Acrylics on canvas - 65x50 cm

Opening a dream

When I was in my early twenties and was awakening to my artistical self I sometimes saw strange inner images before me which I believe represented what I wanted to accomplish as an artist. They were a waking dream of sorts and even while the imagery wasn't very clear I found them very attractive in a mysterious sort of way. I wanted to see them. I yearned to create them. The following painting is probably the first piece I've made that has some of the quality of those dream paintings of the past. Watching this painting brings back those memories. I believe I may be getting closer to the essense of my work.

'Opening a Dream' - Acrylics on canvas - 50x65 cm

Rivers of lava and rivers of life

From the great mountains comes rivers of water, which makes life possible in the lands below, but fire too, comes from the mountains, bringing death and renewal if we take a positive approach. Water too can kill, flooding populated areas and producing land-slides. I find it interesting and a bit humbling to consider these double-edged gifts of the powerful and mysterious heights. This piece is called 'Fire and Water From the Heights'

'Fire and Water from the Heights' - Acrylics on canvas - 54x65 cm'

Creating a moment

As I watched this painting take form I considered a primordial world where fires roared and forged, if you will, the landscapes later able to support the many forms of life we know today. Creation it seems happens through explosions, eruptions, and in great furnaces. I also like thinking about Creation as something which is still happening - the so called 'Big Bang' never stopped - that same energy is still moving through the Universe, but now in the many movements and forms we know as every day life. What does the creation of this very moment look like. What is required to happen behind the scenes for THIS moment to be real-ized?

'In the Making of a Moment' - Acrylics on canvas - 65x50 cm

Remembering the ancient past

Looking at this, I see stories. I often do when I behold my work. Many things are happening in there, which made me ponder the idea of transgenerational memories. It may not be the kind of memories easily seen or recalled, but a deeper, inherited kind, which becomes integrated in the bones and marrow, influencing who you are (perhaps a result of all generations before you). I also thought about the 'Now' as a place where all times exist, but only one is registered or revealed. Just thoughts.

'Transgenerational Memories - Acrylics on canvas - 51 x 60 cm'

Climbing Olympus

Let's continue the theme of mountains from the previous post. Olympus is a famous mountain of mythology. It is where the Gods live, according to the ancient Greek mind-set. This was actually, and still is, a fairly common notion in many parts of the world - that the mountains are home to divine powers. Is there any truth in such ideas and images? Can they be helpful at all? Perhaps shed some light on the structure or experience of our inner selves, or maybe on our relationship to the vertical dimension of experience? In any case mountains are powerful, and I love being in and among them, even when they scare me.

'On the Slopes of Olympus' - Acrylics on canvas - 65x81 cm

To discover your mountain

New work.

This is my first acrylic piece from 2019. It took a while to make it come together in a satisfying manner.

Are there mountains on the inside too?
Can they be scaled?
Can you build a home on them?

'To Discover Your Mountain' - Acrylics on canvas - 81x65 cm