 I will be in the Santa Fe Studio Tour in June along with 60+ area artists. Three artist from our Dragonstone group are participating! You can read more about it at: http://santafestudiotour.com. 
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 I always had water in mind on this abstract landscape. Originally it was oriented with the right side on top and had a waterfall feel. However when I put it up this direction, I liked the feeling of water flowing from right to left. At that point, I went truly representational, adding two fish and a perfectly presented fly on the upstream side. This totally changed the original idea from a mountain sized water fall to a few rocks in a fast moving stream. I like this scale much better, and I like to fly fish!
 This picture combo is actually two experiments. I decided to do a form and color abstract this week (the top painting). At the end of the week, I was rearranging my wall and placed the abstract over the reprentational sunset I had painted a couple of weeks ago. I could not believe how the colors and forms seemed to move seamlessly from one to the other... next experiement-would this work if I did it again on purpose???
In this arrangement, the combined painting seems to imply the mystery of the "unseen forces" in and beyond our visible world.  This painting did not start out as a lake reflection scene. I started it as an abstract but was struggling to find a focus. It started to look like a stream in a valley to me, but that was being ruined by a structure line I had put in the abstract. Like life, in painting things seldom things go as planned. After a break, I took an other look... that line could be a shoreline! Trusting the process gives a way to go with the creative flow that often takes us to a better result.   The jorney of this painting continues. I felt it was out of place with my other recent paintings. I remembered a photo I took of the pedernal over Abiqui Reservoir awhile back.... hmmm the whole lake moved to New Mexico and feels at home now. The creative process is a journey of listening to my own heart and to the painting for where the two want to meet.  I've been on my spiritual journey over 60 years now, consciously for at least 50 of those years. Just like mountaineering, the higher you go, the lighter you need to go. I have spent the last 10 or so years, trying to lighten the load of what I think is important. When I was younger, I wanted answers to every question. Now, I have mainly questions and just a few answers, and those are held lightly with a reverence for the mysteries of God and the miracles of life. At this point, I just keep moving towards the light, enjoying the journey.
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Tom C. McGee, Jr.
Musings about mystery, art and spirituality. Archives
September 2021
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