Brought the light up to me.
I have basked in it's glow.
Of desires once touched.
Now embers I know.

In service to you.
Of a bargain once made.
Now reluctant surrender.
The light slowly fades.

Dreams once like bubbles.
Expand and explode.
Fragile and transient.
Yet together we rode.

It was not down to me.
Please don't blame my unease.
It is because who I am.
I can forfeit my fees.

Such is life,sure I know.
Who said it was fair.
What is, is what is.
What's not there, isn't there.

Expression

Everybody has a voice.
Has a way to best express themselves.Often, it's finding the best and most elegant way in which to express that.
Some will do that through Art, Music,Singing, Comedy,Charity work, etc,etc.
I have always been good at articulating myself with words, probably due to my love of reading, but at the same time unable to actually express myself through anything other than Art.
I think there is a big difference between the two.
At an emotional level, what's truly in my heart and thoughts, are people, and love.Everything else, for me is extraneous to these things. I certainly hope that these ideas shine through in my work, as they are the source of my expressions.
When I look at the work of my fellow artists, I've never yet noticed a bad drawing or a bad painting.Because to do so, is to look in the wrong direction.The point is being missed.
If you are noticing any art being either badly or well executed, I feel it's like picking up a book and only looking at the cover, and not delving inside to actually read the story.
To merely admire a pristine cover of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, and never turning the pages is just too tragic to contemplate.

I want to look at someones inner ideas, thought processes, and what's in their heart.What is this artist trying to communicate to me?, to what does this artist want to express?, and how can I relate this to my understandings?
There is no good or bad art to me.Only someone's attempt to express themselves.
That is the essence of it to me. An opportunity to connect to one another.

Choices

How do you see your world?

I know how I see mine.We can all choose to see the darkness or the light.It is always a choice we have.

Sure, there is an underbelly to life, and that doesn't mean it cannot be acknowledged, but we also don't have to let it pervade our pschye either.

No-one will ever know true reality, due to it's subjectve natue.As people, we have the opportunity not to see what we think is there, but the imagination to know what could be there.Is that not where true visionaries started their journies? To be able to see the hidden possibilities.

My work is grounded in a reality symbolised by figures, and I try to project an essence of joy, and hopes and dreams.Rather how I think things should be, whether or not these things ever come to pass.

If you actively seek joy and beauty in your life, and persevere relentlessly towards those things, how can you not arrive at that destination.

What you see in my work, is what I seek for in my life.Whether I choose wisely or not, it is ultimately my choice.What's yours?

Balance and Unity

When planning out a painting like this one, I tend to start with the layout of the houses.Then I look at it, and visualize it sitting on a set of scales to see whch way it is inclined to tip towards.
Forgetting the figures for a moment, you can see it would tilt down to the left due to a bigger mass of buildings.
This means it needs counteracting.
The figures I now needed, had to stay predominantly to the right of the middle,whilst still relating to each other and to the painting as a whole, with the balloon heart on a higher plane to weight it further.
My signature further added to the right makes me feel a balance has been achieved.
I never quite understood this concept when I first started out, but it becomes more second nature as the years and experience progress.
Again, using a fairly limited palette, with a dominant purple hue I also feel unity has been achieved, and add the balance of tones to be found here, I am quietly satisfied.
Majoring with colour ,warmth,direction,line, shape or tone are very powerful ways to instill unity in a painting, and to refrain from a disjointed or jarring piece.It's importance can never be overstated.
However, with another week or so, I will come back to look at this again, and note many other tweaks I could have done for a higher impact painting.
All par for the course, and all to be taken onboard to the next one.
The joys of learning one's craft.!

Symbolism

I thought I'd tell you a little bit about symbolism in my work, and the meanings behind them.

A lot of hearts feature in many paintings.

The meaning is to about giving out love.So whenever you see for instance, a child releasing a heart, it is about giving out that love.Children have a very untainted and unconditional sense of love.It also represents their hopes and dreams.That a future is around the corner, and though not yet understood,it is where one is going, away from their roots.However when a balloon is being released and floating away, it actually represents loss, and letting go.

The older style houses are indicators where most of us grew up, and easily identifiable in many peoples lives.

A lot of these paintings try to encapsulate a time long by, and a place from where we started off.

Uncontent with what was my world, I wanted something more, and perhaps the child releasing the heart is a yearning for farther horizons, not just in distance, but in development of where I want to be, and who I want to be.

The painting to the left is about searching.For something missing.Love perhaps.Someone holding a heart is holding it as a key, waiting to unlock those dreams, again over a distant horizon. The balloon in the air, is the marker, guiding the way, over and towards the horizon, keeping the figure firmly on the right path.This particular heart is more representative of that inner intuition shown in a tangible form.This person is correctly moving in the right direction.

Meanings

I think very often when having a conversation, it is not necessary to relate everything in minute details.It is the quality of the chosen words, and the unsaid, that is often the most enigmatic and interesting.The same is applied to music, in it's simple melodies that are embellished at key points, along with it's silences that produce memorable and emotive pieces.

I don't bog myself in all the details, as I want as much interpretation left open as is possible, while keeping you on the path I want to lead you down.

For me, the simplicity in this piece conveys, all I want to relate.Innocence, and hope.

What you see of course will no doubt be quite different.It doesn't matter though whether you get my point of view, it matters only that you can connect and relate it to some part of your life.The degree to which it affects you, is what really carries the most weight, and if the experience is powerful, then hopefully I have done my job well.

Colour,colour,colour.We have the tools, the technology, so why not just use it to it's max.

ACEO titled'Where to my Love'