A number of years ago I use to backpack into a very special area of the mountains of Northern Utah.  A couple of years ago, I ended my backpacking experiences with a final climb to this special area with some friends and family.  My age related health problems were sort of yelling at me that it was time to hang up the old backpack.  Well, I decided to make one last journey to this special place we fondly called The Glade.  There is no doubt in my mind that the glade is inhabited by forest fairies who sort of enjoyed the company of humans.  One unique feature of this place is that it has a tendency to emphasize whatever qualities are inherent in the backpackers.  At times this made for some very unique experiences, especially around the campfire at night.  However, for myself, it was the mountain stream that seemed to be the artery to the heart of the forest itself.  Also, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that many of the fairies took the form of butterflies.  They seemed to thrive on physical contact with humans.

On My Hand     

On My Daughter’s (Diana) finger 

Keith soaking up the magical waters 

The glade itself is surrounded by thick forest of pine and mountain maple. 

And the heart of the forest itself could be felt by leaning against one  particular granite structure that overlooked the glade. It was a strange experience, somewhat like pressing your body against a vibrating machine. 

Me charging up the hill to visit the heart of the forest.

Eventually I put theses experiences together in an oil painting I called “The Glade”. 

The Glade

The Red Head is how I envisioned one of the fairies; my friend Keith saw her as a blond.   And for those of you who only see a linear universe, the wolves in the background were animal spirits that were always in attendance.  I suspect they had something to do with the amplification of qualities that we brought to the glade.  The painting was done about two months after that final trip to the glade.  It wasn’t particularly difficult to do, but I was never satisfied with the lighting.  Which, unless you actually saw it for yourself, would be difficult to describe.  Serenity comes to mind but how do you portray that with lighting?  The technique driven artist might say that you should paint the scene on site.  The problem is that there are actually two different sites.  One is the site that you would see if you were the average brain dead human and the other site is what you see when the veil of illusion is lifted.  And it was the second site that I wanted to capture.

A few months ago I decided to do an alternate form of the painting with the goal of representing the site as it appears on the other side of the veil of 3 dimensional illusion.

Heart Of The Forest 

As you can see, this type of painting is an adventure in using a fan brush.  Both of these paintings are clear examples of painting from the heart . And for myself, it is what I hope to achieve in all future paintings. Getting past the illusion of the 3rd dimension is not hard, it simply requires an open mind, and a desire to transcend the limitations of perception that are imposed by our culture and science.  If you want to paint from the heart, you have to have the “heart” to move past the walls of comfortable illusion.