ART UPDATE FOR 2022

The voices of our time: “Create your own path. Be reckless. Be careless. Be free.”

Such irony we see these days: the bandwagon to self-actualization. ‘Create yourself’ all the ads and voices say. ‘Oh, and one more thing: be entertaining too. Make them awestruck. Captivate their gaze.’

In this new year of 2 0 2 2, may I stay clear of bandwagons that have us adoring our own selves and instead be enlivened to what is beautiful in all its simplicity, quietness, and loveliness. May I be captivated by what is untapped by filters and rejoice in a Creator who has given me the means to create.

May I take to the trails for inspiration remembering that many have walked there before me, some will walk with me and others will land their feet in the dirt there sometime after me.

May we remember we have the gift of being a part of a story much bigger than ourselves.

So, may it be this year that my art is a very small part of life on screens. May my depictions of nature recall to mind or inspire days of exploration — little sketches and wood burnings that would incline others to bask in a beauty that is beyond them, and yet knocking at their door — that even in the sheer normalcy of trekking through life day-by-day, others would experience moments of fresh mercies ever new… as fresh and full as the unordinary days of strolling through aspens and evergreens.

To this end, I plan to work on artwork over the course of the first three weeks of each month after having enjoyed the experiences that inspire it. In the last week of each month, I will share some art and life updates.

Cheers, my friends. May we recall that life is to be lived out there in the real community of things that can be felt, heard & seen.

Thanks for being here. God’s peace and joy to you all. I’ll be in touch at the end of January!

Hike on. Wendell and I will be doing the same.