Love Frog Three Medium: India ink and acrylic on paper
Size: 4″ x 6″
Date: 2009
I am an artist who is interested in evolution, natural selection, artificial
breeding, and genetic engineering.
I think evolution is beautiful. It gives elegant explanations for why animals
look and act the way they do. I am working on a series of one hundred small
paintings that explore the idea of evolution in a playful way. They are all
the same size, four inches by six inches.
I think of the paintings as little organisms that are all related to one
another. Because they are related they have certain things in common,
including India ink outlines and acrylic paint in a particular range of
colors. If you look at a bird-watching field guide, you can see that related
birds often have the same colors, just rearranged into different patterns.
That is because they all inherited their colors from a common ancestor. A
systematic, limited palette of colors gives the same kind of unity to my
population of paintings.
Whenever I want to create a new painting, I start by looking at two of my
earlier paintings side by side. I imaginatively combine their ideas, designs,
and colors as I make a new “hybrid” offspring painting. Some of the
designs that recur throughout my work are images of rabbits, birds, and women.
Rabbits represent domesticity, comfort, and a certain childlike innocence. The
women are self-portraits or alter egos; I draw them when I am in an
introspective mood. Birds appear because they are the most visible creatures
in my environment. Most mammals stay hidden, but it only takes a short walk
around my apartment complex to see white-crowned sparrows, mourning doves,
scrub jays, and more. In my painting series I am taking in all of these ideas,
processing and reworking them, and watching as new and interesting forms
evolve.
I am a self-taught painter. I attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh briefly for Industrial Design Technology. My paintings are crystallized visions that have surfaced or have been captured, usually at random, from a thought or emotion. The creative process begins upon viewing an image or visiting a place and I feel compelled to develop that idea into a painting. I am interested in the flesh and draw inspiration from the figure. My aim is to envelop the viewer into an unfolding narrative in a vivid cinematic context, similar to a movie still. I live with my wife and two cats in the Bay Area.
Andrew’s advice to other aspiring painters, and his inspirations:
I guess my advice would be to completely immerse oneself in painting and read every book about it. Study the masters. Practice & develop your style through trial & error and never give up.
The painters who have influenced me over the years are many.But here are a few who inspired me to learn how to paint: Edward Hopper, Paul Delvaux, Philip Pearlstein, the Pre-Raphaelites, George Tooker, Eric Fischl.
Andrew Ek may be reached at ek_images@yahoo.com or through his website www.andrewek.com and his work is on exhibit at San Francisco’s Artist X-Change gallery, in the Mission District.
My journey towards this series started with a question: ‘Who am I?’ These paintings represent my experiences during the search for the ultimate answer. Through a process of deep meditation and questioning, I happened to come across simple truths that I have tried to express in these works. This process was like peeling an onion where more and more is discovered with each layer. Each layer helped in understanding more of the inner Self.
In this series I explored the effects of one of the oldest mantras ‘Om Namah Shivaya’. This chant is devoted to Lord Shiva, who symbolizes the inner Self which is preserved even after everything is destroyed. The mantra has five syllables: na-mah-shi-va-ya. Among other things, these five represent the five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space. Thus, the chant helps us to realize and understand the source of manifestation. From childhood this mantra was imbibed in me and through the exercise of regular chanting and meditating on this mantra I have tried to portray the effects on canvas.
The spiral is a recurring motif in my paintings. It is the symbol of the infinite Self, the mysterious connection with the Divinity and a visualization of the chakras within our systems. The colors used in the paintings also have great significance for me. Blue is seen as trustworthy, dependable and committed. It is the color of peace and calm while golden is the color of spiritual energy. White is the symbol of purity, Red for me is love, passion, energy and vitality while the earth colors is associated with feelings of wholesomeness and stability and the connection with Mother Earth.
I further intend to carry on this quest for truth and discover more and more with each work.
Dear Carla and Robert, I’m sorry for the lost years. Life has not been kind to me. I lost you both when you were very young. I was very ill at that time and very broke. I was at the mercy of strangers who took pity on my condition. For that you both suffered. I couldn’t give you the care and love you both deserve. My mental illness caused me to neglect what I love most. I am thankful however at that very tough time, your Nana was there to take you in. I am very grateful to her, that my own Mom cared for and raised you.Losing custody of you both was the hardest thing I’ve ever endured. But now, if I were to lose your love and respect totally, it would be too devastating.
I don’t know all the feelings you’ve had. I do know that you had to have suffered. I can imagine your emotions have been mixed as to what you’ve thought about me all these years, and it has probably changed every now and then. I hope someday you could give me a chance to tell you my side of the story. I just want you to know that even though it may have seemed like I didn’t love you or didn’t care, that is far from the truth. You are my children and I love you more than anything in the world. It breaks my heart to keep reliving memories for years without you both by my side.
I wouldn’t want to do anything to upset your life now. My only fervent wish is that when I start seeing you more often, that you can open up your hearts just a little and try to forgive me as best as you can, for now. I always miss you so much.
I’m so proud of you both, for your precious, good hearts, for your tenacity both with life’s struggles and in your artistic abilities, drawing, singing, and acting, character imitations, poems, and you both even have good looks, you’ve got it all!… You’re deep thinkers, creative, intuitive, strong, intelligent, mature for your age, and very loving and caring young adults.
All these years I have tried to provide and send my love in one way or another. I’ve tried with all my strength to conquer this illness. I have never given up on the hope that one day I will hold you both in my arms again, someday.
All my love,
Mama
aka: Mom
aka: Sarah
My side of the story: The stress caused by the abrupt, and premature separation from my 3 and 4 year old children, Carla and Robert, has been horrendously painful for me and hasn’t ever stopped. Michael and Megan are now 15 and 16 years old. I love them more than anything in the world. They live only about 3 to 5 minutes away from me and yet I only see them every month or so. When they were first taken from me by the child protective services, it was because I failed to take them to the pre-school that the child protective services demanded I take them every day. I was very poor, didn’t have a vehicle to get them there, and I have some severe mental challenges. My children are only one year apart, exactly. Michael was born in 1993. Only three months after Michael was born, I became pregnant with Megan – born in 1994. The rare but brutal mental disorder I suffer with is called Jealous Delusional Disorder. I also have Attention Deficit Disorder and I survived several extremely emotionally and physically abusive relationships. Before Megan was ever born, my grandmother, who had dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, came to live with my husband and me. We cared for her and earned some money for that through the state’s In-Home Supportive Services subsidized home caregiver program.
Unfortunately, after I deliver a baby, my body has what the doctors call a water shift, which means my hormones change at a rapid and powerful pace, causing me to sometimes become so emotionally challenged that it turns into psychosis. To deal with all the stress, my husband at the time turned to alcohol. I became addicted to pain pills – Vicodin – and our worlds and lives began to crumble and we were falling so fast it was as if we were in quicksand. The technical reason the child protective services took our children was “neglect.” I really wish they would have been able to help us more than they did. They threw some reunification plans at us that were not possible to complete. Both Danny and I went in for psychological evaluations and the results were to be implicated into the plan by orders from the judge. I was told that I needed to be in a full time dual diagnosis residential treatment center for 2 years before my kids could be returned to me, and Danny was told basically the same thing. I was eager to get my kids back. That’s all I cared about. I looked everywhere in the near vicinity for a full time dual diagnosis residential treatment center and one where I could bring my kids in with me and take care of them there. I couldn’t bear the thought of being without them for two years. I searched and searched and was able to find a place called the Pomoroy House in San Francisco where Mothers could bring two children in with them, as long as they were under the age of 5. I fit the criteria and hoped it wouldn’t be too long of a wait, even though they said the wait could be up to 2 years. I waited, and called, and waited, but there was never an opening to the house and my Mother was awarded legal guardianship of my children.
Sarah’s name has been changed to protect her family’s privacy…and she may be contacted through our magazine’s email address, globalderas@gmail.com, and we will pass on messages. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She loves her two children deeply and also is quite skilled with graphic design and photography and resume/career coaching and would love advice on legitimate ways to work from her home.
I just put together a group of work, on the theme of legend and mythology (both Chinese and Western.)
Myth, Legend and Religious stories have always served as the inspiration for art creations. Having lived in China and the US, I was drawn to the mythology from both eastern and western cultures.
Over the past nine years, I have created several oil paintings based on Greek myth, Chinese legend and Judeo-Christian doctrine.
Below is the list of the work and the links to the images on my web site ( www.matthewfelixsun.com )
Minotaur Oil on Canvas, 24″ x 30″, Completed in 2005 http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3844905109/in/set-72157621940201251/
Minotaur, as I saw it, was a tragic figure, who was condemned and trapped by fate to his horrible condition and savageries. He welcomed his slayer Theseus, who was approaching fast in a galley. Holding Ariadne’s thread, which will help Theseus to leave his labyrinth, Minotaur pondered on his imminent death and anticipated his own relief with trepidation and anticipation. A large tear rolled down his face, monstrous and beautiful.
Daphne
Oil on Canvas, 30″ x 40″, Completed in 2009 http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3867334845/in/set-72157622064751614/
A more or less straightforward rendition of the metamorphosis of Daphne into a laurel tree. Hands and arms of Daphne and the golden torso of Apollo dominated the canvas. In the background, the killing of Daphne’s playmate Leukippos by the jealous Apollo and the chasing of Daphne were simultaneously portrayed, to complete the whole cycle of the story.
Adam and Eve
Oil on Canvas, 30″ x 40″, Completed in 2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3835030818/in/set-72157622064751614/
Adam and Eve were portrayed as sad and resigned figures. Adam cast down his eyes, as if he was trying to avoid eye contact with viewers, or his judges, while Eve reached out to Adam tentatively with right hand, whilst shielding her guilty face with her left hand. A heavy, lead-colored cloud hanging directly above them, shaped like a giant question mark. It also functioned like Damocles’ sword, threatening to crush them both.
Annunciation
Oil on Canvas, 36″ x 48″, Completed in 2002 http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3835030876/in/set-72157622064751614/ Virgin Mary, on learning her pregnancy by the holy spirit, wailed for herself and the fate of her unborn son Jesus. She howled in grief beyond console. Perhaps, she was grieving for the entirety of humanity – by then, she must have learned the burden on her shoulders.
Jingwei Filling Up the Sea
Oil on Canvas, 24″ x 36″, Completed in 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3856364733/
Jingwei, in Chinese mythology, perished at a young age in the East Sea. After her death she chose to assume the shape of a bird in order to exact revenge upon the sea by bringing stones and small twigs from the mountains nearby over the sea in an effort to fill it up. Jingwei even has a short dialogue with the sea where the sea scoffs her, claiming that she wouldn’t be able to fill it up even in a million years, whereupon she claims that she will then proceed to take ten million years, even one hundred million years, whatever it takes to fill up the sea so that others would not have to perish as she did.
Again, I grouped a few events together to contain the cycle of the story in one canvas. The predominant feature is a sad fish with large tear. Here, the struggle is between elements and human activity and I tried to give sympathy to both.
Nüwa Creating Humans
Oil on Canvas
30″ x 40″
Completed in 2007 http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3848229487/in/set-72157622064751614/
Nüwa is a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology best known for creating mankind and repairing the wall of heaven. This painting is the tribute to my heritage. What can be more fitting then credit a female god as the creator of humans? The sad twist in this canvas is that the humans she created resembled, unfortunately, robots. No creation would be perfect.
Nüwa Patching Up the Sky Oil on Canvas
30″ x 30″
Completed in 2006 http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3834238745/in/set-72157622064751614/
Two powerful gods quarreled and caused the collapse of the pillar which supported the sky and rain powered down to drown the living creatures on earth. This is the independent corroboration of the deluge in the Bible. Nüwa cut off the legs of a giant tortoise and used them to supplant the fallen pillar, alleviating the situation and sealing the broken sky using stones of seven different colors, but she was unable to fully correct the tilted sky. This explains the phenomenon that sun, moon, and stars move towards the northwest, and that rivers in China flow southeast into the Pacific Ocean. She also melted five-colored boulders to seal off the cracks of the sky. Other versions of the story describe Nüwa going up to heaven and filling the gap with her body (half human half serpent) and thus stopping the flood. The image I put forth was an earth-toned large woman, floating against cobalt blue boulders and running water in between, struggling to maintain her balance, in order to finish her Herculean (or shall we say,
I love the smell of fires in the air….
This season is one of family, thanks and prayer.
It’s cold on the outside, but warm inside….
Cherished voices in which we take pride…..
A grown son blossoming….
A daughter on the brink.
Mom washing the turkey pan out in the sink.
Dad and his pipe…
Little Johnnie at play.
These moments are fleeting
Cherish today.
Thank God for blessings
And still small songs….
How awesome He’s given you
A place to belong.
There’s tears and there’s sorrow…
And often there is pain.
But Jesus is with us….
So much we’ve gained….
So in all things give thanks…
Rejoice, give praise…
Christ is our Father
All of our days.
I love riding my bike on an autumn day….
With the clouds overhead and the trees in the way.
A woodpecker sings his song from on high…
Airplanes announce themselves in the sky.
The smell of cozy fires sweetens the air…
On such a day, I haven’t a care.
Patsy Ledbetter – may be reached at patsyled@sbcglobal.net – and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. She wishes her fellow Americans a happy Thanksgiving!
