My new inspirational direction I told you about in my last post now has an added dimension, an old inspiration. When I was a kid, I was supremely and completely inspired by the work of M.C. Escher and Roger Dean. Most of you have heard of Escher, not so many have heard of Mr. Dean, but you may have seen his work. Roger Dean is the artist that created the artwork and logo for all of the original Yes albums in the early 70's. His artwork is AMAZING, so is his graphic design work. I always felt that my work could be a combination of Escher and Dean, and for many years I worked in that direction, eventually drifting away. Well, I recently looked up Roger Dean on the internet, he is still producing amazing work, and I have new found "old" inspiration for my new work. Check out rogerdean.com when you can, his stuff blows my mind.

I've been reading Dr. David Frawley's book "Vedanta Meditation" and the concepts and techniques are really resonating with me. The primary philosophy is that through meditation we can transcend the personal self (the ego) and reach beyond to the Universal Self - the all encompassing, all pervading consciousness of the Universe, of all reality. I've been inspired to focus my meditation practice on journeying to the root of "Who Am I", the place before the ego, or as the Zen koan says "my face before my mother and father were born". Clearly I am not this body (it constantly changes, in fact all of the cells in the human body completely replaced approximately in 7 years), and I'm not my emotions with their never ending fluctuations. By realizing the root consciousness one reaches the Universal Self, the Universal reality of Oneness with all that ever was, all that is, and all that will ever be. My journey has inspired me to create a series of paintings representing my personal understanding and experience of meditation and the Universal Self, stay tuned for more...

Spring has finally started to show itself here in the Northeast. Daffodils are coming up and blooming, fuzzy little buds are waiting for just the right moment to open on the magnolia tree, and the little plant we call "spikey bush" due to its abundance of thorns has little green leaves appearing all over. The chipmunk appeared yesterday for the first time, eating the bird feeder leftovers, and the frogs in our spring pond have been singing heartily in the evening. Its as if all of creation is waking up, eager for life, eager to express itself.

I feel the same way, I'm eager to begin a new cycle of creativity, a new cycle of painting. We'll see which direction I'm drawn to, what expressions manifest. It's an amazing feeling to realize that I too am part of that cycle of life, cycle of art. We all are. :)