“Holy Waters” oil 40” by 30” India

This painting is from a recent trip Susan and I took to India. We met up with several artist friends (Saim Caglayan, Suchitra Bhosle, Pramod Kurlekar ) for different times during our travels there. After painting for a week with Pramod Kurlekar in the village he grew up in, we traveled to Udaipur and stayed there for two weeks, and then spent some time In Mumbai.

During the day, we would hire people to pose for paintings we did from life, or go out and do paintings on the spot. The second half of the day, we generally explored the surrounding villages, took photographs on farms, in people’s homes, or at festivals like this. Those became the basis of the larger studio works I did when we returned home.

As always on trips, my favorite part is talking to people about their lives, beliefs, local politics, and the million other things that would never have occurred to me had I not traveled there. For an artist, the visual and cultural splendor of India is an inspiration that continues far after the traveling ends.

The women in this painting are gathering at Gangaur Ghat on the edge of Lake Pichola in the town of Udaipur to celebrate the Gangaur festival, which is the celebration of spring, harvest, and marital fidelity.

I could write quite a long essay on the meaning and practice of this festival from talking to so many people while there, but here’s something I clipped from Wikipedia that describes the origin of this ceremony.

Once upon a time, Lord Shiva, along with the Goddess Parvati and Narad Muni went out to take a small trip. When they reached a nearby forest, the news of their arrival spread like wild fire. As the women were busy preparing a gorgeous spread for the Gods and Goddess, the women of the low class came with their offerings. Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati happily ate the food and the Goddess sprinkled the “suhagras” on them.

After a certain time, the women of the high classes came with the food they had prepared. When they had finished eating, Lord Shiva asked his wife what she was going to bless the women with since she had already finished every bit of the “suhagras” on blessing the women of lower classes. To this, Goddess Parvati replied that she intended to bless these women with her own blood. Saying so, she scratched the tip of her finger and sprinkled the blood on these women.”

“Divya’s World” oil, 40” by 26”

Divya Melaluca was born in Australia. When she was old enough to pursue her dreams of becoming an artist, she traveled to Norway to study with Odd Nedrum, where she met another art student, the equally fantastic artist, Alex Venezia, who is American. They fell in love, moved to the United States, got married, and began producing a large family of magnificent paintings that they sell to strangers to take care of. To me, Divya is a symbol of the hope and promise of this new generation of young artists spanning, traveling, and inspiring the world. The location of the painting is just a few steps outside her studio, in North Carolina. Thus, the title “Divya’s World”.”

“Holy Procession” oil, 20” by 20” India

This is another of my paintings that will be available at Susan and my show at the Maxwell Alexander Gallery in Los Angeles this month. http://www.maxwellalexandergallery.com

This is from Udaipur and depicts a procession of woman carrying idols of Lord Shiva and Mata Parvati (which many have made and decorated themselves) to Lake Pichola over three days for the Mewar Festival. The woman carry the god and goddess surrogates to the water’s edge and anoint them with water from the sacred lake, and then line the idols up and pray to them. The celebration stretches into the night with dancing, boats, and a dreamscape of colors.

While there, I was reminded of the Easter Processions that I participated in as a kid attending Catholic school in Chicago. The ritual would start in the church with a Mass, and then continue in a procession for miles through our neighborhood streets with statues of the Virgin Mary and Christ being carried or mounted atop a float. The priest would occasionally sprinkle holy water on the congregation in an amazingly similar manner to the women in Udaipur anointing themselves and their idols with water from the holy lake.”

“Tibetan Sisters” oil, 30” by 40”

This painting is from a grueling, but incredibly moving, trip Susan and I took with our friend Huihan Liu and his wife Wei to Tibet. We drove in from China and across Tibet in a truck, visiting many towns, Yak herders in tents, and ending up in this village near the base of Mount Everest. It was far enough from any source of gasoline that most people there still used horse and donkey carts to get around and haul things.

My general routine on all trips is to get up early and walk and photograph as the sun is rising (which I find to be the most beautiful time of day). As early as I get started, the farmers in the area were already hard at work. I didn’t have an interpreter with me, so couldn’t speak to anyone, but made many friends, anyway. These two sisters were especially delightful and laughed as I photographed them and showed them their pictures on the back of my digital camera.

I’d noticed that there were two groups of children in the village. Those who went to the simple school, and those, like these two girls, whose families needed them to help work their fields—probably the way their ancestors have done for thousands of years. Maybe it’s my own bias that I felt sad that they were still laboring in the fields rather than getting an education. I wonder if they felt sorry for the kids that have to sit at desks in a concrete box all day? I wish I could have asked them.

Since not many people stop in this town on their way to Everest, I don’t think they were used to anyone taking their picture and didn’t seem to understand why I gave them money after photographing them.

I painted this in my studio about ten years after this trip and hope they are still smiling in their beautiful valley at the top of the world. Maybe someday I’ll travel back there and visit all the friends we made over those couple of days.”

“Aurora Goddess of the Dawn. 18 by 23” charcoal and acrylic on watercolor board.

I title my work after I finish and I reflect on how the piece makes me feel. Her expression with the bright light in her eyes and the excitement in the gesture of her hands brought an energy of newness, beginnings, light and anticipation. I put a dusting of charcoal powder first to tone the white of the board. I made sure I kept the area of her face clean so I could control the values in her face. I do the designs and splatters after I get the face done. I used frames from @quattroframes for most of his collection. I think it’s important to use frames of distinction on drawings, it brings elegance to the piece. I have included a few photos of how my pieces look in the frames. I am very proud of this show, I have had to work through low confidence and the strong fears of failure that all artists deal with. I have learned a lot about myself and feel this is the most intimate show I have had.”