Since the beginning of art history, artists have attempted to use the principles of art to express ideas. From the simplest image to the most complex. Art flexes between clarity and distortion all in service of expressing ideas. But the principles of art have changed little. I refer here to the visual arts. I do so because this is where my training, experience, knowledge and expertise is rooted.
Art is more complicated than many may think. Making art and it's materials are not so complicated. Art contains endless possibilities of expression. As I age and continue to make art I see the difficulties of trying to define what art is. In a previous Musing it was easier to define what art was not than what it is. Art is transient, it moves and evolves. It does and should evolve. Because Art is a human construct. As such art changes as we change as history of art demonstrates.
I have been drawing and making art since I was a child. My mother, now passed, kept everything I created in scrapbooks. But life intervened and I set out to conquer the world. But in retrospect it was always in an artistic mode. My entire life has been in the arts in one way or another. I won't bore you here with my history.
Settling on the visual arts came to me late. And I have been trying to make up for lost time ever since.
My initial adult training was basic- drawing was at its core. Painting escaped me in art school. Painting remained a complex mystery until I moved to California and had the great fortune to get two amazing teachers who opened my eyes and my heart and didn't give up on me. Their tenacity has served me well.   I credit my being an artist today to them.
My art has changed. It is evolving. In the last two years I have been experienced an epiphany. An awakening where for the first time I saw I was static in my thinking and in my work. Doing the same things. Different works mind you but they were not challenging anymore. I had become comfortable. I could no longer continue on this path and call myself an artist.
I had to change. There was a cause dear to me and I decided to try and paint it. But It had to be done in a new way for maximum impact.
While researching my subject it came to me. And it scared me. To have an effect on the public, it had to be painted in a new style. A Contemporary style I had never attempted before. I seriously doubted my ability to do this. With new knowledge I painted five small pieces to test my idea. By the end I knew how I was going to paint these or at least how I would attempt to paint these works. It was risky and cost me money for large canvases, framing and lots of paint. In the course of two months; after teaching classes, I closed the studio and painted 24 large scale pieces in this contemporary style I was still discovering. I would have continued making more but my galley would not support more works.   After a three month successful showing, I created another show with 25 more large works in this new contemporary style which was evolving from the first show. Due to Covid19 this second show was never seen.  Today I continue to develop and my style has exploded. I wake everyday and paint.  I am possessed and can't stop. You can see these and newer works on my Internet site. Please visit and I hope you enjoy my developments.

Artists today face a dilemma. It isn't a new dilemma by any means. But it is magnified.  Maybe out of proportion.
If you haven't been noticing, more people are painting now than ever before. I mentioned this fact in previous Musings in the past.
Many are new to painting and art. Many do it for various reasons. And I am happy they have discovered art making. I have written of the personal enrichments that making art encompasses.   Many do not seek professional status. They get satisfaction just from the process.
They notice, through art, their lives are inexplicably enriched. The world around them seems different the more they explore. Colors are more vibrant. Time slows. And they develop an greater understanding of the world around them.
With more and more people creating art and the ubiquitous intrusion of the Internet and social media, much of this "new" work is being posted online. We are being conditioned to post everything we do without regard to how it looks, what stage of ability we have achieved or whether it contributes to a greater message.
In the process the internet is inundated with work of dubious quality. What we see mostly is in the area of " abstract" art. I put abstract in parenthesis because even abstract art has rules. It allows for experimentation, but there are underlying rules which are being either disregarded, misunderstood or those making it are ignorant of these rules. I am not going to list these rules here. And yes, rules are made to be broken. But how do you break a rule if you don't know the rule?
Suffice it to say there is a mix of bad art; art made from ignorance and some very good " abstract" art on the Internet.
What I see when I look up new artists is their desire to paint and a willingness to put in the time. The issue, as I see it is, many are blindly stumbling in the dark hoping to hit on something they know little about. The fact anyone who puts paint to canvas is creating art is a fallacy.  So to the issue of this musing. How to force viewers to your work?
Art has developed over centuries from cave paintings to the Sistine Chapel (as an example) in that time there have been a plethora of artists and styles which have come and some gone. Yet, with every style which has come before it was based on some set of rules and methods. The artist took that prevailing style, learned it, understood it, then broke the rules and created a new style.
My point here is simple. Knowledge of the past (in art) is required to insure what you are doing will get noticed. What you are doing appeals to the masses. What you are doing makes some sort of sense others can appreciate. What you are doing must be based on knowledge of art history. It is a huge expenditure of effort to new artists, not knowing where your going if you don't know from where you have come.

You may have noticed I have been publishing my recent work a lot lately.
I have reached a point in my life where it has become necessary to put my money where my mouth is.
I often say to readers of my Musings from the Easel page to risk with your art. To push your talent and ability. Don't sit back and rest on what you did in the past. You did it. It's over. Risk. Try something new. Different. Work from your heart and not what you think others may like. Or what others might buy.
The truth is people want to see something from artists that is new; innovative and thought provoking. Work that moves the needle.
If recent events have proved anything, it is that life is short. Artists were given a gift. Don't make pretty pictures. Make beautiful pictures. Make work that speaks to others. Work hard to make your voice heard. We don't get the luxury of 500 words in a book to express our feelings. We get one image. Make it count. Use it to inform, to show and yes to educate.
There are generations coming behind us. Coming generations with little or no understanding of the world and the magnificence within it. Art will inform and shape their thinking. If we don't leave anything to see, they will see nothing.
Face it. You may not make a dime but you affect those who are looking to artists to express truths we all know as true.
To show what really matters. And yes it can be found in known objects. Show us something we didn't anticipate. An idea we didn't
Think of ourselves.
All art is controversial even with no visible or underlying insinuation or intent. Art makes us think. It makes us reconsider. It makes us see anew things we took for granted.

I now have my studio relatively in a workable condition. Things are finding their place.
The Pandemic has also effected not only my life, location but also my thinking. The work I did toward the end of my stay in New Mexico is manifesting and taking shape and these changes are having a pleasantly unexpected result.
I have been working as some of you know. I started with a painting of a Schooner, then a work of San Pedro Harbor. In the last few days I am noticing a new maturity in my work. There is a confidence I have never felt before. I believe it is attached to a quasi-nihilistic notion based in part on all that is going on right now with local and world events.
Strangely, the feeling of upheaval and uncertainty has made me freer in my approach. As if there were no time to lose. Or time being limited. Or loss of freedom. I am not sure what to label the feeling. Yet, I know when I am working now I am experiencing a new freedom. Freedom to paint what I want. Paint how I want with little or no regard of what anyone will think. I trust my maturity, if you will, that I will do a good piece. I am worry free in a sense. If I error, I use it to go where that takes me in the work. I am only guided but my instinct. This allows me to be completely in sync with what I am doing. It is a strange yet satisfying feeling which I am obviously having trouble explaining to you here.
Everything that has happened to me in the last five years is homogenizing. Coalescing if you will, showing up in my new paintings.
Current events, which are in your face every day on social media, t.v. newspapers, Self isolation; being in a new place, all are strangely allowing me to be freer and express untapped feelings in my work. In a way, to comprehend and absorb the onslaught of events everywhere, I am painting with more responsiveness to deal with my new life, together with all that is happening in the world. And even stranger, this has given me a sense of euphoria and deeper inner peace and understanding when I approach new work.  I credit these changes and new found maturity to the chaos and uncertainty of life in general.
Artists must work from within. Unencumbered by commerce, approval or disapproval, or world events. While these cannot be controlled, we must not ignore world events but absorb them. Embrace them and they will manifest into artwork that has a spirit and energy that cannot be achieved by other means.
I don't know if my work will continue to progress from here or not. I am living in the moment. Taking one day at a time and facing whatever presents itself. Artists need to live each moment as if it were their last. Maybe that is what we all need to do. All we can do.