The first dream that I recall having as a child seemed to be in black and white. I also seem to remember animals and trees in that same dream.
When I had my first opportunity to paint on a large scale in school we were presented with soup cans of water paint in rich primary colours and paper as big as ourselves. I painted animals and trees bigger than I had ever painted them before.
Plants and animals have remained interesting to me.
As an artist planning ahead to include or exclude elements we eliminate the need to make choices along the way as much as possible. Then there are times while working on site when you are in a magic moment. Surprise and wonder overtake changes that were unanticipated only moments before.
One such day painting by a brook behind the house a muskrat jumped out of the water and rested on the snow covered shore. I cleaned and reloaded my brush and added the figure before I was discovered and the creature disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.
Another day one January as we returned from the funeral of a friend I glanced to the site of the road just in time to see a sea otter enjoying sliding down the frozen bank of an ocean backwater cove. I held the image in my mind and upon returning home and to the studio I recorded the image a memory of a friends spirit reflected.
It's funny that these same subjects appear over and over in my paintings even as other elements of my creative process change through time.
