Games People Play
Other Images in the Series

What would this “game of life” lack without your presence?    Is life just a series of bigger and bigger games that people play in order to advance?     Who wins, what are the prizes, who decides the winner?

Does our essence determine how we enter the game?

Essence is the truth of what we are, what is our own: our latent and innate tendencies, our inherent gifts, our sympathies and antipathies.  Essence is what we are born with, but how does that essence affect how we play the game or if we even enter the game?

In “The Game” do we have moments of recognition, where we find our inner selves reflected in the outer world? Is this the moment when the game ends and authentic living begins? Are authentic people winners?

Sometimes we want to give up, run away and leave the game but the game is everywhere; leaving the game is leaving life itself. The game does not stop; night or day, the game continues.

It continues in many ways each day, including the possessions game, which takes over some lives and some cultures. The quest for more, the buying and accumulating, takes time from becoming an authentic person or interacting with authentic people.   Each possession we bring into our lives requires something of us and takes time away from relationships.  The game becomes more complex when possessions and people interact.

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Flow
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Using the fish to explore the concept of flow is a natural link.  The collective effervescence of fish moving together belonging to a group with concrete real existence is symbolic of humans absorbed in a task.  As humans we are most satisfied when we do something for the action itself rather than for some other motive.

The moments of flow can also be called a liminal moment; those moments apart from time when you are gripped, taken, when you are so fully absorbed in what you are doing that time ceases to exist.  “The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile.” p.3 Flow by Mihaly Csikzenthmihalyi  It is the autotelic moments in life those of self goal that are meaningful. 

Touch
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The tulip provides an artistic way of exploring various types of touch, and the impact that touching has on our lives.   A touch can give us a concentrated sense of life, an energy transfer like nothing else can.  The touching of souls, minds or hearts that are seeking contact with another is life altering.

Every action produces an energy that will vibrate in eternity.  Like a pebble in a pond, the rings of energy keep moving outward from the initial touch, whether it is physical, emotional, spiritual or mental. However, learning to touch the silence within ourselves and be comfortable with our own company is a lifelong task. Touching and being touched is what makes us human and makes us thrive when times are challenging.

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Connections Other images in the series 

This series explores connections in my own world from the wisdom of a professor, to the innocence of a child that I teach each person changes who I am and who I will become.  The unconditional acceptance of a person allows a connection or a common thread of interest to grow and to become a strong bond and time and distance does not sever.

Sir Francis Bacon said that the worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship. Without connections to other people and their emotions we are destitute

Lives Overlapping
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There is a trust in some people that blurs differences and blinds prejudice. Humankind pauses and looks in before entering, as though trust has been lost from natural design. Windows provide distance and a perceived involvement, yet the viewers do not know what the situation is until they participate fully.

Windows allow people to look out, but they also allow people to look in. Why do we look in? Do we want to see that other people are not so different from us? If there were windows on people that allowed us to see into their intentions, motivations, aspirations or potential, humans would we understand each other better. We install windows on superficial items like cars and houses, yet we cover up what is most important and don’t realize that our lives are very similar and overlap in many ways.

Lives overlap all over the world. We hang out our laundry to dry metaphorically and physically and hope that the overlap with others with bring a sense of companionship and understanding.

Abandonment 40 x 30"
Pastel on paper

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Trapped
Other images in the series

Many times in life we try to trap or hold onto something longer than we can. We try to control scents, people, moments and feelings.  We try to trap moments through photography and smells through perfume.  The perfume jars are a symbol for this attempt to trap the scents of nature in a jar to use later.  When that bottle is opened and the perfumed is applied, the scent is lost to the air.

A perfume lingers after the person wearing it has departed.  The scent may be in the room, on a piece of clothing, or on a pillow they used.  This evokes notions of enduring strength and remembrance.  Perfumes thus symbolize memory.

Spanish Blue 24 x 18"

Pastel on Paper

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Standing Alone