NIGHT BLOOMING JASMINE
Material Wit, Orcas Island WA
May 2025
These works were made with the influence of Carl Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections. While listening to his memoir, I was reminded how the subconscious leads me almost entirely through my painting practice. I don’t pre-plan a work because any notion of organization is inevitably bypassed or out-witted by some enigmatic force. If the painting is successful, I‘m led—by accident—to a familiar scene: uncanny impressions of place, emotional unbraiding, the illusive flash of half-memory. ‘The Night Sea Journey’ is a recurring archetype in mythology that, to me, encapsulates the process of tinkering around in the unknown and committing to difficult creation—of making paintings or growing life. It begins with a period of descent into an underworld, followed by a complete surrender of everything, concluding in a period of voidlike emptiness before a re-emergence can occur.
I primarily paint night scenes because I am less interested in the beauty and balance that the daytime sun brings. Sunlight is uncomplicated and productive. It belongs to hopefulness and enjoyment and leaves few question marks. Beautiful art can be made from it, but it often confirms what is already felt. The dim light and shadows of night are where the Hun (in Daoism) or the Kon (in Shinto) wander off to collect their wisdom. In my painting practice this is where I do my collecting too. These works were made in the germinating hibernation of winter and pregnancy, the ever fertile void.
Flowers at night—left on the counter, in the garden, blooming or withering when the sun goes down— are much like our minds when they spirit away into dreams or delirium. The title ‘Night Blooming Jasmine’ honors David Lynch, who recently joined the Unified Field, where all good ideas come from.
Sound the Seed Bell
When flowers ripen and pollen puffs out, petals soften and fall, seeds emerge. Blissfully thundering towards death and rebirth.
46 x 34
Oil on Canvas
When flowers ripen and pollen puffs out, petals soften and fall, seeds emerge. Blissfully thundering towards death and rebirth.
46 x 34
Oil on Canvas
Night Poppies
A meditation of staring at poppies on the table all night (just imagine it).
12.5 x 9.5
Oil on Canvas
Birth Rock, Warm Spring
Painted from memory of the warm spring in the Ojai Valley that is believed to have been an indigenous birthing site. Notches on a towering boulder carved for each baby born in the water below. Hot night wind.
42 x 30.5
Oil on Canvas
Solstice Fire
Painted from memory of the traditional solstice fire that I grew up with. A community gathered in a circle, naming the dead, burning the old wounds, writing hopeful wishes on paper for the fire. Red sparks against black sky.
42.5 x 16
Oil on Canvas