Skeletons in the closet

This is a close up of an extraordinary piece that was made from an old clock case. The limbs are made with plastic spoons and forks wrapped in twine. The old clock was laying on the side of the road having come to the end of its useful life.

I gutted it and re- used the clock works (cogs again) to detail various aspects of the figure. The character represents those things in our psyche that we are not yet ready to acknowledge or to come to terms with.

When we choose to integrate the alienated parts of ourselves, we often find that the very thing we were inclined to discard (an impossible proposition) invariably holds the key we need to unlock the barriers in our lives.

My upcoming exhibition is entitled Splinter. The splinter theme is all about integrating the fractured, discarded and shunned parts of ourselves in order to be whole again. It is the way of the spiritual warrior.

Time Line

Why the cogs?

My fascination with cogs stem from many observations about life.

It seems to me that we are like intricate time pieces with many cogs (aspects of ourselves) connecting with each other in order to function as a whole.

Problem is we are often disconnected from ourselves and out of touch with our inner workings. For those who introspect this is not the case however. Meditation and reflection serve as tools to re-calibrate our cogs in the pursuit of wholeness and cohesiveness.

In the previous blog you may have noticed that no two cogs were aligned and this was symbolic of my scattered frame of mind at the time. In today's piece all cogs are aligned and connected. There is a sense of movement and action. This is what we seek, to be one with ourselves, others and the universe.

The symbol of the cogs is also observed in the cosmos. The manner in which the planets circle each other while rotating on their axes & their moons doing the same is not unlike clockwork. This system creates day and night, the seasons and hence life itself. How incredible!

We simply need to tune into these mechanisms and discover for ourselves some of the amazing aspects of the grand design.

THE CRUCIBLE

This water color piece is entitled... CRUCIBLE...

It was the child of frustration.

I was working on several projects that seemed to be going nowhere in a hurry.

Try as I may results were slow to non existent.

Eventually I "surrendered". I stepped away from pursuing these goals and began to sketch.

My frustration poured out of me onto the page (first draft was in pencil and will also be included in the up-coming show) and evolved into what you see.

Several interesting things happened along the way.

All of the little characters in the piece were originally the same but as I drafted and re-drafted the piece, each one took on a distinct persona.

It turns out that each one had a message for me as it pertained to my dilemma. This seemed to happen as if by magic. And as the piece evolved, solutions began to appear and my way forward was made clear.

Let me give you an example. One character wanted to be a forest dweller (the green one, don't you know) and he reminded me that I had not visited the woods for some time. I took his advice and on so doing, much of my angst dissolved as I was baited by all the greenery around me.

The water man reminded me to visit the river & just go with the flow. Each character had a prescription and collectively I was rejuvenated.