In The Between Time

Well, it's been awhile. I've been immersed in painting. Now I'm in the between time. This is when I wax philosophical about life and art, and clean my tools in preparation for the next painting. I'm crazy about taking care of my tools— Ha! I even wash my broom from time to time! Why clean the floor with a dirty broom?

There is a fury about this most recent artwork. The image is complicated and I had to paint it. I felt compelled to go against the mind-numbing rules artists pontificate about so often. Life is complicated, beautifully, awesomely complicated. And... paradoxically, simple. And wonderous. How does one express that?


I titled this painting "Earth Dakini". Dakinis are generally referenced as female deities or goddesses. Tibetan Buddhists translate the Sanskrit term as "she who traverses the sky" or "she who moves in space" or "sky dancer". There is an element of volatility, a kind of wrathfulness about her, like a furious storm of energy intent upon transforming minds and sweeping away obscurities.

One never knows how or where Dakini energy might manifest in your life. I see her energy here in the effulgent abundance of the garden, where all of life is so interconnected that boundaries are meaningless. Sun, rain, earth, sky— the joyous cacophony we call life includes everything you can imagine... and everything you can't.