I once lived in an area called Trestle Glen in Oakland. I loved walking in that area as I was mesmerized with the quality of light. I could not quite put my finger on why that was. But it was exhilarating to me.

The street was named for the trestle that in Oakland’s formative days carried a commuter train from Oakland to San Francisco. Running parallel to the trestle and the street was also a creek that ran year-round. The trees were and still are magnificent, bold and beautiful. I finally figured out that the mottled sunlight shining through those trees held the sparkle of all the water in that local atmosphere. On some mornings the air was alive with color from the sun reflecting on those minuscule drops. It was a tiny bit like looking through a kaleidoscope. That is when I fell in love with painting. I wanted to have the painting skill to capture that light. That was a long time ago.

For me painting is like a kaleidoscope, representing the ever changing and endless possibilities contained in the human experience. Especially painting water in all its variations; waterfalls, images emerging from the fog, sun shining through the atmosphere, a tsunami, rivers, and finally merging with the oceans of the world. The importance of trees in that cycle of life aka water.

I believe we humans have an emotional connection to the cycle of water that we barely think about.

And now with climate warming it is an even bigger subject. Without water we disappear.  It is clearly life sustaining with endless facets. When we live on a continent where it seems we have too much or too little I believe learning to appreciate it and all it gives us will be our salvation.

Water. What a huge subject for all of us. I think I will never tire of trying to capture that one little shining sparkly moment of water as it moves through its cycles.