Controlling a dream

Several years ago an amazing event occurred...while being pulled into a cave, running away from those dark thoughts in my subconscience, my dream was interrupted...the anxiety and stress of what was yet to come seemed to slip away in favor of my need to see other things in my dream landscape. I have yet to speak to anyone who has completely controlled a dream, from the inside out, but I am sure there are more...the move Inception brought this back to life for me...In my dream, the interior of the cave had these amazing cave paintings and my conscious had to see what my subconscious had created...

As I broke away from the flow of the dream, I walked over to the wall and began to visually document it's surface and the images. Human face drawings, severed at the neck, floated along the rock wall...I did manage to do several drawings from the experience...I also woke up feeling incredible, like I could take on the world!

Contrasts and Juxapositions

Playing with cast teeth I explore the macabre in a decorative context...I truly enjoy this juxtaposition...attracting the viewer with something seemingly beautiful, drawing in them in with not only the shininess but also the scale...these works literally need to be seen in close proximity...forcing the viewer to confront concepts and meaning they may not be ready to address...teeth are dream imagery for death...they have personal meaning for me in this context, but they also take on a possible universal meaning for my guest...loss...pain...breaking down of sustenance...class...culture...and human evolved existence...

The form is beautiful and clever...functional...with a distinct top...the business of the tooth, above the surface of the gum...visible and clean...Below the surface is the root...the protected, messy part of the form...twisted, jagged, rough in texture...this contrast is visually compelling and at the same time, horrifying in its possibilities.

NEW Children's Book!!!

Details on my new children's book...the book is an exploration of coping with fear that children can use to deal with those feelings...the idea came from several years of reading to my son and daughter and watching them struggle with normal developmental issues...a unique book that is also fun and interactive! To purchase the book - it is listed at Etsy and on my blog... www.animalsgetscaredtoojustlikeyou.blogspot.com ...also feel free to email me if you have questions... jalzoartist@gmail.com.

Southernisms Part 2

An image of my Uncle Bill who was a coal miner in the southeastern most corner of Kentucky...many of my relatives have worked the mines...it's a hard existence and a thankless job...many have died from black lung because of horrible conditions and inadequate safety precautions...many individuals taken advantage of because of their economic situation...would this be happening if they were wealthy???

Southernisms

Exploring the past...the loss and the turmoil...the joy and the pain...sifting through the memories and those things profound...the symbols of that history are teeth and coal....names and underwear...music and light...the out-house...arranging these symbols in an installation to capture the essence of my past...show the emotion of the time and embody my mood at the time...

My Third Eye

I wanted the tops of the heads and space behind the ear to all line up and freat this horizon line...as if the faces were mountains...a bright and cheery landscape upon first glance, but as you delve deeper into the image you see something else is happening...a sequence of time as you move from left to right...following in the western tradition of reading...scanning the document for meaning...an idenfication, an exorcism and the repair, brought back from the brink of death...it is a documentary, based on the truth but utilizing the beauty of watercolor and the sensation of organic flowing lines...My Third Eye is explored.......

So easy and so difficult

The simple breaking of the curved plane over the lip by the figure...it is so easy but visually, still feels like the first time I have seen it....the paired shadow carrying the viewer into the bottom of the picture plane and the balance between the large light tan area and the blue sky with the line of orange, a complementary color, cutting right through the horizontal orientation....

I ask again, how much tan will it take to balance the blue? In this piece by Aaron Farely, it's just the right amount! The figure is well placed, off to the left and not in the "dead zone" at the center of the picture plane...a moment in time, kinetically set up, with the main element dropping down conceptually but fixed visually to the lip of the pipe, and ground at the bottom edge inside the shadow.