I was going through some old blog posts and came across this one below that features a couple of very early pieces from 24 or 25 years back. The thing that caught my eye this morning was a term– emotional carrier— I used to describe the work. I don’t recall using that term but it so aptly describes what I want in my work. Take a look.
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To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.
~Henri Bergson
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If you have read this blog for some time, you probably have noticed that I periodically like to revisit old work, especially those early pieces from when I was still in the process of finding voice. It’s an interesting period for me to look at because the changes were coming fast, sometimes on what seemed to be a daily basis, as new things were tried, some sparking new directions and some being quickly set aside.
It was a much different set of circumstances than the way I currently work. It was a period of fast and furious fireworks, little pops and crackles with every step forward where today it is quieter for periods of time followed by louder booms. I don’t know if I can explain that any better and am pretty sure it means nothing to anyone but that is the nature of this whole endeavor– trying to make sense of something inexplicable.
I was looking at some early pieces and stopped on this one at the top for a bit, looking at it closely for the first time in many years. It’s from around 1994 and was at a point where I was still trying to figure out things. It was very illustrative– I could see it being used in a kid’s book– but there were things I took from it. The treatment of the sky, for instance, presaged the way my process evolved. It’s a pleasant little piece but it is far from where I wanted to be and even back then I knew it when I finished it then set it aside. It was not an emotional carrier for me at the time and that was what I was seeking.
The piece below, Into the Valley, was from around six or seven months later, in early 1995, and shows the changes that were taking hold in my work. It is simpler in construction yet seems to say more for me, seems to have some more fundamental thought and feeling in it. 
I usually take something from these little visits back in time. The changes become more evident as the style matures then levels off, becoming a bit more subtle, less drastic but more confident. But always changing, always recreating itself as it matures.
Or so I hope…
Redtree Times 