There is a big difference between being childish and being childlike. We were all children at one time, but many of us have grown into adults. This process has taken place one day… one moment at a time. It wasn’t a sudden transition.

Life’s events change us. Sometimes when we are hurt, we begin to close ourselves off from things in order to avoid being hurt again. From one day to the next, we may not see a change. Especially after our bodies have grown to their full height. Difficult things come our way, and we react.

There is nothing wrong with children. And there is nothing wrong with keeping that childlike sense of wonder and fun alive throughout your life. Sometimes good things also get lost along the way. We don’t always nurture the child that we were… the child that we still are inside.

Age doesn’t make you a different person! You are still the child that you were, even though those minutes and days have ticked by and you’ve grown as tall as you will ever be.

I tell people that I am at time traveler. Sometimes they don’t believe me. But I have traveled almost 30 million minutes so far. That is a lot of minutes! I’m trying to see how far I can get.

I usually start with a plan in my head. I don’t sketch, except in that those first brushstrokes are a sketch.

I have an idea… a reasonable vision of the finished product. But I play along the way. My hand gives me surprises that I like to follow.

At other times, I just paint with no finished product in my mind. That is also how I write most of the time. I trust my brain and my hand to cooperate in expressing something authentic to my neurons and striated muscle cells… my stream of consciousness, manifested by my physical body.

I’ve said this many times before, but the main thing I need to do is pick up a paintbrush, and dip it in some paint. I don’t believe in some magical state of mind that takes an ordinary human and turns them into an artist. Clark Kent just has to take off that business suit. He’s already Superman.

When I’m writing, too, I just keep a grip on the moving pen.

Different pieces have different messages, but I definitely feel that art is a language.

Some of the messages in my paintings are that you are special. There is nothing wrong with you, and you are only limited by self imposed restrictions.

People love their rules! I don’t.

Have I ever been unable to express my creativity to the fullest? Always! I think the well of creativity is so deep we could never express it to the fullest. We express what we know, or what we think right now, but you know that critical eye we use when we look at the work? That eye tells us there is always more to say. Or it tells us what to fix.

Sometimes, my eye tells me I did alright! That is a good feeling. But doing alright is far from expressing to the fullest.

I think you can have passion and reasonable expectations.

Speaking of which, one thing that inhibits me is expectation. Maybe someone else’s expectation, for example when I’m doing a commission. Or my own expectation. The moment I think I’m going to create something great, you can bet it’s going to be junk.

I didn’t choose my passion any more than I chose my foot size or my eye color. I guess you could say I chose to work at it. You’re good at what you practice. That’s true of skills like painting, writing, photography as well as your attitude or outlook. If you practice complaining, you’re going to get really good at it and have a negative outlook. If you practice being awesome, you can be good at that, too.

I feel most creative in the bathtub. That is no joke. I think some of the reasons are that the bathtub is a private, quiet place. This was especially true when I had kids in the house. I was rarely interrupted or disturbed in the tub. Now I live alone, and bathe with the door open. My cat likes to visit me when I’m bathing. Also, in the bathtub, I am warm and comfortable. I’ve always enjoyed soaking. I do most of my writing in the tub. Now, after all these years, the tub is kind of a trigger for the creative thoughts to swim out from under the rocks in my head, like a gong can be a trigger for meditation.

Ideas come from everywhere. They come from nature, literature, music, conversation, dreams, memories, wishes… anywhere!

Our brains interface with the world through our physical senses. Nerves are conduits for information to be transmitted into our brains. This is a mystery to me, even though I am a nurse. Our brains are changed by everything they perceive, and from that raw information… that sound, that texture, that smell, that visual image or taste… our brains create the unique, intangible yet specific and complex force that is us… our personality with memories of the past and plans for the future. It’s the operating system and hard drive that transforms the cells of our body into a person.

No two people are alike! So your ideas and my ideas are different.

Art lets us take that invisible storehouse of impressions and make it visible again, through the filter of our amazing brains.

To take it one step further, all that processing and physical manipulating of material (your artistic expression), can then become one of the sights my optic nerves transmit to my brain. And then what? Your creative work becomes part of my visual vocabulary, and informs the art that comes out of me! How many pieces of art do you think I have seen?

On and on it goes. Generation after generation of humanity sharing an incalculable amount of information and interpretation that makes you, you and me, me.

And it also makes us sort of alike. Homogenized.

As I have said, ideas are all around us. They are everywhere. We are inundated with them. So I think the first challenge is in recognizing the idea when it is perceived. It will influence you regardless, so don’t stress over this.

I paint. That is my expression. Because I do this already, my arm and hand become sort of like the GI tract of my brain. When my brain is done digesting the inspiration, it comes out.

When other people see my art, the cycle continues. You may like it, or you may not. I don’t think it really matters.

Do I want you to like my art? Sure.

Many of you know that I made a move to North Carolina at the end of August, 2017. I’ve been back in Grand Marais since the middle of October.

I can hardly find the words to tell you how happy and relieved I am to be HOME.

I’ve been finding out lately that a lot of people didn’t realize that I am back. I understand. I work 10 night shifts in a row, and then when I get my four days off, I sleep and make shopping trips to Duluth.

I am in my same house, which I have owned since 1992. I have my same job, same phone number, same PO Box.

Down south, I was bereft of creativity, other than creating some name tessellations. But I didn’t even have internet! I had no studio space, no artistic outlets, no art community… and no time to develop one.

Now that I am home, my mind is overflowing with creative thoughts. I’m painting, writing, creating digital art. I feel so happy.

I just had a wonderful shift at work. I really felt like I was doing good for people who couldn’t help themselves. I had meaningful conversations, and enjoyed interacting with my co-workers. At my job, I feel validated.

I’m looking forward to the next two weeks.

I’m working on the ONE HUNDREDTH episode of Flash Meridian (my online sci fi autobiography). There is a preview up for now, at http://flashmeridian.blogspot.com

The story has become much more about the writing, whereas 18 years ago, it was mostly about pictures. The pictures have taken on a new style, and I am having a lot of fun creating them.

Yes, I said online sci fi autobiography. The story you read has a deeper meaning. Lately, the story deals a lot with how I feel about being home. I love it so much. If you’ve never read it, I think you might be surprised if you give it a try.

Do you think that creativity involves putting your heart and soul into your work? Or is it more like letting your mind flow freely to witness the surprising results of your actions?

Wow, that is an interesting question! Here’s the thing. In my mind, They’re not mutually exclusive. Those things that bubble up through my brain while I’m working ARE my heart and soul. Creativity, to me, is having the ability to translate that “heart and soul” into a visual or written piece that can be then seen or read by someone else. It’s communicating something from my mind to the mind of someone else.

Meticulous planning doesn’t mean more heart and soul. Not to me, anyway. I’d say it’s the opposite.

What in your personal life has influenced you to choose your career?

Growing up with a learning disability, I believe, made me gravitate toward more visual expression. I found what worked for me early on, and stuck with it.

Do you strive to be unique in your creative endeavors? Please explain.

Of course all artists want to be unique. The fact is that each one of us IS unique. There has never been another person just like you or just like me.

Having said that, artists have worked out a lot of painting techniques and solutions throughout history. Art history gives us the visual language to start with. Those influences don’t mitigate our own unique voice.

Imagine if I decided to be unique and answer your questions with a language that I made up. It wouldn’t work.

Having said that, what do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?

We don’t have to motivate ourselves to keep breathing. I’ve been breathing for a long time, and I’ve never once gotten tired of it and decided to take a day off from it.

I may go a Day, a week, a month without painting, but I create art every day. Sometimes sketches, sometimes digital art. Or writing. But even when I’m not making art that you can see, my mind is being creative.

My art comes from the core of who I am. It’s always there.

Were you ever discouraged? If so, how did it it affect your creativity?

Yes, I’m often discouraged! It might feel like I’m freezing up. It might feel like a creative block. It might look like a creative block, but when all that stuff inside me is digested, it will come out.

If you had to start over, would you choose a different path in your career?

Would I not be an artist? No. I’m sure I’d do some things differently. I’d avoid some of the pain and difficulty I’ve experienced in life, but then at the end of it, I would be someone else, wouldn’t I?

So, no.

If I were to change things in my past I might make it worse.

If you could become one of your characters/works of art, which one would you choose? Why?

Funny. I did that. Flash Meridian. I created a character and didn’t realize for a while that he was actually me, and I am him.

In thinking about the things that you have created, is there something that you hated but the public may have loved – and perhaps purchased? How do you explain this?

Yes! I hung a painting in a local restaurant. I didn’t like it. I went home and thought about it all night. In the morning, I went to pick it up, but it was already sold.

All I can say is that different things appeal to different people.

Sometimes I create an image that I love, and no one else seems to care for it. That’s when I hang it on my own wall at home.

What is your favorite color? Does this color describe you as a person? Please explain.

I go through phases. Thirty years ago, almost everything I owned was black and white. Then I added red to it for a while. Most recently, I went through a yellow phase.

I’m not sure I have a favorite color right now, but I am being drawn again and again to magenta.

What is the best advice that you have been given?

I found a card in one of my grandfather’s art books that said “Don’t imitate your teacher. Don’t let your teacher make you imitate him. Be yourself.”

How do you define creativity?

Just looking at the word, I would define creativity as creating something. That’s pretty broad, and so is art. So is life, or being a human being.

Do you believe that each person has the capacity to be creative? Why?

I absolutely believe that everyone has the potential to be creative. I think it is born into us like our natural ability to learn language.

I’ve said lately “being you is all the credential you need to be a true artist.”

Finding your artistic voice takes practice, as does refining your mastery of the medium you choose to create within.

Potential and realization are two different things, even though there are some prodigies that just seem to ooze talent effortlessly.

To quote Fred Rogers: “Imagining something may be the first step in making it happen, but it takes real time and real efforts of real people to learn things, Make things, turn thoughts into deeds or visions into inventions”

How did you find your creative niche?

I found my creative niche originally in school, I think. When they first put a crayon in my hand as a child. Maybe it was earlier. Yes, I remember drawing before kindergarten.

It was unintentional. My parents were not creative at that time.

As far as what I’m doing right now, my niche develops organically. I don’t generally try to come up with an idea, they just sort of emerge as I keep hold of the moving paintbrush.

As far as painting fish in trees goes, that came about because I happened to paint a branch that looked kind of like a fish. Little did I know that subject would take on such significance for me.

My creative niche? I kind of fell into it.

Do you think creativity is innate or learned? Explain.

I want to say that creativity is innate. Skills are learned, but that creative urge has to be there driving the learning. Otherwise what is the point?

Who or what experiences have inspired your work?

I’ve been inspired by other artists, for sure. Many of my friends are artists. You don’t have to have your paintings in the Guggenheim to serve as an inspiration.

I’m also very inspired by music and song lyrics.

Have you always wanted to do what you are doing? If not, what made you decide to start?

I don’t really remember a “wanting” to create. I just remember a doing.

Does spirituality and culture play a role in your creativity? Explain.

Oh, spirituality and culture definitely play a role in my creativity. They are the framework of everything I do. Culture defines us. Gives us a viewpoint.

As for spirituality, it’s more a search for meaning than dogma.

How important is education to your creative process?

Education is important because it is a means to an end. There is formal education which validates us with certificates and degrees, and it teaches us to continue educating ourselves after we leave the formal academic world.

So education continues throughout our lives whether we are in school or not.

How do you deal with creativity blocks?

Creativity blocks are nothing to freak out over. I deal with them by doing something else. Watching tv. Hanging out with friends. Or “painting anyway.”

I read a book about writing that said when you get stuck, you should write anyway. Even if you write “I don’t know what to write” over and over until something else comes. I guess it’s like priming the pump.

What part of you do you share in your creative endeavors?

I can’t really choose what parts of myself I share. Even if I try to hide things, they seem to come out anyway.

I try to share what is meaningful to me.

Have you had to overcome obstacles (physical, financial, social, etc.) in your creative world? Explain.

Everyone has their obstacles to overcome. That’s pretty much automatic. And it’s in working through those challenges that we have anything to say at all.

In my case, I struggled in school. It wasn’t that I was stupid, it was just that I had a different way of learning. When I was a kid, my teachers didn’t recognize that.

Do you believe that it is important to be accepted by others as being creative or is just doing what you love to do enough to justify your work? Explain.

LOL. Yes and no. Not everyone will like everything you do. Maybe no one will like it. But I believe that if you create art from a genuine place in you… create something that you feel is important… beautiful or painful… worthwhile, then it will find an audience.

Maybe it will take a while. I think of Van Gogh, who couldn’t seem to sell a painting. His success came late for him, but it came.

It’s wonderful to be validated for what you do, but I think I would create art whether anyone else accepted it or not.

Important, yes. Necessary, no.

Do you think that creativity is part of human nature or is it something that must be nurtured and learned?

I think creativity is both part of human nature and something to be learned. I believe we are born with the urge to create, much the way we are born with an urge to reproduce.

What you end up doing with that urge is is what will drive or inform your creative endeavors and ultimately your career.

What made you decide to follow a creative career choice (though possibly risky) rather than something more stable?

I actually chose both. After I graduated from high school, I graduated from Bible school, then went on to art school, and then nursing school. I use all of these in my life now for personal and financial reasons. Diversification mitigates that risk.

What is your inspiration? How has personal experience influenced your creativity?

My art is my commentary on my personal experience, thus it has pretty much influenced it 100%. I’m not an artist who is trying to report what the north shore of Lake Superior looks like. I’m trying to show you my inner landscape.

What is your favorite creation? Please explain why you selected this one.

Of all the fish I have painted, swimming amongst the branches of trees, there’s one particular one that I like best. I don’t know why, but it is the fish that I included in the header of my blog. In my eye, that one just looked right. I think that one was probably really easy to paint.

What do you wish to accomplish with your art?

I’d like to make money, of course. But far more than that, I want to connect with people… engage them in conversation, and most preferably, inspire them to find something that they are passionate about, and the confidence to express that in their own way.

How do you know when a piece or project is finished and needs no additonal work?

I never really know that until it sells! At that point, it’s finished. But anything left at my house, or that comes back to my house after being in a show, is subject to change.

Have you ever been faced with negative feedback? How was this reflected in your work, if at all?

Yes, of course I’ve had negative feedback. Lots of it. I have to ask myself if it is constructive, and if it is, it’s an opportunity to improve.

If that feedback is uninformed, then I have a different kind of opportunity… and challenge.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion or preference. That’s why not everything looks alike.

What impact do you think that commercialism and the media has had on your work? Is this good or bad?

Yeah, I like to sell paintings. The thing is, I can’t paint with that thought in mind. It spoils everything. I lose the joy of painting and I make paintings that I dislike. So I do my own thing, and when I have finished paintings, I hang them in public and see if anyone feels the same.

Are you a fan of cartoons? If so, what is your favorite one?

I like some cartoons. Comics. I even took a college class in comics. Comics can make you think… they can make you feel things.

My favorite is Calvin and Hobbes. I relate to it so much, and I know that a lot of people do. I like The Far Side. Another one that I used to read back in the late 1980’s was Ernie Pook’s Comeek by Linda Barry. It ran in the free paper in Charlotte.

What is playing in your CD player/Ipod right now?

I made a new playlist! THIS IS GOSPEL (piano version) by Panic At The Disco. GO TO HELL (piano version) by Go Radio. ALREADY MINE by Us The Duo. PURE WHITE SOUL by Cheralee Dillon. DEMONS by David Ford.

These are the type of songs that inspire and move me. I have a personal story attached to each of them.

If you had to be any of these things, which would you like to be? a) a member of the opposite sex, b) a clock, c) a pair of shoes, d) a duck

A member of the opposite sex. I want to be human!

When I first started learning to use Adobe Photoshop, I got bogged down with the clicking. I would try to select things, and it was just very cumbersome. It hurt my head after just a short time, trying to realize some artistic vision in the medium. Over the years, I have developed a certain facility with the software, as well as an artistic style born out of that practice.

My go-to tool is the polyagonal lasso. I start with a completely black background, and then I “cut” my shapes out of it, kind of like a wood block. Then I cut, fill or adjust that selection.

I don’t know if this is a common way to work in photoshop or not! I only know that I’ve developed the habits that work for me. Sometimes I think I am fairly proficient at using the program, until I see someone else using it. Then I say “How did you do that? What did you do there?”

Some of these faces appear in my sci-fi autobiography, THE ADVENTURES OF FLASH MERIDIAN. http://flashmeridian.blogspot.com

Some others appear in my blog THE ADVENTURES OF MR. PUMPKINHEAD. http://misterpumpkinhead.blogspot.com

I drew this purple unicorn…

Then I decided to draw myself as a unicorn!

Is there an element of art you enjoy working with most? Why?

I enjoy all aspects of painting. So much of the process is invisible. Feeling something, being inspired, thinking it through… when I start the application of paint to a surface, there’s still all that invisible stuff going on in my head. So I guess I’d say the element I enjoy the most is the creativity.

How did you start making art?/Why do you make art?

I don’t remember my first piece of art. One thing that often comes to mind, still, is from kindergarten or first grade. We were painting egg cartons, and were told to use two different colors, one for the inside and another for the outside. I used two different yellows. A girl got mad at me and said I was doing it wrong. She couldn’t see that one of the yellows was lighter than the other. She told the teacher, but the teacher believed that my yellows were different.

I have very few memories of a teacher having a positive response to something I did.

I make art for the fun of it, and for the stories I can tell. I make art because it is satisfying.

I paint, partly, because people want me to. Venues want pieces to show. I paint so that I can sell them. That is just a fact of life.

What inspires you?

I’m inspired by beauty. That’s subjective. I’m inspired by justice, and by injustice.

If I showed you one hundred of my paintings, I’d have one hundred stories to tell you.

I’m inspired by struggles. My own struggles where I’m looking for answers or resolution, and by rooting for others who struggle.

How has your practice changed over time?

My practice has changed a lot over the past thirty years. I used to paint in mostly black and white. They were self portraits back then, with an air of resentment or sadness. You know how young artists can be. I thought my feelings were deep and unusual. That old tedious existential angst.

In addition to painting, I love to create digital images. Without consuming medium, I can experiment with shapes and colors, moving the pieces around in a different way than pushing paint with a brush. This series was a more minimal offshoot from the Name Tessellations I have been making for a while, some of which are online at nametessellations.blogspot.com

After making some based on zig zag lines (the triangles filled the negative space), I blended the original line into the background. Here are a couple of examples:

Then I tried it with names: