Old River Memory
2006, oil on panel, dimensions unknown

BEAUTY In the midst of uncertainty and fear. My daily post of an image of beauty to counter the currently overwhelming fear narrative.

OLD RIVER MEMORY
I painted this landscape 14 years ago during my transitional period of moving away from representational painting towards abstract and conceptual painting. I recall a work by Rembrandt, “Landscape With A Long Arched Bridge”, where the entire landscape was cast in the shadow of a dark and somewhat ominous sky, except for a lone tree, illuminated by a sliver of renegade sunlight that had escaped the cloaking. It was the drama of the piece that so appealed to me, as though the land was a theatrical stage and the tree was the leading actor, alone and in spotlight, performing a soliloquy. Painting is theatre. It’s a one act play, comprised of a single moment that feels like an eternity. That painting taught me how to lead the eye with light as though I was the director of my own play on canvas. And so I began noticing how light falls everywhere at all times and where the drama was in each moment. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve stopped to take in a scene like this. I’ve pulled over on highways at the most inopportune moments because I knew what I was seeing was fleeting and it was now or never. I’ve stood on my car to watch a sun set, risked death (yours and mine) to photograph skies while driving, just crazy stuff because I’m addicted to the drama of light playing of all the wonderful bodies of creation. I never thought I’d be grateful for a lethal vice, but for this divine affliction, I most certainly am.

The post 06.07.20 appeared first on Roi James Studio.

Mandala 05.19.20
2020 – oil on linen, 60 x 60

BEAUTY in the midst of uncertainty and fear. My post of an image of beauty to counter the currently overwhelming fear narrative.

Mandala 05.19.20
Just completed a new vision of a timeless symbol: the mandala. Mandalas are often known as being universal symbols of transformation or enlightenment, the meaning of their substance is open to varied interpretations. I have my own. In this recently finished Mandala painting, the image holds a space for both the macrocosmic and the microcosmic. I ask myself, what are the spiritual icons of our time? As a collector of Russian Icons, I’m well aware of the potency of an icon to convey a powerful mystical message. In my work, However, I don’t look towards Saints and Dieties. I look to the wonder of creation itself, from the very beginning of our Universe, across an expanse of billions of years, to my paintings, such as this one. In them, I seek an alignment with the Universe and the Cosmos. In my personal philosophy of Creativity, I believe every creative act is related, a cousin to each other, spanning the family tree of creation to the very first moment this Universe came into existence. Whether we are consciously choosing to create or unaware of how we are creating, we are mirroring the creative action that unveiled our Universe.

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Mis Ángeles 1 & 2 (My Angels)
2018 – oil on panel, 32.25″ x 32.75″

BEAUTY In the midst of uncertainty and fear. My daily post of an image of beauty to counter the currently overwhelming fear narrative.

Mis Ángeles (My Angels) 2018
Today I remember these two paintings I donated to Seton Hospital in central Austin. They were accepted and are installed in a corridor near the hospital’s south entrance. The corridor gets a lot of traffic so the paintings get a lot of attention. I wish I had a picture of the plaque they hung next to them with my dedication, something regarding the gratitude for the care I was given during my 38 day stay in 2015.

The paintings are titled Mis Ángeles 1 and 2 (My Angels) and are my interpretations of angels wings. There is a line in a song that goes “Shall you for me, will I for you, the Angel Be?”. WE are all each others ANGELS. I consider the doctors and nurses who took care of me as well as everyone else who contributed to my recovery to be MY ANGELS. Among them would also be my mother and sisters who visited me 3 times a day, every day during my stay; my mother’s bible study who prayed for me constantly and elicited the prayers of other bible studies across the world; my brother who flew in for the first of what would unknowingly become 5 major surgeries that over the course of a year; and several key friends who lifted my spirits with their visits. I remember my mother and siblings, and surgeon, Dr. Declan Fleming, gathered around me the morning of that first surgery, praying for success in the surgery and my recovery. I have no doubt that the fierce and relentless love and spiritual support I was given, and the physical and healing care from my Seton Hospital team, all contributed to the complete recovery I experience to this day.

Today, in the time of this pandemic, my awe and gratitude to the doctors and nurses in this country is greater than ever—and so the paintings are and will continue to be more relevant than ever.

The post 05.09.20 appeared first on Roi James Studio.

Blue River
2009 – Oil on linen, dimensions unknown

BEAUTY In the midst of uncertainty and fear. My daily post of one image of beauty to counter the currently overwhelming fear narrative.

Blue River (2009)
Another river landscape I came across as I went through my old images of paintings. It captures the moment in which the rise of the morning light has just begun to reveal the colors and contours of the land. The world, now awakening, lies still and quiet, it’s colors muted and grey.
During this pause we all are going through, I’ve not only been exploring my painting but also my music, playing guitar every day, working on lyrics and arrangements, and listening to beloved old songs I used to cherish. This painted image of a timeless dawn inspired me to revisit a Dan Fogleberg song I used to love but haven’t listened to since I was a teenager—To The Morning on his Home Free album released in 1972. I’ve posted a link below if you want to listen to it. Quite a beautiful song. Musically it describes an awakening land and heart. Another of my favorites for such a moment is Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copeland. The first 3 1/2 minutes paint a beautiful picture of a world opening it’s eyes. I remember discovering Copeland’s music thanks to John Aieilli’s Eklektikos radio program back in the 80s. Amazing the memories that are evoked when looking at the beauty of a dimly lit landscape.

Is there a piece of music or a memory that you recall when looking at a beautiful landscape?

To the Morning – Dan Fogleberg 1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfBgUEf6dng

The post 05.01.20 appeared first on Roi James Studio.

Construct 04.23.20
2020 – Acrylic on Wood 48″ x 48″

BEAUTY In the midst of uncertainty and fear. My daily post of one image of beauty to counter the currently overwhelming fear narrative.

Another very recently completed piece. CONSTRUCT 04.23.20. Playing with color. I find it interesting how colors behave when placed next to each other. For example, I’ve used a certain blue twice in this piece yet it does not look the same because of the colors which lay beside it. One of the two looks cooler in temperature than the other. Yet, they are one and the same. There is no intentional science or philosophy behind my use of color in these paintings, as there have been with other artists who have mined this genre. Some artists adhered religiously to very strict canons that they developed or acquired in how colors needed to be arranged. With me it is entirely about response. I look at how colors affect each other and place them according to how I respond to the combinations. I look for a balance of harmony and tension and can viscerally feel when I’ve arrived or I’m off. In my home, art is a mood or an atmosphere. I don’t look at works and consider an intellectual viewpoint. I have a physical and emotional experience. Color, in particular arrangements, is a powerful evocator of that experience.

The post 04.28.20 appeared first on Roi James Studio.

Papillon du Matin 04.24.20
2020, oil on panel, 30″ x 30″

BEAUTY In the midst uncertainty and fear. My daily post of one image of beauty to counter the currently overwhelming fear narrative.

Just finished this piece. This belongs to my Papillon du Matin (Morning Butterfly) series. I haven’t painted in this series in years but making my BEAUTY posts has reawakened me to the power in these pieces. They are all unique and this one is no exception. I think the reason I’m drawn to them again, is that the symbolism is so meaningful to me today. The original piece from which all have been based, emerged when I was painting purely from passion and heart and had less of a defined sense of my own voice as an artist. It feels so good to go back to that place and remember what it felt like to be less certain and sure of myself. Except for the immutable fact that I wanted to and had to paint—something still true for me today, I’ve changed so much. That young, driven, cocky, insecure yet courageous young man is barely recognizable to me today. I’ve only been able to do so by painting this and remembering. So to revisit this place, even a changed person, is to experience once again, what it was like to paint with a childlike wonder and curiosity.
Hello old friend….

The post 04.25.20 appeared first on Roi James Studio.

Anna’s Ocean
2009 – Oil on panel, dimensions unknown

BEAUTY In the midst uncertainty and fear. My daily post of one image of beauty to counter the currently overwhelming fear narrative.

ANNA’S OCEAN (2009) – Driving while the sun’s light is breaking through clouds can be dangerous for me. I tend to pay more attention to the light than my driving. I’ll find myself veering this way and that while trying to observe the luminous theatrics playing out before me. Yet, as though programmed into the deep recesses of my psyche, I cannot help myself. In ANNA’s OCEAN, I bring two of my favorite natural elements together, the ocean, and sunlight piercing an overcast sky. I’ve painted this scenario many times now, entirely from instinct built upon the accumulated memories of my ocean/light encounters. One of the most important things I ever learned as an artist was how to direct a person’s eyes across a canvas and nature has been my master teacher. Observing how my own eyes are guided when watching light undulate with the movement of the clouds and how it reflects only across the water it touches. Everything else around it is dull and ghostly. But the light itself, shimmers and becomes a living organism dancing across the sky and water. And the metaphor, illumination/enlightenment achieved in a body of stillness, is profound.

The post 04.20.20 appeared first on Roi James Studio.

Construct 03.12.16
2016 – Acrylic on Wood 16″ x 30″

BEAUTY In the midst uncertainty and fear. My daily post of one image of beauty to counter the currently overwhelming fear narrative.

My initial attraction to working in the CONSTRUCT form was a need to get away from the highly technical and well-traveled genre of figurative and landscape painting which I’d successfully worked in for years. I needed to expand on the idea of what BEAUTY could be. I never imagined myself to be drawn to such conceptual painting. Yet I felt the impulse to explore. I wanted to reduce the complicated methods and forms of painting a human face down to it’s simplest forms. Nothing is simpler than the line so that is where I started. Since then, the forms grew more dimensional, and my color palette expanded, and even lines grew into containers for more complex ideas. Here is a favorite of mine from 2016.

The post 04.16.20 appeared first on Roi James Studio.

Meditation on Resonance 10.16.11
2011 – oil on panel, 48″ x 48″

BEAUTY In the midst uncertainty. My daily post of one image of beauty to counter the currently overwhelming fear narrative.

MEDITATION ON RESONANCE 10.16.11 (2011) – Today I’m posting a painting and the 2nd verse lyrics of a song I wrote a few years ago. The song describes what the experience of painting is like for me. I have a belief that in the act of creating, I am connecting myself to the very first moments of the creation of the Universe. I used to think the painting itself was the revelation but I’ve found that it’s actually in the act of creating where wisdom is revealed to me. The painting is the evidence that it happened.
—Roi James

STANDING IN THE QUIET, LISTEN (2nd verse)
standing in the quiet listen
let it tell you what you are missing
something in this moment is writing it all

let it find you in the silence
like a river of divine guidance
something in this moment is guiding it all

then watch as it unfolds
something good beholds you
like you’re the first day of creation
you’re the revelation

canvas, color and line
with grace and mercy find
a way to your soul so can you feel it
even these words reveal it
in this moment
in this moment
even these words

© 2017 Roi James

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