Kayaking The Missouri River

So far, I have kayaked over a thousand miles of the Missouri River, that starts at Three Forks Montana and empties into the Mississippi at St. Louis. The river is over twenty-three hundred miles long, seven hundred of those miles are taken up by reservoirs that span half of Montana, and almost all of North and South Dakota. The three largest damns have given us no end of trouble; from long days of sitting on shore waiting for the winds to change, to lighting storms that make you pray fervently that your time isn't up! We resorted to traveling at night, at times, finding the winds seemed to calm, using the G.P.S. to navigate and being dazzled by the expanse of stars that carpet the sky. When you look up into those stars with no horizon in view and the rock of the water against your boat you feel as if you are falling into those depths. Falling and falling with out end.
The best part of the trip has been the people we have met. From the art student who we nick-named the French Terrorist, who started the trip with us, to the dozens of people who gave us rides over the damns, warmed out hearts with their stories and the sharing of our own and let us stay out of the weather in their homes. I sit now in Chamberlin South Dakota writing on a computer that was loaned to us by a lady that we met by asking directions to the local post office. She later found us eating in one of the cafes and asked us if we needed a warm place to stay. It was dumping rain out side and we gladly excepted the offer. We have even stayed an extra day because we enjoyed her company so much and felt she enjoys ours. To be a stranger and be offered the love and trust of another stranger is truly a remarkable feeling. Just a few days ago in Pierre (the capitol of S. Dakota) I asked a lady on a dock how to best get to a grocery store from the river and she asked if we just wanted a ride. The offer of a ride became what felt like an adoption into her and her husbands family. They feed us, brought us to their friends house where we were fed again and offered us beds in their home but the best part was they made us feel as if we were doing the most important thing in the world. They celebrated our trip with us, asking all manner of questions and wanting to hear everything we had to say from religion to politics. They loved us and renewed our souls with their hospitality. The long days of wind, waves, sleepless nights, being lost, sunburned and aching mussels seemed to fall away from us. We left Pierre feeling alive again and excited about what we were doing and the adventure we are on. Reminding me that this isn't about the destination but about the story that unfolds each day. In life there is long nothing days (I hear my paddle in an endless splish-splash and a horizon that never seems to get closer is always in front of me), every one has them, and even on adventures that seem so grand there are times when all you want is that destination. Northern Dakota and the endless plains could drive you mad for loneliness, there is not much to see and it is all flowing by at a speed of four miles an hour or less depending on head winds! All you do is think and think and think! What will I do when I get home, will we make it, do I want to make it, were am I going to live, does she love me, and on and on it goes. You end up forgetting why you are doing this crazy journey and what made you want to in the first place. There is no beauty any more, just miles and miles that stand before you and your goal. You hate everything that slows you and you go to battle with the wind. Yet, you can't battle the wind in your life for very long, you just arn't strong enough. At some point in life you end up stuck sitting on shore and looking at flowers. Then it slowly comes to you "Shit, these flowers are really pretty! I would have never seen them if not for the wind."

Stone Throws

"In the hours before sunrise,
I lay dreaming in the night.
Watching stars fall from the sky,
I saw then the eyes of this love,
What many a man longs to find.
Drawing up my anchors in then,
I set my sail pealing for that life.

Rolling down the high ways
Buzzing in the wires
Folding up the stair case
Planting flowers in her eyes
Loving up the wrong roads
And saving up my tears
Sunlight burns the brightest
When your love is near.

I could be a your drunk reeling
Down your lonely streets,
Or a Bible man babbling
From brick homes on his knees,
Coming through the wires,
Coming through your vanes,
The bell man tolls the long tones
As you lay your head to sleep.
A license for the wrong love,
A love that bleed no life,
Yet I will keep on sailing
Through these palaces of midnight."

What next???!!!

There is always the question, after I get done with a body of work, that pops into my brain: "What next, what am I going to do next?" And the answer is I don't know, I want to market the work I have already done and that is a full time job in it self. I have to keep working on new ideas though because when you stagnate for to long your imagination becomes the six o'clock news! You can't make hide nor hair of it and it leaves you frothing at the mouth every time you attempt to approach it.

P.S. Photo Credits go to my good friend Scott Marksberry.

More, more, more!!!

Here are some more of the pieces from from the show on April 26th.
If you are interested in any of my work please contact me and I will let you know about prices, sizes and prints.

An Art Show On Longing

If you have any questions about prices of my prints or original work please write me and I will send you a price list. I also have gift cards with really nice quotes on some of them with images of each one of my pieces.

Longing to Heal - A Fine Art Show -

These pieces represent the last year of my work and much of my thought. A combination of past memories, feelings and emotions on the subject of the "Soul". Many are a representation of the road I see both my self and others being on. The journey of the heart and soul.
I get a blank stare many times when I ask people how they in-vision them selves or others on the inside. (I am not talking here about organs like the liver or kidneys) I am talking about the psyche or the spirit of people. Most of us talk about "good vibes" or "that person has a bad energy" when we mention this, (the basic feeling some one gives off when they walk into the room). In my art I feel that the most powerful imagery is that which captures that feeling of the spirit of man.
This group of work primarily centered on the memories of the feelings of the past that haunt us and the hope and fear of letting go to heal from wounds and abuses from the past. This idea originated out of the knowledge of how many of us have histories of abuse; weather physical, mental or sexual. Of how that abuse shapes and forms our insides and then is represented in our choices we make every day. Each piece is a mirror of these feeling I get from ether my self or others around me. In each image there is pain and there is hope in healing from the pain, if you choose to see it.

A show on Longing.

I am now on my final week of finishing up painting for my new show "Longing". I have taken some chances and gone places with my art that I haven't done to this extent before this time. I am pleased to bring you an out look that I hope brings you closer to your soul.

The first show date is April 26Th from 1pm to 9pm.
It will be @ my house: 528 Columbia Ave. Whitefish, Mt. To easily find it turn on to 6Th Ave. just north of the Mountain Bank next to Dairy Queen in Whitefish. You drive one block to connect with Columbia Ave., turn left on Columbia. It is the fifth house on your left, with a ceder fence out front. 528 is the address.

If you can't make it on the date of the 26Th I will be posting new dates of up and coming shows on this blog a week in advance of each one. I will also be posting an on-line show here starting 25Th, if you just want to go on-line and not have to travel. I would love to see you though and the work is best seen up front and live!!!

Please feel free to call me if you have any questions 406.270.2017.

I would love have you come and celebrate spring and this new work I have slaved over for the last six months! So please bring a smile, a bright shirt, a taste for some wine and a love for creation!

(Warning) please don't bring younger children or any one sensitive to nudity, my work isn't suitable for some. Thanks.

Seeing to be loved.

“It is in such moments that we understand what the Catholic Workers mean when they say, “The true atheist is the one who refuses to see God’s image in the face of their neighbor.” Looking into the eyes of people who love us may be the clearest glimpse of God many of us get in this world.”
Shane Claiborne
(The Irresistible Revolution)

The sunshine is hazy as it shines through a thin layer of clouds this morning. It is a clear crisp day in Montana, a golden morning that will demand a walk later on this after noon. I have been pushing it hard the last month and a half to get a large amount of painting done. Painting, a long with my stamp prints. I have worked none stop, day in and day out, seven days a week with few brakes that weren’t necessary for staying a live! Last Saturday I hit the wall; I was so tired I couldn’t even think!
My friend Jake asked me to come and help him with cooking the church breakfast on Sunday morning (the church I attend does a free breakfast ever Sunday). The pastor spoke that morning on finding your joy and how joy was different than happiness. How, when we have the “Joy of Christ” it shines through us and could not be taken away by circumstances. He invited people to come to the alter, confess their sins and find joy in life again.
Through the serves I struggled to stay awake, I draw in my journal when I am trying not to fall asleep. I didn’t go up to the alter call, I never do. Even though I felt like joy was on the other end of the world from me. I went for a walk after church with Merle my roommates blue healer. We walked down town were I did a sketch of main street Whitefish. Avoiding several dogfights on the sidewalk we eventually made it to the train depot where I did another sketch of the cars and tracks. I complained in my journal for a while about how tired I was and then we walked home. The day turning from golden sunny to a snowstorm!
We met my friend Tress on the sidewalk in front of the house. She asked how I was doing and I told her more from my eyes than from my words. My words said that I was tired; I needed to rest and be away from people for a while. We talked for a bit, before she took Merle with her to go cross-country skiing up near Beaver Lake. I felt better after talking to her, I could see she understood and loved me even though I had nothing to give. I awoke Monday morning feeling refreshed and happy after a day of nothing and ten hours of sleep!
And the art continues and the story goes on! And life is beautiful and God shows his love through the faces around us, even when we are an ugly mess.

"today that i might see"

03.25.08
A snow storm blew in this evening,right around six thirty and lasted for about twenty minutes. For an instant I felt as if my life had changed, like for some reason my ship had spotted land after months at sea! In short though that is my life right at this moment; I can see land but I am not quite there yet!
I have been working for the past six weeks, with an exception of a couple days off, on my latest art project. My plan is to have a house show (at my house on Columbia Ave.) on April 5th. It will be an open house starting around noon and going until nine p.m. or so. The plan is to have a good party and celebrate the end of a lot of hard work and the beginning of some more! So please bring a smile and a friend with a taste for wine!
I will be up loading the images, of the new work, here on the 4th for all of you that can't make it to the show.
I will also be hanging some old but popular and some very new work at Flip Spinal Care in Whitefish, Mt. Here is some of the new stuff that will be up at flips by the end of the month.