CONTEMPORARY EXPLORER

            I face the city everyday. Traffic, work, people, demands. I keep it bundled inside. The warrior in me. It runs wild sometimes. Asking to be set free. My inhibitions keep it in its cage. My afraid-ness the keys. How I want to let it free. The being cast in a million years. Its painted face and spear. How it helped us all survive. The city says, keep it in the cage. Oh, how I want it to be free...

It was just a business hotel, a lobby, a small reception desk and the bar across from it. The walkway attaching the hotel to the commuter station the only distinguishing feature. The grit of Newark edged at it from every direction. The rooms were half the price of NewYork and the airfare cheap to fly into Newark. The place attracted the business traveler on a budget. Joe the bartender looked in the mirror as he polished the wine glasses, the lines he saw on his black face a reminder of how long he had been there. He laughed to himself; Hell, Joe wasn’t really even his name, people just called him that. The old Sinatra song he guessed. . Usually, the bar filled with commuters wanting fortification before heading home. The east coast cold of this night seemed to have scared them off. Only a lone drinker at the bar. One Joe had not seen before. “422, Don Guy,” the man said to Joe who marked it on the tab near the register. Guy looked well traveled, Joe took him for the jo...

"Darkness to Dawn" - young The great abstract painter Mark Rothko needs little introduction. The bold color panels he is known for are iconic and his signature in the art world. It is the colors that really make his paintings. Ones first found when he lived in Portland and painted abstract landscapes of the city from Forest Park. Those paintings a far distance from the eventual color panels that made him famous, but foundational in his view of the world. In the recent “Masters” series on PBS that highlighted his life, it was said that “his paintings look so easy to do, but try to do one and you will see…”  You can try and paint like Rothko, but will never capture all the luminance, blending of colors, edges and techniques he used to create beauty. He never kept a notebook on how he created the colors or work, so the wonder of it will always be in part a mystery. Still, as I am, you're drawn to trying to paint like him. I once had a music instructor who I ...

Around Every Corner there is the color of life, the richness of adventure and the grandness of even simple things…