The main goal in my life is to pursue being joyful. To have more joy in my life. To find ways to bring all of the smallest to biggest joys into my life. To feel joy. To share joy. To look for joy. To think about joy. That led to me quitting my job as an Occupational Therapist last May 2019 to take off 5 months to pursue. Two months of that was spent in Hawaii this past September and October on my first artist residency.
The Big Island of Hawaii is so amazing. The entire environment was so foreign to my life experiences. The smells, the fresh ocean air, all of the beautiful tropical greenery, the rainbows, the nightly coqui frog symphony, the people I encountered, and the general laid back island life culture rewired my system. The first two weeks I was transformed, healed, inspired and uplifted in so many ways by simply being immersed and surrounded by such beauty of the senses. It seemed as though nothing was required of me but to wake up and be.
During my second month on the island I focused primarily on the joy of creating art. The piece above, “Joy Can Emerge From the Smallest of Openings”, is part of my “Hibiscanana” series. Being playful I blended hibiscus and banana to twist your tongue. The inspiration for Hibiscanana came from looking out of the 2nd story window into the tropical jungle that I was residing in. I found myself captivated by the image of the large vertically sloping banana leaves. The shades of green, the vertical midrib of the large blade divided into 2 halves, and the more perpendicular striations going from the midrib to the edges of the leaf grooved its way deeper into my subconscious. The funny thing about being an artist is how often I find myself off and running, painting away in my head. I felt so invigorated, self-actualized and filled with joy at the process and technical problem solving involved in creating the lines for the banana leaves. Fine tuning and simplification happened magically. The finishing touch for each piece was putting in some contrast...the red hibiscus flower. So many people fell in love with the bright colors and tropical imagery that each piece was sold while there. I’ve since created three more here at home in Portland to reconnect to that inspiring energy of the Big Island.
The joy I found in these techniques discovered in the Hibiscanana series paintings has since evolved and crossed over into several other pieces of mine of which I invite you to explore on my website.
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Pursue your joy, your passion, your love...even if you only have time once per week! It will lead you to some amazing people, places and experiences.
What brings you joy? Don’t know, take the time daily to stop and ask yourself. Then open yourself to the possibilities of joy. You won’t regret it!
Much love,
Matt (Doe)