SIRENS, the painting series ... Red dot indicates sold.
Sirens, the story ... |
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I’ve been exploring this world through different facets of creativity for 43 years. Each discipline ... writing, sculpture, illustration, painting, etc. presents its own unique challenges. Artistic growth is directly proportional to the degree of challenge undertaken. Sirens seems the natural progression for my exploration. Writing has long been a key component in my creative process. The symbiotic relationship of these two distinct disciplines, has afforded me a unique approach to both.
The Sirens manuscript is a work of fiction, in the genre of Magical Realism. It’s objective is to examine Humankinds ambiguous, destructive and undefined relationship with the natural world. My purpose being to inspire reflection and perhaps affect attitudes, regarding that imperilled relationship. For that purpose, I’ve envisioned a contemporary interpretation of the infamous and misunderstood femme fatal of ancient Greek mythology, made famous in Homer’s Odyssey. The remote setting is one of the least explored regions of our planet, place I’ve sailed to many times and learned, first hand, of it’s rich history through conversations with representatives of the Tseshaht First Nations. These hardy people have survived and thrived in this beautiful and unspoiled, yet inhospitable region for thousands of years. |
The Premise ... |
Evolution is not a friendly process. It's forced on us all. Every living thing has developed this ability in order to survive and adapt to changing environmental influences. There are old souls, the complex higher organisms, who's adaptation has allowed them to change very little over the millennia. And there are the new souls, whose ability to rapidly evolve makes their appearance on this planet, relatively recent.
Mankind is the latter. Opposable thumbs, a large brain and an over-clocked sex drive would appear to be the traits to have, when considering the size of the worlds human population. But those traits that have led humankind to so rapidly populate the planet, are also driving us to extinction. Short term profit is making for some poor choices, when it comes to our long term survivability. |
An innocent prank leads to the collision of worlds, one at sea, the other on land. Here Greek mythology comes face to face with the lush, mysterious culture of the Coast Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest, who’s ancient petroglyphs and tradition of spoken legend, to this day, maintains a connection to strikingly similar beings.
The future of humankind becomes a question of morality beyond our control. Anarchy is gaining ground at the council of Beckoning Rock, as the threat of extinction, draws the desperate to the dark side. But there is hope … a new and untrained voice, who’s amazing potential, puts her and all around her in danger. But if she survives, will she be saviour or executioner? The cold northern currents of the Pacific Gyre race down the south face a sub-sea mountain range. They strike the base of a small rock plateau surrounded by a thick forest of Nereocystis kelp and are deflected upwards in a swirling vortex. The fronds of the kelp are swept skyward, swaying slowly from side to side, like long arms reaching up, beckoning to the sun. This is a place called Beckoning Rock, for millennia a neutral ground on the ocean floor, where the Ghillie have gathered to debate. But wheels have already been set in motion. A clandestine plan creeps forward and time is slipping away. |
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