Facing Fear - Bar coaster art!

I sketched this little cartoon out for Abby at the bar of the Great Canadian Pub in Paris.

Two Lovers, One Dream

This little painting was made on a cigar box over the last month here in Ottawa. I have been apart from my lover and her from I. She has been on my heart, just as I have been on hers. And on both our minds have been on our dream. It is balanced and united in such a way that I couldn't help but think of the Yin and Yang symbol-- which of course has to do with male and female energy. This little creation is a reflection of this.

But why a cigar box?

About a month ago our neighbour here in Ottawa, introduced me to an old friend of his-- one of Canada's great art collectors. We were invited over to his home for a glass of wine. Claude, the collector, has gotten to know personally many of the great Canadian artists over the last 30 years, ushered us into his apartment. The place was FULL of art! I have never seen such an amazing living room! Bronze scultures, paintings, hangings, iron modern geometric thingies, figures and more. Every table had at least four or five sculptures on it, and every wall as many paintings.

On three large walls however, were the cigar boxes. Special shelves had been built to showcase dozens and dozens of them.

Thirty years ago, Claude began a crazy idea. He has asked his artist friends to paint cigar boxes for him. It is a brilliant idea, and he has a brilliant collection. He has over two hundred boxes in his collection going back three decades. Immediately when I met him, it was clear that this guy was a true supporter of the arts-- that is, artists. As opposed to some big-wig collector only in it for the investment, all the art scattered through his home had a story about a friend behind it-- artists that he had supported and encouraged in their craft in his galleries and through his collecting.

The collection has already been shown as an exhibition in itself. Apparently it goes on display at Canada Museum of Civilizations next year. And, he asked me to do one... and I leapt at the opportunity!

The idea of a simple scene came right to mind. As I worked, and with Abby on my mind, this is what evolved.

Art Catalogue: From Fears to Dreams

Ok! My latest art catalogue is now online.

This contains my work from Smithers to Slovenia. If anything strikes you, drop me a line and I can direct you to the larger photos of the paintings. I am happy to work out creative payment arrangements also. Prices are in dollars.

I haven't done this before, but many of my Simple Series paintings, although sold are still listed. My dream is to revisit this series from a studio in Paris. The paintings are a delight to repaint-- changing or adding the smallest details can shift the meaning 180%. Thus, if you would like comission one at a size that works for you, I am up for it.

I have been writing about my Dream of Paris and my Fear of Money. This would be the perfect illustration of the connection between Fears and Dreams. If I can conquer my fear of Money, then I can sell my art, and realize my Paris Dream. Yeay!


Winter 09 Maier Art Catalogue

Love is Beautiful

This is my last painting from my Berlin Simple Series. I post this on my last night in Berlin. It is an a propos post for this conclusive night. The painting's title is a reflection of both my feeling and experience here in Berlin: "Love is Beautiful".

I won't write anything about this one tonight. I'll just let it speak for itself.

That said, there's soooo much thought, intention and love behind this piece. Its a whisper from my soul. Its been six months in the making-- or perhaps "finding" would be a better word. You can see some sketchs and read my thoughts in this blog post on triadic love.

Love Me - a painting and a poem

This is a simple painting. Its inspired by the love that I have met here in Berlin and on my journey. Its titled: "Love Me"

Why? Well, the more I, Russell Maier, try to Love, the more Fears I discover.

I see these Fears in others too as I love them. There are so many antiquated ideas, so many crippling anxieties, so many rusty patterns that shackle us from loving and throwing ourselves fully into our moments together. Yet, there's really nothing more beautiful and rewarding than loving. The title is equally a message to myself: Russell, Love!

Here's the poem I posted a while ago. It is now complete with its partner the painting.

-------

Here I am in your moment,

Just as you are here in mine.

The universe has conspired in a symphony,

An orchestra of flow so subtle, so sublime

That our hearts meld as our eyes meet.

The current takes us, sweeping us gently together,

My heart speaks to yours: Fear not.

Love!

Smile, touch, speak the most beautiful words.

Embrace, caress, hold.

Crush the tethers of the past!

Refuse the chains of tomorrow.

Spring with me into the Sea of Now.

It is our moment.

There is no blue sky day so fine.

There is no other time so true.

As when your eyes meet mine.

What else more beautiful is there to do?

Love me.

As I do you.

Dark Night of the Soul

My last paintings have alot of blue sky.

This one does not.

I feel it is important to express the "good" as well as the "bad".

There's been some tough times on my journey-- materially and existentially. The cold wet Winter comes to mind going through Holland. Going days without really meeting anyone. Setting up my tent in a swamp forest in a crazy windstorm. Mechanical breakdowns in the middle of nowhere. Using the wrong type of fuel in my stove and ruing it, my food and my pots. A day or two with little to no food. Trying to hunt ducks with a rock. Yep. Its not all blue sky.

And there's another one that I really didn't expect: Walking through the streets of Berlin surrounded by hundreds of people, knowing no one, feeling separate and alone. Thomas Moore calls it "a dark night of the soul".

Thomas Moore also writes that it is in the darkest of night that dawn is most near.

On one particularly lonely, wet and cold Winter day I was cycling through a desolately gray and barren Dutch "forest" when something caught my eye. On the side of the path were these little alien-esque entities peaking through the dead brown leaves. I stopped, bent over and inspected the little white flowery things. It appeared that something was green and growing!

We don't have these in Canada. Later I learned that they are called 'snow drops' or snei glockleine. They are the very first plants in Europe to pop out at as Winter nears Spring.

In the painting a man kneels. The night is so dark. The road is has been long. The moon is but a distant crescent. The tree is barren. He is weary. Yet in that dark hour, in that cold winter night is the first glimmer of light. Are surely as the sun set, and so it will rise again. As surely as the leaves fell, so shall they grow again. A fragile flower speaks its reminder.

A re-minder that love can find you anywhere.

So chill. Let it come. Be with your night.

I have a Dream

I have had this painting on my soul for the last few months. It was my dream to paint it here in Berlin-- Big! It is 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres. Much bigger than most vagabond cyclists would dare to paint!

It is about the glorious feeling of merging dream with reality: "I have a Dream". It needed to be big.

Lately, I have been having many conversations on manifesting one's dream. How exactly do you make longing of your soul happen? How do you make dream reality? As I wrap up my time in Berlin this is a great moment to remind myself of this process.

First, you've got to listen to your heart.

The whole dream might not be there... I didn't actually come up with the idea of going around the world until I came to the monastery in Belgium. However the first seed "Russell... leave Smithers on your Bike for Berlin!" was there. I had to hear it.

Second you've got to speak the dream.

How can a dream come true if you can't even put it into words? How can a dream not come true if you can't even tell your friends? I am talking to myself here! My fears and dreams are inextricably linked. Speaking and articulating the dream is the essential first step of facing the fears.

As I made my way towards Berlin, I would tell people my dream of painting these big paintings. Then the magic then began to happen! Then they would say... "Oh! You must meet up with my friend who can help you!" "Oh! I know someone with a studio!" "Oh! I know someone with a cafe gallery".

And so, as I arrived in Berlin, the ingredients of my dream came to me -- bekommen mich. I found myself in the harware store-- a friend helping me buy all the wood that I needed. I found myself in a studio-- the saw, paint, brushes and everything I needed around me. Now, I type this in the gallery where all my paintings hang around me.

Dreams tend to involve fear. That's why they aren't real yet. Often what we dream of, is precisely what we fear the most. For me speaking and painting the dream is a way to process the fear and to figure out exactly what the dream is. This is the essence of my simple series of paintings. Through extreme simplification I get to the essence of what my heart is longing for.

So, Russell, what now is your dream? Here we go:

My dream is to cycle around the world back to Kamloops, BC Canada orchetrating the planetary 1Mandala collaborative project. I will start in Northern Italy and start cycling east towards Romania and then onwards East to Japan. I will meet and make great friends, meet beautiful people, learn new languages, make dazzlingly cool movies and art and deepen mine and humanity's understanding of Oneness and have the time of my life.

"I have a Dream". That's me folks, looking out at the Mediterranean-- the sun of love and health and passion shines down upon me.

Courage.

This past weekend my beautiful lover from Holland came to visit me. Abby and I shared a wonderful weekend talking about life, love and dreams.

But she really didn't drive from 7 hours from Holland to Berlin just to see me. She came to see a painting! A painting, aptly enough, about following your heart.

You see, I had told her about the way I intentionally paint scenes that then magically manifest themselves. For her Birthday two months ago, I told her that when I got to Berlin, I would love to paint her a painting and an intention. If it works for me, why not for others? I invited her to describe a scene that she chooses to manifest and I would work with her to paint it.

Abby told me what to paint. She described the scene and the intention.

This beautiful painting emerged about following your heart.

Abby has a wonderful dream about letting go of her home, moving to Paris, learning French, and immersing herself in Parisian culture, baguette baking, yoga, dance and freedom.

As great as it sounds, it is really not that easy to let go of your home.

I know!

I went through my own epic struggle to cast aside my self-wrought chains that were holding me back from following the call of my heart. It took months. At times I felt it was surely impossible. On my journey, I have met so many who yearn and feel the same about leaving the known for the unknown.

And thus, on the comfortable, stable and secure pier stands a lone figure. A vast open horizon beckons. The sky is blue, the sun shines, the unknown looms in all its stunning danger, excitement, promise and in-security. The woman turns her head, it is almost too much to bear.

Yet, there sailing into off in the distance in a red sail boat. The dream is there. She knows deeply that it can be her. The very act of turning away is an acknowledgement of the power of the dream.

As sure as the sun sets on the day it shall rise on her dream.

Courage.

That is title of the painting.

New Painting: "With Gratitude"

As I prepare to depart from Berlin and conclude one dream, another one looms before me: To cycle around the world.

The new dream was wrought at the Scourmont Monastery in Chimay, Belgium. At this point in my journey my destination was just to get to Berlin.

But then, I met Père Jaques. Père Jaques greeted me at the gates of the monastery with a gruff "We have been waiting for you for an eternity". When I left the gates three weeks later it was in a heart rending goodbye.

This wonderfully kind Belgian monk started telling people that I was a "pèlerin de la paix" (a peace pedaller) who was "cycling around the world". It was partly true, I had come all the way from Smithers on the West of Canada. I was also working on my 1Mandala peace and oneneness project. However, cycling around the world wasn't yet my conscious intention.

However, Pèrere Jaques words resonated with me deeply.

They excited something deep in my soul. My heart smiled. It had been guiding me in this direction all along.

And so, Berlin has become not a destination, but a beginning. A beginning of an even greater and more wondrous dream. Today, I look at the map-- of Europe and Asia and I plot my course. So many adventures and beautiful experiences lie behind me. So much more before me!

The painting above is inspired by my stay at the monastery. First painted at the monastery, it is titled: "With Gratitude"

You see, while there longstanding dental problems began to plague me. I did not make much money as an artist back in Canada-- and I simply could not afford the necessary repairs to my teeth. They had gotten worse and worse.

When I mentioned in passing a small pain, Pere Jaques insisted I stay longer. An appointment was setup. After a survey of my many large and small issues, the monastery dentist insisted I come back the next day when he was done all his regular work.

I arrived at 8 PM. He set to work in a marathon dental extravaganza. He tackle not just one problem but ALL OF THEM. In three hours, five years of dental issues were resolved-- wisdom teeth, cavities, fractures, etc. He worked late into the night in a bloody, painful yet glorious session. When he was done, every single issue was dealt with. Everything! I have had no problems since.

At midnight when I returned, a bottle of the monastery's strongest brew of beer awaited me.

My gratitude was so immense. But so was my pain! The monks insisted I stay longer to recover. In a week of recovery I painted the first version of this painting as a gift. It now hangs in the monastery.

I realize now that an even greater gift from the monastery was finding my dream. There, walking through the snow covered orchards with Pere Jaques and experiencing the chanting morning masses I heard the whisper of my heart. As I have cycled on my gratitude has only grown for my time at the monastery and for the general abundance of blessings that have befallen me

Here is the second, much bigger version of the painting "Met Dankbarkeit / With Gratitude" (1.5 x 1.5 meter) now hanging here in Berlin.

Family

Ok! My show is up and my Simple Series paintings are complete. I will now start to share photos of the finished paintings here on my blog. Let's start with this one. This is a better photo of the painting 'Family' for my friend Andreas.

Simply Nearing the End

I am nearing the completion of my simple series paintings! They will be going on display this weekend at teh Artlounge Aureum in Berlin. Its a great little cafe, centrally located, with big walls. The perfect place to show my new work. On Friday at 7 PM a pianist will be playing for the opening. It will be a fun and informal affair.

The paintings will also be up over the next week. Pass by and see my work!

Friday, 7 PM, June 26th

Artlounge Aureum
Prenzlauer Allee 213
10405 Berlin

http://artlounge-aureum.de/

Painting my World

I have discovered something uncanny with these simple paintings that I am doing: They come true. I have done half a dozen or so featuring a character very much like myself. A month or so later, I find myself in the very scene that I have painted!

"As the plant springs from the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought and could not have appeared without them."

I am now consciously using this as a tool to focus my intentions. The paintings may look simple but a heck of alot of work goes into refining them and getting each detail and layout just right. My blog here is an important part of the process of sharing the process, the picture, and the ideas behind each painting.

For example I am putting out the intention of experiencing Greece and also a triadic relationship. To embark upon the voyage of these intentions, I am painting a picture of a Guy in Glorious Greece. In another painting, three people together in a joyous blue sky day. Each painting involves sketching and sketching the simple scene over and over until the mix of composition, symbols and characters is just right. These sketches help refine not only the painting but the idea and the intention.

The sketches then go up on my blog-- see my last post for example. I then begin work on the painting. Finally the painting will be publicly exhibited and posted on my art site. This whole process of personal reflection and then public posting help draw the choosen experience to me.

But you don't need to be an artist!

The principle at work here is very simple. You just need to start by speaking your dream, your intention. If you can't speak of an intention how the heck is it ever going to come to you? And once you do speak it, that's when the fun begins-- it comes to you! No more struggling or striving. It just comes to you.

"Of all the beautiful truths pertaining to the soul which have been restored and brought to light in this age, none is more gladdening or fruiful of divine promise than this-- that man is the master of thought, the moulder of character and the maker and shaper of his condition, environment and destiny".

Quotations from As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen

Goodbye Dock. Hello Horizon.

The painting from the last post is developing....

To Love

I painted this picture back in December at the Belgian Scourmont monastery.

It has taken me over two months to gather the courage to share this creation. It was so personal that I would break into a sweat and my heart would beat fast at the very thought of any one else seeing it. The painting represented a burgeoning realization that was growing in my heart. The realization risked rocking my foundations to the very core:

One can love more than one person at a time.

A little kid would probably laugh. Its such a simple statement, and put like that it seems so silly! Of course you can love more than one person. Love is free and open by its very nature. The idea of restricting love, only makes sense, it strikes me, after religious and social conditioning take their inevitable grasp.


There are many ways to love, from that of a child to its parents, to that, in my case, of a man to a woman. Yet at the core its love. Why should it be restricted, constrained or limited in any way? Why should one be ashamed of feeling love-- romantic even-- to more than one person?

In fact, it would seem to me that even labeling or categorizing love as romantic, motherly, friendship, or otherwise limits it in a way that is counter to the spirit of love.

I've struggled with this idea consciously for the last four months. Unconsciously, for years. My conclusion is that all the reasons why one cannot love more are social and religious constructs that no longer resonate with me.

Intellectual and social constructs like 'finding the One' or saving 'True Love' for that one illusive life partner, have taken me out of beautiful moments with people and put me into the abstracted, hypothetical and non-existent future. Moments where I would have been lost in joy I was lots in anxious analysis.

There are so many silly thoughts that conspire to stop us from loving!

It strikes me that love is beautiful and the more of it one feels the richer and deeper one lives. The more we are in the moment with someone the richer and more beautiful our lives. It strikes me as profoundly beautiful to be able to love someone without commiting them or oneself to obligations in the future. I've had some moments like that lately and they have sky-rocketed off the charts of any rating scale I thought I knew. Rather than having a limited capacity to be only able to love one person, what in fact happens is the love you feel and share doubles and triples and just goes crazy.

Of course, things like honesty and candor become paramount. Indeed this is love. Ironically, my fears, trepitation and anxiety about Love have kept me from the honesty necessary to keep things clear. But I am working on it. I am facing those fears head on.

Thank goodness for art. You can't hide yourself in art let me tell you. It all comes out.

This is one such creation.

With Gratitude

click to see larger version

I've been feeling enormously blessed lately.

My time here at the Abbey in Belgium has been one of peace, recuperation, and of creativity.

What a great combination. The peace has served to inspire not only the recuperation, but the creativity. Here is my latest painting, done in my time recuperating. It is a gift to Pere Jacques and the Abbey. It reflects how I feel about my rich and harmonious moment here.

The title is: 'Avec Gratitude' or 'With Gratitude'.

I was a little concerned on how it would be received. One never knows with aesthetic taste over culture and continent! There is art here in the Abbey, however 90% of the pieces have a guy hanging on a cross.

However, Pere Jacques immediately put it in on prominent display in the cafeteria. Visitors and staff have been commenting favourably on it every since. Yeay!

The best is at lunch when I get to listen to people talk about it who have no idea that I am the artist! After a while I get to step in and say with unique authority: "I think the artist really meant to say..."

:-)

Together

Here is another painting from my time on the coast of England.

There's something about how the stillness of the sea, the brightness of the blue sky and the warmth of the sun can mirror what one feels within.

The White Cliffs of England

One of the most notable ideas about England that I had in my mind before arriving were its white coastal cliffs. In my time in Swanage I had an opportunity to experience them first hand.
In the spirit of Dali's psychological landforms, the cliffs have made their way into my painting.

Islands of the Mind

Here is the first of a series of paintings which are inspired by my time in England.

The shot above shares a little of the ambiance of its creation-- working on a rainy day in an old country house in wales as the strangely bright gray light of the late afternoon spills in.

There are two inspirations behind the painting.

First, my visit to a Dali exhibit at the MoMA. Dali had a way of painting his surrealist scenes with strange, curvaceous and highly suggestive hills and mountains. So much so that they seemed more psychological than representational. His work was of course described as deeply subconcscious and Freudian.

The second inspiration is my recent stay on the Southern coast of England. The cliffs and coast actually look like this. As I stood, and stared out to sea, I couldn't help but ponder if the wonderful moment, the convulsed cliffs, and the smooth sea was purely a fabrication of my mind. Perhaps Dali wondered the same things.

I am tremendously enjoying this simplified style of painting. It is alot more challenging than it looks to get these paintings right. Because there are such few elements, each element must carefully be positioned and proportioned in relation to the rest. The raw simplicity of the composition gives additional power to the colours. The colours then set the mood and the sparse set of symbols open up the scene for rich emotive interpretations.

Sunset over the Soul

Another new painting from my Simple Series.

Paintings are available for purchase by the way. The other one (below) is now sold however. Drop me a line.

Interestingly enough, today this very scene, with me in it, manifested. I found myself watching the sunset from a beautiful Long Island beach. When I made the connection, I couldn't help but laugh.

Blue Sky Day

This painting was also completed this past week, working from Brooklyn. I am calling this 'The Simple Series'.

The paintings explore a style of simplifying the scene to its bare minimum. The attempt is to make a peaceful and highly intriguing picture in which every element speaks vividly. Strangely enough, because they are so simple, they are much more subjective. The paintings are easy to stare at for long periods of time!