The continuing chronicle of this collection of paintings:

My Koi Story 

 “…just try to ignore my carping!” — Luba Lowry

Imagine for a few moments a brilliant bouquet of breathing flowers with roots unattached to mother earth blowing randomly and actively throughout a large enclosed and fully cultivated vivarium. Now fill that ecosystem with water and turn the bright blowing flowers into luminous, vigorously swimming fish. This was my initial imagining of the Koi, a Japanese name for the brocaded-ornamental-carp; with the more aesthetic and lovely manner to describe these colorful fish: ‘Living Jewels.’ No description in writing, however, is as beautiful as they appear. Koi have been carefully cultivated for generations, particularly throughout Asia and increasingly worldwide. While the name is Japanese, the origin of dedicated Koi cultivation was China and dates to Confucius. However, it was the 18thCentury Japanese rice farmer who intimately appreciated its bewitching potential for beauty and carefully bred Koi to fashion varieties in astonishing vibrant color. Perseverance, courage, prosperity, harmony, happiness, and love are just some of the mysterious attributes connected to Koi. In fact, the black and white tear drops of the Yin-Yang symbol itself are said to be representative of two Koi fish—one male, the other female—keeping an eye on the other while forming one entity. My primary attraction to the colorful Koi is its rapid movement—here one moment, gone the next in a flash of color; like a kaleidoscopic rainbow of vibrant luminosity, darting across the water swiftly, juxtaposed within light and depth; fading, then disappearing into memory. What is left upon each of my mixed-mediated canvasses are colorful, challenging, symphonious…abstractions!I can never foretell what will emerge on a canvas, but just try to ignore my carping!