A beautiful and blinding morning

The world outside begins to breathe

See the clouds arriving without warning

I need you here to shelter me

And I know that only time will tell us how

To carry on without each other

So keep me awake to memorize you

Give me more time to feel this way

We can't stay like this forever

But I can have you next to me today

If I could make these moments endless

If I could stop the winds of change

If we just keep our eyes wide open

Then everything would stay the same

And I know that only time will tell me how

We'll carry on without each other

So keep me awake for every moment

Give us more time to be this way

We can't stay like this forever

But I can have you next to me today

We'll let tomorrow wait, you're here, right now, with me

All my fears just fall away, when you are all I see

We can't stay like this forever

But I have you here today

And I will remember

Oh, I will remember

Remember all the love we shared today .

Surviving cancer and using art as a tool for healing, reflection and understanding has infused my art with a sense of energy and optimism that has a universal appeal. The process of making the art as well as the meaning of it, are both an integral part of the end result and for me there is always a battle to harmonize between the two – to evoke the emotion of the piece and to empower the viewer.

I love combining traditional and new media painting techniques where one feeds off the energy of the other. The visual collaboration of both medias often celebrates a bold expressionism and optimistic edge regardless of subject matter.

My work has evolved from a mashing of referenced pop art and iconic imagery into elaborate multilayered portraits and scenes that depict a more personal interpretation of my life experience, battles and passions. My goal is to lead the observer to dramatic action, putting them on the edge between what we know and what is unknowable. I’ve learned that something new will always come about when you push hard enough and the result is the revelation of a “new identity”.

The motivation for me to keep going is to gain an understanding of how this “new identity or rebirth or truth” actually reflects my life as well as the world we live in – or not.

Taken at the gazebo in South Beach, Staten Island, NY.

First step of the day, captured. #beyourownbeloved

First thought of the day "will I wake up my husband with the flash? Meh oh well, this is for art!"

Locust swarming Merida. They are an urban curiosity but a nightmare in the countryside.

Look for this face again later.

150mm schneider-kreuznach

K.B. Canham 4x5

Kodak 160NC

AWAKE AND SING

by Clifford Odets was directed by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson and performed April 5-7 & 11-13, 2013

Synopsis – from A Noise Within Study Guide: "The Berger family apartment in the Bronx houses three generations in the same working-class Jewish family. It is in this apartment that Bessie Berger, indomitable matriarch, oversees the lefist leanings of her father Jacob, and attempts to influence the romantic yearnings of her son (Ralph) and potential matches for her daughter (Hennie). When the seemingly inescapable poverty of the Great Depression forces Bessie to rent out a room in the apartment to petty bookie and World War I veteran Moe Axelrod, she encounters a new challenge as he positions himself as suitor to young Hennie. Hennie has her own ideas for love — ideas which, when pursued, lead to serious consequences.

Bessie attempts to protect her family from high hopes and fruitless idealism, grounding her perceptions of reality in the cold truth of struggle. However, the Berger family has a will of its own and does not always support Bessie’s iron-fisted policies, as those who seek to provide a sense of freedom and hope for Ralph and Hennie enact their own redemptive yet heartbreaking plans."

www.uis.edu/theatre/productions/

AWAKE AND SING

by Clifford Odets was directed by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson and performed April 5-7 & 11-13, 2013

Synopsis – from A Noise Within Study Guide: "The Berger family apartment in the Bronx houses three generations in the same working-class Jewish family. It is in this apartment that Bessie Berger, indomitable matriarch, oversees the lefist leanings of her father Jacob, and attempts to influence the romantic yearnings of her son (Ralph) and potential matches for her daughter (Hennie). When the seemingly inescapable poverty of the Great Depression forces Bessie to rent out a room in the apartment to petty bookie and World War I veteran Moe Axelrod, she encounters a new challenge as he positions himself as suitor to young Hennie. Hennie has her own ideas for love — ideas which, when pursued, lead to serious consequences.

Bessie attempts to protect her family from high hopes and fruitless idealism, grounding her perceptions of reality in the cold truth of struggle. However, the Berger family has a will of its own and does not always support Bessie’s iron-fisted policies, as those who seek to provide a sense of freedom and hope for Ralph and Hennie enact their own redemptive yet heartbreaking plans."

www.uis.edu/theatre/productions/

I wanted to take a concept photo...

This morning, a little over 12 hours old...

(day 108 | 2010-04-18)

install in progress / silence and noise @ brooklyn zen center

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

This is the second part of the photoshoot with Awake The Empire as we ran out of time last time we met.

www.myspace.com/awaketheempireuk

Strobist: SB-80x bare left, SB-28 bare right and SB-600 bare front. Cactus v4 trigger

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

Yeah, I was in the dark

I was falling hard

With an open heart

I'm wide awake

How did I read the stars so wrong?

I'm wide awake

And now it's clear to me

That everything you see

Ain't always what it seems

I'm wide awake

Yeah, I was dreaming for so long

I wish I knew then

What I know now

Wouldn't dive in

Wouldn't bow down

Gravity hurts

You made it so sweet

'Till I woke up on

On the concrete

Falling from cloud nine

Crashing from the high

I'm letting go tonight

Yeah, I'm falling from cloud nine

I'm wide awake

Not losing any sleep

I picked up every piece

And landed on my feet

I'm wide awake

Need nothing to complete myself, no

I'm wide awake

Yeah, I am born again

Out of the lion's den

I don't have to pretend

And it's too late

The story's over now, the end

I wish I knew then

What I know now

Wouldn't dive in

Wouldn't bow down

Gravity hurts

You made it so sweet

'Till I woke up on

On the concrete

Falling from cloud nine (it was out of the blue)

I'm crashing from the high

I'm letting go tonight (yeah, I'm letting you go)

I'm falling from cloud nine

I'm wide awake

Thunder rumbling

Castles crumbling

I'm wide awake

I am trying to hold on

I'm wide awake

God knows that I've tried

Seeing the bright side

I'm wide awake

I'm not blind anymore...

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

Yeah, I'm falling from cloud nine (it was out of the blue)

Crashing from the high

You know I'm letting go tonight (yeah, I'm letting you go)

I'm falling from cloud nine

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

I'm wide awake

AWAKE AND SING

by Clifford Odets was directed by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson and performed April 5-7 & 11-13, 2013

Synopsis – from A Noise Within Study Guide: "The Berger family apartment in the Bronx houses three generations in the same working-class Jewish family. It is in this apartment that Bessie Berger, indomitable matriarch, oversees the lefist leanings of her father Jacob, and attempts to influence the romantic yearnings of her son (Ralph) and potential matches for her daughter (Hennie). When the seemingly inescapable poverty of the Great Depression forces Bessie to rent out a room in the apartment to petty bookie and World War I veteran Moe Axelrod, she encounters a new challenge as he positions himself as suitor to young Hennie. Hennie has her own ideas for love — ideas which, when pursued, lead to serious consequences.

Bessie attempts to protect her family from high hopes and fruitless idealism, grounding her perceptions of reality in the cold truth of struggle. However, the Berger family has a will of its own and does not always support Bessie’s iron-fisted policies, as those who seek to provide a sense of freedom and hope for Ralph and Hennie enact their own redemptive yet heartbreaking plans."

www.uis.edu/theatre/productions/

Study of a lily.

Sensitive abstracts series.

Art and Abstracts Collection

Created with Ultra Fractal

instagram.com/johntrif

johntrif.tumblr.com / johntrif.vsco.co / melbournexoxo.tumblr.com

Though I would show off the beloved Great nieve and nephew ahain but with eyes open and that annoyed look babies get when they realise this is it, they have arrived.

Marunouchi, Tokyo Japan

Godiva is a 33 feet high puppet which is travelling from Coventry to London as part of the Cultural Olympiad. When she arrived in Northampton she was presented with a bespoke pair of riding boots made by a local manufacturer - size 72! These are the 'boot bearers' carrying the boots in this enormous box.Unfortunately she was wearing a long skirt, which meant that we could only see a small part of them.

After receiving the boots on the Market Square she made her way around the town centre preceded by a motley crew made up of the Mayor,and some Councillors, corset wearing Morris Dancers, Belly Dancers, the 'Ministry of Cycles', and 'Wicker Maidens' - who I assume were the yong ladies bearing flowers.

www.imagineerproductions.co.uk/content/6567/godiva/godiva...

www.northampton.gov.uk/godiva

awake :)

AWAKE AND SING

by Clifford Odets was directed by Eric Thibodeaux-Thompson and performed April 5-7 & 11-13, 2013

Synopsis – from A Noise Within Study Guide: "The Berger family apartment in the Bronx houses three generations in the same working-class Jewish family. It is in this apartment that Bessie Berger, indomitable matriarch, oversees the lefist leanings of her father Jacob, and attempts to influence the romantic yearnings of her son (Ralph) and potential matches for her daughter (Hennie). When the seemingly inescapable poverty of the Great Depression forces Bessie to rent out a room in the apartment to petty bookie and World War I veteran Moe Axelrod, she encounters a new challenge as he positions himself as suitor to young Hennie. Hennie has her own ideas for love — ideas which, when pursued, lead to serious consequences.

Bessie attempts to protect her family from high hopes and fruitless idealism, grounding her perceptions of reality in the cold truth of struggle. However, the Berger family has a will of its own and does not always support Bessie’s iron-fisted policies, as those who seek to provide a sense of freedom and hope for Ralph and Hennie enact their own redemptive yet heartbreaking plans."

www.uis.edu/theatre/productions/