Virtual Reality can’t Touch us or Taint us. Or can it?

"A Joyful Heart" 9 x 12 pastel on Bristol

Public Broadcasting recently aired a delightful British Comedy called “Last Tango in Halifax.” I enjoyed the feature immensely. The story revolved around an older couple who met, fell in love, and planned to be married. The catch? They each had their own complex past, their own children and spouses and grandchildren each with their own unique problems, quirks, differences, and weaknesses.

What impressed me at stories' end was that Halifax was a lonely and harsh environment that isolated people from each other. The characters, in spite of all their flaws, were lovable, sometimes desperate, and always unpredictable yet supportive of each other, at least in the beginning.

I wept along with the characters. I felt their pain and their weakness as they bungled their lives simply by being human. As a person of faith, I couldn’t help wondering if the absence of faith was a character flaw and the reason for their downfall. They struggled against life without any spiritual structure or foundation to guide them or hold them together.

"Tansy's Pride" 9 x 12 pastel on Bristol

And yet they survived. In the end, they even triumphed as they overcame their shallow self absorbed inclinations to reach out and embrace those they loved. Rising above their petty and sometimes jarring differences, they brought their bouquets of forgiveness to the simple table that life had dealt them.

What matters most in life usually triumphs, if we let it. We can rise above the cheap and tawdry leavings of this clumsy imperfect existence and replace our shallowness with humility, hard fought forgiveness, and hope.

People in the end are worth the effort. There is dignity and hidden gold even in the worst of us, and surely in the best of us. Pure evil does exist, but at what point is the soul condemned or the door closed? The eleventh hour? The twelfth?

"Broken" 11 x 14 mixed media SOLD

What binds us is our humanity; our need for love and companionship. This alone is the Godly part of our nature and must be nurtured and acted upon if humanity is to survive. Without it, we will incinerate ourselves in a global frenzy.

Keep the candle burning, friends. If the light of love and goodness goes out, our world will be very dark, indeed.

"With these Hands -- Hope"  16 x 20 mixed media on canvas

We are at War -- no ifs, ands, or buts!

"India Rising -- the Lost,"  mixed media

According to the press and the wordsmiths on television, we are at war: a war on women, a war of words; a cultural war pitting one set of values against another in order to prove who loves God or Jesus the most. On top of that, we have the age-old generational gap, and the traditional war against the sexes. Whew!

It makes me tired even to think about it. The arguments make a mockery of real war. The wounded warriors who return home missing limbs or strapped to a wheelchair for the rest of their lives should put us all to shame. They fight for our right to argue and fight. They fight to keep the enemy from our shores. They fight to preserve our way of life and to allow people freedom of choice without censure.

Since when did our country become so divided, or has it always been so? Good versus evil started with rebellion in the realms of Heaven and continued in the Garden of Eden. The war of good versus evil has been with us since the dawn of mankind and shades of gray challenge our choices every day.

We are gripped by the bite of a political war with opposing factions claiming their right to the proverbial throne. One side stating they are more intelligent and informed than the other, while the “other” side proclaims they are on the side of “right” by virtue of their Biblical values which many boast, but few actually live.

"India Rising -- the Found," mixed media

The media pushes us into a frenzy, father against mother, sister against brother, neighbors lashing out at neighbors. I’ve had people “defriend” me on Facebook because they didn’t agree with me. What happened to dialogue? What happened to discussion and debate? What have we become?

"With these Hands -- Hope," mixed media

We need to take a look at ourselves and our priorities. We need to channel our anger and hatred into positive outlets. We pray for world peace while we argue and battle over facts, figures, and policy. There will never be peace until we have peace within. Until we are tolerant of others and compassionate about differing points of view, peace on earth is only a dream.

What does this have to do with art? Art mirrors life and humanity. If we continue to cannibalize our own, destroy character, and push the limits of behavior to unhealthy extremes we will always be at war: at war with each other, at war with ourselves, and at war with God. Our art, our books, our paintings, our theater will become more grotesque as evil and pain overtakes us. Yes, we are at war, and we are the enemy.

"Broken," mixed media -- SOLD