| Aloha! I started painting in my mid 20s partly as a way of coping with my own emotional pain and distress. Dealing with my own problems eventually lead me to becoming a clinical psychologist so that I could help others. As I’ve grown older and am slowing down my clinical practice, I’ve been drawn back to the creative process of expressing my feelings and experiences of doing therapy with others in my abstract art. Doing therapy with someone is a very intimate experience, I get to experience the patient’s inner most thoughts, fears, and hopes as I help them look at and live their lives differently. |
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I also continue to grow emotionally from each therapy session and find them a source of inspiration for my paintings. To me, abstract art of the sort I do, is endlessly fascinating and each time I look at one of my paintings I can see new and different things and experience different emotions in a way that is similar to psychotherapy. I smile with joy each time I look at one of my paintings, and have a feeling of WOW, that’s wonderful. It is a joy similar to that of being a small part of helping one of my patients grow and change. I really love doing both therapy and painting. When I start a painting I don’t have a preconceived idea or concept of what will emerge. I let my thoughts and feelings from therapy sessions flow unconsciously to the choice of colors, strokes, and shapes that begin to appear on the canvas. Sometimes the efforts are wonderful and sometimes I throw them away. Since moving to Hawaii in 1990, I’ve also been inspired by the Aloha spirit of the islands, the Native Hawaiian culture, the many mixed cultures that make up the people of the Islands, and the vibrant and lush colors of the flowers, land, sea, and rain forests. I had been displaying my paintings in my office and waiting room and many of my patients have expressed great joy and pleasure in seeing them. With their encouragement I have decided to try to make them available to others and thus decided to develop this web site. Unfortunately web site pictures are a far cry from the emotional impact of seeing the real canvases. For me, this is not primarily a commercial venture (I continue to make my living as a psychologist), but a desire to share my work with others. The prices for my canvases are little over the costs of the paints, canvas printing, stretcher bars and frames and mailing. If you purchase one of my works I hope you enjoy looking at it every time you see it and that it helps you see and feel something (joy, sorrow, hope …) deep within yourself and that the canvas may, in some symbolic way, help you on your journey through your life. I welcome any comments or thoughts you might wish to share with me about my work and your life. Aloha, Steve |
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