A myth can transcend space time only when it is appropriate to the time. Life is changing so fast the myth doesn’t have enough time to experience metamorphosis, and subsequently is lost. In realizing this, it is than of outmost necessity to revivify the myth.
Q: What is good and what is bad in life?
A: Well it’s simple…everything is as it is supposed to be, sometimes good, sometimes bad, neither better or worse, neither pulling or pushing, however to put this into practice is not so simple.
fotoMahaloness
Building the layers of painting knowing that this image I make has been done before, however it is the right time for this one to happen now.
creating new myths for the present.
‘sacred place’
Sunshine Coast Mona Lisa painting on flotsam now reimagined in hybrid art
in between
This blog is more poetry than prose, one thing I have been struggling with is translating the poetry into prose, perhaps this is an ironic twist considering blogging is so word driven. My best post ever was without words, wordless, using only visual poetry and juxtaposition of images. This is by far the most efficient way for me to express the soul both through the heart and the mind. These artworks reflect the need or desire to be in the center, and let the binary oppositions be binary oppositions without the fuss, without judgement and without blame. This is a practice that will take a lifetime to master.
My studio has been in a state of steady flux, painting after painting after painting, miraculously a body of work has amassed, something of which I have not done for quite some time. Perhaps ‘miraculously’ is not the right word, how about hard work, perseverance and discipline have contributed to my little victories. So what has been driving me to make art? It’s hard to sum up in a blog, however I will do my best to list a few of those things that make me get up and continue on my journey. The reality of the matter is its hard to make art, there are so many distractions, and stimulations that finding ones voice, let alone time or space, is a rather daunting task. There is politics, that’s all I will say about that. There is economics, social, family, health, and environmental factors to consider, or not, either way they won’t go away. This is not new to contemporary art, there is a long history of a few big fish rising to the top while the rest of the little fish just squeak by, or in some cases completely disappear from the map. I have this dream once and a while, I am climbing the ladder and it looks to be a really long ladder, all the way up into the sky, similar to the amazing Chinese artist, Cai Guo-Qiang, who makes a sky ladder out of fireworks, not exactly an easy ladder to climb. In yet almost every day, I get up, I eat breakfast, sip a coffee and get to work. I am what could be described as a stubborn person, I really don’t want to give up, even though I know exactly what a I am up against and have experienced more times than once, the implications of failure. To add to this dilemma there is the fact that I am human with a conscience. The mind is an extraordinary power, however it doesn’t mean it’s always shooting for the stars, I have my days when I get the sense I’m in the John in ‘Being John from Being John Malcovich’ and there’s these voices floating in my head telling me quit, to stop while I am ahead, go ahead and procrastinate, don’t quit your day job, and so on. It’s really annoying albeit a wonderful gift to be able to perceive the world through our senses and than contemplate on that, all the while being swept up in it and never really doing a damn thing about it. That’s okay though we as a species have been through a lot, and there does exist a burden to carry even if you are blind. So where’s this all coming from, well partly I’ve been having a few revelations courtesy Jordon Peterson who I have been following for a while, and have been reading his books ‘Maps and Meanings’ and ’12 Rules for Life’, both are great. One of his points is the concept ‘responsibility’ and it is a heavy one, loaded with all sorts of meaning and implications.
Responsibility
I have always felt that being an artist there’s a certain level of responsibility that goes with it, even though I didn’t always know what that meant, and to be clear I am still working on that problem, it’s a lot to comprehend. I am at now a stage in my art and life where I have a pretty good sense of the impact my art has on people’s lives, not just one person, many people, and this is an important point, because this seems to me this is what Jordan Perterson is talking about in his book ’12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos’ ( Link to Jordan Peterson’s website ) . To use the example of driving a car, I need to put the shifter into the responsibility gear and take care of the self, so I can continue to bring my art and consciousness into the world in the best way possible even though I know the odds are somewhat stacked up against me, one foot is the accelerator, chaos, and the other the brake, order, ok good blog, carry on!
fotoMahaloness
This is a collection of studio fotos, some have been digitally altered, all of them digital documents of moments in time either following a paint session and or a pre foto before the work begins. The many studios of hälts…
The office desk after the chaos
‘pink dragon’ WIP recycled art series
Sometimes painting can be like a desert, you never no where the next island oasis is and the illusions are a plenty.
I was spraying frames and have devised ways to contain most of the chaos…
‘the Healer’ painting which is going to be featured in an up and coming blog here on Mahaloness, background is a detail from a bus mural did back in 2010-11
I recommend lawn painting very Mahaloness.
‘Radiant child’ part of my recycled art series acrylic airbrush and brush on cardboard
My Keith Haring background for my recycled art painting ‘Atomic Unicorn’
I once painted in this room, in public, beautiful light all day, and my mural ‘creator’ keeping me company, this is the early stages of my ‘Healer’ painting
My painting ‘Earth Buddha’ also started out as a live painting and was finished in the studio, now on display at yogaMcc (http://www.yogamcc.com) located in Marda Loop Calgary, and is available for sale, that’s my Fineline fish in the background.
Paia Town Northshore Maui outdoor backyard studio I had for a couple months, magical times.
My Salvador Dali zoetrope hand painted animation on slats, I was commissioned by a friend and collaborated with wood master Peter Friemen who goes as conscious_wood on IG, Colin Smith came up with the idea for a zoetrope, commissioned Peter to design and build it, and I did a hand painted animation which was displayed at the Art Gallery of Alberta for a show by Colin Smith, an amazing Albertan photographer extraordinaire.
a dragon I painted on a felt fedora for a buddhy, not the easiest material to paint on, however it worked out great circa 2015
In the Wild West of Zen where the air is crisp and clean, the cowboys and cowgirls ride them horses and the cattle sing, their rhythms in sync with the seasons. Here hälts reminisces his childhood, days spent exploring the countryside, playing war in the woods, helping out with the farm, getting attacked by geese, wrestling roosters and feeding pigs. The sky never disappointed as clouds larger than life filled the sky and lightening bolts sparked a kids imagination, where did it come from ? These early years were the catalyst to a life of searching, exploring on a horse named curiosity, a spark rekindled in these moments of life.
fotoMahaloness
And now a minimotion called ‘The Wild West of Zen’ with soundscape called ‘Zen and Now’
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old world towards new world
the journey, beautiful spectacular
a nap in the grass is highly recommended by hälts (foto cred: Rebecca🍂🍁)
I have done my share of drifting in this lifetime, going to places that I have never been before, experiencing the unknown, observing and participating in rituals that strengthen character and connection to this place called home.
fotoMahaloness
moments in spacetime and experiences in peace of mind.
doing live art at Entheos festival BC
a moth friend, it has been my experience that insects visit me while I am in it.
eagle medicine
studio where I leave the hectic world and enter the no time zone
The Green Tara and all of the Tibetan/Nepalese Taras, in all colours of the rainbow and beyond, are very grounding paintings to produce. They are very skillful paintings in that the details are important to me, every brush stroke counts. What it is less important to me is to paint it fast and just make it look like a Tara, or what I call ‘good enough’ practice. When it comes to art and life the Tara painting is my sacred practice. When I paint them or ones that are meditative and spiritual in essence, I experience calmness, love and joy. The Tara is a constant reminder to me to remember that as a man and human I have a lot to be grateful for and to love the women in my life and my beloved one and to Mother Earth herself for providing. When I stray from my path and life gets a little out of balance, the Tara brings me back and this is a beautiful thing. So to all the female energy and women of Earth this painting is for you. I am currently in the process of a new White Tara painting which I will be sharing the progress as it develops.
fotoMahaloness
I have chosen three fotos of the Green Tara. This painting similar to sculpture seems to morph as the layers go on. It is a slow practice and demands concentration and patience, virtues that can easily be forgotten in the heat of the moment. I hope to continue to learn that peace and right practice will steer me through the troughs, so as I can continue to work on the work I love. My hope is to provide you fellow beings with quality and beautiful artwork, and continue to share that with you through the Mahaloness channel.
I have been painting for what feels like a lifetime, and when I am painting, or even writing these blogs, I am tapping into the source. The source being the inspiration that I have encountered along the way, each day or night, and in between. I have been fortunate to meet some great folks, who share their stories, and I have been known to translate some of these into painted visions. Perhaps at heart I am a folk artist, or perhaps a spirit painter, I like to think I am a story teller, and a documentarian of wisdom, the kind of wisdom that underlies knowledge, the current and flow of information that we as humans cannot afford to lose. Although there is a spiritual aspect to my work, I also think spiritual experience has its variance amongst the many, and that is why it is a good idea for me to be open while being discerning at the same time. Sometimes it’s just a feel thing, I commit to my gut and heart, this is more or less the ambiguous aspect of my story, and leaves for a lot of uncertainty and reliance on patience and trust, though I am very much a student in this matter, and am constantly working at it. I also have experienced what I call flash visions. Following a flash vision I like to research some of the components of the vision, that is if it is something of this world, and than make notes, doodle and than translate that into a painting. It might seem a little ambiguous, and I know from experience that even the most mundane of activities, or encounters can foster a creative burst, this is the zen way, in that no matter how big or small the encounter, no matter how crazy or calm, the input is always available, and when I tap into a good one, the law of attraction, based on my observations and experience, does seem to correlate with good output and flow. Perhaps this close to being effortless, though in my experience work has always been a rather crucial component, the good work that is.
FotoMahaloness an array of paintings and a tip of the inspirational ice berg.
creating new myths for the present. 
Mahaloness 
