October 2025 Update #2 + The Disconnect Between My Art and Reality

Took my son to the Canton Museum of Art this week.

They had a plein air painting exhibition. Landscapes mostly. Some tight and realistic, others loose and expressive.

I explained the difference to him. How some artists chase photorealism, trying to capture every detail technically. Others go looser, more emotional, more abstract.

I think something clicked for him.

He’s always thought good art meant it looked like a photo. That’s what most people think, honestly.

But it takes just as much skill to make great loose or abstract work. Maybe more. You have to know what to leave out for it to be effective, and that’s hard.

Plein Air Watercolor Painting from The Canton Museum of Art

Studio time this week was all about the big stuff.

I’m working on several large paintings at once right now. It’s exciting having multiple pieces going. You can bounce between them when one needs to dry or when you need fresh eyes.

Me creating in my studio

No small work this week, though. The house is finally back together after all the chaos, and I didn’t want to mess up the kitchen. LOL! That’s usually where I do smaller pieces while hanging out with my wife and the family. We watch TV, and I work on paper or collage stuff.

But not this week.

Here’s one that I worked on recently that I thought was interesting…

Abstract Seascape Collage - Approx 8×10"

I’ve been keeping up with my Substack notes pretty consistently lately. I’m actually proud of that. Showing up regularly, talking about the ocean, and showing the work.

I want to get better at it, though.

More consistent. More useful. We’ll see.

I’ve also been making progress on custom frames for some older pieces.

Slow progress. But progress. Just finding the time to actually do the work has been the challenge.

It feels good, though. Getting these pieces finished and ready. Here’s an example of the frame and an older painting that I finished and hung in our bathroom yesterday.

You can learn more and purchase this painting here.

Lastly, I finished an experimental collage piece this week that’s a little different from my usual work. It was a portrait. It’s a perfect example of trying something new, making mistakes, but learning. This is not something that will ever hang on a wall because it turned out really wrinkled, and I can’t get it corrected. But that’s “ok” because I tried something new and learned. I really enjoy having a focus in my art and that’s currently the ocean. But I equally enjoy art that’s focused on people. We’ll see where this goes!

Crop of an abstract portrait. Approximately 18×24

The Disconnect Between My Art and Reality

I generally make art inspired by the ocean while the actual ocean is changing in ways that are hard to ignore.

That tension hit me recently.

I spend hours in the studio trying to make images that are inspiring, ethereal, and beautiful. I sometimes use reference photos. Trying to capture something vibrant and alive. The colors, the movement, the complexity of it all.

But the art I’m creating tends to mask a reality. The research I do for my art keeps leading me to articles I don’t want to read. Statistics I wish I didn’t know.

It’s uncomfortable making beautiful things while the source of that beauty is under threat. But ignoring it doesn’t help either.

So I’ve been learning what I can.

When I post these updates, I really don’t want to sound dramatic about all this. I don’t want to be that guy who’s trying to scare you. Nobody wants to read that. But there is a reality here that we need to learn about and then consider ways to make a difference somehow.

Eight million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year. Every. Year.

Sea turtles eat plastic bags thinking they’re jellyfish. Seabirds feed plastic bits to their chicks. Whales die with stomachs full of trash.

We’ve found microplastics in the deepest ocean trenches. In Arctic ice. In the seafood we eat. It’s everywhere now.

The ocean absorbs 90% of the heat from climate change. That’s not a typo. Ninety percent.

Coral reefs are bleaching. Fish are migrating to cooler waters. Entire ecosystems are collapsing.

The water’s getting more acidic, too. Dissolving the shells of tiny creatures at the base of the food chain. When they go, everything else may follow.

We’ve removed 90% of large fish from the ocean. Bluefin tuna. Sharks. Swordfish.

Industrial fishing catches everything. Dolphins. Sea turtles. Stuff nobody even wants. They call it “bycatch.” Like it doesn’t matter.

We know about all this. We scroll past it. Share it, maybe. Then forget.

Because what can one person do?

But here’s the thing. Nobody’s asking you to save the ocean by yourself.

But we can do our small part. Just make one choice differently this week. Skip the plastic water bottle. Buy the sustainable fish.

That’s it.

Not because it’ll fix everything. But standing still feels worse than moving slowly.

I’m figuring this out too. But we need to start paying attention.

The ocean isn’t some distant thing. It’s the reason we’re breathing right now.

Pick one thing this week. Just one.

Then tell me what you chose.