Page 61 - Reader's HouseMagazine - Issue 62

Walter Mosley (Devil In A Blue Dress), and Michael Connelly to name just few. Further, each of my stories takes place in current times, so it is easy for readers to imagine the L.A. settings.
Your novels combine romance, suspense, and the art world. What challenges and opportunities come with blending these elements in a single story?
When I was a young teenager, a family member mentioned that I seem to observe people as if I was studying them. At the time, I responded by stating I was doing so in-order-to draw them. A couple of years later, I realized
I was also scrutinizing our shortcomings in terms of how we treat each other subtly seek- ing to learn from that. As I matured, read more books and made more paintings, I recognized that I enjoyed stories and visual images that were both romantic and suspenseful. I was able to do that quicker in my artwork than in crea- tive writing. It was only when I realized that if I set a story within the art world, I could pull plot lines from my own experiences. In other words, when I am true to myself the stories simply come forth organically. Often when writing the best things just seem to happen without any pre-planning. My approach is to allow the mystery to evolve of its own accord. In so doing, the pull, pulse, and potency of the story becomes so self-evident that in many ways it becomes a character of its own.
Many of your works balance abstraction with expressionism. How do you decide when a piece should lean more towards representation or abstraction?
That question only arises when I’ve decid- ed to start a new Series. However, even then often as I’m working on a new painting it will tell me which direction to go. In other words, the painting speaks to me visually and I always listen. When I don’t, the painting is usually a failure.
Your creative philosophy mentions making your work “modern, yet somehow ancient”. Could you explain what that balance means in practice?
As we all come from the same gene-pool so-to-speak, all artists strive to create images that appear well connected to the centuries of
rich art history and yet suggest a uniqueness that will only be associated with themselves. Which in today’s pluralism, is very challenging to achieve.
How does living near nature and hiking trails in Washington State influence your artistic and literary inspiration?
Having spent a great deal of time in the Columbia River Gorge before moving here,
I knew exactly what I wanted to artistically respond to first, once I was here permanently. When I had first arrived in Los Angeles as a child, I was taken to Griffith Observatory to see the city view, but it was the roar ema- nating from the city that got my attention. I was dumbfounded by it coming at me like an invisible monster. I felt trounced upon and be- leaguered especially when others told me they could not hear what I was referring to. When
I arrived in the Gorge in 1992, the gentle, sweet-scented wind swathed me and I wanted to hike along the many rivers through the forests and mountains. When I made my home here in 1995, it was those elements I responded to first in my new studio. As a result, the Wash- ington State Arts Commission, Artist Trust, and the National Endowment for the Arts gave me a Fellowship for my paintings inspired by that environment. Followed by the Washington State Arts Commission purchasing one of my surrealistic tree paintings for their Art In Public Places Commission along with purchases
from Universities, Colleges, Cities and even the King County International Airport. That welcoming generosity enabled me to return
to the abstraction and Techspressionism I had been pursuing in L.A. It also empowered me
to write my first novel, Brushed Off in which romance and suspense reflect the undercurrents of turbulence in this new century. In it I present prose involved with deep meaning if the reader wants to think deeper, but otherwise can feel like edifying artistic interludes. I’ve been told that my observations about human behavior are perceptive, written with an agile mindset and that I have a natural ear for lived-in dialogue plus my plots buzz with an uneasy undercur- rent of violence as they develop in unexpected directions, avoiding cliched turns and any sort of moralizing messaging. I can accept those judgements and firmly believe I developed that ability while living in L.A., but was only able to use them in a creative, narrative way here in
INTERVIEW
HIGHLIGHTS
Global travel deeply influences his creative perspective
Strong connection between visual art and writing process
Exploration of time, memory and discovery as core themes
Creator of the James Terra Mystery Series
Unique blend of romance, suspense and art-world settings
Emphasis on intuition over rigid planning
Advocates authenticity and artistic integrity
“I DO NOT PRE-PLAN A PAINTING
OR A BOOK, I SIMPLY BEGIN.” Reader’s House II 61
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