STEVE CANYON. JOSHUA TREE, CA Painting

"I was taught that each time you touch the canvas, it is a defining moment." THE ARTIST ON PAINTING: Do I tell of the energized atmospheric mists that I see in my mind's eye? Do I detail the movement of energy through these states where eternal souls pass by, each carrying a piece of the sum of all knowledge? To do this might give an accurate account of what inspires my work, what I see, feel and live. However, it would not describe the work itself. Painting is the active interaction between these states -- the canvas and myself. To allow this energy to flow through me, the channel, and touch itself to the canvas, constructing its own physical presence within our world is magic. As the energy flows through me, a dance develops where truths beyond self are revealed, coming to life on the surface before me. As the painting finishes itself there I am, the explorer, the first to see the previously unseen. For myself, the Zen of this process, when I am completely immersed in the formation of art, it is at this time that I am most alive. As the caterpillar must give itself to the cocoon so that a butterfly may fly free, I enter the studio.