Spread Out

Nothing is anywhere that I can guess on the first try
So I lose myself in wondering where
and the white space strangles ideas,
Use them
QUICK
before they get killed.

"Broken Teeth"
18" x 24"
Sumi and acrylic inks, colored chalk,
charcoal, and paint markers

Learn more about Laura Converse here

Come and See

"Into the Deep"
18" x 24"
Charcoal and chalk

I've underestimated the simple medium of charcoal.  It's likely it will find its way into much of my current work.

Not Enough

It's too much to be nothing, but not enough to be something.
That's where I live:  the in-between, where nobody wants go.

I can hear the sound of my breathing echoing off the walls.

This was made with colored chalk.

See other drawings based on bone structures.

Aftershock

Aftershock
by Michael Rumley-Wells

Flames leaped into the sky
and music roared and burst
and a thousand ideas for making
Life just what we want
crashed through my head
like the waterfall
where we sat quietly and listened
to its roaring; now it roared
inside and I knew
I knew I knew
I had what I wanted
and we would
never go back
there.

The serpent scratched
its ear with its hind leg
and I looked at the fruit
in my bare hand,
and I tried to pick one
out of the thousand.
They were fading now
along with the flames
and I wanted more;
another bite.


See other collaborative pieces.

Glue, Paper, Charcoal, Philippains

Crying Tree
18" x 24"
charcoal, glue, and scrap paper

See more of my mixed media art based on the Bible here.

No Safety Net

rock bottom is bad,
but it's not so bad

remembering it is worse
looking down, seeing it far away
and knowing one could land there with one bad move
knowing one could damage many others with a single slip

rock bottom really isn't so bad

i've met orphans, like this one, who don't seem afraid
even though they have no safety net

or maybe they are afraid
or maybe they think they can't fall any farther down

This is a 15-minute charcoal sketch from a photograph I took in Mombasa.

See more charcoal portraits here.

Controlled chaos: "The Starvation for Home"

The Starvation for Home
3' x 4'
Acrylic on canvas

I really enjoyed making this painting—employing gravity and excessive amounts of messy watered-down paint.  I get a kick out of using destructive forces for constructive means.

I like hands, and I use them in art a lot.  You can see more paintings with them.