Yes Paintings
To help me deal with my colitis, and to help me understand what had happened to me and what I decided to do with my life (undergoing surgery), I turned to my creative side. I can express my thoughts through multiple creative channels but the art of painting was the best mode of expression for this situation in life.
All of these paintings were painted between September and October 2008. Part of this time I was recovering from surgery, hence I was able to get so many done. But more than that, I was gripped by an idea and I needed to capture this idea in as many ways possible.
So I present to you The Yes Paintings. Hopefully they bring you enjoyment and help you think about your life through the lens of colitis.
The Meaning of the Yes Paintings. I believe that everybody in life is presented with a Question. Who asks it? It doesn’t matter. Society, nature, God, ourselves. And what is the Question? That doesn’t matter either. The Question cannot be fully expressed in words, but for me, the Question is similar to the questions, “Do you want to accept?” “Do you want to participate?” “What will you do?” But those three questions and all like them don’t quite get at what the Question is.
So while the Question and the Asker may not be immediately clear, the Answer is quite clear. There are really only two possibilities: Yes and No. If you say Yes you embrace the Question and all the ramifications that come with it. But if you say anything less than Yes, you reject the Question, either because you don’t understand it or you don’t want to accept what it will mean to say Yes to the Question.
All these paintings deal with the Question. The Question cannot be grasped by words alone, as images and symbols point beyond themselves to the Question.
And what has been the biggest factor in the Question that was asked of me? My colitis, which came out of nowhere and crippled me for a time. My colitis was part of the Question. And while I didn’t understand fully what was being asked of me, I knew what the answer was.
Yes.
The Tree
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 11″ by 14″
The Island and the Storm
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 8″ by 10″ each
*SOLD!*
Get Out of the Water
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 16″ by 20″
The Mountain
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 16″ by 20″
The Cold
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 16″ by 20″
Warped
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 11″ by 14″
The Wave
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 16″ by 20″
Flight
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 16″ by 20″
*SOLD!*
The Second Tree
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 16″ by 20″
*SOLD!*
*Click on any image to see it in higher resolution.
**I won’t pretend to be a great artist but if anybody wants to help support this site any of these paintings are available for sale. Just email me and we can decide on a price and go from there.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Hey Dennis. It’s Jimmy from Burbank again. I emailed a little time ago about how your Vlog has been a great source of inspiration to me. I had Toxic MegaColon and have been with an Illeostomy since March of Last year. I go in for Stage 2/J-Pouch Creation in March and your videos have been huge in my thinking positive about going through with it. It’s great to see you are an artist as well. I am an animation artist here in Burbank and I really think it’s great work you’ve done. Happy 2009 and Thanks alot for sharing.
Jimmy
[...] Paintings blog entry is up on C3Life.com. In this entry I describe the most pivotal painting from Yes Paintings: Series I. I wasn’t too sure what I was doing when I painted this picture, but it influenced the entire [...]