l'air de rien: Winter hope and Winter blooms

Evening Prayer Brunswick Heads, 3 June 2026, oil on canvas board, 30 X 25 cm

Weather has been friendly enough to get me to the beach on and off for the past two weeks. The blooms have also been accomodating though sometimes short-lived. Here are a few of my favourites.

We are decidedly into winter skies now. The nights are cold but the days are often pleasant with a warm sun. Not bad, and this winter light provides lots of smooth glassy seas which mirror the exotic skies that are fun to work from.

I came across a text about the Italian inventor Nikola Tesla on Facebook today which I like very much. I've never pushed anything into this personal and discreet blog space but I'll make an exception now, because it's something so very close to what I wrote a dear friend just yesterday who is going through a very difficult time. I wrote:

"I know I sound like a loop but one way to change the dark groove in our thinking is to dive deeper into where our gifts lie inside us.

You are a writer, so again, I encourage you to explore your family history through writing and let it take you where it will. I believe in an intelligence within each of us that is also tailor-fit to each of us. Sadly most of us never venture into this domain for a million of reasons. As fully formed men I think we need to act like salmon and find our way home again like we did as tiny sperm cells. Most of us don’t make it but when we’re in a mind-induced dark space we also need to remember those artists, writers, thinkers and simple farmers and scientists, who all found their own pathways in this sometimes unbearably difficult life. They are the heroes of humankind.

Happily I'm a painter, and being that, is something of a distraction from so much of this dark thinking that can underlie my own life. But unknown to so many people out in the world, there are artists of all kinds who, despite all this tragedy lurking everywhere, still attempt to capture an essence of humanity, coaxing it gently from the earth, as if soothing a distressed infant.

Also

Give yourself some joy by getting back to your tennis! Hang in there, this ride has more in store for us."

So then this morning, I came across this text which someone had posted about Nikola Tesla who curiously expanded on what I had written to my friend.

"Since my youth, before bedtime, kneeling on my bare knees, I prayed to God. I prayed that way until I reached the age of 50. From that time onwards, I pray a bit different, but it doesn't matter, the essence is the same." 
N Tesla

Nikola Tesla’s quiet confession opens a window into the inner life of a man whose mind lived far beyond the limits of his century. With an intelligence often estimated near the extraordinary, Tesla carried a sensitivity that made him both visionary and vulnerable. People with deeper perception often see the world without its comforting illusions. They notice the hidden patterns, the contradictions, the cruelty, and the beauty that others overlook. This clarity can create a kind of loneliness; a distance between the thinker and the society that cannot yet understand him.

Tesla began as a mystic who spoke of angels, light, and the invisible forces shaping the universe. But as he grew older, his spirituality changed. He no longer prayed through ritual; he prayed through creation. His devotion shifted from religion to humanity, from dogma to discovery. He believed in a God of beauty; a presence felt in harmony, mathematics, and the silent intelligence of nature.

This journey from mysticism to universal compassion shaped Tesla into a man who lived not for himself but for the future. His inventions, dreams, and sacrifices were offerings to a world he hoped would one day awaken. And though he walked much of his path alone, he carried within him a faith that did not belong to any religion, yet belonged to eternity. 

I'll not add anything more. I’ll let the paintings speak quietly as they often do.