I am a Northwest native, and my art reflects two very different streams of influence here, the Northwest Mystics and the digital revolution. Seattle is where Microsoft was born, and it is also the home of painters such as Morris Graves and Mark Tobey. These artists started the Northwest Mystic school of painting, incorporating the contemplative traditions of Asian art with the improvisations of American jazz.

In my art I am deeply influenced by Asian aesthetics. I have spent much of my life as a professional calligrapher. My training in Western letterforms has been enriched by years of study in Buddhist philosophy, T’ai Chi and Chinese and Japanese ink painting, which I incorporate in my explorations of surface and mark making.

In my daily life contemplation and meditation are the touchstone. My dream studio, recently built, overlooks a garden and pond designed to create refuge in the heart of a noisy urban world. In my art I move between botanical themes inspired by my garden and pieces focused on architecture and the raw urban life of the street. In these different worlds I find the same overarching theme of impermanence and the basic dilemma of life: how to have passion for the present moment when in any second it can change into something else.

Although I began my career as an analog artist I have been completely won over to the new digital technologies. I grew up as a child "living in Narnia," with fairy tales as my bible. I often feel as an adult that a wizard appeared one day and said, "Here is the key to the wardrobe, step through the door and you can live in Narnia forever." And this would be, yes, Photoshop. Pure magic, pure jazz, the tool of improvisation that allows an artist to create in a completely new, incandescent way of seeing. I use my tools with subtlety, with quiet magic, to bring the physical world and the world of the unseen together. I hope to bring you with me through the door, so that you can share my glimpse of what's on the other side.

In the making of my work I use photography, digital composition, printmaking, mixed media and collage, shifting media as needed to suit my subject matter. The specific media of my pieces are described in more detail in each listing.

To read more about my process and my studio please visit me at my website http://www.iskrafineart.com

I currently show my work at Seattle Art Museum Gallery, (SAM Gallery.)