Artist Statement
I am a Visionary Artist and Photographer, who is inspired by the things I see around me every day, from the mundane things to the strange and exceptional things. Through these experiences I am guided by my intuition as I let it take control of the creative process and guide me to the finished piece. I let my intuition guide me and then select the materials that seem to be the best at getting the messages across. When people look at my art, I want them to walk away with some sort of emotional reaction or maybe even some recognition deep down to the messages in the work, it could be joy, happiness, nostalgia, peace, or any other feeling. I just want them to feel something and maybe begin to ask themselves questions about why they feel that way.
My Story
I am currently living and working in Woodstock, Georgia. I married my wonderful and very tolerant wife, Shannon, 25 years ago and we have twins in college.
Born and raised in Georgia, I have had art and creativity in my life from the very beginning. My family is filled with artists and creative people. My Grandfather was a commercial artist and was incredible with portrait drawing. I have so many memories of drawing with Pawpaw. Sitting at his light table with him while he worked or at the county homecoming fair where he would just sit and sketch portraits for people while I made my own drawings too. My Dad, who will not admit to being creative, taught me a lot about creativity through his approaches to problem solving, I mean, he did make an 8’ tall Pink Flamingo one time. My mom, who could create any meal from scratch. To my Uncle Steve who introduced me to my lifelong passion for Photography as well as my other Uncles who were Architects and several of my cousins are artists and creatives. And, the tradition lives on, several of my cousins’ children are artists and creatives as well as my own children. This makes me happy and hopeful for the future.
From a very young age I felt I had a deep connection with nature. I was also aware of something else, but I didn’t know what it was called when I was a child. Today, I would call it Intuition, that awareness or knowing of something, but not knowing where you learned it or where the information came from. I often had precognitive dreams as well as what I now know are called Out of Body Experiences or Astral Projection. Oh, and that “Imaginary friend” was not imaginary. And I admit to sprinting past the barn as fast as I could at night when I went between my house and my grandparents’ house. It was because of the dark shadow figure that lurked on the second floor and watched through the upper right window. I didn’t even like being there in the daytime alone. I also had an attraction to the more mysterious and esoteric things too, but it was hard as a child in a small rural town in Georgia to find much esoteric material to read.
But life moved on and I graduated from college, had several jobs and then became a Firefighter. I’m retired now, but I sure do miss the work. My intuition served me well in my career, keeping me safe and helping me work my way up to Captain. Several of my colleagues took notice of my intuition and my ability to be uncannily accurate predicting calls. I recall stopping at a fast-food place one day on the way back to the station from a call and my driver and firefighter got out of the truck to get lunch and asked me if I wanted anything, I said “No, we’re about to get a bad call”. They sort of laughed, shrugged and walked inside. Just as they were about to place their order, the call came out for us. We responded to an overturned vehicle on fire with a person trapped. Fortunately, the person was able to self-extricate from the vehicle.
Around this time, I was also a paranormal investigator for about 10 years. We used scientific equipment as well as Intuitives for our investigations. I had a lot of fascinating and memorable experiences as an investigator with a great team of people. I think many of us proved, at least to ourselves, that there is something far greater to our reality than just what you see in the physical world.
I retired from the Fire Service after nearly 14 years. I made the tough decision to retire early and become a stay-at-home Dad. A few years prior to retirement and before my children being born, I was in significant vehicle accident. It was Thanksgiving morning, 2005, also my dad’s birthday, going around a curve on the way to the Fire Station in my little Ford Ranger, I was met by Ford F150 who had swerved into my lane. I had no chance to escape the crash, and we impacted each other with our driver side headlights. My own brother and sister firefighters came to cut me out of truck and transported me to the Hospital where I stated for over a week. I had multiple broken bones in multiple extremities. Luckily no head, neck or back injuries. I spent 4 months in a wheelchair and have had more surgeries than I care to remember. Fortunately, I have a wonderful wife and parents who cared for me, as well as a great support network of friends. Even though I recovered and was able to go back to full duty, the physical tole the job was taking on a body that was already beat up, was too much and I made the decision to retire early and become a stay-at-home dad.
In case you didn’t know, twins are a lot of work. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I got to be there for all things I would have missed if I had been at work. We were constantly in motion between school and all the after-school activities and sports etc. I went all in and did volunteering in the school, in the PTA and yes, even the dreaded HOA for our neighborhood. I knew I had to keep busy, not sure why or how I knew that at the time, but now I recognize it was self-preservation.
During this whole time, I found different ways to be creative whenever I could find the time. I was constantly using my cameras, but I would also work with other media. I even learned to flyfish and tie my own flies. I have also done a good deal of woodworking as a way to put myself to work in a creative way. In late 2019, I was starting to feel burned out with commercial photography work and decided to start painting again. I set up a studio space in the basement and started to stock it with supplies. Good thing I did that since Covid showed up and I got to spend a lot of time at home. I mostly experimented and was really struggling to find a voice.
Near the end of 2020, the antianxiety/antidepressant medication I had been on for 7 years, decided it was no longer going to work for me. Interestingly, this medication seemed to turn off my intuition and made me feel numb. Although I could still function as an empath and feel other people’s energy and emotions. I now realized the reason I was always on the move and keeping myself busy was because, subconsciously, I didn’t want to deal with the baggage I carried from some of the negative experiences I have had through my life. Some from childhood, some from making poor choices as an adult, things from the Fire Service, and add to that all the other life stressors that everyone encounters like finances, kids, etc. It was too much and I broke because of it. I used to hold a lot of shame for not being able to “keep my shit together” so to speak. But I am incredibly fortunate that I have a supportive wife, children, family, therapist and a couple of really great friends that were there as my support network. It took a long time to feel normal again.
As a part of the process of dealing with all the ugly stuff I carried, I started a meditation practice. This was something new for me and at the start it was very difficult to calm my mind. But after many months, I was meditating for up to an hour. At the same time, I was still playing in the studio and began the practice of meditation prior to art making. I didn’t really intentionally do it, it just happens that my meditation space was also in my studio, so it just made sense. I understand now, that was the universe sending me a sign. It is an interesting exercise to look at my work and see it progress alongside my meditation practice. It helped me dig out of the darkness I was in for a short time. My intuitive sensitivities came back online again in a big way. Much stronger than before and they continue to function like that, if I listen to it. At the end of 2022, I felt like something was coming and I was not sure what, but I had the urge to clean the studio and prep some paper for painting. On January 1st of 2023, I went to the studio to meditate, and I felt like I had received a download, that’s the only way I know to describe it. I immediately began work on three paintings where a new set of symbols seemed to be drawn by my hand, but I didn’t feel like I was in control of it. I didn’t realize it at that moment, but I was channeling a message. From then on, it’s like that, downloads and painting. The messages, downloads, and information I have received in meditation have changed the way I look at the world, and I feel like I am a better person for it. I has taken a long time to reconcile that information with what I was taught as a child.
So now, I listen and share the messages I receive with the hope that it helps others on their journey of life. Over the last few years, I have been giving messages to and doing readings for friends. I have also been learning the use of the Tarot, Oracles, Runes and Divining rods as a way to help add a framework and more structure to the messages and readings I give people. I am now currently open to accepting clients for readings.
So that’s about me, well that’s the short version. I didn’t want to give out too many details. That’s where I’m at now. I’m in a good place with good people in my life, and I get to make art. What could be better than that.
Clint Brownlee 