April 24, 2008

Well today's post is going to be short and sweet as I am battling a cold and do not have much energy for thinking and writing any thoughts. There are many days of the year that I am unable to paint (today being one of those days). Usually after finishing two or three paintings I take a small break to catch up on life responsibilities, try to earn some non-art income and move some dust around the house. Right before I start a new painting after such a break, I'll do a thorough cleaning of my studio. Two days ago it rained all day and I decided it was a perfect day to set the studio right. Besides the usual empty paint jars and hardened brushes I found gold paint from Japan, silk screen ink and some old rough drawings. It was interesting to uncover these items as it caused me to wonder where my mind was at when I used these supplies and/or drew these drawings and how I have evolved or changed since them.

April 23, 2008

In this post I would like to explain about some of the symbolism in the top left quadrant of the painting titled. "Untitled" At the time of painting this section I was helping a friend spackle an large room that he had just attached to his home. The woman below him is his wife who has her arms folded as if to say "What are you up to?" Between the man on the scaffolding and the woman with crossed arms is a window which shows my backyard which is visible in my painting studio. The eye over the roof and the lips represent paranoid. The person who is under the lamp is my daughter who was about to undergo heart surgery. At the time I imagined after her surgery she would lay outside on a blanket and lay under the sun to heal. The woman who is falling from the sky is a friend who's live was upside down. Lastly the pink triangle with the rainbow is a combination of the triangle from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, which I was listening to at the time and the traditional symbol that is used by gays.

April 22, 2008

I have been thinking about doing an Earth Day post today for the past week or so. As an environmental, vegan, animal rights, localvore, back-to-nature person this day is a celebration of many things that I believe in. Normally for me Earth Day is spent either gardening, cleaning a local state park, or attending Penn State's Earth Day celebration. However.....
Today was the most un-Earth Day I have spent in a long long time.
My day was spent accompanying my friend while he fished (while I photographed the process), me and my daughter watched the unloading of the Ringling Brother's circus train, and I drove more than I normally do in an entire week. My dinner was packaged cereal with a banana and I bought meat to feed my dog and two cats. Although this was truly a non-Earth Day experience I did have very Earth Day thoughts. First while my friend was fishing (no fish were caught) I noticed a yellow flower that I have not seen before. While my daughter and I waited two hours for the circus train to unload, we sat outside on a beautiful sunny day discussing how uncomfortable the elephants must be in the train cars as the train cars were obviously too small for the elephants to stand. We imagined the elephants chained down in the cars and how uncomfortable and cruel that was. Although I drove more than normal, I took my daughter's VW bug which is considerable more fuel efficient than my older Volvo x-country. Yes I ate a packaged food but it was organic cereal with a organic banana and organic soy milk. Tomorrow I will be back to making much of my food from basic organic vegetables and grains, will walk in the woods with my dog, cultivate my organic garden and try not to use the car. But every day can't be perfect. This earth day I did not follow my prescribed lifestyle of living simple and with minimal impact. Some days this just can't be done. Instead today as I did things I normally don't I thought about the impact my decisions have on the planet as well as its inhabitants human and non human and how a single person can minimize a negative effect even when things do not going as planned.

April 21, 2008

In 2002 I created a piece which I never named more than "Untitled". The reason for my un-naming of this painting was that it never really had one focus that I could cull into a title. It's basically a collection of small happenings and back stories of a personal nature. There was no specific meaning to the overall work. I started this painting almost a year before completion. Divide the canvas into four quant-rants-the upper right side was all that was completed for a year until I decided to go back and finish. I can't remember why it was left undone. I don't usually work in this manner but I had a middle school daughter and was reconstructing my house so I suppose those reasons played into it's non completion in 2001.

APRIL 20, 2008

Today would have been a perfect day for painting as it was raining and gardening chores have to be put on hiatus but alas no canvas and most likely I need to purchase a few more paints and brushes to get started. As I often do every three or so paintings I cleaned the studio. Now my studio is not by any means large (9' x 10') but you won't hear many complaints from me as I used to have a corner of my toolroom as a painting studio. I build this mini addition to my house two years ago and have yet to put up inside walls or celling. There is however insulation, electricity, heat and windows, with a near by source for water so I am delighted. Today as I dusted and vacumed I found many supplies I had forgotten about and reviewed some paintings I had not looked at since their completion. One of the paintings was "untitled". "Untitled" has lots of mini stories and I thought it could be interesting to start a thread in my next post about the symbolisms and back stories of this painting.

April 19, 2008

I want to go back to the thread I had going a few days ago concerning creating controversial art. When I was a kid my father always accused me of doing things differently just to be different. Actually this wasn't the case as I did things my way which may have been different from the way most people approach things. Although I am well aware that some of my pieces will be controversial that is not the motivating factor in creating them. When I'm developing a new piece I open myself to find something universal that I want to comment on. In one piece "The Lesbian Amish" I was imagining what life would be like for an Amish woman living with her lesbianism repressed. Many people who viewed this piece found it offensive as I was mocking the Amish lifestyle when in fact I was only comparing living in the closet for both Amish and non Amish persons.

April 18, 2008

So today I decide to stretch a canvas and start my next painting "Jackson's Trip to Heaven". Recently I have been painting 48" x 48" as I like this size; it's not too cumbersome to tote around and fits perfectly on the diagonal in the back of my Volvo X-country. Unfortunately once it's framed it will not fit and I have to travel with the painting tied on the roof rack above the car. As far as painting it is a comfortable size for me as I can both stand or sit while painting and it is not too big for my easel to handle. I had a set of stretchers ready, ordered from Upper Canada Stretchers, but found I only had small pieces of canvas left. I have been using a hemp/organic cotton canvas that I order on line from Near Sea Naturals. It has a nice texture and the combination of hemp and cotton makes a strong fabric with a nice hand.