Random thoughts on International Affairs

For whatever reasons, perhaps because of the book on Picasso I am reading, or perhaps because I just finished the last Harry Potter novel, some thoughts have come to mind about world affairs:

Will China's surge in demand for natural resources lead to a mending of fences with Russia, allowing Russia to play China against Europe for resources?  Russia has not proven itself unwilling to use this card.

How many more, Iraqis & Americans, will die before something is really done there?  (The same holds true for Afghanistan too, but from what I have read, it seems the Afghans are at least trying to help restore order, though if we keep bombing our friends, that may end as well.)

How long will Pakistan hold out against the "Islamists"?  Musharraf's friendly dictatorship just doesn't seem all that stable.

While not really a blip on anyone's radar, how long will the poorest classes in India refrain from revolution, causing turmoil there as well?  If something happens in Pakistan, will the new regime look to Kashmir to bolster their strength (not wanting to give up what they consider theirs).

Africa & South America are strangely off this list for now, but Chavez is causing a right fit in his part of the latter, especially amongst the neighbors, the poorest of which probably hear him and think how nice it will be to have natural resource revenues split amongst them all.  To some degree, part of the profits in such things do belong to all, and probably more than any country really taxes the companies involved.

There was something I saw somewhere, me and my lousy documentation, about young Israelis not being keen on staying in Israel, but without the article to refer to, that will remain to speculation, and to the speculation on what will happen there if a voluntary exodus occurs (which I don't think is mentioned in the Bible).

An entry because it is something to do.

Sundays are weird sorts of days sometimes.  Today was one for me.  I wasn't terribly up for anything, and spent the day accordingly, doing a bit of this and a bit of that.  While surfing the web, I came across a few blogs which featured the "farewell for now" message.  I guess I find it kind of interesting to post that sort of message, though I guess if I had any regular readers, it wouldn't seem so odd--letting people know there is no reason to continue checking on a regular basis is good manners.  (Manners on the Internet? Maybe that is why it seems an odd blog topic?) 

Weekend is over...again...so quickly

At the OK OK Gallery, there is a show by Gregory Euclide, and I stopped in today, as I try to monthly, just to see what was there.  Some big stuff, and then there were these.  It is as if someone decided to cut up packing bubbles and glue them over quarter-sized watercolors.  The result was then mounted to a nail which had been hammered into the gallery wall.  The upper double row on the postcard show what they looked like, but there is really nothing to indicate the look of abject horror on the staff's face when I suggested popping the bubbles.  This, apparently, is not interactive art, though in looking at it, I was reminded of a couple of things.  When I was a kid, back then, there we these decorative pieces which consisted of a couple of colors of sand sandwiched in between some plastic, as you turned it, the sand would change patterns.  His pictures, inexplicably, reminded me of those sand patters.  They also seemed too precious, but that is strictly an opinion.

Tuesday...only Tuesday...

Here I am wishing it were some other day of the week, I don't know if it is because of the temperature (upper 80's-lower 90's), or some other reason.  I added a handful of books to my Librarything, but haven't otherwise done much today, aside from work of course.

If I ever decided to do a series of silk screens, it did occur to me that the Forbidden City would be a fun image.  For the record though, the Starbuck's which is there, is really unobtrusive--even more so when you you consider the shop it is in would remain a retail knick-knack establishment if Starbuck's were forced to close, since it takes up less than half the space in that souvenir-coffee shop corner.

Progression...

Here is what it looks like now:

And here is what it looked like on July 4th when it was originally painted:

Personally, I like the current version better, though there is still some work to do on the chin.  I am pleased the hair no longer resembles some sort of bad Afro, while it still isn't textured correctly, at least it is a major improvement.

The work week has been a bit odd, with the holiday in the middle and everything.  I haven't really done much, though went out for a few beers, and while I highly recommend the Lock and Keel's Ranch-Style Quesadilla (BBQ Chicken), all I can say for their version of a french dip is to politely request a bit less salt in the au jus, as it was promising that point aside.

Finished...I think

Last night I added a few more touches to this picture, and I think I might call it finished.  I don't know that I consider it very good, but for a painting at the end of a single oil painting class I will consider it passable, as I do think it could have turned out much worse.  Likely, it won't ever make it into a portfolio, at least not without further tweaking.

I also think my study in purple and orange is going to get a major revision, but I still have work to do on what I need to add.  Of course, a picture will arrive, hopefully better than the one posted, when the process is complete.

I am trying to decide what to do on my day off tomorrow, though I believe my decision will probably include paint, nothing is yet in stone there.

Sunday in the Kitchen

Yesterday, I did a bit of touch-up on this painting which I did mostly last weekend, but one of my hills was too pointy for my liking.  I still can't say for sure that I like it and that it is done, but it is a nice experiment.  I had been thinking about doing some color variations on the work by Moser that I copied earlier this year, but not much has come of it.  This is one of the color combinations I was thinking about, though I do think a bit larger scale would do them justice, as from the books in the background, this is a small painting.

Today, fighting against the beautiful weather and the normal Sunday blahs, I did manage to get to work on my portrait of a woman sitting.  I think there was some improvement, but I am not sure if I managed to get it where I want to call it finished.  

Apologies about the glare on both pictures, but I wasn't in the mood to fuss with lighting today, and since the portrait is still very not dry, I would rather not take the chance of messing it up.

One nice thing about today though, is that it was another day where I was so absorbed in painting I didn't realize the time passing, being quite shocked when "The Seven Deadly Sins" wrapped up.  I hadn't really thought about the next music selection, so if I wanted music, I needed to either turn the radio on, or find to play, both required me to put my brushes down.