What is Art?

Are animation cells art in and of themselves, or is it because of their relationship to a film (short or feature) that has been declared a "classic"?

Later that week...

Thursday now, not Next, and still trying to decide whether to continue this blog. Blogs are now, current, and happening, but if you generally try to keep upbeat, and you are having a bad week, all that bile spilling into the blog is a bad thing. Spreading that lousy aura about doesn't actually make it go away, it just exposes more people to it. How long can a I continue on this note before I either tire of it or it just brings me down? I don't know really, and I don't know the answer, and all I can say is that some days a certain bleakness invades my rose tinted glasses, and until I effectively clean them, it just messes things up.

I Don't Like Mondays...

but I don't have quite the same dislike for them as the girl in The Boomtown Rats tune. Here is the result of my painting session yesterday. With luck, some difference can be made in the picture, rather than just the surroundings, since my kitchen is significantly smaller than the space at Pratt.

The Delirium Nocturnum bottle on the counter was enjoyed Saturday, and I still haven't managed to get the bottle to the recycling bin. Glass is always a trip by itself, since it goes in a different bin than the balance of the recycling.

At least I understand why no one reads this blob--I publish when I have nothing to say, and even when I do have something to say, it is a bit dull. Welcome to the everyday world of everyone.

A gray sort of day.

It has been overcast all day. I did call Mom and left a message, since she didn't answer her cell phone. Other parts of the day have been adding gray to the picture on my previous post. If I weren't really tired, I would upload the image, but it is still on my camera. Such is what happens on lazy Sundays. It is always surprising how much focused creation, such as painting or drawing, and I would guess writing as well, can tire a person--mentally and physically. I am sure some things get easier with practice, and the tired feeling takes longer to reach, but that isn't me right now.

Some work on a Saturday

As poor a reproduction it might be, it isn't bad for only 8 weeks of painting instruction. I now have many more weeks of working on it left, using only a photo of the setting. I don't know how much easier that will make it, but I have a lot more to do with the painting, so I hope to manage it without messing up my good start. Today I worked on this (only added another layer of dark to the left side on this painting) and two others that are partially done in the house. The obvious work left on this one includes her face and blouse, with me choosing not to mess too much on the background, though I will do some work on it. Today is one of those typical spring sorts of days with a reasonable temperature and an overcast sky, so I haven't missed too much by being indoors. I still have some errands to take care of, going to the grocery and stuff like that, so I don't know if I will go back into my kitchen studio later today and mess around any more. Other projects are fermenting, but I haven't taken action on them yet, and I am trying to decide if I can actually do three art classes in a single week for a couple of weeks, as there are three that interest me. I am wondering if I am pushing too hard for something with no obvious reward. If so, I have a tendency to wash my hands of it for a bit, though I don't really want to take another 15 year break from trying to interpret the world around me visually, but I also don't want to set my hopes up high, only to have them meet someones concept of reality. Again, I hit the question of why am I pursuing art.

One down, many more to go.

I finished Rene Daumal's "You've Always Been Wrong" today. Overall, it was an interesting book, though I don't know if he actually says much new. Time has a way of repeating itself, and as I finished this book, Thoreau's well-worn quote, "the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation" or something very similar came to mind. Daumal didn't live long enough to see how wrong communism as implemented in Russia went, nor how disastrous it was in the lives of the proletariat everywhere it was implemented. While he did mention that the powers that lead a revolution also put in place safeguards to keep them in power, why he doesn't foresee this with Marxism escapes me. What I can agree with him about is that it is the duty of every man, whether artist, thinker, writer, or farmer to constantly be awake, and try to awaken his fellow man. If everyone shrugs the responsibilities of society, then problems will arise, and stifling new government which can maintain order will rise, hence the Taliban in Afghanistan and any number of other repressive regimes through the ages. Balancing this wakefulness with some sort of social order, where the masses feel secure, is the trick, and what may be the most effective way to do this is by keeping those in power in power for a limited duration, but even that isn't working very well if you look at the government in the United States (and the abuses of power in the current elected administration). A wake-up call of sorts happened in the last elections, but in a two party state, it will only last 4-6 years, and then reverse itself--such is our cycle of waking and sleeping. People wonder about voter apathy, and I think I just explained why it exists, as it seems that regardless of which party is in power, most things don't change. That is what there is to work with here, and from that basis, there may still be room to work within the system, as Jefferson probably wouldn't agree with replacing it just yet.

An apartment filled with stuff,

though not the normal kind of stuff, as I have at least 3 unfinished painting, a handful of drawings (mostly bad), and some charcoal sketches to boot. All my classes have wrapped up, and now I have to decide what to pursue next. I have 2-3 weeks to decide on which classes to take this summer, as I haven't made a solid decision yet. From what I can tell, I need to draw and paint weekly if I want to maintain and possibly improve my skills. That sucks a bunch of time right there, and since I am considering a printmaking class, there is another evening or two busy. At least if I choose representational images for printmaking, I can stay in the drawing vein there, though it will be with a different collection of tools, since you don't extensively use graphite, oil paints, or charcoal in many of the processes past the under-drawing. Oh well...lots to think about, in addition, I could take a class in using the letter press, which sounds interesting, but hinges as much on the technical as the artistic.

Of course, I could always buy a couch & television and forget about working on art, as I would have mindless distraction all the time. (This option would be the one that would make people think me more normal.)

Lovely Monday

Thanks to Dave, I have a new distraction, which is Library Thing (on the sidebar, if you are curious). Now, instead of the numerous things I might feel that I need to do, I can procrastinate very effectively, at least until I exhaust my library, then I just need to find a new exercise in procrastination. I shouldn't blame it all on him, but it is one of those things that I don't need, being just compulsive and anal enough to want to upload all the information I can. Of course, voluntarily surrendering the information on a public database makes it that much easier for our own version of the Securitate to search out dissenters, and flag us appropriately for airline travel bans. [Actually, you don't even have to give a name or email address, so it isn't that easy to track who is actually possessing, and hopefully reading, what.]

Today was gorgeous, which is only natural on a Monday. The drawing today was from a drawing class where the model walked out as she had previously had a disagreement with our substitute drawing teacher and hadn't the desire to work with him again, so we tried portraits rather than figures, since one of his other students, who had come to sit in during the figure drawing, graciously volunteered to model. Not really very good, but it was the first attempt. Sometime in the next week or so, I will try and take some pictures of some of my more successful, and un-erased, gesture drawings from my weekend workshop.

A long Saturday...

I wish I could feel as joyous as the metal dancers seem, even when fenced in, but today I am a bit tired. Still recovering from the "icks," I had an all day drawing workshop that will continue into tomorrow. Today we spent doing gesture drawings, but not exactly of a ridiculous sort, such as 5 seconds, barely long enough to do a line, though some were as short as 30. Working as we are in charcoal, today was spent with the vine variety, even the most promising beginnings, and there were several which I would have been pleased to continue working on, were wiped away with the chamois to make another on its dusty remains. Though I doubt a goal of the course is to make one remember how fleeting a "thing" can be, it is one side effect. From 9:30 to 4:30 is a long time to be working on drawing, but I can't say it has been a wasted effort, as I am enjoying it, and seeing progress in how things progress. With luck, this won't totally mess me up for class on Tuesday, but I think in the end it will be a nice complement. Luckily, we are working a bit with some of the same techniques, such as enveloping, used in my other class. About it for now, time to finish my Red Menace and have something for dinner.

Where to next?

The week is almost through, and I still feel icky--which is the best word I can come up with right now to describe how I feel.

Also in today's post, you can see a full, non-angular, non-kitchenette view of the painting I was working on a few posts ago. I am unsure if I will fiddle with it any more, but I probably won't since I am putting other projects on my plate. Today I picked up some small canvasses at the art store, so I will see if I have any luck working in smaller size (currently, my canvas size has been limited to 16"x20").

Next really is one of those things I am worrying about, though I don't know how many times I get told not to plan the future. It isn't the distant future I am planning, just the next few years. I promise not to go soviet and do it in five year increments, but I really do think, if I intend to survive the drudgery of corporate America, then I need a plan. My back-up plan, or one which frequently pops into my head as one, is to go abroad again and teach English, but even that will require preparations.

On another note, I finally managed to get McSweeney's #22, and have read the first few stories based on Fitzgerald's ideas. Doing things in an inappropriately linear fashion, I have been reading in sequence, meaning I will probably never get to the poetry or Oulipoean pieces.

Time to go make more tea--I don't know if it is helping, but it is nice to sip, since there is a bit of chill in the air.

For lack of a better title...Monday

Here is my drawing from last week's class, the drawing I have been most pleased with since beginning the class back in January. Time and practice does allow one to get better, and while there are things that could have been done better, I am still pleased with it, though unsure if I will "do" anything with it.

Today was a normal Monday, with all the normal Monday-beginning-of-the-work-week sorts of things. I do hope the scratchiness in my throat isn't a cold coming on, but since the weather is changing, towards the warmer, sunnier sort, it would only make sense. Everyone has some particular curse, and mine seems to be getting sick during the seasonal change from Spring to Summer. Lots of sleep, herbal tea, and vitamins? I don't know, though some of that will likely come into play. More important for me is getting to my classes this week, as with only two more drawing classes, and two more painting classes until late June, I look forward to whatever I can get from them. Actually, in painting this week we start a two class figure painting. All I can really say is that I am ever so glad to have taken all these weeks of drawing, sometimes getting better, and sometimes wondering what on earth I was thinking--with luck, that practice will carry me a little during the painting process.

Speaking of painting, I need to go clean my brushes.

It is Sunday...

and I don't feel like the horse in the picture, but Dave wanted something stunning, and this is what I came up with--hopefully it will work for him. Over at his blog, there is a comment on another blog about religion. And at Dave's behest, I am throwing out my two cents which I mentioned to him in a phone call yesterday, so I have probably forgotten the best of it. Of the religion and hollow phrases, I suggested that it is much more common in Protestant faiths than in the Orthodox. My reasoning was that the Orthodox, much more so than the Catholic, is still steeped in ritual, and the fact these phrases are used in conjunction with age-old ritual perpetually renews them. Since most Protestant faiths tossed out ritual when they stopped taking orders from Rome, they lost the mystery of faith which is still found in Catholic and Orthodox services. The primary purpose of many Protestant services seems to be a harangue, rather than a communing with God (or the spirit). The current world has a different set of pains, or perhaps the same pains with different names, than existed 500 years ago, but a connection with the spiritual is still necessary for faith to thrive. My current opinion of many Evangelical sects is they thrive by telling people how awful those unlike them (or those they don't understand) are, and I find it irritating, and I find that it colors my whole opinion of religion.

I guess that is it for now, since I am sure some laundry will be ready for folding sometime soon.

Not rainy, yet. (a second attempt)

I just lost a really good posting. Nothing like hitting preview, wanting to change something, hitting "recover post" and losing just about everything. Every relationship is fraught with peril, but I think our relationship with electronic media is perhaps more perilous than many others.

This is the picture of my 2nd oil class painting, when my color mixing was proving a disaster, and the instructor eventually told me no to worry about it.

What was really nice in the previous post, which I probably can't recreate here, were some thoughts about the artist's place in society and the relevance of art in today's world. Art today is much more a commodity, and I am sure somewhere someone is trying to create an "art futures" market, which will allow people to bet which artists will appreciate and which will depreciate. I would think the only problem would be with living artists, as they still have the power to surprise and perhaps soil their reputations. This is no where near where the other thoughts were, as they were more internal musings about past reactions, like my aversion to "publish or perish" which was one reason I didn't ever go for an advanced degree. The idea that someone has to like my work enough to publish it in order for me to keep a job, just seemed a bit wrong, though, in truth, I am now realizing it isn't much difference than working any job, if they boss doesn't like what you do, then you won't have much of a future at your job. Perhaps because all my job losses were of the shut the facility or company down, where it was everyone out, it never really occurred to me. I also touched on the whether I felt I could express myself effectively with art. This is where I think all my fears lie, in the fact that at some point, someone is going to judge me, and I think just about everyone dislikes being judged, as critics are not always very nice (just think of Dorothy Parker, if you need something a little beyond today's talent show judges). I think maybe it is just the haze of history, but artists (poets & painters) seemed to influence the world's thoughts from about from the late 19th century through WWII, though aside from major public art (read architecture) and art co-opted by advertising (or is it vice versa with Pop Art), there doesn't seem much in the way of an -ism for the 21st century--not that -isms are required. An artist today can draw from any historic style, but has everything been played out? War obviously hasn't been played out, but aside from bumper stickers, little pro/con seems to be making its way into art. Have television and cinema usurped the early twentieth century place of art, where it supported or railed against what was going on in the world? Have we become so civilized that art no longer has a place to be provocative? When I see new stuff, while I might like it, it doesn't really provoke, rather it looks designed to match the sofa.

One other thing mentioned in my lost post was how easy it was to be distracted in this electronically connected age. If I want to continue working toward creating art, I need to focus on it, and not on everything else. Unlike Dave, I am not in the position to leave my job and head back to graduate school, nor do I have a portfolio which would grant me acceptance right now, so I need to work on the more grounded things, like technique, and at the same time exploring new media to work in, as without the exploration, I will always get distracted by something I haven't tried.

All that said and done, I really hope to keep focused on creating, whether in pencil, paint, or with words. There is a tradition of artists also being writers. I like to write, as it helps me clear my head and toss thoughts out, but I find myself less than open with this electronic journal, and I am likely to keep it that way. Some thoughts exist for one to ponder, and work well for conversation or journals, but there is too little two-way communication in this medium for those thoughts. Too many times have I been misinterpreted in e-mail for me to anxious to be misinterpreted in a blog.

With creation, the other thing I am going to try to focus on is getting away, as the news here is strikingly insular, and without a perspective than transcends one nation, there is little one can say to man.

Kitchen as Studio (but not for food)

After not going to my oil painting class for two consecutive weeks, I decided it was awfully stupid of me to try and learn new skills and not have anyplace to practice, so it was time to improvise a place to paint. Mind you, I have off-white carpet in the rest of the house, which limits the options of where I can put this particular skill set to use. (Note to self: become a writer and you can use the table or any place stable enough to write.) Since I knew that last week the class was going to work on copying a master, I chose a painting I liked, by Koloman Moser if you want to know, and went to work. Actually, first I had to clean up the kitchen enough to use it for a painting space. It worked OK, though I couldn't really step back from the painting, or I would have needed to climb into the sink or open and clean out the refrigerator. The above is about the 2 hr mark or so. You can see the book I am working out propped open on the stove, and I don't see the image posted in the likely places online, so that is the best you are going to get, since I am tired.

One thing that I found serendipitously while at the art supply store this morning buying the paper palette, is what my brushes are resting on. In the section for Chinese calligraphy there were these ceramic brush holders, and I figured if they are good enough for calligraphy, then they are certainly good enough of painting, as I hadn't figured out what to do with all the brushes as I switched colors, but didn't want to clean the brush in case I went back to that color. It was quite handy and prevented a potential disaster.

While I prevented one potential disaster, I have another on my hands, which is where do I put an oil painting to dry. I untaped it from the board so I could touch up the corners, but oil paint doesn't dry overnight, so I have to find a place for this thing in the meantime. Currently it is taking up counter space, but tonight's dinner was a chicken burrito from the new Mexican food stand around the corner, so it isn't likely to pose a problem until I need the kitchen for something other than coffee.

Here is the finished (at least for now) product:

Nothing really...

Before my break stretched weeks, again, I thought I would update here, though I don't have much to say. Work is devolving into so much hierarchical absurdity, that I feel it necessary to try and determine my place there anew every week, or even worse, with every new change in procedure. I guess that is the way things are, though I have to say, this is really the first time I have ever had to really wonder why I was there. (I should actually clarify that, to say the first time in a permanent position, as I have had the feeling while working a temp job whose only end was my leaving it.)

Drawing class this week was not full figure, and, while the cause wasn't nearly as bizarre as the situation last week (the model forgot to put the class in the calendar, and was in the middle of another gig), we did get to spend some time trying to draw hands--or as Darcy put it, draw fingers that don't look like hot dogs (he is actually paraphrasing a comment by the instructor). I guess that is the reason for the lovely picture of my discontinued area rug from Ikea. I doubt the pattern is being discontinued, but I think they probably just no longer buying from Persia.

That is it. Nothing spectacular. No fun. Just a week at work.

Sunday Morning & Laundry

It is just another weekend, and this Sunday, aside from coffee, laundry was on the list, at least a load of whites, which is currently in the dryer, so I have made progress on it, rather than just let it sort of loom like the boogieman as an object of procrastination.

I can't tell if today will be nice or not, as there is a bit of an overcast pall to the sky, but also a bit of blue.

Yesterday was sort of a mess with my motivation level for anything at an absolute nadir. Eventually, I got around to writing some postcards, since I seem to have way to many laying about for my own good--same goes for postage, and only a month to use it all before they raise the price again. I am sure I should stop using snail mail at some point, but I find the tactile process of writing to be enjoyable, and I also enjoy receiving letters & postcards and reading what it is they have to say. If someone takes the time to drop me a postcard while on vacation, I know they are thinking about me at least, though some of the thought is probably how unlucky I am not to be there. It is odd, I was reading about a product on Amazon, and someone mentioned that they trade postcards with people through the mail. I don't know why I found it all that odd, though I am sure it has something to do with no one really writing, except of course Dave, who regularly sends me postcards (and letters). Anyway, yesterday produced a half dozen or so postcards to various people, and even a short letter, so while motivation was hard to come by most of the day, something was accomplished by the end. Now all I have to do is go to the post office and find out how much it will cost for my postcards to Romania.

Of Tulips & Tree-Stumps

As Dave's blog so pointedly reminded me, it is spring, and that means some sort of flower picture, preferably tulips or daffodils, though the latter are more of a "spring is around the corner" flower. The building next to mine has these precariously planted tulips, which I hope make it through the season, but as their plot of ground is obviously not free from traffic, it is hard to know.

It is really only now clearing up, at 6:40 p.m., and the rest of the day has been overcast with a bit of stuttering rain. In celebration of such a lousy day for being outside, I did some doodling with gouache. I tend to doodle, normally just sort of abstract stuff with a ball point at work, starting with shapes and connecting and filling them in and all sorts of stuff. I don't know if I have any at home, but I will try to bring something home and scan it, so my explanation isn't quite so odd. The result of my doodling with gouache, which I went out and bought today as a cheaper and less messy way to play with color than trying to break out the oils in an apartment with off-white carpet, is here:
It looks to me like a doodle, or perhaps a crazed preacher with special effects for the sermon about fire and brimstone he is reciting. Though I guess if it is going to be that, I should add some little round heads on the left, looking rapturous.

Happy Holy Weekend!

Good Friday parking shortage

Earlier this evening I drove over to the Fred Meyer, and wondered about all the cars parked everywhere. As I drove by the Mars Hill Church, I remembered it was Good Friday, and all those cars were for the church in the former hardware store. Not only were they in almost every parking space on the street, but several other lots were filled with them as well. At least this church's patrons try to be good neighbors, as a sign in front of the closed for the evening Java Jahn's coffee shop said no church parking, and there was one space open, even though there was no one likely to use it.

It's Here!

I am sure this is the post everyone has been waiting for--a picture of my first oil painting. Perhaps it is a bit underwhelming, but it is a first, and the project was to do it using a gray scale, and the fact that everything was white only made this easier. Currently, I am working on a two class painting, meaning something like 8 or so hours of work on it, and I am hoping it will turn out better than this one, and the one that followed it, surely to be posted later.

Today, the weather was stunning and I was at work, which of course is the way things go. After work, I took a nap, and took pictures of my painting outside on my balcony, with plenty of natural light, so I wouldn't get the glare from the flash, as I did the first time I tried taking pictures of this oil painting.

Hate to say it, but that is about it for now. I am enjoying my weekly bouts with creativity and representational art. I can't say that abstract is for me, but I can say sometimes the challenge is fulfilling and others just frustrating--more practice is probably called for.

Needs work

Obviously, I need to keep this up on a more regular basis if I really want comments of any sort. Comments are one of those things that are nice to read because it means someone is reading your work, whether they like or dislike it.