In the Moment

The problem with non artists is that they have a very illogically logical sense of the artist's process. Case in point for which I wish that I had a set of photos: text tulip watercolours. I did a set of 4 watercolours. Red red tulips wrapped in rice paper printed with a made up but realistic looking foreign script. I did throw in a few arabic phrases and Shalom in Hebrew but I was really going for something in an asian hand rather than asian block print. I only liked two of them. But as a whole they really worked.
The process here was as interesting to me as those in the previous post. The script flowed from my hands pretty easily. The tulips were more difficult. I used fresh flowers as my model so that I could get a good 360 degree view and understand what I was seeing. This is sooooo much better than working from a photograph, especially when working with a transparent medium like watercolors. So I had one portrait that gave me fits. And I should have stopped when I got mad. (Ego) But I forced the issue, did another layer of red glaze and flattened out the cup of the tulip. Grrrrrrrr. But again, as a whole, the set would pass inspection. My sister saw them and fell in love.
So she actually bought them (to help me pay for my car that month) after I put them in black frames. When she got home to Alaska, she showed them to a friend who has a gallery. They discussed making prints. But... AK is a bit light on those kinds of resources. So sister calls me and says paint more of them. What? Paint more of them? Her logic was that if I could do it once, I can do it again.
It isn't bad logic. But let me tell you why it is faulty logic and coincidently why art feeds the soul. Art is not Math. You can not aply a formulaic "if/then" statement (sorry Charlie) to recreating a piece of artwork like you can duplicate a building. The reason being is that even Fibonnacci cannot account for the infinitesimal nuances in each nano second of each minute from one session to the next to recreate a piece of artwork exactly as it is seen. Even the artist cannot do this despite the fact that it looks as though all the tools: artist, substrate, medium, temperature, humidity, lighting (natural and artificial), are the same. The thing that is different is the thing that actually makes the artwork work for the buyer. That is the moment in which it is made.
The moments in which the art is created are directly entagled with the final product. A moment today is never going to be identical to another moment. Amount and quality of sleep, the health of the body, the fluidity in the muscles, strength of the skeletal structure, emotions in those moments, quality of the artist's relationship to the Muse/Creator/God, mood that influences a music selection... it is all entangled (Charlie can 'splain it) with the artwork. I could never have duplicated the work itslef. I could have repeated the concept. But even then it would have been a shallow relfection of itself because of the very thing I remember most about the experience of painting those tulip portraits.
I was in the zone. My vision, that which is beyond visibility, was accute enough to see the subtlties with the paint flow in relationship to the face the model presented. I felt like the ink that created the "words" was an extention of me... my blood and soul said something in that made up language that I have not felt since. I truly think that is what my sister resonnated with. Whatever I felt and said outloud from my subconsciousness was what she was thinking/feeling/needed to hear in hers. Like anything else I have journaled, once it is written down and out of me it is gone and I am not responsible for keeping it anymore. So it isn't there. That's why its good to journal anger. It is released from your body but trapped on a page where it is inocuous... I'm just saying. I do not have that to tap into any more. Compound that with the fact that they weren't conscious thoughts and WHAMO!... nothing.
If I could look at them again, I could feel those moments again: an overwhelming sense of peace and rightness. But I can not recreate them. It isn't possible. Thank God for giclee. But that is the only way that they will be reproduced.
Coincidentally, that is also why artists hate to be stuck in assembly line production of their babies. The soul of the piece gets lost. Those of you who are encouraging your art friends to get into the mass production game need to think of a better game or encourage them in other directions. While it is truly a shame that some work will not reach the masses, you don't want to kill the artist's soul with the masses. I would recommend you encourage reproductions, giclee or otherwise, offer to help them make great digital files of their work and even offer to display it in your offices, retail stores et all to support them. But if there is one thing that doesn't mix, it is the corporate gristmill and the artists' soul.
Okay... lecture over.

footnote: In reference to Charlie. Professor Charlie Epps from the CBS show Numb3rs, makes math fun. Better than that, I can understand it much better than I ever have before. I am a little less math-phobic but not much. Haven't seen it? Check it out. Seasons 1-4 are superb. 5 I'm an still out on.

matched set

This is a pair of collage paintings that I did for my brother and his wife for Christmas gifts in 2001. They hang in the dining room of their home, so I guess you could say this is private collection stuff.

I wish that I could say the concept was original. I've done similar things with my jars. But this was inspired by a piece I saw at Michaels. None of those motifs would have worked for my brother. And the colors were all wrong. So I amended. The first step was to look at the things that they had in their home. I took the palette and large leaf from the rug design in the living room which is open to the dining room. Second step was to figure out what went with it so as to not totally rip off the rug artist or the print artist.

This set was a blast to paint. Apparently the stars were aligned and the Muses were right in my wheelhouse because this was the easiest set I have ever done. I had just the right tools, just the right colors and my brushes were just the right kind of crappy to leave intriguing brushstrokes right where they needed to be. Should I admit to such serendipity?

Yes. Part of being an artist and understanding how your chosen medium works is having the vision and wisdom to know when to let the material paint itself instead of struggling to impose your own hand on the medium. Serendipity is an artists friend; but it is also the egoists enemy. And you can always tell if it was the soul or the ego that painted a piece... even if it is in a series. If it is stilted and leaves you flat or cold the chances are great that the artist's ego got in the way.

Studio Mates

Sol, Luna and Astra sit on the worktable in the window. Here they are holding a series of peacock cards using a Magenta design. Yes, a little Latin as a dangerous thing. Sol, Luna and Astra... sun moon and star. It would be a good name for a new age bookstore too. Hmmm.....

Solar Plexis

I probably shouldn't explain too much of the work. Explainations may lessen some of the awesome, but then again, for those of you who are here to see how art is put together, translated by the artist or for inspiration, if I don't point out a few things then you've wasted a trip.

I have always loved the fleur de lis motif. I don't know why. I know it is the symbol of French Kings, persons for whom I have no use and less respect. Although, I like them more than Henry8. As I said, the french king's symbol, Le Roi, the sun kings. With all the gold dripped throughout their palaces it may have been fitting in an artistic sense.

The Solar Plexis is about Identity and in some respect our accomplishments. The vessel is classically called the Trophy Urn. I didn't know that before I chose it. It just felt right. Sorry. But sometimes that's how art goes. Its 90% inspiration and 10% conscious choice. And, in some cases there is an extra 5% to accomodate puns, riddles and humor. I entertain myself quite often by connecting dots. In this case Language and Art.

"Sol" is Latin for our sun. Yes, our sun has a name. Our planet has a name in latin too, Terra. So sol is the basis for solar and related to all things attached to solar; flare, panel, rays, winds. In the latin existential concepts, the solar plexis covers the abdominal region because they considered this area the seat of the sun within man. Take a direct hit here and you can't breathe. Without that breath you die. The sun keeps the solar system alive so the solar plexis was thought to be where the source of life is in man. Talk about anthropomorphism. And thus yellow is the proper color for this chakra. The obvious color. But what is not so obvious is what I learned about myself.

I have despised the color yellow for most of my life. It'll never be a staple in my wardrobe as it washes me out. But I wondered about the aversion I had to this color.Then suddenly it started leaking into my other work. And as we learned about this chakra, I understood... the solar plexis is the self. By the time I added the flower, representing the healed and whole chakra, I was happy happy and loving what came out.

Heart Chakra

Originally the homework for Verta's class came out as a 12x12 scrapbook page on canvas with Dad, Grampa and Sting featured prominently. I redid it to look like this, fitting the concept I developed during work on the Solar Plexis.

I had a duh moment with the Solar Plexis and turned it around to rework the Heart.

The main motif in this one is the damask pattern repeated in the background. Texture is one of the things that I can get "lost" in. Damask is smooth, satiny and cool to touch even when the fibers seem to be coarse and dense. But it also reminds me of my grandparents, the first source of safety.

Albums on Facebook makes no sense

I did what I thought was going to be a great thing because I have so many connections on facebook. I put an album of work together. Then three days later they decide they own the work. Now they don't... again. How long that will last I don't know. But there it is.
Why wouldn'ti put it here? Good question. Let me see if I can articulate the answer.
ME: Ambivalence.
YOU: Huh? That makes no sense.
ME: Well...
YOU: I'm waiting.
ME: Um... (looks for help from the sides) Well, it's like this. I am an artist. Have always been. I've never made money at it. Don't know that I have too. But part of me thinks that I am not really an artist if I don't make money at it.
YOU: Soooooo....(taps foot, scrunches face)
ME: So... um... well, MIchelle says art is to be shared money or not. Bro says nothing is worth doing if it doesn't get you cash. I don't know who I believe.
YOU: You suk.

And that is how ambivalence works in my head. It comes down to needing to decide who I believe, why I care and who has my best interest at heart. But then... it also depends on me. I have to make some decision about how I am to interpret myself, when I will believe in me, believe my own convictions. When I will cease to suck.

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Originally uploaded by ohmygodufarted

Picture postcard perfect composition... shave a bit off the bottom to eliminate the roadway and there is a cityscape that screams "Merry Christmas".
No, I guess that I don't have Christmas out of my system yet. it took me so long to get into the spirtit that i just can't let it be.