Thursday, August 27, 2015

New painting: Sunrise on the Sower

Sun rise on the Sower
Acrylic on paper
3ft by 3ft
Aug 2015
The top portion of this picture could be bolder and there could be more of a contrast, but it's hard when you're trying to take a photo of a painting. It never comes out quite as bold as it should I think because the camera tries to balance sharply contrasting colors. Anyway I use my ipad to take the photos and I imagine they would be better pics if I used a camera. At some point I guess it's important to realize it doesn't really matter if a picture is perfectly finished or not. The color is what I'm after, that the picture is balanced. For a while I've fallen away from what I originally wanted the pictures to be about: something spiritual and colorful. I suppose I've had this image stuck in my head for a long long while.

New painting: Medvidek (Little bear)

Medvidek (Little bear)
Acrylic on paper
4ft by 3ft
Aug 2015
I'm not sure how clear this is to see. It's a bear with a white head laying on it's side. Above it is a vulture with an alligator head. To the upper right is the shape of a woman. On the right is a horse head and across the body of the bear is one of the horse's legs.

But it's not really all that important what the picture is of. I suppose the bear is the main thing. It's really just important that it's full of color and texture and patterns and that it works aesthetically to the eye. That's really the most important thing. Enjoy!

New painting: Bat boy

Bat boy
Acrylic on paper
3ft by 3ft
Aug 2015

This painting has a bunch of writing on it and around it which you can't really read all that clearly just looking at it. The picture is large and the writing is small. I figured I will just try and put the writing on the picture in any way I can, just whatever comes to mind, whatever I wanna say, whatever I feel at the moment when I'm making the picture.

Nobody sees with me, why this is beautiful, why everything in some way is a miracle and gorgeous. Now I realize that it sounds like an exaggeration but I truly mean that. It's a miracle. It's insane. It's crazy, and none of it has any real place though it does exist or should exist..I know this doesn't look like much. But it's my attempt to contribute something that touches people with words, with color, with shapes. I'm not a great talker but I can make something for you. Everything that I love about life is my castle. But outside, on horses, are men. A man, today, is not my friend. A man is everything in this world. Violence, dominance, intimidation. Be a man. Manliness. I don't know what any of that means.I want to feel fully alive. I want to express myself fully. Why? Because that's what I love.

New painting: Falling sun

Falling Sun
Acrylic on paper
4ft by 3ft
Aug 2015

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Monday, August 24, 2015

New painting: WWII

WWII
Acrylic and chalk on paper
4ft by 3ft
This is a picture where there's different things going on on each side of the picture, almost like they're two different scenes. On the left is a group of individuals gathered. On the right is a (likely difficult to see) woman playing a violin and a man above her leaning over a road. There's a house in the middle and above that in the chimney smoke the face of a child. I don't know if there's much of a story to the picture. I try and make something and if a story or figures come through, that would be nice. If not, that's okay. In this case some figures do come through.

woman playing violin
House

child's face in the smoke

man leaning over the road
I'm really just having fun with color and patterns and textures though and if something comes through it's sort of like making up a story for it when it does.

It's hard. I understand that some people might think that a picture or a drawing should stand on it's own, that it shouldn't require an explanation. I know, for me, for someone who's interested in the things people make, I get the most out of those things when I know where they come from, when I hear the artist's perspective. I remember for a long time not really understanding why Andy Warhol was so interesting. When you read his book or see the documentary about his life, and hear his voice come through, hear his perspective on things, why he made what he made, it makes all the difference. All the sudden I could see why it was beautiful, why it was valued. I feel like these days you have to somehow incorporate your voice into the things you make. There's no time to wait around and see if people will ask questions. That time will likely never come. Whenever I see an interesting picture or an interesting piece of art, it makes me want to hear someone's perspective on the thing, maybe even the artist's if possible. I don't like hearing highly conceptual explanations for things. I would rather know something human about the artist, about why they made it rather than what it means. I feel like that's missing, the human connections to objects. There is so much stuff to see these days, but very little explanation from a human side about why it's here, what purpose it serves, who it's for. I feel like that's the heart of everything though.