Tag: blogging

There is no work of art so big or so small

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She used to drag her mattress beside her low window and lie awake for a long while, vibrating with excitement, as a machine vibrates from the speed. Life rushed in upon her through that window-or so it seemed. In reality, of course, life rushes from within, not from without. There is no work of art so big or so small  that it was not once all contained in some youthful body, like this one which lay on the floor in the moonlight, pulsing with ardor and anticipation.

Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark

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Inspiration comes when it wants. The secret is to sit and wait for it or bore yourself silly. When it does come it is fleeting and it’s brilliant. The moment is more real than any other moment.

I love the early stages of a painting. It’s muddy, sloppy and wet. It’s just a  bunch of ground work that makes no sense to anyone and not even me sometimes.

Almostfinnish current news;

Forced lockdown of a city. Militarized police riding tanks in the streets. Door-to-door armed searches without warrant. Families thrown out of their homes at gunpoint to be searched without probable cause. Businesses forced to close. Transport shut down.

These were not the scenes from a military coup in a far off banana republic, but rather the scenes just over a week ago in Boston as the United States got a taste of martial law. The ostensible reason for the military-style takeover of parts of Boston was that the accused perpetrator of a horrific crime was on the loose. The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city. This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.                                                                                                             
Ron Paul

Apples make me smile

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“Experience is the name so many people give to their mistakes.”

                                                                                         Oscar Wilde

I don’t cook but I’ve been buying cookbooks lately.

Yes odd…but I did find that they do have some fun and intriguing facts. I’m all for new ideas these days. They have interesting ways to add fun and food to your next get together with family or friends or even just at home with the fam. My family would be very surprised if I showed up with a dish. I do have a bit of quiet adventure stirring inside of me these days with a touch of spontaneity and humor so this might be the change we have all been looking for. 

The latest book that I bought is called the Complete Party Planner (yes it is a cookbook) by Annabel Karmel and this is where I began. The above picture is just a snack I threw together with apples and marshmallows. Called ‘Apple Smiles’. Simple and easy I like that. This book has over 120 ideas.

I’d like to mention another book that caught my attention the first purchase and my catalyst to this whole cooking endeavor called ‘Apples’  by Robert Berkley. Ever since I have been in search for the  perfect apple. I can’t  believe there are so many different names for so many different apples. This will be a delight. I guess you can compare apple to apples.

Awaken to my first robin(s)

It is definitely spring here I saw my first robin this year well actually I saw my first eight or nine it was a whole migration of robins and a very hearty bunch of birds at that. I never seen so many before.

My life as an artist has been so minimal these days that I haven’t been able to write about anything. I don’t want to write about a bunch of stuff that doesn’t pertain to the creative process which I know. Athough I am doing a disservice to myself and what wakens me as an artist to not speak. Knowing sometimes it is the struggles in between that create great art.

The United States is at a very interesting time…and the media here is not reporting much. The world has a lot of goings on and their plans are already in the making. I read…and I am not surprised more fascinated as it all makes perfect sense as it is slowly unveiled like a novel. I love a good book! Murder, mystery, deceit, scandals, protagonists and antagonist the whole ca-bash.

A must read…The U.S. military shift comes as the so-called BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – seek to create a monetary system to rival and even surpass the West. While it received little U.S. media attention, last week at its fifth annual summit the BRICS group unveiled what it said was a new development bank aimed at breaking the monopoly held by Western-backed institutions. Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/is-this-why-obamas-responding-to-north-korea/#EPYJ4WbVGo2Rh1XH.99

Another article about Cyprus-Style “Bail-Ins” Are Proposed In The New 2013 Canadian Government Budget!
read more http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/cyprus-style-bank-account-confiscation-is-in-the-new-canadian-government-budget

So life goes on and I know that God/Jesus Christ is in control and his plan is playing out. whatever happens to the United State will be nothing that I can stop delay maybe…but not stop.

How many days does it take to finish a portrait?

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Day one: A friend of mine recommended me to someone who wanted a painting done of their cat. So I met them at Alterra coffee-house a neutral place where we could meet about commissioning a portrait of a cat named Bartholomew/Bart. We Looked at photograph’s, I said I could do this painting and then signed a contract I brought along.

Day two: I reviewed photos, did some sketches, e-mailed client back and waited for confirmation.

Day two: Confirmation from client, printed image and picked up canvas.

Day three: Did grid and started drawing on canvas.

Day four: Still drawing image onto canvas. This is a crucial part of the process getting everything right from the start although it all gets covered with paint.

Day five: I started with a basic under painting worked on background and went straight into the fabric.

Day six: I began with the eyes the most important part. I need to get the eyes perfect.

Day seven: Worked on the face of cat and whiskers.
Whiskers really helped painting.

Day eight: painted the ears.

Day seven: I needed to darken the pattern on the fabric. Darkening some fur shadows and added fluffy accents throughout cat giving it more shape and form so it looks like a 3-dimensional cat also filled in front of sofa.

Day eight: Worked on tail made it longer and changed background.

Day nine: Worked on the paws or the impression of the paw.

Day ten: Touched up shape of head and edges of fur.

Day eleven: Pushed more dark shadows and white areas.

Day twelve: Ears and ear hairs needed some work.

Day thirteen: I always keep coming back to the eyes.

Day fourteen: Worked on back leg, body shape and pattern.

Day fifteen: Finished. e-mail client confirm pick up date.

day sixteen: Went with hooks on back of painting/attached.

Day seventeen: Coffee shop 9:00 dropped of painting. Waitress walks by and says it’s brilliant. It catches me off guard. I laugh. They like painting. It was exactly what they expected.

A riddle wrapped up in an enigma

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I was working on a small postcard size sketch. It was a study more than anything. The interesting thing is now that I look at the pictures it is my natural tendency to turn the work on its side or upside down when I work. And even though it makes sense to me. For some reason when people come over and visit and it’s upside down they look at me and laugh and just have to ask why is it upside down? Of course I’m totally oblivious to the fact that it is until they bring it to my attention. As far as I can see it’s still in process so presentation is the last thing on my mind.

I learned this in school from one of my classmates. He would turn his work upside down to get a better perspective especially when something had to be symmetrical. Your mind could play tricks on you thinking it looked right but if you reversed the image you could see it in a new light.

Okay so it’s been a very trying week. There must have been some dark cloud hovering over effecting us all some way or another. I lost my muffler somewhere on the side of the road. The brakes on my truck went faster than I had hoped. My car definitely needed some new tires so we found this guy who would sell us some used tires for $40.00. Here he has another pair sitting there and said we can have those too for $40.00. We only had $29.00. He said you look like you could use them more than me and takes the $29.00.

I was just wonder how we looked? Were not poor maybe broke sometimes but not poor.

A riddle wrapped up in an enigma.

I need to start selling some paintings.

Keeping our liberty and art spirit alive.

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The object, which is back of every true work of art, is the attainment of a state of being, a state of high function, a moment of existence. We make our discoveries while in this state because than we are clear-sighted.

Robert Henri-The art Spirit

We have a magic bullet it’s a  smoothy maker.  We did a combination of eggs and green peppers and well the eggs turned out green by accident so in the spirit of Dr Seuss’ birthday I said oh look we are having green eggs and ham for breakfast. The kids said no thanks. I said you can’t say no you have to say…I do not like green eggs and ham. I will not eat them here or there I will not eat them anywhere. Personally I wouldn’t eat them with a fox or in a box either note to self never do that again.

This year will go down in history, for the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safe, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.           Adolf Hitler 1935.

This is why Congress will not pass any gun legislation in the USA. We have the 2nd amendment for a reason. “When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”                   Thomas Jefferson