Aside – Almostfinnish’s Blog

What is required to paint when you have none.

It has been dark and dreary for two days.

We have been in a tornado watch all day.

I have been working a lot of over time so my painting has been minimized and limited to none.

It is all my fault I suppose…no energy, no ambition and no desire.

It is funny what is required to paint when you have none.

It is nice when you have a little left in the end of the day.

That little bit can make a difference.

Instead I sit and stare at my paintings in process and say I can’t. I can not see it happening.

My birthday was in October.

My birthday marks another year for me more importantly than the annual New Years Eve party and celebration that takes place every year in January throughout the United States.

I like that day too but my birthday is a special day that bookmarks my unique timeline.

It is telling me I have one year before I reach another decade in my life and part of a century as well.

So instead of a party…my goal is to have another art showing or another one lined up by my next birthday.

A show usually consist of 10-15 paintings. That is a painting a month. Is it do able yes. Can I find the time that is the question of the day?

Some how I was able to miss three deer standing in the middle of the road yesterday so I feel anything is possible today.

I call it the Finnish Sisu.

Sisu is about taking action against the odds and displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity. Deciding on a course of action and then sticking to that decision against repeated failures is sisu.

A riddle wrapped up in an enigma

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.

A bloody mary for breakfast?

I woke up to a winter wonderland today. We’re snowed in got about 8″ of snow over night expecting 12″ by the end of the day. Schools are closed and there are cars stuck or in the ditch everywhere. It’s a mess out there very thankful we still have power. I’m not going to work I have plenty to do here like finding my cross country ski’s.

In front of me sits a bloody mary, a bagel with cream cheese with a hint of almond and on the side an omelette with cheese, green peppers. Another bloody mary might be due or at least a beer chaser. This is a treat for us not a normal thing.
I’m checking my eBay and had a pretty successful week. I diversified a little and made some good choices aside from my usual postcards.

I was reading from a local newspaper called “Freedom Weekly” free news for free people. It has our national debt of 16,432,519,875,802.97 and it says under it…

“The way to crush the bourgeoisie (marxist term for the middle and upper class) is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.”
Vladimir Illich Lenin

Do we ever learn from history? The president now says the sequester is going to devastate our economy, but George wills who I believe says 44 billion is less than 2% of the GDP budget. We’ll see what happens this week in Washington.

Painting wise…

I find myself vacillating between feeling that it’s really great and really horrible. One moment, I’m a genius creating masterpieces and the next I’m thinking I haven’t any talent, the work is vapid and I’m a complete idiot. It’s a constant process of doubt and assurance that drives you to do better.
John Alexander

Taking a break from painting the figure.

Painted today. Taking a seriously needed break from painting the figure. There’s freedom in not having any pencil marks or guidelines to follow on the canvas. The pure artistic desire to just paint. Taking the time to figure out on your own where everything belongs, how it visually looks and how it all relates.

I always start with the under painting. I use raw sienna and prussian blue and a little white for a change basically establishing my value study as I covered the whole canvas with paint.

I am working from a photograph I took some time ago in North Carolina while we staying at the Hilton. It was a summer night and we would stroll down the boardwalk. The evening lights and water reflections were a delight to be around while we would watch the sun set and then stop at a nearby bistro for a local beer and southern platter. Our little get away from the party at hand. The ocean breeze was so warm.

“The boardwalk in Charlotte” I have a few other photo’s so this could turn into a series. When I finish this one I’m hoping to bring it down to the local coffee shop called Smith Bros located right along Lake Michigan/one of the great lakes. Some very interesting array of artwork is on display there and some by a couple of friends I have unexpectedly come to know by chance. My work is not on display at this time because I had a piece disappear with the owner from another coffee shop that closed it doors unexpected. Stolen in other words…we take our chances as artists not like it’s worth a million dollars yet. There are a couple of other galleries that have pop up in Port Washington lately I need to inquire.