A trip to the Art Store...

So today I went to the art store and I felt overwhelmed...more like a kid in a candy store a pocketful of change or in a toy store with an endless supply of money. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I had a lot of money but I found it hard to decide what to buy. I WANTED IT ALL!

There were times when I was in an aisle and I was just staring off into "artmosphere". It was just so hard to choose exactly what I wanted. I ended up getting a couple canvas panels and 6"X6" wood panels. I also picked up a couple of secret items that I can't share right now because it will spoil a surprise

Today was the first day of my long weekend and I did a little creating and also messed around a bit in photoshop. It's been a minute since I've actually used photoshop so Ive been trying to get used to using it again. Next week I will have some images to show you guys but that's all for now.

Until next week...


-Namaste

Umbrella...where have you gone??

I have always been one of those ppl(kids even) who hated carrying around extra stuff. Whether it be a jacket, a sweater, a bag or even an umbrella(hold on to that one). The reason being is that I am the type that will leave those things behind. Or even subconsciously lose them.

I like having my hands free of stuff when I'm traveling and moving about. So it's so easy for me to forget that I was carrying something extra with me. Especially if I'm not using it. Case in point, yesterday it rained cats and dogs here in Charlotte and I got drenched. It was almost like I fell in a lake. That's how drenched I was. So today I decided to take my umbrella with me. The weather man did say we were going to have rain the next few days. It rained briefly on my way home and I put my umbrella up briefly but then it stopped. So I put my umbrella back in its rain sheath (it was a really nice umbrella) and then slipped it in the side of my bag. Apparently it slipped out the bottom of my grocery back which had gotten wet. I didn't notice it until I was almost home and it started to rain again. Crazy, right? What have you lost? Or left behind?

That's all I have for you guys today.

Until next week...

-Namaste

The Generation that is, was, and should be...?

In this age of Millenials, it seems that the youth of the nation are obsessed with putting themselves in front of the camera for all the world to see. What's sad is that they aren't showing themselves in a positive light. They are going around filming themselves either committing acts of violence or do some extremely stupid thing. i have seen some footage were the kid was screaming at the camera "this is going on WorldstarHipHop" or "imma youtube this" These kids are so brazen...have so much disregard for the law and other peoples feelings that to them its ok to do these things.

Todays youth, with the way modern technology is, has so many ways to express themselves in more productive way. instead they strive to get themselves noticed by filming themselves doing flash robberies and beating up people. What goes on in the mind of these kids? Who's to blame for their behavior? Some would argue that its societies fault. Some would say its the way the kids were raised. You could make a case for the lack of opportunities presented to them because of their environments.

Back in the day I would say that could very well be the case but some of these kids...no...some of this people is more like it do it purely for the sheer love of it and to see how many possible views they can get. And society being the pure voyeuristic junkies that we are cant help but take notice. Its like seeing a really bad train wreck. Empathy will have you feeling a great deal of concern for the victims but your lust for knowing whats going on will have you unable to look away. These people who make these videos on some subconscious level hone in on the "lustful eye" of the voyeuristic junkie. We all scream, "they don't have any home training" or "what if that was someone they love," all the while we are clicking on to the next video. This type of engagement not only helps fuel the longevity of this behavior but also helps along the slow degradation of our society as a whole. Don't get me wrong Americas youth aren't the only ones that have gone to extreme measures to be heard in a violent voice but american youth have taken it to levels that this author would liken to caged beasts trying to survive an impending meeting with their maker by bastardizing survival of the fittest. In this case its survival of the hardcorest waste of time.

Some people will complain about "why society doesn't do things for them"..."or why is it they are targeting me" but then they turn right around and film themselves beating up some defenseless person just so they can film it and make the front page of some video site. It's like where does this animalistic nature come from. What drives them? What gets them to this point?

When I was a kid growing up, I was taught when out in public; "act like you have some home training"..."don't do anything that would put yourself in a bad position, you never know whose watching"...and so on. As kids we didn't want to draw too much unwanted attention to ourselves. Kids today do just the opposite. It would be one thing to document yourself doing something productive but "showing out" to achieve views and/or notoriety is just plain barbaric, demeaning and immature.

As we move forward in the future, we are supposed to look towards our youth to carry on the progressive advances that we as a supposed strong nation have been enduring the past half a century or so. But if we only have their "gladiatorial" ways of presenting themselves then I fear that this generation will set us back a ways.

Sorry it took me so long to post this for you guys but it been a crazy last couple of weeks. Crazy! And can you believe this heat half of the country has been getting. Wow!

-Namaste

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The mind of a child can truly hold the key...

 I recently watched a bit of an artist lecture that Kerry James Marshall which I found quite intriguing.  In the brief clip that I saw, he talked about getting to a point that his work was where he wanted it to be.  When he got to that point he was older than I am right now, which for me gave me useful insight into where I am and where I am going in my own work.  I am always worried about when I'll reach the moment when I feel my work is really clicking.  Every year when we turn the calendar year, it seems like I am going to myself; "This is the year".  I think I get too caught up in the "...it's now or never" to see that I can't try and force the work.  When I try doing that I end up getting to caught up in over think and over analyzing my work, which leads me to be overly critical and eventually abandoning a concept that has been good for me up to that point.  

I need to focus more on finishing the work and not wondering too much on whether or not I have made that piece that will make or break me as an artist.  Most artist will know what I mean when I say this but "I need to get in a childlike mindset" when creating work.  For those of you who might not understand that statement, kids when creating art tend to make work that makes them happy or they make work where they don't fuss to much over details or getting everything perfect.  For them it's all about making something that they can be proud of or something that they can take home and hang on the fridge for all to see.  Kids are great at creating things more out of love because they haven't got that handle on color schemes and juxtaposing images and/or marks yet.  To them any mark they make is a work of art and they are pleased with it.  Having that great childlike innocence is something that helps them to stay honest in their magical little creations. It's something that a lot of us artist try to maintain as we learn and become more self-aware as artists.  It's so easy to get caught up in over thinking and analyzing our work, that we get lost in why we started creating in the first place.

The more I try to get back to basics in my work, the more I feel like I am letting the work resolve itself.  And that makes for good art-making...

 

-Namaste