My Mind is free...

I've been working constantly the last few weeks and it feels good to be creating steadily. You know as an artist, there will be times when you have that lull in your creative process where you are not doing as much work as you'd like...not painting enough...not drawing enough...not being in the business of art-making...one of the greatest things you can do as an artist is doing that lull try to keep ideas fresh in your head. Write them down...brainstorm...view art...talk to artist...look for anything that will jump start that spark plug in your brain.

For me, it's always being around artists and having constant discourses with them...it's blogging and it's writing down my ideas while they are still fresh. I find that when I do break through that lull some aspect of what I've thought about ends up lending itself to the piece. One of the things that I have found that's been a jump for me is not over thinking and just clearing my mind and letting my inner thought guide what I do. I had lost that ability the last couple of years. I mean I've been doing things but I have been letting my mind jump around a lot. I don't know if it's because of personal tragedy or pressure that I have been putting on myself or what...but lately I have just been going with the flow. If it feels good I let the feeling take me over and just be.

In any event, right now it feels good for me as an artist and I can't wait to keep you guys in the loop...

 

-Namaste

Landscape Paintings...

Hello Faithful Few! As you can see I've been quite busy this week.  I managed to finish one piece and then start another piece.  The video is of the other piece that I started.  I am not quite sure yet if I am finished this piece yet.  I'll keep you guys posted.  The pictures are of the piece I did for the contest which has once again been extended by a month.  I am ok with it but I might go back into before the deadline comes again.  Until next time...

                                                             This is the "Finished" piece.

The next few pics are just details of the "Finished" piece.  Enjoy.

-Namaste

                                       

The Summer is Over...

So I see that I now have to finish this painting for this contest after all. The sad thing is now my heart isn't in to it. I will probably finish the piece for the sake of the contest but I already know I'm not going to give it my all. I'm probably treat it more like a study instead of a fully realized piece.

I'll take some photos of it for you guys once its done. Until then.


-Namaste

A Weekly Update...

So this piece I am working on is due a week from Monday I believe. I am the furthest along of anyone but I haven't worked on it in a couple of weeks now. I just haven't made the time to work on it. Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow who knows. I did find out information that I already knew about it but forgot. I was think that it was a cash prize but it's actually a product prize which now that I think about it is still a good idea. I just need to get it done.

I want to start a couple of I don't know series of sketches soon. I have all this images in my head. Some of them are just rough sketches and some of them are fully realized drawings. I just don't know what they mean. It's like in my head there is this therapy session going on but I am having this issue with committing them to paper. It's not like a block or anything its more like a defense mechanism to thwart out intruders (the masses). I guess it's one of those things that I need to deal with right? In any event, when I release them you will be among the first to know.

Until then...

-Namaste

In the year 2013 and beyond...

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

-by Robert Frost

 

This is perhaps one of my most favorite poems. Every time I read this poem, I feel as though it speaks to me on so many levels. I have always chosen the unconventional...the unassuming...I've always been one to not do things the easy way. I get a real sense of satisfaction out of adversity and achieving things that I have worked hard for.

The next few months for me will be...I won't say trying but it will be quite telling. I have decisions that need to be made and actions that need to be acted upon. Mentally I have been preparing myself for a while so my mindset is ready. I just need to get the physical and my heart on the same wavelength. Shouldn't be too hard to achieve...as Mariah Carey once sang, "There can be miracles, when you believe..." (Man, I love the movie...really dramatic and great). I really am looking forward to 2013 and all the good things I'm sure it has in store for me...

 

 

-Namaste

September......1

It's that time again faithful few...

I deliberated for most of the day as to what I was going to share with you guys this weekend. I did know that I wanted to share the beginning stages of a painting that I am working on for this contest. So far I have started blocking in the colors and the composition of the piece. Hopefully next week I'll have some updated images for you guys. It's my first time working in oils in a while so I am pretty excited about working on it. I still feel like I might change a lot on it but I'm still pretty stoked about the direction it is going in.
What else do I have for you guys...lets see, we'll this is the first post of September and it seems really weird that its almost the end of the year. It feels like it was just March. If things are the way they would have us to believe we have about 80 days left to live. So lets make the most of it. ;) I think that's all I have for this week because I feel like I might start spurting out more gibberish. See you guys next week.


-Namaste

What The Duck...

I think on a somewhat "subconscious/conscious" level I am afraid to make the work I want to make. I told my girl this the other day. When I think back to the sort of self-discovery I had back in my junior year of college to where I am today, I often wonder why my work took such a drastic turn. I mean I went from making work that could have become quite provocative to making work that in my own honest opinion, sometimes viewed as "being safe". What happened along the way...

I guess it's associating with and being around people who, now don't get me wrong have been cool people...it's just some of them either wouldn't get it or find it offensive. That's not to say that I diverted from the work because I cared about what people said but I believe it had more to do with my self-defined ideal of those closest around me.

Its like in my mind I have this internal struggle between myself and being the artist I could/should be. Whenever I endeavor to create work like I used to do its like I self-destroy that motivation and then do something that I know people will fill its pretty or pleasing to the eye. I really need to defeat that demon in my head and get back to create work for me. Need to break down that wall in my mind that has been put up. I know what you are going to say. "Why don't you just do it and not care about what people may or may not think about it?" I mean it seems easy enough right? But when your personality is like a guardian to your subconscious mind and forces you to think of others before yourself; it gets tricky. And don't even get me started on how it stagnates "Art for Arts' sake".

At the end of the day, its about taking that leap and not looking back. Its getting yourself into that mindset that you have something you want to say and who gives a hell whether or not people like it or whether they feel like your "treadging" up the past...or if they feel like you are talking about something that's never effected you. In some ways, you have to be sort of selfish when creating. In any event, it's easier said then done my friends...easier said than done...

 

 

-Namaste