In the Light of Suns

This started out as a sketch of a head. I was trying to see what I could do without any photo references, but I did end up using a reference for the shoulder, and the eye. I'm amazed at how much I've forgotten about art, and find I'm having to relearn a lot of stuff.

Starving Artist Fund

Yay! I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the starving artist fund. Especially the sweety Nevaeh who has given more than once.

The money is used to support the artistic habit. Which means it will probably go to paint or other materials.

Yay! Thanks for all the help!

How To Find Inspiration

To a creative person lack of inspiration is similar to dying, except you are still alive and have to deal with it. Everyone goes through periods of time when nothing seems to excite you and all the ideas seem to have left on a mission to Mars and they forgot to invite you along. So what do you do when you need inspiration and no matter which rocks you turn over all you seem to find are bugs?

Here are some ideas to help catch the elusive muse.

Let inspiration find you. With a world full of distractions it's hard to think let alone listen to something that can't be heard. Turn off the TV, radio, ipod, cell phone, instant messages, and hang a sign on the door saying you've gone to lunch and won't be back for an hour. Then sit in a comfy chair and close your eyes. And stop thinking. Listen to the sounds around you, look at the light patterns of your eyelids, and let the ideas come to you.

Limit your senses. You can only process so many incoming signals at once so turn one off and provide an open path for the one you want. Try watching a visually stimulating movie but turn the sound and closed captions off. In the absence of a storyline it allows your brain to think its own thoughts about what you are seeing. You can also start watching the movie part way in so you don't get wrapped up in a plot.

Find the right song. Try listening to music you might not always listen to, and when you find the song that just seems to click, put it on repeat. Don't worry if others think you're nuts because you have listened to the same song 20 times. You're doing this for your reasons not theirs. Repeat is inspiration's friend.

Go for a walk. Get out of the office or house and walk in a different direction than you have before. Movement stimulates your body and mind and the new sights will force your brain to deal with new sensations. If you can't get out, try walking briskly in a circle or back and forth. Unusual activity will prepare your brain for something new. And in case it isn't obvious, leave the ipod on the desk.

Open a window. Having a fresh breeze and letting the outside in can change the feeling in the room and also in your brain. Even if it's the middle of Winter, the change can bring fresh thoughts.

Look at new art. Yes you may love that picture of a windmill hanging on your wall but by now it's old and the ideas it inspires are old. Hang a new painting on the wall, or print off a picture you found on the internet and tape it up where you can see it. And try finding art that challenges you and is interesting. A good rule is to reject the normal and go for something you wouldn't usually choose.

Go to church. I know, it sounds weird, but I have received some of my best ideas while sitting in church. That's why I always take a notebook with me everywhere I go. While the speaker is going on it's easy to jot down an idea or make a thumbnail sketch. I look at it as a kind of forced meditation.

Keep a dream journal. Most of what you dream makes no sense but once in a while you'll wake up and the greatest thing since sliced bread will have just ran through your head. Write it down quick. Dreams fade fast. And if later on it sounds like a crackpot idea, remember you don't have to use it just because you wrote it down.

Take a break. Sometimes there is nothing you can do, so instead of fighting it, forget about it. Let your subconscious figure things out and go do something else for a while. While playing basketball or reading a book you'll be amazed at what ideas will jump into your head.

In a Lonely Place

I love film noir. I just finished watching In a Lonely Place which was made in 1950 and stars Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. It's one of those movies that you don't realize how good it is until after it's over and you start to think about it, and then all the little things hit you and you just want to watch it again.

I love how it ends, it's probably one of the best and least anticipated endings in film history. You are just left with this feeling of question and inevitability at the same time. I love how as the audience you are taken along on the same emotional journey as the characters and how you come to the same conclusion. And yet you want to have this hoped for idealized ending that you've come to expect in other movies, but then you think about it and realize that the director was a genius, and that if it had had the typical ending it would be like last year's romantic comedy, ............ whatever its name was, and end up forgotten.

I feel a kinship with film noir and it wasn't until I saw this film that I realized that I explore the same general themes in my art, the alienation, the tension, the contemplation of the inevitable, the ultimate loneliness we all face, and forced acceptance of our situation.

Your Gallery

As I've mentioned before, I've been out of the art scene for a few years, due to dealing with depression and a mental block imposed upon me during a bad job experience that went on way too long. So this may be old news but I just read about a feature of the Saatchi Gallery's website called Your Gallery in this month's issue of Artnews.

It's a way for artists from around the world to talk and share art and for dealers and collectors to see an artist's work.

It is similar to Deviantart in the respect that it allows you to network with other artists but it differs since it only allows you to show a limited group of art. I believe that this will weed out any but serious artists, or I should say artists interested in showing in galleries and shows. Where as Deviantart is more community based and showing something on Deviantart seems to be the ultimate outcome.

This looks like a great way to get things started and I can't wait to see what happens.

An artist's worst enemy and best friend is marketing. To get known as an artist you have to market yourself and your work but as an artist you would rather be creating than marketing and so you feel that it takes away from your art.

To become a known artist you have to work hard at promoting yourself (or if you're lucky you happen to be in the right place at the right time). This involves keeping up with the latest art news, researching upcoming shows, making and keeping an up to date portfolio, networking, print and online promotions, phone calls, keeping abreast of legal issues, bookkeeping, sending out examples of work, dealing with acceptance and rejection letters, coordinating shipments of art to the various shows and galleries, giving interviews, and anything else that may come along.

And I haven't even mentioned taking time to think about art, waiting for inspiration, gathering supplies, setting up whatever logistics and technical help you need, actually making the art and whatever odds and ends that I've forgotten to mention.

Oh, and on top of all of this, hold down a full time job, and if you have a family, take care of them.

There is no off time for a self promoting artist.

There's a story that I like to give as an example of the struggles of the artist. One day a man was walking down the hall of a university and he happened to be walking by an art class with an open door. He overheard several art students complaining about how hard it was to do the project assigned to them. And then he overheard the teacher's reply.

"What do you think this is? Brain surgery?"

An artist's job is hard, not because he has to memorize a set of instructions on how to get down a particular path, but because there is no path.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

It's a new easel! Yay!

Well after many years of using home built jobs I finally have an official easel. I still think that fancy equipment doesn't mean you make great art, but just look at it in all its stained and varnished glory! (Excuse me as I grab a Kleenex to wipe my eyes.)

"How do you afford your art lifestyle?" You might ask.

Well due to unforeseen circumstances, a.k.a. my boss thought I did a pretty good job last year, I was given a bonus at work. Now usually when I fall into a little extra money I pay bills and then whine about it later. (Responsibility sucks sometimes.)

But this time I said screw it! I'm not gonna take it, anymore! So I jumped on Dickus Blickus and found a killer deal, original price $400, on clearance just over $100, and said that's the one for me. And of course with the rest of the money I bought paint and supplies, a.k.a. paid off the witch doctor for my "I'm doing great at work" spell. (He has an installment plan, for the thrifty consumer.)

Fair Use and You Tube

Since I am an artist/writer copyright law is one thing that I have researched. I am always an advocate for asking permission to use a created work but sometimes things fall under fair use law.

As this article at Nolo.com says 'Under the "fair use" rule of copyright law, an author may make limited use of another author's work without asking permission.'

The fair use rule limits use to commentary, news, educational purposes, research, and parody. By taking clips of works and posting them on You Tube, or any other venue, without appropriate use you are basically breaking the law.

Now I believe that my previous post about the film "The Mystery of Picasso" was fair use since I was using it in a commentary form and did not show the entire film, but merely an illustration of what you can expect, in a similar way as a late night talk show. But, After going back to You Tube and looking up Picasso I realized that someone had basically taken the entire film and posted it in pieces.

This clearly does not fall under fair use since only a small portion of a work can be used under fair use, even if it is presented in pieces, and I did not see any reasonable commentary by the postee.

One thing to be careful of is the use of a single image. Since showing the entirety of a single image is akin to copying an entire book or film, the only usage that would fall under fair use would be to show a smaller portion of the image.

A general rule to follow is that if you are using more than a snippet of the work and do not provide some sort of commentary or transformation to the work, you are not protected by fair use.

Mystery of Picasso

This is a small piece of a film I watched, years ago, showing Picasso painting. This looks like an oil painting or maybe acrylic, since you can see him painting white over black, something you can't do in watercolor or ink.

In the film he starts out by painting ink onto the back of stretched paper on a frame that is lit from the front. All you can see are his brush strokes as the painting forms. It's very interesting and I recommend watching the entire film.

:::UPDATE:::
Apparently the video that I was using as an example of the movie has been taken down by You Tube, due to a copyright claim. Used in an editorial way it clearly falls under fair use but since I'm not a lawyer (and have no cash to hire one) we will have to put up with it.

Crisis of Art

I was going through an art crisis last night and forgot to post. If you've been reading you know that I've been battling with myself about how I want to paint, between abstract and figurative styles.

I like both of them and I think I will continue to do both of them for a while but I have decided to go into a more abstract path. I've always been drawn to modern and minimalistic art and over the years have sketched many ideas on what I would do, but an artist is under extreme social pressures. I know that sounds funny since an artist is supposed to buck expectations and follow his own path but those expectations can be a gigantic lead cloud that seems to press you down into a little cube where people can quantify you.

I often wonder why people. especially art galleries, try to pigeonhole artists into a narrow category. Artist's are living beings and as such they, like everything else, will change over time. To expect an artist to only paint, or make art, in one style his entire life would be like me saying to you that you can only watch one type of TV show, or read one type of book your entire life.

If I tried to force you into this you would think that I was crazy. And yet that is exactly what people expect of artists. It's unreasonable.

I'm just glad that I'm not widely known for one type of art yet, it will be less of a shock for people, though I do think that my friends and family are going to wonder what I'm up to.

You Forgot Your Monocle

Why does art always have to be so pretentious? Why can't we simply look at something and say "hey, that's cool"?

Have you ever tried to read an art magazine? It's almost as if the contributors are competing to see who can write the most incomprehensible article.

It reminds me of an episode of Futurama where Fry falls into billions of dollars and to celebrate, Fry and his friends, Leela and Bender, throw a party. At the party they are all sitting around drinking cognac, smoking cigars, and wearing top hats. Then Leela and Bender have a conversation off to the side.

Leela (wearing top hat) : "I know Fry’s rich, but do we really have to wear these top hats?"

Bender (wearing top hat) : "Maybe you don’t understand just how rich he is -- in fact, I think I’d better put on a monocle."

Image via The Futurama Point

It's just like this in the art world. No one knows exactly how they should act or what they should say, so they all just try to act as upscale as possible even if it all crumbles into a pile of babel. They all ignore the emperor's naked butt for fear that they won't get their piece of the pie.

Jasper Johns

I love keeping up with art and artists and Jasper Johns has always fascinated me. When I first saw his flag paintings I like everyone else focused on the flag not seeing the collage underneath. It wasn't until I saw a close up that I realized that he wasn't painting a flag. You can see a detail view here on Wikipedia

I also thought that this deconstruction of one of his paintings was interesting.

This painting called Device is one of my favorites. I like how he nailed boards to the painting and slid them in a circle to make a design and instead of removing them he left them in place.

Recently I saw a episode of CBS Sunday Morning about different artists take on Picasso at the Whitney Museum, and saw a brief view of a new series of Jasper Johns inspired by Picasso.

On PBS.org you can read a brief biography of Jasper Johns.

Art Needs Thought, Not Words

I've never understood those posters you see in malls of a photograph with a large word printed beneath them like Daybreak or Melancholy or some other doggerel. Why do we have to have someone else tell us what we should feel or see?

The great freedom of art is that we can make up our own minds as to what it means. It's as if the publisher or artist thinks we are stupid. Or maybe they recognize the laziness in people who don't want to spend the effort to think for themselves.

I often wonder if people are tricked into buying these abominations or if someone out there actually likes the big "my first artwork" type images. If someone likes the photograph I totally understand, but why does the art need a crutch?

I say avoid the jack boot word Nazis and either cut off the offending member or don't buy it in the first place. And to those artists out there who are tempted to lock our minds with iron manacles, if your art isn't strong enough on its own, there isn't a word in the dictionary that will be able to prop it up. And if it is strong enough, it doesn't need it.

Suzhou he

Years ago I was flipping through channels on the TV and stumbled across this scene of a Chinese girl in the rain with this look of complete loss on her face. I watched the rest of the movie which was only about three more minutes, but this image was stuck in my head and I couldn't shake it.

The movie ended and I was wondering if they were going to show it again, as some stations do, but I could never find it on again. By this point I had forgotten how to spell the name of the movie since it was in Chinese, but I knew I had to see the rest of it.

The next day at work I was still inspired, so on my lunch break I did this sketch of three figures standing in the rain. I never finished the background because I thought that I would rent the movie and find something in it to inspire me as to what I should put there.

I remember over the years searching foreign sections of video stores hoping that I would stumble across it and be able to remember the title. But finding a video store in America that had a well stocked foreign movie section would be like finding a race horse wearing a dress driving a car next to you on your morning commute.

After a while I forgot about it, and then one day I was going through some old papers and found the sketch that I had made. I remembered the movie and the idea was still fresh in my mind so I decided to just draw in a background.

But since it reminded me of the movie I went to the internet and searched for hours until I finally rediscovered what the name of the movie was, Suzhou he, or Suzhou River. I put it in my Netflix queue and I just watched it last night.

The imagery in it is awesome and has inspired me. It's shot in a handheld first person view that at first drove my eyes crazy but it settled down after a bit. Basically it's a type of love story told by a videographer who we never see, about the loss of love and the search to find it again.

But it's more than a love story. It shows the complex interactions between people with alienated overtones from the narrator. It almost seems like we are finding out who the videographer is by watching him tell this story, and that the real story is about him, but only we, the audience, know about it.

So now after watching the movie I realize that the background that I drew doesn't have the feeling that I want, but I like it anyway. So I think that I will paint two versions of it. But I will have to do some new figure sketches so that they don't look the same. There's enough inspiration in this movie for a dozen paintings, the only problem now is that I'm going to have to buy the DVD.

Free Art, Strange Land

Sometimes I wish I was more free in my art like David Choe. I feel like I have these two fighting daemons inside of me, one pulling me towards realism and the other toward complete abstraction.

I want to make great art. I want to become a household name. But I also want to be myself. But to become famous now days all you have to do is be shocking in some way and get your name in the news. The art seems secondary.

I often feel that some artists use gimmicks to get in the news. One guy is now making art blindfolded, we are to believe that will take him out of the equation, ignoring the fact that he is still consciously moving the pencil. Another guy uses body waste like blood, feces, urine, and even placenta. Some other guy performs stunts such as protesting against breast feeding or putting a confessional on the back of a bike and riding around town in a priest's outfit. (The media always falls for this, and amazingly it's splashed across the headlines.)

I sometimes wish we could move forward to a time of art without gimmicks.And then sometimes I think that the gimmicks while not adding to art, at least add something interesting to life.

This other world of art feels like an unexplored land but upon arriving everything is familiar. It's sad in a way. We struggle to push our limits, the way we think, and the social norms, but all we end up doing is shining a flashlight into a corner we haven't looked at. Everything was already there, we just decided that we'd turn our head in a different direction.

No More Painting on That Wall

(photo from New York Times)

I just thought this was a cool article about the end of an era.

My brother was a graffiti artist so I know first hand how much talent and work goes into it. We never had anything like this building in our city. I think it is awesome that a place like this existed and hope that somewhere in the future there will be someplace for free expression like this again.

Time ≠ Great Art

As an artist, one thing that I often get asked and overhear, is that people will ask how long it took for an artist to create the work of art.

If time was the best indicator of good art, the greatest painting would never be finished. And what does this say about photography? With the click of a shutter lasting 1/60 of a second or faster, by the more time equals better art method, photography would be the lowest form of art, if it would even merit such a label.

I heard a story once where a customer went into an art gallery to buy a painting. The customer found one he liked but its price was a little out of his price range. The customer called over the gallery owner and asked if he could lower the price since after all, how long could it have taken the artist to paint it anyway. The gallery owner replied it took sixty years. The artist was sixty years old when he painted it, and up until that time there was no way he could have painted it before that moment.

The point of this is simple. An artist's work is a reflection of who they are, the environment around them, and the skill they have acquired, not the time it took to create it.

A good thing to remember is if you like the artwork, then whatever time it took to make it was the correct amount. Any more or less would have produced a different work. And if it is a different work of art, who cares how long it took?

Delicate Dreams

Art is a delicate thing. When you first sketch an idea it's like a newborn bird, fumbling, fresh, unsteady, not ready to fly, and easily killed if let out of the nest too early.

The light of public scrutiny will surely burn away the idea to nothing. An artist has to protect the idea until it is robust enough to weather the spotlight of the sun.

And even then it can be smashed in the stampede. W. B. Yeats said it best.

"I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams. "

Photography Hates Black

Here is crappy picture of a good painting that I finished a few weeks ago.
My paintings are notoriously hard to photograph, since like Odilon Redon I believe, "Black is essential."

In the world of impressionists, black is considered taboo because they think it is less interesting than mixing colors to get the impression of black. But I find black extremely interesting since it catches the light and you can play with hidden shapes and figures in it that only can be seen when light hits it in certain ways.

In paint, black can be like a mirror that reflects the world around it when refracting photons at the right angle. Black can hint at deeper meanings and cover up hidden worlds. Black can be white with the right reflection, as seen in the highlights in black hair.

But unfortunately black and photography do not mix well since by its nature it absorbs and reflects light at the same time fooling light meters into reading wrong and causing lamps to show up as bright spots. I even paid a professional photographer to photograph my paintings once, and the results were actually worse than what I had been doing on my own.

One day, I know I will be able to figure out how to take proper photos of my paintings, but unfortunately today is not that day.

What Does Tennis Have to do with Art?

I love to make art but it is hard for me to talk about what my art means while I'm creating it.

While I'm drawing or painting people will ask me what it means, or what I'm trying to say?

I usually say something like, "I don't know. I just wanted to paint it," or some other not so elegant response.

To which they usually interject their thought, "Well, I think it's about... (inserting their comment here)."

Which is fine. It doesn't bother me, but it certainly doesn't make it clearer for me.

Now, someone might ask how I can make art without knowing what it means? And my best response is a story I overheard somewhere concerning tennis great John McEnroe. (This is from memory. And no, I don't know anything about tennis. It involves a ball right? j/k)

After a game in which John McEnroe won, a reporter asked the opponent why he lost, and he said something like, "Well, I need to be quicker with my footwork and my serve is a little slow."

Afterward, the reporter asked John McEnroe how come he won, and John McEnroe said, "I don't know. I just play tennis."

I'm sure people thought it was a stupid thing to say, but I think it was a great answer. In fact I think it was probably the best answer he could have given.

The Heisenberg principle, to paraphrase, says when you observe something you change it just by observing it, therefore you can't ever truly know its nature.

Examining my art while I'm making it would change it, and it would no longer be my art in some way.

So, if you ask what my art means I'll try to answer the best I can, but don't be too disappointed if all you get is, "Uh, I wanted to paint something."

Danger! Art Ahead!

I see art in everything. A new car, rusting bolts sticking out of a concrete overpass, the movements of a body while dancing, all of it is art.

Defining art is like sticking our head in a bucket of rattlesnakes and guessing which one will strike first, even when you're right, you're wrong. But I will take the plunge and say everything is art. Everything a person can hear, see, smell, touch, taste, or sense is art. This can lead us to some pretty weird places (and gross places) but somewhere along the way it is art.

Now beauty on the other hand is a whole different ballpark. I will stick to art and hope beauty hitches a ride.