Poll Results

Should I trash this painting?
Edges...aaaaaaaaaaargh. I am wanting to trash it.

Only two people took the poll and both were for keeping it. I guess is two people on the planet thinks it's worth keeping...I'll keep it...for now.

New Year Art Resolutions - 2009

1. To first straighten up my studio and make it more conducive to creating art.
2. To prep canvases with rabbit skin glue which I have been putting off.
3. To work with more consistency and thus be more productive each week.
4. To learn how to paint a painting in one hour.
5. To take a life drawing class in January.
   
6. To produce 20 finished pieces of art this year: 7 still life paintings, 7 landscapes, 6 portraits/figures.
7. To stop being so critical of myself; to pray for divine artistic inspiration; to trust that my best effort is good enough for me and the Lord.
   

Resolutions are nothing more than goal setting. Without goals, little can be accomplished. To accomplish this goal in 52 weeks I would have to complete 1 painting every 2.5 weeks. When you look at it in that way, it does not seem so impossible.

The Coming Reign of Jesus...

***
" For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor,
The mighty God,
The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace."

Jesus is that prophesied child.
He was rejected by his own...
His Jewish brethren for
our sakes.

"Of the increase of [his] government
and
peace [there shall be] no end,
upon the throne of David,
and upon his kingdom, to order it,
and to establish it with judgment
and
with justice from henceforth even for ever."

The zeal of the LORD of hosts
will perform this.
--Isaiah's prophecy Chapter 9:6-7

***
May Jesus come soon to establish His government
upon this earth at last.

Consider that during the time that Jesus walked
upon this earth He never had the government
"upon his shoulders."

This is a prophecy yet to be fulfilled and He is
the Messiah that every Jew has been looking for; this special people
whose eyes have been blinded for a short time
for our sake ... so that the Gentile Church may be brought into
the Kingdom of God...that "twig" grafted into the olive tree...
and
In that latter day Jesus will indeed place the government
upon His shoulders, then every Jewish eye and every Jewish ear will
at last be opened to reveal Jesus the Messiah who is and
has always been their Messiah and ours.

Jesus may come very soon now because
what was prophesied concerning
His second coming to earth
has almost been completely fulfilled.

"And when these things begin to come to pass,
then look up,
and lift up your heads;
for your redemption draweth nigh."
Gospel of Luke 21:28

Seeing....

Why can't I "see" in works of art what other artists see? (i.e. artists whom I respect very much) Other very skilled artists see so readily fantastic things ... in modern art? Yet, I can't "see" what they see. Why is that?

Often I am tempted to wonder ... whether this is truthfulness or a bias issue. Then I think .... no ... they must be "seeing" something that I am still not trained to see...I guess. Now I am no novice. I have been trying to "see" this in modern contemporary art for 30 years. Read books tell I'm cross-eyed and so bored I'm nearly brain dead. Goobbly-goop.

I just don't get the fascination with the 2 dimension surface...the canvas surface. Haven't we explored that enough? Where is the interest that grips the viewer in this abstract "power art" that is suppose to be "telling" some sort of "story" in a "powerful" way .

Do you have to have a PhD to understand it this stuff...is it snobbery or an invention of taste that blinds the eye?

Well some of this art is not saying anything to me ... but I defer to the experts. I guess I do not have the intelligence to be a "great" artist in their eyes.

But, why then is it that I can in fact "see" dynamism in J.M.W. Turner's landscapes/seascapes especially his later works? Powerful, big, dynamic paintings.

While one artist is berated for being "dull" with no variety of strokes, and labeled a method painter, unimaginative ... another painter is praised for being brilliant with BORING shapes ... yet I don't see a variety of strokes in their paintings either ... nor do I see anything so dynamic that my interest is held more than a few seconds?

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrggg

Maybe it is my monitor or a need for new glasses.

THIS is why I became a graphic artists in the 1967 and not a fine artist. I was NOT fascinated with abstract expressionism and it was do or die then.

December Life Drawing

Frustrations of Struggling Artist...
It is no wonder that I cannot get much done. Constant interruptions and family duties call me away from productive painting sessions in my studio. Then when I have a day or two, I am still so distracted that my sessions produce nothing worth keeping. In frustration I usually start tearing up my work. In fact, I have made the mistake of trying to take unfinished works only to end up destroying them. Everything ends in the trash can.

Painting for me requires me to be in the right frame of mind (I think). I have tried so many times to just push through a bad session but ultimately I'm driven to quit and walkout fiercely frustrated. Then that fear makes it hard to enter the studio again.

Thankfully, this life drawing session is saving the day for me. With absolutely no planning, no expectations, I just go and do it. If something good happens fine but if not, it doesn't matter. Now it's the holidays...forget doing anything serious for me.

December Life Drawing...


This is from December Life Drawing ... I wish I could get better images. These are somewhat overly contrasted next to the originals.