The Night Wind

The night wind blows cold to the bone
Scatters all that is light & without weight
Cold to the bone
Howling through the empty streets
Stripping the trees
Cold to the bone
Oblivious relentless
Until there is nothing
Save my heavy heart
Cold to the bone

abstract = spiritual? (add a question mark to cover your a**)

My past 2 endeavours have been at abstract paintings. I'm trying to get a more immediate spiritual impact with my viewers. Also, I feel like abstract paintings (if done successfully) have some kind of fine art legitimacy that my regular illustrative paintings may lack. I used to want to create "abstract representational" paintings. I haven't tried that in a long time and at least the nightscape is an attempt to get back to that feel. they are both just in progress. so I'll let you know how it goes.

The second painting has some subtractive elements, I haven't been able to utilize in watercolors before thanks to a brush called a scrubber. It's very liberating!

Questions. Answers?

In a continuation of yesterdays post, I thought some further explanitory information might be in order. Why am I compelled to start a spiritual project of this nature at this time? What is the ultimate goal of the project? Why do I think anyone would be interested in such a project? What makes me think I'm qualified to dissimanate my thoughts and feelings on this subject?
Why am I compelled to start a spiritual project of this nature at this time?
I am always looking for the next thing that I should put out in the world. I need to: A. make a living, and B. fulfill  my self as a human. Not necisarrily in that order. Ideally, I'd like to be able to do both at the same time, such as with painting whether it's greeting cards, saint's portraits, or story illustrations. This project may never turn into something that could pay the rent, but much of my work is spiritual in nature, and it occurs to me that it's mostly allagorical, and that I might be able to better comunicate a more straightforward message. Plus as I haven't tried this approach, I will hopefully cover some new ground artistically. These reasons are practical but they seem to need to take a backseat to a greater reason in a project in which the primary focus is spirituallity. Spirituallity is of paramount importance to me which is why so much of my work embraces it. I find in life I must devote myself to being a spiritual being, and yet allow myself to live in this material world. This feels like the right next step.
 Let me add something at this point. Recently, while trying to figure out a way to make my prints more special, I decided that if I said a blessing over them, they might bring their receipients more comfort, and, I admit it, they might sell better. It occured to me further that if someone with spriritual credentials were to do the blessing, it might be more legitimate, or seem so to my potential buyers. It was at this point I remembered that some of my friends had become ministers to perform marriages through an online website. I realised at this point that I could go through this procedure, and gain spiritual credentials; thus making my blessings more legitimate. As always, just investigating something online, means actually doing it. So I did, and now I'm a licenced minister. That was a while ago, and I've felt; much like Jonah, that it was now my duty to pursue a more spiritual vocation.
What is the ultimate goal of the project?
As I said I'd like to turn it into a book or some kind of project that could lead to publication. I'm not trying to convert anyone, or become a religeous leader, or get a religious following. I think my spiritual thoughts are possitve and will have a possitive effect on anyone who chooses to expose themselves to them. Spoiler alert: I believe God is Love and that we should act accordingly.
Why do I think anyone would be interested in such a project?
Maybe no one will. This is going to be a long term project that is partly going to be about not trying to get people to like it. I always want people to like my work, but I live with my mom & have a part time job because I can't support myself with my work. I'm sure I need more professional promotion, but I also need to stop trying to do what I think people will like, and do what I think needs to be done. Of course, in a week, I will be saying "maybe this should be more approachable because part of an artists job is to connect with people. This is how it is for now.
What makes me think I'm qualified to dissimanate my thoughts and feelings on this subject?
We are all spiritual beings. My experiences will either show people what works or show people what doesn't work; either way it should help. I hope.

Infinity & Beyond!

Sometimes I come up with ideas too big to finish. I have a lot of projects that I've started that have not gotten very far. The Song of Yendor is a case in point. It is a novel who's idea came to me when I was 15. (Back then the hero's name was Eric.) I've written the 1st chapter many times and now I just write a story from the endless epic whenever it hits me. I call that a chapter & hope that one day there will be a narrative there. (This link contains stories from another book Into the Woods that is being written in a similar fashion, but is not an endless epic.)

Sometimes I don't mention my ideas to anybody because it just adds to the list; which is predictably & ironically, an endless epic. My method of working is usually that when I get on an idea, I work on it, until I'm stuck and then I work on something else; usually returning to an idea that I was previously stuck on, but have now had time to mull over and approach from a different angle. Then, at some future point, I return to the first idea in turn.

Many of my projects are one shot ideas: greeting cards, a self contained painting, etc... They may become part of a larger milieu; such as a series of night landscapes or Madonnas, or other saint's portraits. I try to promote my work regularly and come up with projects along those lines too; i.e., join Zazzle, Greeting Card Universe, Etsy and the like.

Most of my "too big to finish" projects are writing projects. The reason for this post is that I have another one. I have been trying to write & illustrate stories which exhibit analogies of my spiritual thoughts. My new idea is to write & illustrate non-analogous poems, stories & essays about these ideas and their application in the real world. That is to say; instead of how a wizard or 17th century teenager comes to grip with the world around them; write down my own thoughts on the subject. The structure would be to couple a poem with an illustration. This would allow for "doable" pieces to be completed as I continue the kaleidoscope of projects I have already undertaken. Perhaps I will start a new blog, perhaps I will filter it into an existing one. Tumblr would be a perfect venue for this kind of work.

Insane!

It's 3am and I just finished making cards to sell at my girlfriend Rose's jewelry show, going on at her house today at 1pm. She invited me to do this when she first started planning weeks ago. I declined and I can't remember why. Now I've changed my mind and am scrambling to produce cards. We've been promoting it on facebook & very few people have responded, so there's a good chance that not many will show up, but one wants to be prepared, which I am not. I would have liked to make a bunch more. The cards I printed from the computer didn't print inside, and the lino print cards need to be mounted on cardstock. This turned out to be WAY more of an ordeal than it sounds like. I plan on mounting more at the event, but I won't have my printer so we will see how that goes. Also, I don't have enough envelopes. Ugh!

It's Coming Right at Us!

Christmas is fast approaching, and I Have a feeling I'll still be getting ready for it when it's gone. I should be done with cards, but knowing that there's time between now and Christmas makes me just want to keep designing new ones. I'll make the one that everyone just has to have, and that will open the floodgates to the selling out of everything else in the store. That's the fantasy. The reality is I need to figure out how to promote my store(s) cheaply and efficiently. Dropping my life's savings into advertising on Summergetaways.com might get me some eyeballs on my sight, but there's probably a better way to go.

My budget for advertising this year is free. I can advertise anywhere that's free. Actually, that means facebook & google+, which is better than nothing, but not much. So I'm interested in google adwords. I love google. they own this blogsite, the browser I'm using (chrome), the software that operates my phone (droid), my email carrier, and of course google+ (which many people are saying isn't a big deal, but there are a ton of people on there). Of course they also use the search engine that is most popular for finding things, so they have tools to help people who invest in their products. My girlfriend who runs ahtees designs, turned me on to Google adwords keyword tool, which analyses and suggests keywords, the tags that help people find your stuff.

I just joined for the purpose of reporting the cost to this blogpost, and they let you create whatever budget you want. I put in $2 a day which doesn't sound like much, but is considerably more that $0. In fact; it is 2x365 or $730 a year, so that's an estimate based on how much I spend on coffee a day. It's also about $60 a month. This is kind of a lot for me, but I have no idea how it translates into how much advertising it will buy. They say that once my budget is exhausted for the day that my ads will stop appearing. That means that perhaps they wont be seen during high traffic times, but it doesn't matter because it's not tv or radio, only one person is looking at each screen, so the same number of people will be exposed to my ads whether its all in the morning or spread throughout the day. There's also pay per click (again a bid I set that I have no idea how competitive it is.) I didn't intend to get this deep into this subject for the purpose of this post, but I've been hovering over the "join now" button for a while, and I haven't commited to anything yet, so I'm ok so far. I'll let you know when I know more.

I finnished the Santa card, and need to make more shirts, and designs. I'll leave you with this: successful people are the ones who do what they love.

Dragon print $10.00

This dramatic print of the mythic dragon embodies symbolism from Eastern & Western cultures. In the far East, the dragon is a symbol of wisdom & enlightenment; in the West the spiral is a symbol of infinity. This aspect is emphasized by the way the serpent cannot be contained within the limits of the frame.
The print is on recycled black paper with faux deckled edges.
Print is 8x10.