Change the world

The stunning new Kony 2012 video is going hyper viral right now and is entirely new to my experience. I have shared it on facebook & google+ as well as posting it on my senators' pages. If you haven't seen it, you should. It's a 30 minute youtube video intended to result in the arrest of Ugandan warlord known as Kony. It's told in a highly personal and moving fashion.
As with anything creating so much attention, its getting a fair ammount of criticism. I think the critics may come to regret their posotions. Sure, there are flaws in the filmakers aproach to this problem, and sure there are other ways to solve it. Yes there are countless other equally heinous crimes being commited in the world, but no one solution is perfect, and all this criticism can possibly accomplish is to keep Kony in power, an no one wants that.
This video is galvanizing the public like nothing I've ever seen before, and continued, sustained focus on this problem will solve it faster and more effectively than anything else.
Watch the video. Pass it on. Donate if you can. Let your reps in congress know this issue is important to you. Let's act together and change the world.

Salon's Woman Problem

I love Salon. That's why I have this blog here. (Not because of Julie & Julia, that's for sure!) But every once in while, they do something silly. Lately, it's been a string of articles with the words "Woman Problem" in the title. The latest is about the Oscars. Are you kidding me? The Oscars have a female catagory for every male catagory. True the majority of writers and directors are men, but that's the industry (and society) that the Oscars exist within, not the Oscars fault. I get the feeling that some editor read something in Google Anatytics that made them think that the phrase "Woman Problem" would get them more eyeballs. That is the kind of thinking that made Huffpo the load of crap it is today.

On Top of Everything I have a Cold.

Well, the holidays are over and I made it out alive. I didn't have a great Christmas retail season, but my business is still in the learning stages. One piece of mine on Etsy was chosen to be in 8 different treasury lists by the people who curated them. Several others were also in treasuries. I think it’s because I joined a team called “Etsy on Facebook”, or EOF. There are thousands of members, many of whom are buyers (not just other sellers) anyone can join, & they have “discussions” where you post your listings and you favorite someone’s listing and hopefully someone will favorite yours. Your favorites (and theirs show up as people browse through Etsy while they shop. the more of your listings are favorited, the better chance someone will who might buy it will see it. Another piece was favorited 14 times the first night I posted it.

That listing is an original landscape I painted specifically to sell as an original on Etsy. Many of my paintings were originally meant to be illustrations for cards or stories, & I don’t really want to sell them. So I decided that I should create some originals to sell at moderate prices. Night landscapes are my favorite non religious subject to paint, but as I am painting to sell, I’m painting things I think people are looking for. I will continue to do night landscapes and spiritual paintings, as well as block prints, but I am trying to expand my repertoire. Landscape (regular day landscapes), and I decided to paint woodland creatures too. I originally wanted to do a painting a day, but that is a tough goal to keep. I’ve painted a couple of paintings that didn’t come out because I didn’t give them enough time or have the right reference to work from or whatever.

To this end I purchased a poshod box with my Xmas bonus (thank you San Clemente Art Supply) it is a Sienna brand that I have had my eye on for some time. I got the medium [there is no small apparently; it’s like Starbucks; ) .] It fits in my new backpack that my girlfriend, Rose, got me for Christmas. I also got a tripod with a gift certificate that I got. (A poshod box is like a French easel that attaches to a camera tripod or can be used on a table top without the tripod) I got my first opportunity to use it today and went out to the hills near my girlfriend’s house. I could never have painted in that spot without the poshod box. As a watercolorist, I have talked myself out of getting it for a long time because any flat surface can be used to paint on (like a much less expensive TV tray for instance.) but on this hillside, I doubt I could have even set up a French easel which isn’t as adjustable as a tripod. The painting came out O.K. I guess. I was irritated that at the end I nearly wrecked it by putting in to heave a brush stroke on a branch of the tree in the foreground. Then I erased half the tree when I wiped it off. It was late in the afternoon and I had to get home, it was getting dark too, so I was really short on time. I fixed it pretty quick which was good, but also irritating because it took me all day to paint but only a minute to fill in what had been wiped away. Still I’m happy with it over all.

Finally, I am also creating bookmarks. One I made specifically to be a bookmark & another I made from an existing illustration. I hope all this begins to pay off soon. I really hope to begin to learn how to make this into my livelihood. This is the year to realize that the artists I know aren’t superhuman, their work isn’t any better than mine (mostly) and that I am just as much of an artist as they are and I should start acting like it. My next move will be to join the San Clemente Art Association.

Wish me luck.

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.