Sometimes it says hello
And then sometimes I take it farther
This is an image created on my phone
window I snapped
this picture
Thought I saw
a face
so I drew a face
My Camera has all
these filters
so I add some to my
Picture
up top is what I got
I think my Phone
has a
consciousness
 |
Across the Line |
we don't always see.
They connect us
to each other
and our many planes
of existence.
These are the lines
I have made visible
as they move between
the planes.
I do not see them
I only feel them,
then imagine them.
We are connected.
 |
In Process |
other day that it seem like if you
create or want to own abstract art
you have to be comfortable with
being lost. The image to the right
is being worked on at the writing
of this blog post. It is in process,
that is not its title. I keep adding
elements and I am never sure
where it will go next. I tend
to spend long moments just staring
at it and then all of a sudden adding something.
It is as if I was lost in the woods with several directions I could
go in and then I just choose and go. With so many choices of
directions I could go in I think that is what keeps me making
art. Once I finish one piece with all its directional choices I start
over saying well let's take a different path.
So the next time you are looking at an abstract piece of art
ask yourself am I comfortable with being lost or do I need the
way to be clear. The art is not just about the artist, it is also
about you.
In the long process of a job this size I often have to remind myself I am making a place for a family to be and be comfortable. As an artist I find it difficult to make box after box, which is what cabinet making is, and not get board. Remembering I am making a home more comfortable for others is often what I use to keep me going.
 |
Cloudy Waters |
This is a Photo taken with a cell phone. Clouds reflecting in the water enhanced by a filter that Out lined the ripples on the water. The straight lines at the bottom are vibrations from my kayak. I really enjoy the reflected world.
I did another collaboration. On Fathers day I told my family I wanted to paint. So I had them all come over, I put out three primed panels and a bunch of paint and brushes and said pick a color, put a few marks on then pick another color and so on till we fill all three boards. The panel here is the smallest of the three. So once it was dry I started to draw into it.
This is the panel before draw-in
 |
| Catch It |
 |
Eye See |
I keep finding myself
caught in the movement
of line and color.
Sometimes I define myself as the line,
probably a control thing.
The color seems so out of control.
Is it the line that defines the color
or does the color simply allow the line
a place to be?
The color says, "sure, outline me,
run lines through me,
shade me in,
you can even black me out!"
The color does not care.
The color knows it is there
and in control,
I think.
Still caught up in it
so I don't really know
what's going on.
Random thought brought to you by art play.
 |
I am not buying that When I was young I played with dirt, rocks, sticks and sand and I made worlds for my plastic animals and cars to dwell. It was all called play, but at the time I worked at making the worlds a little bit better each time I engaged in the activity. I think I can say that this is where my passion for building and creating began: the sandbox. The computer age was a whole new sandbox or place to play. I have spent many hours exploring its applications to music, sound, video and photography. The image above is a combination of two photographs. They are colorized, layered, cropped, smeared and had different filters added to them. I did this time and time again. The thought I keep coming to is, was this work or play? If I ever sell this image it becomes labeled as work, because I made a profit. As it lives here in the computer world (never having been printed) can it be called artwork or is it artplay? Even my computer spell check recognizes the word artwork but not artplay. I just added it to my dictionary. I will be contacting Mr. Webster. My whole struggle is play gets a bad rap. I see play as the foundation or starting point of work. You play with something until you build enough skill to consider it work. Then the word practice enters in. So maybe the life progression is play, practice, work. I guess what I am advocating for is a life long continual return to play. I believe it is important for the grown-up community to constantly find new experiences of play. Life principal #(not yet established) - Find new materials to play with in a non-competitive manner. An activity that brings you joy with no specific result. That is Play. |
and this is my photo
I layered them together
some time ago
I have no memory of doing this
but I found it today
I like it
Thought:
I am letting go the structure
that has held me strong.
There is truer strength
in a yellow flower dancing
in the meadow's breeze
 |
| Sticks and Stones - Art of Play |
I collect moments
in and out of each and every day
sometimes even in the middle of the night
Moments gather
and fill my pockets
They are mostly made of air and light
These moments remind me that I am here
They look and say hey you were there
They are my baggage and too my joy
can be forgotten, but I cannot destroy
There are moments I hold close
and many I push away
To stop the moments from coming
would be to choose a dying day
You see moments multiply
to let you know you are living
As long as you keep collecting
time will keep on giving
I have never seen this
I mean, in reality, something that looks like this.
Well, maybe it is like a bunch of leaves crumpled under a bush.
I was not looking at the leaves as I drew.
I sloshed a bunch of paint on a canvas,
swirled it around and let it dry.
Then I drew into the shapes in the paint
and like the crumpled leaves it was just there.
Into some of the spaces I scrawled my emotional language,
the little lines and shapes
that are a graffiti of sorts that lets you know I was here, or there
and was trying to speak to a divine entity
who may be able to interpret random scrawling.
I am calling this Abstract Art.
It is a practice, because I do it again and again
with the intent of getting somewhere.
The thought I keep coming to is: if I get to this somewhere some day,
will it still be abstract or will it all become clear?
