Day 53: I Tried

A friend of mine and I spent the day at the National Gallery of Art, looking at “important” works of the 19th and 20th centuries … most of it modern. This was a valuable experience since she’s been through art school; I dropped out.

I’m not a great fan of abstract expressionism, but I am tolerant and have tried to develop an understanding of it. That said, the first room we went into had a bunch of Rothko, Manet and Pollock. Yikes! Those were some disturbed individuals!

One of the other things we discussed was the Golden Mean (a Classical system of distribution of aesthetic elements), composition, and path of the eye ... ie. focal points. These are some things I’ve worked with since high school art, and I’m sure there was a passing mention in the 101 level college classes I went through. So in some ways, it’s old, and some ways, it’s new. And hopefully, you are always learning new ways to approach old problems.

With this painting, I tried very hard to incorporate the expressionism, the proportion, etc. Personally? I hate this painting. I hope someone gets some enjoyment out of it, otherwise, I’ve wasted paint.

Day 50: Fesso

This guy, whom I met in China at an international clown festival, (see day 17: Dado, who was this guy’s roommate) had a big freakin’ inflatable hammer and the punk would skateboard around this huuuuge park (kinda like a small Central Park) and whack random people on the head. Once I was doing a street show for a crowd of Chinese gawkers, and out of nowhere, WHACK! I fell on the ground, motionless for about a minute. When I got up, the stunned audience laughed their asses off. Fesso was about 100 yards away on a bridge, jumping up and down, taunting me with his hammer before scooting away again to find another clown to brutalize.

This is now his profile picture on FaceBook, which made me proud.

It’s interesting to me how performers, can form deep connections quickly. We became friends quickly – I don’t know why – and we hung out a bunch for the month. But my theory is that when you’re an entertainer, your social group is constantly changing because you’re traveling a lot. As a social animal, we as humans need to adapt, either by forming a group, which could become insular and xenophobic, or develop the ability to make deep and meaningful connections quickly. This ability is especially useful for clowns (and other comedians, public speakers, etc.), who need to get an audience to like them and go along for the ride within the first 20 seconds.

And yes, that is a frying pan on his head.

Day 48: pointillism study #1

Painted entirely without brushes. I took the technique from Day 45: Rocky Mountains Wolf and tried to do a whole painting with it. This is nobody in particular, but when it started to look like Tom Hanks a bit, I just went with it.

Maybe Albert Brooks.

David Letterman?

Day 46: This is your brain

Dayum, painting translucent stuff isn’t easy. Brains are also one of those things that I’ve tried to draw a number of times, but never really had a life reference to draw from. Not too many people are willing to pull off the tops of their skulls for art.

Fortunately, I found a photo of a brain and worked from that. The whole time I was painting this, I was grumbling: “This would have been 10 times easier to do in Photoshop.”

I have long been amused by the whole "this is your brain on drugs" commercials of my youth ... not that I was into drugs, but the question always came up: why are some drugs "good," and some are "bad?"

Interestingly, marijuana is increasingly embraced by the medical community, Novocaine and its relatives have replaced cocaine for dental anaesthesia, merely because it lasts longer, and good ol' morphine (first cousin of heroin) is still recognized as "one of the best" by the severe pain management sector of medicine.

I'm not saying everyone should go out and get themselves addicted to something harmful (such as the above mentioned substances, in addition to cigarettes, alcohol, caffeine, or high-fructose corn syrup), but I question why punishments for using those substances, with the theory that "it can ruin your life" usually involve prison. In other words, if you get caught smoking a little weed, we throw you in prison to be possibly beaten, raped, or killed ... and when you get out, you will be ineligible for many of the better jobs ... so that pot doesn't ruin your life.

But hey, eggs are yummy. Hold the brains.

Day 45: Rocky Mountains Wolf

The wife requested this. I'm not big on landscapes so it was good to be pushed. Played with some stippling techniques. I was pleased. I've also long had trouble depicting animals. Well, realism in general has always been a struggle for me, since it takes practice, dedication, and a desire to take photographs with the brush. I figure photographs were meant for cameras.

Interestingly, I had a beautiful day in the autumn, spending a day communing with nature in the woods behind our house, hanging with the dog, and feeling the last of the late Autumn yellow and red leaves breathe. I left the dog to his devices for a few minutes and climbed up a half-fallen tree and just felt the majesty of the woods. I was still long enough that a huge flock of migrating birds perched for a few minutes. Then they took off, mere feet above my head ... the thunder of their wings was just magical, like I could hear the muscles and tendons wrapped around their hollow bones, and feel their hearts beating as one as they effortlessly defied gravity. It kills me that birds can fly just as easy as it is for us to walk. All they have to trade for it is having hands. Would I trade flight for the ability to juggle, paint, or perform basic hygiene? Hmmm...

That had nothing to do with this painting ... I just wanted to share.

Day 44: Sneltram Returns

An old friend. My art show in 2006 featured almost exclusively paintings of this guy. I can’t believe I got a month and a half into this project before he came to visit. I have a great love of Basil Wolverton’s pen & ink artwork (1950s-70s, weird artist for, among other things, Mad Magazine (when it was still a comic book) and “Plop!” magazine. He created Lena the Hyena (created for the Lil’ Abner cartoon strip.) He inspired folks like R. Crumb and much of the underground comics movement of the 1970s seemed to follow in his footsteps. So I’m about 35 years late on this one, and I don’t care.

Strangely, I started painting Sneltram for my art show (after “discovering” him during a 2005 artists' retreat with friends in the Virginia mountains), but later, I found an old sketchbook from 1991, when I was traveling in Amsterdam doing juggling shows on the street. There he was. I’d originally been inspired by the Dutch word for “Express Light Rail Train” (Sneltram) and decided that had to be a cartoon character’s name. It only took me 15 years to do something with the idea.

So when I say an old friend, he really has been in my life for a long time.

Day 43: Navigation

I don’t know how much I should say about this one (or any of them for that matter) as I want people to enjoy the works through their own filters. In fact, before reading on, you might want to think about what this means to you.

Once upon a time, I would draw or paint something and if people didn’t “get” exactly what I envisioned, I’d be hurt that they didn’t see what I wanted them to. I’ve been noticing since I started this project, I’ve found myself genuinely interested in what other people see. Sometimes it’s better than what I saw. Sometimes it’s evidence that I need to expand on my technical skill.

In any case, I’ve given you ample time to form your own vision on this painting. To me, it’s the guide: whether a parent, older sibling, teacher, or random saint (those sorts of wise folks you occasionally meet while traveling through life who may not even realize the effect they have). Someone whose life has basically shot them full of holes. We all have them. Sometimes literal, physical scars; emotional, energetic, … I think part of the healing process is to guide others through those injuries to the soul. Hence, “Navigation.”

Other people have seen different things in it. They're not wrong. What do you see?

Day 42: Bittersweet Reunion

OK, I admit I’m a vegetarian. But one with a sense of humor. For instance, about 5 or 6 years ago, my relentless brother was teasing me with a chunk of turkey on Thanksgiving, so I grabbed it off his fork and ate it. I was amused; he was shocked, and he never did that again. I think that's the last time I ate any turkey. I still call myself a vegetarian in the same way a yawning motorcyclist can be a vegetarian, despite the swallowed bugs. It is incidental, not a habit.

This painting amuses me greatly though, and would even if I did still eat pork. My long-held belief is that a person should not eat meat if they’re not willing to kill the animal themselves. For a long time, whenever I ate animal flesh, I would take a moment and imagine that animal alive. Later, I would imagine myself slitting that animal’s throat and feeling its warm blood trickle down my arm.

I was very proud of this and was espousing my high-and-mightiness to a colleague. I said something I’d said a number of times: “I wish I had the opportunity to kill an animal, just so I could put my money where my mouth is.”

“What do you want to kill?” he asked. I’d forgotten this guy’s a deer and goose hunter. He has a good relationship with his butcher. I stopped talking and thought about it. Pigs are about as smart as my dog. Cows aren’t too different from horses. (which the French eat, and so have I). I went down the list and haven’t eaten pig or cow since. I continued to occasionally eat fish and chicken, which I would still kill, if I had to. More recent information has caused me to rethink that, too.

A lot of bloviating on the subject, but all this was in my head when this idea percolated to the top.

This painting also reminds me of one of my favorite jokes. (Google "wooden leg pig" if you don't know it)

day 41:

The wife, a huge animal lover says as a child, she never pulled cats’ tails, pulled wings off flies, nor did she do that fake-throw fetch trick to the dog. Of course not. She wasn’t a boy. (still isn’t!) But the one thing she says she did, which could be construed as vile and evil and animal cruelty: when she found snails, she’d tap their antennae to watch them go, “plip!” back into their heads.

CALL THE ASPCA!

Boy, was I tired and moving slowly. I understood exactly what this guy was feeling. I may have failed here since not everyone sees what I see in my paintings. Fortunately, I have (mostly) gotten over being upset when people don't "get" it.

Once, Jack Kerouac snuck into a college lecture on his book "On the Road." The prof was bloviating and after a while, Kerouac raised his hand and said, "actually, I think what the author was trying to say was [xxx]." The professor said, "no, you're wrong. What he meant was ... [yyy]." Kerouac stood up and said, "Well, actually, I know on good authority I am not wrong. You see, I am Jack Kerouac." Then he walked out.

Was the professor entirely wrong? Who's to say? I'm not.

In any case, I was tired. Bone tired. It was 2am with a couple of beers in me and still hadn't painted. How to depict that? How about a narcoleptic snail? Go!

Day 40: Disembodied Clown Essence

Dr. Boots, with whom I work frequently at the hospital, distilled down to remove all corporeal form, yet still embody the spirit of a clown. I didn’t really mean to channel him, but when I pulled the idea of “traditional clown” out of the ether, that’s what came out.

Whenever I paint a clown, I am always self-conscious to not make them look "pretty," "cute" or "happy." The ideas of a "happy clown" or a "sad clown," to me, are overly simplistic. Clowns, being a fun-house mirror image of the human soul, all have a full range of emotion. Anyone who always shows the same emotion is either not that deep or they're hiding something. A true Clown has looked into their soul and has made friends with their imperfections and foibles, warts and all. But I digress.

One of my favorite thoughts on the subject is from Bill Irwin, Macarthur Award-winning Clown and Tony award winner (and hero of mine) ... An interviewer said, 'it must be great to have a job where you make people happy." Mr. Irwin replied, "I don't make people happy. I make them laugh. The happiness is up to them."

Zen poetry befitting a clown.

Day 39: Smiley's Bad Day

I had drawn one of these years ago as a birthday gift for a friend. The wife wanted one, too. It only took 10 years. Where’s my Ritalin?

I love the smiley face. The story I heard is it was designed by Harvey Ball, a free-lance graphic designer for State Mutual Life Assurance Company in 1963, who received $45 for his work.

The symmetry and the simplicity are so elegant, yet it is extremely hard to execute well. Ball designed Smiley with hand tools -- computer graphic design was science fiction -- we hadn't even yet been on the moon! (and walking through the Apollo 11 module at NASM shows just how primitive our "computer systems" were back then).

Compasses, protractors and a French curve were all this guy had. I tried the same and it came out looking kinda lumpy. Of course, Ball used pen and ink; paint is a bit rougher.

Day 38: demon in the dark

Playing with light. Had this image in my head and wanted to see what it would look like. Maybe a Bogeyman. Who knows? I know I had a night light when I was young, but this guy never scared me. Well, at least not until the 7-year-old girl down the street informed me of him (and described him). Still, I was more freaked out by the dudes in "Beneath the Planet of the Apes," when they took off their faces. Yeccch!

I wanted to do this in all black-and-white except for the moon. It would have worked in pen & ink, but here, I felt compelled to use color. Glad I did.

Day 37: Clouds

From inside, looking outward? I imagined looking out from inside the hollow of a tree. Anything else is in the eye of the beholder.

I love trees. When I was in Thailand, enjoying the natural wonders they sometimes mix into their omelettes, I put my hand on the trunk of a palm tree, and ever since then, they have had a grounding effect. We all like looking at trees (at least, I hope) but there’s something really special about putting your hand on these creatures rooted in the same earth that feeds us and is the foundation of all our endeavors.

When working with environmental educators, it became clear that people focused on air and water, yet we take our soil for granted. The best soil to grow food on is also the best soil on which to build a shopping mall. Or a road.

So I like trees, and I can think of few things more peaceful than sitting inside the womb of a tree, safely looking outward. Well, in theory, as long as the bugs stay out of my pants.

Day 35&36: Rainbow Heaven and Hell

Experimenting with a masking technique. Also wanting to get ahead, in case I miss a day. This painting connects to the one for Day 36. I painted them together. They stand on their own as separate pieces, or can be hung together, side-by-side, or one on top of its inverted mate. I do plan on some triptychs (3 paintings on a theme, see Hieronymus Bosch’s “Garden of Earthy Delights” or any number of Renaissance religious paintings in 3 parts, but displayed as a whole) …

I have long been fascinated by the stories we’ve told each other to explain why we’re here. Because Judaism and Christianity have been so pervasive in Western culture (especially the USA, where I've spent the majority of my life), I’ve been especially fascinated with them. Christianity in particular has adapted to the tastes of the populace wherever it goes.

My research has shown the early Christians were masters at marketing their product, borrowing and adapting multiple-gods ideas from pagan peoples and applying the idea of saints, to aid the conversion of the pantheists. The vilification of a horned god to personify the Hebrew concept of Satan (viewed by Judaism as our own "Evil Inclination (Yetzer Hara)" -- the urges within us which hinder our better selves) http://www.beingjewish.com/basics/satan.html . Borrowing from the Jews, Christian Missionaries of the Middle Ages took the idea of the evil that resides inside each of us (Satan) and embodied it with the image of a horned Pagan god to make the non-Christian religions seem wrong.

In any case, the horned, red-faced Satan and the image of a bearded Caucasian God (Zeus? Jupiter?) make fine iconic shorthand for our cartoons.

So ... Fire and ice. Good and evil. Heaven and Hell. Pan and Zeus. Odin and Loki. Yin and Yang. Take your pick. You'll be right.

Day 30: Baba Yaga 2

The wife complained that the painting from Day 27 (Baba Yaga) was too dark. Historically, Baba Yaga was not considered evil. Her role in older mythos was to help those that have already died to find their way to the Spirit Realm. So although she was associated with death, her role was benevolent. This is similar to the Greek character Charon, the boatman at the River Styx (to whom you needed whom you paid to ferry you to the underworld, as we all learned from Chris de Burgh). At some point, Christianity came in, with more patriarchal leanings, and it was most efficacious to slander the older beliefs, vilifying the older gods/spirits/myths.

In any case, to appease the wife, I painted a friendly, happy Baba Yaga, playing with the child she’d given a flying mortar-and-pestle ride to a couple days ago. All is well and everyone’s happy.

This painting brought up some of my issues about trying to make one work to have the same look and feel of another work. When I do a completely new thing each time, my difficulty in making one thing look like another thing isn't apparent.

Additionally, I like to come up with new ideas each time. It's a mark of pride to be able to pull random things out of mid-air, spin them, and create gold. (Silver? Bronze? Corroded tin?) That said, I do recognize there's nothing wrong with visiting "old friends." Watching a documentary of Jackie Gleason, he said when he was putting together the "Jackie Gleason Show" (the show which created "The Honeymooners"), he realized if they were to do a weekly hour, it would behoove him to have recurring characters. I'm not yet settled on that idea, but it's definitely something on my mind.

I do plan at some point to flip through the paintings from the beginning part of my project and see where else those ideas take me. I'll save that for a day when I feel particularly empty.

Day 29: Directions

A few weeks ago, a particular thread on facebook got a visit from the “Drama Lama.” The wife and I were at a nexus at that drama, so that night, I decided to paint the drama. Originally, I just wanted to make a background and paint something on top (not even sure if I had an idea at the time) but this came out. I did some refining, but it’s an abstraction that I kinda like. I don't know how the colors are on your monitor, but I tried to get this scan to match the real thing, but then I realized your computer display is probably darker than mine, so it's futile. You want realistic accuracy, you gotta come to my art shows next year.

Day 28: Haring Cthulhu

It was a late night. I was compelled to paint, even though I was exhausted. “Think iconic,” I thought to myself. Keith Haring’s art came to mind as a style I could wing out quickly. I love the play of contrasts in art, not just in light or color, but also concept. Keith Haring’s art is always bright, happy and positive. It wasn’t a long stretch to find the opposite of that: Cthulhu. Satan seems just too ... friendly by comparison.

Day 10: I Will Finish What I …

I imagine those with an artistic mind, overachievers, people with ADD/ADHD, and parents should know this feeling/anxiety. How this came about: I was flipping through sketchbooks looking for inspiration for today’s painting and I found this rough idea scrawled in a margin. I finished filling that sketchbook in 1996. I thought it was funny then, and I think it’s funny now. What’s funnier is the idea remained in a sketchbook for over 13 years!

It was particularly fun to use paint to create a chalkboard. I worked a lot with the wet paint and studied a number of reference photos to get that mostly-erased look on the background, which came out way more trompe l’oeil than I expected. I’ve been learning a bit with masks in Photoshop of late and I’m seeing that masking tape is the primitive form of that technique. It’s pretty awesome in both the analog and digital worlds. Photoshop enables much more complex masking, but even just a straight strip of tape can create delightful results.

day 7: I Drive a Babe Magnet

My beloved 1994 Toyota Corolla wagon. Leaks oil, transmission slips. Dinged, dented, what's left of the rear struts rattles around like Harvey Fierstein with bronchitis ... but it still gets 30-34 mpg loaded up with junk.

It's on its last legs and I intend to drive it into the ground, but I just received word from my mechanic that the struts are completely gone and will cost $650 to replace, and probably will need an alignment. So I know I'm going to have to shop for a new car.

I'm hard on my cars on the inside but I try to maintain the motor. But the missing hubcaps (and recently I covered it with band-aid shaped bumper stickers) say I don't really care to be struttin' around in a Beemer.

So $650 to put it on hospice is overkill. I know it'll die soon so I'm going to slowly find a good used Toyota/Honda with under 100,000 miles. (wish SUVs didn't replace wagons in this country). Unfortunately, the other day, I ran over a nail. I patched the tire, but it inflated weird (it started to look like Jabba the Hut with a goiter) so I had to buy a new tire. The cheapest I could find was 60 bucks, gol ding it! I paid, since donuts aren't supposed to last more than 100 miles, then it's borrowed time, and the wife expressed concern that I was planning on borrowing that time. My mechanic corroborated, stating that the donut is made of a different type of rubber and is designed for getting you from the side of the road to the auto shop.

In any case, I painted this one up before all this came down. Just a tribute to an old friend and an acknowledgment that I know I'm not going to impress the ladies in this beloved pile of junk.

I want to revisit painting another car at some point ... I know I can do better, but it isn't a strength. I have been working on perspective, but that's one of those things you get in art school which I chose to run away from. Plus, I prefer organic shapes with fewer straight lines. Curse you Greek mathematicians with your straight lines and Platonic ideals!

Day 6: Nerd Starter Kit

Well, I'm not normally a realism guy, but I thought I'd give it a whirl. Normally, I like to make some sort of statement or story with my work, even if it's a study of some sort.

This day was different. I wanted to find something to paint and looked down at a couple of objects I'd left on the table after work: a Uniball pen and my fake glasses.

About halfway through, I realized there was still a bit of a statement behind this: kind of a self-portrait through my tools of the trade: nerd glasses and a good sketching pen. I had fun trying to work out the shadows. I probably did them wrong, but Adolf "Harpo" Marx died thinking he needed harp lessons and Van Gogh died practicing, essentially, Art 101, thinking he'd failed. I hope not to kick myself and just enjoy the learning process.