Meditation on Edges

Small Oil painting 2022
oil on 4 by 6 inch panel

Edges, images on panels, or whatever surface, are where two areas collide.  

Are they sharp and clear to the eye?

Or,

Does the line blur and spread out, creating chaos between two opposing fields?

The first is a boundary, a fence, a wall, a separation, whatever one calls the box.  

It's how we remember.  We can't help it.

The second is what was before we create boxes to contain them, a struggle sometimes, other times a bonding,  waiting for our ideas to contain them, to give them form.

A painting, it explores the edges, looking for the line.

Looking for something to remember.

  

Football: What Changed?

I used to watch football.  

It's a fun game.  My younger self enjoyed the sandlot version; but, no real talent was there.  So, no high school football for me; but, I understood what was going on.  The games were exciting then.  Especially live games with some cheap food and friends.  

Lately, the games have lost my interest.  

It's not fun to watch football anymore.  It's like watching golf.  Boring.

I can't go to a professional game, the ticket price is beyond my budget even before the scalpers scoop everything up.  And the food, oh my god, why do people want to elevate everything to art that drains the budget?  I read the menus online at the local stadium.   At least they still serve beer at games.  

I don't relate to the people who do attend live games - at the least the one's I've met.  And, I really don't know how to throw a watch party that people want to attend, much less a tail gate.  

I could retire on the average salary of the players.  Those players earn every cent, as long as people keep watching, so I don't begrudge them their due; however, I really don't relate to them at all.  They are in a different world.

In high school, you could talk to most of the team.  Except for the cheerleaders - I don't remember them being friendly to short guys like me.  In college, nothing really changed there, except it was easier to talk to women - and cheerleaders.  The games were fun then.

These days.  I guess there is no football connection for me, except for a little nostalgia.  I suppose losing one person won't hurt that industry.

What is An Artist?

A hobbyist will  engage in more creative activity in an individual than any of the creative professions.   That is because most of the "creative" professions are about volume sales, and the people actually doing the creative part will not share the burden.   Or, as in the case of architecture, so complicated that the creative aspect  only involves 2% of the tasks.  Lets face it, modern jobs are dull and repetitive, based on a Factory model.  (And, slaves to statistical analysts because people like to "stack the deck" and guarantee sales.  Like that's even possible.)

Traditional means of support, patronage, family money, government grants, etc. all seem to require the Artist to participate in the visions of others.  If the Artist is independent of these connections, the vision belongs to the Artist alone; and, the Artist is probably dead.  

It is possible for the Artist to have a day job, or someway of providing, separate from creating art.  Get one that doesn't have managers who demand unlimited access to your time.   Trust me, there are people, managers, clients and coworkers who are never not working and expect 24 four access to you.   

Also, some jobs are more physically demanding than others.  The Artist has to take that into account, but that is more of what an individual can handle than some broad principle.    

Supporting oneself with a day job is an old idea.  I ran across it in, of all things, the Bible.  The Apostle Paul, who was the first evangelist, supported himself as a tent maker instead of taking money from those he preached to.  

This concept is so far from the tv evangelists of today who constantly beg for money and fight for audiences.  Even in religion, the job can destroy the vision of the preacher.  

The Artist cannot ignore life.  Food, shelter, and clothing are not provided by simply having faith.  There is some effort involved.     

The words that stand out in this post are Artist (as opposed to artist), support, and vision.   There is an unsaid word, which is definitely implied, and that word is Time.

Support

That which prevents death and allows the Artist to keep exploring.

Vision 

Something that people say when they are describing the body of work of an artist.  The meaning varies from person to person.  It's also what I am looking for when I explore.

Time

The most important coin in the universe.  This musing is about how the Artist spends Time. 

Connections 

An unavoidable condition of Human Existence.   They can be cultivated or limited.  Some crave connections and others, they are more selective.  Again, connections are based on individual traits. 

Artist

The one who creates art is called an Artist by other people.  How I see it, essentially an explorer of perception.  

Study Artists like Andy Warhol and it becomes clear that what you do is not as important as how you present it.

Maybe this says it more clearly:

Painters sells paintings.

Artists sell themselves.  

 

  

Today's technology is fantastic.  Even as a old fart, I can appreciate that.  

I don't miss 8 track or vinyl.  I really don't miss cassettes and the constant tangled mess the cassettes always made.  Cars are easier to drive.  I do not miss antenna tv.

However, there is aspect of cell phone technology that evoke mixed feelings.

The 24 hour connectivity.  

This younger generation is constantly staring at that tiny screen like their lives depend on it.  I know every generation is different, and that I probably don't understand.   Honestly, I don't understand my own generation all that well.

I just think the cell phone has effectively eliminated something from the teenage experience.    

They will never know the absolute joy of being totally out of contact with their parents.

Parents, who for the most part have good intentions, want to control their children's activities and associations.  If parents can at any time find and contact their children, they have them on a leash.  Even if the child turns off the cellphone, the parents know something is up.  It won't be that difficult to figure our where a teenager is at.

This generation of teens will not have the unmatched joy of being totally off the leash for a few hours.  

There were moments growing up that my parents had no idea where I was or who I was with.  It was great.  Yea, there was some risk.  But, there is risk crossing the street, and there was a lot of risk just going to school.

Some parents want to micromanage their children.  That has been around forever.  It is a common trope in movies and books about growing up.   Such works of fiction, usually cast the parents in the role of antagonists or villains.

I could accept "They are not ready for life." as an excuse for micromanaging; but, we as a society keep moving the goalpost on that one.  I remember that 16 was when I got my first job, no cell phone.  Everyone, but my mother, started treating me as an adult.  

These days, 21 seems to be the age most people experience the change to adulthood.   Even at that age, the parents of this latest generation seem to hover over their children, even going to job interviews with them.  

If a kid gets used to this, I suspect the door is open for any authority figure to get twenty four hour access.  We have all ran into that manager who, if given the opportunity, will take every hour you have instead of limiting himself to what the company has paid for.  I experienced that without a cell phone.

I see no need to get rid of cell phones for kids, if that is what you are thinking.  Technology is not a problem, it is just a bunch of things.  The hovering parents, that is a behavior of human beings.   Both are here to stay.   

Teens are way smarter than they look.  

Most of them look awkward, and well, look dumb.  A preconception of mine, but it has held up so far.  I believe that teens have not acquired the the experience to look graceful and to project intelligence.  That is just appearance, not reality. 

I guess the only point to this musing is that now matter how much the world appears to change, we are still dealing with the same human behaviors that have plagued us since the dawn of time.   

      

  

    

Time is Money: Choose Wisely

 I need a job.

That statement is so simple.  It's just four words.  What happens if the word job is changed out for a similar word or phrase.

I need a source of income.

A job is now an option.  There are other means of obtaining income than working for someone else.  You can sell stuff you own, hopefully for a profit.  You can create something or provide a service to someone in exchange for money.  

I need a source of food, shelter, and clothing.

This is the heart of the need, survival.  Money is a means of obtaining goods and services.  It stores time.  

Humans don't survive on instinct.  At some point in our collective past, it dawned on someone that a pile of food could be traded for a place by the fire in a cave.  I imagine it was probably at the same time the bigger guy realized he could just take the food; but, didn't want to be alone in his dark cave.  You can't always tell what the other person really wants.

Hunting, farming, making what you need all take a lot of time.  Not to mention the time it takes to learn all of those skills.  We slowly refined bartering into money, and stopped.  

There are three things in the above musing that stand out to me:  Time, Skills, and Relationships.

Downtown Dallas
Most of my notions of jobs include an office or workshop, which is silly since there are more people doing physical labor outside of air conditioned caves.

Exactly what do I mean when I say: I need a job?  

First: I want to get paid  

Second: I am in need of a group to be a part of that values the skills I have learned over time.

Third:  I did not like my other options, or more likely, did not think about them.

For some reason, jobs have become the default way of obtaining income.  But, there are still people who will work for themselves either by choice or circumstance.   Some have more resources; but, all are investing time.  

I can spend my time in exchange for set wages, that are kept hidden from everyone so you don't know what the market rate is for that time.

I can spend my time building a relationship with people who want my skills or products or both enough to pay me for them.  

  

The latest ink drawings.  The cat is drawn using a reference photograph as a guide.  The other two are from the imagination.  There is a difference in the appearance of the drawings, although I am hardpressed to verbalise what that difference is.

Ink is one of my favorite mediums to work with.  Part of my education included working with pencil and ink both for illustration and working out ideas.  If you are curious, I do have MArch and BS architecture degrees.  

Drawing from imagination is a fun exercise.  You dont have to secure a model, take a picture, or anything like that.  It's just you, the paper, and your memories.  However, drawing from life, or a photograph, requires you to actually see whats in front of you.  More difficult than it sounds.  If you draw, you probably understand.

I guess the point of this post is that:  Never limit oneself to the fun exercises.  Its too easy to stagnate, 

 

Two of my paintings for sale on my Etsy Shop.   

The photos are an attempt at creating a scene, or still life setting, for the paintings.  It is hard for me to think of a painting without a setting, whether on a wall or desk.  Paintings become a part of dwellings, environment, or bacground - depending on one's mindset.  Never are paintings a stand alone object.   I don't think anything physically exists that is not a part of something.  If some one purchaces a work by me because the colors match their interior design scheme, I am honored.

Mentally, of course, such independence is conceivable.  

However, the concept does not reflect the physical world.  So, from my point of view, art is a part of something whether we want it to be or not.   

A reflection of the human condition.  

Two visions.

Humans are individuals.  Human is collective.  

But, everyone is blindly looking at the same thing.

So, what are we?  A massive herd trampling everything in its path?  A solitary animal?  A single spirit or a mass of spirits?  Do we have a natural communal mind?  Do we build our communal minds?

Sometimes, I think that was the Great Question of the Twentieth Century; although, to be honest, the question probably first came up in before then.   Calenders are convienient markers of time; but, not as accurate as we believe.   

I have no idea about the Twenty First Century, it is hard to see the forest from the inside.   

 

 Monday July 12, 2021

There are many aspects of art.  One of which is presentation.  Or the answer to the question:  How do I want people to see my art?  Especially, the art I have created; although, to be fair to collectors, this applies to pieces that have been acquired.  Apparently, this is an art form in itself.  Lately, I have been experimenting with photographic still lifes which incorporate pieces I have done.  This is with an eye toward placing my work on the internet.

While this still in the beginning phases, it is promising.  At the very least, I get to work on composition skills more than I have.  

My current habit is to photograph works on the easel that I'm using.  Not bad, but not thought through either.

I keep changing, hopefully growing, as I work on various projects and studies.  There is apparently no end to learning, which is not too surprising.  People have been painting before we started writing.  That's what, 4000 years at least, of techniques, materials, and ideas that have been accumulating in our "collective memories" (written and oral histories); but, since we don't directly connect with our minds, we have to talk and learn as indiviuals.

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I have been reading a New York Times article about a slowing trend in global birthrates, and a suggestion that around mid century deaths will outpace births.

Assuming the trend holds.

The article reads dire; however, I do wonder if that was to sell "papers".   

My question is:

If there are more old people than youngsters, will this stupid assumption about old people being useless be replaced by the equally stupid assumption about young people being useless.  

You know what I am talking about if you have ever looked for a job after your 40th birthday.

Coffee

Thursday July 8, 2021

A early pencil study of ceramic ware.
No idea about the date.
From one of my sketchbooks.