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Being outgoing has never been easy.  I do not have my father's gift for talking to anyone and getting a positive response.     

Dallas Texas 
Elm Street
Early 2000's

I'm more comfortable observing people.

People don't live up to expectations.   

It's a hard lesson to absorb.   We judge by appearances, which is iffy at best.  At first, we don't have much to go on, besides appearances, and people dress to impress, if they have the ability.  

Dallas, Texas
Pearl Street
Early 2000's
I believe this is a representation of Cthulhu, although I suppose it might just be a squid.
They used to pop up a lot downtown; but, I don't go downtown much these days.

What people leave behind, even trash, is much more telling of who they are.  Also, what brings them together says a lot.  Little bits of commerce will bring people together better than the parks and amenities designed to do so.  Not the big chains, not even Starbucks, does this so well as the food trucks and carts downtown, when the city allows such things.  

Dallas, Texas
Near Elm Street in front of El Centro College
Early 2000's
Passing out free samples of coffee to students and other people passing by.

Public art does attract people.  I don't see the same interactions that people have waiting for coffee or buying food.  One can hardly expect to only have food vendors in a city.  Looking at a morning yoga class in front of The Eyeball is a sight one does not see everyday, unless you are working across the street from that garden - I suppose. 

"The Eye"
Fiberglass Sculpture by Artist Tony Tasset
1600 Elm Street 
Dallas Texas
This enormous sculpture is accessible to the public.  It is in a garden, but I liked the pattern of the fence in front of the Eye,

I just wish people didn't leave so much trash behind.  Maybe if people had more time for a sit down lunch, we could cut down on disposable stuff.  What do people get for lunch, a half hour?  I'm thinking of the minimum wage people, the one's that get lunch breaks.  Oddly, manager types and professionals get one hour traditionally.  More time as the ladder increases.  Seems backwards to me.  The cheapest labor gets the least lunch break, while the most expensive labor gets an hour.  

I'm not outgoing.  I guess introvert describes me.  Maybe, I should just play to my strengths.   

Purpose

 I am fairly certain that this blog will not be anything more than my ramblings.  

This is not one of those simpering appeals to sympathy that so many people use to try and gain attention.  I would say its a trait of the current generation of kids, except that I can remember the same thing happening around my generation.  

Hopefully, without interference from my subconscious, this is a statement of this blogs PURPOSE.

Of course, when I read the sentence at the beginning of this current ramble this is not a statement of fact, but my expectations for Atelier Powell.

Why?

I am not a teacher, nor do I have a grand purpose like those evangelists that travel from church to church.  For some strange reason, they did not like rock bands of my youth.  It was almost like a twisted marketing campaign, telling teens do not listen to these groups and then handing out a list of the albums.  

Evangelists never made since to me.  Why travel to churches, literally and metaphorically, preaching to the choir?  And, didn't the Apostle Paul, the prototype for evangelists, support himself with a trade so he didn't burden those he preached to?   I can understand the tithes collected by churches, after all buildings and services cost money and churches support neighborhoods.  Or they used too.  

I'm not selling anything, at the moment.  

[Wink, Wink.  Please click. Studio Powell]

[Nudge, Nudge: Etsy Shop: Studio Powell]

[Innocent look while whistling]

I type words on "paper" and then I feel a need to share them.  The blog is faster than letter writing and if someone is not interested, they can skip it without being rude.  I think it is important not to be rude, especially if you want to throttle the person in front of you.  It's a type of passive violence that can escalate to active status real fast. 

Now you are probably wondering about the skulls I have chosen to place in the article.  That is normal.  Images in articles are usually related, although there is no rule that says they have to relate.

The funny thing about people is that if there is not connection between the words and the images, people will made connections.  We cannot help ourselves.   

I see it in my drawing and paintings that are representational, to the extent that people see things I never put in there.  I suppose that Art, if I ever reach that level of mastery, is a skeleton that people flesh out with their own ideas and memories.  

Am I thinking about my death?  That is the question that pops up every time people see skulls.  Well, the answer is yes.  I am over 50 years old. What do you expect? But, there is not much to think about.  It's going to happen sooner or later.  I spend more time deciding lunch or what movie to see.  

Skulls and skeletons are subjects artist's draw as students, in western schools.  An understanding of anatomy, muscles and skeletons, is incredibly useful to artists.