March 29, 2012 - Rabbit

I'm not always sure if I choose the subject or if the subject chooses me.  Or
rather when I say "chooses me" I mean it's a subconscious decision instead
of a premeditated one.   For instance I chose this subject without even
thinking about the fact that Easter is right around the corner.   I picked it
because I liked the image then realized, well, duh- it's almost that holiday. 
I've always loved Easter not because of it's religious connotations necessarily
but because to me it symbolizes fresh starts, the beginning of spring and
at certain points in my life, my birthday has landed on it. In fact, my 16th
and 21st both happened to be on Easter Sunday.  For my 21st, I was in
my tiny hometown visiting my parents, but I had the pleasure of going
down to the store and buying a six pack of Heineken.  I remember
I sat out on the desk in the sun, had a couple beers and felt kind of
grownup.  I'm basically twice that age now, but I remember the day
clearly.   I remember feelings of promise and an expectancy of the idea
that I had my entire life spread out in front of me.   Twenty years have
passed since then and the stereotype is true- as you get older, time
goes faster which kind of sucks.  Luckily on the flip side,  I think
that as time speeds up we simultaneously learn to slow down
and enjoy the moments which is a good thing.

Painting #5
16" x 20"
mixed media  

March 15, 2012 - Umbrella

Love this painting- don't love the photo.  I blame the time change.  I shot a picture of it this morning,
but it was a too dark in my apartment and I didn't have a chance to set up my lights before heading
out to work so I'll probably re-shoot and post.  But in the meantime, you get the gist of it.  In any
case, this one is a bit of a departure from the others.  This piece is based on one of the drawings I
did in my Drawing a Day for a Year project-  May 4, 2011 #105

View here:  http://mbsdailydrawing.blogspot.com/

I've always loved Magritte's work and this reminds me a bit of that. He was fond of placing
objects in front of blue skies in his work.  I've also been wanting to do some pieces that take an
element out of it's usual context and place into another.  Although admittedly this context isn't all
that unusual:  umbrella-sky-rain- floating -all possible when you think about it.  This painting is
actually regionally appropriate in that they're (the weather people) promising us that we're going
to have a nice rainstorm this weekend.  I want to believe it because I miss the rain and would
really love a nice rainy weekend but I'm skeptical because they're always going into "storm watch
2012 mode" and then nothing happens but a light sprinkle.  Fingers crossed.

Painting #4 
11" x 14"
mixed media  

March 1, 2012 - Sea Turtle

This one was kind of touch and go for me.  I liked it, then I didn't like it, still didn't like it, then
decided I liked it in the end.  I seem to be somewhat unintentionally working the animal theme. 
I didn't set out to focus on this as subject matter- it just seems to be happening on it's own
accord which is cool.  But I do love the animal kingdom.  And sometimes I love the animal
kingdom more so than the human race.  But no, I'm not a people hater and yes, I love people
as well despite all our flaws and the puzzling ways in which we act.  And I realize this has
nothing to do with sea turtles but I'm in a pensive kind of mood this week.   I guess that
happens sometimes.  Ups and downs, highs and lows, the neverending flow of our existence. 
We can't be up all the time, and hopefully we're not going the other direction all the time
either. I think about this quite often, how our very nature is to think about and over-think
things constantly. Would it be better to just be floating blissfully around like this sea turtle,
with just it's own instinctual rhythm to guide it?  We've gotten so complicated as humans-
we're complication within complication within complication and still more complication down
to the smallest specks of minutiae.   As I'm writing this, I'm reminded of a poem that a friend
of mine gave me in high school called something like: "I want my beast self back".  I tried to
google it so I could read it again since it's been like 23 years since the last time I did, but
when I typed in different search iterations to find it all that came up was breast-related info. 
Oh well.  Anyway, the poem was about a desire to simplify, to get rid of complications and
details like social security numbers, driver's licenses, cars, money, careers, advertising-
anything-and everything one could possibly think about and just for a moment to let all these
things slide away that won't mean anything in the long run and just live in an instinctual way. 
This isn't realistic, I know. (Don't worry mom and dad, if you're reading this- I have no
desire to quit my job, drop off the face of the planet and live like a wild animal but still it's
interesting to think about)  I mean, I think we saw the hard reality of that kind of impulse
in the book "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer.  I'd do a synopsis but I think I've already
subjected you to too-long-of-a-post- if anyone is reading this.

In any case, the gist of all this is that sometimes I think it would be easier to live a simple life,
with simple thoughts in a not-so-complex world.  But truthfully, I love my life the way it is and
wouldn't change it.

Painting #3 
16" x 20"
mixed media

February 16, 2012 - Donkey

Second painting.  A bit bigger than the last one- this is 16" x 20".  Still using
a mixed media approach- combining paint and pencil.  I'm not really a purist and
have always preferred this method.  I actually did a drawing of this one during my
daily drawing project, but liked it so much I knew I'd translate it into a painting.
This is a picture of a donkey that belongs to 2 of my good friends in Northern Cal.

It's been really weird for me doing a painting every two weeks instead of a drawing
every day.  Though I have to say the timing is exceptional- my life has been really
busy in other ways so doing a daily drawing would be tough right now.  I still
miss it and all, but for now- less is better.  It allows me to explore other areas in my
life.  I still walk around with a vague but persistent feeling of slothfulness though and
have to remind myself that it's ok to not produce something every day and that this
actually allows me to have more of a life balance.  Which is good thing.  Right?  Yes.
Absolutely.

Painting #2

February 2, 2012 - Groundhog Day

First Painting.  Admittedly, it's more of a mixed media drawing painting combo.  As I started working on this piece I realized that I'm much better at drawing than painting.  But really, I knew that before I started this one.  When you do something every single day you inevitably get better at it.  And painting is a bit awkward for me after working so tiny with pencils and ballpoint pens.  So it's a transitional piece really- it combines both mediums and it's not very big- 11" x 14".

I'm really happy that I decided to start this project on Groundhog Day.  I was talking about this with a friend and we started talking about the movie Groundhog Day.  She told me something I never knew about this movie which is that the film is a favorite of the Budddhists.  The film is considered to be one which addresses the idea of self-improvement with an emphasis on the importance of looking inside oneself.   The theory is that true satisfaction in life then comes from turning outward and focusing on others instead of solely on one's own wants and desires.   Also, some Catholics see the movie as a representation of Purgatory.  The movie has even been referred to by some religious leaders as one of the most spiritual films of our time.   If you haven't seen it, it's a movie about a bitter, cynical, egocentric newscaster named Phil Connors who during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney finds himself doomed to repeat the same crappy day over and over again.  It's a hilarious movie.   After indulging in hedonistic, destructive behavior and numerous suicide attempts, he begins to re-examine his life and priorities and realizes that he needs to do things differently.  It's a classic.  If you've never seen it, I can't recommend it enough.

I've written about this kind of thing in my daily drawing project that I just finished, and that is the idea of self-improvement.  I don't mean self-improvement in the kind of way where nothing is ever good enough, but more so as an understanding that there is never an end point to trying to better oneself.  It's kind of like this rich life flow- there's never a point where we cease to evolve.  And I really like that.

Painting #1