Visitors
about 100 years ago, I lived in a storefront on ferry st. in malden. that was a crazy time... I worked as a roofer... drank a lot of beer , ate meat...tartare...took animation classes... painted with an airbrush. made little animations in super 8mm... loved to watch the dance... the rhythm of movement... 3x5 index cards... pencil in simple shapes... create a flipbook... airbrush them in... long on patience, long on endurance... (if I loved it)... long on focus. but, Horatio... not long enough... A.D.D... took 30 years to find out. didn't that just answer a lot of questions...
along the way...I was a drummer in a rock and roll band, hiked around in the White Mountains... had another meeting with..."the majesty"... there were a couple of bouts with art school. New England School of Art, when they were upstairs from McDonalds... used to ride my bike in... MassArt... animation, printmaking...
lived by Venice Beach, CA worked in a small ad agency in Santa Monica... pasting up car repair manuals... paste up... exacto knife, rubber cement... straight edge... had to get the type from the typesetter...this was before television and stand up comedy... sometime back in the 70's... my boss Jim Sullivan told me the band we could hear practicing in the garage behind his house, was the Doors. I liked that... but pasting type... not so much... came back home... tried an ad agency in Boston... always looking out the window... wasn't able to pull off creative on command... not unhappy... just not happy... went back to roofing... fixing peoples chimneys... loved working hard... being up high... getting dirty... became a carpenter... started rock climbing... found my tribe... lost my tribe...
found peace...
my wife tells me I'm kinesthetic... hands on... I believe I've been summed up... hands on and happy.
lived by Venice Beach, CA worked in a small ad agency in Santa Monica... pasting up car repair manuals... paste up... exacto knife, rubber cement... straight edge... had to get the type from the typesetter...this was before television and stand up comedy... sometime back in the 70's... my boss Jim Sullivan told me the band we could hear practicing in the garage behind his house, was the Doors. I liked that... but pasting type... not so much... came back home... tried an ad agency in Boston... always looking out the window... wasn't able to pull off creative on command... not unhappy... just not happy... went back to roofing... fixing peoples chimneys... loved working hard... being up high... getting dirty... became a carpenter... started rock climbing... found my tribe... lost my tribe...
found peace...
my wife tells me I'm kinesthetic... hands on... I believe I've been summed up... hands on and happy.
winter in N.H.
winter in Moab...
fell in love with printmaking...monotype
I learned to see. not the future...not deep into my soul. I was 8. it started out having more to do with pots and pans, a glass, an apple, and a wine bottle. still life...qu'est que c'est this...still life? stationary...not moving...yes, it's still life...y'know...Fudds 3rd Law...Still Life can be recycled, reused, or refused... but energy is constant baby...still life...and the bottle was empty...I was 8, and learning to draw... art school for squirts... my teacher, (Gary Alter...are you out there Gary) set up a still life... and instructed us how to break the scene down into forms, shapes ... to squint, to see the tonal differences... not to draw what we knew... but what we saw.
Shape, defined by the tone behind it... next to it... in front of it... nuance of values... to see the architecture. I had the gift of an uncluttered 8 year old mind, and focus just came naturally. I would be stacking shapes and greys and rubbing and erasing and squinting and measuring and gauging...and all the while thinking...this is just a big mess of shapes and greys and rubbings and erasings...until I stepped back and changed my focus, and just... looked at what I had done.
Still life...no woodpecker... but, oh my! look at what just happened... it was so cool...it was my first meeting with majesty...not ego...this was the blessing... I will be going go on ad nauseum about the blessing and the curse of this skill in the future... but for now...indulge me while I attempt to sort myself out...why? why am I emptying my head in public? not sure exactly... sometimes emptying your head is just good exercise...
Shape, defined by the tone behind it... next to it... in front of it... nuance of values... to see the architecture. I had the gift of an uncluttered 8 year old mind, and focus just came naturally. I would be stacking shapes and greys and rubbing and erasing and squinting and measuring and gauging...and all the while thinking...this is just a big mess of shapes and greys and rubbings and erasings...until I stepped back and changed my focus, and just... looked at what I had done.
Still life...no woodpecker... but, oh my! look at what just happened... it was so cool...it was my first meeting with majesty...not ego...this was the blessing... I will be going go on ad nauseum about the blessing and the curse of this skill in the future... but for now...indulge me while I attempt to sort myself out...why? why am I emptying my head in public? not sure exactly... sometimes emptying your head is just good exercise...
when I was a little boy...
summer in the winds
I'll be back...don't wait up.
this is the story of finding my home...of chidhoods end.
When I paint...I'm never sure what will happen. At some point along the way, I realized, that I've pretty much lived my life, the same way I paint. I'm never quite sure where I'm headed, but I trust the process.....my process.
though I'm reminded of the qoute," If you don't know where you're going, that's where you'll end up."
I'm also reminded ..."all those who wander, aren't lost."
At some point I realized I had confidence in my abilities. this never meant that everything I did would be a masterpiece...only one in a hundred efforts actually becomes something I would stand in front of...but the process... the moment to moment decisions you have to make...the sweet anxiety that comes with making them... following behind the brush strokes... listening to where they may be headed.
there are always moments of joy, and occassionally, as you can see around the site, some really cool things happen. when there is passion and curiosity and doing... there is no time. and when there is no time... you take your place in the universe... and that my friends... is very cool.
though I'm reminded of the qoute," If you don't know where you're going, that's where you'll end up."
I'm also reminded ..."all those who wander, aren't lost."
At some point I realized I had confidence in my abilities. this never meant that everything I did would be a masterpiece...only one in a hundred efforts actually becomes something I would stand in front of...but the process... the moment to moment decisions you have to make...the sweet anxiety that comes with making them... following behind the brush strokes... listening to where they may be headed.
there are always moments of joy, and occassionally, as you can see around the site, some really cool things happen. when there is passion and curiosity and doing... there is no time. and when there is no time... you take your place in the universe... and that my friends... is very cool.
The Tao of painting... according to the brush
it's been a while... since I've updated... since I've been up high...painted... parted the waters...since I've breathed some magic.
I've been so busy paying the mortgage...I've started to forget...who am I...what am I...where am I...
is civilization, as far as it goes, starting to make my ass look big...
so I'm thumbing through some older work...places I've been...paint I've pushed around... going over this old blueprint...
streaming a new home for myself here in the wilderness of cyberspace.....out loud...in public...
I've been so busy paying the mortgage...I've started to forget...who am I...what am I...where am I...
is civilization, as far as it goes, starting to make my ass look big...
so I'm thumbing through some older work...places I've been...paint I've pushed around... going over this old blueprint...
streaming a new home for myself here in the wilderness of cyberspace.....out loud...in public...
