What is Art

This has been an incredible experience. I could tell you about the amazing friendships I have made, or the incredible beauty that is Aruba both in character and form, but they are both too enriching to be believable. Seriously.

What I would like to talk with you about is 'art'. There has been a lot on my mind this whole time. How do I approach this project - with a camera? Painting from life? What would Zorn or Sargent or Repin or Burdick or Sorolla do... so much wisdom and guidance. And intimidation. What SHOULD I be doing? Like they say, be careful what you ask for, you might just get it. I'm here, now what.

Should I pull out the camera and feel horrible at the idea of painting from a reference that is distorted and in every way nothing about what was before me at the time? Or go the noble route and paint from real life and get frustrated that it's limitations just can't satisfy what I see in my head for this project? And didn't those guys use models? WTF, How do I use 'live' people like I have in the past, while getting beyond artistically from the liabilities that come it? Feeling inadequate in every sense.

The two lifelines I have is that none of this matters (except to me), and secondly, I am here by myself - no distraction, no, negativity, no pressure, no schedule, so in other words, no excuse not to succeed.

So with the above in mind every day has rolled out intuitively. And the puzzle is coming together.

I won't bore you with the details but I can tell you this has been a genius idea to grow artistically and personally. I've learned what aspects I enjoy that sets me apart, what holes I must passionately commit to fill if I expect to improve, and above all, a sense of reaffirmation for the joy that art brings to me and through me in it's act.

Art is a verb that aspires to be a noun when it grows up..


Happy Mothers's Day

Aruba - a language of it's own, literally!

Hi! Arrived safe and sound. I checked in but didn't take the time actually go to my room 'til the end of the day. Bought some mineral spirits (which I've already spilled in the trunk) then just started checking the place out by driving in the opposite direction from the tourist area. After several miles and random turns I came by a home selling their art in the front yard - they make pieces from cut up tires and paint them. Christina and Victor are average-aged and have two teenagers. They are native born Arubans, and Christina had in her hand a little sketch of a house when I drove in. She says she'd wants to do art but has never learned from anything, and has never tried oil paints. She let me paint her but the sun only gave us about a half hour, so I took photos and focused on a the oil as a color guide. With a bit of sun left we sat together and I gave her a drawing lesson and Victor was our model. I'm invited back Saturday, Christina says come earlier next time so we have more sun.

They are simple in belongings, but the kids were kids, playing baseball in the area next door, and the kittens were as kittens are, although these kittens remind me that even our pets are supersized, and the view they have from their home of the sea and desert is for kings. I'm not joking.

Christina says she loves that every sunset is different. Victor doesn't speak much english but smiles and expressions between the two of us went a long way. She refused to take any money for her time, I gave her the sketch of Victor with lesson notations, and I will certainly be buying from their collection something that can fit in my suitcase, i think a tire trivet shaped like a fish. I only worry if I can find my way back there! The roads here are designed with cooked spaghetti as inspiration.

Thank goodness I chose Aruba first, american cash, english is understood enough to get kinda-answers, and it's a small island so 'lost' is relative. Their license plates slogan is "One Happy Island" so the odds are in my favor.

I don't plan on posting everyday, and in the end it's what can ARTWORK can I perform from this that matters,. I'm still trying to get my sensibilities in that regard, but today's fearless naivety worked in my favor.

An Introduction

I can hear my mother talking to herself in her room, and every so often the glass of brandy w/ gingerale being set back on the table. No, I'm not going in, it's 11:30 at night and her time is her time, and mine is mine, as it should be. Don't worry, if I hear something code orange, I'll be there and not here.

Friend Lisa Gleim Jonas suggested I start this blog. In, let's see, 4 days, I leave for a week in Aruba. This is all about what I call the 'A Project' ....I will paint 'what I paint' in every country that starts with the letter A. I'll try to keep this explanation simple (I come from a family that, if you ask what time it is, we'll tell you how a watch is made). Painters paint what they love. We paint what we think about, and what we can best serve. We may even paint our personality, but I think that's more in style than subject matter.

So as much as I love Francis Bacon or Jeremy Lipking, what comes off my brush seems to always be about the beauty of everyday life. I think to me it's important to give attention to the those things that really can be overlooked yet it's what we most are thankful for, the 'little' moments that on canvas can come off as trite, but in reality they are what makes life life.I am the painter of the radically normal.

The A Project stems from this perspective. Despite our problems and differences, I think someone needs to put forth in our heads what ISN'T going wrong, what we all are doing day in day out simply because it's the right thing to do. We have a lot of that in common, and given artists get the role of both reflecting life and shaping it, this sliver is where I'm assigning myself.

So my point is to paint the beauty of everyday life globally. Considering the obvious scale issues, and an effort to be 'objective', (BTW mom is sleeping now), I choose as my goal to paint the beauty of everyday life throughout the world by going to every country that starts with the letter 'A'. There's about a dozen, so it's feasable, it's about as objective and straighforward as one could get, it's a nice potpourri of countries, and well that's all I needed in my head to decide sure, why not.

Thanks for letting me give you the plan here. A client gave to me a plaque that sits on my fireplace, it says " Only she who attempts the absurd can acheive the impossible". I look forward to keeping you posted.