"shhh, blastulas"

Here it is, the (maybe? almost?) finished piece that will be exhibited in The Gallery @ Spencer Lofts during Chelsea Art Walk, May 30-31.

Tonight, I titled it "Shhh, blastulas".

I wanted to give it a phonetic title that suggested a sizzling noise, or the sound of the tide receding over sand.

My dad (handle: SuperScribo) suggested blastulas which I just love for the sound of the word -- say it, BLAS-chu-lahs -- and for the way it feels in the mouth. Plus, it doesn't hurt that the meaning is actually related to the subject matter. Definition: The usually spherical structure produced by cleavage of a zygote, consisting of a single layer of cells (blastoderm) surrounding a fluid-filled cavity (blastocoele).

So tonight, in a rather cheeky mood, I threw the two together and had a "you got peanut butter in my chocolate" moment. I enjoy that the title implies something very important is taking place, or that a great new concept is being presented (like "two great tastes that taste great together"), while in reality, nothing more than a painting with a lots of circles is being presented to you.

Nothing more, nothing less. I hope you enjoy the combination and see things in here I've never imagined.

finished or fearful?

This 36"x32" oil on canvas painting has been in a near-finished status for months. I've become so used to it in its current state that I don't feel the normal compulsion to take it further. This could be a sign that it's finished. Or fear. This is the first oil painting I've completed since 2005 and I don't want to screw it up.

What's my motivation to open up this inner debate with fear and 'the critic' on a Sunday evening when I'd rather be chilling out? An opportunity to exhibit the work at a show during the Chelsea Art Walk in late May.


Painting with warm neutral glaze


Bringing a painting into Photoshop for experimentation is always helpful. Looking at an image in a few pixelated inches condenses the composition down to its essence. Flaws become instantly obvious. And the exercise always leads me to question the merits of digital media as an art form. Why struggle with oil and drying times when with one click I can 'step backward'?


Painting with green neutral glaze

With so little time to finish the painting for the show drop-off date, I can't layer it with months worth of circles like I might with an instant-drying gouache painting.

It comes down to a here and now decision. Glaze it with warm neutrals or cool neutrals?

As a friend keenly noted this week, I like to win. Choosing the wrong glaze might put me back. But stepping out of the game and calling it finished is worse.

20.65 to-dos

I'm a list maker. And apparently I get a certain amount of comfort from having more to do than I can ever accomplish.

For one week I tracked how many times I added or removed major to-do items (requiring multiple steps) from my list using Mycrocosm. No matter how productive I was, I always had an average of 20.65 to-dos.

Mycrocosm, "a web site that makes it possible for people to use statistical graphs and other visual language tools for expressive social communication", is a research project of the Sociable Media Group at the MIT Media Lab. The site encourages users to creatively use the visual forms and "express whatever they may want about themselves or the world they are living in".

I expected my graphing to result in a visually arresting work that I could translate into a hair drawing...but so far it's just not that interesting. So, I'm moving on to track things that are more socially oriented. More posts and graphs to come.

On my list for the past month has been "write in blog". Check!

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138 steps

It takes me 138 steps to get from my desk at work to the restroom. How do I know? Well, I counted it a few times, as well as the number of wall panels, doors, lighting fixtures, and people I pass in the hall (usually 0). There's nothing to look at on the long march to the loo...

Now I have a machine to count for me! A pedometer was given to me during a sales pitch. What a cool little gizmo to help me connect back to my body during the hours of brain/desk work. Suddenly, I am fascinated with the movement of my limbs. Back and forth, back and forth, covering .7 miles in daily bathroom trips alone. Oh the monotony...oh the inspiration!

I'm reminded of some remarkable work by the SENSEable Cities lab at MIT and their tracking of population movement and cell phone usage during the '06 World Cup soccer game and a Madonna concert in Rome. See http://senseable.mit.edu/realtimerome/. It's a little creepy that our whereabouts can be tracked by our cell phone providers...but it also brings us a little closer together. We all go to the loo, like to follow our favorite teams/artists/heros, and we're actually quite predictable in our behaviors.

I feel more fodder coming along for the exploration into connective tissue...

lightening up

First off, I wish I could write about my job and the people it puts me in contact with because they and the circumstances I find myself in are way more interesting than me. But that's just off limits. And besides, this is a blog about art and life; in particular mine, as boring/ exciting or weird/normal as it may be.

So I am returning from another invigorating trip to NY City and I am sitting in my train seat just amazed and humbled by the amount of creative talent in the world. And especially in awe of the risk- takers. Those who are so confident in their ideas and expressions that they put everything aside to "go for it" and they just...don't...give...up.

Usually, maybe always, these people have a conviction that what they are doing is somehow helpful to mankind. Whether it is a graffiti artist (thank you shepard ferey and others for waking/shaking us up) or the substitute junior high school teacher who used to teach us about the extinction of the Dodo bird (no matter if he was subbing math,French, or history), we depend on our convictions and passions to keep us fully alive and present.

I really don't know what my convictions are except to live my life as an artist; to inspire and spark something in you and me. How that manifests itself is still a mystery to me. Is it through traditional 2D work? Public art? teaching/sharing with children? or working in a non-profit?

Maybe its just a way of being? This excerpt from Tricycle magazine sums it up beautifully:

"When a candle is lit in a dark room, it illuminates the room to some extent, but its power is limited. But if you use the same candle to light another candle, the total lightness increases."

Maybe I just need to lighten up...

common denominator

Title: Lowest Common Denominator
Post: "Can you all help me brainstorm about the basic links which ALL humans share?"

This post on an artists working group blog got me thinking about my older primordial paintings. (Plus, I am currently staring at three large blank canvas and wrestling with imagery. It's been a while since I worked in this scale.)

I started with the same "what is our common denominator" question in the primordial series. It quickly went deeper to what is the common denominator between all people and plants...then further, is there one common denominator between animals, plants, minerals?

From a scientific standpoint we're all just a bunch of carbon molecules arranged in different ways. And remarkably, the molecular structure for hemoglobin, human blood, is similar to the the structure of chlorophyll. (scroll down on that last link) In some areas of my last primordial painting (#6) you can see the compounds drawn out. (Detail above) Only a scientist or 8th grader would recognize them.

And lastly, to give reason for this blather of a post, I leave you/me/us with this reminder to eat our veggies.

"Chlorophyll is often described as the ‘blood of plants’ and chlorophyll-rich foods have been linked with increasing hemoglobin content. Tributes to the late Prof. Willstatter for elucidating chlorophyll’s chemical structure, and conclusively showing its close resemblance to human blood." Full article

Who wants a V8?

human catch basin

Recently one of the brilliant people in my life called me a "human catch basin" in reference to my job situation. It was strikingly funny for its associated visuals (my mind wanders to the grotesque and morbid) and its relevance to my work life.

I felt the title must also be apropos to how I approach my artwork.

Possible definitions for Human Catch Basin moving from the morbid to positive:
a) A low point and filter designed to capture humans
b) A low point and filter designed to capture human souls tainted with debris and pollutants
c) A human through which all run off, debris, litter and pollutants are filtered
d) A human, in a low point or position, designed to prevent blockages and minimize the amount of debris others have to deal with
e) A human, in a unique position, who is able to filter debris and pollutants and allow common denominators to flow
f) A human, often with creative tendencies, who is able to sort through, disorganize and create a new flow or meaning

So what are you filtering?