upodato

I decided to take a break tonight from work and to (attempt) paint an nice watercolor to clear out my system from rust and stress. (I bought a $20.00 sheet of arches watercolor paper today.) There is always a fear factor when I attack an expensive canvas or paper because it seems so precious that you afraid of "mucking it up." The trick is to forget that it is a twenty dollar sheet and to just lose yourself in the work. I will post the result tonight (me promise.) I saw an artist in Brooklyn yesterday I used to assist as a kid, he needs work so I am may hire him a bit. It is funny how the world turns.

spring ahead

almost time to run the clock forward into spring and turn our backs on the foul witch of winter---Must be nice to live in a climate that doesn't freeze! (Then again the seasons build character.) I am buried under deadline hell and will emerge soon with art and wisdom. I will emerge soon like a butterfly from a chrysalis, I will transform myself from a serious "artiste" who is exploring the shadowy depths of a wayward psyche to one who will paint your beagle for some rusty shillings.

article of the day

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/travel/02next.html?ex=1362546000&en=b185f7e5a5975980&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

painting of the day---william blake

william blake

the great red dragon and woman clothed with the sun.

alex rates this piece:

imagination---- 9


skill/ technique---------4



soul--------10


mood----9


color----8

word of the day---rara avis

rara avis \RAIR-uh-AY-vis\, noun;

plural rara avises \RAIR-uh-AY-vuh-suhz\ or rarae aves \RAIR-ee-AY-veez\:

A rare or unique person or thing.

1377

This is post # 1378. That is a lot of posts and it was also probably a good year for wine. That is a lot of rambling/ mumbling/ preaching/ reaching/ beseeching and teaching. Today all my glass is ready to start laying out and designing and I am going to photograph the entire process of creating 8 glass carvings before march 23. I am not going to have too much time for typing etc but I will post the progress of the job all the way until completion and installation. I probably wont have real art to show until tomorrow but I will post some photos tonight of step numero uno.

mailboxes

although I am in a maelstrom of deadlines, my brain thinks often about mailboxes and especially of the rusty "southern variety" mailbox standing dutifully on dusty Texas roads. These were the mailboxes of my youth. Mailboxes are metaphors for waiting and patience, methinks.

election

this is the election process as I hear it from my TV:



blah blah blah change blah blah blah change blah blah blah change


although change is truly the only constant I agree with simon and garfunkel that any way you look at it you lose.

I think I should be president because I would dutifully ignore my duties and hide in the basement bunker of the white house and paint pictures and let things "unmuck" themselves over time.

quote of the day--mark twain

It is a gratification to me to know that I am ignorant of art, and ignorant also of surgery. Because people who understand art find nothing in pictures but blemishes, and surgeons and anatomists see no beautiful women in all their lives, but only a ghastly stack of bones with Latin names to them, and a network of nerves and muscles and tissues.

---M. Twain

ebay

Not sure why I bid on this on ebay but there is something strangely surreal that transcends the intention of the artist. There is no "irony" in this piece. I will one day have to paint some "blades" myself.

busy alex

I am buried trying to make eight glass carvings for a nightclub by march 25th. The deadline is more brutal than I can explain. It is 4:49 AM and so windy out I think a witch on a bicycle just went past my window. I will update with my glass pieces when they are ready to photograph. sorry for being lazy on my site.

artist of the day--arisman

This is a painting by a good friend of mine and a former professor at art school. his name is Marshall Arisman and he is an illustrator and fine artist who mainly focuses on fine art these days. He is a rare artist and and a rare human as he walks his own path and it seems to be a very honest path. There are not many living artists that inspire my work but he is a great artist and a lot of fun to hang out with, we took a journey together to find buffalo out east on long island and I wrote an article about it for a magazine. you can google his name to see more of his work or find his site at www.marshallarisman.com

disasters of war--goya

Goya was a genius of the highest level--- and he makes some great canned goods as well. I wonder if you canned the disasters of war if they would sell to a public. Instead of beans you could have this picture on a label. Some conceptual artist will probably steal this idea and run with it to the local superartmarket. These are the things I think about when I am doing my laudry at 6 am on a sunday.

a dark and ugly thing

I joined a gym yesterday to work out some rust and to get my brain in shape as winter has sculpted my psyche into a dark and ugly thing. I move in two weeks so I thought I would take some time and get in shape before I leave the white picket fences and SUVs behind. I drove this morning at 6:30 to work out and the gym was closed. They open at eight o'clock on Sunday. There is no place in the suburbs for maniacs who start the train of their day rolling at 5 Am on Sundays.