Its friday!

It is friday! For Alex it is not different than any other day as I always work saturday and sunday. I sometimes take off tuesdays to commune with bacchus or the gods of sangria before I get back to the easel. It looks like I am moving to brooklyn in march. I am paying for a new carpet for my landlord as I unintentionally turned it into a painted carpet. No matter how hard I try I cannot keep from ruining my clothes and furniture etc with paint. I admire artists who are neat and tidy and anal and keep neat little happy workspaces. For me my art comes from chaos I live in a state of perpetual messing up and cleaning up. I am having issues with my scanner so I cannot scan my nyc cover or new drawings until I fix it..I will try to fix the issue this weekend so you are not left in the cold and lonely land of words without images.

The bronx zoo

I mailed my bronx zoo painting to the wrong client. It went south instead of west. (I mailed it to the wrong attorney.) I think that was my second screw up in a year of mailing so I am confident neither will sue me.

nyc cover by gardega

I finished my painting of the statue of liberty and delivered it to publisher today. I will try to upload the image tonight as I had no time to do so earlier...so it goes...

update

I got an email from a nyc gallery today, they want me to come talk to them. That makes me happy because I am not an artist who ever approached a gallery with slides or any of that because I could never put together the whole artist package and bio etc. Some artists live for the networking and openings and such but I am not that person. I usually stumble into galleries by accident or they find me somehow. I dont really even have a body of consistent work, I have made thousands of paintings and drawings and glass carvings but I sell most of it and I am always jumping around from experiment to experiment and throwing away boxes of art when I move etc. I am not proud of being like I am--- I often wish I was the organized guy who mailed out his slides every week and had a data bank etc. anyways...

statue of liberty by gardega

I am very tired tonight but I have to work on a NYC painting of the statue of liberty for the cover of the yellow pages. I have posted a copy here of my first statue of liberty painting for the yellow pages. This was not long after sept. 11th so I tried to give her a defiant (if not angry) look that would still be acceptable for the publisher.

nude

Here is a new drawing I am working on. I am in Brooklyn again today but I will update from "the road." I am getting back to life/ figure drawing as I am rusty as a nail. use it or lose it.

signs of genius

upon returning from brooklyn yesterday I was too lazy and tired to stop to get gas and ran out exactly as I pulled into my parking spot. Last week I ran out as I pulled into a gas station. I am not sure why I always have to push things right up to the edge of the cliff but I suppose I like watching the pebbles fall over. I am also not sure why I decided to illustrate this with my teenage painting of Saddam Hussein--- I made this painting before I knew who he was....premonition?

The eyes are the windows to the soul. I've seen windows covered in the sad rain of winter and Ive seen them bright in the light of a summer's noon. Stained like glass or closed for the nights eternal shade. --ag 2007

"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free."

james douglas morrison

renaissance crab

I made this in an experimental time in my art (which is always) all art is experiment, If you are painting the same picture day- in, day- out, you may as well bake bread for a living (at least your bread will taste consistently the same.)

ebay store...

there are two pieces of art for sale in my ebay store.


click below:

ebay

naturalism

Naturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting. The Realism movement of the 19th century advocated naturalism in reaction to the stylized and idealized depictions of subjects in Romanticism, but many painters have adopted a similar approach over the centuries. One example of Naturalism is the artwork of American artist William Bliss Baker, whose landscape paintings are considered some of the best examples of the naturalist movement. An important part of the naturalist movement was its Darwinian perspective of life and its view of the futility of man up against the forces of nature.

Naturalism began in the early Renaissance, and developed itself further throughout the Renaissance, such as with the Florentine School.

Naturalism is a type of art that pays attention to very accurate and precise details, and portrays things as they are.

NOTE FROM ALEX: people often use the word realism in place of naturalism and that is a mistake-- realism does not mean it looks realistic, that is a misnomer. I will explain realism later.

artist of the day--Carravagio.

For those interested in art and by art I mean "real art" you can do worse than to research Caravaggio. I always had an affinity for him as he was very unconventional for his time and very much a rebel against what was going on around him in both his life and his art. Religious art was often stilted and stale and he breathed much life into the genre. He was often criticized for being a naturalist (meaning he painted things realistically and as they really looked.) He was a master of light and chiaroscuro and he rejected the traditional methods of study favored in italy to actually painting live from a model in a very direct fashion without a million prep-studies. He is truly one of the greats and an inspiration to anyone who follows there own path in art.

1572-1610

good morning...

I will upload new work today as I promised. Here is a glass carving I call "swamp angel" I will be at my art table and computer all day until around 4--- so check back for updates.

mission statement--- or not

I don't have a mission statement and I don't read self-help books or listen to motivational tapes. My only commitment is to keep drawing and painting and raising awareness and doing my damn best to help change the art world from the neomodern-con game it has become--- when people are being sold the dream that a shark in formaldehyde is worth more than a Raphael drawing then something is indeed "rotten in Denmark ." As the art world loses its collective soul to greed and market forces we all lose out in the bargain. I am not saying I am the right guy to bail the boat but I am saying it's sinking...

quote of the day...

"We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear—fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp on vague charges of being a Terrorist sympathizer."


— hunter s thompson "Extreme Behavior in Aspen," February 3, 2003

the emperor never had any clothes!

Dear Mr. Gardega,

For the past twenty years or so, I've been saying that
modern art is shit. I majored in art history at Chapel
Hill in the 1980s, and was always locking horns with
some of my professors.

I was always the one who would ask "what, exactly, is
it?" The teachers didn't like such questions.

So, reading your quote in Page Six made me laugh.

GOOD LUCK AND BEST WISHES TO YOU!

Sincerely,
R. B.

my studio

this is my art table in my studio.
I bought the cow skull off ebay and use his horn for my lamp because I am too lazy solve my ever- existing lighting issues. I use my easel less and less but I am not sure why as it looks much cooler to paint at an easel than at a desk.

high school drawing

I received an email today from a girl from my high school (many horseshoe crab moons ago) and by chance today I found a drawing I made for the high school literary magazine. Someone bought this in may so I only have the scan...Alice in wonderland was (and is) a work of inspiration for me.

“Plus ca change, plus ce la meme chose”

comments etc

feel free to leave comments by clicking on comments under pics and you can use the chat feature to the right as well. Dont be afraid.

Salvation--- final drawing by Gardega

Here is a final sketch for my "Salvation" piece. I believe that human salvation (at least our medicinal salvation) is to be found in the blood of the horseshoe crab and in its DNA and I also believe that it is indeed a sacred animal or "power animal" as the American Indians used to call animals that held magic properties. I intend to make a glass carving of this piece and also a painting as well. This is the second and final drawing/ study that helped me understand what I am dealing with visually. It will be a very difficult glass carving but I will cross that bridge later. Somebody mentioned that this resembled female anatomy but that is not conscious on my part. It is pieced together from scans as the piece was too big to scan in one pass. that will account for lines that do not meet in the photo but does not occur in original piece.


to buy: click here

alex is back home

I have just returned from my Brooklyn studio and look forward to loading up some work tonight...For my regular readers, there may seem a bit of repetition as I want to show some chosen works to my new viewers.

You can do a lot in a lifetime
If you don't burn out too fast
You can make the most of the distance
First you need endurance
First you've got to last----N.Peart

ceiling painting

http://www.nigrophoto.com/rooneyarchitecture/


for my new viewers here is a mural I recently completed . It is in progress in these photos and I will update soon...

ophelia carving

For new viewers I have uploaded a picture of my carved glass "Ophelia." I will put prints of this on ebay this evening...

how to buy a gardega

If anyone is interested in purchasing an original gardega you can contact me via email at top of page and I will help you on your path towards artistic salvation. I will also load work into my ebay store tonight and tomorrow for sale.

archives

The nature of a blog is a linear one and the nature of alex is decidely non-linear and spiral like. If you wish you can look through my archives below right or scroll down continuously and view that way. I hope you enjoy my gnomic meanderings and continue to read my daily postings of art and wisdom.

new drawings up tonight

Alex is busy making glass art in Brooklyn (again) I will load up some new art for sale tonight! (About 8 or so) and will be drawing all day tomorrow as well. I will try to get a few pencil lines in my sketchpad over lunch today as well. There is a nice article in the post today about the first man to photograph a snowflake. His name was wilson bentley (for the record.) please note my www.gardega.com has a lot of old art that is going to be torn down and replaced soon....

gardega quoted in page six

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01142008/gossip/pagesix/endquote_634815.htm

quote of the day

"modern art is like a Hollywood whore on her last legs no one loves anymore. She needs a savior to drive drive a stake through the foul heart of modernism to bring painting back to lofty planes of the Renaissance"

gardega--page six january 14, 2008

mark twain quote

Hunger is the handmaid of genius.
- Following the Equator

new idea by gardega

I have decided I need some uniformity to my "blog" (I hate that word---it sounds cheap.) I have committed myself to one drawing a day no matter what! If I am working on a twelve hour deadline I will still upload one picture a day for sale or at least posting. I think if people take the time to log in they deserve to have interesting work to look at. I will start tonight with a drawing. If I make a painting, so be it but there will be a new piece every day even if I have to draw on a napkin. If you like a piece you can email me or bid on ebay. If I miss a day or two I will load the drawings/ art from the missed days so there will be 365 drawings a year plus my ramblings of genius and other nefarious posts...

ascension

I found this painting in a shipping tube tonight.

it is called "Ascension."

NYC CARVED GLASS---shower door etching

I made this shower door for a gallery owner in NYC. The subject is the Oedipus Sphinx. I remember well that this was an enjoyable process/ piece..There were no tears or grey hairs associated with this piece!

NYC Etched Glass---racehorse etching

not sure if I ever posted this-- I carved this for a client in NYC. I carved this on the back of a smoked mirror for an amazing apt on 52nd st.

link to my glass website:

www.bluelineglass.com

www.gardega.com

my webman has been slowly overhauling www.gardega.com it is coming along and soon the bad apples of past art will fall from the tree and it will be ripe and heavy with the golden apples of the art of the present!

howdy

sorry for being lax on my blog..I am on another "brooklyn project" and will load some new stuff when I return tonight. I saw a lemon tree in a store window today, I spent ten minutes staring at it as it was full of lemons. Artists like me can never invent something as clever as a lemon tree, we can only do our best to copy the mind of the great architect upstairs. I sometimes think a blank canvas is symbolic of the universe before it was The Universe. I am not religious but I think there is a certain intelligence out there that made lemon trees and that the best an artist can do is to paint a lemon tree and by doing this we can briefly step into the pajamas of the creator.

I will be posting a few links to my etched glass work. I know they are a bit repetitive. It is for search engine optimization etc....and other such techie terms... More art tonight, I am in brooklyn again. please bear with my techie test.

etched glass nyc by gardega

my etched glass work can be viewed at:

www.bluelineglass.com

nyc carved glass by gardega

you can view my carved glass work at.

www.bluelineglass.com

www.gardega.com

I have someone working on www.gardega.com, FINALLY! Should be revamped in a week or so.

sad eyed lady by gardega

Here is a framed watercolor I never had time to photograph correctly. I believe it is about 22" x 30". If anyone wants a price on this email me. I may put on ebay at some point.

alex

art is shipped

I shipped out all art today..everything is shipped except one ophelia print that will go out tomorrow.

artist of the day-- arthur rackham

My whole life I have been a huge fan of the 19 th century illustrator Arthur Rackham. He was a huge success in his time and remained a very hardworking , humble, english gentleman. He was one of the great artists of his generation regardless of the fact that he was an illustrator and not a "fine artiste" He was much better than most artists of his time (the ones read about in the art history books) free to google and learn more about the underrated artist whose subject matter of fairies and elves will never be accepted by the elitist art world. His line was a thing of wonder and it still resonates with the unmistakable touch of genius.

Happy Wednesday from Gardega

Today I will spend some time loading up a few new drawings. Thanks to Jennifer from Houston for buying my "Salvation" Drawing!....Will hit post office today to get out artwork as well.

good morning america--from gardega

I (alex) have to go to Brooklyn today...Back tonight--It is supposed to be 70 today in NY so I may run in the hydrant. talk amongst yourselves while I am gone, I may be able to update from the road...check back...

adirondack watercolors--gardega

Today it is surprisingly warm out, which got me thinking about spring, which in turn got me thinking about the Adirondack Mountains and my need to get back up there and paint with my watercolors. Watercolors are a nightmare and require great focus so as to not to make a muck of your work. If you hit it right, there is glory and if you miss your target then you have a piece of paper useful for lighting a campfire. If you visit the Adirondacks, it will never leave you.(not unlike insanity) The Saranac lake region is beyond words but not beyond watercolors..

clay

here is a picture of a friend and collector of my work named Clay. He sent me a picture of himself working on his T-shirt/ fashion line...I dont want to say the name without permission...another person I got to know well but never met personally...

finished drawing---gardega--SALVATION

Here is the finished drawing of my new piece. I have to scan it in pieces so it has a few jagged edges that break up the flow. I will paint this and carve it in glass . The first study is in my ebay store.I may sell this drawing as well as I am not sure If I will paint onto the paper or trace it to canvas...it is 22 inches square on Rives BK paper.

ancient super-glue...

It was recently discovered that ancient roman warriors held together their battle gear with a "super-glue." It is an unknown substance that they are now trying to figure out the composition of. So far the German scientists have not been able to reproduce the glue..

salvation crab

I have a drawing for sale in ebay---click my ebay store link below picture to bid

happy monday

If you bought art I will ship it out very soon. I have set my mind to move to Brooklyn in March or April. The suburbs often seem to me like Pepsi that has lost it's fizz. I guess it is fine if you are married and have children but my children are square and made of canvas and paper.

crab

I re-drew my DNA Crab. It is best not to be lazy and even if you think something is "good enough" it can be better. it only took another four hours so not so bad, here it is without the corners scanned... fix it soon...need nap.

Friday with Gardega

Weekends mean very little to freelancers. I awoke this morning thinking it was Saturday. There is an advantage of working in a company and that is you can leave work behind you on Friday as you step out the door into Happy Hour. I will load some drawings up today, I am working on my Salvation drawing.

gardega travels the MILKY WAY

I do my best to make sure to feed the intellect of my audience as there is great danger of the internet and television imploding the collective intelligence into a collapsing souffle...Here is a website that lets you journey through the solar system!

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html

Salvation Rough Drawing---Gardega

Here is my rough study for "salvation". It concerns the Sacred Horseshoe Crab and DNA. It is pieced together to scan as it is a large drawing..I am going to work on this until completion. purchase below...



BUY IT HERE

coloring books

As a child I told my parents never to buy me coloring books. I saw no point in filling in someone else lines when I could make my own lines. I never owned one coloring book and I never cared for comic books. My favorite book was an artist series on Rembrandt my mom bought me in Piggly Wiggly. I was fascinated by the painting that Rembrandt made of a man getting surgery, it both fascinated and horrified me. I still refuse to draw within the lines of society.

Alex:

First of all I would like to thank you so very much for the palette. I received it last week and was so very impressed. I truly don’t know the reason why other than I have a strange fascination with history and tools. To receive this tool from you is like owning Babe Ruth’s glove, or Isaac Asimov’s telescope or William Shakespeare’s note pad or Frank Lloyd Wright’s T square. It is truly priceless.



VIVA!

sneak peek!

A SMALL PEEK AT MY NEW DRAWING, ALMOST FINISHED..

How to be a genius!

If you asked 100 people how they would go about becoming a great chef, 99 of them would tell you to COOK, COOK, COOK!! Alex would would have a different answer for you and that would be---EAT! EAT! EAT! A chef, like a scientist, must know what he is dealing with and if he/ she is skinny he is not a chef to be trusted! To artists I would not say Draw, Draw, Draw! I would say read, read read, and look, look, look! It is most important to be a well-read artist! Most artists I know have barely read enough books to balance out a short table leg in a lower east side cafe. Dali was a man of letters and philosophy and Leonardo devoured books like a drunkard at the bottle.If you wish to become enlightened one can do worse than to feed at the breast of literature as hers is the milk of wisdom (even if you are an art-school drop out.)

I awoke and I was Gardega

As I awoke today I found I was not Kafka, nor was I Sartre nor Camus. I checked my feet and they were still my own and my hands had the pencil and ink stains from the nights labor. It is good to wake up as yourself, especially if you are Gardega.

January 2---Gardega Winged Helmet

There is a few hours left to buy my winged helmet painting. She will help you soar through the humdrum of post holiday skies and land you into warm gentle lap of Primavera!


VIEW HERE

nautilus

I found this image today and had to post it.

pyramid cam

As much as Alex despises Big Brother and shudders at the thought of a "surveillance society" I occasionally find a brilliant use of technology...Imagine that we take for granted that you can watch the sun set over the pyramids in real time on new years day!

click here

all is quiet...

Alex stayed in alone last night and watched his ritual twilight zone marathon. It is nice to wake up to the new year without the champagne dagger in the skull. It is my Dad's birthday today, so Happy Birthday and Happy New Years! (my parents have never looked at this website, I think they are not sure I have a website. ) I much prefer the hands off approach to parenting--- I was never guided or pushed, I was left happily alone with my pencils to face the world. My only resolution for The New Year is to work as hard as I possible can so I can look back next year with a sense that I did something with my time. People often ask me why Alex speaks in the third person. I speak in the third person because I do not think it is appealing to talk about yourself all the time---I, I, I, me, me, me blah blah blah...By using the third person I can remove myself a bit and pretend that I am someone else talking about myself, almost like a nature program narrator talking about an ant eater or a marsupial.

Happy New Year! a new canvas

The sun sets on another year and time paints her final, gentle shadows across the landscape of 2007! Soon a blank canvas will stare back at you from the easel of possibility and it is up to you to a timeless masterwork that will inspire the ages. The greatest enemy of art is fear. The same is true for life, if fear is the guiding force of "your brush" your canvas will turn into a lifeless thing. A lot of people from all walks of life read this "blog" which makes no sense to me because it is just me trying to figure out life and art and hanging out my reality like so much dirty laundry. It is strange to open up to strangers but I guess it is cheap therapy. I think people like this site because they can sense I am walking a road that I don't truly understand and that I am just reporting back from the field. The idea that people like my work and art is what keeps me going so any feedback is always welcome even if it is criticism. Thanks for supporting my art habit.

alex

MR. VONNEGUT READS BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

I found a great link today of Kurt Vonnegut reading his book, "Breakfast of Champions." It is great to hear him read his own works in NYC.



LISTEN

(to listen, scroll down a bit and click play.)

this painting is in my brothers home and as of yet, unframed...

ebay

some people have been complaining that I do not put stuff up for sale anymore. I have been caught up on projetcs but i have a few things in my ebay store and will load up more today.

in the wings

I drew this last night out of my head and video taped the process.

click here to buy:




in the sun

oil on gessoed paper

12 x 18 inches






I picture you in the sun
Wondering what went wrong
And falling down on your knees
Asking for sympathy
And being caught in between
All you wish for and all you seem
And trying to find anything
You can feel that you can believe in

May gods love be with you
Always
May gods love be with you
Always

I know I would apologize
If I could see your eyes
Cos when you showed me myself, you know
I became someone else
But I was caught in between
All you wish for and all you need
I picture you fast asleep
A nightmare comes
You cant keep awake

May gods love be with you
Always
May gods love be with you
Always
May gods love be with you
Always
May gods love be with you

Cos if I find - if I find my own way
How much will I find
If I find - if I find my own way
How much will I find
If I find - if I find my own way
How much will I find
If I find - if I find my own way
How much will I find
How much will I find
How much will I find
You, yeh, you
Ill find you, you, you - oo
Ill find you, you, you - oo
Ill find you, you, you - oo

Oh I dont know anymore
What its for
Im not even sure
If there is anyone
Who is in the sun
Will you help me to understand
Cos Ive been caught in between
All I wish for and all I seem
Or maybe you're not even sure
What its for
Anymore than me

May gods love be with you
Always
May gods love be with you
May gods love be with you
Be with you ...

lyrics by joseph arthur

horsehsoe crab

Anyone who knows me and my work knows about my obsession with the horseshoe crab and that I am convinced that our salvation as homo sapiens lies in this noble little creature. Unlike mammals, the crab has no immune system and therefore it cannot create antibodies to fight disease. Saltwater, as you may know, is a sort of bacteria Grand Central Station and yet the genius of The Crab survives unscathed through the ages--- a virtual aquatic napoleon! The general of the great bacterial army is the illustrious and feared ENDOTOXIN! The Crab, like any great military leader, has learned how to use the the enemy to his advantage and turns the great General Endotoxin into an ally and defense against infection. It is the precise property and genius that our crab possesses that make it's "blue blood" one of the most sought after commodities by the pharmaceutical industry. The magic blood is what keeps your medicine and vaccines free from bacteria today! Luckily, they are not harmed in the process of stealing their precious blood and they are returned to the drink with only a slight break in their routine. This is only the beginning of of man's understanding of the sacred Crab and I am certain that there will be many more discoveries deep inside the copper rich blood of this timeless creature.

Bronx Cover

Here is a painting I made for the Ambassador Yellow Pages Bronx edition. Ambassador forced me to actually go to the Bronx zoo which was an amazing experience for me. You can see this on the website of of Ambassador Publishing. I think this was last years cover, I have done them for five years now and cannot remember exactly. Painting on Yellow is a challenge and it forces alex to become Pop Art Alex and that is okay as it puts my art in kitchen drawers in all the boroughs next to the Campbell soup cans. The bronx is a double cover and the other side was painted at Yankee stadium. Once in a while I like to have fun and not be so serious (even though I am still trying to rescue modern art from the gutter in which she sleeps.)


CLICK HERE TO BUY

quote of the day

As a sword cannot cut itself, nor a finger touch its own tip, so mind cannot see itself.

sufi aphorism


I read this quote today and it got alex thinking about the essential duality of human nature. The simple action of thinking about yourself implies two or a duality. The "two" being the thinker and the one being thought of. If you are essentially two then who is the true self? If you can observe yourself thinking and make judgments about yourself then who is the self? I guess this can lead you into the issue of pure being or pure experience that is free from thought and judgment. When I was sixteen I read the entire Upanishads and started meditating and was able to get into a place where there was no duality and no thought. most people laugh at this and think that it is impossible to have "no thought" because if you are thinking of nothing you are actually thinking of something. Through deep meditation you can get into a space of pure light where there is nothing except being. You cannot explain to someone how to ride a bike as riding a bike requires experiential knowledge you cannot impart with words. The old cliche about the sound of one hand clapping struck me one day as so simple and profound--The sound of one hand clapping is the sound of one hand clapping and nothing more. It is nothing else than what it is.

solar activity as art

I found some amazing video tonight of the surface of the sun that shows changes in solar activity!

click here

electrons--explained by gardega

I read a lot about electrons today and I thought I would share a simple and very interesting concept.

first, I would like to share this wonderful quote:

Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

"The more precisely the position of an electron is determined by observation, the less precisely the momentum is known at that instant, and vice versa."
Heisenberg, 1927

the original model of an electron had it orbiting the nucleus (not unlike a planet around the sun.) The problem is that you can measure both the position and the momentum of a planet but it is not the same with the glorious and finicky electron! It was soon learned that if you look at an electron you effect that electron. For example, light (or protons) when used to view an electron change the position of the electron.

now, my enlightened friend, you may ask how they then determine the zip code of the humble electron as she spins in her orbit? It is here that our science friends use something called orbital shapes and probability. It is possible to draw a volume of space where an electron can be found 95% of the time! The magic is that Mrs. Electron can be found anywhere in the universe the rest of the time. This is not unlike your poodle disappearing and suddenly appearing on the doorstep of the Kremlin.

backwards writing

I found a drawing from my childhood today and on the back was a bunch of math problems. I noticed that half my numbers were written backwards and I realized by the patterns that I was making my numbers backwards on purpose. As a young adult I realized that I can write backwards as fast as I can write forwards---I do not even have to think about it, I just do it. I can also write upside down and backwards (although I have to pay attention to do that well.) I think the fact that Da Vinci wrote backwards because he was lefty holds no rain water. It probably has to do with not wanting to let his ideas get stolen. I suppose I have some form of dyslexia but it doesnt really bother me because I like to think backwards, it is easier to back into the garage.

DNA

I spent much of my day today reading about DNA and as usual my ADD kept me from my sketchbook. I started painting a painting on glass today ---I am painting a painting on five different layers of glass that will be displayed to create the effect of one 3D piece. The subject is St. Sebastian and it is one of two pieces I will be showing in NYC. The pieces of glass are only about 8 x 10. My last supper prints seem to be the water cooler talk in the halls of Fox News. I always get weird premonitions before earthquakes so if there is a big quake tomorrow then remember that alex told you so. I am going to draw all night until Dawn because I slacked today. My landlord thinks I am nuts because I never have any visitors and I sit up in my cottage 12 hours a day reading and thinking and drawing and painting. I never feel lonely because I live with Gardega. Picasso said that Dali's mind was an outboard motor that image never fails to draw a smile from me when I think of it.

Gardega Update

I will load up some new art today for sale (I promise) there will be some surprises as well!

blueline glass--gardega

Here is a website (in progress of being built and perfected) that shows my commercial art glass work I have done for many private and corporate ventures...

BLUELINE GLASS

Gardega at CFM gallery

I will have my St. Sebastian in opening at CFM Gallery in NYC on may 8th...

my discovery

Now that the universe has lifted her skirt and allowed me a brief glimpse I will use my discovery in the service of great art and begin my studies for my painting entitled St. Dali (as originally painted by Ribera and in turn again painted by Gardega)

the great discovery! Ribera paints Dali!!!

I was researching St. Sebastian today and found a painting by the great Spanish painter Ribera. There was something about the face that would not leave my genius alone. Gardega soon went to his great memory bank and realized that he had made another discovery for the ages! Notice Dalis face on time magazine in 1936 and notice him again before he was born as a model for the painter Ribera in 1621. If I do not get feedback on this I will break my pencils!

St. Sebstian study 3

St. sebastain study #2

Here is another sketchbook page of studies of St. Sebastian. Will put up for sale before noon.

ebay

to buy St. Sebastian study

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St. Sebastian first sketch

Here is my very first sketch/ study for my St. Sebastian painting. It is my intention to study all the traditional approaches to the subject by the masters and to then make it a gardega...I am just thinking with a pencil at this point and not concerned with detail etc.

vermeer, one of the all time greats...

There is a simple harmony to this painting that even I will not try to explain. There is much speculation that Vermeer used a camera obscura (google) to help him paint. If he did, it did not help him paint the amazing surfaces and tones he achieved here..I painted an exact replica of this in my teens which I later lost or destroyed. The light here is second only to god's own light. After a day treading through the dark alleys of modern galleries I will often stare at this painting to purify my eyes and soul.

st . sebastian

today I will start my drawings of my st. Sebastian painting. I am not intentionally on a st. theme, it is the universe that has decided that for me as I was requested to paint st. Sebastian. I am going to push the limits of what I can do with pencil and paint on my st. Sebastian and all my sketches will be for sale....

me as St. Thomas

When I was in my teens I discovered the greatest painter who ever lived and his name was Diego Velasquez. All modern painters including picasso and the great dali and gardega are but so many flies on the window- screen of history compared to the great Velásquez. In my twenties I discovered his painting of St. Thomas which proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was meant to be an artist for a living.

Gardega

I had a the strangest sleep last night! I spent the entire night (even when I was dreaming odd dreams) thinking about where I want to go next in art and where all the pieces fit together (including my blog of genius.) Alex decided with crystal clarity to kick things into high gear and to get a show together for a gallery in NYC. I will spend the next six months with the single minded dedication of a Navy Seal as I work on my show. I will document the process on this site and make many videos as well. I am pushing myself into levels of discipline and work I have never even considered. I will sell all my studies and sketches on this site as usually but the finished pieces will be for sale only through a gallery. I will have hundreds of drawings and studies for sale in order to fund the project (otherwise I will have to take on commercial work which will only distract me from my goal.) Any purchases of sketches etc will be greatly appreciated as it will help me reach my goal. I have not thought out my theme yet for the show and I may not even use a theme. My first piece for my show (by galleries request) is a painting of St. Sebastian. I will follow that with a self portrait.


The Hermit

christmas with alex

Please be sure to watch A Christmas Carol tonight or tomorrow (the black and white one from the thirties!) Even if you do not celebrate Christmas there is much to be learned from the awakening of old Ebenezer from the dark slumber of misery and his transformation into an enlightened human who learns that life is about as short as a ride on the Coney Island roller coaster and that the ups and downs of life are what give it is flavor and texture. The only guarantee is that one day your toes will be pointing up so it is best to live an honest life and a deep life and remember that material things are good stuff but they are not what makes us human beings.

God bless your families.

Viva Holidays!

happy christmas

I have been in a funk for a few days but know I am in the high Christmas spirit. A christams carol is on tonight so we can watch scrooge awake from his misery...

childhood journal

I found this today, It is the journal I kept when I was about nine or ten and living on a small farm in texas...It is funny to see I have not changed much in all that time and yet the world has spiraled into a maddening orbit...

first day of winter

I will put more art up today to celebrate the first day of winter. I am not sure why I would celebrate winter but it is good to live where the seasons change her mind.

discovery video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SBOKcuVHDo

here is an interesting bit on H.crab vision..