Let me just take this opportunity to mention that I LOVE Autumn and Winter. This is my favorite six (or so) months out of the year.

The sky was beautiful today after yesterday's rain. Large cumulus clouds floated across the sky, ever-shifting mountains of water vapor. It always seems like everyone complains about Summer heat until the first rain, at which point they begin to complain about that instead.

Not me. I love the rain. It's cooling, cleansing, and life-giving. It washes all the pollen and pollutants out of the air. I try to make a conscious effort not to run through the rain to avoid getting wet - it's unavoidable anyway, so why not choose to enjoy it instead?

Whenever I see clouds like this, I can't help but to imagine flying through them, Superman style. That's why I wanted to be a pilot as a kid. Every time I fly in an aircraft of any kind, I'm glued to the window. The earth look so different with a vantage point thousands of feet above it. I imagine this is what climbers feel like when they reach the summit of Everest.

It's times like this that I remember that art exists whether or not humans are around to create it (or perhaps even to observe it - but that can wait for another discussion). If you think about it, most art is a representation of what has already been created in the natural world. Still life, landscape, portraiture, photography, sculpture - it's all an artist's representation of what he or she sees. Even art that comes from the artist's imagination is informed by events, places and people the artist has encountered. Abstract art is no different, by the way. The abstract artist merely expresses his or her reality in a more personally symbolic way. Everything is art. Nature is art. People and animals are art. Plants are art. Table settings are art. Trash is art.

Seriously.

Labels: Art, clouds, Photography, rain

Lately, I've become interested in getting back into the creation and performance of music. It's great to be playing guitar again, although there have been some sore fingers along the way. I've also been rebuilding my computer music studio since my computer crashed a month or so ago. I asked Monica what she thinks of me playing music again, and her response was, "It's great, now go write me a song!"

So today I went to a pawn shop to look for a cheap delay pedal for my guitar. I can't afford a very expensive pedal, so I thought the pawn shop would be a great place to look, and besides, in Auburn the pawn shop is not a creepy dingy place or anything. Unfortunately, the pawn shop did not have much in the way of pedals, so I went to the local music store instead. Besides, I needed some guitar picks anyway.

I really want to support the local music store, because I believe that keeping my business local helps the economy of the community I live in. I could go online to internet music chains, but there's something immediate about music stores. I like to wander around, looking at the many guitars, checking out the massive amplifiers, and soaking up the general atmosphere. But I have a problem with music stores. The problem always occurs when interacting with sales people in the music store. Here's a perfect example from today:

Me: "I'm interested in a delay pedal. What is the cheapest one you carry?" I ask this after I have already looked at the delay pedals in stock and know which ones they have.
Salesman: "Oh, that would be [insert name of most expensive non-stereo delay pedal they carry]. That is, if you want a decent one. Of course you could get delay with a combo multi-effects setup, but if you just want delay by itself...[It's painfully obvious what the salesman would rather I buy] Let's see, retails for...[taps buttons on calculator], that would run you about XXX dollars."

Sigh. Yes that was a three digit number. I know for a fact that they carry a $30-$40 model. Furthermore, why would I pay three digits for effect I can get for free on my computer, even LIVE, for just a few bones spent on cables to plug my computer into my amp? It's always like that when I go to a music store. One time I asked a salesman at another store about an amplifier and all he would say to me (with disdain clearly showing on his face and in his voice) was, "That's a solid state amp. I'm an old tube amp man, so I don't know anything about those things." Really?! You're a music store salesman. You sell musical istruments and accessories for a living,and yet you care so little about making a big sale that you will brush off the customer because you don't approve of the type of amplifier he is asking about?

Today, I paid for my guitar picks and left. Later, I will look on Craigslist or an online store, where at least I know I can get honest information about the product I want, nobody lies to me about how much it costs, and nobody can brush me off because I didn't ask about the right product. Online, everything is straight and to the point, with no B.S.

Music store owners, take note.

I haven't painted anything in a while, but I've been working on art for a flight simulator I use called X-Plane.

Art for a flight simulator? Well, yeah.

See, everything in the simulator has an art resource attached to it. It may be an aerial photo placed on the ground, or the facade of a building...even the 3D object that makes up the building is creatively designed by someone and "built" in a 3D program, and a texture is applied to it.

Consider what I created recently: a cell phone tower.

A cell phone tower? That's pretty boring.

Well, sure. It is boring. It's an everyday object. It's not flashy. In fact, cell phone towers are kind of ugly. But they are a part of the landscape, whether we like it or not. And in a flight simulator, a lot of energy goes into creating scenery that replicates the real world as closely as possible.

It's one thing to have the Sears Tower as a landmark. Or the Transamerica Pyramid. Or the Space Needle. Or Fenway Park. Or the St. Louis Arch. Or...okay, you get the drift.

But in order to make something look real, lived in and authentic, when you look out the airplane windows you want to see the ordinary. The mundane. And reality is ordinary and mundane (if it wasn't, then things like the Statue of Liberty wouldn't be special).

So I created something that adds to the ordinary-ness, the mundane-ness, of the simulator...with the end result that it now looks more alive. Without little details, it just looks like a barren wasteland of a landscape (in fact, the usual complaint from new users is that there are no buildings at airports). We, as users, want to see something. Something like this:


Which, by the way, is Seattle.

Okay...but is it art?

Well...of course it is. What else could it be when someone applies their creative skills to solving a problem, whether visual or aural, abstract or representative? Consider this: in an age where the word "art" has become more commercialized and pretentious than ever, is it possible that we have lost our grasp on what the word really means? Is it even a useful term anymore?

I humbly propose the following: That art is the creative application of any idea by any individual, in any medium, for any purpose - rather than an intellectual exercise for the privileged, "talented," the "art educated" and the pretentious.

Art happens every day, everywhere, by everybody. It is in the fantastic and the mundane. The special and the ordinary. The Chrysler Building...and yes, the cell phone tower.

This is my challenge: find art wherever you are. Appreciate the world. Notice things you wouldn't ordinarily notice. See the artistic in everyday life. I dare you. And let's take back art once and for all.

End of rant part one.

Labels: 3D, Art, Flight Simulator, Ordinary, Rant, X-Plane

After being called out on not blogging for a long time, I give you the most random thing I saw today: a tiger in the Safeway parking lot.

What?

I didn't put it there.

Remember the photo I said to remember for later? Here's the painting I made of it. Some details have been changed, of course. "Chimera," 8"x10" Acrylic Paint on Canvas Board. Still have to varnish it and frame it though, and of course take a proper photo to put on my website - this was taken with my phone, and it's in front of another painting. But it's nice to be finished (for the most part).

Labels: Acrylic, Music, Painting

I have a new job. My apartment's a mess. I have church activities and a social life. Oh yeah - and I'm getting married in less than eight months and have yet to really even begin making arrangements. And somewhere in there I'm supposed to fit making art. Boy do I feel like I'm failing at that.

I'm still working on the same piece - well, actually that's not accurate. I'm still NOT working on the same piece. Which is lame, because I have it all figured out, I just need to DO it. I don't know how I'm going to be able to go forward with this and finish the other things I've started, let alone projects for the future, which are supposed to include a 12" x 12" piece of one of the Stations of the Cross. (People who read this are probably going to think I'm a "Christian Artist." Ha.)

The truth is, while I have technically have time to accomplish everything, I feel so overwhelmed by the sheer weight of it all that I sort of shut down and don't want to do anything. Which just puts me further behind.

Labels: Art, Helicopter, Movies, Work

Here are some photos from the official Midtown Friends Community launch party. Midtown Friends is a Quaker community located in Sacramento with a focus on expressing God's story through art (see photo two).
Photo one is Pastor Becky, preaching on trees, our story, and the meaning of "Life, the Universe and Everything." Photo four is Monica and Alena creating the Tree of Life.

Labels: Art, Midtown Friends

At Midtown Friends launch! More to follow later.

There's a set of Baseball Cards that, instead of photographs of players, uses paintings. They look awesome, but I can't remember who it is that publishes them. Anybody know?

Want.

Watching the Giants and Dodgers right now. Poor Tim Lincecum was frying in the heat. Giants are down 3 in the 6th, and I kinda doubt they are going to manage to get the wildcard spot...

No M's, A's, or Giants in the post-season = :(

Labels: Baseball, Paintings

I've been working on my website, which I'm getting close to making public. There are still some sections I have to complete first, and even when it is made public, there will still be more to do. For a sneak-peak, see images to the left!

Here's what will be included:
Bio
Image Galleries
A Shop (with some free things!)
Contact Info
Links (of course)

I mean for it to be a basic design that can grow organically. Also, it will eventually be a sort of "rabbit hole," with the visitor choosing just how far to go. Basic info will be apparent on the main screens, with special info hidden throughout. But a lot of that is for the future. Just thinking big ahead of time. :)

When it is ready, I will post here and everywhere I have a presence, so you all will know. Until then, back to work! (Speaking of work...I got the job I was interviewing for! YAY!!!)

Labels: Website, Work

Dan Logan and I drove down to Midtown for Second Saturday. First stop was Spanglish Arte, which was still organizing for the night. We were a little early. They have a lots of cool art there, so check it out on 23rd near I St. if you are in town. Only one of Monica's pieces was out, which was of some concern...

20th St. Gallery (on, you guessed it, 20th St.) was really good this time, fantastic paintings of clouds and landscapes by Dennis Stanford, check out Tobin Rodman while you're there. The Viewpoint (2015 J St.) featured amazing photography by Bob Fera, Mike Mayda, and Terry Nathan. The center of the gallery held Nathan's photos of smoke spirals influenced by microcurrents, chaos theory in action. On the perimeter, Fera and Mayda's fantastic images of galaxies and nebulae. This is why I wanted to be a space explorer when I was a kid - I never understood why it was such a bad thing for the Robinsons to be "Looooost iiiiiin Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace".

We also hung out with Pastor Becky and Co. at Midtown Friends Community, where they gave away free cookies made with Fair Trade ingredients (which Dan had helped bake the night before)! All 200 cookies were gone by the end of the night. Monica - earlier in the day - had drawn a picture of herself holding art. When life imitated art, I had to capture it (see photo above)!

Labels: Midtown Friends, Monica, Paintings, Photography, Second Saturday

Tonight is Second Saturday again in Sacramento. Dan and I are going to be making the rounds, and if anyone wants to join us, just call. We're definitely going to hit Spanglish Arte and Midtown Friends, where Monica has artwork showing. Monica may even do some live art at Midtown Friends, so stop by! The image to the left is one of her paintings.

I'm working on an 8" x 10" painting (see "Remember this for later," previous blog) of Judah Nagler playing a keyboard. Some details have been changed. I've been experimenting with different techniques and haven't been happy with all of them, so it's been taking a while. Another painting I'm working on has barely gotten off the ground, because I keep changing what I want to do with it.

On other fronts, I may (here's hoping) have a new day job soon, at Southside Art Center in Auburn. Fingers crossed!

Labels: Monica, Painting, Second Saturday

Recently I saw an image of a stained glass window that reminded me of how much I love them. Not making them - although my mother used to make them before she switched to watercolor as a medium.

I remember going to mass and staring for the entire time at the stained glass windows, which, along with reliefs and sculptures, were originally intended to help educate illiterate peasants on the basics of the story of Christianity. There's a quality of light that cannot be reproduced in any other medium. I miss that, since the church I attend now is lacking in stained glass.

Of course, this was not the image I saw, but how could I possibly resist this stained glass depiction by Lynda Macrae of Link from The Legend of Zelda? Awesome. There should be a whole series based on games, if there isn't already.

The other thing I've been thinking about for the last couple of months is Orthodox Iconography. Icons are "written," not "painted," and usually involve gold leafing. I think they are amazing, and what I'm considering is incorporating elements of icons into my own paintings.

Icon writing has it's own specific sets of rules (depending on whether the writer is of the Russian school or the Greek school), and I do not intend that anything I do be held up to the rules of orthodox writing. But I think as a symbolic depiction of stories and characteristics of individuals, an icon is in many ways timeless and universal, and succeeds in visualizing the sublime, and that is what intrigues me.

This will still require thought and experimentation, so stay tuned for more news.

Meanwhile, I think I will be at Second Saturday in Midtown Sacto this weekend if anyone wants to meet up. Monica has art at "Spanglish Arte" and also at Midtown Friends, so I want to support that. Plus, I missed last time.

Labels: Art, Icons, Link, Stained Glass, Zelda

Monica made me aware of the fact that we now officially have nine months to go before our wedding. And SO MUCH TO DO.

We still don't have the guest list figured out, and haven't sent out invites or save the dates. I don't even have the website finished yet (lol).

Labels: Photography, Wedding

Currently Listening To: All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone By Explosions In The Sky

Labels: Music, Photography