tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8318651118059668122024-03-13T00:10:45.323-07:00Rag & KoanAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-56531264826877185442013-08-30T03:00:00.000-07:002013-08-30T03:00:09.936-07:005 Apps That Give Me More Time To PaintMaking art is one of my favorite things to do and yet I have found over the years I do less and less of it in favor of doing things on electronic devices. Recently I have made a determined effort to correct this. Every now and then I realize that I used to not use computers much at all and in fact didn't even like them. Over time though they have become more refined and useful for things I never did in the past like marketing and research. <b>Ultimately I would like to restrict my device usage to productive endeavors that supplement my art practices instead of distract from them. </b> Below are 5 apps that are helping me to accomplish this.<br />
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1/ <a href="https://evernote.com/" target="_blank">Evernote</a> - The Backbone</h3>
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Lets get this one out of the way since everyone has heard of it. Despite being the most well known app on the list it is in fact the least understood. Up until a few months ago I, like many people, didn't get how to use Evernote properly. After some reading though one thing I saw repeated a lot was you have to just dive in and start using it to store all of your note related needs. So thats what I did and I have to say its true, <b>once your neck deep into Evernote its search and photo-text recognition functions become very useful.</b></blockquote>
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Its best function though is its integration potential and reliable sync services. I use it most often to sync with Trello (next on the list) and to backup my ever-changing artist statements and mailing list (using <a href="https://zapier.com/" target="_blank">Zapier</a>). It also syncs with some very useful iOS apps like <a href="http://www.bridworks.com/anote/eng/" target="_blank">Awesome Note</a> and <a href="http://trunk.evernote.com/app/cleverlist/iphone" target="_blank">cleverList</a> both of which I use to avoid the Apple Notes and Reminder apps.</blockquote>
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2/ <a href="https://trello.com/" target="_blank">Trello</a> - The Schedule</h3>
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This little gem puts every to-do-list app, scheduling app and calendar app to shame. It has found a way to blend these 3 services seamlessly and intuitively. <b>Best of all it is the only app that I can get a full overview of on one page on my tiny MacbookAir screen. </b>The key to using it I discovered from ZenHabits (<a href="http://zenhabits.net/putaway/" target="_blank">this article</a>) which is to make boards labeled by time. I primarily use Today, Tomorrow, This Week, This Month and Incoming.</blockquote>
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3/ <a href="https://www.dragdis.com/" target="_blank">Dragdis</a> - Visual Research</h3>
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This is the newest addition and its still in beta so you have to get an invitation or be on the wait list (I have a few invites if you want one contact me). As with all beta apps it has some bugs that will be fixed but the basis of the app is brilliant. <b>Remember back in the day when you wanted to save an image you would drag it to your desktop and save them in folders?</b> Well we have forgotten how easy and intuitive that was since the cloud came along. Dragdis hasn't forgotten though and that is exactly how you save images to this service. You simply start dragging the image you want and a window slides in revealing your folders on Dragdis, you then simply drop the image where you want it. </blockquote>
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I started using this after researching dozens of alternatives to Pinterest which I wanted to leave because they began randomly deleting images. As I use these kinds of services to research I couldn't have images deleted with little explanation and the social aspect of Pinterest seems very overrated.</blockquote>
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4/ <a href="http://getpocket.com/" target="_blank">Pocket</a> - Text Research</h3>
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This is a fairly well known app but if you don't know it is simply a "read it later" service. Its very simple and good at what it does. I send anything here that I feel warrants longer thinking beyond the recent movie reviews or UFC analysis I peruse. <b>I've been using it for a few months to compile a kind of marketing guidebook from all of the art business blog articles Ive been eating up.</b></blockquote>
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5/ <a href="http://cloud.feedly.com/" target="_blank">Feedly</a> - The Source</h3>
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Finally this is the app I use to find most of the articles and images I save to the other services. It is an RSS reader and if you don't know what that is basically it compiles new posts from blogs that I tell it to keep track of. Google Reader was the big one but when that was shut down all of these wonderful alternatives sprung up from the ashes and after researching a bunch of them Feedly fit the bill. It is slick, simple and intuitive, plus it now has enough users that I know it wont be shutting down anytime soon. <b>I have literally hundreds of blogs (mostly painters) that it sifts through and everyday I spend a bit of time looking to see if any new images/paintings catch my eye, if they do I drag it over to Dragdis and I'm done til tomorrow.</b></blockquote>
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Honorable Mentions</h3>
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It wouldn't be a proper "Best of" list without a few honorable mentions so here are 3 apps that didn't make the cut but still are quite useful.<br />
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6/ <a href="http://www.flickr.com/" target="_blank">Flickr</a> - The Storage</h3>
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1 TERABYTE of free online storage for your photos, I put literally everything here and Ive only used maybe 10%…nuff said.</blockquote>
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7/ <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/magicanrest/id634255909?mt=12" target="_blank">Magicanrest</a> - Breaks</h3>
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This is a Mac app that simply blocks you from your computer at set intervals for a set amount of time. I use it to pause my computer every 30 minutes for 60 seconds. This forces me to stop, disengage and stretch my body and eyes. <b>Since Ive been using it I feel much more relaxed after long work sessions</b> and it helps me stop which often leads to doing (Magicanrest just gave me a break in mid sentence while I was writing about it) other things, like painting.</blockquote>
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8/ <a href="https://bufferapp.com/" target="_blank">Buffer</a> - The Socializer</h3>
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Last but not least if you are a blogger or social network addict you know of this one and if not it simply allows you to schedule posts that get sent to various social networks simultaneously. I've actually only started using it this week in the process of making this list so that is why it is tagged onto the end but in that short time it has shown its amazing powers. With multiple social networks to market my art to I have found myself spending enormous amounts of time trying to be active enough to not lose followers. <b>Buffer lets me schedule a weeks worth of posts in an afternoon and then I can focus on just blogging and replying to comments.</b> I think Buffer is a bit like Evernote in that until I went all in I didn't realize how much it would help.</blockquote>
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That should be enough and is definitely the main characters. Let me know in the comments what apps you use and what you think of these apps.<br />
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Be well<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-12604894282279681282013-08-23T03:00:00.000-07:002013-08-23T03:00:05.533-07:00Art and The Pretense of Pretense : 5 ViewsRecently I saw a comment in a social forum saying that a certain kind of art was pretentious. The discussion didn't go anywhere so I thought I would share my thoughts on the topic here. First of all I respect everyones right to their opinion and in fact enjoy debating divergent views to get to a better understanding of people and ideas. <b>The following 5 views on the pretentiousness of art are not without their flaws and I hope that brave readers will point them out to me either in the comments at the bottom or on one of my social networks.</b> I am going to explore the relation of both pretense and pretentiousness to art since using the root word is a bit more helpful at times in understanding what is going on when applying these terms.<br />
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1/ All Art Is Pretense</h3>
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Lets begin by putting all the cards on the table: all art is pretense. The attempt to make something that is not-true appear to be true is the essence of art. Plus Art is a storytelling, translating, communicating tool and so it has a lofty purpose by its very nature. <b>The attempt to make a viewer believe they are seeing a landscape when in fact they are seeing the arrangement of colored mud is the ultimate pretense. </b> In the same way conceptual works attempt to convey an idea which is itself not real in a tangible sense.<br />
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Now the next step would be to ask "If all art is pretense then is all art pretentious?" To that I would answer that Art is an object and so devoid of things that imply intention and cannot itself <i>be</i> pretentious. The artist on the other hand could think very highly (perhaps at times too highly even) of their art or wish to imbue it with more importance than it may deserve. So the artist can certainly be pretentious but that does not mean by extension that the art is as well. This is like putting the sins of the parents onto the child. <b>There is an entire world of knowledge and experience to be gleaned from each artwork completely independent of the intentions of the artist.</b><br />
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2/ Humans Are A Pretentious Species</h3>
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Humans live in a bubble defined by words and language and ideas; constructs of the mind. <b>It is the pinnacle of pretense to believe that what you think and talk about is in fact what is actually creating the fabric of your existence.</b> It is similar to putting an x-ray in front of a person and assuming that is what they are. Our language and mental constructs are merely a feeble overlay placed on top of reality.<br />
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A glimpse at Human history shows clearly how self important we think we are by our nature. We view our experience and surroundings as if we are somehow separate from it. Even the save-the-Earth movements miss the fact that the Universe doesn't give a hoot whether or not our species and planet or even solar system perishes or thrives. The Universe will move along quite nicely with or without us making sure we separate the glass from the plastic. <br />
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<b>If our art was collected and studied by an alien species long after we were gone would they find it pretentious?</b> I would wager the answer is; only as far as they found us pretentious.<br />
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3/ The Cowardly Viewer</h3>
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Back on Earth though the heart of this matter is that many viewers do indeed feel that specific artworks warrant the label of pretentious and in a certain context that is fine and perhaps true according to an internal logic. For example it could be very easy to call pretentious much of what Duchamp or Hirst created. This however simply masks our own insecurity when faced with our ignorance of how to enter or understand specific artworks. It reveals our cowardice in the face of new ideas and ways of understanding. <b>By calling something pretentious we ironically try to elevate ourselves above the object we just labeled.</b> We can safely run away from it because we have designated the artist as the problem not our own unwillingness to feel vulnerable or lost.<br />
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<b>I have a secret for all viewers of art out there: the artist is not smarter than you!</b> If you can deeply believe that (and you should) then you can approach any artwork openly and ready to experience what it has to offer. Enter art through who you are and what you know and you will find a shared humanity.<br />
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4/ The Avant Garde</h3>
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Lets not forget that the cutting edge of Art has always been a bit arrogant or at the very least determined if not simply confident. To be blunt it takes a lot of balls to create and present what society won't accept as Art in the context of the Era. From that necessity comes what could be called pretentiousness but this doesn't mean the work of that artist should be ignored or dismissed. <b>To toss aside something because the intention of the artist is not as we would prefer it to be is simply depriving ourselves as an audience of the opportunity to learn and expand our horizons.</b><br />
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We should expect our artists to be willing to push the boundaries of society and hold things up to it and say "this is wrong" or "you should consider this" or "I found beauty here". Artists have a lot in common with monks and shamans in that they spend their lifetime exploring and expanding themselves and are a resource for the masses who are hard at work making society function as it needs to. <b>It is a symbiotic relationship the masses and the artists of society and it should not be overlooked that artists discover things that get neglected or forgotten.</b><br />
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5/ The Responsibility of The Artist</h3>
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The artist has one responsibility and it is not to the viewer, it is to themselves. This is in regards to the creation of their art only. <b>Once the work is made it is important (as with all human endeavors) to share, consider others and to help others as much as possible in whatever way we can. </b> The art itself however should not be brought to the realm of the viewing audience. Art is meant to elevate the human spirit and so in that sense a certain amount of pretense should be expected to beautify our homes and expose our minds to new possibilities.<br />
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An artist in another forum was asking what they should do with a series of drawings they completed which they didn't think viewers would understand. They wanted to know if they should change them or how they were displayed. This is not the concern of the artist, we are <i>supposed</i> to create challenging works for the public. This is however of concern for galleries and marketers, it is their job to package things for the public. <b>Often times the artist has to play multiple roles and so must at times consider the viewer but a challenging work is not something to be hidden or diminished in any way.</b><br />
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Some of these views may overlap in contradicting ways. I hope I made it clear the context for each view but if not I look forward to any debate this topic brings as it is an old and important one.<br />
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Be well<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-58957390742111925632013-08-16T03:00:00.000-07:002013-08-23T09:07:07.523-07:00Nonduality For Better Painting<br />
Its a tricky thing using spiritual concepts to understand technical or daily practices. The easiest way to do it is to compare it to or think of it as a ritual since many things we do especially creative processes are ritualistic. <b>However ritual itself is not spiritual it is simply a way to enter into the spiritual.</b> To simplify things I'm going to pick one single spiritual concept to explore here; Nonduality. I wrote a short article titled "Painting As Nonduality" about this same topic in 2012 on another blog. Since it is what inspired this line of thinking I will paste the text below as it is not too long.<br />
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...<br />
I did a painting at my Grandmother’s house the other day of this owl lamp that has been around since I was a baby. Not only has the lamp been around for decades but it has been in this same spot for that length of time as well. I could probably paint the thing from memory and that got me thinking about how painting creates this weird experience of merging memory with pure perception. Its something I have taught to students for a long time, the classic “draw what you see not what you know”. After doing this painting though it hit me just how profound this process of working directly with one’s senses can be during painting. <b>The process of creating something entirely new from something that is so familiar isn’t just a creation of the painted object but a creation of new neural pathways that “know” the object.</b></blockquote>
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This also connects to the Buddhist concept of Non-duality in a more thorough way than I had considered before. Previously I thought of this concept as being present with what is either in the outer-world or in our inner-world but after this painting I see its more of a simultaneous merging of these worlds and others as the memory of the object and the sense perception of it all co-arise with the process of painting it. Of course the painting is just a formality and this co-arising occurs continuously while painting or not but I'm really excited to continue exploring how this “painting as meditation” develops and merges with my previous meditation studies.<br />
...</blockquote>
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That was an impression I got after that particular painting, it is a bit unfocused though so I'm going to elaborate and sift through this idea in a bit more detail.<br />
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The Buddhist Concept of Nonduality</h3>
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My understanding of Nonduality comes from Buddhism and Eastern philosophies from the Tao Te Jing. It is by no means an easy thing to sum up or even talk about but lets try. <b>Essentially everything we do most of the time is think of ourself as one thing and the things we perceive outside of ourself as something else.</b> Our understanding of the world this way is greatly influenced by spoken/written language and our need to communicate in that particular way. We need to categorize and designate things and to do this we have to distinguish and separate everything we want to talk about. There is nothing wrong with this but by its nature it leads to an understanding of things being separate. What Nonduality says is that nothing is actually separate. <b>The simple test is try to find where "<i>You"</i> separate from everything else.</b> Go ahead, come up with a possibility or two. The most obvious is "well my body and skin say where I start and end". You are not just your body though, what about your opinions, your memories, your dreams, where do all of those end and begin? This can go on and on but that is the most cursory, basic summary of Nonduality which will suffice for the purposes of this essay.<br />
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How We Experience Nonduality</h3>
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Now lets explore how we experience Nonduality because this concept didn't simply pop up out of nowhere, it comes from our actual human experiences. Lets start again with the easiest example to convey. Do you play a sport of some kind? Have you ever been "<i>in the zone</i>"? That experience is Nonduality, that state of being very sharp and accurate while not straining or thinking. <b>What about musicians? Ever play an incredible jam or a really intense gig? Thats it too, again its the letting go of thought and just flowing, trusting.</b> Finally artists; ever pull off an incredible work, one that you don't know exactly what went so well or if you'd be able to duplicate the process? These are all about the right mixture of physicality with mental state. The ability to let your training take over while also following instinct and very limited cognitive interference. Meditation really excels at bringing this out in us and tapping very deeply into our ability to sustain this state. It is essentially a meditative state anyway which is why so many people say "this or that is my meditation", its not actual meditation but it taps into the same state of Nonduality.<br />
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Why This Experience is Important for Painting</h3>
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It is easy and natural for us to get stuck in a certain way of seeing, thinking or being. <b>When it comes to painting its very helpful to be able to shed this "stuckness" like a snake sheds a skin.</b> The more we approach a painting and our scene or idea as separate from us the more we will feel unfulfilled and frustrated by out painting practice. If I may alter one of my favorite movie quotes; "There is a way to [paint] with Earth and a way not to [paint] with Earth." The quote actually uses "live" instead of "paint" but you get the idea. You, the landscape (or whatever you paint) and the canvas are the same. Relax and breathe and let yourself fall into a state where your instincts and training simply happen the same way that the landscape is simply happening.<br />
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Be well<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-60688431924988153992013-08-10T15:28:00.000-07:002013-08-23T09:07:40.765-07:00Color As Unified Field TheoryTheories about color are a big topic, one that I will undoubtedly be revisited in future posts. I stumbled upon this particular idea of color when I began to see connections with my experiences in plein air painting with science’s Unified Field Theory and Buddhism’s concepts of Non-Duality and Shunyata. Each in its own way refers to everything being one, all things are all things and dividing them or talking about them is merely a conceptual exercise created by humans for the purposes of communication.<br />
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Ive been drawn back to this concept many times in many contexts from meditation practices to relationships and I'm finding it very present in my painting practice as I try to translate what I see into color on my palette or viceversa. <b>Its a curious process looking so intensely at objects and vistas breaking them down into color. </b> This process completely dissolves all conceptual aspects attached to things and results in a similar experience of seeing the world after months of daily meditation. It is of course not the same since the meditation opens experience in a more broad holistic sense while painting opens it particularly to visual perception.<br />
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Back to the title of this article and color's relation to science’s Unified Field Theory. This theory refers to science’s search for a theory that explains everything from the largest planets to the smallest particles. This quest has led to some incredible discoveries such as String Theory but has at the same time failed to fulfill its goal of a single theory for everything. <b>I find this to be one of the greatest parallels between Science and Art since Art has always struggled and quested for the unattainable and in doing so has found some unfathomable depths.</b> Real science (not the kind they often teach in schools) and mathematics for that matter is one of the greatest most imaginative fields of our species and art is right along side it plumbing the soul of the unknown. In this way I think color has much more to offer than I've ever been able to fully explore. Many have done amazing things with color in the field of Art; Rothko, Pointillism, Tantra paintings just to name the few off the top of my head. However can color be taken into the fields of science in a way that resembles science fiction where the questions are as unreal as our imagination but the findings are very real? Mathematical geometry gets near this when it calculates multiple spatial dimensions beyond the third.<br />
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All this hypothesizing about color began with realizing the emptiness of things as they exist only as color and then finding the Dumond Palette and the Munsell Color Wheel. Both of these I had seen before but had never read about their conceptual basis and their application to painting which I found really interesting in how it segmented color into more manageable conceptual pieces for studying and mixing. <b>In this way it shows how similar color is to the fabric of reality in that undivided it is not understandable conceptually but once it is broken into smaller and smaller pieces it can be more of a tool but less of its true self.</b> This is possibly why every painting is destined to be a failed representation of reality and every scientific theory is destined to never reach a complete theory of everything being unified since reality requires no such theory to simply be unified.<br />
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Be well<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-68754971760219479332013-08-02T11:10:00.000-07:002013-08-23T09:08:13.702-07:00Now Is One Brush StrokeEvery artist knows what its like in front of the blank paper or canvas, its the unknown and fear. Its a bit redundant to write about that in particular and if you’re not an artist just imagine the last time you tried to cook without a recipe or put together a puzzle without the picture on the box to guide you. <b>There is something daunting about not knowing how long you will have to stand there painting before it is complete and I realized recently that its very similar to sitting down to meditate.</b> You have to train the mind to get it to switch off, to resign itself to just be there, to sit on that cushion until the bell sounds or to stand in front of that easel until the painting is as it should be.<br />
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In this way we almost have to treat the paint as the mind, each thought that distracts us we must simply recognize it and return to the breath: each stroke that we place on canvas we must simply recognize it and return to the palette, to the scene. <b>By painting and being with only one stroke of paint at a time we remain in the moment, undaunted by any amount of time or any fears of failure. </b> With this kind of continued training we can over time learn that our mind is simply a sky of clouds, thoughts just moving by at their own pace with no need or point in us clinging to them or getting stuck on them. The same with painting there is just a flow of strokes coming from nowhere and leading to nowhere so we can pick up a blank canvas at any moment for any amount of time and without a second thought just jump in.
Be well<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-12944948330885138472013-07-26T09:29:00.000-07:002013-08-23T09:08:43.373-07:00Considering Vectors For Better Plein-Air Painting<br />
Have you ever opened a PDF file on your computer? Did you notice how you can zoom in quite a lot without losing the smooth curves and sharp lines of the content (image or text)? <b>This is what a vector file is all about; being able to change the scale of an image without it becoming pixelated or losing quality.</b> It is this kind of vector that I will be referring to in this article and how it relates to painting.<br />
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Translating Translation</h3>
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[This article follows up on <a href="http://ragandkoan.blogspot.mx/2013/07/art-as-translation-2-approaches.html" target="_blank">last week's article about Art & Translation</a>.]<br />
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When translating a scene or object there are various decisions of scale to be made. It seems like a simple ratio: larger surface = larger brush, smaller surface = smaller brush. However using a tool to its full potential requires one to understand its purpose. A hammer is used for banging nails into a surface, nothing changes how the hammer does this. A brush however is a tool whose purpose is not static like a hammer. <b>Used to translate or transfer what an artist sees in 3 dimensions onto a surface of 2 dimensions requires the brush to be a very complex tool for a complex task.</b><br />
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Lets say you want to paint a landscape from observation, do you want to create a pencil sketch? a small oil study? a miniature painting? an average sized plein-air painting? or a large studio painting? In addition do you want to convey each thing precisely as it is seen or are you after its essence and feeling? <br />
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Knowing the ways that a brush’s purpose changes with the canvas size will help to better apply it for the desired effect. <b>The key is in thinking of the painting process similarly to vector files being scaled and realizing that any scaling is navigating a triangulation of brush, canvas and human body. </b><br />
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Why You Should Think More About The Body</h3>
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All painting is rooted in the human body, so scaling of brush and canvas is reliant purely on the body and its average dimensions. The body determines the initial choices of every painting according to the place in which you are trying to put the viewer. <br />
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The Canvas Body</h4>
The body will feel or sense the size of the canvas and will make the viewer either relate to being in a physical space (as with landscapes or interiors), relate to another person's body (as with figurative, nudes or portraits) or remind them of their actual body/mind (as with abstract expressionism, murals or conceptual art). <br />
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The body will also determine how the viewer's mind will categorize the image. <b>Is it like looking through a window (smaller canvas sizes) or being in front of a vista of some kind (larger canvas sizes)?</b><br />
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The Brush Body</h4>
The body relates to brushes in a simple utilitarian way, like most tools the functionality of the brush is dependent on the characteristics of the human hand. So when working on an 8 foot tall canvas the size of brush is limited only by the ability to grip it in one hand. On an 8 foot canvas this means that the artist has available all brush sizes down to about a half an inch thick. A half an inch stroke on an 8 foot canvas will look like a line when viewed from a few feet away. <b>This distance from the surface that is required to view and discern the image of a large canvas means that half-inch brushes make the smallest mark still visible as an individual stroke.</b> Even smaller brush sizes can be used but will only be visible from a distance when applied in clusters.<br />
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Lets say however that we are working on an 8 <i>inch</i> panel. This will be viewed from much closer and has a much narrower range of brushes. Brushes larger than 2-3 inches will nearly cover the entire surface and so are not usable to paint representational scenes. Brushes smaller than a quarter of an inch will start to categorize the painting as a miniature. Miniature paintings have their own merits and if that is what the artist is after then smaller brushes must be used. <b>To stay out of the miniature realm on a smaller surface “lines” must be made not with single strokes from a smaller brush but with the juxtaposition of color planes.</b> Mixtures of these approaches of course can be used to varying degrees and effect.<br />
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The Brush Schizophrenic</h3>
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The way scaling works then is that the same brush creates dramatically different effects on different sized surfaces and so must be applied differently. So as the surface dimensions change the brush changes even if it is the same brush being used because its effect is different.<br />
This is a subtle but profound element of painting that the artist should be aware of as the real changes actually occur in the artist’s mind. <b>Once the artist is aware of the effect that the brush they hold will have then they can more accurately translate what they wish to convey from what they are viewing. </b> Instead of chasing after lines they can spend their time with more useful endeavors like chasing after effects.<br />
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Be well<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-28328451937443140992013-07-19T11:46:00.000-07:002013-08-23T09:09:09.030-07:00Art As Translation : 2 Approaches<br />
As artists what we are doing is translating; painting or any form of art is one process and that process is the translation of something into something else. Even conceptual and experiential works are subject to the structures of language and communication. <b>Artists are seers and for most seers it is not enough to just see, we want to share.</b> The thing about sharing what we see though is that it is not so simple since we are complex beings far beyond our perceptions.<br />
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Realizing that we are translating imbues us with a tremendous amount of freedom as we shall see. The best way to make this clear is to look at what an artist sees and wishes to translate compared to translating poetry or text from one language to another. <br />
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<h3>
Literally Dead or Alive</h3>
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On the one hand there is the approach of literal translation. With language it is in very clear terms of correct or incorrect, one word equals another word. This can be useful for preserving things for future interpretations, for example <a href="http://tjmaherpaintings.blogspot.mx/p/charities-i-support.html" target="_blank">preserving Tibetan texts</a> (see The Asian Classics Input Project on my charities page) before they are lost or resurrecting ancient languages from past civilizations. However if any of you have used Google Translate you know this isn’t always the most practical approach, <b>even if the words are accurate it often feels cold and dry.</b> There is also the issue that cultures do not correspond perfectly with each other and language is a product of a culture so not all words have a clear equivalent. <br />
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In terms of painting, strictly “Academic” painting is similar to a literal translation. There is a way to match colors and drawing to what you see in a very systematic way resulting in a near perfect translation of visual information. As with Google Translate though this creates very rigid images that often lack a feeling of life. <b>However this method does have many benefits in that it is very teachable, it develops very useful skills that can be applied to other kinds of art and it is a very reliable form of documentation.</b><br />
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I Feel Interpreted</h3>
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On the other hand their is the translation intended to convey the meaning or feeling of the original text in which case it is very much open to interpretation. <b>One translator of a poem may have a very different sense of what the poet was trying to convey and so will translate it slightly (or dramatically) differently than another translator.</b> This is very apparent when translating things like Haiku or books like the Tao Te Ching (see my article <a href="http://ragandkoan.blogspot.mx/2013/07/5-books-not-about-paintingthat-totally.html" target="_blank">5 Books Not About Painting</a><span id="goog_1977532100"></span><span id="goog_1977532101"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/"></a>). This approach can often lead to conflicting meaning debated among translators of a story such as Kafka's The Castle (also one of my recommended books at the above link).<br />
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Painting in this more interpretive manner has similar results. For example if you have ever seen 2 plein-air artists painting the same subject you will notice each has a more or less different composition, style and emphasis. One of the greatest masters of the interpretive painting approach was Rembrandt. Careful study of his paintings quickly reveals that most of the lighting he depicts was not possible during his time since they did not have spotlights as the compositions would suggest with their very focused light sources. While it would be possible to create some kind of focused light with candles or mirrors it is more likely that Rembrandt simply painted and glazed the areas he needed to to create these effects. <b>The down side to embracing this approach is that it can be so freeing that it is easy to feel overwhelmed by potential choices and not be able to pick one.</b><br />
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Literally Interpreted</h3>
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Both of these approaches have there merit and it is even possible to mix them to varying degrees throughout a painting. In fact this is not only an ideal approach but an unavoidable one. As painters we are not robotic like a camera which simply captures everything via reflected light. We must make choices even if we follow the most rigid academic style. In addition our choices are influenced by our mood so we may even make different choices when painting a repeated object (I talk briefly about this in Monday's post on my <a href="http://tjmaherpaintings.blogspot.mx/" target="_blank">painting blog</a>). <b>The main reason for this is that we are using tools and our body which have certain restraints on what is possible and so we must negotiate with the subject and the tools to find a blend for the final translation.</b> It is up to each artist to evaluate where to compromise and how much of each approach will determine their final piece.<br />
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Check back next Friday when I expand on the way our body and brush determine how artists translate their subjects.<br />
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Be well<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-9552805881115983592013-07-12T03:00:00.000-07:002013-08-23T09:10:39.635-07:00The Subconscious Neglect of Composition : 5 Observations<div class="p1">
To a viewer when composition works to its potential it is invisible and yet penetrating. It works on our subconscious and is usually the thing we “can’t put our finger on” that we like (or dislike) so much about a painting. Other times it can be blatantly in our face but we still usually don’t attribute things to composition unless it is explicitly referred to. <b>Composition is just ambiguously there and every painting would fall apart without it.</b></div>
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I am often flipping through tutorials on painting these days and I have found a disturbing pattern; I skip over anything I come across that refers to composition. In spotting this pattern I started to think more about composition and how it was working (or not working as the case may be) in my recent paintings. Here are 5 observations on composition to bring it back to the front of my brain:</div>
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1) Composition is boring and not boring.</h3>
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Composition tutorials can seem boring but don’t be deceived. All those mathematical overlays and golden spirals make it seem academic and so overly serious but there is more to it than figuring out where to arrange geometric shapes. In fact these overlays that we see so much on top of classical paintings really obscure the fact that<b> composition is not a standard and has no inherent beauty that can simply be imposed on an artwork.</b></div>
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2) Composition cannot be taught.</h3>
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The intuitive aspects of composition can’t be overemphasized and requires us to highlight the overlooked fact that intuition is biological in essence. <b>Composition is one of those things that isn’t right or wrong in the way that color or line can be quantified and compared to represent something. </b> Yet we cannot deny that we find certain arrangements of things more soothing and appealing. This does not however translate to “good” or “correct” composition. How we arrange things within the borders of a canvas is purely up to our own tastes, preferences and perhaps most importantly our own intentions.</div>
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3) Composition is part of the balancing triad.</h3>
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Composition completes the balancing act of line and color in very powerful ways but we tend to forget to use it. In the end we are making interesting <i>whole</i> paintings and usually we rely on line and color to do this. I have always felt if you nail the color or the drawing then you have a great piece. <b>Recently however Ive realized that if you nail the composition you can have less then stellar line and color choices but still have a great painting.</b> If something is not working with any one of the three then one of the others can balance the load.</div>
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4) Composition still has room for the avant-garde.</h3>
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Composition has the most room left to experiment and explore as artists. There is that nagging part of art that reminds us it has pretty much all been done before and we are simply on a personal journey at this point. No one is really breaking new ground because the last 70 years of art have been spent analyzing, exploring and bucking the norm. <b> Composition however is where a lot can still be challenged. </b> This is a testament to how powerful composition is to our experience of a work, even more so than color and line. We can handle all kinds of radical color and line applications these days but composition can still make many of us dismiss a work without giving it a chance if it is too radical.</div>
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5) Composition is an infinite reset button.</h3>
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When we experience composition it is often after we have had a problem with a painting that needs to be reconsidered. This means we are often visiting composition as the problem instead of as the foundation which is much more useful. Consideration of composition is also what usually keeps us a bit longer from actually jumping in to a painting since to use it properly requires preplanning and a lot of sketching to test possibilities. <b>Exploring compositions creates more work for us but it also creates better results for us.</b> The difference from one test sketch to another is pretty amazing in terms of compositional evolution, it happens fast and usually in large jumps.</div>
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Conclusion</h3>
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Given all of this it becomes clear why composition is often left as an afterthought, its just so vast and without a standard of comprehension. <b>This is intimidating but also exciting as it reveals composition as the last untapped depth in the ocean of painting</b>; want to be a better artist? experiment with your compositions. It also means composition is one of the first places to look for solutions to pictorial problems; not sure how to fix something? play with the composition.</div>
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Be well<br />
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-20020415602379207822013-07-05T03:00:00.000-07:002013-08-23T09:11:18.814-07:005 Books Not About Painting...that totally influence my painting<div class="p1">
The interesting thing about being an artist is that sources of inspiration and influence can come from literally anywhere. It is of course extremely useful, practical and almost necessary to find books that relate to some aspect of your work as well. Books on painting techniques, art history and art theory can be crucial to an artists development. <b>However sometimes its fun to see how seemingly unrelated books influence not just subject matter but our concepts and methods of producing art.</b> For this article I will be focusing on the books that do not fit into the typical categories and discussing a bit about them and how they influence my art even though they are not about art.</div>
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[in most cases links are to the free full texts online but all are available for free from your local library]</div>
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1) <a href="http://archive.org/details/flatlandromanceo00abbouoft">Flatland</a> by Edwin A. Abbott<br />
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<b><i>What it is: </i></b></div>
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This is a fiction story about a world inhabited by 2 dimensional shapes; circles, squares, triangles, etc. The story unfolds as the main character (a square) talks about dot-land, line-land and then its own flat-land culminating in its belief that nothing more exists. However it one day finds itself in 3 dimensional space talking to a cube and the cube explains that 3 dimensional space is the the actual end, not 2 dimensions and that the little square had been wrong. The square however having just had its entire worldview exploded in its face says “O Hell No!” (paraphrasing) there must be 4 dimensions and 6 dimensions and on and on, but the cube just can’t buy it and is stuck with the same thinking the square previously had.</div>
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<b><i>How it influences me: </i></b></div>
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There is nothing more amazing about being human than the fact that we will never know it all but we so often think we do. <b>The idea that there can always be more to know, to experience or to express is one of the driving forces for an artist.</b> Artists almost require a certain level of discontent, its what drives our imaginations and our ambitions. I have found myself so often dreaming of the possibilities and the potential of my paintings and I realize a lot of my ability to think further and further and be open and excited to the most insane ideas comes from reading this book at an early age, the square really seemed to be on to something, what if there really are infinite dimensions?</div>
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<b><i>Groovy excerpt: </i></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“And once there, shall we stay our upward course? In that blessed region of Four Dimensions, shall we linger at the threshold of the Fifth, and not enter therein? Ah, no! Let us rather resolve that our ambition shall soar with our corporal ascent. Then, yielding to our intellectual onset, the gates of the Six Dimension shall fly open; after that a Seventh, and then an Eighth —“</blockquote>
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2) <a href="http://books.google.com.mx/books?id=K7xMjWjqVmcC&lpg=PA199&ots=qwRVVjnq-A&dq=the%20teachings%20of%20don%20juan%20read%20online&pg=PA4#v=onepage&q&f=false">The Teachings of Don Juan</a> by Carlos Casteneda</div>
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<b><i>What it is: </i></b></div>
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This book follows the story (true or fiction?) of a man who stumbles into the graces of an amazing teacher and begins a journey of rediscovering reality. Don Juan puts the main character through a variety of rituals and tasks which cause deeper and deeper challenges to his knowledge of what is real and what is not. Through various plant mixtures the protagonist experiences things he assumes to be hallucinations but slowly learns might be other than he realized.</div>
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<b><i>How it influences me: </i></b></div>
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Knowing that things may not be as we understand them is very useful to an artist. As an artist I have learned to find a deep trust in my instincts and intuitions and to question where my knowledge comes from. <b> I have learned that my body is a conduit of nature and can often bring my awareness to places I would not have placed it if I used only my brain and cultural conditioning.</b> This can lead to observational discoveries like finding certain colors and patterns that aren’t obvious or to more conceptual discoveries like connecting various ideas from disparate fields of thought.</div>
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<b><i>Groovy excerpt:</i></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Then I didn’t really fly, don Juan. I flew in my imagination, in my mind alone. Where was my body?”<br />
“The trouble with you is that you understand things in only one way.”<br />
“But what I mean, don Juan, is that if you and I look at a bird and see it fly, we agree that it is flying. But if two of my friends had seen me flying as I did last night, would they have agreed that I was flying?”<br />
“You agree that birds fly because you have seen them flying. Flying is a common thing with birds. But you will not agree on other things birds do, because you have never seen birds doing them. If your friends knew about men flying with the devil’s weed, then they would agree.”</blockquote>
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3) <a href="http://books.google.com.mx/books?id=mx6U_Az1YscC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA15#v=onepage&q&f=false">The Castle</a> by Franz Kafka</div>
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<b><i>What it is: </i></b></div>
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A story about a man named K who arrives in a village to perform his job as land surveyor. The whole story revolves around K’s attempts to navigate the bureaucracy of the Castle and the village in order to do his job. This task becomes increasingly ludicrous and impossible so K spends much of his time in the village observing and interacting with its people waiting for the official channels to clear various obstacles.</div>
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<b><i>How it influences me: </i></b></div>
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Kafka is unparalleled at expressing the unattainable and endless qualities of the journey of life. This creates perfect parallels with the creation of art. Similar to the Balzac’s short story The Unknown Masterpiece, but much more relatable to modern life, The Castle really makes me feel the visceral sensation of not being able to achieve something and in feeling that helps me to pay attention to when I should struggle on and when I just need to let go. <b>Unlike K from the novel I want to find the right balance between reaching for the unreachable which is really what every artist is doing and accepting the moment as complete.</b></div>
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<b><i>Groovy excerpt:</i></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Only a total stranger could ask such a question. Are there control agencies? There are only control agencies. Of course they aren’t meant to find errors, in the vulgar sense of that term, since no errors occur, and even if an error does occur, as in your case, who can finally say that it is an error.”</blockquote>
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4) <a href="http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/taote-v3.html">Tao Te Ching</a> by Lao Tzu</div>
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<b><i>What it is: </i></b></div>
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This is an ancient text with a kind of poetic spiritual quality that goes through about 80 “chapters” covering a variety of situations, lifestyles and nuggets of wisdom. It puts a lot of complex concepts into very simply poetic words that really exemplify the definition of wisdom. In a way each chapter is a guide to a certain understanding of some aspect of existence. It feels like the precursor to Buddhist thought with less structure and more of a meandering feel to it. Some of its repeated themes include looking to nature as a model, allowing things to be as they are and not relying on words to understand life.</div>
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<b><i>How it influences me: </i></b></div>
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There is something very important about art that I never want to lose sight of and that is its potential as a profound poetic expression. This book makes sense to me on a very strange level, it always puts me at ease to read it and makes me feel like everything will be ok. It is this same feeling which I try to convey with my artworks as it is the only reason I can justify making them. The book also has an uncanny way of saying things while saying we shouldn’t rely on saying things which I think is a crucial thing to remember while making art, <b>there is a lot of paradox in being an artist.</b></div>
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<b><i>Groovy excerpt:</i></b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Failure is an opportunity.<br />
If you blame someone else,<br />
there is no end to the blame.<br />
Therefore the Master<br />
fulfills her own obligations<br />
and corrects her own mistakes.<br />
She does what she needs to do<br />
and demands nothing of others.”</blockquote>
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5) <a href="http://archive.org/details/TheMiracleOfMindfulnessAnIntroductionToThePracticeOfMeditation">The Miracle of Mindfullness</a> by Thich Nhat Hanh</div>
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<b><i>What it is: </i></b></div>
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This book runs through various short stories and anecdotes about meditation and Buddhism. It presents very profound ways to view and understand your everyday experiences but it leaves a lot up to you to connect the dots and make what you will of the chapters for yourself. It gives a very instructional information but through very fluidly crafted writing that is very easy and quick to read.</div>
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<b><i>How it influences me: </i></b></div>
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I would say this book is responsible for me really pursuing Buddhist ideas and practices as well as laying the foundation for how I developed an understanding of those practices. One of the early chapters is about when doing the dishes only do the dishes. This basic principle summarizes the entirety of mindfulness for me and is always what I go back to when I need to remind myself. As an artist its crucial to have a patience and mindfulness throughout the whole process of creation. <b>At each moment the work is speaking back to you in various ways</b> and its important to be ever listening to the work and to the life in order to find new things to express and new ways to express them. At the very least the philosophy from this book helps me to stay centered and focused while cleaning brushes and prepping materials.</div>
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<b><i>Groovy excerpt:</i></b></div>
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“If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either.”</blockquote>
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Be well<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-54202250396331508702013-06-29T12:22:00.000-07:002013-08-23T09:12:00.741-07:00The Good, The Bad & The Beauty<h3>
My Mud Is More Important Than Your Mud
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I have been reading a lot of plein air and representational art blogs lately. One thing that has come up a couple times is the notion of how there is a real art and a “museum" art and the latter is not looked upon too kindly by some painters. This brought about an interesting feeling for me that I hadnt thought about maybe ever. <b>I had forgotten that at one time I also thought that art was being misrepresented by museums and even the big galleries of say Chelsea or Soho.</b> Before you read further know that I have smooshed what I read into a homogenous point of view in order to branch off into some perspectives that I feel are useful to discuss. </div>
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Children: Gods Of Abstraction
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Over the years despite holding the belief that some art wasnt art I drifted without realizing it into a fairly infinite definition and love of art. I can even pinpoint this paradigm shift to right around when I was a full time middle school art teacher in a public school. I witnessed how intuitively and freely Kids gravitate towards expressing themselves abstractly. This is partly due to a lack of skill but also (and more importantly) it is due to a lack of cultural programing, <b>they have no system for one form of representation being of more value than another until they learn it from someone.</b> I tried to teach them that they could create their own art value system and it was fascinating to watch them grow and develop this way. There was a very diverse range of systems that came about, unique to each student and each overlapping to varying degrees based on social conncetions. </div>
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What I realized from the amazing spirit and freedom of watching kids make art is that there is quite an enourmous continuity of what the human species can create and categorize as art. We develop in such a way that abstraction is natural to us due to our mind’s perception and its untranslatability. We try so hard to translate our experience and when we are young this comes out very abstract. <b>I think as we get older and our ability to observe and transcribe experience evolves then this abstraction schizms into quite a spectacular spectrum.</b> What starts to happen though is that some groups begin to believe and say this part of the spectrum is art and that part is not which is akin to saying blue is a color and red is not. I think this comes from people’s tendency to become invested in and identify with a particular part of the spectrum.</div>
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Conceptual Art: The Great Liberator
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I mentioned that I learned from kids that there is an enourmous continuity of what the human species can create and categorize as art, this is not the full story though. With teaching kids I learned from them to let go and express myself more freely as I wanted or felt instead of how I thought I should. However there is another layer that I learned on a much more cognitive level through studying and learning to appreciate Conceptual Art (the biggest target of those who scorn the “art world"). This understanding developed by chance alongside my studies of Buddhism. <b>The most interesting parallel between conceptual art and Buddhism is that both endeavor to free our preconceptions about our perception and understanding of the world.</b> Conceptual art is in part an antogonist or even a stand up comedian; it finds something that is held as a standard, a hypocricy or just something that is narrowly understood and it explodes it in our faces. This ironically, but not regretably, is why many people dislike conceptual art. As any practitioner of Buddhism intimately knows it’s the things we hold to the strongest and rely on for our understanding of our life that we dont want to confront or have presented to us. </div>
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Another fascinating characteristic that conceptual art mirrors from Buddhism is that it started with itself. Often it is forgotten that conceptual art was not some new creation, it is more akin to the first steps that Art took towards attaining its own enlightenment. The first emergences of conceptual art were aimed at Art itself (early on at least) using its own traditional platforms to quite thoroughly dismantle our preconceptions and narrow views of art until moving on to deal with all of human experience which is where we find conceptual art mostly exploring today. <b>If you can liberate yourself you have liberated everything.</b></div>
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Representing Representational Painting
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None of the above points negates or even diminishes the value of representational painting in the slightest. It is important to consider that in thinking that one art form is fairing better than another we are essentially placing the artform we identify with in the role of the victim. Representational painting for example is far more resillient and independantly valuable than the whims of an economic system and what that system chooses to value. Sure we would all like to make gazillions of dollars but this is not about economics, it is about our soul. <b>These are spiritual endeavors we are engaged in and a poem should not feel any less valuable than a plein air painting nor a plein air painting any less than a formaldehyde filled tank with a dead shark in it.</b> </div>
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May All Our Stuff Shine On
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Before I finish I want to clarify some points about those who criticize the art world, conceptual art or contemporary art (however those terms may be understood since they are themselves just vague categorizations at best).</div>
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I think the issue many people have is more with the tendency for institutions to dispoportionately value a certain kind of work over another. I agree that this is a valid concern but I just caution against thinking that the proper value is the opposite or <em>any</em> value at all. <b>The main problem is that the value is placed by economics and reputations that can be attached arbitrarilty to any work </b>and would be equaly concerning if it were attached to a more traditional form of art.</div>
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This leads to the idea of value in general which is a whole other beast to tackle for another article. I will just say that <b>to properly understand art it is necessary to remove the idea of communal value.</b> This is not something I am directing at culture, I am directing this at each individual. It is up to each person to decide if they want to indoctrinate themselves with other’s values or to realize that each artwork and each object we encounter has something we can appreciate and learn from on a personal level.<br />
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Be well<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-80415665198905807092013-06-29T12:17:00.000-07:002013-08-23T09:12:34.579-07:00Rhythm & Blues & Painting<h3>
SAME OLD SAME OLD
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<b>There is one great obstacle to the painting life and at least one possible antidote: getting bummed and getting groovy again.</b> Since starting to oil paint again Ive had a little microcosm of an art career flash before my eyes and its reminded me of my actual life making art. It goes a little something like this:</div>
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1) Get excited and inspired to try something.</div>
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2) Have a bit of success at it and feel good.</div>
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3) Get distracted and stop creating.</div>
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4) Feel bad, get more distracted.</div>
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THE HUES OF THE BLUES
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That seems to be a farely regular routine in my art life cycle. The trick is to intervene or snap out of it before you hit step four which just repeats itself in an endless loop. Ideally you hit step three and then pop yourself right into step 1 before your mind gets involved. <b>The blues are unavoidable so its important to make something from it or to take control of the cycle.</b></div>
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This time around when I began oil painting again last Summer I was able to observe my cycle with a bit more attention. It started as usual with me coming across some great plein air painting online (one of the main culprits was an old friend’s website, <a href="http://www.colinpagepaintings.com/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.33s; border-width: 0px; color: black; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.33s;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.colinpagepaintings.com/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.33s; border-width: 0px; color: black; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.33s;">www.colinpagepaintings.com</a>). This got me wanting to get my hands in that good ol’ oil stuff again and have that beautiful linseed oil smell greet me each day. So I did and it went great (some of the results are on my site, <a href="http://www.teejaymaher.com/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.33s; border-width: 0px; color: black; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.33s;" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.teejaymaher.com/" style="-webkit-transition: color 0.33s; border-width: 0px; color: black; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.33s;">www.teejaymaher.com</a>). Of course I then got distracted traveling and such and found myself going months without really being able to get it started again. This got me kind of bummed out about the whole idea of painting and doubting myself quite a bit. <b>There are all kinds of trappings your mind can use to throw you off your game. </b> Sometimes it gets you interested in other hobbies, other times it makes you totally wrapped up in some time wasting activities and other times it just convinces you that you don’t know what the first step is to get started or there are too many steps to even bother with that day.</div>
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SAY UPJUMP THE BOOGIE TO THE RHYTHM OF THE BOOGIE
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Onward to the present moment where I have begun painting regularly again. What is most important about the above is that I observed the pattern. The months in between were really just filled with my wandering mind but once I started actually putting (or forcing at times) brush to canvas again it all fell aside and my rhythm was back.</div>
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I realized that the blues is a natural part of painting, <b>getting discouraged by some poor results or distractions is just part of the gig.</b> What is important though is to keep my sites set on the rhythm. My working rhythm is what keeps the cycle renewing itself and keeps a healthy dose of positivity pumping in with the blues I encounter. For me Ive found that taking the rhythm idea literally helps and so I tend to work in series. I make little production lines of work that I go through in sequence updating each painting in a row. I did this for a long time with my Enso paintings and works on paper but I discovered this week that it easily applies to oil painting as well with a few adjustments (well maybe just that its with oil paint).</div>
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Im now a little more aware that the blues are gonna hit me occasionally no matter how good a painter I become but with a little planning and dragging through the initial slump its not so tricky or daunting to get back on rhythm. It helps too to put on some really good old school jazz while I work.</div>
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Be well<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15506424453484776857noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-831865111805966812.post-28674045371250022042013-06-29T12:13:00.001-07:002013-08-23T09:13:00.483-07:00Facing the Blank Canvas<h3>
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
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In thinking about the first post for this blog I was quite stumped, this is the beginning I don’t want to mess it up. I realized I have had this feeling before in front of new convases or grids of blank paper lined up waiting for me to go at them with a brush. Then I realized <em>that</em> in itself was the perfect topic for a first post.</div>
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<b>Everyday we are faced with it, waking up we have this entirely untouched thing before us, the new day can be terrifying.</b> Sometimes its dealt with by just going through a routine like a zombie but other times there just doesn’t seem to be a routine to hide behind. On those days you are face to face with your life and your self. I’ve realized I have 2 ways of dealing with it.</div>
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1/ DO OR DO NOT THERE IS NO TRY
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Those simple cliched words from Yoda have become more and more clear with each year of my life (a topic for another article). I’ve noticed particularly with art its usually a matter of just getting something on the canvas, I’ve even seen an artist just throw a whole cup of coffee at their blank canvas just to muddy it up a bit. <b>Essentially its just about getting past your mind and giving something for your intuition to play with and respond to.</b></div>
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In the case of writing many writers know the simple trick to overcoming “writer’s block" is just to write your river of thoughts. It seems almost mockingly simple but the simplicity of it can be deceptive. The “block" is mental and ignoring your mind to simply write anything no matter how unusable it may be creates a movement that will develop into a more desirable outcome.</div>
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This block or mental shadow sneaks into you gradually, it takes a moment of clarity to realize you are not doing something and that it is due to your own mind. For instance I spent days tweaking the code to this blog to achieve the desired aesthetic before I realized the coding was just helping me avoid writing and it was time to actually pump out some articles.</div>
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This applies nowhere better than physical exercise (as if Nike’s “Just Do It" slogan wasn’t enough to remind of this). Things in motion stay in motion is one of the all pervasive qualities of the Universe. If you begin to move this momentum will bring more and more movement. I have approached exercise in numerous ways over the years and have come to see that moving the body with determination stimulates the desire for more moving and it encourages the health of the body overall. This is why even when I am sick I do my best to get some physical activity if not full on exercise. Simply getting up and going anywhere or doing anything will quickly lead to the day taking a usuable shape, either improving your health or accomplishing some task.</div>
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2/ NOWHERE TO GO NOTHING TO DO
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This concept actually is the exact opposite of number 1 and has its own word in Japanese; Mushotoku. Its one of my favorite words and concepts which relates to Zen Buddhism, just be with what is upon you. <b>If you have a feeling of not knowing what to do on a particular day that is not a bad thing, allow it to be that way. </b></div>
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It is a natural cycle for us to have days when our body or mind just needs us to do nothing, there is a lot to be processed from our lives. Our bodies need time to rest or heal and our minds need time to work through seemingly endless rivers of thought. There are many subtle ways for us to allow this to unfold but on those days that just feel empty it is usually a sign that we can let things take there own course and trust our body and mind to take care of themselves if we let them.</div>
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Of course every day can’t be about sitting and not moving, even monks have things to get done but if there is truly no schedule then just appreciate the blankness of the canvas, it will be gone soon enough, nothing stays blank for long, nature has a way of dirtying up blank canvases and we get a fresh new day to experiment with every 24 hours.</div>
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BREATHE IN THE ABYSS
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You may notice though that while these 2 approaches are at opposite ends of a spectrum they compliment each other sublimely. Part of just <em>doing</em> something is accepting that the goal is not so crucial, the nothing-to-do quality. Similarly part of just <em>being</em> with what is there is a very strong intention to do something, even if it is just being blank.</div>
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<b>In both approaches you are essentially relinquishing control and the more you can do this the more fulfilled each of these kinds days will feel.</b> In just doing something you have to release the desire to control the outcome, of the painting, of the writing or of the life, don’t plan just move. In just facing the blankness you have to surrender to the fact that the Universe and your life will still flow onward without you stearing every moment. Instead of a day of facing an abyss it becomes a day of enjoying the space to breathe.</div>
Be well<br />
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