Eating Peaches

Had to borrow this snippet from Mark Ryden – he sums it up beautifully.

Artist Statement – “Anima Mundi” – September 2001
I still remember the joy I got out of drawing, painting and building a world of my own when I was a child. I was free. I try to recapture that feeling I had making art as a child and to believe in magic, to play, to dream. Children see things and feel things that adults don’t.

– Mark Ryden, 2001

Love the Abe Lincoln and “paint meat” parts.
Hopefully we are heading to a museum tomorrow. A perfect place to gather reference photos for painting ideas. If not, I should get some good shots on this trip. Just a few days to go before the start!

Well, nothing got accomplished last night. Other than discovering a cool new group, Pomplamoose. I did come to realize some things also. The type of art I want to do is not really realism. I don’t know how you would classify it – maybe surrealism, but it’s slightly different. I think the proper term is pop surrealism. It’s sometimes grouped in with Lowbrow Art – kind of an offshoot of the Big Daddy Roth Rat Fink stuff of the 60’s.

This is the type of work I want to do. The artist’s name is Mark Ryden. I love his stuff. I guess it’s kind of dreamlike, in a slightly creepy sort of way. Kind of like those Golden Books you’d read as a child, but twisted.

I found a website with all sorts of artists in the style I like. It’s probably good that I didn’t start last night – I don’t think I will be satisfied with my art unless I’m doing what I really like. I’m a big fan of Tim Burton – that’s the sort of stuff I want to do. Back to the drawing board…

This is an idea I started laying out in Photoshop a month or so ago. I thought I would do a series of paintings based on song lyrics, or song titles.

The song, of course, is Teddy Bear Picnic. Maybe this should be my first painting.

Tonight’s the night we’ll make history…

Well, not really. But, I am going to attempt to get started tonight. I’ve got a nice window this evening to start on Week One’s painting. I decided to get a jump start for Week One, which I am calling January 3rd – January 9th, 2010. Reason being, I’ll be out of town for the holidays, and we won’t be arriving back until January 4th late…best to get my procrastinatin’ butt moving now.

Also, I made a few changes to the look of the blog. Dropped in a logo, and changed the header. It’s been years since I messed with anything “code” related (I used to do a little Basic and Pascal programming WAY back in the day), so it felt good to accomplish something.

The header background is a closeup of one of my favorite paintings of all time – The Great Wave off Kanagawa, by the Japanese artist Hokusai.

When I was younger, I didn’t really like Picasso. I was attracted to extremely realistic painters. Now I am fascinated with his work. The quotes I have used in the blog (The every child one and the we don’t grow older, we grow riper one) are from Picasso. So is the headline of this post. His quotes are as good as his paintings…here are a few:

It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.

Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.

And this one, which leads me to my next topic…
Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.

Thomas Kincade.

To each his own, but to say I’m not a big fan is an understatement.
Kincade on Picasso, “He had talent but didn’t use it in a significant way,” and “I don’t believe, in time, that he will be regarded as the titan that he is now,” says Kinkade. “He is a man of great talent who, to me, used it to create three Picassos before breakfast because he could get $10,000 each for them.”

Strange, coming from a man who issued this decree to his minions: “There’s over 40 walls in the average American home, and Tom says our job is to figure out how to populate every single wall in every single home and every single business throughout the world with his paintings.”

I do have to admire the man’s marketing skills. Not really a big fan of the paintings, but I can understand how some like the old-timey feel they convey. I actually considered doing a series a few years ago based off of his work. I was going to mimic his style, but paint “less than desirable” locales, like a trailer park, bums on a corner, etc. Maybe I can work that into my works next year.

I think this is going to be the inspiration for my first painting. I took it from the Narrow Gauge Railroad in Cripple Creek, Colorado – a town chock full of casinos and great views. I’m not sure what style I’m going to work in. Normally I tend to work pretty realistically, but I might try something impressionistic, or try to work in some more color.

This summer in Boulder I met a fantastic artist, Phil Lewis. I just love his work. I might try something along these lines…very colorful. Well, not quite like this, but I like this style. Very different from what I would usually do, but very cool.

Ok, I hate that song. Here’s a drawing I just finished yesterday for an old friend. Finished size is 11″x14″. It’s for a Christmas present – it’s all of the grandkids. Not a great photo of it, but I was happy with the way it turned out. Especially since I really haven’t done a pencil drawing since college. Before the dark times…

So apparently there is a whole movement called “Daily Painting,” or A Painting A Day. Some artists actually paint a painting a day, and then sell them on eBay or their own sites.

This artist’s story is inspiring – she too went to college to be an illustrator, but didn’t do any art for 15 years…kind of like me. (Well, I would go in fits and spurts – maybe a couple of new pieces a year, if I were lucky. Seems like every year I go through this “I need to do some art!” phase.)

Most of these daily paintings are small, about 6″x6″. Kind of an interesting concept – maybe something to aspire to one day. For now I’m doing it to just get started painting again. If I happen to sell something along the way, great! If not, I guess I’ll have to find room for 52 paintings…

I’ve long suspected I have ADD. After reading the symptoms, I’m convinced I have some form of it, and probably always had. (I’ve bolded and italicized some areas that my family could vouch for…)

http://helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_adult_symptoms.htm

In adults, symptoms of inattention, especially those of concentration and organization, often become more dominant than in children.

• Concentration. Adults with ADD/ADHD have trouble with concentration to an extreme degree. You might have trouble following conversations, “zoning out” without realizing it. Finishing tasks might feel impossible, and you might have several tasks started at once without the ability to continue. You might easily get distracted or forgetful, leading to errors or incomplete work.
• Organization. Keeping things organized at home and work might be an enormous challenge. Home and/or work space might be unusually cluttered and messy. You might underestimate the time it takes to complete tasks or have trouble with procrastination, making completing large projects very difficult. Adults with ADD/ADHD often also continually forget or lose things.

Left untreated, ADD/ADHD can disrupt everything from your career to your relationships and financial stability. While most of us sometimes have challenges in these areas, the persistent chaos and disorganization of ADD/ADHD can make managing the problems worse and worse. Some key areas of disruption might include:

• Health. Impulsivity and trouble with organization can lead to problems with health, such as compulsive eating or reaching for unhealthy foods, a reinforcing cycle of alcohol and drug abuse, or trouble making appointments or forgetting medication for a chronic condition.
• Work and finances. Difficulty concentrating, completing tasks, listening, and relating to others can lead to trouble at work. Managing finances may also be a concern. You may find yourself struggling to pay your bills, losing paperwork, missing deadlines, or be in debt due to impulsive spending.
• Relationships. You might wonder why loved ones constantly nag you to tidy up, get organized, and take care of business. Or if your loved one has ADD/ADHD, you might be hurt that your loved one doesn’t seem to listen to you, blurts out hurtful things, and leaves you with the bulk of organizing and planning.

Huh. Kind of scary, especially considering my track record of finishing anything. But, there is hope – and it coincides with what I’m about to attempt:

Self-Help for Adult ADD/ADHD

Practice some basic organizational skills

You might be so overwhelmed with the thought of organizing work and home that even the smallest step seems hopeless. However, building short, effective habits goes a long way towards staying organized. Some simple steps to get started:

• Keep it in one place. Use one organizer for all of your appointments and commitments. It’s easy to lose post it notes or pieces of paper. Keep a short daily to-do list and update it nightly. Start with less, not more, as you build your confidence, and give yourself extra time.
• For big tasks, start small. Start with small amounts of time, even 5 to 15 minutes, to a task, and stop when the time is up. You will probably be pleasantly surprised in how much you can accomplish in smaller chunks, and it will be easier to continue your momentum.
• Realize it takes time to develop good habits. You might be quick to frustration and feel that you are not getting anywhere. But with time and patience, good organizational habits will help you focus more on what is important to you. It is worth the effort!

The key for me is to make it like a habit. If I can keep it up, it will become routine. When I look at a task (like cleaning the garage for example) I am overwhelmed. I don’t know where to start…so I usually stare at it for awhile, and then go back inside. The way I’m going to approach this is one day at a time. Not overthink it, or the piece. If I’m just slapping paint on the canvas to start, so be it.

I’ve just got to start.

Edit – My sister informed me it would be ADD, not ADHD. The H is for hyper – definitely not me.

Ok…I’ve thrown down the gauntlet. 52 paintings in 52 weeks. Can it be done? Yes, it is physically possible. I’ll be using acrylics, so the drying time isn’t a factor. But the time time is a factor. Will I be able to knock out a painting a week? I’m trying to accomplish a few things with this goal. A) Get back into trying to be an artist…B) Make up for lost time.

Which brings me to – distractions. I have too many, and not all are bad. A family, for one. The Interwebs for another. Television yet another. My VW Bus…another. You get the drift. I can carve out time though…I have to. I need to do this (or at least attempt it) to see if it’s what I really want. I’ve overcome one of the biggest objections I’ve used for the past few years – lack of a studio space to paint. Since we moved to Colorado in June, we now have a basement again. I’ve got a nice little space set up, surrounded by junk and patrolled by the two dwellers of the deep – Floyd and Nikita. They are cats, and like to leave me hacked-up hairballs on top of aforementioned junk, on the floor, the steps…

Now to a very real dilemma – what to paint? With this tight timeline I will be undoubtedly painting a lot of things just to knock out a painting. Which might be good, since I won’t spend more time obsessing over what to paint, what series should I do, would this sell, etc. I’ve used Photoshop in the past for setting up compositions of paintings, and probably will this time around. It’s a lot faster, and you can see what works and what doesn’t right away.

So in the next few weeks in between travelling all over for the holidays and finishing shopping, I’ll be brainstorming for painting ideas. When I get a concept worked up in Photoshop, I’ll be printing it out, and using my trusty old Art Projector to sketch out a quick sketch onto canvas. At least that’s the plan…we’ll see how it goes.

Peaches come from a can,
they were put there by a man
In a factory downtown…

Thus Spoke Zarathustra – or the Presidents of the United States of America. But I digress…

Do I dare eat a peach? Taken from the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Elliot.
Basically it’s a poem about “the road not taken.” And that’s what this blog is about – the road not taken (as an artist). I turned 40 this year, and realized (like many I’m sure) that my life is not where I expected it to be…at least as an artist. I remember telling my Grandma when I was little (she was a talented painter and stained glass artist) “Why don’t you do your art?” And now, I understand…it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that life gets in the way. I always thought…There will be time, there will be time (again from the poem) – but something about turning 40 makes you realize there ain’t really that much time.

And so, the blog. I’ve had this website for a few years, and haven’t done anything with it. So, I came up with the idea to create a blog about the struggle to become an artist again. Sure, I guess I technically was a graphic artist for several years, and now manage them, but it’s not the same as putting brush to canvas. Being the King Kamehameha of Procrastination, I need a little sumpin’ sumpin’ to get me motivated. A challenge, with deadlines. I watched Julie & Julia the other night. The movie inspired by the real life blog of a woman who dared to cook her way through the Julia Child cookbook. Not a great movie, but a good motivator. I need a deadline.

So…I’m going to jump back into the creative pool. I am going to paint 52 paintings next year – one a week. I am going to be Eating Peaches.