Minimal Now-and-Later Totems

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to play around with some small remnant pieces of wood left over from panel making.  I liked the cut angles and decided to have fun with color theory and perspective. Then I noticed the cool shadows that were cast on the glossy melamine table top and thought I'd take some I-Phone pics.  They could have been huge set pieces from a Sci-Fi movie in the 70's, or in my opinion, some tasty tangy candy. 

Hump Day

This past week I've been busy organizing my new(old) workspace and restructuring how I carry out the business side of my art.  I have been working on and will soon be re-launching my etsy shop.  I'm also investigating Society 6 and some other opportunities.  Until then, I'd like to share with you one impromptu I-Phone photo series. Today's technology is simply amazing.  All you need is a good eye.

Throw Back Thursday

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday afternoon.  My contribution to Throw Back Thursday is a photo of one of my paintings from my Senior year of college.

One of my many inspirations is calligraphic writing.  I love Arabic, Japanese, and Hebrew writing especially.  I played with the possibilities of the figure and an ultra-simplified way to try and get as many narrative figure possibilities as possible.  I was able to fit in 5 figures from 9 shapes.  I looked at it as kind of a challenge or a game to see how much I could convey with as few elements as possible. I still operate the same way today.  This was painted on HEAVILY gessoed green tent canvas.  It was free.  It was available, and I was a poor college student.  Needless to say, I burned through gesso.  The rest was painted with acrylic paint- I can not stand oil.  Keep watching and reading.  New art is coming soon.

Happy Wednesday Evening!

Congratulations everyone!  You've made it over the hump.  Check back tomorrow for some revealing TBT content.

Tuesday Cleaning Day

Today, I was intensely inspired to clean.  I wiped and vacuumed and threw out trash and straightened my bedroom.  I think I'm just ready to do something physically after such a long break.  I think part of it was that I wanted to keep busy after finding out that Robin Williams had committed suicide.  It's really confusing when someone with such an amazing gift that made so many people laugh gets taken down by depression.  It hits close to home.  My Mom has battled severe depression my whole life.  I remember the challenges she had to go through and the challenges our whole family had to go through.  One thing I do know is that Robin Williams has made me laugh more times in my life than I could possibly count.  I have watched "The Birdcage" too many times to remember and I laugh every single time.  That's an amazing gift to give to one person, much less millions.  I would like to put out to the Universe my dedication to Robin Williams.  It's one of my favorite songs of 2014 and the video to it just came out today.

Monument

Where I Have Been

Where have I been?  

What have I been up to? 

The short answer is that I’ve been recovering from surgery that was needed to repair my broken shoulder.  The longer answer is a bit more complicated.  Recovering from surgery has provided me ample time to review my journey up to the point of disaster and has forced me to become more patient concerning planning for the future.  

I moved out of my studio space on May 30 due to significant rent increases.  I was slightly depressed by this but now I realize that chasing the art gallery model has not worked in my favor.  Between June 1st and June 5th I began brainstorming about ideas for how I wanted to proceed with my art career.  June 6th started out no different than any other Friday.  Adrian and I decided to bike down to Buffalo Bayou Park to ride the trails and stop along the way to do calisthenics.  It was a typically hot and humid afternoon.  My 1981 Panasonic road bike had been overhauled including freshly replaced and inflated tires.  I was leading and Adrian was behind me.  I felt that he was not as close behind me as he should be, so I turned to look behind me to see that he wasn’t far behind.  Then in just a few seconds as I turned around, my tire hit a mound of sculpted grass and my full front tire came to a very abrupt stop, but I did not.  Thanks physics!  I flew over the handlebars and landed on my left side hard on concrete.  When I came to a stop and was able to stand I immediately knew something was very wrong with my left arm.  I thought I broke my whole arm.  Adrian, who luckily had his phone, called Chip and Robert and all three rushed me to a nearby emergency room.  Before any X-rays were even taken, I could tell by the looks on the staff’s faces that whatever had happened to my arm wasn’t good.  I vertically fractured the ball joint of my shoulder but fortunately had broken nothing else.  

After reviewing x-rays and CAT scan images, my surgeon prepared me for two possibilities.  Either a partial shoulder replacement would be required- not the best option for a 36 year old- or there would be enough viable bone to use bone graft, plate, and screws to put it all back together.  Early on June 25, my doctor was able to put my original bone back together during a 3 hour surgery.  The first 10 days after surgery were mainly just a long blur of dealing with pain.  I turned 37 on July 2- the very middle of the year.  I got several great messages and a delicious cake.  

From mid-July until now, I have been going to physical therapy and stretching regularly at home.  I’ll probably have most of my full range of motion in another 6 weeks time.  The good news is that I have been sketching.  I created an entire new series of 25 drawings.  I think they are very good and I am still considering exactly what to do with them.  I’ve been writing down many ideas concerning new methods of delivering my visual aesthetic message to the world.  I will be very transparent in sharing information on my work.  I want those who follow my career and collect my work to know all about my inspirations and process.  I am a total voyeur of the creative process.  Please keep watching me.  Thank you for your continued support. 

Out and About on a Beautiful Saturday

I snapped this earlier while waiting in the 610 West feeder on the way to the Galleria.

I LOVE unusual angles and cropping!