New Work.

Haven't posted here in a long time. While I don't plan on posting here regularly, I will likely post once in awhile to go into more depth on whatever I am currently working on in the studio.

Right now I am slowly working towards a show for next spring at the Terryberry Gallery located in the St. Cecilia Music Center. It is a grand old building right in the heart of Grand Rapids. I am very excited to be painting on custom made wood panels that a carpenter friend of mine made by hand. They are a work of art themselves and are so much superior to anything I have used before. This will be my second series done in encaustic paint, which is basically pigmented bee's wax. The last series was the first time working with the medium and I stayed pretty safe.

This time around I am exploring all types of different materials and techniques that can be combined with the wax. So far this has included many different things including coffee, tea, rust solution, silk, rice paper with drawings etc. Although it is not the first piece finished, I wanted to share a diptych I just completed, now hanging in my office at work.

This wood panel was first brushed with a solution of vinegar and steel wool. The solution creates a liquid agent that reacts with the natural tannins in wood to create a dark brown colored panel. I then painted part of the piece with white gesso, leaving the brown color you see at the top and bottom right of the panel. After building up layers of clear wax medium, I then began to add some colored wax, silk with rusted spots, rice paper with rust and graphite and I also put the vinegar solution right on the wax which leaves a rust deposit after evaporating. Finally, the black rectangle is embedded silk with rust solution painted on and allowed to dry. The picture doesn't show it, but it is a dark rust brown color.

It is fairly abstract, but I focused a lot on eye travel, complementary colors (warm colors over cool colors etc.) as well as keeping lots of open space so that visually it pulls the viewer into certain spots. the black square is also a really bold statement, I tried to use black and white to create emotion. The clear wax gives the painting depth and I always hope to create work where the viewer can find new details every time they look at it.

More on the series as I continue to work on it and think through it.

Untitled

31x62

Wax, silk, rust, rice paper, graphite and oil on wood panel

David.

Went to a house show last night to see David Bazan play. It was a living room packed with forty people, David Bazan and a second guitarist playing with a few pedals and a miniature amp. I would be lying if I said it wasn't one of the best shows I have ever seen. I felt the same way afterwards that I feel when I see a really depressing movie that is incredibly well done. Except in this case, the elements weren't on a screen being acted out by rich folks in California. This was real. This was intense.

When I think of David Bazan a few things immediately come to mind. 1. his intense struggle with faith/lack of faith in God (meaning the Jesus of the bible) 2. His deep love and appreciation of music 3. That he is undoubtably one of the greatest songwriters from our generation. I think it was really hard for some people at the show to enjoy the music. Understandable as their are eternal implications at stake. Apart from his songwriting I think he is also one of the best poets of our generation. If it werent for his delicate and effective storytelling, his songs would not evoke such a strong emotional reaction from people. It seems that everyone who disects his music has an opinion about it. A fairly strong one at that. Not an opinion about whether the music is good or not, but about the specific struggles referenced in his lyrics.

One thing that has always bothered me is the lack of introspection and time committed to thoughts about life after death in our society. By our society I mean America. It just so happens that I spend most of my time in three areas that speak of death frequently. Financial planning, church and art. And that is strangely comforting. If there was a bright spot of the show last night (besides the riveting music) it's that nobody left that house without considering what they believed about God. And although it didn't line up with my own beliefs, it encouraged me to be the same way.

Fun.

Fun, the band that is. And fun they are. Described as a "Pop Symphony" which is an incredibly fitting description. Members include Nate Ruess, formerly of The Format, Andrew Dost of Anathallo and Jack Antonoff of Steel Train. That should be reason enough to check them out. They are hard to guage from listening to one or two songs as their entire cd sort of swoons and swells. I have no doubt they will perform with a full symphony some day (including of course all manner of brass instruments). And it will be beautiful... and fun. "Fun" seems like a silly name, but I have used that word 5 times in this post while listening to their music, and I am desperatetly trying not to break a smile on this gloomy, frigid winter day.

Freestyle Rapping?

Yes, you caught me red handed, from time to time I freestyle rap while driving in my car. What is it with driving anyways that elicits such a response? I have never tried freestyle rapping any other time, except for that one time at michaels house with 5 or 6 other people, and that was just a mistake. Other than that though, it's just me and my car, rapping away.

When I picture that scene, as if I was having an out of body experience watching myself drive and rap, it is rather embarassing. The worst part is I am probably wearing a tie half the time.

The whole thing plays out like the first scene of Office Space. And maybe the drum of the engine helps me syncopate. The trees rushing by and the big blue sky above, spitting lines with the best like rhyming words is my only love, ego getting crushed as other cars drive by, when they look in dismay at my shirt and tie, but the beat can't stop as the words still come, I won't quit I won't stop till the song is done.

The Great Pet Debate!

Ok, Sean White posted a story about a particularly capable dog on his blog and used the story as the basis for his claim that "dogs are better than cats". I posted a rebuttal on his page, but thought I would post it here for the thousands of people who read this blog to debate. This is obviously a classic debate and quite an emotional one, especially for people who think that dogs and cats should not be consumed. A stance that I don't particularly agree with, as a marinated dog kebab can be quite a treat. But, that's niether here nor there. The debate at hand is which animal is better, not if pets in general are dumb. I think most people, whether consciously or subconsciously, already know the answer to that. Regardless, here is my rebuttal to Sean's post.

Ok, your argument has a gaping hole. We are dealing with a spectrum here. In my experience, cats fill a much narrower scope on the spectrum. What is the spectrum? It looks something like this:
Stupid ———-*———-*———-*———-Cool
The stars (*) have broken up the spectrum into quartiles. Cats generally occupy a position in one of the two middle quartiles. Some would argue cats can only occupy the quartile closest to “stupid”, but evidence shows this is an argument that is not backed up with statistical proof. The majority of cats are somewhere inbetween stupid and cool. Some err on the stupid side, some err on the cool side. It is very rare however to find a super cool cat or a super stupid cat. Dogs however fall all over the spectrum. Because of this there are many dogs that are way cooler than the average cat. However, there are MANY dogs that are way more stupid and annoying than the average cat.

While I can instantly pull to mind dozens of memories of dogs jumping on my, licking me, barking at me, growling at me, pooping around me etc. etc. I can only recall a few select unpleasant moments with cats. On top of that, cats have the ongoing advantage of being much easier to care for. The only argument I can see you winning is that the coolest dog is much more able minded and able to help than the coolest cat, so much so that their increased abilities make it worth the big responsibility of owning a pet that is much more intensive to care for and clean up after. But that percentage is certainly smaller than the uppermost quartile and probably in the range of less than a percent.

Inglorious Bastards.

Every once in awhile you see a film that makes you laugh at things you really shouldn't be laughing at. Inglorious Bastards is such a film. I'm not commenting on any beliefs or representations or suggestions presented in the film as it does deal with Nazi Germany. That is for each viewer to sort out. I am simply saying, from a technical standpoint and based on my own preferences for a movie, the film is absolutely amazing. Quite probably in my top ten ever. I think most everybody reading this blog has already seen it, but if you haven't, then you should. A fair warning, it is rather graphic and comical at the same time, but somehow it works.

Cornish Game Hen.

Yeah, cornish game hen. An appropriately titled post dont you think? You see, a couple years back I bought a pair of cornish game hens when they were on sale at meijer. But, the game hens were frozen and I never got around to cooking them. I think they somehow ended up at my parents house in their freezer. And I still think about that pair of hens from time to time. How I never cooked them, how good they might taste with a citrus glaze and a side of redskin mash. And this, the cornish game hen, has come to represent my tendency towards procrastination. There, I said it, I procrastinate, which is why I did not write a post about procrastination sooner.

Cornish game hens is just one item on a long list of other procrastinate objects (I know "procrastinate objects" doesn't make sense, but it sounds cool). It's not always the case that I don't do something because I am procrastinating. Sometimes I don't have the time, or money, or good looks to participate. With that in mind, here is a list of things I thought about doing and have never done. Maybe this is my "bucket list", if bucket lists were cooler and not in reference to that average movie.

-Traveled to Europe
-Bought a kegerator (seriously, I need one, no not for parties either, for myself)
-Gone on a survival trip (another one, the first one was great)
-Had a good blog
-Written a story (longer than a page, and worth reading)
-Traveled to the moon on a penguin (just seeing if you are still paying attention)
-Seen Sigur Ros live

Ok, I can't think of anything else. Although that bucket list kind of sucks and could probably be accomplished in one long weekend. I will have to think through this more. Maybe a nice meal of roasted bird would spark my memory, but that will probably never happen.