Afraid to Paint

I was afraid to paint in our motel room because I thought that I might get some paint on the carpet. Then I remembered that my paint was in one of many unlabeled boxes in our car three floors down, and I was too tired to try to find it anyway.

Luckily Linda had a pencil, and there was one scrap of paper that wasn't too slick to draw on. I tried to draw on the side with the type, but the pencil had thin leads and I couldn't compete with the dark type, so I drew on the other side.

Then I photographed the drawing...first straight on, and then at an angle. Yea, my figure seemed to come to life. Magic!

Joint Statement

A Recent Incarnation

Careful

Creme Savers

Brains 25 cents

Thanks to William Stage.

Winner! Tony Award

Two Into One

So here's the painting that had such a tortured creation.

The Pantheon

Worked more on the painting. It is still terrible.

Here's a quicky on the Pantheon.

Another "Work-in-Progress"

I've had a dozen blank canvasses for about a year, all 8" x 10"— the size of Edward Weston's negatives.

Today I made a genuine mess of one of them, so I did a quicky on a postcard in order to have something to post. I think it works pretty good.

Tomorrow I'll go make to the canvas and try to breathe a little life into it.

Kim

Apology for a Bad Painting

In 1964 I dropped out of college to read a stack of books. I started to paint and never read the books. A painter lived down the hall (another basement room in an old building) and taught me a few things, none of which I remember.

In 2007, 43 years later, I dropped out of college again (this time as a dean rather than a freshman) to read books and paint. I ended up writing poems, drawing, and learning a little about Buddhism. I stopped the writing when I discovered that I didn't know anything.

Now it is time to paint. Sometimes, like today, the paintings won't be very good. I beg your indulgence (is that the right expression?). I suspect that many good things come from failed attempts. I remember seeing a movie on the Wright brothers last week. They had some disasters until they improved their plane...and figured out how to fly it.

William Blake said that practice is art. My hope is that if I paint everyday I'll get better at it.

Big Man, Little Gremlin

Man Faces Death

Hudson River School Painting
Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826-1900)
View of Quebec, 1846
Oil on canvas, 22 3/16" x 30 1/6"
Alteration on postcard

Einstein Visits 1927

Collaboration with Thomas Cole (American, 1801-1848)
View on Lake Winnipiseogee, 1827 (100 years before the Babe hit 60)
Original: oil on panel, 19 1/4" x 26 1/8"
Alteration: acrylic and ink on postcard, 4 3/4" x 6 1/2"
Made for the 82nd birthday of Lennie Kesl

I was lost . . .

Swollen or Shrunken?

A "Real" Disaster

I tied my tie too tight . . .

Different Truths

Sometimes our different views are not as different as they might seem.

All Alone

Buddhists take refuge in the Buddha, which can be interpreted as the buddha in each of us. We may be alone until we see that goodness that is part of all of us.