Monthly Archives: February 2014

Naming your works profanely (warning explicit language)

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ImageDo you think there’s a cost to using the exact words you know in your heart best describes your latest piece or do you leave that up to imagination of the beholder? This latest piece I’ve completed is called Mutha Fucka…but I don’t know if I’ll keep the name for fear of offending too many people. Then again…I am really tired of not expressing myself and this painting absolutely portrays what happens when one censors themselves. I could always just go with Mutha F*&^a but that really isn’t as effective is it? Gimme two cents yall.

Non-Conformity & Reading & Inspiration

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I like the idea of making art but I also like the idea of eating and sleeping in a warm home and being able to connect with people all over the world via the interweb. I guess one must sacrifice some art for some comfort?

thomasjobwotherspoon

While gardening at Esalen Institute, I met a renegade stock broker from NYC who had recently quit his job and started living the life he’d  always dreamed.  Esalen is a retreat center nestled into the crags of Big Sur, California.  Beautiful lush gardens, rows of vegetables and flowers, stand out against the looming hulk of the mountains and the violence of the Pacific coast.  Locals mock its hippie values, and the rich clientele.  It is a place where people come to relax in a spa overlooking stunning sunsets, and to learn about alternative medicines, thought, and lifestyles. So I was not completely surprised to meet Marc (not his real name).

A desk job with a huge salary drove him crazy. It was next in the progression of expectations that Marc had achieved. He went to the best college, graduated with honors, and made the logical next move–to corporate America. Staring…

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Tactfullness in expression

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Most artists, heck,  I think all artists, will tell you that painting helps them to express their emotions and what’s going on inside of them. Okay. That’s all fine and dandy but while painting those feelings can be cathartic and therapeutic, what happens when the person or persons become enlightened that they are the object of your self expression.

For instance, this is a painting I’m working on at the moment. It’s meant to convey the utter frustration and often anger I feel while dealing with someone who absolutely is trying my patience. I know I’ve done all I can do to help this person yet nothing seems to be moving forward and our relationship is suffering because of it. However, if this person knew the painting was about them, I think it would make matters worse and I would hurt this someone very badly.

How do you explain your art without hurting people you love? You know that eventually they are going to want to know or they may hear it along the grapevine what this piece is “really” about. How do you present it tactfully? Do you even explain it at all? People always want to know, what this piece is about, or what that piece means, or what is your motivation behind those pieces?

I think I kind of answered the question myself in just trying to explain this particular piece in my blog. You leave out names, you skirt around the actual issue and you hope that person never figures it out. But isn’t that just another form of suppressing my self expression before, during and after the situation exists?

I think I need to paint some more and more and more and not even try to explain . Just do and be, be and do and stand back and admire.

I’m also going to create a signature now.

gimme two cents, Justy

Balance

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I’m getting closer and closer to balancing my worlds. I have several of them so its been quite a juggling act. My worlds are like projects all of which I am the lead:

  • The painting project
  • The mothering my son project
  • The mothering my mother project
  • The Scattered Minds project
  • The O-Town Bombers project
  • The Engineers Canada project
  • The taking care of myself project

Notice where “I” come in on that scale? I also  noticed there are two things missing. The charity projects and The Romance project

hmmmm…where ever shall I fit those in?