Why Draw?

For anyone who might be interested, I've just posted statements by William Kentridge, Jim Dine, and Mauricio Lasansky concerning their ideas about drawing. I'm fascinated by their suggestions that drawing can be a uniquely moral and ethical form of image-making. Persons who push pencils around on paper might find them persuasive and inspiring. Check them out at the Fiji Island Mermaid Press.

Merry Christmas all!

Catch a falling star and put it in your stocking. Save it for Christmas Day!

This card was totally inspired by my two daughters who are on two different ends of the scale when it comes to Christmas. Hannah is not quite sure what is going on and wants to eat the tree lights. Reagen totally knows that Santa will be arriving soon and is loving every bit of what is going on. It is all fun though. Cannot wait for Christmas day and all the mess! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

christmas

just something i did for the newspaper that i for for, it was kinda neat to see it in print. especially when i was out around town at coffee shops and saw people looking at it.

the Blogger Show

My Zero Sum Art Project is currently part of a larger exhibition called the Blogger Show. This exhibition consists of the work of 36 artists spread over 4 galleries, 3 in Pittsburgh and 1 in New York City. The one common link between all of the artists is that they all use blogging in one form or another to extend their studio practice. Within this wide-range of artists there is someone making something for anyone's taste, which is why I thought this might be of use to those seeking inspiration here, despite the obvious element of self-promotion in this post.

Crafting Halloween style!

So for my first post I thought I would throw in some Halloween goodies. What to do with used baby formula containers? Turn them into Halloween buckets of course. I find this time of the year truly inspiring and fun.

My blog.

the blues

i was out earlier tonight,
i didnt really want to be at home, to be honest i really dont want to be anywhere right now...

on saturday this woman comes into work and i swear my breath catches in my throat.

and for a moment i thought it was her, i had to check the tattoos to make sure it wasnt.

if she had a sister this woman would have been her.


and last night...

this is what i wrote earlier tonight when i was trying to draw:

this place is making me feel old tonight. it would be one thing id those years spent had yielded anything as far as my present is concerned. but as it stands, i had those years, i had everything that i ever wanted, i had her. really thats all i ever wanted, to be with her, and now shes gone, and that future with her and i have nothing.

nothing but unwanted memories of being happier that i have been since.

and then again i might be idealizing my past, old people tend to do that.

and i so wish that i was done with this, with her, these feelings that i cant seem to get over. oh i think i have, i think that ive moved on but something always seems to come up to remind me of her and the dreams begin again.

she wasnt always that nice, or compassionate, or really even all that beautiful, at least not in the classical sense,but for whatever reason i think that she was the one that i was meant to be with.

in retrospect i have never carried around feelings for someone as long as i have for her.

so the dreams, when i dream of her, i guess that they are more nightmares than anything else, i wake up sweating and on the verge of tears, half-remembered images of what happened.

and knowing that i had had her and then lost her all over again.

and its been so long now that i know the woman im hung up on, that i cant seem to let go of doesnt even exist anymore, that she has chanced and become a different person than i remember.

that and i can barely remember her face anymore.

the only thing that i can remember are smell of her hair, the taste of her lips and the blues of her eyes.


original blue pencil sketch
sketch i did of her years ago, before we got back together

Magic and Art

When David Mamet described one of my heroes, the magician Ricky Jay, as a philosopher, he suggested a model that it might be useful for artists to adopt:

"I regard Ricky as an example of the 'superior man'. . . he's the devoted paradigm of what a philosopher should be: someone who's devoted his life to both the study and practice of his chosen field."

I discussed the relationship I find between art and magic on my blog, should you be interested.