November 28th, 2011 05:06pm
jomac
I just experienced a different person’s memory of me. I was meditating and I found myself listening and watching someone recall a memory in their life. Their experience was a long time ago, in a summer evening, and had something to do with painting. It flowed through me briefly and as I tried to hold onto it, it fled. The more i tried to define it, and experience it, the more elusive it became. But it was real, someone else was remembering their recollection of me during a warm summer evening, and, for a brief karmic instant, there was a bridge between two souls, and it was profound.
October 9th, 2011 12:59am
jomac
The Effect of Changing Environments on my Art
I have made 3 or 4 significant changes in my studio locations the past two years (5 weeks or more). I’ve
worked in southern New Jersey part of the year and southern Florida the other. This experience has made
me a better artist, because making art is similar to what Steve Jobs (rest his genius soul) said about
creativity. It’s about leaps of insight, seeing possibilities, and connecting the dots.
I’m always trying to see my work with fresh eyes, I’ll turn my painting upside down, I’ll squint or walk away to
see it from a distance. I’ll look at it in a mirror. Sometimes I’ll take a photo of a WIP, and play with it on a
computer.
I have no road map or hard formula for creating my work, other than beginning with the modernist’s grid (loosely
applied). So, I’m always asking the question, where do I go from here? And the more I continually look at
the work, the harder it is to get that “flash of insight”. What I’ve started to do in the art process is to let my work
“rest” for a while. Working in two different locations allows me to do exactly this. I like to have 3 or 4 unfinished
paintings in SNJ and SFL at the same time. I do this at the stage of the work where I am “stuck”, unable to move
in a direction. I do it when i get “lost”. Using a cooking analogy, changing studio locations allows the work t0
“simmer” for a while. I take it off the heat (my active painting) and simply let it sit.
It’s amazing what happens to your vision when you see unfinished work (and even what you see as finished work)
with fresh eyes. I get an immediate flash of insight, and I know exactly what direction I want to go. You can do
the same thing by simply turning a painting around in your studio for 6 or so weeks (just don’t look at).
I just got down to my SFL studio and like magic, it happened again. I have a major Jumpsquare piece that,
when I left Florida in May, was in a major state of rebellion and torturing me. I had 40 hours in the work and was
going round and round, searching for answers.
The moment I saw the work I knew immediately what to do and where I wanted to take the work. “Fresh Eyes”
are all that I needed.
August 22nd, 2011 02:22pm
jomac
I think I have come up with an original idea that may help solve the political gridlock in Washington that seems to be paralyzing our nation. It’s a form of role playing, and the people who can help are, in some ways, the people most responsible for creating the situation.
As I flip channels on the TV, I continually encounter political commentators espousing their points of view. We have the liberal commentator stating facts and opinions supporting the left, and the conservative commentator supporting the right. They all offer statistics and are very persuasive in their presentations. I think this is what’s happening in congress these days. We have become so polarized in our beliefs that we don’t know how to come to an agreement.
Well, here is where the political “role playing” might work. If (big if here) these talking heads truly want to help OUR country, why not put 4 or more (a workable number) commentators with different views on a panel with the understanding that they are going to argue their point of view, BUT , they WILL come to an agreement on an issue (let them argue the debt ceiling, for example). Any political commentator who won’t agree to these conditions will not be invited.
Can you imagine watching the dynamics of this panel. Give them some rules (time limits), and let them battle it out. They can fight all they want, but, what will make this process incredibly interesting and helpful is the fact that the political commentators all agreed (at the outset) to come to some sort of agreement in the end. This is the overriding mission of this panel, sort of like a prime directive.
Can you imagine getting Chris Matthews, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter and Rachel Maddow (or others) together in a room and let them teach our politicians how to solve an issue. These talking heads all state their love for America, well, here’s a chance for them to teach us how intelligent people with such divergent points can come to an agreement. Maybe, this will give congress a blueprint, or send them a message how people with polarized views can come to consensus. I don’t know.
We need a commentator like Anderson Cooper, or someone neutral to make some rules for the panel. Remember, these commentators come into the panel with the understanding that they will listen to each other and try to reach a compromise that is the best for our country. They’re not going to convince each other that their point of view is best (it may start out like this), hopefully the political commentators will find where they can agree. If these four panelists cannot do this, go down the list of political talking heads (there’s enough of them), until we get people who can let go of their “ego”, and do what was asked of them.
Remember, there are more things that bring us together in this country than separate us.
August 14th, 2011 01:47pm
jomac
I was over a good artist friend’s home last night, when i had one of those A-ha! experiences. I was looking at a wonderfully painted realistic scene of a Colorado ski trail in the winter at dusk. The light was magical, presenting the most subtle pink glow upon the scene. I could almost feel the cold and the approach of sunset. I have seen this painting several times and it is truly one of my favorites. It’s amazing I was thinking these thoughts when i had my “A-ha” experience. i realized that i had the same reaction to this work of art every time i saw it. The lovely pink glow, the cold, the approach of sunset. Yes, I felt I was almost there. I also realized that i never saw the work differently, the experience of viewing it was always the same, my response varied little. I never found myself looking further into the piece. I felt all those wonderful things that the painting evoked in me, but it stopped at this experience.
It was then I realized why I love non-objective painting so much. When i look at an interesting (to me) abstract, the experience of viewing it is never the same. It’s always different and unique, and the more i encounter the work, the more the art expands. I may see something in the 3rd or 4th viewing, that i never even noticed in my first encounter. I find myself continually looking deeper into the work, searching. I begin to notice subtle passages of color, shape, texture or value. I am continually going beyond the surface, I notice the “layering” of paint, subtle suggestions of the painting beneath the painting (how many abstract paintings have 2 or more “paintings” beneath the final statement). I may even find a combination of shapes that “remind” me of something realistic.
All of these observations by the viewer (me) make the experience a continually growing one, rich with variety and discovery. I think this has to do with the principle of closure. We are always trying to identify what we are looking at. How many times have you looked at clouds that remind you of something realistic, or the “man in the moon”? We’ve all had similar experiences, and when we look at non-objective paintings, this is exactly what we do every time we encounter the work. And, the experience is always different.
I once wrote a small statement under one of my abstractions, it said “The secret of abstract art: Ask not what I am, but rather what can I be”.
July 12th, 2011 10:05am
jomac
In my last post, I spoke about the frustration of getting stuck in a “cul-de-sac”. It’s when an artist is unable to leave a particular series he (or she) is working on. Repeating oneself creates tedious boredom, the curse of an artist. If I’m not engaged in my art, I don’t want to do it.
August 15th, 2010 09:18am
jomac
I’ve been asking the question, “If you enact one law, or pass one bit of legislation that would make the USA a better country, what would it be?”. I’ve gotten quite a few responses, and here is the list.
1. Term limits on politicians. No career politicians.
2. Any proposed legislation must be specific to the bill and no “earmarks”.
3. Balanced budget. Congress cannot spend more than comes in.
4. No lobbyists.
5. Ethics/Morality classes from K to 12 in all schools.
6. Eliminate private campaign financing. Use public funds once candidate qualifies.
7. Tax on carbon based fuel. Increases for 5 years gradually until it is very high. All monies returned to taxpayers in bonuses for using less energy.
8. Eliminate all hand guns and rapid-fire weapons. I would be illegal to own one.
9. Tort reform. Drastically reduce contingency filings.
10. Legalize marijuana. Control it, and tax similar to alcohol.
These are the most popular and thoughtful answers that I received over the past few weeks, the USA probably would be better if even one of these were implemented.
September 6th, 2009 01:46pm
jomac
I can feel myself hitting a wall with my new series of work. Since discovering my “Jumpsquares” in 2007, the last 2 years have been fruitful in producing original, creative work. Fresh, new ideas have come easily.
The most recent offshoot of the “jumpsquare” has been my Optic Diamonds, which, in themselves, have led to valuable (in my mind) new discoveries. In fact, I find myself putting aside painting while I concentrate on the montage process. I’m taking original photographs, that I photoshop (another interesting “road”), intensifying colors and values, then cut up and arrange within my Optic Diamond structure. This process has been very productive up to now. The word that comes into my mind when I look at the recent work is “candy”. I was channeling Willie Wonka. But now, perhaps the work is becoming a little too “sweet”. I’m finding myself repeating images, and what was once discovery after discovery, is now the same familiar “landscape”.
I feel it’s time to look in a different direction, to stop repeating this process that I’ve become so comfortable with. It’s time to take a risk, a risk that I will screw up and fail. The idea is to get myself out of my comfort zone. This is where discoveries are made, and leaps of growth are achieved. It’s a difficult, but necessary process.
How does an artist do this? Look at the body of work that you have created, and ask yourself “what would the work look like if I did this or that to it”? Then pick an idea and act on it without judgment. At the very least, it will take you to another place and maybe that place will be the departure point for your next series.
The point is that in art, there are few definitive answers, just artist’s challenges.
July 4th, 2009 09:57am
jomac
I have a friend named Yanosh, who has worked in industry for the last 25 years. For years and years he visited museums and has seen more valid, contemporary art than most of us. Yanosh recently started painting. He creates work through the manipulation of paint on the canvas with a palette knife while experimenting with color, texture, value and line. Yanosh will scrape paint off, reapply it, then move it around until he is satisfied with the result. Each piece he produces is abstract. He really has not exhibited yet, and people haven’t really seen much of his work.
There is another friend that I know named Angelina. She graduated from college with a major in art. Angelina paints these lovely realistic landscapes over and over and over, and she has been creating art for 25 plus years. Her work has changed little in all the years that she has painted, although Angelina has perfected techniques to a high degree in her expression of the landscape. Angelina exhibits quite a bit, continually sells pieces, and people really seem to enjoy her work.
My question to you, is, which one is the legitimate artist?
June 16th, 2009 02:03pm
jomac
Sometimes the artist will feel like a miner when he’s working. There is a unknown material lying before him with gold waiting to be discovered. If he “mines” this unknown, hidden area long enough, eventually he’ll discover layers of gold he never dreamed of. One vein leads to another, to another, and eventually a richer, deeper vein. It’s not hard motivating this “miner”, because he can’t wait to discover the next “layer of gold”. His enthusiasm is boundless, and the work is stimulating.
This is how it is when the artist gets an original idea. It’s a vein of pure gold that he follows looking for more gold. The vein (original idea) starts strong and as the artist explores it, it leads to more ideas. Many times, the successive ideas are stronger than the original idea, it just takes the diligence of a miner to bring them out.
What’s fascinating about an artist’s work when he is “mining” is how one idea leads to another and another. And the visual record is there for everyone to see. I’m amazed at some of the direction my work takes after the mining process. All of a sudden, I have a piece of work that only slightly resembles the original idea, but if you look closely, you can see that original vein that the miner first discovered.
I find this process and the products it produces to be wonderful art. So here’s the advice. When you get an original idea, start “mining” it, follow that “vein of gold” as long as it interests you or it peters out. Take your idea and look for ways to express it, change the shape, repeat it, distort it, enlarge it, shrink it, change colors, values, or textures. Use different mediums. Trust your skills and you’ll be utterly amazed at some of your results.
May 30th, 2009 10:18pm
jomac
Have you noticed that at certain times, you have extreme difficulty starting something new? It happens to every artist, including me. This condition brings on lots of emotions with guilt, it seems, being the dominant feeling. Thoughts such as “I should be working”, and “I’m not a serious enough artist”, play havoc with the psyche.
I think these feelings arise in us because of our perceptions of what other, seemingly successful artists are doing, or have done. We see glimpses of an artist’s work and incorrectly assume this artist is working nonstop at his or her craft. The point is no one really knows what any other artist is really doing with their time.
The management of time is a factor in every area of our lives, and important to anyone’s success. However, in any true, creative process, there are no “rules” for time management. We may lie fallow for days, weeks and even months, until our muse moves us. When that happens, time management is the least of our worries as we become totally consumed by our art.
The real challenge is getting our muse to move us on a continual basis. The only way to do this is through stimulation. If we’re sitting in the same room everyday, with the same people, doing the same thing, creativity seems a distant companion. Your muse needs to get out and see what other artists are doing with their “time”. She needs to see vibrant, valid work. This is most surefire way to get your muse to nudge you into action. Oh, the laments of the creative soul.
Advice is easy to give. There is an old Nike slogan that simply says, “Just Do It”.
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