April, 2010

The Beginnings of Blood Lake- Acrylic on Panel, 5″x5″
3 more to go….

New M.I.A. video for “Born Free” directed by Romain Gavras. Absolutely brutal. Best music video I’ve seen in a long while. This guy needs to start making full-length movies asap.

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.”

Stephen Hawking on the topic of making contact with alien beings. I find this quote just a little bit terrifying.

“Now extinct, Bryn the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit sat for this portrait in 2007. She died in 2008, marking the end of her genetic line. This sub-population lost its sagebrush habitat as the land was developed for agriculture in the state of Washington.”

The above photo & caption is from a collection of photos of endangered or extinct North American wildlife taken by the photographer Joel Sartore, from his new book, Rare. Of all the photos from this series, this one really moves me. There’s no doubt in my mind that this animal was aware of it’s own fate. It’s that look in her eye, that she knows she’s the last of her kind, representing the entire tragic history of her species, now just another piece of photographic evidence. Giving her a name, Bryn, makes her more than just an anonymous animal that was laid to waste by our progressively destructive agricultural development. This whole scenario reminds me of the same story that revolves around Martha, the last passenger pigeon, who died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914, also due to man’s needless  & thoughtless actions. On a side note, Walton Ford has done some great watercolors of passenger pigeons (see below), as well as other amazing paintings of wildlife in scenarios that depict or allude to historical instances of man vs. nature.

I love the natural world so much & I think about all the damage we’ve done throughout our short time on this planet, & it just makes me feel so sad & guilty. I’m going to start introducing more plants & animals into my paintings as they progress. I’ve been primarily focused on the idea of the Black Tower’s threat to nature & mankind, but the Black Tower IS mankind. I want to start depicting more scenarios involving specific types of plant & animal life, to narrow the scope of the whole Black Tower theme. I’ve been painting so many landscapes from very distant perspectives that a lot of the details just get lost. I want to explore the more individual aspects of the Tower’s effects on nature.

My solo show at BeepBeep Gallery in Atlanta is almost one month away. I’m currently working on 4 pieces that I should be done with by June. I haven’t decided the name of the show yet, or how I’ll set up the gallery installation, but I plan on painting the entire gallery. I should have about 20-25 pieces in the show, possibly more if I can finish these 4 sooner. I’d love to squeeze in a few more new pieces.

This weekend was Peewee’s 3rd birthday! As always, it was a lavish affair complete with balloons, party hats, candles & a birthday steak. Peewee was a little apprehensive about wearing the hat & having lit candles on top of his juicy steak nuggets, but overall I think he had a blast as you can tell from the above photo of him recoiling in terror. Happy Birthday Peewee!!!!

The Big Bang

The scan doesn’t show the detail in the background, as it’s pretty subtle & disappears behind the color pattern of the foreground image. I didn’t want the space-scape to have too much going on. The whole idea is that nothing much existed before this explosion of color & life. Already working on 3 new pieces…

Finally all moved into my new studio. Last night I finished setting up my art table so I can start painting again today. I still need to hang some art, but the place is mostly finished. I can actually see outside when I’m painting thanks to 3 massive windows, so I’m really looking forward to trying out this new work environment. The Big Bang is finished & at the scanner’s, so I’ll be posting the final image in the next few days. Everything feels so positive for me right now. This is the happiest I’ve been in a long time…