how i paint...

my thumb is a bit sore, my bowing thumb.  the one i use to push against the strings of the bow to apply extra pressure,  that i learned from eamon coyne. a trick. a tricky trick by a master fiddler.

then, while hand scraping red potatoes for a rosemary lamb bake on christmas, a piece of spud got up under my nail.  its still red. under the nail...so.

i Was planning to go to the Port Tavern session tonight.  after Len's birthday party.  and then


little signposts...saying...slow down?  your thumb still hurts ya know.

and you have those 2 paintings to finish.

and this time of year folks are clearing out their energy blankets around them from the Jollidays.

Its ok, Tob - if you wanna stay in tonight. (and the air seems to soften around me and the added pressure deflates like a giant 'should' balloon).

My body gives me little signs all the time on what is best for the All of us.  Even tho I am aware the list above does sound like excuses.  Still, I know whats right for me.

I have a different kind of painting going up in studio right now.  the deer has two sets of eyes.  the first set appeared as bug out eyes, matching the wood grain (how I started the painting to begin with, I couldn't keep my eyes off the 2 circles of woodgrain that were screaming out 'E Y E S!').  So i did them.

And it being the day after Christmas, all the wild energy of cooking, shopping wrapping, unwrapping, breathing, eating, drinking wine, being super excited....well  i think the painting says a lot about it -
"WoW, that was SOME  Christmas!".

Last night while on the phone with my Father and Mother in Pennsylvania I began to pencil in eyes that look rather like a deer mouse.  Two prints spoke up about being glued into the painting:  One the puffer fish UFO ship I have had tacked up in the studio for over a year, and the other, the FIRST and brand new print from my new refurbished Epson 1420 called SING.  

I had wondered whether this was going to be a quick all acrylic painting and now I see it is not.

#tbt

reasons for art. i love this. a quote from Hoffberger

Hoffberger has said that “a good museum does more than just have objects that stand there on pedestals. The great ones are all muse-based, connecting viewers to the heart of inspiration.”^[9] AVAM's educational goals^[10] are another example of the museum's unorthodoxy. They are:

• Expand the definition of a worthwhile life
• Engender respect for and delight in the gift of others
• Increase awareness of the wide variety of choices available in life for all ... particularly students
• Encourage each individual to build upon his or her own special knowledge and inner strengths
• Promote the use of innate intelligence, intuition, self-exploration and creative self-reliance
• Confirm the great hunger for finding out just what each of us can do best, in our own voice, at any age.
• Empower the individual to choose to do that something really, really well.

These same goals were adopted by The Lower East Side Girls Club when it was founded in 1996.^[11]

the new Future POW multimedia event

   What does my art tell us about strong, healthy Painting?

NEW.  Dramatically different.

What art needs is the ability to hold frequency.

Like frequency of the Future....NOW.  

bringing in energy in the form of new ideas from a corridor straight out in front of you and intending it back towards Here.  

Talking Paintings - stories that unfold when a person takes the time to connect

CLick on it to Enlarge

are Collectors like Collage Artists?

Is a collector like a collage artist?  instead of working things out on paper, panel or canvas, do some collectors collage their homes with other art?  I am wondering.

The White Horse

I spent over five years working on this piece.  It is an oil.  It is at Chameleon Gallery in Newburyport right now.