Shine on You Crazy Diamond!

A crisp chill is in the air, snow glides on the breeze, and the hills are white with a fresh fall.

Hmmmmmm, it's winter again.

That's a good "Hmmmmmm", by the way. Like you've just settled down for a long winter's nap.

I have a special Top 5 for my blog tonight.

Adam's Top 5 Winter Wonderland (Non-Christmas) Albums

These are the albums that go best with driving in the cold weather, relaxing by a warm fire, or making a nice and comfortable winter meal.

Perhaps even playing a board game or two. Or a piecing together a puzzle.

I don't know what you do with your time.

But I know what you should do with your ears.

You should pop these in and listen.

1. "Wish You Were Here" - Pink Floyd

Probably my favorite Pink Floyd album (Only probably; Dark Side is so good!), this one is a winter album if only for the laid back tempo, icy keyboards, and melodic bluesy guitar. There are only 5 songs on this album, and two of them aren't necessarily wintery. "Welcome to the Machine" and "Have a Cigar" are both extraordinary, but they don't scream "lows in the 20's" like the others. The title track is more or less applicable to any season, with a certain timeless, albeit contemplative, quality. What really makes this album a winter wonderland is the 25 minutes of bread that sandwiches the other three songs. "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" makes visions of sugarplums dance in your head. It may be a song about Syd Barrett losing his mind, but perhaps you can imagine that the words "crazy diamond" refer to snowflakes. Shine on.

2. The Royal Tenenbaums Soundtrack

I'm not going to go into the specifics of each and every song on this album, but I will say that Mark Mothersbaugh's original compositions for this film's score are some of the best short tunes to play while relaxing by a cozy fire with a good book in your hands and a mug of hot cocoa at your side. There are a few oddball songs that mix up the mood a little bit ("Police and Thieves", "Me and Julio", and "Jackie is a Punk"), but they're all classically great and the rest of the album acts as a sort of tonal spine. This is also a great walking in the snow, listening to my iPod album, or a driving to the folks' house, admiring the mountains and snowy trees collection. It's royal. See what I did there?

3. "For Emma, Forever Ago" - Bon Iver

I've been told I resemble Justin Vernon. I don't know. He's a little chubby. This album was recorded in a cabin. That's wintery right there. But it is the finely pitched singing and harmonics that give this album a truly snowy feeling. You feel like you're right there in the cabin with him as he strums on his guitar. All of a sudden three spirits show up (kind of like "A Christmas Carol") and they sing the background harmonies. You're just sitting there, wide-eyed, with a wondrous look on your face, taking it all in. And you live happily ever after.

4. "Pet Sounds" - The Beach Boys

Okay. Really strange choice. They're the "Beach Boys", after all. Beach? Winter? I know, I know. But this isn't a beach album. This is a life album. The songs on this album are about love, loss, growing up, trusting one another, friendship, not feeling normal, etc. Okay, that's all well and good, but how is it wintery? That's a good question. I don't really know how to explain it. It could be the melodies or the harmonies or the musical textures or the ambient sounds or the thoughtfulness (which, to me, is kind of a wintery thing; in the summer I'm more preoccupied with having fun than thinking). Just give it a good listen while enjoying the snow and maybe you'll see what I mean.

5. "Preemptive Strike" - Dj Shadow

I had to throw in a hip-hop flavor. DJ Shadow has built his career on creating stories through his entirely sample driven music. At his best, he creates soundtracks for the soul, at his worst, he makes a funky beat.  While this album may not be as groundbreaking as "Endtroducing" or as experimental as "The Private Press", it is short, cold, minimal, and a good introduction to Shadow's sound. The entire album is without lyrics, but it has hints of people's voices, dashes of dialogue, and a strange feeling of connection to people, while also being completely alone. It's odd. Maybe you'll get what I'm saying when you listen to this:

Welp, I'm not sure if this was super successful (successful: yes; super: hm?), but it was at the very least a hastily thrown together look at some fine music.

And that's all that really matters.

The Difficulties of Being an Artist (or Trying to be an Artist)

Right now it's 11:15 on a Wednesday night. I'm tired, but I don't want to go to sleep because I have to work tomorrow. I can't avoid it, but I try to by making my days longer. That makes no sense. I never claimed that it did.

The problem is that my job is not fulfilling. Don't get me wrong. I like my coworkers, I like that I have a job, I like that it isn't completely abysmal; I just don't want to work there anymore. My creativity is stifled. It's snuffed. My life feels like non stop rice cakes. Plain and uninteresting and tasteless and monotonous and a struggle to get through. In fact, the next person that asks me how I'm doing will get the response, "Rice Cakes". I think I've invented a new turn of phrase. Let's get it to catch.

My only desire and wish and hope is to get my art career going, or at least to get a job that is creatively fulfilling and not all about other people's money. I want to touch souls through art. I want people to jump into my paintings like they're in Mary Poppins. I want to create, inspire, and creatively inspire. And perspire. Creatively.

I have hurdles, though. Money being one. But money isn't everything. And it certainly is no excuse. Just look at Jean Michel Basquiat. Another obstacle is my imagination. Or maybe it's my self-editor. I feel like my imagination is great, but my self-editor takes dumps all over my ideas. This last week I felt super excited to start a whole series of paintings based on new beginnings and old remnants. I was jazzed. I wrote out an entire list of plans for where I was going with my series. I even started on a couple of sketches. I even painted a picture. But then I looked at Bo Bartlett's paintings. I realized I was painting things that I thought would sell, not things I wanted to paint. But then I asked myself, "What do you want to paint?" And I had no answer. So I began to look through more Bo Bartlett works. And I became discouraged, because he knows what he wants to paint. He has a style. He has a language. He owns it. He paints his passion and it is obvious. You read his interest. You read his sincerity. You read his emotion. You read his beliefs. And all through a simple painting. I don't even know where to begin. I don't even understand how anybody does that. I may even say that only 0.5 percent of artists know how to do that. You have to be an artistic genius.

And that is frustrating. I've always been at the top of my class when it came to rendering objects through drawing and painting. I've been good at finding emotion. I've been good at finding interesting compositions. I've been good at proportion, structure, shading, color choice, etc. But here I am, dreading going to work tomorrow at a job that has nothing to do with my talents. And here I am, drawing a complete blank in terms of what I love. Because I want to paint what I love. But I don't even know what I love. I guess there are things that I have loved all of my life. My family. My friends. God. Books. Movies. Video Games.

Video games are out of the question. I'm not interested in painting them. Movies, too. I've been there, done that. If someone wants a commission of Clint Eastwood, I'll do it. Otherwise, I'm done with that. Books may be interesting. Scenes, characters, authors, settings...there may be potential there. But it doesn't grab me. God is impossible to paint. I could paint scenes from the Bible, but I could never do them justice. They've already been done as well as possible. Plus, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but a thousand words of Scripture is well beyond any thousands of pictures. I suppose any work that truly is of worth can demonstrate some aspect of truth and therefore of spirituality and reality and therefore may point to God in a very real way, so it's not out of the question. My friends are a possibility. I've already had a handful that are willing to pose for me. I need to get on that. My family may be an option. They're good people.

I'm just so discouraged right now. In a funk. I look at the Bartletts and the Hoppers and the Van Goghs and the Monets and the Basquiats and the Rembrandts of the world and I don't know how I'll ever even approach them. I read the Tolstoys and the Chestertons and the Dostoevskys and the Dickenses and the McCarthys of the world and I see that they were geniuses and I get envious and impatient and discouraged. All I want is to bring the subtle and lasting joys to people that these incredible men have brought to me. And I'm clueless as to how I can do that. And I know that all day tomorrow at work I'm just going to be thinking about how great life would be if I was a full-time artist, living my passion, touching lives, embracing people. And I know that after work, when I get home, I'll have no idea where to start and I'll be impatient and restless all over again.

Thank you for reading my rant. I'm obviously discontent right now. I should probably get some sleep.

Best Back-to-Back Bumps

I tend to observe how albums are put together. I like to listen to them all the way through a few times in order to feel out how the artist arranged the song order. Song order is humongously important. When I put together mixes, they must flow in such a way that each song feeds into the next and while also drawing from the previous. I like contrast. I like subtle changes in tempo. So, I got to thinking. What albums that I own have the greatest back to back combos? Those two songs that were placed so perfectly and so geniusly that the artist themselves must have been blown away. Here's a list of some of my favorites:

Eels - "Railroad Man", "The Other Shoe"

This one two combo was the first that popped into my mind. "Railroad Man" is all about how a man feels when he can't relate to the people around him or the life that they lead. It's a personal favorite of mine, as I can relate to sometimes feeling like everyone around me is living lives that are exciting or successful. It is also about contentment with yourself, which I really admire about the lyrics. They are smart and deep, while also being accessible and singable. And the instrumental backing is like the Piano coda in "Layla", being pure musical bliss with some very emotive slide guitar. "The Other Shoe" follows that up with a much darker and rebellious feel. It explores similar territory, however, and runs parallel with Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone", in that it expresses the warning against pride and decadence. Plus, E explodes in high-pitched hoots towards the climax of the song. And I'm a sucker for explosions of emotion in music.

The Kinks - "Some Mother's Son", "Drivin'"

Part of their "Arthur" concept album, "Some Mother's Son" and "Drivin'" are a perfect contrast to each other. "Some Mother's Son" is a stirring song about war and death and memories and family. It explores the instinctual emotions that a son has for his mother and a mother for her son. A fantasticly written song with lyrics that couldn't be much better, it is a rather depressing and somber tune. Follow that with "Drivin'" a happy ditty about forgetting one's worries and taking the car out with some friends to enjoy the countryside. It plays beautifully after "Some Mother's Son", as it actually contains a subtle reference to war. This adds a dynamic tension to the song that would be lost if the songs were not played together. It would just be about driving instead of being about temporal distractions, universal truths of life and death, class differences, and ignorance.

Bruce Springsteen - "State Trooper", "Used Cars"

I couldn't find a clip of "Used Cars", but Youtube it and there're a few decent covers.

Originally split to sides A and B, "State Trooper" and "Used Cars" are exemplary together. While it may make more sense to try and pair "Highway Patrolman" and "State Trooper", since they are linked by the same themes of regret, law, and pursuit, while also being two opposite viewpoints on either side of the law, I think "Used Cars" really fits well with "State Trooper". "State Trooper" is about a man who has lived his whole life in regret and on the run, trying to forget the things that he's done while also getting away with his transgressions. It ends with some hoots. I love hoots. Especially surprise hoots that Bruce pushes out with great force. "Used Cars" is about a boy, or young man, who promises himself that he will never have to buy a used car when he grows up. There's a beautiful balance of pride and shame towards his family and you can see the repurcussions of being an outsider among more successful folks. Played together you have two stories that could work as one. A tremendously American album, "Nebraska" should be owned by every redblooded American.

So, there's three collections of songs that I love and find to be best when played side by side. What sort of songs do you think work the best together?

Survey in the Vein of MySpace Yesteryears

Current guilty pleasure: Red Mill Burgers (I'm a fat fat fatty)

Current color: Steely blue (as a skin tone when I paint)

Current playlist: In between Led Zeppelin and The Who, I've been on a Matt Chandler sermon binge.

Current read: Man in a Blue Scarf, by Martin Gayford

Current drink: Water. Although I've been trying this health drink called Fuze lately. It's decent.

Current food: Chipotle and Katina's Kitchen

Current favorite show: Justified, tied with Parks and Rec

Current wish list: A place of my own.

Current needs: To sell some paintings!

Current triumphs: I have a new muse for painting. His name is Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Current bane of my existence: That inch or two of "stubborn belly fat" (thank you commercials about weight loss for the perfect descriptor) that won't go away.

Current celebrity crush: I don't know. I like the exotic looks of Mila Kunis.

Current indulgence: Board games. Nerd.

Current blessing: Possible new job.

Current outfit: Khaki slacks for work, Gold toe socks, and a screen printed t-shirt that reads "Kenney XXL Athletic Department"

Current excitement: Painting this portrait of Fyodor.

Current mood: Slightly anxious (have to go to work)

Current link: Man In a Blue Scarf, a must read for artists.

Free Association.....or something

This is a train of thought blog. Just crazy make-em-ups as I go along. It's mainly because I don't have much worth-while to say and when I do, I can't seem to express it very well.

Cut my hair yesterday. Just thought of that nugget of gold when I scratched my head a moment ago. So, it's short now. Shorter. I should say.

I work today. 10-7. It's a long day at Lifeway and we have the regional manager coming in to see how we handle customers. It's pretty stupid. "Let's fly this guy to Seattle and spend money on his trip when the store isn't hitting its budget!" Instead, they should realize that Seattle isn't Nashville and that half the stuff that they send to our store will never sell. "Let's slap a Bible verse, completely out of context, on a coffee mug and watch it sell like hotcakes!" That doesn't work up here.

Speaking of Bible verses out of context. Jeremiah 29:11 "'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.'" What a nice and hopeful verse. I love it, really, because it expands on God's sovereignty. Doesn't this verse mean that life will be peachy? No. Back up a couple of verses and Israel is in for seventy years of living in exile in Babylon before this prophecy will be fulfilled. Just a thought.

I'm loving this weather and cannot wait until it is more dependable and steady. Nothing beats the smell of blooming flowers in the Spring, though. Sitting in a stuffy room for most of the day, doing repeated crap over and over again, then open the doors to leave and my nose is filled with beautiful classical music. That doesn't make sense, but it describes it fairly well.

I may have a new job soon. Can't say much about it, but it should fit my life better than the current one, and also lead into a better fit in the long run. Here's hoping.

Also, my coworker and his friend auditioned for Simon Cowell's X-Factor, yesterday. His results are confidential, but from the way he is trying to act, it seems that they did very well. So, hopefully we'll see them on TV. That would be fantastic.

I like adding small sentences at the end of each paragraph. Feel free to check up the page and see how often I do it. Go for it.

That's about all for now, I've got to leave for work. This was fun.

The Madness of Life

I've just finished reading Tolstoy's Confession.

Wow. The man was truly a man of reason. If you have any interest in the journey of a man seeking answers to life, read this page-turner (it's about 15 chapters, each one a few pages). I don't want to spoil it for you, but I will. A little. Well, I'll at least set up the basic problem that he confronts. BTW, it is an autobiography of sorts.

After achieving success and fame and fortune and land and animals and a fine family, he still finds himself to be subject to depression, even countless thoughts of suicide. His main reasoning falls like this: he has achieved his goals, he is regarded as a genius, he has a family that loves him, but is there any meaning to his life that will not be destroyed by his death? And if not, then what is the purpose of life? It is essentially the age old question of "why are we here". What's the point? Is there a point?

Tolstoy's problem expands as he comes to the conclusion through logic and research that there really is no point to existence and that a person can do one of four things: the first is to just be ignorant of the facts and not really pursue such knowledge, the second is to "eat, drink, and be merry" and follow Solomon's and Schopenhauer's advice regarding the pointlessness of life, the third is to just follow logic to it's ultimate end and kill oneself, and the fourth is to put up with the knowledge and just live through it, bearing the burden. Add to that the weight of responsibility, since Tolstoy was a practicer of perfectionism, constantly turning life into a competition and wanting to be the best at everything and to know all there is to know. So, he felt a weight of pressure, a weight of guilt for everything wrong he had ever done, and the weight of time on his shoulders.

William Blake, Pilgrim Reading his Book

"If there is no God, everything is permitted." Another heavy thinking Russian author, Dostoevsky, sums up what Tolstoy is struggling with in a simple sentence. The whole time I was reading Confession, I kept thinking, 'why are you not putting God in the equation, or at least faith?'. Tolstoy found the idea of God completely unreasonable and therefore put Him out of the picture entirely. It was to be a journey of the mind, and to Tolstoy, God and faith were not logical and could not be reconciled to a world based upon logic and reason. Eventually, he does pursue the study of faith and something strange and wonderful happens to him. Read the dang book.

"If there is no God, everything is permitted."

The book reminded me of Chesterton's "Orthodoxy". This is another very interesting autobiographical account that tells the tale of a man who pursued logic, reason, science, and art, and in the end found God. It wasn't through the denial of any one of these realms of reality or the ignorance of any, but through the acceptance, research, and application of them that Chesterton found God. If you have not read Chesterton, do so now. I will wait. He was one of the wittiest and funniest writers of the English language.

"A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author."

Yesterday I was listening to Matt Chandler, the pastor of The Village in Texas. He is the Brian Regan of pastors, in that he makes a lot of jokes and they are all in the style of Regan. Give him a listen. It's amazing how things often line up so mysteriously in our lives. I just wanted Chandler to have a face to face with Tolstoy, because the things that they were discussing were so in line. Chandler has terminal cancer and will die someday soon, so he has wrestled with the large questions that Tolstoy was wrestling with in his old age (and in the phenomenal book The Death of Ivan Ilyich). But Chandler's answer was Christ. That's how we're here, that's why we're here, that's where we're going, that's the answer to our pain and sin and struggles and loss and tears and mistakes. There is no other answer. There is no other way out.

Chandler doing tai-chi? Maybe shadow puppets.

Anyway, this was a bit of a spur of the moment blog that turned into something much more involved and much less planned out. Read The Confession, read Orthodoxy, and listen to The Village podcasts which are available on iTunes.

Our Minds

This morning a friend of mine had posted a video on Facebook that I had seen a few years ago which had completely blown me away. It wasn't some awesome cat video or a too dramatic Stanley Kubrick audition. It was a serious video about the minds of our children. It wasn't scientific. It wasn't preachy. It wasn't cheesy. It was heartfelt and strong and unique and dramatic and convincing and touching. And it came from a familiar source. I posted it at the bottom of this blog post.

I've become more concerned about how I use my time lately. I want to ensure that it is both honoring to God and honoring to my mind. I am made in the image of God, after all, and honor both of us in the way that I utilize my time. One thing that I think is honoring to God, along with prayer and reading the Bible and showing love to others, is the way in which I think and grow in knowledge. Knowledge of God is of the utmost importance, of course, as scripture states: "If you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God" Proverbs 2:3-5.

In the interest of time I'm going to cut myself short, because I have to get ready for work. I will say that I am more interested in reading Dickens than in watching Family Guy, I am more interested in watching Justified than Hawaii Five-O, and I am more interested in viewing Scorsese than the latest American Pie.  That's not to say that I don't like to laugh and live and enjoy life and it's not to say that I don't have guilty pleasures like nerdy video games or Mystery Science Theater and it's not to say that my opinion of things is always best and that other's tastes don't amount to anything. It's merely my belief that we should analyze what we are doing with our limited time and resources and cut the fat where there is any.

As promised, here is the video. Please watch the whole thing. It's phenomenal.

I like what he says about more drama in the words of two angry men than in gunshots. It's so true. I always found Mr. Rogers to be entirely boring, but the man had a great philosophy about our minds and the minds of our children. And his unique and unassuming personality is just about the greatest illustration for the strength of character and substance over the flash of style. Here's to Fred.

The Inevitable Music Post

The best bands of the week. For me. And mine. + albums + songs

1. Eels - Blinking Lights and other Revelations

Nothing like driving home from the folks' house after my mother's birthday party to bring on a melancholy mood. Especially when "Up" was on the tube when I left and had just played a touching and sad moment. I had just been to the most memorable and familiar place in my life, so I was feeling a bit reminiscent. What better album to listen to than "Blinking Lights and other Revelations"? None better, that's what. "Blinking Lights (for me)", "Railroad Man", "Hey Man", "Ugly Love", "Things the Grandchildren Should Know", and "I'm Going to Stop Pretending That I Didn't Break Your Heart" are songs that are so near and dear to everything that I love about life, joy, sadness, love, and grief.

2. CCR - Chronicle


Everything. Everything good about this world can be summed up in any CCR song. I don't understand how this band keeps getting forgotten. VH1's list and Rolling Stone's list of the greatest musical artists both have forgotten the beauty of CCR. I think it's a thing where they are so ingrained within our subconscious that we completely take them for granted. I mean really! "Lodi", "Fortunate Son", "Lookin' Out My Back Door", "Susie Q", "Down on the Corner", "Have You Ever Seen the Rain", etc, etc, etc. I don't get it.

3. Led Zeppelin - II

"What is and What Should Never Be". That is all that needs to be said.

4. AWOL One - Only Death Can Kill You

My roommate and I spent a good half hour laughing at the ridiculously stupid lyrics of AWOL One. This white rapper has a gruff voice that resembles Tom Waits' growls, but his lyrics are absolutely inane. And I love it! If somebody raps: "Even the old lady/ She used to be babies"or "Keepin' the faith/ Like it's the faith that you're keepin'", then you know you're in for some pretty stupid stuff. But seriously, this album is the perfect nice day driving music, besides "Village Green Preservation Society" by the Kinks. Check that one out too.

That's about it. I gotta go to bed.

Medium Madness

It is every artist's dream to find a style that they enjoy and a medium that they can flourish in, especially if they can find success with it. And so, for the last few years I have been on a quest to understand myself and my style, attempting different approaches to producing artwork and becoming so associated with different techniques that I can just simply say, "I like this approach. I don't like that approach." I'm the kind of person that tries to (and generally succeeds in) finding the beauty in almost everything, so I end up liking all types of art styles and artists. While many people can say, "I love abstract expressionism and I despise Caravaggio and Rembrandt," or visa versa, I end up loving it all. So, it continues to be quite a process in determining what styles I wish to pursue.

 

Pollock! Wild!

Caravaggio! Daunting!

Many times I really just prefer the quickest solution to describe a vision, so I end up with a sketch of some sort, or an impressionistic scene. Other times I like to revel in the details and take as much time as I can in exploring the ins and outs of what I am attempting to represent. So, I end up confused as to which direction I should go in. I like the idea of sketches and impressions, because that is usually what we end up encountering in the real world, plus it is the fastest way from the brain to the paper or canvas, which may end up giving a peek into the artist's mind. Other times I think a lengthy study is quite impressive because of the devotion to the subject that is required and the amount of skill in the artist's eye and hand that is needed to achieve such detail.

Winslow Homer! So Simple!

Durer! So Much Work!

I have the longest history of working with pencil, since that's all I used as a kid (besides crayons and markers), but I can't stand the amount of work that goes into graphite drawings, especially when most graphite works just remind me of those books with pencil drawings that used to get me carsick. I much prefer straight-up ballpoint pen action. It has a nice flow to it.

Graphite! This looks about as fun as stabbing myself with a pencil! Carsick! Barf!

But I prefer charcoal to both. I've been working with charcoal since 2003 and I'm pretty comfortable with it by now. There's a nice balance of messy and detailed in charcoal that I struggle to get with other mediums. In fact, just writing about working with charcoal makes me want to draw right now. My problem is that charcoal doesn't really work as a great medium for things other than still-lifes and portraits or figure drawings. I can't afford a model and I've drawn myself about a million times now, plus I can't set up a decent still-life. Well, maybe I'm just lazy. (The rest of these images are my own)

Charcoal! Pretty Fun!

For the past three years or so, I've been dabbling in oils. There are many things that I enjoy about oil paint. It's flexible, like charcoal, it's strong in color and substance, and it just has a nice glow to it that other mediums don't have. Plus it is forgiving in many ways. The thing I hate about oils is the glazing aspect of it. It can just be a little too complex for me, so I prefer to just pile paint on top of paint. Lately I've really been digging painting with a palette knife.

Glazing! Not that fun! Looks cool though!

Heavy Paint! Fun!

And just recently I've been attempting watercolors. I'm in awe of Winslow Homer's watercolors. The man knew how to use them, although I've read that he struggled with them for years before he became comfortable with them. I've also read that he (along with Edward Hopper, another favorite, and self-made artist) struggled in all aspects of art until his mid-forties, when he really started to get a grasp on it all. That is both very inspirational and incredibly daunting. These are men that had incredible skills in terms of color choice and composition, and it seems that they really were 'skills'. By that I mean that they worked and worked and worked at them over years and years of practice to earn their talent and recognition. That is something that sounds very fun and very boring to me, if that makes sense. I'm part of the "right now!" generation, but I also esteem work quite highly, because it is truly respectable when someone sacrifices so much for their goals. Anyway, I suck at watercolors. This is a painting I did this morning at Golden Gardens.

Watercolor! Freaking Difficult!

I'm going to go there a few times a week and just paint and draw, I think. It felt good to enjoy nature this morning.

Hopefully this process of learning and growing and practicing will pay off (as I'm sure it will, because it already has). Here goes nothing.

Inspiration and Perspiration

This past Monday night, Tim Lowly, the famous artist (I'll post one of his works), dropped by Seattle Pacific University to perform some songs that he has written. His opening act was a man by the name of Robert Deeble who was immediately impressive in his songwriting and guitar playing. He was one of those players that liked to hit his strings and guitar and use a lot of harmonics, and was actually good at it! Here's an example of some of his work:

So after he played a few songs with some nice photo imagery playing upon the wall, Tim played a handful of his own songs. He seemed to be slightly nervous following Robert's great show and not being backed up by his band, but he soon found his groove and it lent his show a nice intimate feeling. His singing voice is definitely not like his speaking voice; he drops into a lower register and it becomes almost mournful.

So, he's a talented musician with a creative drive, but can he paint? My good sir, he can! In fact, that is his vocation! He visited SPU again the next morning to discuss his career as an artist and what he has learned about what it means to be an artist. Two very important things that struck me: "Paint what you love" and the idea that we all have a sympathetic vibration, which means that when we view or hear something that is beautiful to us, it is a reflection of our own artistic idea of beauty and therefore something that we can utilize within our own artwork and find satisfaction. It seems to make sense. 

The drive behind Tim's art is his daughter. She was born in 1985 a healthy baby, but two days later she had a cardiac arrest and suffered significant brain damage which has led to physical ailment. At first it was quite the sad shock to Tim and his wife, like it would be to anybody, but after a while their lives began to revolve around Temma's life in all good ways. Tim's inspiration draws heavily from that relationship with her and he includes her in almost all of his works. For example:

Temma On Earth, by Tim Lowly

This large four piece work (8'x12') is an acquisition of the Frye Art Museum here in Seattle and is one of Tim's most famous works. He is definitely a realist painter and takes a lot of time on his works. I've seen it in person and it is genuinely remarkable. I had a tough time trying to look at the surrounding works, because I was constantly drawn to this one.

So, that was Monday and Tuesday.

I also need to buy some new deodorant. 

That's why I put perspiration in the title.

getting rid of the burden

So, I just filed my taxes. It feels good, especially since I'm getting a hefty sum back. One of the perks of being a broke student worker. Not only do you get to do the deductions and get the return, but you also get credits from the government based upon how poor you are, which is where a huge chunk of my return is coming from. Huzzah!

Today is a day to finish a bunch of unfinished business. I have paintings to finish for friends. I have medical bills to fax to Aflac for monetary support. BTW, don't ever go to the doctor because of a cold, unless you have an extremely bad fever. When your cold lasts two weeks and doesn't seem to improve and, in fact, gets worse, don't go to the doctor. Wait it out. Or else you will be charged close to a thousand dollars. It's just not worth it. Here's your prescription: Buy some Mucinex, eat chicken noodle soup, and get rest. Also, if you have a wet cough (which means that it is a cough caused by having mucus in your lungs), don't use a cough suppressant like Robotussin. All that does is prevent you from coughing up the mucus, which NEEDS to happen. There. How's that for $800 worth of advice?

So here're a couple of pictures of my projects for the day.

This is a painting that I've been working on for a few months for a coworker. The sad thing is that I've probably spent a total of 10 hours on it. Not much for having it for so long. It actually looks better than this now, because this picture was taken a few paint layers ago. I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

I'm doing this one for my uncle who has a place in Chelan. So far I've almost completed the background. I started with an acrylic underpainting, which I think I'll do from now on. It just helps me flesh out the main shapes before I go all detailed. I read that Bo Bartlett does that and I respect his artistry. I'm really liking this one a lot, because it has been fun to paint and it's looking nice. I'm a little worried about the foreground. Trees aren't really my strong suit and they really start to jump up into the picture. I think it'll be fine, though.

This next part is the opening to a story I'm working on. It's about a post-apocalyptic world where different people groups are either wailing out to God or are explaining away his existence. It's kind of like Pilgrim's Progress crossed with Crime and Punishment with a dash of The Road.

The Opening

I am the earth. I am broken. Rotten, my diseased insides turn out. The yellow clouds swirl in my skies, rising above the gray empty, traveling aimlessly to and fro and throughout. I am split down my middle, my mountains and valleys shuddering and corroding and combusting, shattered and flaking into dust. I shiver and wobble, my core unstable, pulsing and anxious.

         The animals are fearful. The deer and the lion both look behind them at the slightest unease. The birds molt, the elephants stumble, and the bears have ceased hibernating. There is no migration. There is no routine. There is no foundation. Craters in the splitting crust supply themselves as homes for nervous and mangy prairie dogs, eyes wide, looking about with convulsing and jittery twitches. The scorched forests are no longer capable of sheltering wildlife, replaced in their duties by splintered trees and crumbled neighborhoods, where the animals fend off death in confusion and disarray.

         The streams have dried, exposing ever-cracking riverbeds and sun-scorched stone. The tributaries resemble crow’s feet, branching and branching, crevices carrying no supplication. Nourishment has been excised. Rain is a commodity. Drought is the norm. Wind never ceases, as high and low pressure zones move quickly and converge with mysterious force. The grains of sand and dust in the barren East that coated the ground on Monday will have been carried to the dark West by Friday. And to the East it shall return. There are no seasons. There are no cycles.

There is disorder. There is misfortune. There is struggle. There is monotony. There is war. There is death.

These are the facts.

I'm hoping my friend collaborates with me by doing some illustrations for it. His name is Jonathan and he has one of the most unique and endearing styles I've ever seen. And he just continues to grow in his skills. Here's an example of his work.

It's so stinking cool looking. It's Moses at the burning bush. So I feel slightly sacrilegious asking him to illustrate for a stupid little book when he obviously has a much more visionary Being inspiring him. But hey, I'm a fan.

Reset

When at first you don't succeed, try again.

This is probably my fourth attempt at keeping a blog, so cross your fingers that I keep it up. I think it's about time that I got serious about it, because I'm dying for an outlet for my inspirations and interests. When I get fed up with my own attempts at creativity, I'll just jump on here and post pictures and articles and poems and other things that are really touching my soul lately. Hopefully that will be a satisfying experience.

Along with all of that, I will also be posting any new works that I have produced, whether they be drawings, paintings, or writings. Do it, to it. Here's some stuff I've been digging lately:

William Blake, The Lamb

I'm really interested in the combination of visual and written art lately and William Blake is one of my main inspirations in this endeavor. Plus, the poem is just great.

Talk about nerdy. I just got this board game called Agricola. It had good reviews on Amazon and Boardgamegeek.com, so I had to give it a go, since my roomies and I have played Settlers of Catan to death. It's pretty stinking complicated, but I'm really finding it to be a satisfying experience. A good way to kill time on a rainy day, at least.

This is what I have been listening to as I've been developing this blog post. Classic album. Haven't listened to it in a while.

And here's just a dinky sketch of my roommate, Rick, that I did this evening. It felt good to just do a simple short drawing.

So, that's my first post. Hopefully the first of many. 

Also: the blog title is from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Simple Man". I felt like it was a pretty good representation of what I'm trying to accomplish with this blog. Just some simple loves.