life is messy

backpack trip to yos postponed due to:

elderly parent stuff:

hate moving > me or anyone else!!! hell hath broke loose. i went to see the assisted & elderly living apartment they had selected (god's waiting room). it was kinda nice & kinda creepy. it was 10 min away from any town & surrounded by walnut orchards & processing plants. they have swimming pools, theatre (with popcorn machine), dining, game room, fitness rooms, restaurants, hair salons, shopping ++++ there was something disturbing in it all. like moving to a mall or old person's amusement park - generic & absent of history, family,life. if "life imitates art" then what would this be/look like? what can i do with it? it = place, their situation, my reaction...


horse injury:

a farrier came out to trim horse feet & in a pissy mood freaked them out ( easy to do on young ones in a herd environment), anyhoo the results were a 2yr old with her legs tangled in a metal feeder that torn skin & tendon sheath. the sutures started at the hock & ended at the fetlock. after numerous vet call it looks like there is a chance that she will not be completely crippled. she may have hip/back/tendon troubles in the future. this mare's family lives & functions well into their mid/late 20's > but not like this?). finger are crossed that it gets better.

reading:
underwhelmed by the berger "ways of seeing" book. so far it is a quick & dirty application of social psychology & ethics in technology applied to how art is viewed/processed. while this was recommended to me by many i would not "share the love" since it makes no sense to use a blurb from a middle man when i can go to the source > research it myself. guess there is a dvd ( may rent as well). Upside: on a mental tangent i came up with an idea for a perception themed series. i wrote it down while waiting to donate blood at a delta blood bank. some of my notes i wrote while "pumping away." in hindsight, that all seems odd - yet i have learned the hard way that if i do not write it down then/now & thoroughly with notes/drawings that it will be gone forever.

more books:

landscape & memory - simon schama
seems to be a series of speculations/reflections on depicting nature in art. think i will like it.

art on the edge and over - weintraub
"searching for art's meaning in contemporary society 1970's-1990's. think this could be a good resource for "getting" the mindset of sorta current 'provocative artists. i need all the help i can get.

the archive: documents of contemporary art - merewether
looks to be essays by hoity-toity people/artist in art = more stuff to learn & spew. wish i liked this stuff. am try'n hard to develop a passion for it, yet am hard pressed at the moment. so far i have encountered anything new in this realm. having been passionate for years about art & on acting on that passion devoured libraries for decades - i had put it all behind me. my choice had been total submersion in history/theory/mediums & then try to forget it. the reason in this is that one can not forget since one perception has been altered by learning/exposure it can not be unlearned. give this view, it made sense to trust that i have what i need & mindlessly jump in & create to see what i can do with it. that by being spontaneous i would get past the conscious/contrived to the real me & the real synthesis of what i did get out of years of study/life experience/my unique view. feel like getting sent back a few grades for doing badly in school. just thought that was behind me...

art now - taschen resource/reference art guide-ish

styles, schools and movents - dempsey. "the essential encyclopaedic guide to Modern Art" < style="font-weight: bold;">art in the modern era: a guide to styles, schools & movements - also by dempsey (see above). sound like the same damn book i bought above!!!!!! hope it is A LOT different. so far, the other has more/dif pictures...

Art videos to watch (from netfliks):

the highwaymen: florida's outsider artists - like outsider stuff. familiar in ca/nv/or, yet know nothing of fl outsider art. given the nature of technology, this art form maybe short-lived (& precious) since "cultural homogenization" is probable.

joan miro - constellations: the color of poetry - think i rented/watched this a few years back...so much for memory :( contex has changed - so perhaps my gleaning will differ as well?

studio related stuff:

working on my "current working statement" for this upcoming body of images.

bought 9 - 11x 14 gessoed hardboard panels & 10 - 16x 20 to use for quick studies each morning. i want to do quick gestural paintings to explore expressionistic/painterly brush strokes. since paint is so friggin expensive i got qts of rejected colored house paints FREE!!! i have about 20 colors now & will transfer to sm yogurt containers so that i can try plein aire as well. there is a paint -by - number vibe to all of this for me. by this i mean that the last time i have painted with pre-mixed paint was on paint by numbers as a child. they were oil, images were of puppie/kitties & i was 7 & loved it. anyhoo, there is a sense of cheating by not mixing my colors. then again, have not painted with them yet. the logic is that cost may be hampering my growth in painting. i am excited to do this. even if i do not apply any gained knowledge from this on the final project this semester > it will payoff on some level somewhere down the road - always does...

backpack trip: will leave this tues & return fri. looks like i will be taking my 13 yr boy & my 21 yr daughter. building good memories for all...