4.30.5

another watercolor from the lost and found. probably belongs as permanently "lost", but as you know i have a tendency to put it all up, the good the bad the ugly.

speaking of which, the image archive is about 2 years out of date. i don't know how many visuals i've put up in the last 2 years, but when and if i finish what's on my plate at present i'm going to include in the image archive a whole lot more of my work.

today, among other things i'm ordering canon g6 7+MP. this will open the door to a whole nother layer of new stuff that i don't have the time to do....

[later] blogger seems to be flakey today. i get a broken pipe when i try to post. if you are reading this i got past it.

[later still] ok i got this up by saving it first as a draft, then publishing it.

just one more occasion where ambiguity and "thinking outside the box" prove to be essential, not optional. besides i lost the box.

as long as i am bouncing around, might as well ramble a bit. i'm reading two essays on analytical psychology by jung. the volume has been laying around for years and i never read it.

my feeling about jung is that even though he was determined to be "scientific" and not a misunderstood artist, he never came up with a hard and fast description of how things work for us humans. had he done so i think his work would be much less valid.

what he did do is meander around the unknowable, not the unknown, but that which is incapable of being "known", pretty convincingly arguing that even so, it affects our world and our lives.

4.29.5

above is 2nd version of watercolor below. i just couldn't leave it alone. but now i will because i don't think i can use it for the miniature prints i want to use on notecards.

one of the habits i have acquired is finishing each painting i start, even if it is a disaster. above is example. great learning experience but it ca, of course, be a waste of time.

i now have 15 ok miniature prints and will shop them around town next week. meanwhile will get together a second series called "postcards from nowhere" which will be a giggle but who knows these days, people might buy them.

or not.

meanwhile i will be finishing landscape oil. another great learning experience.

in case you don't have something to fret about - highly unlikely - check this out:
F-Secure Computer Virus Information Pages: Googkle: "F-Secure staff has found a malicious website that utilizes a spelling error when typing the name of the popular search engine - 'Google.com'. If a user opens a malicious website, his/her computer gets hijacked - a lot of different malware gets automatically downloaded and installed: trojan droppers, trojan downloaders, backdoors, a proxy trojan and a spying trojan. Also a few adware-related files are installed.

The name of the malicious website is 'Googkle.com'. PLEASE DO NOT GO TO THIS WEBSITE! Otherwise your computer will get infected! We have reported the case to the authorities."

4.28.5

another watercolor i found in the reject pile. i promise i won't put anymore up. i thought i could maybe bring it up to snuff for notecard/postcard series but looking at it i don't think so.

still have the noise machine turned down as low as i can get it. you can't turn it off. so i'm not up on the no longer fascinating dance of the sound bytes.

but i do recall that hitler came to power procedurally. and the first group he went after was the judiciary.

4.27.5

another watercolor i found. it goes into the great notecard postcard machine. found it in a box where i keep the duds and sprinkled cyberdust on it.

most rushed day i have had in a long time. the new life book has suddenly become an urgent affair, as these things do, and i spent the morning talking to jeff and nan in myrtle beach about various strategies. then rush into town to the art supply store i like which is, unfortunately the furthest away. then back to take "sacred geometry" class which Started 30 minutes and two weeks earlier than i thought. then to botanical gardens to paint. i did the zen thing, first mark is the best mark, i might finish it in time.

isn't that an interesting phrase, in time?

4.26.5

i found this watercolor i did a while back and added to the famous notecard project. looks pretty good on my monitor.

worked all day yesterday on a couple of projects. finally had sense enough to go outside, perfect spring day. took a load of cardboard to the recycle bin. i had loaded all my oil painting gear with the idea of going to the botanical gardens to work on class oil painting. i did get there, but didn't do anything but sit and draw scene, dark and light, values, and tree branches which will be interesting to paint.

went to "consciousness" class this morning, lecturer talked about meditation. not much new. i mentally disagreed with him when he talked about "stopping the monkey mind", i think it more involves letting it be the monkey mind and not identifying with it.

he had some interesting things to say about the "witness" and how you could become the witness (of your own body/mind). again i differ a little. there is always another witness behind the witness, all the way up and all the way down.

like the beatles said:

"and though she feels like she's in a play
she is anyway".

4.25.5

another telegram from the unconscious, void, formless into form, the unknowable. wherever it is it is not on the map.

this image originated on my current NC driver's license.

just a blip.

blipping.

4.24.5

now that i have this picture up, it looks unfinished. back to the bit board.

peeked out of the window early this morning and it was snowing. but not for long.

the usual obscure projects. been circling the vacuum cleaner, closer and closer.

fell asleep for a bit after lunch. in a chair. haven't done that for a while.

the existence of art is meaningful. the content may be whatever, but the fact that a human creates brings meaning into existence. and it does so right now. always now.

now is always new. now is always. now is.

but really it's an hour later now, and i hope i just made a fix that allows you to see this page.

now rocks.

4.23.5

pic was drawn yesterday, sprinkled with magic dust this morning.

went to exhibit opening yesterday with friend k. art with a capital "A", appeared to be the work of collage indoctrinated artists. one artist specialized in combining text with visuals, textures (used coffee filters). this combination is of great interest to me as most of my old friends can attest to. the other artist used bee's wax for an interesting patina, and wax is on my list of endless things to look into.

now here are some quotes i ran into the other day that sparked my interest. i did not know why, but i think it was because of the last item from today's news.

Quote Details: Hermann Hesse: When dealing with the... - The Quotations Page: "When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane.
Hermann Hesse
Swiss (German-born) author (1877 - 1962)"

Quote Details: Friedrich Nietzsche: Insanity in individuals is... - The Quotations Page: "Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
Friedrich Nietzsche
German philosopher (1844 - 1900)"

Quote Details: Edgar Allan Poe: Those who dream by... - The Quotations Page: "Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
Edgar Allan Poe, 'Eleonora'
US short story author, editor, & poet (1809 - 1849)"

if these quotes seem a bit much, check this link out:

ContraCostaTimes.com | 04/22/2005 | As e-hunting becomes reality, state Senate moves to ban it: "SACRAMENTO - The state Senate voted Thursday to bar state hunters from remotely killing animals using a computer and an Internet connection."

4.22.5

got out the old repedigraph last night, and the above is the result.

got this from "good morning silicon valley" news letter. i am very interested in this. how about you?

TERM OF THE WEEK: wiki

(n.) A collaborative Web site comprised of the perpetual collective work of
many authors. Similar to a blog in structure and logic, a wiki allows
anyone to edit, delete, or modify content that has been placed on the Web
site using a browser interface, including the work of previous authors. In
contrast, a blog, typically authored by an individual, does not allow
visitors to change the original posted material, only add comments to the
original content. The term wiki refers to either the Web site or the
software used to create the site.

Wiki wiki means "quick" in Hawaiian. The first wiki was created by Ward
Cunnigham in 1995.

4.21.5

it's one of those extreme days. don't know what else to call it. i have the first of 3 dental appointments at 11:30 which is the beginning of 1) reconstructed teeth or 2) false teeth. arrrrgh.

but to counterbalance this i received this email this morning so everything is cool.

"You have now been approved to collect a total payment sum of USD$970,000.00 (NINE HUNDRED AND SEVEN THOUSAND US DOLLARS ONLY) attaches to file REF NO: CSI/8813/6329-05. We know it will be of a surprise to have received such a notification message due to the fact that you did not purchase any lottery ticket from us and the high rate of internet scam, but be informed here that this is a free promotional/test program from us as a way of introducing our software services and also in promoting the benefit of the Internet usage."

4.20.5

testing goddammit.

4.20.5

i've got pictures running riot through my head. spent yesterday cleaning up & finessing watercolor scans, reducing and unsharp masking for mounting on note cards.

then went back through hi-res scans and photoshop creations to find, reduce, mess with resolution and color, and include in poetry book. up till now i had 72 dpi place holders.

both of these projects are returning to life. next step with note cards is to figure out what i want to design and say on back label. then assemble what is called make-ready in graphic arts, ie an rigid assembly which positions notecard and photoprint for permanent mounting.

you probably suspect that i write the above more for me than you. and you're right. now i have a faint glimmer of what to do next.

jeff w. from north myrtle beach phoned this morning, we're cranking up again on new life book. task here is to come up with least confusing way to incorporate corrections into mss. i'll email balaji in india and see if he uses PDF workflow which could save much to-and-froing from quark to acrobat.

but what about the world and it's problems?

i feel them but have nothing to say at this time about it. Intuitively i feel it might be better for us all if noone said anything about the delirium of current events.

if you checked this site and didn't see anything, i put a stop on a post this morning and i guess messed things up more than i expected, be right back.

4.18.5

from a photo i took awhile back at dr. r's place.

yesterday was different. instead of the usual "sunday bath" (wallace stevens), which in my case would have been the Friend's meeting at 10 and the Baba meeting at 4, i hung out and painted. setup outside in the backyard and worked on oil for class.

what i'm painting is a landscape from the botanical gardens down the road. we go to the same place each week and paint from life.

this is a real learning experience for me. for one thing my "portability" increases with each week as i figure out what i really need to take.

anyway the color green... hasn't worked for me yet. so saturday night i got books out and followed some recipes for green. and yesterday tried easing them into painting outside. hung out a little with young folks upstairs who introduced me to some kind of "golf" played with heavy frisbees.

it was that kind of day.

4,17,5

another one from old notebook. icon for the day but i never know what that means.

inner weather report. feel like i'm in a rut. can't start the day without pulling some picture out of air and usually just keep on working all day. as long as i don't have to go outside. which is especially weird because the outside is beautiful right now.

4.16.5

picture above from watercolor in progress. this version went pretty fast.

on my way to pharmacy and to get truck inspected.

i'm painting an oil for class and have really collided with the "green problem". (my own term - hope somebody goggles it.

more on the way. . .

{later} just stunningly beautiful and i haven't been outside. i've printed a hell of a lot of small watercolor prints though, and am working on a recipe from Color Mixing Van Wyk Way to figure out green.

4.15.5

grabbed the above ink drawing out of old sketchbook.

the word of the week is "peak", as in "peak oil". this stuff is scary.
Boing Boing: Peak oil article in Rolling Stone
"James Howard Kunstler's piece in Rolling Stone, called 'The Long Emergency,' argues that the US hit its peak decades ago."

moore's law is that every 2 years the number of transister's per area of integrated circuit (chip) will double. but... and i think this is a good sign, that may be over:
Techworld.com - Moore's Law is dead, says Gordon Moore
"Forty years after the publication of his law, which states that transistor density on integrated circuits doubles about every two years, Moore said this morning: 'It can't continue forever. The nature of exponentials is that you push them out and eventually disaster happens."

uh-oh. more scarry stuff:
BBC NEWS | Technology | Bogus blogs snare fresh victims
"Now it estimates that there could be more than 200 bogus blogs in existence that are being used to attack net users"

4.14.5

was just flipping through Mountain Xpress, asheville's ad drenched tabloid. on page 10, left hand page, there is an ad that says "strive not to drive." on the right hand page 11 there is an ad that says "think. feel. drive."

i seem to be drifting into working with photos again. grabbed this this morning and made it be what you see.

still trying to work out how to get pdf files from quark 5. i've done it before, but must be forgetting something. in desperate times desperate measures, so i got out the manual.

weather is beautiful this morning. saw hand doctor this am, it's cfm arthritis but doing ok.

i feel the need to make some reasonable commentary on the state of whatever, so here it is: i noticed on the noise machine the other night that they are selling some nostrum that is "virtually pain-free". something about this phrase sets off alarms that i can't quite make out.

is it because the extension of this could - & will in my opinion - become "virtually happy" or "virtually graceful"?

and virtually all for sale.

4.13.5

from a snapshot of travis, taken in my place before the earth cooled.

this was during the - gulp - sixties, the time i grew up, down and sideways.

all of us - and there are many - who were inhabitants of the chemical ghetto - and the mansion on the hill - during that time are past questioning what happened. whatever it was you won't find it in the mainstream press. or the alternative press. or radio, TV, etc.

don't know if it happens to every modern generation, but it is appalling to see your youth turned into a global cartoon.

this link contains pointers to a lot of sites with down to earth news about what is really - more or less - happening right now:
CamWorld: Thinking Outside the Box
"all of the various sites I visit on a regular basis to gather up-to-the-minute news and emerging memes. Below is a short list:"

4.11.5

old oil dry enough to scan.

due for dental appt. at 2. apprehensive.

i've spent about a day trying to get quark 5 poetry book into pdf format. done this lots in the past but the eternal present seems to have changed things. no go so far.

more words here later in the day.

more words later in the day

took a short nap after typing the above. raced to the dentist when i woke. gums are in worse shape than i realized. good dentist, good front office, in a few weeks i'll know whether to start shopping for some choppers - with an iPod built in.

continue ti wrestle withe pdf creation.

as far as the world beyond my nose:

4.10.5

backyard. doing a large version of this picture.son eli, melissa and lily's.

new wilber, readable:

Ken Wilber Online: Foreword to The Common Heart: An Experience of Inter-Religious Dialogue
"Studies in developmental psychology over the last few decades show that individuals tend to undergo an unmistakable trajectory of human growth and development, from pre-conventional stages to conventional stages to post-conventional, or from pre-rational to rational to trans-rational, or from egocentric to ethnocentric to worldcentric. Without pigeonholing anybody or any tradition"