One Down, Many to Go 2016-W29

Let me first say Gretchen Carlson isn't the impetus for the Banshee series I've been painting of late. But yes, she's been floating around the overflowing pool of potential subjects — those generally blonde females who comprise the blathering talent at Fox News. Prior to last week, I'd still be laughing now if you'd told me that Gretchen would soon earn my grudging respect.

But she has done. She must have known that to come forward with her accusations against the powerful predator Roger Ailes, she consequently would have to prove her case and at the same time fight back attacks on her character and her reasons for doing so. Because that is often the way it plays out in America when women accuse men of sexual misconduct in the workplace. I don't know if I like much else about Gretchen Carlson, but I admire her courage. Best of luck to her as she presses her case.

Which brings me to the other player in this drama and to another series I painted circa 2011: the Faces of Evil. For this series, I selected (evil) people of whom I was aware but (it turns out) the public at large were not. Sure, they knew Dick Cheney and maybe one or two others, but nobody ever correctly guessed FoE #4... Roger Ailes. I suspect that after the events of this week, they might do better — at least in the short term.

Time will tell if Ms. Carlson prevails in her legal actions against Mr. Ailes et al, but we didn't have to wait long to see Roger's fall from the top of the Fox News mountain. What all this means for America remains to be seen, yet one can hardly imagine it could be anything besides a change for the better.

The other Faces of Evil can be seen in a special section of my online gallery. As for Roger Ailes, who knows what he might do or where he might be seen next? (Probably in courtroom sketches.) With that said, if ever they decide to remake The Maltese Falcon, I urge the producers to consider Mr. Ailes to take on the role of the despicable Kasper Gutman...  "the Fat Man". I smell Oscar.

Faces of Evil:  Roger Ailes

Too Much Time 2016-W26

I've been off work for the past two weeks, but don't ask me what I've been up to because the answer is: besides gardening, not much.

I don't know if a universal truth underlies this experience, but in my experience too much time inhibits progress. To wit, I have found that when I have all the time in the world to do something I often end up doing nothing. Or at least I will procrastinate until suddenly there is only just enough time to get done whatever it was needed doing.

Three loads of laundered and line-dried clothes sit in my dining room awaiting folding... but I can do that later. While I watch TV. Or tomorrow. Because it might rain and can't do much gardening when things are wet. And so on and so forth. Now it is a week later and the clothes are still very tidily awaiting the overdue fold-n-stow process. In my defense, I haven't yet worn anything I've peeled directly off the folding queue, except for some sweatpants (it got very chilly here the past two days) and besides they were already folded and on top, ready for the drawer.

In this same vein, I have been procrastinating writing this blog post for a few weeks now. To get started, I figured I would need some synonyms for "procrastinate" and there are some good ones: Delay. Loiter. Putter. Fritter. Trifle & Dabble. And my favorite: Loaf. I don't mind plenty of the latter after a good productive day. Occasionally however, I make Loafing the primary output of my day's efforts. To paraphrase an old didactic aphorism, any job worth not doing is worth not doing well.

I have been diligent about keeping after all the pent up yardwork and some re-work while I'm at it. In fact I thought I'd take some pictures and use the "art" of my garden as fodder for the post. Sadly, when I signed in I see that I have already did that last post.

Which brings me to the painting I want to show you today but which I did a few weeks back now. It continues the Banshee series and I really like a lot of things about it. Seasoned painters can often look back and identify breakthroughs in their artistry or technique and I don't want to be premature or pompous but I do feel like the last few entries in the Banshee series have been a breakthrough for me, artistically. I need to say "enough" with the garden and get back to painting. And folding laundry and whatever else has "gotten sidetracked" (another good, passive synonym for procrastinate — thanks Z).

In closing, let me note that Banshees are female figures in Celtic mythology and so all to date have been women. But I fear that gives the impression of misogyny so the next marcher in my parade of banshees will be male. In fact, the painting is ready to get started on. If only I would stop procrastinating...

Banshee X

You Can Only Win Battles 2016-W23

A year ago this time, I undertook a career reinvigorating learning experience that consumed every spare waking hour from June through October. I was either working, doing school work, or taking the train home to sleep. Then back the next day and that's it, those four things. No weekends... those got devoted to schoolwork. Ah well, I'm better for it (I think).

Which brings us to today, where in the war of Back Yard vs Mother Nature, my forces have been slowly reclaiming territory that got overtaken during the Lost Summer of 2015. Technically, the "lost" time extended well into the fall so garden cleanup chores went undone as well. To understate, Spring 2016 found me with a lot of yard and garden work to do.

Humans have proven themselves more than capable of thriving and expanding the reach of their territory, and the garden has many similar species: lemon balm, rose of Sharon (which I just learned is the national flower of South Korea), vinca — and my arch nemesis, the white poplar. All are prolific, some spreading by seed and one, the heinous poplar, by sending up baby trees from points along its massive root system.

Each tree-let has to be dug out by hand, some go quietly and others really fight to the death. As the process requires a lot of jumping onto a shovel to drive it through a gnarly root, I can only manage so many in a day. But this year, I unleashed a secret weapon: the Hofer. My new neighbor wanted to pitch in with the yard work and took to the poplar task with zeal...  as I knew and he discovered, it is oh so satisfying when each moment of triumph arrives and another (former) young poplar joins the pile of uprooted wannabes awaiting disposal.

When you combine his youthful zeal and his many-pound weight advantage over me, the Hofer is a poplar slaying machine. In two days he cleared away the mini-forest, a task that this year would have taken me at least a week. And his partner proved herself quite adept at uprooting the hundreds of miniature rose of Sharon saplings that filled most of the available space between the dozen roses in my rose bed.

In the meantime I focused on clearing out and rejuvenating the herb border and I think once I plant some new thyme and lavender we can call it done. And I would already have done that except for the RAIN. All our yards are flush with green. Anything that was already in the ground has been flourishing because of all the RAIN. But unfortunately, you cannot till or plant in wet earth and because it has RAINed every other day, it has been a challenge getting things planted or transplanted.

But we press on. The goal this year is to plant out about a third of the beds and then renovate the remainder. After a couple of decades, this seems overdue. Just as I've transitioned life stages, so must the garden! I need it to be more self driving so I can better tend what needs tending. And at the same time make it even more hospitable for the birds, bees, and butterflies that visit us in droves. I haven't seen the rabbit yet this year —I hope the feral cats that pester our neighborhood haven't killed the poor thing. I wonder if I can plant anything to kill the cats?

For those who wonder (which may only be me), I didn't see Old Red in bloom this year but I did find his leaves so let's hope he'll be back next spring for his 23rd appearance. In what, fingers crossed, are somewhat more attractive and well-planted surroundings. When and if he does pop up, Old Red will see me hard at work... in the war with Mother Nature, you have to win every battle you can even though we know she ultimately wins the war.

Spring flower studies

Since I las posted, the Salon deWinchester gathered a couple times to paint and I used the opportunity to be inspired by spring and to experiment with some new paints and stuff.

The wee tulip study I made using watercolor markers, which I think is the new "thing". I learned I wouldn't use them for a full work, but they'll be great for adding linear elements. Which is something I've wanted to explore... along with a dozen other things.

Moving on, the more vivid (lurid?) study is made with paints that use polymer binders instead of the traditional gum arabic. Thanks, NASA! Don't know if I am a fan but these paints sure pack a lot of punch I will say. A little goes a long way.

I will wrap with a tease... I have a great new banshee painting that I'll publish next week together with a more thoughtful, less anecdotal posting to accompany it.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy both of today's studies as well as the splendid (albeit soggy) June weather. Since it RAINed overnight, no planting today. Instead, I'm off for coffee with some 2015 school chums. See you soon!

Aforementioned Herb Border, Post-Rejuvenation.
Visible are Thymes, Sage, Lavender, Tarragon, Savory, assorted Mints and Marjoram, Chives,
plus Sweet Alyssum and Cosmos for a bit of flowery color; Lemon Balm, Oregano
and Rosemary are hidden from view.

Conceit 2016-W17

Perhaps based on interpretations from the Bible, or perhaps merely arrogance, some humans harbor a conceit that we are the only "animal" that can feel or express certain emotions — human emotions, if you will. Many other humans know better; further proof was delivered by a moving episode of PBS program Nature, where we see a number of reunions between animal orphans and their carers.

The reunions happen after the animals have transitioned to partly or fully lived lives in the wild. We aren't so surprised by the gorilla... after all, they're primates as are we. As it happened, the gorilla seems rather "matey" and waved his horde of wives in to meet his old friend and carer. More surprising were the elephants. And the man who raises elephant orphans, whose devotion inspires. In this reunion, we see not one but two excited young elephant ladies and a bit of a girl fight over their long unseen carer.

Very surprising to me was the cheetah. Long story short, she allowed a human to be near her litter of cubs. And even let them clamber and explore her human friend as he lay back. Whatever emotion she felt toward him is nothing we can fathom — we aren't cheetahs. But what is clear and incredible: her emotional bond with the human put her at ease in a situation where she by nature would be her most vigilant and dangerous self.

Lastly the chimpanzees, and as with gorillas we expect them to act like us. They practically are us, after all. While those reunions unfold as expected, the stunning surprise here arose from a different situation. As she was caged, being transported for release to the wild, a chimp was comforted by a woman the chimp had never met, and only knew for the hour or so that the boat ride endured. Ashore and released from the cage, the chimp explored this new space and then leapt atop the cage, near the woman who gave her comfort. And then the chimp hugged this woman so tenderly. A virtual stranger who made an immediate emotional impact on this animal.

We can never know exactly what this chimpanzee was thinking or feeling. We can't say what message she meant to convey to her source of comfort. But we can say that what the chimp felt was the equal of any of our more lofty human emotions. Maybe "human emotion" should be retired as a meaningless phrase.

I'll tackle another meaningless phrase in the next post. Meanwhile, here's a recent abstract study. I think at the time I gave it a jokey name like Square Planets in a Warm Galaxy but I withdraw that. I enjoyed deciding which side was up... see if you agree!

Abstract Study

That's More Like It 2016-W15

Last week/last blog I stopped painting at a point where I liked what I had about as much as I thought I could like that particular painting at all. And I liked it well enough but in short order I decided to do it again this week and I'm much more satisfied.

As I started to write the blog, my 20-month old neighbor let rip with quite the volley of noes before launching a level four wailer of a meltdown — not sweet, but it was short — and after it ended I again felt satisfied. (She's moving soon and I'll miss seeing her toddle around in the back yard. Good luck, little lady!)

In the week between versions of the ninth banshee, I had two lunches. Each with a former workmate who's now a friend. Always nice seeing them, and even more so this week as I shared how much I enjoy doing the work I'm doing now. That was satisfying.

It sure is nice to be back on the sunny side of the street. I'm looking forward to the coming week. Hope yours is a good one, and enjoy (or don't) today's painting!

Substantive Variation on Banshee IX

Damn Right, Linda! 2016-W13

Recently I was YouTube surfing one evening — as you do — and I can't recollect if the all knowing Google recommended this video, or did I just stumble acrost it? Never matter, the point is I watched it all the same. So what was it?  Near as I can tell, it's an hour of raw footage of living legend Linda Ronstadt being interviewed for TV circa 2012. If you don't know who she is, GET OUT NOW.

Along with the heartbreaking news that, due to her Parkinson's she no longer can sing, I also learned that she is a voracious reader and (I think) has a very good head on her shoulders. But that isn't why I landed on her as today's topic.

More than once in her interview, she said emphatically that everyone should sing. Brilliant artists — and she named several but excluded herself, even though she dropped 8 straight platinum albums, boom — brilliant artists exist to inspire the rest of us. And we enjoy their great talent but that should never stop us from making our own music as best we can.

I sing not so great. Fortunately, as long as my youngest brother is nearby I have plenty of scope to avoid being dubbed "worst singer present". (If not "ever".) And the same goes for painting. I have previously written posts on my painting motto, which is: keep up the bad work!  If you do, eventually you make one that's pretty good. So very satisfying when that happens.

Still, even the bad ones have their charms. After all, I'm the only one who could have created them. I was startled to hear that Linda rarely listens to her own music, because each recording is a static snapshot of art that she feels evolves each time it is performed. She hears all the flaws in her recording of Blue Bayou, which I think most other music lovers would call a triumph. Even baseball fans recognized its genius: "Linda Rondstadt" is now synonymous for a fastball. Because, you know, it "blew by you". Har har.

We all of us should pay heed to Linda's admonitions and keep singing, or dancing, or painting, or whatever it is that you're not world-famous for. Life is too short to worry about how it will be received by others; what's important is that you put it out there.  As for Linda not loving Blue Bayou, well that's just Crazy — which is my favorite of her many brilliant solo recordings even though it was only the B side on the single. Go figure.

Today's subject is a hate monger but ineffectual so I decided to not name her and deny her that empowerment; she isn't nearly as pretty as the painting. I had planned to take today's painting a bit further but stopped here because it felt right. I don't know if I'd call it A-side material, but even if it's a B side I like it and I hope you enjoy it too.

Banshee IX

More Respect for Mother Hubbard 2016-W11

Children are precious, and to budding artists each new work is fairly literally their baby. And you could never give away or sell one of your babies, right?! Look — but don't touch.

As time goes on and your inventory mounts, it becomes easier to send artworks off to live the larger world. And sadly, now some of them are... forgotten. Surprising when you run across them again. "Oh yes, I remember you" and such is the case with today's painting. Which I guess will be Olive IV. This temporarily forgotten painting just had its first birthday a couple weeks back. Poor thing.

I'm writing I wrote this first part a few days ago on Saturday, fresh from the big Trump rally brouhaha in our fair city, and just ahead of our primary vote. I'll pick up the thread on Wednesday after the results are known and the pundits have re-predicted what comes next. But before I wrap part 1, I will say to the many protesters who also were freely expressing their own First Amendment rights Friday night, and except for the violent bits: good on ya, lads. And ya lady lads.

[Montage where four pages tear off the daily calendar...]  Or maybe 7 pages...

So it turns out I abandoned the thread until today, Saturday, whereas our Illinois primary went off without much of a hitch and not too many surprises. Other than we had some wicked winds that delayed some suburban workers from getting home in time to vote. That force majeure is a real bitch.

As MegaTuesday and its nuances have now percolated through the system, things appear to have sorted themselves. But I wouldn't say they have settled themselves. I expect much drama in the weeks and months ahead — even though I think that as far as November is concerned, the die is cast.

Sadly, we still have nearly 337,000 minutes of air time for talking heads and campaign ads to fill. Egad. Fortunately for me, I can just turn off the TV and paint. I hope you enjoy Olive IV, and ya'll come back!

Olive IV

I Blame Daylight Savings Time 2016-W10

Not really tho. I somehow tricked myself into thinking I had posted for week 9, but facts say otherwise. And amen anyway. I can relax about posting "every week" this year and enjoy life a skosh more. Plus it also led me to new insights about the word "skosh".

But back to D.S.T. and why does it spawn such a blizzard of (the same) articles year in and year out? What haven't we already heard / learned / accepted / rejected?  Still, as with all media now there are pages and minutes — and blog spaces — that need afillin'. Not my blog of course, now that I'm even more relaxed about keeping to a metronomic beat of paint & post.

My muse today I don't think can be identified from the painting, unless maybe you're a super-recognizer. I had a couple references and chose today's source as the more recognizable of the two. How ironical. I'll belay the reveal until after I make the other painting, but I will hint... not Buffy. I don't know if I would call it a painting or a study, but I have enjoyed its cartoon look.

I'll tell more of her story and mine when next we see her. Which I hope will be sooner than later. Meanwhile, thanks for stopping by, and enjoy!

Banshee VIII

Just in the Nick 2016-W08

Here on the last day of week 8, I managed to whip up a new work and get the blog posted with about five hours to spare. Booyah!  I craved a distraction from my grand work-in-progress — grand as in "large" — and this morning I saw today's subject for the second time.

Banshee VII (Robin Roy) is a rapt Trumpette, showing here a mix of ecstasy by and astonishment at the momentary touch of attention from himself the Donald. It's a wonder she didn't faint, and did she wail? I also wonder, does she number herself one of the 20% of Trumpians who believe Lincoln ought not to have freed the slaves? (Wow)

She is but one indicator that we live today in very interesting times, exposed to views that you could never imagine anyone could hold. In closing, if the Donald touched me I would have a very different reaction that he would not enjoy. With that said, you please enjoy today's latest banshee.

Banshee VII

Blah Humbug 2016-W07

Hi all. A bit of a ramble today, but at least it's a short form!

Don't quote me, but I seem to recall a weathercaster pointed out that the rate of increase in day length accelerates around mid-February. I know I've been waking up earlier, and these days night doesn't fall until sometime around 5:30 (even though my living room lights still come on at 4:30). We got tame little snowfall beginning yesterday afternoon, which should melt off in a day or two as our temperatures climb.

I'd say Spring is trying to spring forth.

Which is backed up by recent groundhog observations. Normally I feel like if I make it to Valentines Day, then I've won another round of David vs Winter. Consequently I should be a little more chipper lately but I can't seem to muster enthusiasm. I'm having a case of the blahs.

Only this weekend did I finally get back to my painting work-in-progress, and I didn't accomplish much. I can lay 20% of the blame on the terrible paper... it doesn't behave well when it gets very wet, which is fairly unavoidable when laying down a wash. Paint a little, wait a lot.

But mostly I think I feel paralyzed by a myriad of things competing for my attention.

Last week I unconsciously opted to ignore them all rather than pick something and move it forward. Not that I didn't have good intentions. Never short of those, and now that I think of it, I did accomplish some goals on the health and wellness frontier. I've gotten back to my workout regimen after nearly 9 months and definitely feel the benefits already. But on the whole, I squandered a lot of February so far.

So, once again, I begin a week with good intentions: trying to clear chores off my to-do list and working more earnestly on my job search. My hope is that the outcome will be like quitting smoking. Difficult, but every time you make a try, your odds for success increase. Wish me luck!

Super Borewl 2016-W06

Other than the nominally surprising (to me) outcome of Superbowl 50, the whole show left me wishing I'd opted instead to work on my in-progress painting. Or mop floors. Anything. Some people enjoy defense vs defense matches, though I imagine they are the minority. Along with the game itself, the sides were just as lackluster. Unimaginative (or creepy) commercials, blase halftime show. Snore. If nothing else, I guess the game did demonstrate that you can win a Superbowl without a quarterback.

As the hoopla slowly unfolded yesterday, I thought back to when the whole shebang was a lot less gaudy. Superbowl 1 is a vague memory; I only remember that my grandfather passed away 3 days later. Superbowl 2 day is clearer in my mind. My brother and I got dropped at the local theater to occupy us during game time, so we watched Doctor Doolittle and whatever else rounded out the double feature.

So I missed SB 1 & 2 — which is fine since Green Bay won both (boo hiss) — but who could forget Joe Namath in Superbowl 3? Which by the way was the first actual "Superbowl", the first two just being titled "AFL-NFL Championship Game". Since then, my relationship with the big game runs hot and cold. Occasionally I skip altogether and most years I head for home as soon as the halftime show begins.

Anyway, enough of me stalling by way of reminiscing... I had to dig back in the vault for a previously unseen painting, since there was no progress on the work-in-progress. My hope is to finish that painting by next week's post so that, unlike last night's SuperBore, it doesn't seem to drag on foreeeeever. Our subject today is an Old English breed rooster, which I named after another old English rooster. Enjoy!

The Duke of Edinburgh   (2010)

Get'ur Done — Within Reason 2016-W05

This week I elected to tackle a more involved painting and so I started but didn't finish. As expected. Here's a little teaser of the underpainting/highlights. There's a lot of fiddly bits in the area that still shows paper white, which informs on how I decided to call it a day.

Yet I am pleased to say that I did work on it both days this weekend. Though I haven't formed my 2016 resolutions yet, I plan to include "FINISH" as one of the points.

I'm excellent at starting and I often have the discipline to finish, but sometimes not — especially when it comes to artworks. So this year I am hoping to circle around to assorted artworks-in-progress and see about dragging them across the finish line.

I guess that's just enough words to qualify for this week's blog post. As for the teaser painting, I'd like to finish it up this weekend in time to post for Week 06:  (a) to get it done and (b) because I hate this paper and want to get one step closer to never using or buying it again!

And while I will be making good faith efforts to finish the painting, I'll also be keeping in mind another piece of old-fashioned wisdom:  Haste makes Waste...

Prime for a Study 2016-W04

For the first time in a long time, I got the post ready by 2pm on Saturday. When I realized: still week 3. To keep things tidy I've set it to post for your Sunday breakfast as the sun rises on week 4. Let's see if I can compete with the New York Times for clicks.

I want to call today's painting a study, but then I thought every painting is a study and vice versa. It was a learning day, about a new type of watercolor paint that uses some space-age polymer for a binder. I can't say how I find the new paints different, but suspect maybe they aren't best for portraits. Time will tell.

Besides the new paints, we also have a 'study in red yellow & blue', which can be tricky. I think that part went okay tho. If the subject's identity is eluding you, I'll offer a hint: Our banshee today is only just emerging, so her hair hasn't yet turned its customary ashy brown to match her brows. And whatever else...

Surprise, it's Carly! I don't think many people pay attention to her so we probably won't get to enjoy her antics much longer (darn it). Who but she could surround herself with adorable puppies and still come off creepy? Not many, I tell ya.

Enjoy the study and come back next week — I'm attempting something adorable. But for now I'm just off to take a painterly nap.

Banshee VI

More like W03.5? 2016-W03

My only excuse for being late with this week's posting is that I spent the weekend in Maine with that half of my family, and it was fantastic! This week's painting dates back to sometime last April or May, and with this week's post I have exhausted my small stash of backup paintings. Consequently, you can most definitely look forward to a freshly painted work on the week 04 posting. Hurrah! Meanwhile, a few brief thoughts about this week's painting:

I include her in the Banshee series (even though the figure is fully corporealized) because she fits in the spirit of the series... people who talk a lot but without something worthwhile to say. (Though I do applaud the ever-angry Ms Tantaros for defying Fox News' blonde manifesto.)

As depicted here, she would make a fine and fitting figurehead for the hypothetical S.S. Banshee — if ever all these horrible people gather on one ship. God bless her and all who sail upon her...

(Corporealized) Banshee V

Back in the Saddle, Again 2016-W02

I painted this weekend, only the 2nd time in a long spell. It was comforting to spend time with an old friend. Even though I tried a thing that I later regretted, it felt great to be painting. While I was cleaning house, all kinds of thoughts popped into my head about what to write in the blog, but now all escape me entirely. <emoticon for mind-blank>

What I painted was a banshee emerging from a miasma, as one does. Already crazed and ashriek. I love a hard worker! In my original concept, she had green octopus arms of her demon self that would be withdrawing into her new corporealization... but I decided less green was more. I have been enjoying looking at this painting and I hope you will too.

Banshee IV

The Commisioner 2016-W01

New year, clean slate. With this post, I'm batting 1000 on posting every week in 2016. We shall see if I can maintain a perfect record, as I have done in years past. Let's get started!

When I was a lad, I loved watching the iconic Batman (as portrayed by Adam West) with my dad. And sure, it would be nice to live in stately Wayne Manor, but I always thought Commissioner Gordon held the job worth having. He had nice suits and a pretty fancy office, and yet his job seemed to consist mostly of pushing the button on the bat phone and clucking at/with Police Chief O'Hara. I bet that do-nothing job comes with a pretty sweet paycheck attached, and what a title: The Commissioner. No further information available... or needed, evidently.

Speaking of commissions, I don't actively seek painting commissions but I generally accept them when asked. A work colleague faced with the task of getting a nifty gift for his first wedding anniversary, the dreaded "paper", adroitly noticed that most watercolors are painted on paper and thus would be suitable.

Oddly, when I accepted the commission I expected to be painting the happy couple. Portraits are mostly what I do and show. When the reference photo hit my inbox, surprise! Basically a landscape, backlit and some other art challenges. But what good is an artistic license if you don't wield it as needed? So after a consult with the client, I got to painting.

The result was a little tighter than I would wish. It seems that "commission nerves" still can inhibit me somewhat, but in the end we got a good result. The image coincides roughly with the time of a certain question popping, and of course we know how she answered. I'm told that on receipt of the gift, the bride cried... so mission accomplished! Please join me in wishing them many happy anniversaries to come, and thank you for stopping by.

As One