Seeing Inward
There is no one definitive creative path. There are many ways to be creative – not only intuitive ways but organized, logical ways, too. – Theresa Bayer
Seeing inward - the path to creativity
I change many things, discard others, and try again and again until I am satisfied. Then, in my head, I begin to elaborate the work in its breadth, its narrowness, its height, its depth… I hear and see the image in front of me from every angle, as if it had been cast, and only the labour of writing it down remains. – Ludwig van Beethoven
Observing Art for the Near Future
The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness. It is not like a drug; it is a particular state when everything happens very quickly, a mixture of consciousness and unconsciousness, of fear and pleasure; it’s a little like making love, the physical act of love. – Francis Bacon
Keeping the spirit of creativity alive, finding color everywhere
Creativity is a lifestyle, and ideas are the product and lifeblood of that lifestyle. – Miles G. Batt
Portrait of a Friend
memories of a friend
holds my life in place…
A friend for life and in the afterlife
My Cats: Little Baby and Thai-G – Inspiration for Art
God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things. – Pablo Picasso
Little Baby and Thai-G in the studio
“One must love a cat on its own terms.”- Paul Gray
From “The Encyclopedia Britannica”. All cats are members of the family Felidea. Interestingly enough, the cat family split from the other mammals at least 40,000,000 years ago, making them one of the oldest mammalian families. All cats share certain characteristics that are unique to the cat family. Cats are pure carnivores. They need a high level of protein in their diets – around 30% – and lack the digestive equipment to do well on a diet of grains, fruits or vegetables. In fact, if you were to design a creature to live from hunting mammals you would have trouble doing better than the design of the cat. If you know cats at all, you know that they have powerful jaws, long, sharp teeth, and claws that draw back into their paws when not in use. Cats hear extremely well. Their eyes are adapted for vision in dim light for hunting just before dawn and just after dusk, the prime hunting periods.
My Cats: Little Baby and Thai-G
“I have studied many philosophers and many cats. The wisdom of cats is
infinitely superior.” – Hippolyte Taine
Little Baby and Thai-G chillin
“In a cat’s eye, all things belong to cats.” – English proverb
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.” – Albert Schweitzer
I’m only a cat,
and I stay in my place…
Up there on your chair,
on your bed or your face!
I’m only a cat,
and I don’t finick much…
I’m happy with cream
and anchovies and such!
I’m only a cat,
and we’ll get along fine…
As long as you know
I’m not yours… you’re all mine!
Author Unknown
Yet Another Change … A New Look 02
After some thought, and a critique from a fellow artist, who I respect highly, I came to the conclusion that I would move the look of my art blog, via the background design, to its most simplistic. Therefore, more attention is given to the writing and imagery without the possible background distraction. I seem to always like a lot of things happening in my art and its presentation, and have to at times remind myself to find the ambient space that allows for more contemplation.
Below is the art I selected for this change. The piece is from my Silence Series, and is entitled Silence 04.
Silence 04
A Thought About Meditation from Domo Geshe Rinpoche
meditation for love
Time for a Change and a New Look for the Blog….
In celebration of my 150th post since I began blogging in December 2010, I have decided to change my background and header image. The previous set was more organic in its composition. This time around I wanted to create a more geometric feeling, lighten the look, and add simplicity to the theme. Sometimes it is hard to make a change, but I am sure I will learn to love the new look.
To all my friends and blogging buddies, I hope you like the changes. Tell me what you think.
Below is the new look…however you will find that I have changed this look as well…Oh what the future brings.
But please be kind 🙂
Flower background
Weekly Photo Challenge: Opportunity 03
Over the years, I have been awarded several artist’s fellowships for interdisciplinary pursuits. In 2004, I was awarded my second artist residency. It was with the South Carolina State Parks’ artist residency program. It was an opportunity that I truly looked forward to participating in. I was commissioned to showcase the lovely character of Barnwell State Park, located in the midlands of SC, in exchange for a week’s stay in one of their cabins. Barnwell is a natural resource park, quiet and remote, while featuring a beautiful lake for fishing and canoeing. The solitude of the landscape was fantastic and it provided great inspiration for the project.
In the photo I am standing with one of two images I completed for the project. The finished work is included in the South Carolina State Park Artist Collection.
Barnwell State Park, South Carolina
Weekly Photo Challenge: Opportunity 02
I took this photo during a 1993 lecture and art exhibit of my latest work at Atlantic Community College in Mays Landing, NJ. The lecture was a demonstration of various digital processing elements for the creation of digital art and video art. It was a great opportunity to talk with the students and introduce them to digital art. In 1993 digital art was just beginning to grow as a valid artist medium to many, and I was happy to share my knowledge, take questions, and inspire these would-be artists.
In the photo a Commodore Amiga 1000 computer, Super Gen video mixer, and a Panasonic camera for scanning photographs. Yes, times have changed, and now artists have access to more sophisticated hardware and software.
Artist lecture at Atlantic Community College 1993
Weekly Photo Challenge: Opportunity
This photo goes back to 1990 and the Highwire Gallery’s visit to Deventer, Holland. It was part of an exchange with the artist group of Deventer. We were exhibiting new work in their gallery and staying the summer. While cruising through the small, quaint, artist town, I happened to come across a small shop that had a poster of our exhibit in the window. The poster is just to the left of the woman standing in the doorway. Throughout the town, residents and shop owners, displayed posters announcing the upcoming exhibit. Going to the Netherlands via this exchange of artists and ideas, was a fantastic opportunity, and one I will never forget.
The poster in the window, Deventer Holland
30-Day Song Challenge: Day 20 – Asks the question, what artist best captures the essence of ambient meditation for the creation of art?
Taylor Deupree
Taylor Deupree – Rusted Oak – From the CD Shoals
Taylor Deupree – Landing – From the CD Landing
Human Mesh Dance (Taylor Deupree) – Sunken Garden
Taylor Deupree performs
Taylor Deupree (born April 30, 1971), is an American electronic musician, photographer and graphic designer. He is most known for the founding of the 12k record label, along with his work as a member of Prototype 909, his solo project as Human Mesh Dance, and his collaborations with Savvas Ysatis and Christopher Willits. In 2008, Taylor Deupree was the Président d’Honneur of the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards 5th in Paris (France).
Today while working on my latest post in “The City Series” (Urban Contemplation 07: On Either Side of that Open Door it’s the Same), I found myself listening to the deeper reflective elements of my music collection—“A Dancing Beggar, Ai Yamamoto, Lawrence English and the featured artist for this challenge Taylor Deupree. Taylor is one of my favorite ambient artist. For me his music slowly evolves and creates a suspended sense of kinetic dynamics that holds the mind still while producing a beautiful landscape for creativity.
What do you think? Although the music may be challenging for any who are unfamiliar with the genre, does it resonate with you as a possible source of creative inspiration for the production of prose and / or art?
Urban Contemplation 07: On Either Side of that Door It’s the Same
The city series….
Towards the open door….
caught in between
feeling things folding inward
there i stand
seeing things unknown
a future with no past
a past with no ending…
caught in between
magic and lost
a guiding light
a promised home
and there i stand…
with my intangible destiny
at the crossroad of life
before…
the uncertain door….
Featured video for this post … the artist “A Dancing Beggar” and the song “Returning” from the CD “Follow the Dark as if it Were Light”.
On either side of that door it's the same
The ambiguities of life are like the opening of a door. We never know for sure what we will discover on the other side.
But one thing is certain… on either side of that door it’s the same…there’s memory and hope.
What are your thoughts? When you arrive at that “uncertain door” what is your reaction? What is your hope?
Urban Contemplation: 06 – Dreams that Never Breach the Walls of Sleep
The city series….
Dreams that never breach the walls of sleep….
Urban decay a place of broken dreams
The dreams that search for the freedom from sleep….
30-Day Song Challenge: Day 19 – Asks the question what musician best captures the essence of digital music?
30-Day Song Challenge: Day 19 – Asks the question what musician best captures the essence of digital music?
The Music of Ryoji Ikeda
Ryoji Ikeda - NODE Festival
Ryoji Ikeda – Data. Matrix – Live at Sonair 2010
Ryoji Ikeda – THE TRANSFINITE at Park Avenue Armory, New York City
“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” ~ John Cage
I have always had a love for electronic music since the mid 1970’s. This fascination originated with the sounds of analog space music by such artists as Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream. Over the years the evolution of electronic music has been quite innovative and exploratory, while simultaneously producing various styles, and sub-genres. I purposely have sought out, over the years, the artists that were on the edge of the new technology–believing in, and embracing the influence–as a source for my own artistic creativity.
The transition to digital technology has opened the door to a multitude of creative possibilities for musicians and visual artists.
Ryoji Ikeda, my featured artist, is an experimental musician who utilizes a multitude of sound sources to create strange but beautiful musical soundscapes.
Ryoji Ikeda (born 1966 in Gifu, Japan) is a Japanese sound artist who lives and works in Paris. Ikeda’s music is concerned primarily with sound in a variety of “raw” states, such as sine tones and noise, often using frequencies at the edges of the range of human hearing. The conclusion of his album +/- features just such a tone; of it, Ikeda says “a high frequency sound is used that the listener becomes aware of only upon its disappearance” (from the CD booklet). Rhythmically, Ikeda’s music is highly imaginative, exploiting beat patterns and, at times, using a variety of discrete tones and noise to create the semblance of a drum machine. His work also encroaches on the world of ambient music; many tracks on his albums are concerned with slowly evolving soundscapes, with little or no sense of pulse.
“If there were one style of music I wish I had the ability to produce it would be the music of Ryoji Ikeda” – Walter Smith
Ryoji Ikeda – Barbican 2011
Ryoji Ikeda – “Per Se”
Ryoji Ikeda - datatron-8k-enhan
Weekly Photo Challenge: Possibility 01
This is a very interesting challenge. The idea of conveying a possibility of something ultimately means it must change in one way or another. To find a representation of this theme, in a visual sense—is a challenge within itself, and presents many “possibilities” as well. As a visual artist, my first instinct is to explore how either my process as an artist creates various possibilities or how a “finished” piece often comes with many choices as to which one will be the final piece.
First up, the possibilities found in “A Work In Progress”.
When producing a “work in progress”, the objective is to explore various effects and allow the intuitive process to govern my decision-making. Within the parameters of this intuitive process is form, color, design and progression. In the slideshow below are only a few samples of the various “possibilities.”
Stop by my previous post: “It Only Takes a Moment to See the Things You Left Behind” to see the final result of this work in progress.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Possibility 02
The Weekly Photo Challenge: Possibility is again, a fascinating question from an artist’s point of view. In my previous post I reflected on the various possibilities innate to the “work in progress” as the image moves towards a final piece. In this post I am examining the different choices or possibilities one has to consider when deciding which piece conveys as an end result, the best concept and design.
To Illustrate this I have chosen a post created earlier in the year entitled: “The Narrow Way: Choosing a Path”.
Below are four examples of the final piece. Each image explores a different visual sensibility. In coming to a conclusion of which image I would use for the post, I took in consideration the design, what part of the image I wanted to emphasize, and what image intuitively drew me to it.
To find out what image became the final piece for the post, click on the link below and enjoy “The Narrow Way: Choosing a Path”.
The narrow way: choosing a path
The narrow way: choosing a path
The narrow way: choosing a path
The narrow way: choosing a path
What do you think? What image resonates best with you? How do you finalize the possibility found in a diverse choice?
It Only Takes a Moment to See the Things You Left Behind
Leave things to find happiness….
“Whatever you are feeling, leave it with the senses. Move from the senses to the mind. Then leave the mind. Go backward, not forward, go inward, not outward”. – Swami Parmanandji Maharaj
Leave the world with awareness
It Only Takes a Moment to Leave this Place
Contemplating the very thing that exist outside the corner of my eye….
There is no need to become free, for we are free already
It Only Takes a Moment to Find the Center
It only takes a moment to know that you always Exist….
Find the center of Awareness….
"Seeing nothing" is also an experience in which we can know we are present
It Only Takes a Moment
It only takes a moment to go beyond the noise…
Your experiences happen in you ... not in the world
30-Day Song Challenge: Day 18 – a song you hear often on the radio (Itunes – M2 live from Paris)
30-Day Song Challenge: Day 18 – Asks the question what is a song that you hear often on the radio?
Stephane Pompougnac – remixes
Hotel Costes vol 1 mixed by Stephane Pompougnac
http://youtu.be/bIyc2as7h_k – Ghosts & Roses
http://youtu.be/1D70kcZvgZc – Union Square
http://youtu.be/_hqhq37ifeo – Summer in Paris
http://youtu.be/HiB_ns4lmMU – Amour
http://youtu.be/IC5kuwgFOls – Champs Elysees
http://youtu.be/ntM59FkTpME – One Night in Rio
http://youtu.be/xB3XbZ4nk50 – Zwing Ting – The Streamers – mixed by Stephane Pompougnac
Here are seven songs that I am sure have had heavy play in Paris, France. Stephane Pompougnac is the resident DJ at the famous Hotel Costes. For the last decade he has been mixing an incredible diverse sound of trip-hop, bossa nova, chill, house, and hip-hop for the Hotel Costes series. The groove is there and the beat flows. I highly recommend checking out this series as well as the Buddha Bar series. The Buddha Bar is another restaurant bar club in Paris, that is frequented by stars and the like and is hosted by different DJ’s. My favorite Buddha Bar mixer is DJ Ravin. Stayed tuned for a look at the playlist of the Buddha Bar series as well.
Hotel Costes vol 5 mixed by Stephane Pompougnac
Weekly Photo Challenge: Sunset 02
A creative moment on a bench during a slow sunset over time. It is a beautiful evening at Lake Greenwood in South Carolina. The shadows are long as the sun sets through the trees.
Sun setting at Lake Greenwood, SC
Weekly Photo Challenge: Sunset
Meditation while witnessing a beautiful sunrise at Kure Beach in North Carolina. (If you don’t have a sunset shot, a sunrise is the next best thing).
Sunrise at Kure Beach, North Carolina
n e w d i g i t a l s c a p e s 