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Archive for August, 2020

Hard Work!

Posted in Event, Quote, tagged , , , on August 20, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

― Beverly Sills

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I guess Beverly Sills is right but this is a lot more work than I thought it would be.

I am talking about getting ready for the Virtual Gallery Talk I am giving on Saturday from the West End Gallery. There is, of course, always a certain amount of preparation for any talk. But this year’s talk without an audience has me scrambling. There’s a whole new layer of technology to adopt in a short time while trying to make it look cohesive and somewhat smooth.

I don’t want to look like a complete idiot, after all.

But beyond the technological hurdles, my presentation as to be changed to account for not being able to interact with a live audience. Normally, I try to have a few things ready to discuss and begin with a pretty short intro before moving quickly to questions from the audience. I try to get into questions and answers as soon as possible because I think that my reactions to questions are one of my strengths.

I could be wrong there. I am hesitant to say any quality of mine is a strength for fear of being that guy who over esteems his prowess at far too many things.

You know the type.

But if I had to say I had a strength it would be in my willingness to react to and honestly answer questions in these situations. At least, I am better at it than I am as delivering prepared remarks. But because of the remoteness of the talk, I really have to prepare to deliver a short address, of sorts, fully worded and thought out beforehand. Without the benefit of being able to react.

For a lazy slob like me, that is a tough task. Makes me truly admire those folks I know who deliver speeches and prepared remarks.

But I am working at it and hopefully you won’t even see the rivers of flop sweat running down my face during the talk. I am thinking of doing the old  trick of smearing vaseline on camera my lens so that it gives me a soft gauzy look. I think they used to do that for Doris Day at some point. If it works for Doris, then dammit, I am willing to give it a shot.

All kidding aside, it is hard work and we are really trying to send out a Gallery Talk that is rewarding for everyone who takes the time out of their busy lives to spend a little time with us on Saturday.

I am giving away two original paintings so I hope you can be there!

Here are the details:

  • Virtual Gallery Talk with GC Myers
  • Streaming from West End Gallery via Zoom
  • Saturday, August 22 Beginning at 1 PM EST
  • You do not need a Zoom account but you do need to register to participate
  • There will be a drawing at the end of the Talk (approx 2 PM EST) to award two GC Myers paintings
  • Participation n the Talk is limited to 500 viewers but the prize drawing is limited to the first 100 registrants for the Gallery Talk
  • Eligible registrants must be present online in order to claim their prize and the Gallery Talk will be locked to new participants at 1:30 PM
  • The winning paintings will be shipped free within the US and Canada to winners residing out of the area. However, if an international entry wins, the winner would be responsible for shipping costs.
  • The regular Gallery Talk ends after the drawing for the two paintings which will be approximately 2 PM EST
  • At that point, about 2 PM, the meeting will be unlocked and there will be a Gallery After Talk, an  additional period of Q & A after the regular Gallery Talk for anyone who cares to talk a but longer. This period can run to 3 PM, if need be.
  • There will be a Waiting Room on Zoom 10-20 minutes prior to the beginning of the Talk. You can check in and chat with other participants at that time. While muted, you can still submit questions or comments via the Chat.

 

REGISTER FOR TALK BY CLICKING HERE!

 

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Virtual Gallery Talk Details/ Register Now!

Posted in Event, tagged , , on August 19, 2020| 6 Comments »

Here are the details:

  • Virtual Gallery Talk with GC Myers
  • Streaming from West End Gallery via Zoom
  • Saturday, August 22 Beginning at 1 PM EST
  • You do not need a Zoom account but you do need to register to participate
  • There will be a drawing at the end of the Talk (approx 2 PM EST) to award two GC Myers paintings
  • Participation n the Talk is limited to 500 viewers but the prize drawing is limited to the first 100 registrants for the Gallery Talk
  • Eligible registrants must be present online in order to claim their prize and the Gallery Talk will be locked to new participants at 1:30 PM
  • The winning paintings will be shipped free within the US and Canada to winners residing out of the area. However, if an international entry wins, the winner would be responsible for shipping costs.
  • The regular Gallery Talk ends after the drawing for the two paintings which will be approximately 2 PM EST
  • At that point, about 2 PM, the meeting will be unlocked and there will be a Gallery After Talk, an  additional period of Q & A after the regular Gallery Talk for anyone who cares to talk a but longer. This period can run to 3 PM, if need be.
  • There will be a Waiting Room on Zoom 20-30 minutes prior to the beginning of the Talk. You can check in and chat with other participants at that time. While muted, you can still submit questions or comments via the Chat.

 

REGISTER HERE BY CLICKING HERE!

 

So, we’re on our way! It’s actually pretty simple but if you have questions or comments, just drop me a line. We’re trying to make this whole thing as smooth for you and for us as possible. Hope to see you Saturday!

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Magistrum

Posted in Event, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , , , , on August 18, 2020| 3 Comments »

“Magistrum”- You Could Win This Painting at Saturday’s Virtual Gallery Talk!

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“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”

― T.H. White, The Once and Future King

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At a size of about 11″ by 15″ on paper and under glass, this painting is the second of the paintings that will be awarded as part of a free drawing at the end of my Virtual Gallery Talk this Saturday, August 22. It is titled Magistrum which is the Latin word for teacher or master.

It’s fitting that the snip I am using to start this post is from The Once and Future King from T.H. White. Reading was a big part of my childhood, a connection to the wider world and the key to unlocking the secrets of it. Books were the teacher, the master, I never had in any one person and I remember it well when I first came across this book. The story of the education of the young King Arthur by Merlin, it was delightful tale that really excited my imagination and, with its emphasis on learning and observing, reinforced my own quest to learn.

Merlin is correct, learning is the best thing for being sad. It changes the mind, building new structures upon it that make the whole thing so much stronger. In these days where, as Merlin points out, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, it is indeed a good thing to not wallow in sadness. Best to learn something new, expand that mind and see the world with wiser eyes.

That’s kind of what I see in this painting. The Red Tree here is the teacher urging its students to come out into the light, emerge from their state of blueness.

So, if you feel blue these days, open your mind and try to learn something unknown to you. Read something new. Look at things closer. Imagine the world through the eyes of others.

It’ll do you a world of good. That I can say with certainty.

Now the Virtual Gallery Talk from the West End Gallery takes place this Saturday, August 22, from 1-2 PM EST. Tomorrow, we will be posting the information on how to preregister for the Talk with Zoom. You do not have to have a Zoom account but you will need to register to participate and view. Though the Talk will be open to all, the drawing for the two paintings will be limited to the first 100 registrants. The chosen winners will have to be present (online!) at the Gallery Talk to claim their prize.

So make sure you get your name in when we roll out the info tomorrow. Good luck!

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Heart of Light

Posted in Event, Painting, Quote, tagged , , , , on August 17, 2020| 4 Comments »

“Heart of Light”- To Be Awarded At This Saturday’s Virtual Gallery Talk

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“A fight is going on inside me,” said an old man to his son. “It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The same fight is going on inside you.”

The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, “Which wolf will win?”

The old man replied simply, “The one you feed.”

— Wendy Mass, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life

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This is a battle that I know well. I don’t know about you but I suspect many of you have witnessed this same conflict within yourselves.

Experience has taught me that, indeed, feeding and nurturing one wolf makes it stronger so that the other one that is not fed slinks into the background. That other evil wolf remains always just far enough away in the shadows, however, waiting for a sliver to fall its way that will strengthen it, allowing it to once more fight for dominance.

Which wolf are you feeding today?

This is a roundabout way of getting to the painting shown at the top, It’s a 12″ by 12″ piece on canvas called Heart of Light. and is one of the 2 paintings to be given away at the end of my Virtual Gallery Talk that will be streaming online from the West End Gallery this coming Saturday. The Talk begins at 1 PM EST and runs until 2 PM. Details on registering for the drawing will be forthcoming tomorrow or Wednesday.

I would like to think I am feeding my good wolf with this but it seems pretty arrogant to call this annual giving away of a painting an act of generosity.

And that is feeding that evil wolf.

Maybe I believe I am feeding my good wolf because it brings me joy to express in this small way the gratitude I feel for those folks out there that have allowed me to have this life an artist, one that allows for my many shortcomings.

Who knows?

Good wolf or bad, I know that this painting will be given away on Saturday. Hope you will be there.

In the meantime, feed your good wolf well. I will try to do the same.

 

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Save Our Mail/ The Letter

Posted in Current Events, tagged , , , , on August 16, 2020| Leave a Comment »

From his own words and actions, we now know with a pretty high degree of certainty why the current thing that is leaving a stain on the walls and carpets of our white house wants to sabotage and destroy our United States Postal Service. It has little to do with the smokescreen of the profitability of the USPS and almost everything to do with the suppression of voting via the mail, which has taken on greater importance during the current pandemic. He has demonstrated that he will do anything and everything to protect himself at this point including the destruction of a vital part of our national infrastructure that has been around since 1775 when Benjamin Franklin was our first Postmaster General.

And it’s all simply because he knows that if more people vote, his odds of staying in (and staining) the office go dramatically down. In fact, the only chance he and his cronies have to remain in power is if they can force people to have to vote in person then reduce the number of of voting locations, shorten the hours of voting and purge voter rolls to keep the numbers as low as possible.

Create roadblocks to voting, in other words.

Despite his warnings of vast voter fraud, I have yet to hear a cogent argument why mail in voting should not be expanded especially in a time of pandemic. I have not seen an iota of evidence that voter fraud via the mail is a real problem. In fact, most arguments point to it being more reliable and less prone to manipulation when administered with proper precautions.

And if you think about it, voter fraud via the mail or even in person voting is so much less efficient that voting machine fraud, where a simple software tweak can alter the vote totals of each machine, that it would be a ridiculous risk for the return.

The USPS is often maligned but they are still a wonder of efficiency in my eyes. Throw a letter in an envelope, jot down an address and add a stamp and stick it in the box at the end of the driveway. A person picks it up and a day or two later it is delivered anywhere in this country for 55 cents. The people who complain about this are the same people who bitch that gas doesn’t cost thirty cents a gallon anymore. To me, accessing the infrastructure that can do such a thing for less than buck is perhaps the best bargain around.

The infrastructure to do this is incredible, a force of 600,000 employees ( this includes a huge number of veterans) who have been the lifeline for many for most of the time we have been a nation. Some say that most of our messaging can be done via the web now or through private carriers such as UPS or FedEx. Of course, there is a profit necessary in order to accomplish it with private companies. FedEx would certainly never be able to deliver a letter for 55 cents and deliver to every household across the nation on a daily basis. If any private company could do what the USPS does and turn a profit they would have attempted to do so by now.

For them to compete with the USPS, the prices would have to go up drastically. Any increase in the price of doing such would be a de facto tax on you, the US citizen.

Some of this is from a post written earlier this year when the white house stain first began to attack the USPS in earnest. I am pretty passionate about the post office and am one of those people who have always loved the idea of mail. In fact, it has played a part in several of my paintings, including the piece at the top, No Mail, which hangs in my studio.

The mail has always been an important part of my life, a first life line to the outside world when I was child living in the relative isolation of our rural home. I have friends that I still write to overseas that I befriended through the mail. While we now email more, the hand written letters and notes that I still receive mean so much more to me than an electronic message read on a screen. The fact that the sender wrote it, put it in the envelope and addressed it then a different person picked it up and inserted it into this incredible system to get to me makes it a small miracle. Well, at least, a wonder.

The USPS can easily be saved. Of course, the forces that be and their wealthy friends see it as a cash cow to be exploited or a vehicle for suppressing the vote. Whether we let that happen is up to us. Call– or better yet, write– your representatives in congress and tell them to keep their hands off the post office.

So, for this Sunday Morning Music I thought we should have some mail related song. There are a lot of great choices. There’s Fats Waller‘s classic I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter which has been covered by almost every major vocalist or Please Mr. Postman from either the Marvelettes or the Beatles. Or Johny Cash’s Tear Stained Letter. Take a Letter Maria from RB Greaves. Elvis and Return to Sender.

But today I am going with the Box Tops and their song The Letter from 1967. It features the late great Alex Chilton on vocals and is always a great tune to get your blood moving. This song would have sucked if it said she wrote me an email…

So, have a good day and protect our USPS.

 

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Gallery Talk Update!

Posted in Event, tagged , , on August 15, 2020| 3 Comments »

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Well, we are this much closer to having a Gallery Talk this year at the West End Gallery.

Here’s what we have so far:

  • The Talk will be streamed live online via Zoom
  • It will be streamed from the West End Gallery
  • The Gallery Talk will take place next Saturday, August 22, beginning at 1 PM EST
  • The traditional Free Drawing for an original painting of mine will take place at approximately 2 PM EST
  • The Talk will end at 2 PM but there will be a short Gallery AfterTalk for any additional Q&A for those who wish to stick around
  • There will be a pre-registration for the drawing 
  • The Drawing will be limited to the first 100 registrants

We decided on streaming from the West End Gallery simply because it would be easier to handle the technical aspects of the streaming, especially since this is a new experience for both the gallery and myself. Plus, just having a few folks on hand will take away that feeling of talking to myself that I sometimes get when talking to a camera.

I had mentioned doing a Studio Tour and if this works out satisfactorily that is definitely something I will consider for the future. It opens up lots of avenues to explore going forward.

Full details will be coming in the next couple of days so keep yours eye open.

 

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#49/ Maybe

Posted in Current Events, Poetry, tagged , , on August 14, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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He was a king or a shah, an ahkoond or rajah,
the head man of the country,
and he commanded the learned men of the books
they must put all their books in one,
which they did,
and this one book into a single page,
which they did.
“Suppose next,” said the head man, who was
either a king or shah, an ahkoond or rajah,
“Suppose now you give my people
  the history of the world and its peoples
  in three words— come, go to work!”
And the learned men sat long into the night
and confabulated over their ponderings
and brought back three words:
  “Born,
   troubled,
   died. “

This was their history of Everyman.

”Give me next for my people,’ spoke the head man,
“in one word the inside kernel of all you know,
  the knowledge of your ten thousand books
  with a forecast of what will happen next—
  this for my people in one word.”
And again they sat into the peep of dawn
and the arguments raged
and the glass prisms of the chandeliers shook
and at last they came to a unanimous verdict
and brought the head man one word:
   “Maybe “

–A fragment of #49 from The People, Yes from poet Carl Sandburg

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Born-Troubled-Died.

It may not have the breathtaking poetic sweep of Person-Woman-Man-Camera-TV but the addition of that one word condensed from all the gathered knowledge of man, that simple Maybe, is a sign of hope. A sign that despite the worst efforts of kings and would-be kings, the people will overcome.

Maybe.

 

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Optimism?

Posted in Current Events, Music, Quote, tagged , , , on August 13, 2020| 6 Comments »

“From a Distance”– Currently at the West End Gallery

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The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Yesterday, for the first time in many moons, I felt a sensation that seemed distinctly out of place for the feelings that have been swirling around inside me lately. It was a twinge, a pang, a fleeting pulse of optimism.

I think it was the announcement of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden‘s running mate that did it. I had been expecting– and hoping– that she would be the pick. The daughter of immigrants, she’s smart, tough, and forward looking but also warm and engaging. What’s not to like?

But even expecting it, I was surprised at my own reaction to the announcement. It made me happy in a way that I haven’t felt in some time.

Optimistic.

It took a while to recognize this long lost feeling, this optimism. It’s been gone so it seems almost foreign and I have found myself more apt to use words like pessimism and cynicism to describe my feelings about the future.

But the truth be told, I kind of like it.

I like the idea that there are responsible adults stepping up to face the multitude of problems facing us at this time. As daunting as the situation, this little bit of newfound optimism makes me think we can find solutions going into the future.

It’s like the torch on the Statue of Liberty has been dark for the past four years– it sure feels that way—  and there’s talk that it might be set ablaze again. Eyes look up again.

Like I said, I like this feeling but it still makes me a bit nervous. I fear that others who feel the same thing will think that this optimism somehow replaces the need for hard work and attention to detail in the coming months.

Pay attention. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s, people. Make sure you’re registered and vote even if it means standing in line for hour upon hour.

This is the most critical election of our lives. That is not hyperbole.

We are still down in a dark pit but at least our eyes are looking up a bit now. And there is light up there.

Like the great Curtis Mayfield song they used after introducing Biden and Kamala’s partnership, let’s Move On Up.

Have a good day and keep your eyes up.

PS: The quote at the top is from Dietrich Bonhoefer, who wrote an essay that I used in a blog post, On Stupidity, which is easily my most visited post.

 

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Quiet Like a River

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Poetry, tagged , , , on August 11, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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“In the midst of a thousand clouds and countless waters
there is an idle person.
By day, he roams the green mountains,
at night, he returns to sleep beneath the cliff.
Quickly, the seasons pass
in serenity, with no worldly bonds.
How joyful! What does he depend upon?
Quiet, like a large autumn river.”

― Hanshan

Translated by Peter Levitt, The Complete Cold Mountain: Poems of the Legendary Hermit Hanshan

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Quiet. Like an autumn river.

This sounds pretty good this morning.

Little thinking and little writing.

Just flow. And be.

Just to pass on a little knowledge this morning, Hanshan was a legendary Chinese Buddhist monk who is thought to have lived as a hermit in the 9th century. Little is known of his life or if he even truly existed but there is a group of of several hundred poems attributed to him that were written on the rocks of the region in which he is purported to have resided.

Another factoid: Jack Kerouac dedicated his book, The Dharma Bums, to Hanshan.

Okay, enough with the thinking this morning. Back to being a cool autumn river.

To that end, here’s a favorite, River, from Joni Mitchell.

Be the river and have a good day.

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Coma Hut, Inc.

Posted in Current Events, Music, tagged , , , , on August 10, 2020| 4 Comments »

“Graveyard Shift” Coma Hut Edition

Lately, I feel like I am just stuck at a single intersection on the grid of the space time continuum. I am not moving forward or backward, up or down, through time or space. Just sitting there, waiting for something to come along that releases me. What that something is, I have no idea except that in some of my imagined versions of it I see it as being horrific while in others, a relieved unburdening.

It’s an awful sense of just waiting, the kind of feeling a little kid has while eagerly anticipating Christmas morning. Or the dread they have while waiting to be punished. Just sitting with anxious butterflies in the stomach, not knowing whether its Christmas morning or the Principal’s Office.

Been thinking that I should be using this time to work on a plan for a new business. Maybe we could set up a franchise where we put people into induced comas for set periods of time?

People could head down to the local Coma Hut (trademark pending) where we would put them into some sort of chemical suspended animation and store them in sanitary ( and virus free!) stainless steels pods for whatever time frame they desire. At the end, we open the pod and revive them, refreshed and relieved of having to actually live through the time period that has passed.

Right now, I would use it. Set the clock for the end of January in 2021, say the 21st, wake me up and tell me what has happened. Then depending on the outcome, I will either happily go out into that brave new world or sign up for another, and much longer, session in my coma pod.

I think it would be a huge success. One on every corner like Starbucks. We’d have a hard time keeping up with the demand and keeping those stainless steel pods in stock.

This would be our theme song for our video ads. It’s a version of the old Ramones classic from Tim Timebomb AKA Tim Armstrong along with Lindi Ortega. I played it here last year but it feels like its time is now, with me, stuck here on the space time continuum.

Here’s I Wanna Be Sedated. Have a good day and book your Pod Time™ down at your local Coma Hut™ now to beat the rush. Spaces are going fast!

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