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Archive for the ‘Favorite Things’ Category

In Heaven Now…/ Redux

Posted in Advice, Current Events, Favorite Things, Music, Quote, tagged , , , , , , on September 20, 2016| 2 Comments »

Even though this post only ran last August, I thought it was worth replaying, if only to remind us to maintain some semblance of civility and sanity in this bitter election season.  I was reminded of this post because the painting featured in it, Raised Up, went with me to the Principle Gallery for my talk there this past Saturday.  It’s a piece that I like very much as is the song at the end from John Prine.  Hope you’ll enjoy them as well…

GC Myers- Raised Up

Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now.

—Jack Kerouac

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I am not sure what to do with these words from Jack Kerouac but I do like them and think they deserve to be passed along.  I am a firm believer of kindness in all forms and believe that it is a pathway to a better life here in this world.

When I was waiting tables I found that my own attitude and demeanor often dictated how others responded to me.  If I smiled and acted congenially, more often than not the person I was dealing with responded in the same manner.  We are reactionary creatures and we instinctively respond according to the tone we encounter– rudeness with rudeness and anger with anger.

And kindness with kindness.

It’s our choice.  If we can fight against our reactionary nature and choose to act and react with kindness, we can shape our world and then perhaps realize that a form of heaven might be within our grasp.

I have never had the faith or certainty of those who believe that there is an actual heaven waiting beyond this world.  I would like to but I just don’t have it within me.  So, for me, if there is to be a heaven it is something to be sought in the here and now.  By that, I mean creating an environment that is honest, kind and gentle.  A life that is peaceful and quiet–that would be heaven to me.

So, when you’re out there today and face rudeness and anger, make the choice to react in a gentler manner and be kind.  Your world might be one small step closer to heaven.

This quote reminded me of a song from one of my favorites, John Prine.  The title pretty much sums it up: He Was In Heaven Before He Died.

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Thanks…

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , on September 19, 2016| Leave a Comment »

gc-myers-gallery-talk-2016-smMany, many thanks to everyone who came out to the Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery on Saturday.  While I wasn’t as sharp as I would have liked, everything (including the giveaways at the talk’s end!) went off really well and it was great to speak with so many folks that I only get to see once in a great while.

I don’t know if I can really ever fully explain how important these talks have been for me.  It’s not only for the wonderful feedback I receive about the work which helps me see the paintings in the way others do but in the way it allows me to express my gratitude for the life that their appreciation of my work has given me.  These talks allow me to see how fortunate I was to have fallen into this life.

So,  a deep thank you to everyone there, including my good friends at the Principle Gallery– Michele, Clint, Pam, Haley and Pierre— who allow me to feel at home in their space with their warm friendship.  You have all given me more than you will ever know, more than I can ever repay in gifts or words.

Since I was out of the studio yesterday and missed my Sunday morning music, I thought I’d fill that void today with a selection that gallery director Clint reminded me of this past week in a posting on Facebook where he played this song and invited his friend to identify it.  It’s a song from guitarist Bill Frisell , called Ghost Town/ Poem For Eva. I couldn’t identify the song at first without a clue from Clint even though I knew that I knew the song.  I have used music from this particular Bill Frisell album in an earlier video of my Outlaw series.

So, give a listen and have a good week…

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Studio Favorites

Posted in Early Paintings, Favorite Things, tagged , , , , , on September 16, 2016| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Geometry 1999

GC Myers- Geometry, 1999

I have mentioned that I will be bringing a group of older paintings from my studio with me when I head to the Principle Gallery for my Gallery Talk there tomorrow, Saturday.  These pieces will be there for only a short time and most have become favorites of mine as they have spent more time with me here in the studio.

One is a 1999 painting, shown here on the right, called Geometry.  This vintage piece that is very typical of my pre-2000 work: the Red Tree had yet to make an appearance and the composition is basically comprised of two blocks of color separated by a thin line of white.  There’s a lot that I like about this simple painting.  It has a mature quality, one of completeness, that was coming into my work at that time.  It reinforces my confidence to see that it holds up well after seventeen years.

GC Myers- In the Window: The Searcher

GC Myers- In the Window: The Searcher

Another included painting is called In the Window: The Searcher from 2005.  It is one of my favorites from the Window series which was a fairly short lived series.  The concept of my landscapes being placed in windows in the way a jewel is placed in a setting was a fun concept and exciting to work in.  It got a lot of interest from collectors at the time but it felt limited to me as a long term series, one that I would work in throughout the years.  But it remains a series that still captures my fancy and I think that this piece really exemplifies what I was trying for in it.

There are several other paintings from different years in this group, many shown below, that all have similar backgrounds.  These are all pieces that have somehow found their way back to me without finding a true home.  It’s interesting to see them in the context of the current work, to see both the consistency in the work as well as where they diverge.

 

Defiant Heart! Win this Painting!

Defiant Heart! Win this Painting!

You’ll be able to see the whole group  together tomorrow on the gallery walls along with a selection of new works.  So, I hope you’ll stop in this Saturday at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  My Gallery Talk there will be starting at 1 PM and will feature a free drawing for the painting shown here, Defiant Heart, along with a few other goodies.  These talks are generally a lively conversation with a lot of Q & A.  It has usually been a good time in the past and I see no reason this shouldn’t be a lot of fun as well.  Hope you can make it!

GC Myers- Room to Breathe

GC Myers- Room to Breathe

GC Myers- Through Time

GC Myers- Through Time

GC Myers- Call to Waking

GC Myers- Call to Waking

GC Myers- In the Clearing

 

 

 

 

 

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You Can Win This Painting!

Posted in Favorite Things, Neat Stuff, Painting, tagged , , , , on September 12, 2016| 3 Comments »

gc-myers-defiant-heart-smThis coming Saturday, September 17, is my annual Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery in Old Town Alexandria, VA.  This is my 14th Gallery Talk at the Principle and it’s been a lot of fun through the years.  There’s generally a lot of give and take between the audience and myself in the form of questions and comments and something new and unexpected often comes to light.  I almost always find myself saying something I didn’t expect to say or learning something new about my own work from the comments from someone at the talk.

It’s a surprising dynamic and I am always grateful for the folks who turn out at these talks.

But deep down I know they come for what has become a tradition– the giving away of one of my paintings at the end of the talk.  We have a lot of fun with this and I really do struggle in trying  to choose a painting that holds meaning for me,  one that  that I think deserves attention in someone’s home.

And the painting shown here at the top fits that bill nicely.  It is titled Defiant Heart and is about 14″ by 14″ on paper.  It’s one of those paintings that I felt strongly about but seemed to have bad timing in those times in which they hit the galleries, never coming before the eyes of that person to which it would speak some sort of truth.  There is much that I like about this painting and think it has much to say to the person who connects with it.

It will be my pleasure to have it find a home this coming Saturday.  Maybe it will be you.

So this Saturday, September 17, please come on in to the Principle Gallery in beautiful Alexandria.  The talk runs starts at 1 PM and generally runs about an hour. We’ll have a conversation, I’ll tell some of my secrets and maybe a lie or two and at the end of it, someone will take home their own Defiant Heart.  Oh, as always, there will be a few surprises along the way. Hope to see you there.

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Lessons Revealed/ Redux

Posted in Biographical, Favorite Things, Music, Painting, tagged , , , on September 8, 2016| 1 Comment »

I thought I’d replay the post below.  Sometimes there are days when nothing seems to work and I’ve had quite  a few of them.  Early on, I took these days as an indication of a lack of talent.  But time teaches that bad days are temporary and that there are lessons to be learned from even those bad days.  Knowing when to throw in the towel and start over is such a lesson.  Here’s my post from several years back:

gc-myers-studio-march-2011I’m sitting in my studio looking at an empty canvas. Not too long ago it was not empty.  No, I spent the better part of the afternoon yesterday working on this canvas, a 36″ square that was prepped beforehand with gesso and a first layer of black paint.  Several hours spent and not a minute of it felt smooth or in rhythm.  The paint didn’t come off the brush in the way that I expected or desired.  The composition seemed to just go nowhere ,leaving bland and lifeless  bits of nothing littered all over the canvas.  I never felt a flow, which is that quality I have described before where one mark leads to the next as though you are reading the lines and strokes on the canvas like they were revelatory tea leaves.

No tea leaves here yesterday.  Everything led to nothing.   After a few hours, I was exasperated and I knew deep down inside that I had betrayed my own words by trying to force the work rather than let it flow out organically.

That was the lesson and I knew what had to be done.  I  laid the canvas flat on the floor and broke out the black paint, covering the offensive marks that had been there moments before.  Blackness filled the space where there had been color just moments before.

It felt good, actually.

Time reveals many things and after tens of thousands of hours spent in the studio I have learned that  failure is no big deal.  It’s like the weather– temporary.  It comes and goes.  A failure like yesterday doesn’t make me happy but knowing that sometimes things just don’t work out makes me take such a temporary failure  with a philosophical shrug.  And instead of struggling ahead with this horror show that was unfurling before me, trying to somehow cobble it back to life, my experience has taught me that it would be best to retreat and start anew.

Tabula rasa-  clean slate–so to speak.

So here I sit this morning, a new day,  with a fresh canvas waiting for me and there is a new air of anticipation around it.  Yesterday is but a lesson and there’s no telling what the time spent today will reveal.  Can’t wait.

Here’s one of my all-time favorites which sort of ties in with today’s post.  It’s Time (The Revelator) from Gillian Welch.

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September Song

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , , , , on September 2, 2016| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Where the Winds Gather smAugust has been vanquished, mercifully.

I could feel it yesterday as though just getting rid of that word August from the dateline lifted a huge weight off my shoulders.  The same concerns are there and little has changed but there was just a subtle and perceptible psychic shift.  Maybe the cooler temperatures and the slight breeze that hung around for much of the day added to the perception as well.

Whatever the case, it was good to see August depart and September enter the picture.  The days and months ahead always seem to better fit my natural mood and demeanor.

I like to start the month by playing some version of the great old classic September Song, long one of my favorites.  Written by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson, it was first sung, surprisingly, by Walter Huston in the stage production of Knickerbocker Holiday back in 1938.  Since then it has been covered by literally many hundreds of musicians and singers throughout the world and most of them are pretty damn good versions.  It’s just that good a song.

It’s a bittersweet and slightly melancholy reflection on the passing of time, that inevitable march to old age symbolized in the turning of leaves and the shortening of the days.  These precious days, as the song says.

It’s a great pleasure going through the many versions online but I thought I’d share the Bryan Ferry version this year.  I was never a huge Bryan Ferry fan but I did like some his work with Roxy Music as well as some of his solo work.  His voice works well in this delicately sung version.  Enjoy and remember to take some pleasure in these precious days.

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Martyr Revisited

Posted in Biographical, Early Paintings, Favorite Things, tagged , , on August 30, 2016| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- Exile-MartyrI’ve been looking at my Exiles series quite a bit  lately.  From the mid 1990’s, it’s a highly personal series of faces and figures that kind of act as a landing spot for me to place my rawest emotions during trying times.  The piece shown here is titled Martyr and remains an enigma to me, mainly because I have never had thoughts of martyrdom for myself.  But I have been looking at this quite a bit because of a recent request that I revisit this painting at some point in the future.

The person who requested this sees the body and musculature of this figure as an extension of the landscape and when I look at it with that thought I very much see what he means by that.  I had never thought of it in those terms and it strikes a real chord with me so I am excited to get to his request at some point soon.

Plus he would love to see it in tones of blue.  How great would that be?

Anyway, here’s a bit more that I wrote about this piece here many years back:

This is another painting from the Exiles series of the mid 90’s, titled Martyr.  

As I sit here right now, I am at a loss for words to describe this piece.  While there is overt religious symbolism, for me it is not about that.  It is about self-sacrifice, giving everything for the benefit of others.  

But there is also an element that has to do with fear.

When I look at the torso of this character I see it almost as though he has had his skin removed, baring the muscles beneath.  For me, this translates as one being afraid of the consequences of exposing what lies inside.  In my mind, this martyr has been punished for showing who he truly is.

Maybe I’m describing paranoia.  Maybe it’s a form of agoraphobia or just introversion.

I don’t really know.  

It’s funny that this piece that has hung above my desk for many years still perplexes me and eludes definition.  I’m sure that one would expect to know exactly what was meant when I painted this but quite honestly, when I started this piece I had no idea where it was going.  Even when the figure neared completion I was still scrambling for the true meaning.  The elements that seem to from a crucifix were not present and weren’t even contemplated at first.

So the piece remains an enigma.  Personally, I like that.  It gives me a sense that the piece is beyond the obvious which is what I hope for all my work.

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Baseball Boogie

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, tagged , , , , , , , on August 28, 2016| 5 Comments »

Little League Stadium Williamsport PA

Little League Stadium, Williamsport PA

It’s been an emotionally draining period these last few weeks as we brought my father who is suffering from Alzheimer’s back to this area from Florida.  It’s been hard watching him in his diminished physical and mental state and placing him in a local nursing facility where he could get the care he truly needs didn’t bring a lot of relief.  There’s a constant mild anxiety, a sense of worry mixed with sorrow and just a little guilt.

I know that it will get better by degrees but that is small comfort in the moment.

Yesterday, I finally picked up a brush for the first time in a few weeks.  I knew I had to get back into it because of obligations I have but more so because painting has been my escape route through the years, that place of retreat for me from the problems of the world.  I have found that I can translate my problems, my concerns into paint and off my shoulders.  It felt good yesterday but I still wasn’t able to fully get a foothold in that world.  I was still straddling that calmer place and the new world and environment of my father.

I am sure it was partly because his situation represents a change in my normal routine.  I am an extreme creature of habit and have worked for years to build a healthy and productive routine.  So this change was an upheaval that will take some time to work around and rebuild a new routine that works for me.

I am hoping that today finds me closer to that other world in the paint.  I feel that it will. But if it doesn’t do it today at least I have another constant, another part of my routine to which I can turn with the assurance that it will almost always have something to offer.

Baseball.

The baseball gods can be merciless.  Ask a Chicago Cubs fan.  But sometimes they show a little tenderness and mercy, giving you a wonderful gift (or an escape route) when you really need it.

Over the past few weeks it has been a real boost and diversion to watch the emergence of rookie catcher Gary Sanchez for the Yankees who has been putting on a historic power display as the heir apparent to the legacy of Ruth, Gehrig Dimaggio, Mantle and Jeter.  There’s a buzz every time he steps to the plate that is a thrill to behold.  I know that it can’t last at this pace but when the baseball gods smile you have to just enjoy the moment.

Plus these same baseball gods even decided to give a local Little League team from just down the road in Maine-Endwell a bit of magic as they made their way to the final game of the Little League World Series where they play the kids from South Korea today for the championship down in Williamsport.

So today I will visit Dad, try to find a world in the paint and root for those kids from Maine-Endwell.  For this Sunday’s music, here’s a great song from Mabel Scott that pays homage to those baseball gods.  It’s Baseball Boogie  and the video features some great footage of Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, Willie Mays and Ted Williams.  Take a look, let your toes tap and have a great day.  Go, Maine-Endwell!

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Hugette Caland

Posted in Favorite Things, Influences, Neat Stuff, tagged , , on August 26, 2016| 1 Comment »

Hugette Caland-- Boat Race on the Potomac

Hugette Caland– Boat Race on the Potomac

I am not going to be able to write much here today but I did want to at least share a few images from artist Hugette Caland.  Born in Lebanon in 1931 to a father, Bechara El Khoury, who was to become the first President of that country in 1943, Hugette Caland, now 85, lives and works in .  Over the past five decades she has created a wonderful and diverse body of work that has become very celebrated in recent years.

I am showing the pieces that struck me but be advised that this is only a tiny glimpse of the range of her work.  I was immediately struck by the piece at the top, Boat Race on the Potomac, a very large piece measuring something in the area of 5′ high by 11′ wide.  Many of the pieces shown here, such as this piece, are very large textile wall hangings that are done with markers.  It set off all kinds of fires in my brain when I saw it and during the past few trying weeks has been an image that I often return to when I get a chance to move my mind away from the situation at hand.

As I said, I don’t have time today to spend much time giving all the background info that Hugette Caland and her work deserves but I just wanted to share these images as I feel they have something to say to me at this moment, something that I will use moving forward.  Please take a look and I urge you to seek out her story and some of the other images and videos available online.  Great stuff.

Hugette Caland-Rossinante Under Cover III diptych 51x84 mixed media on canvas 2011

Hugette Caland-Rossinante Under Cover III diptych 51×84 mixed media on canvas 2011

Hugette Caland-Rossinante Under Cover IV

Hugette Caland-Rossinante Under Cover IV

Hugette Caland-Out of Venice 58.5x76

Hugette Caland- Out of Venice 58.5″x76″

Hugette Caland-The Purple One 65x165

Hugette Caland- The Purple One 65″ x 165″

Golden Daisies

Hugette Caland- Golden Daisies

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The Internal Journey/ Redux

Posted in Favorite Things, Painting, Poetry, tagged , , on August 24, 2016| 3 Comments »

 

As I noted the other day, we are dealing with a personal issue in our family that has kept me from my work for the past couple of weeks.  It’s just a part of life, something that most families have to deal with at some point, but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier.  For me, the hard part has been being away from my work, that one thing that calms and settles me.  This has also kept me from writing much here.  In the interest of continuity, I thought that I’d at least share a blogpost from a few years back that is a personal favorite.

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GC Myers -Abundant Life-smAll day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that,
And I intend to end up there.

— Rumi, thirteenth-century Persian poet

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The other day, while going over some very early posts from this blog, I came across this short poem from Rumi.  It had been passed on to me by my friend Scott Allen from the Cleveland area after my 2008 show at the Kada Gallery.  It was what he himself had felt in my work.  The poem had, I’m sorry to confess, slipped my mind over the years and coming across it again immediately rekindled my  original reaction to it. Then and now,  I felt as though this little wisp of a poem captured the secret behind what I was doing.

Like Rumi’s voice in this poem, I have spent most of my life in an existential quandary, filled with doubts about who I am and what I should be doing.  I often felt like a stranger in a strange land, ill at ease in my surroundings and feeling, like Rumi, that my soul is from elsewhere.   Initially, I felt as though my uncertainties and doubts could be allayed externally.  I was simply not in the right physical location.  But it was soon apparent that it was not an external problem.  Regardless of the location, I would not be at ease on the outside until I sought and found where I needed to be internally.

That’s where the painting came in and filled the void in my life.  If life were an ocean, painting gave me a hope, an endpoint for which to navigate. Without it, I would still be rudderless in an ocean of doubt.  With it and through it, I feel that my soul is headed in the right direction.

I don’t know exactly why I feel the need to share this intimacy with you this morning.  Perhaps that openness is part of the journey or even the destination.  But for me, seeing this poem again reconnected me to the journey at a point when it felt as though I was going slightly off course.  Sometimes in the process of seeking one forgets why they set out on the journey in the beginning.  And that why, that motivation, sometimes needs to be revisited during the journey.  It gives the destination definition and immediately puts you back on course.

This morning, I feel like I am sailing on smooth seas again, knowing why I am going forward.

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I hope to feel that way again soon…

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