We can pick our teachers and we can pick our friends and we can pick the books we read and the music we listen to and the movies we see, etcetera. You are a mashup of what you let into your life. — Austin Kleon
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I wrote here on the blog a couple of years back about Austin Kleon and his book, Steal Like an Artist. It is a book that I would recommend to anyone interested in pursuing a creative outlet, particularly the younger set. It’s just a neat little book filled with solid concepts that will inject some new insight into any endeavor.
I must point out that the stealing part is not actual theft nor imitation but readily admitting and using the influences that you have in your life, as the quote about points out. In the video below, Kleon describes the difference between imitation and influence.
I should say more about Kleon and his Blackout Poetry, such as the example above which is the focus of his own work, but I am going to let the video below tell the story. It’s a nice primer into the basics of Steal Like an Artist. For more info on the book or to read Kleon’s always informative blog, click here.
I wasn’t going to write anything today but there is a song that has been stuck in my head since hearing it the other day. It’s one of those songs from the past that fades from memory but once it is reintroduced, becomes ever-present, at least for a short time. And that’s where I am with Red Rubber Ball, a song made popular all the way back in 1966 by a short-lived band, The Cyrkle. Their other hit was also a song with a catchy chorus, Turn Down Day.
This was never one of my favorites, at least consciously. But it was so ingrained that the chorus just falls out once the song begins and, as I said, remains there for some time. I found myself humming it this morning as I wandered through the woods to my studio at 6:30. And there was no red rubber ball in the sky.
An interesting aside for this song is that Paul Simon co-wrote it with Bruce Woodley of The Seekers, who also recorded it in 1966. It has also been recorded by Neil Diamond and many others but the version that most folks remember, at least for short periods, is from The Cyrkle. Here they are performing the song on a variety show in 1966, complete with keen matching outfits and a nifty set. Enjoy and have a great Sunday.
It just feels like one of these Sunday mornings. It’s clear and crisp, the colors of the sky outside my studio looking very much like something from a Hiroshige print. Quiet outside. Hardly a rustling through the forest as I made my way to the studio this morning. In my head, I begin to hear those simple quiet notes from the first of the Gymnopédies, that elegant group of quiet and moody music from composer Erik Satie.
Hearing this music always slows me down, makes me breath. Ponder things, both big and little.
But despite all my pondering, don’t ask me the meaning behind the word gymnopédie. My little bit of research turns up no clear consensus on the meaning from any number of sources. It could mean almost anything actually. And maybe that is why Satie chose it– it sounds likes so much more but is vaporous and edgeless.
It fits the music.
Here’s a snip of Gymnopédie #1 to start your first Sunday of 2014. I think it is interesting that the maker of this video chose images of the universe to illustrate this music. Big things. I think an image of a snow flake falling gently against a slatey sky would fit as well. Small things.
I normally wax somewhat philosophically about the challenge and potential of the coming year and about the lesson of the past twelve months. But this year I don’t feel the urge or need to do so. Maybe I’m just tired or maybe its that I am ready for whatever this year holds in store and am satisfied with what I have done over the last year.
Whatever the case, I wish each of you great happiness and peace over the next year along with the strength and wisdom to overcome whatever challenges you might face.
While I said I wouldn’t look back at the last year, I never said I wouldn’t look back 30 years. Here’s a promo video from the studio of U2 performing New Year’s Day which was released in January of 1983 as a single from their War album. The years have stripped away much of the song’s original association with Lech Walesa and the Solidarity labor movement taking place at that time in Poland. Most younger listeners probably don’t have an much more than an inkling of what this even was but that’s okay– the song is still great and appropriate for today. Plus there’s the bonus of seeing Bono and the boys looking so 1980’s.
A lot of us around the country are feeling the effects of winter-like weather this morning. I know that I am going to go out in a bit and plow the several inches of snow that fell yesterday and overnight. Not my favorite thing but before that I am going to just take it all in– the gorgeous blanket of white that hugs the contours of the ground and clings to the tree branches and the quiet it produces as it muffles all sound. These snowfalls are beautiful to see and hear.
A lot of people don’t share my affection for this weather and crave something a little more warm. To that end here’s a video with Janis Joplin singing Ball and Chain. It’s her breakout performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. If this doesn’t get your blood flowing then I have nothing more to offer. There’s a great shot about 2/3 through the video of Mama Cass watching the performance, with a look of awe on her face.
I’ve been taking a few days off here around Thanksgiving, taking it a bit easier in the days that kick off the first days of the Christmas season here. I can’t say I’m as big a fan of the holidays as when I was child but I still feel that same warm fuzziness when certain songs of the season come on the radio. Nat King Cole singing The Christmas Songor Bing Crosby’s White Christmas,for example. One of my all-time favorites are the wondeful compositions from Vince Guaraldi for A Charlie Brown Christmas. Hearing the relaxing tones of Christmas Time Is Here with the children’s chorus is like zen candy to me–it just pushes away all the bad things we,ve come to accept as part of the season and fills the void with a peaceful calm.
I thought I’d share Diana Krall‘s take on this great piece. It lacks the children’s voices but it is lovely nonetheless and a good way to head back into my work.
Thursday is our traditional Thanksgiving holiday. But this year Thursday is also the first day of Hanukkah, the eight day Jewish holiday also known as the Festival of Lights. The holiday commemorates the re-dedication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Syrian-Greeks in 165 B.C.E. The eight days of Hanukkah refer to the purifying ritual of that took place in the Temple after their victory. Because the Temple had been defiled by foreign gods, it was determined that it must be purified by the burning of ritual oil in its menorah. They discovered that there was only enough oil for one day but lit it anyway. It burned for the required eight days which was considered miraculous and gave rise to the Hanukkah celebration.
This is the third time the two holiday have converged since President Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a holiday here in 1863. The first two times, 1888 and 1899, occurred before the current laws which dictate that Thanksgiving fall on the fourth Thursday of November. This is the first time since the law went into effect and will the last time the two holidays fall simultaneously until the year 79811, as calculated by a physicist with some extra time on his hands.
This convergence has been dubbed Thansgivukkah. Kind of catchy, huh? I don’t know that there is any real significance here but it sure sounds ominous (and kind of cool) when you throw in the fact that it won’t happen again for another 77,ooo years or so. And anytime you get to throw around a portmanteau like Thanksgivukkah, it’s got to be good. So enjoy your Thanksgivukkah, whether you’re thinking about the Pilgrims or the Maccabees.
Here’s a tongue-in-cheek look at this rare holiday with The Thanksgivukkah Anthemfrom the Jewish a cappella group Six13. Kind of kitschy fun…
It’s been a busy year. Actually, it’s been a busy two or three years but the last few months have seemed even more hectic. There was the preparations for the Kada Gallery show and work being done around the studio by carpenters and masons. It seemed as though there was little time to really take stock of everything. But with the Kada show opening this past weekend and my delivering a group of work to the Principle Gallery in Alexandria on Tuesday, yesterday was my first chance to take some time to reflect, to see where I was on my artistic path.
After a short period of examination, it seems to me that I am at a plateau. Mind you, it’s a happy plateau but I’m not sure this is where I want to stop, not sure that this is my final destination as an artist. For the past several years, I have been working at what I consider my highest level: I am painting the paintings that I want to see. The work is distinctly mine and is consistent in its communicative effect and in the way it satisfies me internally. The work from my recent shows have been as personally satisfying as any I have ever showed. If I were a miner, I would say that I have been working a rich vein.
But I am increasingly having that nagging feeling that there is an even richer vein for me if I move from this plateau and climb a bit higher.
It’s a scary thought. This has been, as I said, a happy plateau. It’s where many artists, upon arriving , settle in for the remainder of their careers. And why not? They have worked hard to reach this plateau and are producing the work they set out to produce at the beginning of their journeys. It would be very easy to stay here and be content and safe, to not have to face the prospect of a new climb with all the perils that come with it: The uncertainty of what is up there and the possibility of failure.
Maybe I am being over dramatic in my description here. I don’t know. I do know that I have that clawing and gnawing feeling in my gut that now is the time to start moving onward and upward, to leave this happy plateau and take on the risk of failure. Whether I can actually muster enough bravery to make this move, whatever that may be, and where it might take me are only the beginning of the questions that arise, questions for which only time holds the answers.
We shall see…
Here’s an old song, Unsatisfied, from The Replacements that fits the bill for this subject. Look me in the eye and tell me that I’m satisfied…
I am heading out to Erie later this morning for tonight’s opening reception for my show, Alchemy, at the Kada Gallery. While I am always a bit nervous beefore any of these solo shows, the ride out to Erie generally has a calming effect. It is a simple and quiet ride through rural western New York on a highway that sometimes feels deserted, with hardly another car appearing at certain points. The landscape is a mix of rolling hills that skirt the Allegheny National Forest before leveling off into a plain that runs to the Great Lakes, Lake Erie in this case. It is sparsely populated and airily wide open. I think this is an image of New York that would surprise many people. I know that it’s a ride that always has a calming effect for me.
The painting, Forever and Ever, above is a small piece, 6″ by 6″ on paper, that is include in this show. It is another take on the Baucis and Philemon myth that I have described here several times in the past. I really like the vivid tones of the sky and the landscape here. They seem to give it the other-worldly feel that I think fits the story of the fated couple.
Here’s a little music that has the calm that I anticipate on my drive westward. It’s You Don’t Know What Love Is from two of my favorites, Elvis Costello and the late great Chet Baker. I hope to see you tonight if you’re in the Erie area and can come out to the Kada Gallery. Kathy and Joe DeAngelo, the owners of the Kada, are wonderful hosts. See you tonight!
Had the opportunity to take a short break from my show prep and venture up to Ithaca last night where we met a longtime friend to see Elvis Costello at the State Theater there. He has been doing a solo tour with just him and his guitars, a wonderful mix of acoustic versions of some hits and some other chestnuts. Of course, with such a long recording career, there were songs that were omitted from his show because of time limitations. For me, I missed Almost Blue and a few others. But the show was so engaging that they weren’t sorely missed as Elvis was in fine form, seeming to really enjoy his performance before a very rapt audience.
One of my favorite songs of the evening was not one of his own distinctive songs but a classic pop song from the 1930’s, Walkin’ My Baby Back Home. Here’s a version of him doing this song that I was able to find thanks to YouTube. Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Redtree Times 