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Possibilities

March 18, 2015 by redtreetimes

I was struggling this morning with the blog and was just about to say enough and just move on to my work when I came across the latest entry on BrainPickings.  It is a poem from the late Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska (July 2, 1923–February 1, 2012) called Possibilities.  It is basically a laundry list of her personal preferences.   Some are small and some significant but all contribute mightily to her wholeness as a person.  We are all the totality of our own laundry lists of preferences that define our character and personality  just as our DNA determines our physical characteristics.

It’s a simple yet thought-provokingly complex poem that leave me wondering about my own preferences, my own possibilities.  What are those small things that give you shape, make you who you are?

The poem is below but if you would prefer the spoken version there is a recording at read by performer Amanda Palmer.

POSSIBILITIES

I prefer movies.
I prefer cats.
I prefer the oaks along the Warta.
I prefer Dickens to Dostoyevsky.
I prefer myself liking people
to myself loving mankind.
I prefer keeping a needle and thread on hand, just in case.
I prefer the color green.
I prefer not to maintain
that reason is to blame for everything.
I prefer exceptions.
I prefer to leave early.
I prefer talking to doctors about something else.
I prefer the old fine-lined illustrations.
I prefer the absurdity of writing poems
to the absurdity of not writing poems.
I prefer, where love’s concerned, nonspecific anniversaries
that can be celebrated every day.
I prefer moralists
who promise me nothing.
I prefer cunning kindness to the over-trustful kind.
I prefer the earth in civvies.
I prefer conquered to conquering countries.
I prefer having some reservations.
I prefer the hell of chaos to the hell of order.
I prefer Grimms’ fairy tales to the newspapers’ front pages.
I prefer leaves without flowers to flowers without leaves.
I prefer dogs with uncropped tails.
I prefer light eyes, since mine are dark.
I prefer desk drawers.
I prefer many things that I haven’t mentioned here
to many things I’ve also left unsaid.
I prefer zeroes on the loose
to those lined up behind a cipher.
I prefer the time of insects to the time of stars.
I prefer to knock on wood.
I prefer not to ask how much longer and when.
I prefer keeping in mind even the possibility
that existence has its own reason for being.

Posted in Influences, Poetry | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments »

Eire

March 17, 2015 by redtreetimes

st_patrickI have much to do this morning but thought I would take a moment on this Saint Patrick’s Day  to play a bit of traditional Irish music.  There’s always the temptation to play some America-Irish song that is now attached to our celebrations here which have evolved from a celebration of the Irish saint into an excuse for a one-day drunkfest for obnoxious folks regaled in Kelly green plastic derbies and Mardi Gras beads.  But I thought today deserved something a little more true to the timbre of the day.

I’ve always been drawn to the sound of pipes from a round the world and the uillean pipes of Ireland have a uniquely sorrowful yet sweet sound.  It produces what can described as a mournful wail which fits in well with an aspect of the Irish character.  Here’s a tune called, fittingly, Eire played by a master, Liam O’Flynn,  of the uillean pipes which differ from thetypical  bagpipe in that they are not blown into by the mouth.  The air that flows over the reed to create the sound is produced by a bellows that is pressed against the player’s body by their elbow.

So enjoy a bit of true Irish music and enjoy the day whether you are Irish or not.  Now where did I put that plastic derby?

 

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments »

Way of Peace

March 16, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- Way of Peace smStop looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment,
for validation, security, or love —
you have a treasure within that is infinitely greater
than anything the world can offer.

-Eckhart Tolle

**************

I call the new painting above Way of Peace.  It is a 30″ by 40″ canvas that is now showing at the West End Gallery.

I am really drawn personally to this piece, very attracted by its peaceful quiet and the depth of its inviting warmth.  I like the way the path leading into the scene seems to transform into a stream, as though there is a moment as one struggles along the path toward their own inner reality when resistance fades and it becomes easier to proceed ahead.  Less struggle and more fluid and free flowing.  More natural.

I think the words at the top from Eckhart Tolle mesh very well with the message I find in this piece.  It is one that is a common theme in my work: that real discovery is found within our self. And I think this painting oozes with that message.  It may seem to be a representation of the outer world and if that is how you see it and that satisfies your appreciation of the piece, that is perfectly fine.  Absolutely nothing wrong in seeing it that way.

But for me, it is in fact an aspiration-based self portrait constructed on an inner landscape.

Sounds like a mouthful but it’s pretty simple at its heart.  Think of what you might picture for yourself if someone asked you to paint a picture of of who you are or hope to be. Some might paint a straight portrait.  I picture myself and my aspirations in the landscape and this piece is very much how I see it.

However, there are some miles to go before I get there…

Posted in Motivation, Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Weary Blues

March 15, 2015 by redtreetimes

Dorothea Lange- 1936 Daughter of a Migrant Coal MinerI was looking at some of Dorothea Lange‘s classic Depression-era photos recently and came upon this image of a young woman. The label says it is from late 1936 and the young woman was the daughter of a migrant Tennessee coal miner living in a camp on the American River near Sacramento, California.  It is such a compelling image that you can almost feel the weariness and sorrow in her.  I find myself wondering whatever became of that girl, if she ever found happiness or contentment or at least shook off those weary blues that seem to be consuming her in the photo.

Lange had a real genius for extracting raw emotion from her photos–it’s so evident when you scan a page of her work where you can see the images together.  It’s obvious that she connected on a very personal level with her subjects, allowing them to expose themselves and their inner emotions within the trust they extended to her.  And with that trust Lange created photos that showed these folks honestly and with dignity, making  you care about these strangers from another era as much as she did in that moment.

That is an extraordinary gift.

Looking at this photo brings me to this week’s Sunday music.  I chose a cover of the old Hank Williams song Weary Blues but done by modern chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux in a more bluesy style.  You would think old Hank was looking at this photo when he wrote the chorus:

Weary blues from waitin’
Lord, I’ve been waitin’ so long
These blues have got me cryin’
Oh, sweet daddy please come home

Have a great day and hope you can use it to shake any weary blues you might have.

Posted in Music, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Contentious Mr Wyndham Lewis

March 14, 2015 by redtreetimes

"Mr Wyndham Lewis as a Tyro"- Wyndham Lewis

“Mr Wyndham Lewis as a Tyro”- Wyndham Lewis

For many years now, one of my favorite books to just sit and flip through is my now very worn copy of  A Dictionary of Art Quotes by Ian Crofton.  It has great quotes by artists and critics about artists, schools of art and assorted other things that have to do with art.  The thing that I like most is that Crofton keeps it subjective, often having opposing points of view under each heading.  You might read one quote praising an artist while the very next might be one that portrays him as a hack. It’s interesting to see this contrast of perceptions, often by the artist’s contemporaries.

Some artists receive no negative words against their work or personality– Henri Rousseau, for instance, who was much beloved and respected by his contemporaries.  Most have positive quotes with an occasional barb thrown in their direction.  But the section concerning one artist, Percy Wyndham Lewis, really stuck out when I read it.  There is not anything that could be perceived as positive–Ernest Hemingway even said he had the “eyes of a rapist.”  Not knowing much about this artist, it prompted to find out a little more about Wyndham Lewis, as he preferred to be called.

It didn’t take much research to discover reasons behind the vitriol directed at him.

First, a little background.  Lewis was born in Nova Scotia in 1882, educated in England, lost his eyesight in the late 1940’s and died in 1957.  He was an extraordinarily talented painter and writer and the founder of the Vorticists, an art and literary movement derived from Cubism that flourished in the years before World War I but died out in the aftermath.   He painted and drew , wrote well received novels and published a ground-breaking art magazine, Blast.  No lack of talent, that is for sure

"T.S. Eliot"- Wyndham Lewis

“T.S. Eliot”- Wyndham Lewis

But from what I can deduct, he was a very contentious and very opinionated, always seeking an argument or looking to tweak those he viewed as his intellectual inferiors.  He ruffled more than his share of feathers.  As he said, “It is more comfortable for me, in the long run, to be rude than polite.”   But his biggest offense came in the early 1930’s when he wrote in favor of Hitler and the Fascists, believing them to be the keys to maintaining peace in Europe.  That was, to be sure, not well received and was for many unpardonable even though Lewis did reverse his views later after a 1937 trip to Berlin when it became obvious to him that he had gravely misjudged the intent of Hitler.  He wrote a number of items against Hitler and Fascism and in defense of the Jews of Europe but the damage was done: he was a persona non grata.
He basically disappeared from the art scene although he continued to write prolifically, even after the loss of his sight. There was a re-interest in his painting  and Vorticism in the mid-50’s , just a year or two before his death and in subsequent years his profile as an artist has regained some of its lost stature. He is consdiered among the finest of British portrait painters.  His painting of poet T.S.. Eliot, shown here, is considered one of his finest and one of the great examples of British portrait painting.

I picked up a book on his portraiture and find it very compelling.  The self portrait at the top of the page, Mr Wyndham Lewis as Tyro, really stood out for me as did the ominous Praxitella, below.  An interesting character.  I was glad to come across his work and will continue to explore it.

Wyndham Lewis -Praxitella

Praxitella– Wyndham Lewis

A Battery Shelled- Wyndham Lewis

A Battery Shelled- Wyndham Lewis

Wyndham Lewis- Seated Figure

Seated Figure- Wyndham Lewis

 

 

Posted in Influences, Neat Stuff, Painting, Quote | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Quote of the Week/The Singular Heart

March 12, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers The Singular Heart smAll the knowledge I possess everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.

–Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther  1774

**************************

One of the primary factors in my finding my way to art was the fact that whatever I created would be all my own, a reflection of what I felt was my own truth.  Art, painting in my particular case, was the one place in this world where I could have total control, the one place where I could set the rules and chose what criteria would satisfy my own needs.

I would be using materials and knowledge available to everyone else, just like the knowledge referenced in Goethe’s quote above.  But what made art so appealing was that there was the opportunity to take these materials and knowledge and transform them into something quite different than the person sitting next to you equipped with the same materials and knowledge.  For some, it is an academic exercise that uses the materials and knowledge by the book with little of their own self invested.  For others, it is a battleground in an existential struggle to be heard, to have their voice have meaning of some kind.

The real difference between these two comes from how much one is willing to totally reveal their self in this work, how they interpret the materials and knowledge they are given, and how much of their heart and soul they are willing to put on display.  For me, having my own heart evident in my art was always an existential effort– if I couldn’t make something that was uniquely my own then I would not be pursuing it for long.

You know, this is a pretty simple quote on the surface but it is one that makes me struggle in discussing my own relationship to it.  Perhaps I should just let Goethe’s few words stand as they are and let the new painting at the top of the page, a 24″ by 48″ canvas that I call The Singular Heart, speak for me.  After all, that is what the whole thing is about– a heart that is all one’s own.

 

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments »

In the Window/ Redux

March 11, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers-In the Window- Flower of DoreenI wasn’t going to do a re-post on the blog today but when I was going through some images I came across an image from a series that I did in 2005 called In the Window which had my typical landscapes with the Red Tree as seen through a window in various interiors.  This series was pretty well received but never found its way into my regular rotation of work.  It remains an isolated series from that time but is one that is very close to me personally.  I guess an example of this fondness might be that there is one piece in the series, the one above bears my late mother’s name.  Its title is In the Window: Flower of Doreen.

Seeing that her birthday is next week I felt like I should pay her a little tribute here.  She never witnessed my work in a gallery, never knew that I would find a career doing this.  But I think she would be pleased  by the fact that her name lives on in a painting and that the flowers she planted many years ago are doing well.

Here’s what I wrote several years back along with a few more examples from this series at the bottom:

GC Myers- In the Window- EverpresentA question asked of me this weekend inspired me to go back into my archives and pull out the images of a few pieces done several years back.  I was asked if I used this time of the year as a starting point for new work and I said that I often did,  using it as a time to begin new ideas that I want to try.  I explained that it was important for me to continue trying new things as it excited me in the studio and that this excitement was important to all of my work.  This new work provides a vibrancy that permeates all my work and helps me find the new in compositions that I have painted in the past.

I explained that I liked to try new concepts in series in most years and that some are more embraced than others and become part of my regular painting vocabulary for years.  The Red Roof series is such a series.  I have painted examples in this series for several years and it has become ingrained.  The Archaeology series is another. 

Other series last but a season.  While they may be popular from a sales standpoint,  they soon exit my routine.  The In the Window series is an example of such a series.  Done in 2005, they were a series of paintings that featured simple interior scenes with large windows that were highlighted by examples of my typical landscapes.  The idea was that the interior scene acted as a setting to show the landscapes in a different manner, much like the setting for a piece of  jewelry dictates how a gem is seen.  The gem here was  my landscape.

GC Myers- In the Window: Dream AwayThis painting shown on the left, In the Window: Dream Away, was the first piece.  It seemed to jump off the paper on which it was painted.  Very vibrant.  The setting of the window pushed the scene of the tree atop the mound overlooking the water out of the frame and seemed to intensify it.  I was immediately taken with the concept and a number of others soon followed, including the one at the top.  These pieces sold pretty well but they eventually lost steam for me from a creative standpoint.  While I still felt that they were vibrant , I sensed that I had done as much as I could with the concept and didn’t want it to become labored and tired.  My excitement was passing and I wanted to stop near a peak rather than at a low when the work was completely played out when I was viewing it as a toil rather than a joyous activity.

I still feel excitement personally when I see these pieces from this time and I know they are of a certain time for me.  I want them to stand as they are in my body of work.   As I described this this past weekend, I explained that the interesting thing about stopping a series is that it creates a finite number of pieces within it.  They become more distinctive over time, more representative of a certain time in my own artistic continuum.  So while these series, such as the In the Window series, are short-lived they have a longer viewpoint.

GC Myers- In the Window- Full PotentialGC Myers- In The Window: Worlds Beckon GC Myers- Inthe Window: The Searcher GC Myers- In the Window:The Vigil GC Myers- In the Window:Home Land

Posted in Favorite Things, Painting, Technique/History | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments »

Big Noise From Winnetka

March 10, 2015 by redtreetimes

krupa ball of fireI’m running a little late this morning and thought I’d fill today with a little music.  It’s a great piece of film from legendary drummer Gene Krupa and his trio doing Big Noise From Winnetka.  I’ve been a big fan of Krupa since first seeing him perform the very swinging Drum Boogie in the Barabara Stanwyck/Gary Cooper movie, Ball of Fire.  Avery flamboyant and strong presence on the stage, he was more famously known for his work on the classic Benny Goodman track, Sing, Sing, Sing, which is the anthem of big band swing.

Anyway, give a listen and watch for some of Krupa’s famous showmanship.  It’s just good stuff and a great way to kick off a tired Tuesday morning.

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Perseverance

March 9, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- Secret of All TriumphsPerseverance, secret of all triumphs.

–Victor Hugo

**************

Sometimes sticking with a piece that is in trouble pays off.  The painting shown at the top, a 20″ by 20″ canvas that is yet to be titled, was started several weeks ago.  All of the major forms, including the deep blue sky, were blocked in the transparent colors that I use in my wet or reductive work–that is where the paint is put on thickly then absorbed off of the surface until it reaches a tone that fits my eye.  But it just didn’t ring out, had an awful flatness that just made the whole thing dull.  The colors in the foreground were muddied and blah.

I looked at it for weeks.  Actually, I didn’t look at it that often because it just didn’t have anything to pull me to it.  I got to the point that I avoided looking at it at all.  Finally, I decided to scrap the whole thing.  Paint it over in black and start with an empty slate.

Tabula Rasa.

So I took it down into the basement of my studio where I do apply my gesso and do other sloppy work.  I pulled out a thick brush of black paint and slapped it across the sky and worked it back a few times.  The strokes didn’t go into the lower sections of the painting, remaining only in the sky.  I stopped and took in it for a second, the black brush poised to swat across the center now.  The contrast of the black against the colors made the fields pop a bit, gave them a little life.

Just a little.  Maybe there was something there, a flower that could blossom if I just stuck with it a little longer.

So finished the sky in black and in a few days brought it back to the easel.  Each stroke of color that went against the black surface of the sky brought it more and more to life.  When the sky was close to being finished, I went back into the lower fields, glazing them with new layers of color that took away some of the dullness that had plagued them.  The sky had a pop now and the lower fields were catching up to it.  But the central field between the curved horizon and the large mound on which the Red Tree would stand was still an awfully dull green that sucked the life from both the top and bottom.  A sucking vortex.

Maybe this wasn’t going to work after all.  One element so out of kilter could kill the entire thing, break its fragile life force.

After a while I thought that the black had worked so well in the sky, why not break it out in that central field.  Go completely in a different direction with it– make it a red field that would pop in the center of the piece and give contrast to both top and bottom.  Instead of sucking life from it, it would now give it life. And sure enough, it brought everything together.  Even before the trees made an appearance, it was ebbing with life. And when they did appear, it felt complete and alive.  All that I can ask of it.

Now I can’t stop looking at this piece that once made me grimace.  Perseverance pays off in the end, as it usually does.

PS:  Now that I look at this piece after writing this, I believe I will title this painting Secret of All Triumphs. Thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Hugo.

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, Technique/History | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Time Has Come Today

March 8, 2015 by redtreetimes

PunchingTimeClockNot a big fan of Daylight Savings Time.  Oh, I don’t mind the falling back part of  “Spring Forward, Fall Back.”  Anything that seems to give me another hour sounds like a good idea.  But to suddenly be erasing that hour at one appointed time in the spring puts this morning person on edge.

Oh, I know it’s a small thing, that it is only the appearance of losing or gaining time relative to a clock and that I will probably waste well over an hour today alone.  I can’t dispute that.  Maybe it’s that this image of losing time is a reminder of our short time here.  I am at an age where I have crossed that line where I see time as a finite and quickly dwindling resource as opposed to those days in my youth where time seemed to be a vast and infinite ocean of never-ending moments.

Time seems to matter a bit more now.

I thought for the Sunday morning music selection this week that I would stick with this theme of time.  To that end , here’s the 1967 classic Time Has Come Today from the Chambers Brothers.  It is real symbol of the feeling of that time and maybe any time where there is a call to action.  Plus it just has a great sound.  I don’t know if it was produced by The Bruce Dickinson but it has plenty of cowbell for all of you out there who need more cowbell.

Have a great Sunday and spend your  time wisely.

 

 

Posted in Music, Video | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

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