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Posts Tagged ‘New Painting’

Quote of the Week: Satisfaction

Posted in Motivation, Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , on August 27, 2015| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- The Satisfaction smSatisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.

–Mahatma Gandhi

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I often paint the rows of a freshly cut field in my work.  While this creates an interesting visual effect with its pattern of alternating colors, it also satisfies my own need to express the importance — and necessity–of effort for myself and for my work.

I have often pointed out at gallery talks that I spend huge amounts of time alone working in my studio, well over 50,000 hours in the past fifteen years.  I usually make a joke of this, saying that I just tell people I am hard at work during my time in the studio so they will not bother me and that its really not that much work.  Okay, maybe there is some truth there as far as not having people bother me.  But the fact remains that while I find my time in the studio enjoyable as well as enlightening, it requires great effort and work.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I guess that’s because there is usually a moment after finishing a piece or a group of work for a show when I stop and look at the work in its state of completion.  In this moment there is a great sense of satisfaction at the result of my full efforts.  And that full effort gives the results a sense of completeness and their completeness brings me my own completeness, a fulfillment of some small purpose that I find necessary in order to persist in this world.

That small moment of satisfaction makes all the work, all the frustration and missteps, fade away and that which should have depleted me now serves as nourishment.  I find myself strengthened for another day.

Maybe that what I see in this new painting, an 18″ by 18″ canvas which is headed out to California.  It is called The Satisfaction, of course.  It very much reflects what I have written here, with the Red Tree representing someone looking back on the results of a long day of labor.  And again, they feel uplifted rather than worn down.

I know it’s not always that way.  There have been times when work has been very draining, definitely in my past and occasionally even now.  But knowing that  special moment of satisfaction that comes along every so often is out there makes me look forward to the task and the effort ahead.

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A New Texture

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , on August 19, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- 2015 smBeen working on some new pieces, some with simple imagery with an added layer of random transparent forms making up a large block of the painting.  Here it creates an undertexture in the background which forms the sky on this untitled painting, a 12″ by 12″ canvas.  It has the same sort of chaotic feeling that I often try to create with my preliminary layers of gesso in prepping the panel on which I paint.  This canvas does have those layers of gesso giving it a mild texture but the transparent organic shapes painted over it have an overriding effect that carries and defines the sky here.

It’s still an experiment in progress but so far I like the effect and the feeling it creates here.  Now I am trying to envision how it might incorporate itself in the wider body of my work, to see if it adds something tangible to the work. I have to just give it a little time and study it a bit before it becomes a regular part of my work.

We’ll see…

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Lucid Dreaming

Posted in Painting, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 7, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Lucid DreamAll men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.

~Plutarch

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The other night I fell asleep early then awoke and after a bit tried to go back to sleep.  I flopped around trying to be comfortable but the wheels of my mind started turning and for a while I just lay there.  But there came a time when I slipped briefly into dreams even though I still felt awake.

It’s a strange feeling but it felt good at the same time because in those moments of lucid dreaming I saw a color and a surface that was new to me, one that I saw being used in my work.  It was multi-colored with blues and greens within it and a certain level of depth within the color that gave it a gorgeous glow.  Plus it was arranged in transparent plates that overlapped so that the combined colors deepened even more.

It’s hard to describe now because even in the time soon after waking I struggled to fully recall it in my memory.  It was there completely but in a vague sort of way.  It was not a color that I had worked with or had even seen though I can’t be sure of that.

I wanted to see it and tried to recreate it within my own range of color and technique.  I stumbled a bit at it for most of the day yesterday and finally realized that it would require something new, something different either in media or process to get the color and surface and depth that was still in there somewhere.

But the piece at the top did pop out during the day’s attempts and while it disappointed me because it didn’t fulfill my dream, it has an interesting feel that pleases me on another level.  Maybe this will take me a step closer to what I am seeing in my dream or maybe it will evolve into something different on its own, something I can’t yet envision.

It has shown itself in my dream so maybe it can come forward now if I keep looking for it with my waking mind.  Who knows?  You can never tell how things will turn out when you’re trying to take something from that inner world and move it out into the waking world.

We shall see…

 

 

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Raindance

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on August 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Raindance smThere will be a rain dance Friday night, weather permitting.

—George Carlin

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This new painting, Raindance, is a 16″ by 20″ canvas at the West End Gallery as part of the Home+Land show now hanging there.  As I finished this piece I was keenly aware of the drought taking place in California and other parts of the American west.  It has resulted in dozens of wildfires throughout California, destroying homes and wildlife habitats as it furies along.  Rain can’t come soon enough for that part of the country.

In this painting the Red Tree seemed to be in the midst of some sort of beseeching, twisting and extending its limbs upward.  I saw it as a rain dance of sorts, begging the dark skies above to release the rain and feed the hills and valleys below.  The skies here have an ominous warmth that gives the distant hills a pale yellow hue and the yellow semi-circle in the foreground that supports the Red Tree acts as a sun symbol.

Let’s hope that this rain dance achieves its desired effect…

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Living in All Dimensions

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on July 29, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- Living In All Dimensions smInward is not a direction.  Inward is a dimension.

-Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

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This quote from the contemporary Indian Yogi Jaggi Vasudev rang very true for me when I first came across it and it seems to fit this painting, Living in All Dimensions, which is another piece from the Home+Land show  hanging at the West End Gallery.

It is a painting that appears to be outward in all aspects.  It is no shrinking violet.  In fact, the violet color of the sky and  the other deep colors seem to want to lift off of the deeply textured surface and reach out of the picture to the viewer.    There is outward distance in the moon appearing on the horizon and the Red Tree itself seems to be radiating outward.

But for me, this is completely inward in nature.  It is about finding a center of calmness and timelessness.  It’s about transcending the here and now and discovering that inward dimension that binds us to all other dimensions.  A spiritual Oneness.

Well, that’s my take anyway, for what it’s worth.  It’s the kind of piece that will no doubt come across differently to many different people, both in a positive and  a negative way.

And that is as it should be.

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Distant Memory/ Redux

Posted in Personal Mythology, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on July 28, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- Release the Past smEvery man’s memory is his private literature.
—Aldous Huxley
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The painting shown above, Release the Past, is a 20″ by 24″ canvas that is part of my current show at the West End Gallery.  I was recently thinking about it, trying to discern exactly what it was that I was seeing in this piece, when I pulled up an earlier blogpost that featured the Huxley quote above.  It very much was in line with how I aligned this painting, with the figure in the mid-ground seemingly lost in thoughts of the past,  with my own experience.

Here’s what I wrote:

I like this quote from Huxley.  I have often felt that all of our personal lives fit into some sort of mythic template on which all literature is based and that we often fail to see the connections between the tales of our own lives and those stories which have come down through history in the form of myth and legend.  We all live lives that are often filled with tragedy , comedy and drama.  Heroic, even.  But we seldom perceive them as such, instead thinking of our personal memories as being merely mundane. 
 
And that’s probably as it should be.  Life is spent, for the most part, moving forward in small, day-to-day steps with little time left to see the larger pattern of our lives.  Who has the time to reflect backwards, to see how our lives fit into the templates of eternity?  Very few of us, to be sure.  But what if we could take that time to look back fully and see the patterns set in history and to see that our lives own patterns mesh into that pattern, that we are all indeed connected to and part of the same fabric?
 
Would it make a bit of difference?  Would it make us appreciate the fragility and rareness of  each individual’s place in this world. make us understand that our own history is the history of all and that our memory binds us to the fabric of history?
 
I don’t know.  But it’s something to think about.

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This Little Light of Mine

Posted in Biographical, Music, Painting, tagged , , , , , , on July 26, 2015| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Center Stage smI think I’ve written here in the past about how the aftermath of  a show is for me in the studio.  In the week or so after a show opens there is generally a little letdown, the result of a sudden loss of the energy that accumulates from the adrenaline and anxiety in the build up to the opening.  I usually mope in a way, floundering around for several days trying to refocus and regain my bearings, to find some point in which to direct my energy.

It’s often a frustrating time even while the show still hangs and does well.  I sometimes get a little lost in those moments where the very act of painting becomes absolutely abstract and foreign in nature to me.  The purpose that just a week ago seemed so apparent now has dissolved and I find myself questioning everything– my abilities, the purpose and direction of my work and so on.  Those particular moments weigh heavily on me.

As I said, it’s a frustrating time.  Fortunately, I know from times before that this was coming and will pass.  It’s part of the process, part of who I am, If, as Shakespeare says, all the world’s a stage and we’re all merely players, then this is simply part of the makeup of the character I portray in this play.  It’s maybe the only role for which I am truly suited by nature and ability.

And maybe that’s the thing I need to remember in these frustrating days; that this is the role that I best play, that this is the role that was written specifically for me.

That kind of ties in with the painting at the top, Center Stage, which is part of the Home+Land show at the West End Gallery.  We are all the main characters in our own plays and we need to be be willing to play the part with conviction, to embrace the role that is written for us.  When you are on that stage, let your light shine.

And that brings us, in a sneaky manner, to this week’s Sunday morning music.  I’m going with one of my favorites, Neko Case, and her rousing version of the children’s gospel classic, This Little Light of Mine.  Gets the day started with a kick and blows away those frustrations.  So, enjoy, have a great day and let that light shine.

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Blue Awakening

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, Technique/History, tagged , , , , , , , on July 16, 2015| 1 Comment »

GC Myers- Blue Awakening smThe deeper the blue becomes, the more strongly it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural… The brighter it becomes, the more it loses its sound, until it turns into silent stillness and becomes white.

–Wassily Kandinsky

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Certain colors always raise a strong visceral response from me.  I think my use of reds and yellows is evidence of this as is my affinity for the color blue, which I’ve discussed here.  Maybe Kandinsky hits the mark with his words: it calls man towards the infinite, awakening in him a desire for the pure and, finally, for the supernatural.  

I know for myself those are feelings that often are driven forward when I work with the color blue.  There is often a contemplative feeling, one that wonders at the unknown, that infinite, that we seek, that comes with the color.  I see it in the painting at the top.

Called Blue Awakening, this 18″ by 24″ painting on panel has a simplified and almost naive appearance at first glance.  But the blue of the sky set against the pale whiteness of the moon changes the piece from a folksy vignette to one of meditative wonderment.  The Red Tree here takes on a glow that speaks of a new understanding or acceptance of its place and purpose in the universe.  It represents a true awakening of the spirit for me.

The interesting thing for me is that there is not a tremendous amount of blue in the painting.  There are a few tones throughout the lower landscaped  half of the painting and much of the sky are tones that move away from blue.  But the blue that is there commands the space, creating the overall feeling of the piece.  Such is the power of blue.

This painting is, of course, part of my solo show, Home+Land, which is now hanging at the West End Gallery and opens with a reception tomorrow evening from 5-7:30.  The show runs from July 17 until September 4, 2015 and there is a Gallery Talk  on Saturday, August 1.  More info on that in the next couple of weeks.

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Melding to the Moment

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , , , on July 15, 2015| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Melding to the Moment smBe happy for this moment. This moment is your life.

–Omar Khayyam

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This is another painting from the Home+Land show that opens this coming Friday, July 17, at the West End Gallery.  Titled Melding to the Moment, it is a 24″ by 36″ canvas that, for me, pretty much holds the same message as the words above from Omar Khayyam. I see it as about being totally in the moment, in a sort of harmony with all things.

Using This moment is your life… as a rule, it is in finding those moments of contentment and happiness that can define your view of your life.  To be able to stop and block out regrets of the past or worries for the future allows one to enjoy the pleasures of the present, that slice of life immediately before you– that small wonder that might be lost when we are immersed in thoughts of what we have done or what we will do.

The song of a bird.  The smell of the grass.  The way the light comes from behind a cloud or the feel of  a warm breeze on your skin.  All small things, small moments.  But all moments that create the textures of life if we allow ourselves to simply pause and meld to the moment.

At least that’s how I see this piece.  It was one that was a long time coming, growing in small fits and starts.  I would work on it for a while and would see it going in a direction that didn’t quite suit me in that moment so I would put it aside.  Several weeks, perhaps even a couple of months, passed and I would pull it back out and do a bit more and where I thought it was headed was not at all where it was going.

So I waited a bit longer. Finally, a few weeks back I went back and it transformed into the painting that you now see.  It is nothing like I originally envisioned it in its earliest stages.  It went beyond where I thought it would be and that is always a pleasant surprise.

A pleasant surprise, a pleasant moment…

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In the Air of Freedom

Posted in Opinion, Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , , on July 14, 2015| 2 Comments »

GC Myers- In the Air of Freedom smI am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

 —Robert A. Heinlein

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Freedom is a word that gets thrown around a lot by politicians and pundits.  It is the basis for untold numbers of credos, adages, maxims and bumper stickers. But for all its use,  I don’t think many of us give even a single thought to what the word means for ourselves.

I’m not here to try to define the word. I think it has personal meaning for each of us that can’t be easily contained in one single definition.   My idea of freedom may not match yours and your freedom may not seem like freedom at all to me.  And maybe that’s the main thing in freedom– we are free to define our freedom as we wish.

The only constant is the moral responsibility that we take for our actions, as famed sci-fi author Robert Heinlein lays out so well in the quote above. We can never be free from the responsibility we must take for our actions nor from the repercussions  from others in response to our actions.  That is one freedom to which we will never be entitled.

The painting at the top is a new painting, a 24″ by 24″ canvas, that is part of my Home+land show that opens this Friday at the West End Gallery.  Titled In the Air of Freedom, it represents for me the freedom that I have found in the last twenty years of painting.  Painting has given me a means of free expression, a voice to send out into the world, a contentment and purpose that I struggled and failed to find to find in the years before I came to it.  It has come to define my own freedom.  I see the Red Tree representing that free expression and the fields behind it representing for me the labor and responsibility that accompany it.

As I said, freedom seems like it should be something we can easily put into words but it it turns out to be a much more complex creature.  Take a minute and really think about it.  How do you define your own freedom?  What makes you feel free?

 

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