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Posts Tagged ‘Quote’

Cast Your Shadow

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on May 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows. Choose a place where you won’t do harm – yes, choose a place where you won’t do very much harm, and stand in it for all you are worth, facing the sunshine. 

–E.M. Forster, A Room With a View

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GC Myers- Cast Your Shadow smChoose a place where you won’t do harm…

I don’t want to, nor do I think I should, say much more about this new painting, a 24″ by 36″ canvas that carries the title Cast Your Shadow.

I like the idea represented by the quote above from E.M. Forster where one seeks out a place of their own, a place where they can stand without causing harm.  It’s a theme that I’ve always thought of in terms of being a smooth stone on a creek bed, pushed and polished  by the current through the ages until at last coming to rest in a spot where the water flows easily over it.  The stone finds it’s place where it does no harm.  It doesn’t disturb the water and the water simply passes by.

It seems like such a small desire, to find a place where the water flows easily by or where one can stand in the sun without their shadow blocking the light from others. But the simplicity of this wish is deceiving.

It is the work of a lifetime.

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Interconnected

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, Uncategorized, tagged , , on May 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.

–Herman Melville

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GC Myers-Interconnected

I guess Melville’s words above pretty much sum up what I see in much of my work, an interconnection between all beings and things that gives every life definition and meaning.  None of us live in a vacuum and every action has an effect of some sort.  Some we see and feel directly and  some, those reactions further out on those sympathetic fibers, we will never know.  It’s the pebble and pond effect.  We throw a pebble into the pond and we see the first large ripple that returns back towards us.  But it doesn’t stop there.  The initial splash continues to radiate outward in all directions, often beyond our sight.

It’s pretty basic stuff.  But that doesn’t make it any less significant.  We are all part of a larger one and the actions of each of us  creates ripples that touch many others.  So consider your actions and your words as they go out into the bigger pond.

The image above is a new painting, a 12″ by 12″ canvas called Interconnected.  It is part of my upcoming solo show, Traveler, at the Principle Gallery, which opens June 6.

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The Way of the Master

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on May 2, 2014| 6 Comments »

“There is one single thread binding my way together…the way of the Master consists in doing one’s best…that is all.”

– Confucius 

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GC Myers- The Way of the Master

I originally had a different title in mind for this new painting,which is 24″ by 36″ on canvas.  I saw it as being about the end of a journey, about coming to a point that marked the highest level of emotional  and spiritual development.  But then I remembered this quote from Confucius and it had immediate resonance.

It all comes down to effort in the end.   Everything that comes to us, everything we desire and value,  ultimately depends on the amount of effort we choose to put forth.  Things done half-heartedly and with little attention never prosper or develop.   Those things you take for granted never grow into something more.  They only diminish with less attention.  You can witness  this in every aspect of your life. I know I can see it in my own.  Everything I value– my marriage, my work and my peace of mind– requires hard work  and maintenance, my very best effort.

This full effort ultimately leads to a deeper sense of connection with those things we value, emotionally and spiritually,  and I suppose that’s what this piece signifies for me.  I believe that any thinking person wants to reach their highest point of development, wants mastery over their own physical and spiritual life.  This painting reminds me that it is obtainable if I am willing to give my very best.

As Confucius says: and that is all.

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Don’t Think

Posted in Quote, tagged , , , on April 30, 2014| 4 Comments »

ray-bradbury-on-creativity-famous-quotes

I came across this quote from famed sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury on a post on the  TwistedSifter site that featured quotes on creativity.  This struck close to the bone for me as I have proudly not thought for years now.  I have long maintained that thinking usually inhibits my work, making it less fluid and rhythmic.

It’s a hard thing to get across because just in the process of doing anything there is a certain amount of thought required, with preliminary ideas and decisions to be made.  I think that the lack of thought I am talking about, as I also believe Bradbury refers, is once the process of creating begins.  At that point you have to try to free yourself of the conscious and let intuition and reaction take over, those qualities that operate on an instantaneous emotional level.

I can tell instantly when I have let my conscious push its way into my work and have over-thought the whole thing.  There’s a clunkiness and dullness in every aspect of it.  No flow.  No rhythm. No brightness or lightness.  Emotionally vacant and awkward.  Bradbury’s  choice in using the term  self-conscious is perfect because I have often been self-conscious in my life and that same uncomfortable awkwardness that comes in those instances translates well to what I see in this over-thought work.

So what’s the answer?  How do you let go of thought, to be less self-conscious?

I think Bradbury hits the nail on the head– you must simply do things.  This means trusting your subconscious to find a way through, to give the controls over to instinct.

And how do you do that?  I can’t speak for others but for myself it’s a matter of staying in my routine.  Painting every day even when it feels like a struggle.  Loading a brush with paint and making  a mark even when I have no idea at hand. Just doing things and not waiting for inspiration.

You don’t wait for inspiration– you create it.

So, stop thinking right  now and just start doing things.

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Of Infinite Worth

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on April 8, 2014| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Of Infinite WorthEvery situation– nay, every moment– is of infinite worth, for it is the representative of a whole eternity.

— Goethe, 1823

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These words from Goethe give me pause.  I have often thought that each moment, even those multitudes of moments which we seem to throw away like so much trash, has some unique quality that we may not recognize or understand in that moment.

Filled with possibility of discovery and wonder.  Perhaps it is the revelation of a whole eternity captured and represented in that moment, as Goethe suggests.

I suppose the trick then is to give each moment, each situation, the proper reverence and joy it deserves.  A deeper understanding and sense of purpose is offered in return.

Of course, this is the goal.  There will be many moments thrown away, disposed in negative emotions and behaviors.  But if we just try to be aware of the weight of each moment at some point in each day, perhaps it will become habit.  Part of our make-up.

And that’s what I see in this painting, 7″ by 10″ on paper, that I am calling Of Infinite Worth, appropriating the title from Goethe’s quote.  We move on a path that winds forward, taking us  in and out of view of the horizon. Eventually, it brings us to a higher elevation, above distraction, that offers us a clear view of what is ahead.  Perhaps it is a moment filled with eternity or simply a moment to carry with us as we continue ahead.

I could blather on a little more here but I think I should stop and let the image speak for itself.  After all,  everyone might not be looking for eternity this morning.

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Proclamation

Posted in Painting, Quote, tagged , , , on April 2, 2014| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Proclamation By health I mean the power to live a full, adult, living, breathing life in close contact with what I love — the earth and the wonders thereof — the sea — the sun. All that we mean when we speak of the external world. A want to enter into it, to be part of it, to live in it, to learn from it, to lose all that is superficial and acquired in me and to become a conscious direct human being. I want, by understanding myself, to understand others. I want to be all that I am capable of becoming so that I may be (and here I have stopped and waited and waited and it’s no good — there’s only one phrase that will do) a child of the sun. About helping others, about carrying a light and so on, it seems false to say a single word. Let it be at that. A child of the sun.

—Katherine Mansfield

October, 1922, Her final journal entry

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I came across this final journal entry from the writer Katherine Mansfield, who died much too early from tuberculosis at age 35, and thought how much her words fit what I was thinking about this newer painting shown above.  I call this 30″ by 40″ painting Proclamation and the thought and feeling it may be proclaiming might very well be the same as those expressed by Mansfield.

It is a painting that speaks of coming to an understanding of one’s self and stepping forward in the light to show that true identity.  It is at once flawed and beautiful.  Flawed by the scars of attained wisdom and change.  Beautiful because it is honest and real, open to the elements and all who look upon it.  It has become, to use Mansfield’s term, a child of the sun.

I think it would be too easy to say too much here.

Let it be at that.  A child of the sun.

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Phronesis

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , , on March 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers--Phronesis Phronesis… involves not only the ability to decide how to achieve a certain end, but also the ability to reflect upon and determine good ends consistent with the aim of living well overall.

— Aristotle

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This is a new painting, 8″ by 14″ on paper, that I am calling Phronesis.   It’s a Greek word that the philosopher Aristotle used to differentiate practical wisdom from theoretical philosophy.  Phronesis involves putting gained wisdom into rational, measured action, not merely reflecting upon it.  It is the ability to determine where one wants to be– physically, mentally and spiritually– at a future point and how to achieve that goal.  Phronesis employs  theoretical wisdom  and puts it into rational action.

That’s the five cent version of the concept.  And that’s what I see here.   In a calm fashion, the Red Tree has determined its course, which is to be in unity with a greater universal power or spirit, represented here by the breaking sun and the layers of color in the sky.  It has already recognized the universal truths and is now trying to enact them, trying to become closer to the central truth.

It sounds much more complicated than it might really be. ‘Live lightly’ might just as easily get across what I struggle to say here.  That would probably fit the simple composition of this painting, that  spare elegance which draws me to this piece.  In itself, there is a sort of phronesis taking place, as its painting is an action that takes what little wisdom I have gained and allows me to move a step closer to that same goal shown in it.  Peace and light, really.

Well, enough said.

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Purifying Light

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on March 18, 2014| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- Purifying Light smSolitude is the place of purification.

–Martin Buber

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I call this new painting, a fairly large 20″ by 60″ canvas, Purifying Light.  There’s something about the light from the sun here that speaks to me of the burning away of impurities, of purging the darkness with light.  Light is the revelator of truth and truth is the revelator of flaws and impurities.

That sounds a bit too dramatic, a bit too preachy for what I am trying to get across here.  But it’s always hard to get across vague but large concepts.  I think we all possess flaws and impurities that we live with by hiding them in the shadows around us– with half-truths told, hidden histories and diversions that take the light from these flaws.  But at some point, these imperfections always come to light in some form, revealing our true selves, our true natures.

At first blush that sounds awful.  But ultimately that is when and where we find the peace and acceptance of  the truth of our reality– what we are and what we are not.  The light of this truth burns away the weight of those imperfections, like the rust and barnacles being stripped away from the hull of a steel ship.  As the ship glides easier through the water freed from these things that once clung to it so do we move forward, freed from the burdens of our faults.

Okay, there’s a bit of hyperbole here.  But there is something in this piece, perhaps because of it’s large size and strong colors, that inspires a little heightened rhetoric.  It is calm and introspective but with an exclamation point.  And I kind of like that…

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A World To Call One’s Own

Posted in Motivation, Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , on March 10, 2014| 4 Comments »

A World To Call One's Own smMen fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth — more than ruin, more even than death.  Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages.  Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid … Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.

–Bertrand Russell

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I was looking at the painting above, a newly finished  12″ by 12″ canvas, trying to ascertain what it was saying to me.  I was picking up all sorts of symbols from it and was seeing it in from all sorts of perspectives but finally it came clear to me what I was seeing in this piece.  It was the freedom to create our own worlds, to define our own way of seeing and experiencing that world.  That freedom, that need to create my own world, is what always drew me to creative outlets.  It is certainly what drive me in my painting.

I didn’t always like what I saw in the outer world of reality and was usually powerless to change it.  But in my thoughts I could create an inner world that had reason and empathy or at least what I saw as reason and empathy.  It would be a place where these better thoughts could live and grow without the fear of being crushed by thoughtless others, people shackled to ideologies and beliefs that they accept and follow without questioning.  Without thinking.

That’s what these blood-red rows in the fields and the teal mound  and the cascading colors in the sky say to me.  This is my world and there, these all make perfect sense.  It is a place where one is always free to think what they might.  I think that’s why I chose the quote above from Bertrand Russell.  We all too often choose to not think, to just float along with the prevailing thought  of others, never trusting our own thoughts enough to fully live by them.  I know I certainly have fallen into that category in the past.

But we all have our own private worlds of wonder  inside of us if we dare to simply think.

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Brighter Days Ahead

Posted in Quote, Recent Paintings, tagged , , , on February 13, 2014| 5 Comments »

GC Myers- Brighter Days AheadThe future ain’t what it used to be.

–Yogi Berra

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I like winter and winter weather.

Maybe that’s part of the contrarian streak in me. I don’t know.  But even I am kind of surprised at the way this year’s winter has bared its fangs for much of the eastern part of the country and find myself looking forward to warmer weather.  You know, temperatures in the high 20’s and 30’s.

This new piece is part of the series of paintings that I have been working on lately that feature snow as part of the composition.  This piece, which I call Brighter Days Ahead, is on paper and measures 14″ by 24″.  There’s a lot of bands of texture swirling through this piece and a lot of embedded layers of color throughout.  Here in the studio where you can take in the depth of its texture and the contrast between the dark linework and the color, this piece has quite a striking appearance.  I am not sure my photography can fully capture the effect.

There is a real feeling of optimism and warmth in this painting, which gave rise to the title.  The colors of the sky and the sun rising in the center represents a warmer and gentler future, which  is obviously optimistic.  The future should be optimistic.  Anything less means that we have caved in to our fears, seeing only the worst scenarios,   and lost faith in our ability to persevere.

I sometime fall into that trap and follow the lead of my fears.  But history tells us that there are always two futures– those that we imagine and those that we make– and that the two most often are not the same.  Throughout history, we have always seen the worst in the future.  Doom and gloom, the end of days descending on us.  But somehow we always make it past that imagined future and beginning forming the next future to dread.  And it will come and not meet up with our fears.  Oh, it will  not be everything we hope because things, by nature, change and we always resist change.

The future is a foreign land to us and we will never be quite comfortable there.  It might not be perfect but perhaps it won’t be so bad.  Just a bit different.  And if we remember  that, we might even see the sun that will assuredly still be shining above.  And begin imaging a new future.

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