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Happy Trails

Posted in Music, Painting, Recent Paintings, Video, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 24, 2014| 3 Comments »

GC Myers- Happy Trails smI finished this painting, a 10″ by 20″ canvas,  over the weekend.  Every piece has a different feel in process.  Some are struggles, not wanting to show me a way through to the finish.  Every decision and move must be really scrutinized.  Some show me a way but leave me uneasy about my choices until near the end.  And some, like this painting, open wide and invite me in, the process feeling almost effortless.

This painting felt right from the moment it went on the easel.  The composition fell together easily and the colors meshed immediately which left me feeling as though I was simply along for the ride.  Not painting but rather just observing it coming together.  It’s an interesting feeling and one that is highly desirable, at least for me, as the resulting work usually feels naturally free and easy.

And for me this piece has this feel.  It flows easily and the warmth of its colors and the rising elevation of it gives me a sense of joy, as though it represents a desired destination, an endpoint to a long journey.  You always hope that your journey will end well and this piece is symbolic of that hope.  I call it Happy Trails.

Some of you of a certain age will probably immediately associate this with the theme song  of  film and television cowboy Roy Rogers , written by his wife, cowgirl Dale Evans.  Those of you of a slightly younger age will probably think of the song that Van Halen with David Lee Roth used to end its shows.  And those of an even younger age will probably just think that its a catchy title.  I fall into the first group, having watched reruns of the Roy Rogers Show on Saturday mornings as a kid, mainly because we only had a couple of channels.  Plus, I did like Trigger and Roy’s sidekick, Gabby Hayes.  And the theme song which ended every show.

It’s a catchy and pleasantly warm song.  Its feel and title fit this painting well.  Here’s a lovely version that I found online from a gentleman on a ukulele named Patrick Hildebrand Sr. from the Amazing Music Store in Pacific Palisades, California.  The uke’s warm tones and his pleasant voice fit this song well.

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Strange Affair ( Kind of Redux)

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , on February 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers Strange Affair 2010I had this video, Strange Affair,  on the blog about four years ago and just wanted to share it again.  Good sound for a cold and quiet Sunday morning.  Plus the image that I used to accompany the post (a painting that is, of course, titled  Strange Affair)  is one of those images that both sticks in my mind and meshes well with June Tabor’s beautiful interpretation ( accompanied by one of my favorites, Martin Simpson, on guitar) of the Richard Thompson song.

There’s something stark in both the song and the painting that appeals to my sensibilities.  A sort of joy found in certain moments of melancholy.  There was a moment like that last week when I was walking through the woods to the studio.  It was extremely cold with the sky a flat gray slate and there hardly another sound other than the trudge of my footsteps in the snow.  It seemed like such a bleak and sterile moment but then a single snowflake drifted down, dancing delicately in the air, and I was suddenly filled with a joy that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.  It wasn’t happiness.  Just the joy of feeling connected to the world in that moment.

Joyous melancholy.  A paradox.  A strange affair, to be sure.

So, pardon me for showing this image and this video again.  It was four years ago  after all.  Enjoy and have a great Sunday.

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Boss Guitar

Posted in Music, Video, tagged , , , , , , on January 22, 2014| 2 Comments »

Wes montgomery- Boss Guitar album coverIt’s a frigid winter morning with  temperatures below zero and a fine gray mist of snow filling the view from my studio windows.  It would be easy to mope around on a morning like this but I am in the mood for something light.  Airy and alive.  I flip around looking for something thta fits the bill and settle on a little Wes Montgomery, the late jazz guitarist who died way too early and was one of the most influential players ever, spurring on guitarists of many genres with his distinct playing.

You can easily see the unusual stance of his right hand as he plays, splayed out and set in one position against the body of the guitar while his ultra-flexible thumb does all the dancing on the strings.  It was said that he had a corn-like callous on his thumb that acted as a pick, the hard parts of providing sharper tones and the softer parts the more mellow sounds.  It’s the style of a self-taught artist, which I appreciate.  That and the fact that he, much like BB King, could not read music. Amazing.

Wes Montgomery died in his home in Indianapolis from a heart attack in 1968.  He was only 45 and at the peak of his career.  Makes you want to take advantage of every moment, not knowing what you will leave undone when your time comes.

Here’s a track called Jingles from Wes Montgomery in 1965.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

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New Year’s Day

Posted in Music, Video, tagged , , , , , , on January 1, 2014| 4 Comments »

GC Myers- "Observers" 2013

GC Myers- “Observers” 2013

Well, it’s New Year’s Day  2014.

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.

Anyway, enjoy and have a happy New Year.

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A Little Respite

Posted in Music, Video, tagged , , , on December 15, 2013| 1 Comment »

Winter Weather mapA 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.

Have a great Sunday…

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Happy Plateau.

Posted in Biographical, Music, Painting, Technique/History, Video, tagged , , , , on November 21, 2013| 2 Comments »

Explorer- GC Myers

Explorer- GC Myers

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…

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Off to the Show

Posted in Current Events, Music, Video, tagged , , , , , , on November 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

GC Myers- Forever and EverI 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!

 

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I Will Dare

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , on November 3, 2013| 5 Comments »

GC Myers-The Song We Carry smAs I have noted way too many times lately, I am in the midst of getting work ready for a solo show, Alchemy,  at the Kada Gallery in Erie that opens in two weeks, on November 16th.  With just a week to go before I deliver the work to the gallery there is still a lot to do.  I am finishing up photography on the paintings, matting the pieces on paper, varnishing those on canvas and staining frames.

It’s tedious and takes me away from painting so it’s one part of my job that I don’t really enjoy too much, outside of that moment when I see a painting for the first time fully presented.  Especially those pieces on paper.  There’s something quite magical about the transformation from the image itself on a bare sheet of watercolor paper to seeing it in its mat and frame.  It’s the difference between seeing a gem stone on a tray or in a beautiful setting.  The gem is still lovely outside of the setting but the setting focuses it, holds it up for the world to see.

So, tedious as it may be, it has to be done and I am off to stain and varnish this morning.  By the way, the painting at the top is The Song We Carry and is headed to this show as well.

I thought this would be a good day to hear from one of my favorites from back in the day,  The Replacements from the early 80’s.  This Minneapolis band was tremendously influential on the music of the 90’s, especially the sounds that came to be known as grunge or alternative rock.  This song, I Will Dare, is from their 1984 album, Let It Be.  Good sounds to start a working Sunday…

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Led to Gold

Posted in Favorite Things, Music, Video, tagged , , , , on October 30, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Michael Mattice hand and strings from videoI’ve written several times here over the summer about my friend Michael Mattice‘s  debut album,  Comin’ Home.  It has been really well received here and abroad,  drawing great reviews from a number of different venues. Below is the first video from the album of the song, Led to Gold, a favorite of mine from the album as it really highlights his abilities on the guitar.  The video has a few DC landmarks recognizable to most as well as the lesser known but  no less spectacular Great Falls, just above DC on the Potomac.  It’s a really well done video to a strong song.

It’s been interesting watching Mike’s creative arc over the past several months.  In September, we spoke at length about the ebb and flow that comes with creativity, especially in how the public reacts to it–overnight success is seldom as quickly gained as it appears on the surface,  I advised that he not be too swept up in this waxing and waning in the short-term and we both agreed that  patience and trust in your own abilities and vision are key to maintaining your course.  If you stay true to your vision, people will come around eventually.   And in Mike’s case, I believe this absolutely true.

Hope you’ll enjoy this!

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Stranger in a Strange Land

Posted in Biographical, Early Paintings, Favorite Things, Influences, Music, Personal Mythology, Video, tagged , , , , , , , on October 20, 2013| 3 Comments »

GC Myers Stranger (In a Strange Land) -I featured an older piece here on the blog last month, a painting that was considered my Dark Work from around 2002.   The piece shown above is another of these paintings and is one that I have always considered solely mine.  I very seldom consider a painting being for myself only but this one has always felt as though it should stay with me.  It is titled  Stranger (In a Strange Land) which is derived from the title of Robert Heinlein’s famous sci-fi novel which in turn  was derived from the words of Moses in Exodus 2:22.

The landscape in this piece has an eerie, alien feel to it under that ominous sky.  When I look at it I am instantly reminded of the feeling of that sense of not belonging that I have often felt throughout my life, as though I was that stranger in that strange land.  The rolling field rows in the foreground remind me just a bit of the Levite cloth that adorned Moses when he was discovered in the Nile as an infant, a symbol of origin and heritage that acts as a comforting element here, almost like a swaddling blanket for the stranger as he views the landscape before him.

As I said, it is one of those rare pieces that I feel is for me alone, that has only personal meaning, even though I am sure there are others who will recognize that same feeling in this .  For me  this painting symbolizes so much that feeling of alienation that I have experienced for much of my life, that same feeling  from which my other more optimistic and hopeful work sprung as a reaction to it.  Perhaps this is where I found myself and the more hopeful work was where I aspired to be.

Anyway, that’s enough for my five-cent psychology  lesson for today.  In short, this is a piece that I see as elemental to who I am and where I am going.  This one stays put .

Here’s a little of the great ( and I think underappreciated) Leon Russell  from way back in 1971 singing, appropriately,  Stranger in a Stranger Land…

 

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