cuteness overload

i have the cutest kitty ever...enough said.

woes not

so yeah im still working on these every day...havent gotten sick of this subject and find something instructive and revealing every time i paint them...especially the failures, many of which ive done this month...not that anyone looks at these or this blog...have been very busy, lots of stuff coming up that im preparing work for and i feel behind, my wife says i say the same thing every time i have shows and end up doing too much...but i really feel behind, and this whole pace will continue until september....ugh, i hope to get a little break in august. my work is being featured in the magazine modern luxury hawaii, http://www.modernluxury.com/, for their summer issue, and i have to attend their party down in waikiki on thursday....all alone probably. i havent seen the magazine yet, but on the editorial page of the website theres a lovely photo of the actress carrie-anne moss. id buy the magazine just for that.

not so exquisite corpse

so my son picked up this puzzle ball from a vending machine when i was out buying art supplies, he didn't know it was a puzzle just thought it was a little rubber ball...but hes a trooper and broke it apart excited by the challenge...until he tried to put the thing together. as we were driving back he complained about the directions being confusing and i joked that it was probably some weird broken translation of chinese to english. i hadn't looked at them, and later when i did i really had a good laugh. these instructions are really a gem...lets all decompose and have some fun!

clouds

i really love the clouds around where i live, against the mountains, ive been taking pictures of the skies every day for a couple of weeks now, and i dream about ufos made from plant leaves and giant square airplanes....

more good news

so, i havent posted in a bit, again, but have been busy. these are what became of some of my little flower girls...good news for me, the hawaii state foundation on culture and arts is acquiring my cloudeaters painting (the one in the artists of hawaii show) for their art in public places collection. hooray! i should mention that the little woman, Geraldine King Tam, who presented me with the award at the artists of hawaii show is the widow of Rueben Tam, for whom the award is named. she called me a few days later and wanted to send me some old exhibition catalogues of her late husband's work, which tickled me because i had been trying unsuccessfully to find out more about him. he was really a fantastic landscape painter, ive been way impressed with his work, especially the paintings he did when he lived in maine. geraldine king tam is a phenomenal artist too, a botanical illustator, so i feel very lucky with this whole experience.

recognition

http://starbulletin.com/2007/06/10/features/story01.html

http://www.honoluluacademy.org/cmshaa/academy/index.aspx

so no images today, but i have a bunch to put up, but silly in the hole me didnt realize i had made it into the local paper for the artists of hawaii show at the honolulu academy of arts. the first link is for the review, the second is the academy website. i wasnt going to write about going to the opening since i mostly had a dismal time. my wife couldn't be there with me, and alone i was a nervous wreck. the little old lady who presented the award to me was all of two feet high and she shouted up at me "YOU LOOK LIKE YOU PAINTED THAT THING!". funny, not too many people approached me with questions, and one of the women who did looked at me like i was crazy when i tried to explain to her what i had in mind with the work. met a great guy, hal lum, really liked his work, he got one of the bigger awards. it was ok, lots of wealthy folks running around gobbling up the free grub and doing the art shuffle that folks do when they are excited about buying a piece of work. they act like theyve won the lottery when they find a work they want to buy, and seem like they would be very happy announcing to everyone their "discovery". after wandering around i spent most of my time in the collections looking at the medieval and early renaissance paintings, there were also two really large masami taraoka paintings that i hadnt seen before that i spent some time with, and a really stunning collection of german expressionist graphic work in the same gallery. there was this etching by otto dix of a dominatrix which blew me away, pig lady with a whip and pistol in fishnet stockings....she could teach me a thing or two....anyway, enjoy the links

march line

sweat

hammock wanted

sprawl

i checked in on a friend's blog where she posted an image of her workstation, and i was tickled when i thought about what a disaster my drawing table is compared to her relatively neat and airy space. so, for the idle and the curious heres a photo of the place i spend many hours each day. i won't embarrass anyone with photos of the painting studio, it's a mess.

snail trails

i havent posted in a bit, not much to say, the memorial day holiday always gets me down, even when the wife isnt off in some war. i think its an odd holiday to have a barbecue, which is what my family does back in tennessee, which is what alot of people do, i guess. well, i like most of this stuff, but it grows.

spook

ill be the first to admit that this painting really creeps me out. funny, i didnt find the photo of the kid creepy, just his mouth.

rump

so, more wild mood swings, not much else, brass fittings and dirt clods

blue

so, devins kempo instructor really ticked me off tonight, i guess he and his family went on a trip to washington dc and got a picture taken with the president. he was just showing off to his students, which bothered me the most, the way people will brag when they meet famous folks. he seemed most surprised that the president wasn't as tall as he thought he was, which says alot about him. i would rather he just taught kempo and not try to impart his philosophies and values every class. its not bad, really, but its definitely the all american variety. as he was describing how nice the president was, i wanted to shout out, "hey, that bastards the reason why my son hasnt seen his mother in a year, show some sensitivity you fuck!" but, all i could do was draw on the sidelines and wait with the other parents. its weird, hawaii swings democratic but these people are really conservative. the instructor then went on and on about how there are so many museums in washington dc, but then he couldnt think of one, not a single one. funny. he remembered that they went to the "place where they make the money" but then couldn't remember what that was called. ugh, just stick to the kempo and send a postcard next time. all the students were given little UN pins, and i still dont know what thats all about.

frazzle

so, i think someone got confused, but the "hot time" title of yesterdays post of work referred to something my wife and i talked about yesterday, about how we just have to slog through this "hot time coming up", meaning our respective summers, hers in iraq, and mine in hawaii. i pretty much count my wife as the only reader of this blog, and the work i post on here gives her a chance to see the stuff im working on everyday, to give her a better sense of my life while shes away from it. its not a nudie thing, and i guess i should have been savvier about the title i posted knowing how bad spam and that sort of thing is. oh well...

hot time

the cat had an adventure tonight, my son left the back door open and out he slipped into the night, gone for several hours, my radar went off when he was near the house, and i went out and there he was, all triumphant. he acts like king of the house now, big cat, ive seen the real world what are you? had a nice long conversation with my wife, feels like months since i had a good conversation with her, we talked about taos and her dad and her grandmothers passing....the waiting game that we are playing...

tides

i had the best dream this morning..among others, despite not sleeping well...i was swimming in the middle of the cold atlantic, its grey, metallic with big rolling clouds low above me. in my ocean dreams im usually frightened of the water, afraid of the monsters lurking in the depths, but in this dream i was totally at ease in the dark waters, and there were these incredibly large waves rolling up toward me, and i thought that these waves would come and submerge me and i would drown, but as the monster wave grew higher it would gently lift me to the top and i was being carried thousands of miles on my back on these great waves, and when that one would pass another would come and carry me further, and this dream atlantic ocean had no end...im a bit tired, ive been watching my son's friend since her mom is having some health troubles.

stream

lots of water flowing today