Contemplate Fruition

I painted two new abstracts on recycled cardboard last night. I've been packing up a lot of my artwork and collected art to get ready for the move. I'll be officially moving to my new home tomorrow. I wish I were a bit more excited. I'm as excited as I can be. Yesterday also happened to be the day that I finally told the singer of my band that I am done with playing nothing but cover songs (other band's/group's songs). The whole thing was turning into a hectic experience for me. When we first started, we learned about twelve songs and practiced them a good dozen times. Then, we learned ten more songs and practiced those a dozen times each. Our singer had told me that we could get by with playing 22-25 songs but then he changed his mind and decided that we "needed" to add 10 more songs to our set-list. Then, when I spoke to him after our gig last Saturday he said that the manager of the club told him that he didn't like the fact that some of the songs we played scared away some of the customers (there wasn't that many people there to begin with). So, our singer took to heart what this "manager" said and then decided that we "needed" to learn 20-30 more songs in order to appease the stupid public/venue/crowd/masses. It would not have bothered me so much if we had a decent amount of time to learn and practice the new songs but our singer was feeling a crap load of pressure from the drummer and bassist to constantly book more gigs. So, he naturally transferred some of that pressure onto me. I don't think he did it intentionally but nonetheless he did. I just want to get back to writing/recording the original songs that the singer and I were working on. I see no point in delaying the recording of our demo for the sake of pleasing a bunch of drunk people at a bar/club. There are more than enough cover bands that do that already and have been doing so far longer than we have. I'm not interested in winning the "respect" of a crowd of extroverted, wanna-be bohemian, non-thinkers! And I mean that with as much love as possible. :-)

Ouch My Ears

Orange Cactus Fruit

I've been going through a serious transformation lately. All artists/people do eventually plateau and evolve a bit more. I do wish I could explain it but for right now I cannot. In other news, I will be moving to a new place next week. So far it seems to be a peaceful residence with more room for me to grow.

I am sketching out a ton of concepts for new abstract paintings. I believe I will start incorporating some text within my paintings. Perhaps some numbers as well. For now, here are two still life sketches I whipped up earlier today.

Always Be Yourself

Surprise, Surprise

Letter From Myself

Blinded By Frames

I have avoided posting much due to other obligations becoming quite irksome. Yesterday, a large piece of the frames of my glasses broke off and the right lens popped out. I didn't mind at first but then remembered that I have no spare pair and became a bit infuriated. I went to the eye care place where I originally purchased my glasses to see if they could fix the frame or replace it. Of course, they could not replace the frame because they said the lenses are too thick to fit in any standard sized frame and even if they could find a replacement frame it would end up costing me $100-250 of which I do not have. After an hour or so of shaking my fists at the sky and cursing the heavens, I attempted to super-glue the lens and frame back together. It took a while and some assistance from my Dad but the super glue proved sturdy enough. The only downside is that now the right lens is very crooked and very smudged. I almost feel as though I am wearing beer goggles. I do realize there are bigger issues and far more important things to complain about but right now this is something that is personally affecting me. I just want to wave my hands over my eyes and instantly rebuild my optic nerves.

On the other hand, this semi-blindness has given me a small dose of inspiration.