I know I've been off the radar. Obligations and a burst of creative energy and opportunities. Also, a MacBook death. Mine. RIP. No, I didn't back up the data. Yes, I have learned that "backing up" is not limited to something you do in the driveway. My bad. Virtually (no pun intended) everything I have created or written or photographed over the past 15 years is gone, not to mention all the legal and personal documentation. And information. And passwords. Gone. As in GONE. I felt as if my entire (creative and personal) life had been foreclosed upon.
The hard drive has simply vanished or been corrupted or is looking for the real killer of OJ Simpson's wife. Don't know. I've moved on. Had to. I screamed, I cried, begged, I pleaded and then I surrendered. Your friends and your family are far more important and many of them are in my thoughts as they go through health related, life changing issues.
And then, a funny thing happened on my way to getting a new MacBook a few days ago. When I plugged in my iPhone, it seemed to retrieve and recognize a lot of data that I thought was missing forever. I am slowly rebuilding my (computer) life. Strangely enough, images of avatars of many people on OS are showing up on my new MacBook. People like Placebostudman, Amanda G (is that the name you are going by now? ;) ), Nick Leshi, Pretend Farmer, Fusun, Gwen Cooper and Dave Cullen to name a few. How you got there, I don't know.
Photos that I thought were gone forever (including those from the OS Las Vegas meetup last summer and a number of other get togethers ) are back and have found a new home! I swear I'm also finding images that seem to belong to somebody else. A lot of cats. I mean a lot of cats.
Your avatars are reminders that even though I don't have the time right now to spend on OS, that you are still a part of my life. I'm under a lot of stress with painting deadlines for various venues and upcoming projects and shows. Some are fun and whimsical and others make me proud to be an artist, showing with others whose work I deeply admire.
I've been playing around with words and combining them into paintings for a cool show I have been asked to participate in next month in Los Angeles. If I can swing it, I'll be out there for the opening reception, but I think I may have a timing issue/conflict with a gallery in Miami where I am slated to show as well. Both shows open the exact same day.
If only I could be in two places at once, I'd be painting and spending more time on OS or be in Miami and LA on the same day. It could be worse. It's not. Life is good. More or less.
In honor of Memorial Day, I had a little fun with the concept of Craigslist and the fact that posts often get flagged there. So I pulled the reverse and call this "Craigslist Advisory." It's Latex and Acrylic on Plexiglass (my new favorite surface to paint on):
With summer on its way, I created something bright. This is called "Ritualistic":
"The Big To Do" pretty much says it all:
"Take a Walk on the Wild Side" is another piece on Plexiglass. It (along with five other pieces that were recently commissioned) will make its debut in a pretty prestigious venue within the next two weeks. I'm hoping one of them it will catch Robert DeNiro's eye:
And so will this piece which is titled "Always Rises to the Top" (Chantilly):
"Three Square" will be keeping company with the other two above:
So, as you can see, I have a lot on my mind. This is called "Grey Matter":
All of these pieces (as well as a few others), have been created in the past three weeks. I told you I've been busy. Which explains why I haven't been around to read or write. Self portrait, (painted a few years ago) below:
For now, I guess I'll just have to let my art speak for myself.
Happy Memorial Day everyone!
To see more of my work, visit my website by clicking here.
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Comments
I like Chantilly and the self portrait.
{[R]}
and yes great piece and work..Love the self portrait
rated with hugs and relieved you are okay
Oh...and like Sheepdog said...Clooney is only #3?
The To Do list is in proper order. You need the oil change to drive to the airport where you'll present your renewed passport before flying to Italy where you'll do George at his villa.
computers....
i love ritualistic.
Interesting set of paintings too. Most of them look like there's a lot more than meets the eye.
PS. I am very sorry for your MacBook loss. I have USB's all over my house, all of which have my different works in various stages! Though I do need to back up my photographs...
As for your Mac, I feel your pain. Lost all of my photos at the beginning of the year and it took me months to get over it. Now I back up like a clogged sink! Every week, at the end. Do it religiously. It also helps to have all of your blog pieces on a sturdy platform like WordPress or Blogger (not just OS.) That way your writing is safe, for the most part.
But your creative juices were obviously nor stolen or destroyed. As always, your paintings stand tall and strong, certainly worthy of anybody's praise and admiration. good luck with ALL your shows.
{{{R}}}
good luck with the shows!
~R~ for relevancy
Thanks for the beauty and the thought.
As someone who has been spending a LOT of time on Craigslist lately, I LOVE the first painting. Your self-portrait is pretty cool too.
Lezlie
Contents of hard drives, on the other hand. Often can be retrieved. If you know someone into computers who you can trust, take it to them. Often you can remove a hard drive and retrieve the information on it. There are companies that will do it also, for a hefty fee.
Now, let me remember to back up mine! I haven't for quite a few months now. Good luck!
Best thing about being an artist is, you can't loose that. You just create more and it just flows. Yours, anyway. Nice to see you around the hood again.
I want one of your paintings. I commented on FB; there was a deep cobalty blue one. Love "three square" here.
But most of all I want to walk into your studio with a few choice OS friends be handed a wine glass from your paint splattered hands, inhale Syrah and varnish all at once and look at what's new (THEN buy one).
And if technology had but one neck, some days, I would thromble its beheissimus to the inch and beyond. And revert to walking sticks, the one true and lasting technology.
Your paintings are beautiful, Three Square makes me want to touch it. It's so velvety and lovely. Thank you.
Going to your website now.