How frequently do we spend time knowing one of those most important people in our life, ourself. The past few months I have began to question myself on this and how it affects my art. Over the course of the next year I will occasionally reflect on this concept and hopefully the results I share [...]]]>

How frequently do we spend time knowing one of those most important people in our life, ourself. The past few months I have began to question myself on this and how it affects my art. Over the course of the next year I will occasionally reflect on this concept and hopefully the results I share will be of value to, you my readers. Of course I say this only to make transparent the most apperant. That I will post on my blog reflections of myself.

One notable thing that I am certain of is the fact is I need music during creating art. It allows me to relax and when it is too quite it actually becomes too difficult to create. My mind wanders on things like what are they saying in the hallway, or I’m hungry, thirsty and so on. Beyond that I feel I gather meaning, feeling and context to my work through the rhythm and lyrics. Music plays a rich and part of peoples lives and lyrics open my mind to images and keeps me from creatively fatiguing so quickly.

Pizza Hut is out with new box for their personal pan pizza. The retired brown box is replaced with a white one, a symbol for purity. On top of this white box is a golden square and within this golden square, written in red, are the words “Pizza Hut.” Under these words, also in red, [...]]]>

Pizza Hut is out with new box for their personal pan pizza. The retired brown box is replaced with a white one, a symbol for purity. On top of this white box is a golden square and within this golden square, written in red, are the words “Pizza Hut.” Under these words, also in red, are the words “more than just pizza!” I cannot fathom how they have the audacity to inscribe justice on their pizzas and end the statement with a symbolic phallus. How can pizza, presumably an inanimate object, be moral? What pain and torture must these pizzas endure to learn a morality. However, this is greater than putting morality on a pizza. Must I recall, it isn’t only just it is “more than just!” This food is not simply moral it is capable of judgment and more. What is this more, this plus? How does it sentence? Does it sentence in phallic exclamation also? Must you ingest it all to prevent justice being placed on you?

Have I missed something? Yes, Yes, I have. On the side of this box contained in a red frame inscribed in red is the statement “made just for:” Custom justice? How easily is this moral pizza bendable? When does this just pizza break? This is a textbox symbol clanging for our time. Justice for all except when you request a custom justice. Well a least they did not suppose that their pizza was good. Does that mean it issues both evil and good justice? Who is Pizza Hut to even consider that they can create and serve a just pizza. Do they serve it or does it serve them? By what right does pizza feel it can judge us?

A judgment written in red. Red what, blood? Red is so synonymous with blood. How could they write with such a confidence that their pizza is more than just? With whose blood did they inscribe such a morality? A justice of which they are so proud. Displaying it for all to see within an all too symbolic red.

The supreme just and judging eye unblinkingly sits within the worldly square box of purest white. Around the box written about the pizza three times is the “more than just pizza!” exclamation and a total of five times is the pizza referred to as just. Where did this eye learn its justice? Some heaven of course. This supreme eye is presented in a pure and golden box and it’s right to judge written in blood. The circle representing it’s supreme heavenly infinity unbending and continuous in its judging. This circle being divided into four parts has the intent that we may each have a/the piece/peace of it’s supreme perfection. Is perfection devisable among us? Or, once a part is lost is it perfect?

But again should we ingest it’s judgments? We must clearly understand that the blood which exclaimed this pizza was just, and I remind more than just, was not it’s own. However, it’s blood is the fruit of a vine. What can we gather that such a heavenly and divine justice of that sphere became so easily contained by an all too earthly, albeit decorative box, and that box is square.

We know this pizza eye is not a man. Has it a better view to judge us? It is neither vegetable nor meat, grain nor fruit, round, and contained in a square box. What truth may we discern of the justness of this pizza? This question I chewed while I ingested the food. After much chewing I found the pizza box as empty as it’s promises and the pizza’s justice unfulfilling, limited in it’s divisibility, largely symbolic, and over price. This feeling was accompanied by the question, “Is this conclusion exclusive to the justice of Pizza Hut pizza or true of all justice?”

As far back as the artwork of the thoughtful and masterful Egyptians still life was an important of life, or more aptly an important part of afterlife. So the tombs were richly decorated with the items that surrounded the individual in their life. It was believed that food objects [...]]]>

Ménage á Trois, Charcoal, Mix Media

As far back as the artwork of the thoughtful and masterful Egyptians still life was an important of life, or more aptly an important part of afterlife. So the tombs were richly decorated with the items that surrounded the individual in their life. It was believed that food objects and other items depicted there would, in the afterlife, become real and available for use by the deceased.

Ancient Greek vase paintings also demonstrate great skill in depicting everyday objects and animals. Similar still life, more simply decorative in intent, but with realistic perspective, have also been found in the Roman wall paintings and floor mosaics unearthed at Pompeii, Herculaneum and the Villa Boscoreale, including the later familiar motif of a glass bowl of fruit. Decorative mosaics termed “emblema”, found in the homes of rich Romans, demonstrated the range of food enjoyed by the upper classes, and also functioned as signs of hospitality and as celebrations of the seasons and of life.

By the 16th century, food and flowers would again appear as symbols of the seasons and of the five senses. Also starting in Roman times is the tradition of the use of the skull in paintings as a symbol of mortality and earthly remains, often with the accompanying phrase Omnia mors aequat (Death makes all equal). These vanitas images have been re-interpreted through the last 400 years of art history, starting with Dutch painters around 1600.

To honor this rich tradition I am devoting the entire weekend to Nature Morte in my Etsy shop.

Though my primary medium is oil paint, handycraftmanship has a special place in my heart. -I can weave, lampwork, and work in stained glass – Also in my spare time I appreciate the illusive prey of genius.

This afternoon I happen to check out regretsy.com to see that one of the creators listed on [...]]]>

original regretsy.com

Though my primary medium is oil paint, handycraftmanship has a special place in my heart. -I can weave, lampwork, and work in stained glass – Also in my spare time I appreciate the illusive prey of genius.

This afternoon I happen to check out regretsy.com to see that one of the creators listed on there rebranded an item after the original critique. The item is a beaded brooch in the form of a butterfly, or at least attempting to be a butterfly in the opinion of Helen Killer, writer of regretsy.com.

valentinefiberarts not only is a skilled crafter but also a brilliant marketer with a good sense of humor. She took the time to reshoot the brooch and write a branded story of the item. (posted in full below)

Brilliant Brand Moment

Unlike a large corporation, who tries hard to respond quickly, the lightweight of staffing in an operation like this and many on esty.com allows a great marketing comeback and capitalization of this extra attention.

valentinefiberarts had this to say about the situation, “I had fun …the original pictures were a fright, and each day in my head I was going to retake them. Thanks to regretsy I was able to have some fun.”

Even recently I have seen large companies buckle under the weight of extra attention. Spending large sums on touting accolades with ambiguous results that sometimes, at best, look like ego stroking.

In a not so surprising turn of events the item has now been purchased. Someone must identify with being “young at heart and quite different,” and needed “not just your ordinary brooch.” -Sounds like a few people I know.-

Delicate and Sensitive

Take a moment and visit valentinefiberarts who is currently selling beautiful ornament pincushions. You can see that she has great sense of style and skill at her craft.

Poor Butterfly Brooch description

“HANDCRAFTED This little creature has lost and antenni, and seems to have alot going on. He was spotted almost being squashed by a car and then again riding on the windshield. He has quite a personality, eventhough his looks are a bit out of the ordinary…cartoonish character adds a touch of whimsy when you look at him. He loves to travel.

Measures about 1 2/2″ square not counting the antenni and arms. I call it a puff pin, as it has some polyester fiber fill tucked between the front and back. I find the clasp closures to be too bulky for this type of pin, so I use a safety pin. This will be easier to pin on as well.

Great gift for someone young at heart and quite different, not just your ordinary brooch.”

Laugh out loud, right?

PS. Yes, I know handycraftmanship is not a word. It is an idea, a grand idea, that all creators should strive towards.

“Attentive and alert you would not [...]]]> This print of Lindemans, an oil painting by Sabe Lewellyn that already has a home in Germany. You too can now enjoy this art work in your own home via an archival 8X10 inches, 20X25cm. limited edition print. –One of a few made and only available for a limited time.

“Attentive and alert you would not know it is 3:00 am and all day she has walked around the city. At this point you might as well stay up. She will have you in the museums as soon as they open and before that an “exquisite” cappuccino at the café down the street.”

Each print has a white border and is ready for framing. Items are always “Priority” shipped.

Please contact us regarding commissions, or custom work, we would love to create something specifically for you.

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The French intellectual was regarded as having reshaped the field of anthropology, introducing structuralism — concepts about common patterns of behavior and thought, especially myths, in a wide [...]]]> PARIS – Claude Levi-Strauss, widely considered the father of modern anthropology for work that included theories about commonalities between tribal and industrial societies, has died. He was 100.

The French intellectual was regarded as having reshaped the field of anthropology, introducing structuralism — concepts about common patterns of behavior and thought, especially myths, in a wide range of human societies. Defined as the search for the underlying patterns of thought in all forms of human activity, structuralism compared the formal relationships among elements in any given system.

During his six-decade career, Levi-Strauss authored literary and anthropological classics including “Tristes Tropiques” (1955), “The Savage Mind” (1963) and “The Raw and the Cooked” (1964).

Jean-Mathieu Pasqualini, chief of staff at the Academie Francaise, said an homage to Levi-Strauss was planned for Thursday, with members of the society — of which Levi-Strauss was a member — standing during a speech to honor his memory.

France reacted emotionally to his death, with government officials, politicians and ordinary citizens populating blogs with heartfelt tributes.

Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner praised his emphasis on a dialogue between cultures and said that France had lost a “visionary.”

Born on Nov. 28, 1908, in Brussels, Belgium, Levi-Strauss was the son of French parents of Jewish origin. He studied in Paris and went on to teach in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and conduct much of the research that led to his breakthrough books in the South American giant.

Levi-Strauss also won worldwide acclaim and was awarded honorary doctorates at universities, including Harvard, Yale and Oxford, as well as universities in Sweden, Mexico and Canada.

He was down to earth.

A skilled handyman who believed in the virtues of manual labor and outdoor life, he was also an ardent music-lover who once said he would have liked to have been a composer had he not become an ethnologist.

He is survived by his sons Roman and Laurent.