I keep shifting directions with this one. And I know it looks like a flower, but it’s supposed to be the sun, and that’ll be more clear when I finish it. Anyway I had an idea, sat down to draw it out, and it changed to something else, and now that I’m at this point, I’ve refined my first idea to fit in with this and I’m going back. That’s the way things go sometimes. I always say to trust the very first thought that comes to mind about things… easier said than done.
I usually have pretty loose ideas when I do work, but I’ve been kinda fascinated lately with something I’ve read in a couple different Carl Jung books, most recently in “The Earth Has A Soul,” about his travels to Taos, NM, and visit with the Pueblo Indians, and is in itself a simple concept. Here’s a small excerpt to get to the point:
As I sat with Ochwiay Biano on the roof, the blazing sun rising higher and higher, he said, pointing to the sun, “Is not he who moves there our father? How can anyone say differently? How can there be another god? Nothing can be without the sun.” …
“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.” -Henry David Thoreau
Following up my recent fiction book post, this is a paper cutting I did in 2008 of my favorite author, Sherwood Anderson, posted originally in that same year (see all posts relating to Sherwood Anderson HERE). I added the color in photoshop with the thought that I could emulate the neon psychedelic style of Victor Moscoso, whose art I admire greatly and has inspired me in major ways and is now one of my facebook friends — that blows my mind a little bit. I posted about him back in 2008 HERE. I digress. My purpose for posting this is to pass on a link to one of Sherwood’s short stories, and maybe one of the most powerful short stories I’ve ever read: Unlighted Lamps. He has an amazing way of portraying the inner psyche of each of his characters, which I love.
By the way, he died from a stomach infection after accidently swallowing the tip of his toothpick that broke off in his martini. Drink carefully, friends.
I can’t get these round shapes and details out of my head – sort of symbolic of the sun. There will probably be many to come over the next couple months…
1. Part of my bookshelf
2. Candide by Voltaire
3. The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis
4. Winesburg, Ohio (all time favorite) by Sherwood Anderson
5. Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
6. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
I like to bend the corners of the pages to mark where I’m at. I also like to underline and make notes. I also like how books look and smell. Long live books in print…
Started off today with a back-road drive back to my home-base from my hometown before sunrise — my favorite time of the day.
Lots of printing & cutting & mailing to do today. Thanks ya’ll for your orders over the weekend. Sending off a wholesale order to Finland, a couple packages to Denmark, one to the UK, and stateside to Michigan, South Carolina, Texas & New York. It’s kind of cool seeing where my art goes geographically.
Also working on some paper cuttings for the upcoming Mid-Winter Art Fair. But first, enjoying a quiet hour on my couch with a cup of coffee and my laptop making weird colorful animated images… Til next time.
“There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you ….. In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.” -Ruth Stout, Kansas born author
