Interstellar Chicks

Interstellar Chicks

New picture

 

 

I just remembered another principle that I Believe In.  That makes three principles.

 

 

Dear Janet,  

 

Now listen, you must stay away from belief statements and politics.  And do not write about family.  No, it is OK to write about family.  Just say that we are all loving and harmonious. And successful. Which is at least partly true.  Listen, Janet, this is a blog,  millions of people have access to reading this.  So don't be stupid, stay away from religion, politics and true confessions.  Think about it,  it is not like you are an expert on these subjects. Just write about the painting process and your garden.  You have plenty of material.  Oh, and no sex.

 

 

Yours truly,

The Voice of Reason

 

 

I just remembered another principle that I Believe In.  That makes three principles.  The first two are compassion and gratitude.   

 

I believe in praying or meditating.  I pray to the Goddess,  because the concept of a female deity is much more acceptable to me than a God.  He is a god of revenge.  Punishment. (John Wayne playing Moses).  She is the ideal mother.  Unconditional love. Every person's beliefs are just intellectual concepts.  Picked up, for better or worse, when we are children.  Or, preached by charismatic thumpers who may or may not have our best interest at heart.  Or, maybe arrived at through convoluted thinking.

 

I refer to Wikipedia again:

 

Religion is an organized collection of belief systems, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values.^{[note 1]} Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the Universe. From their ideas about the cosmos and human nature, they tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle. According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world.^[1]
Many religions may have organized behaviors, clergy, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, holy places, and scriptures. The practice of a religion may also include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration of a deity, gods or goddesses, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public service or other aspects of human culture. Religions may also contain mythology.^[2



So, if there are 4,200 religions in the world, and only one is right??; then, what are the odds that I will pick the right one?  That I would even hear about the right one?

Formal religions are supported by a collection of words related to concepts.  At best they are a weak representation of the unknowable. The words are about the experience of spirit, which is beyond human intellectual comprehension. We can not verbally express  the mysterious vastness of being.  Given grace, we may experience spirit.  If we want to write words about the experience, then, much will be lost in translation. 

I asked myself.  What beliefs will make me feel better?  Contribute to my life in a sustaining manner?  What do I personally believe is good?  Have you ever asked yourself truly, "What do I believe?"  It is a long and winding road to sort out the values of your heart from what you have been told to believe.

I will share with you the prayer that I made up.  I thought of my favorite words.  I had been saying a Buddhist mantra, in Sanskrit words. I thought that words with meaning for me would work better.  I think this prayer repetitiously whenever I can remember to do so.  When a stupid song, that I do not want to hear, is playing on my brain radio, then I replace it with this prayer.  It calms me down from stress. Psychoneuro research has shown that the recitation of a mantra has physiological effects.  The calmness that the meditator feels is a mirror of chemical and electrical changes in the body.  I use this mantra whenever I am worried about safety.    Sometimes I find it running thru my inner radio automatically, replacing the monkey chatter channel that I usually hear. A simple mantra has many uses.  

 

Prayer Mantra of Favorite Words

I love the Goddess of
light, peace and harmony.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Stop in the Name of Love

Stop!  In the Name of Love

 

Stop! In the name of Love.

 

Before you break my heart,

 

before I break your heart,

 

before you break your heart,

before I break my heart.

 

Think it o-o-over.

 

 

 

The words here are a shameless paraphrase of a 1965 song, sung by Diana Ross and the Supremes, "Stop! In the name of love". Written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland.  Motown.  Oh Yea! Over the top fashion. Motown sound, take me away to jiggle dance town.

Guano Crazy

Skull Clown

Digital 2550X3330 pixils

 

 

 

 

 

GUANO CRAZY

 

 

 

You may or may not have noticed that I have that, rather epidemic, disease called Irony Disorder.  I do hope that you picked up on the irony, because other wise you might think that I am Guano Crazy.  I am rather off beat in the head, (a touch of ADD, Attention to a Different Drummer),  you know, just the normal confusion of living in an upside down culture.  Slightly demented but not Guano Crazy. You believe me, don't you?

 

There is normal crazy and Guano Crazy.  Guano is bat shit, it collects in the bottom of bat caves and makes excellent plant fertilizer.  I try to avoid the bat shit crazy people, because, crazy is contagious.  Having a few crazy as feces, work mates, neighbors, family members, and living in a social milieu of folks just hanging on by their fingernails,  means that I do have contact with rather high levels of psychosis.  When the stress level gets toxic, I get in my car, drive around and scream. I stay on roads that I know well, without too much traffic.  That is pretty effective, it lets off steam and in the car I will not disturb the neighbors.  I reserve the screaming for when I need to exhale some very unbalancing vibrations.  For just plain, I cant take it anymore crazy, I work in my garden.

Well, at some point I realized that I had to put up with some guano or I would be really lonely.  What is the point of being sane if you cant share it with anyone?  You believe me, don't you?  Mostly I am happy.  Positive thinking with a healthy sprinkle of denial helps.

The one thing that I really do believe in, the one principle that clarifies my mind, is the  practice of compassion.  I think too much and cant really pin down any other ideal.  Compassion says it all for me.  Simple but not easy.  If I find myself being judgmental, I think about all my stupid mistakes.  I have a more than few memories that put me right in my place.  That place not being very high on the well adjusted list. 

It is spring here in the Louisiana boonies, so far in the sticks that we pipe out sunshine.  I over ordered from the plant catalogue.  So, I must get dirty almost every day, to get seeds and baby plants  in the ground before it gets too warm. My garden is where I feel most peaceful. 

Oh, wait, I remembered another principle that I Believe In.  That makes two principles.  I try to practice gratitude.  I do have so many things and people who make me thankful.

 

 



 

 

Elvis, Hoss Head

Digital painting

 

 

 

Elvis Hoss

Digital painting, revisited

 

 

Is There Sex After Death?

There is sex in heaven.  I know that it is true, because I saw it on television.  It was a beautiful documentary with butterflies and flowers, or maybe it was a drama. 

Also, in case you missed it, the Weather Channel, TWC, said that the apocalypse is coming, so I went out and bought a gun. 

 



Gotta go,  I haven't watched my programing programs yet today.

Victory

 

Two Riffs on Winged Victory of Samothrace

Recent digital paintings



Victory!  Victory! Winged Victory makes visible the elation of overcoming obstacles.

The beautiful statue of Victory of Samothrace celebrating the Greek Goddess Nike, is justifiably one of the most recognized and admired art works in the world.  In the Louvre she is stunningly placed on a majestic marble stair landing. She can be worshipped from a distance, from below and from above. Look at the movement of her.  Stone made into ideal flesh and blood.  An emotional epiphany.  She is both gliding, flying and at the same time grounded.  I am grateful to be able to compose a riff of this beauty.  It is a pleasure to study her masterful drapery, and her body language. Spending time, painting her, stimulated my mind to contemplate the delicious promise of victory.

 

Victoire de Samothrace

Photograph of the stature in the Louvre

 



 

Belushi Bacchus

Oil on canvas, 36"x48", 3/13/2013

 

 

 

 

 Belushi in Paradise

 

John Belushi does not live here anymore.  He moved to Heaven on March 5, 1982.  He enjoys Paradise better than Earth, but at times, he misses the sweet exciting static of Saturday Night Live.  John's special powers are his mesmerizing dancing moves and the ability to zapp his enemies with humor until they fall down in helpless hysterics. 


All the Gods and Goddesses from all times and localities live together harmoniously in Paradise.  All live peacefully except for the gods of war.  Tlaloc, Athena, Muhammad and Jehova and their ilk find many enemies with which to tangle. The Holy Spirit, Zeus in the position of CEO of Heaven, commanded that the warriors are only to war with willing participants.  "Leave the peaceniks alone".  Also the warring area is restricted to the Jousting Arena.  No trees, art museums or other environments will suffer from the devastation.  War in Heaven is in one significant aspect different from war on Earth.  No one dies.  That's right folks!  No grieving moms, widows or orphans left behind.

The Greek god of wine, Dionysus lived many hedonistic years on Elysian Fields Avenue.  After about two thousand years of burning the candle at both ends, he outgrew self indulgent behavior. He made an afterlife change and began a rigorous meditation retreat with Sidhartha Guatama Buddha. The pantheon position of  Holy Wild Liberator was left vacant.  John was ecstatic when Zeus elected him to the position. John took the Roman name, Bacchus. 

You can see that Belushi has been buffing up at the Olympus Health Club.  Elvis, looking very fit himself, is his trainer. Elvis, as the manifestation of the Hindu God, Hayagriva, looks more handsome than ever with a horses head.  His sexy snarl and molasses voice have not changed.

 John is in training for another Mission from God.  The Holy Spirit has commanded this mission:  Bacchus shall refrain from meddling in human affairs for most of the year.  He is allowed to incite hedonistic behavior only for Mardi Gras, and maybe important birthdays and maybe big celebrations.  Bacchanalias are to be restricted primarily to holiday bashes.

 Humans need to be goal oriented and guard their chi most of the year, so they should worship Demeter, whose powers are, giver of food,  mother goddess, nurse, moral justice, and legislator.  She presides over sacred law and occasionally enacts divine retribution. Hmm, divine retribution, that means if you are really bad she will get you.  Don't piss off  Demeter.

The Holy Spirit named these new behavioral guidelines, "The Balanced Life".  He encourages humans to express their orderly, socially responsible side, and only occasionally let their wild side out of the basement.  

This picture has captured Belushi Bacchus one evening just as the party is just starting to roll.  He is tweeting, "Hot blooded humans invited now to the Burning Ends Festival.  6969 Desire Street, NOLA."  Phrasing his invitation in euphemistic code so that only the cogniti  understand.

Painting the Picture

 

This image has been my friend for more than a year now, giving me plenty of time to think about what it represents.  Deities may be seen to represent certain human needs, desires.  They are guiding stars.  The Greek deities are known for bad behavior.  Bad God, bad God.  (Isn't the similarity between dog and god funny?)  Zeus and Venus are known for their erotic episodes.  Zeus raped Leda.  Cronus ate his children. They meddle in human affairs and cause chaos.  Greek gods, along with most all gods, encourage war,  they order their humans to kill the infidels.  In most wars both antagonists claim to have god on their side. 

 

Note to self: focus, focus.

 

This picture started as a digital image.  I used Caravaggio's masterpiece as a model.  It is a humbling activity to redo a classical painting. Trying to paint after a master artist makes me aware of my limited skills.  But the act of copying parts of the masterpiece challenges me to improve.  Redoing a classical picture is like a performer singing, reinterpreting an old, much beloved song.  I make an interpretation of an ever popular picture.  So much classicalism is relevant today, some basic human attributes do not change.  To make the painting "now", I add current props.  I doubt that Carravagio ate bananas (are they from South America, which was not yet exporting to Europe at the close of the fifteen hundreds) .  The banana is a Warhol reference.  Parts of the drapery reminded me of O'Keefe. 

 

Speaking of Bacchus, Wikipedia says,  He is also the Liberator (Eleutherios), whose wine, music and ecstatic dance frees his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subverts the oppressive restraints of the powerful

In Freud speak Bacchus is lord over the id.

 

I began the oil on canvas painting about six weeks ago. To begin,  I printed out references,  my digital Bacchus, Caravaggio's masterpiece, pictures of John Belushi, and some chest shots of hunky males. The canvas was preprimed and stretched.  I sketched in the major lines with conte crayon.  I did the first coat of paint with burnt sienna acrylic paint.  Switching to oils, the color was deepened and blended (which is a specialty of oil) and I painted details.  Belushi's chest hair was styled by Dancing Brush. Some areas got pattern rather than realism. In a few spots I used the tiny sable brush.  I photographed the canvas and put it back in photoshop.  I touched up the photo, because I am not such a good photographer. I rock with photoshop.  The oil paint is drying now.  I want to change some things, but, at some point the work must be abandoned.

 



 

Kindred Spirit

 

 

 

 Circus of the Moon

Digital Painting, completed about a year ago

 

 

 

KINDRED SOUL WITH A THOUSAND EYES

On Monday, the first day of the work week, when I valiantly try to pull myself together, and when I try to organize confusion and rectify regression,  I phoned Hughes Net tech support.  We had been unable to get on the internet, something wrong with the connection.  We were unable to find out the latest exciting adventures of Kim Kardashian and Paris Harlot.  We were unable to buy more stuff,  from the comfort of our own home. I think that there is a little space left where we can stuff more stuff in the closet.  We were loosing track of our Facebook friends, what were they having for lunch?  Did they take a picture of their shrimp and oyster po-boy?  This was serious, something must be done.  

After finding the Hughes phone number, dialing, navigating the labyrinth of which button to push, getting a real person to talk to,  validating that I am really myself, being transferred, validating that I am me, being transferred, and assuring that I am still myself (by this time I was beginning to wonder if my multiple personalities were acting up again), I connected with Gandhi on the phone.  Gandhi is not his real name, I am sorry to say that I did not catch his name, but we will call him this most honorable of names. 

As I followed his directions, Gandhi, in his beautiful voice, walked me, patiently,  through various computer maneuvers. I followed directions and was soon ready to test the internet connection.  As my phone partner and I waited for the home page to open, I asked him,  "Where are you?"

"India."
"I am in Louisiana" spoken with the imperialistic assumption that he knew where the disaster and corruption state is located.
"How is the weather there".
"We have had too much rain, but I think that the sun is coming out.  Early spring is here, the huckleberry is blooming".
"Do you like nature?", Gandhi questioned.
"Yes, nature is important, it feeds the soul.  OK, the home page has loaded".
"OK, now see if it can pull up a web page."
I think, click for a web page.  Then say, "I am pulling up Wikipedia."
"That is unusual, not many people use that site".
"Not everyone is curious". I laughed.
"Ahh," he paused, " my father taught me,  'A person is born with two eyes, but, if he is curious and if he reads, then he has a thousand eyes'".
I thought, I processed words until the concept dawned, "That is wonderful,  I want to tell my children about that".
"I told my daughter, but she didn't listen".
"Some things are the same, the world over".

Wikipedia loaded.  We rang off with sincere thank yous.  I felt a bit warmer and happier. I wished that I had caught his name. I thought about the distance between us, and the differences in our situations. I thought about our voices traveling thousands of miles instantaneously. It was a chance, ephemeral meeting of kindred souls.  I wished that I had asked him to pull up my blog. If he left a message, then we could continue the dialogue.  I wished that I had said, occasionally, maybe, I wish, you/I speak wisely, perhaps it will come back to the children, in a few years, when they are ready.  See, you remembered what your father said.

 Jagger Devil

 

 

 

 

 

Mick Jagger as the Devil

How convenient it must be to believe in the devil!  To have a locked closet in the dank basement of your brain, where you banish all that you think is wrong.  Deny that it has anything to do with you.  How satisfying it must be to package evil in an isolated box that you can hate in all your self righteous holiness.  Yes, what a good idea.  A great idea. What a concept, what a neatly organized system.  I think that I will believe in the devil. I believe!  Eureka!  My mind is so uncluttered.  The confusion has lifted.  Hallelujah!

 

 

 

 

 



 



Idealist

Enlightenment

As I look and move on the Earth, I see beauty in nature.  Coming forward is the idiosyncratic Zen nun version of my being.  My eyes receive the gifts of strong trunked trees, filigree leaf patterns, dappled sunlight. My eyes are small, but my sight is large.

Idealist

An unrepentant idealist, I mingle with fellow humans, I receive my daily programing from the fear box. And I want to know, "Why are we so screwed up?".  Idealist, that I am.  Seeing potential for productive, creative existence on Earth.  Longing for peace and harmony.  I dare to wish for enduring happiness. What could we accomplish if we were truly sane?  What if we cooperated?  What if we raised our children in safe harmonious communities?  What if we did not have to whore for the almighty dollar?

How much human labor actually contributes to the well being of people?  And how much labor is just miserable slavery?  How many of us are bean counters?  Why do we need so much insurance?  There are more bookkeepers than organic farmers.  Health insurance salesmen make more than the nurses that actually deliver the care. Well, I really dont want to get into an extended rant right now.

If we could focus on raising our children to fulfill their potential for the highest and best good of all, we would have a better world in only 20 years.

Call me an idealist.  Some will call me a fool.  Why waste my brainwaves on the impossible? 

I should turn on the TV, there is an acute need to update my programming.  I should go shopping.  Get a bunch of new stuff.  Max out the credit card.  Renew the stress of debt.  Then I will be willing to do whatever useless shit the boss master tells me to do.  Then will you call me a fool?

Little Ole Man

 

Little Ole Man

 

 

 Sourpuss

 

 Here sits the pensive child.  Two years old, he has been on Earth for 730 days. He suckled mothers milk, then was prodded to graduate to  cows milk in a cup.  Perhaps suckling is the most comforting of human activities.  Could it be that in his short life he has already lost the most satisfying gem of experience?  Did he find nirvana at his mother's breast?  He will have no memories of very early age, but may spend the rest of his life with nameless longing.

 

And before that, before the breast, floating the womb, what were his feelings?  Is it true as Otto Rank theorized that uterine life is blissful, that the pain of squeezing through the narrow vaginal cave is the original fall from grace?

 

The ground of the px is a tangle of twigs.  A map of life full of dead ends, cul de sacs, and proceeding the wrong way on a one way street.

 

Over his right shoulder levitates the cherubic Balloon Girl.  Yes, there it is, love and joy, awaiting the right time, the right action, the right person, the right mental attitude, and a lot of luck.

 

Woman Poem

The mouth of her womb

her pleasure center

is a bleeding wound.

 

Each of us entered Earth

through this door.



 

 

 

 

 The little Ole Man, seven hundred thirty days his handlers have molded his behavior. 

 

 Looking like a wise and discouraged old man.  Looking thoughtful, pensive.  How many lives has he lived on this twisted planet?

 

 

America the Beautiful

America the Beautiful

 

 

This picture is a visual metaphor for the unrecorded collateral damage caused to Americans by American war.  Bombs bursting in air.

In this picture, a cherubic brother and sister walk through a heavenly landscape.  Overhead insectoid helicopters threaten to spit death.  Usually, our death machines spray brown people.  Here we see blue eyed, blond children to illustrate that when America goes to war, we also damage ourselves. The unseen damage done to returning soldiers and their families can be as great as the war kill body count. Domino effect collateral damage is not factored into the official war losses.  Soldier suicide rates are high.  Who is counting the suicides that occur after discharge?  Widows and fatherless children suffer immeasurable damage.  Post traumatic stress disorder in soldiers emotionally cripples  the men for the rest of their lives and distresses their families.

This visual metaphor works for me and I hope that it works for you. 

I must thank the amazing British graffiti artist, Banksy for this inspiration.  Thanks Banksy!

I think that really civilized people would find ways to solve problems without resorting to barbaric war. 
 

The body count is only a small part of the expense of war.  Money is the smallest part of the expense.  Unrecorded collateral damage to the "American conquerors" is horrifying.    The domino effect of collateral damage, applies not only to the country that is invaded, but also to the invaders.

 

My hairdresser, Angelle, is a foster parent angel.  She took in a one year old baby, call him Sam.  Sam's father had been deployed to Iraq.  After his military service,  Daddy returned home with an intact body.  One week after discharge,  he blasted a terminal gunshot wound to his head.  Sam's Mommy, in hellish grief, turned to crack.  Using the drug she created for herself a hell on earth.  She found this drug hell preferable to the hell of grief over the senseless death of her husband.  Sam ended up in foster care.  His only stroke of luck was to get Angelle as his foster mother.  Sam was developmentally retarded, from sharing two levels of hell with his Mom.  It took months of Tender Loving Care from Angelle to help him trust again. 

 

Daddy did not show up in the body count.  Mommy was not counted.  Even with a good foster mother,  Sam will have emotional challenges that last his entire lifetime.  These tragedies do not show up on any balance sheet.  But, they are the heartbreaking domino effect, collateral damage cost of war. 

 

This is a clipping from Wikipedia:

       U.S. Army report indicates military veterans have double the suicide rate of non-veterans, and more active-duty soldiers are dying from suicide than in combat in the Iraq War (2003-2011) and War in Afghanistan (2001–present).^[11] Colonel Carl Castro, director of military operational medical research for the Army noted "there needs to be a cultural shift in the military to get people to focus more on mental health and fitness."^[12]

 

This bears repeating  "More active duty soldiers are dying from suicide than in combat in...current wars."  WHY? What does this mean?  Young men enter military service to patriotically fight for their country.  Next they commit suicide.  What happened?

 

Mental health?  Does the Colonel mean that you should have a good attitude to kill?  How does that work? 

 

I just do not get it!  Why do we have endless wars?  None of the answers make sense to me.  There must be another way.

 

Do we war for petroleum?  Disgusting reason.  Then let us stop all the caffeine fueled driving around in circles.  Do our cars run on blood?  The blood of murdered enemies?  The blood of our soldiers? The collateral damage blood?

 

They tell me that Saddam Husein had to be killed.  I don't get it.  How many lives did it cost?  Husein murdered his own people and raped the environment.  For nine years we murdered Iraq people and sent our sons to death and raped the environment.  Are we the good guys?

 

Then there is the argument that we must  show strength in order to scare off the bully countries.  Something like that.  How is it worded?  Is this true???  We out bully the bullies? Is that a sane intervention?  What about the tactic taught in good martial arts classes?  Just having the strength is enough, it is not necessary to use it.  We are not really civilized.  We are barbarians.  We are not very highly evolved.  Really civilized people work out their differences without resorting to violence. 

 

We patriotically protect our way of life, they say, that is why we bomb brown people.   But, we are over consumers, wasteful and arrogant and our children are spoiled.  We protect a way of life that uses resources like tissue paper.  Our homes are constipated with consumer goods produced by slave labor in third world countries.  Our greed knows no bounds. Should people die to support our gluttonous way of life?

 

Don't get me started on a rant.

There must be another way.

There are some good things about America.  Good people.  Beautiful scenery.  Free speech.  I am exercising my patriotic  right to free speech.  I love my country but hate war.

 

 

OK,  I must go now.  I am going shopping, even though I already have too much stuff.  I dare you to open my closet doors.  Don't forget to wear a helmet for protection when all the junk falls out.  I must have the very latest T-shirt and jeans. My old jeans are so last year.  I will max out my credit cards.  It is the American way.  I am a good patriotic consumer supporting the economy.  The debt that I incur will insure that I continue working my bull shit job, and continue contributing my stressed filled labor to the American way of life.    Wrong.  Ironic black humor.

 

America the Beautiful.  Where is it?  How does it work?  How can we make it better?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Madonna for Primates

 



Madonna for Primates

 

 

 

Detail

 

 

Finally, a compassionate mother goddess for gorrillas and apes.  Animals have rights too, you know.  They have needs and emotions similar to humans.  No longer must they settle on worshiping a human Madonna, finally they have a representation from their own ethnic group.  A gorrilafication of their deep need for unending, all accepting mother love.   Apes, gorillas, and even monkeys, can meditate on this image and feel their hearts expand with the warmth of perfect love.

 

All they need now is a primate friendly church.  You may send a donation for the Holy Gorilla Tabernacle of Devine Primates Building Fund to my address.  Be generous. 

 

This is the digital picture that I am working on now.  Madonna for Primates, continues the themes, the series of Mary is My Muse, and The Persistence of Worship.  Religious mashup is the name of the game.  I am really trying to be respectful of religion, but the devil made me do it.  I mean, I think that a lighthearted approach to religion is helpful.  No disrespect intended. 

 

This px continues my artistic research into deep religious needs.  It illustrates that love is cross species.  Love flows through all cultures, ethnic groups, and many species. 

I have seen a mother cat hug a kitten.  The kitten was separated from her mother for about twenty hours. You could see that they were joyful to be reunited.  Mama cat lay on her back, with baby on her stomach, she hugged the child to her chest.

 Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall taught us much about love in primates. 

 

 

 When painting,  I continue to chase beauty.  The hues here satisfy my hunger for color.   The shapes compose interlocking circles, similar to a spiral.  You may see spiral composition in some of my other pictures.  Madonna, roughly a pyramid shape, is stable, grounded and protective. 

 

Halos, as I have mentioned before, offer room for poetic license.  Madonna Primate wears a halo which is a translation of the famous rose window of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris.  The top of the background borrows from a Clarence John McLaughlin photograph.  The bottom of the loosely interpreted jungle scene uses a vintage botanical print for reference.  This was a beautiful print until I started messing with it.  You can still identify the Venus Fly Trap and Pitcher Plants. The smiles of the mother and child are entirely my fault.  No one else should be blamed. 

Hey yall,  leave a comment, I want to know what you think.  Hate it? Love it? Indifferent?  Please let me know how you react to my babbling and dabbling.

 

 

 

   

Altar Alter

 Alter Altar 

 

 

 

 

Alter Altar with Bleeding Jesus

 

 

 

  Balloon Girl

Detail.  One of my cherubs

 

 

 

 

Bleeding Jesus and Buddha

Detail

 

 

 

Lucky Dog Cherub

 



Monkey, Hanging Out

Detail

 

Lessons from Jim Jonestown

Ganesha Kaleidoscope 

Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles

Ganesha in Blue

 

Lessons From Jim Jones-town

An extreme example of religion hijacking the deep needs of humans

Led by evangelist Jim Jones, nine hundred American people performed mass suicide by drinking cyanide laced kool aide, on November 18, 1978, in the jungle of Guyana.

How can this happen??? I know that people are crazy, but this boggles the mind.  Women gave their babies poison, and then took their own dose. NINE HUNDRED.

An extreme example of religion hijacking humanity's deepest needs. An example of people who were searching for answers, community, spiritual elation.  People who wanted to know how to do the right thing.  People who wanted to be told how to do right.  They wanted a saintly leader.  Jim Jones hooked into these needs and led them to mass suicide.

Recently I watched the documentary,  "American Experience: Jones-town The Life and Death of Peoples Temple", PBS.  I ordered the video from Netflicks because I was curious as to why 900 people would die on the command of a religious leader.  This continues my artistic research into, The Persistence of Worship.  I watched the video and saw that it had significance for my subject, so I watched it again and wrote notes.

Mothers gave their babies the poison, watched them die, and then took their own lethal kool aide.  Real life, worse than a horror movie.  How can this happen?  What does this tell us about being a human?  For on some level we are all mostly alike, sharing the same DNA, the same cerebral hills and valleys.  We may say, "Oh, I would never do that."  But we do not know what we would do in extreme circumstances.  Only six of the congregation escaped into the jungle.

Yes, I am sure that we all consider ourselves more mentally healthy than the pitiful followers of a psychopathic preacher.

And, I guess, most of us are more healthy.  People who are vulnerable to cult behavior do not have a strong and workable belief system, so they welcome a charismatic, authoritarian father figure, to tell them what to believe and what to do. They want their life to have meaning.

I have heard that  some people have good parents.

That is what I heard, some people have good parents.  But, I have come to think that parenting is impossible to get perfectly right.  There are to many factors involved in life on earth for anyone to get it exactly right.  Really, we just dont know what to do.  We are confused and ignorant and wonderfully wise.

Denial, better known as positive thinking, does help. It is better not to think about it to much.  It is better to go rake the leaves. I think that I will make a pot of jambalaya.  Chicken and sausage with jasmine rice.

 Most of us are still searching for perfect parental love. Searching for the person who will celebrate our faults. We tend to project our image of the perfect father onto preachers and Gods, (celebrities and royalty).. We see the longing movies of our minds on the screen of a person who demonstrates a few of the characteristics for which we are searching. 

The human condition, the conundrum is that we know so much, but we are unable to answer the biggest questions.  We have a need to know.  Jim Jones hooked into deep basic needs, just as any religion does.

We want control, but life can knock us down with surprising disasters.  We are buffeted by Biblical intensity weather.  Tomorrow is uncertain.  You, I, us, our life could be wiped out on the road this afternoon.  Any of us or our loved ones could disappear forever due to a very small blood clot. We can loose our jobs.  The list of blows is endless. Religions offer the impression that people may pray to God, perform rituals, and have some control and  protection.

How much of our activity is exerted in order to distract us from these hard, mostly denied truths?  We manage to live.  Even to thrive.  In spite of our ignorance. Denial helps.


Loving and creating is the best revenge. 


Here is what Wikipedia writes about the psychology of cult followers:

Under Langone's deliberative model, people are said to join cults primarily because of how they view a particular group. Langone notes that this view is most favored among sociologists and religious scholars. Under the "psychodynamic model", popular with some mental health professionals, individuals choose to join for fulfillment of subconscious psychological needs. Finally, the "thought reform model" states that people do not join because of their own psychological needs, but because of the group's influence through forms of psychological manipulation. Langone claims that those mental health experts who have more direct experience with large numbers of cultists tend to favor this latter view

At the same time, she adds, labeling a group a "cult" makes people feel safe, because the "violence associated with religion is split off from conventional religions, projected onto others, and imagined to involve only aberrant groups."^[49] This fails to take into account that child abuse, sexual abuse, financial extortion and warfare have also been committed by believers of mainstream religions, but the pejorative "cult" stereotype makes it easier to avoid confronting this uncomfortable fact. 


Yea, you may die this afternoon.  No, I cannot tell you, no one can tell you, what the fug you should do. No one can tell you, they may give you hints, but really no one knows.  Bad shit happens all the time. But, many  wonderful things can also happen.  Other people give us the gifts of their love and attention.  We often obtain our goals.  I did not say that it is all bad.  It is crazy, wonderful, sucky bad, delicious  good, all mixed together. The agony and the ecstasy, so intertwined, so very twisted.

Paintings from the "Persistence of Worship Series"

 MARY AND KRISHNA

Oil on canvas, 48"x36", 2012

YOSHODA AND JESUS

Oil on canvas, 48"x36", 10/2012

 Yashoda and Jesus

Photograph of painting on easel

 

 Paintings from the Persistence of Worship Series 

 In my blog from August, I documented the painting on canvas of Yoshoda and Jesus.  After that blog I painted for a few more weeks.  I intended to document finishing the painting, and, I took some pictures but they did not come out well.  The pictures here show the completed painting, a photographed version and a digitally enhanced version of the photo.  Since the August  documentation I mainly changed the face of Jesus.  And did several days of detail polishing. 

 The finished work is a visual feast on canvas,  intriguing images in sumptuous color. My son said,  "It looks playful, inspiring.  I think that it means something, but I dont know what? "  Which shows that he does not read my blog. He is too busy, raising a family. I liked his uninformed feed back.

Don Marshal,  New Orleans art royalty at the Contemporary Arts Center said that my work is "fresh and edgy".  I thank him for that. 

After the painting was finished I took the photo and worked it in Photo Shop.  I am better at digital painting than photography.  So the whole process went like this,  I first created the digital image, made a print and used it as a model for the hard oil on canvas, then photographed, then worked again in digital.  I am resisting the urge to touch up the canvas again.  Art is never finished, you just move on to the next project.

I re-posted the Mary and Krishna, in order to have the pair, Mary and Yoshada, in close proximity.  These two pictures are an artistic epiphany.  Following my muse, I often do not know where she will lead, I get an idea for a picture and toss it around in my mind for a while.  Some of the work is done while I am sleeping.  The Persistence of Worship Series, has been a interesting vein to mine.  The words come after the pictures.  The concept is verbalized after the series is in process. The series has motivated me to examine my personal belief system, and scan the history of world religions. Artistic process as a form of research.  Introspective research combined with not very rigorous historical research. 

The Mary and Yoshoda pictures, (switched at birth), illustrate, to put it into a nutshell, "The universal human need to give and receive compassionate, nonjudgmental love."
 

I AM CONFUSED, IS THAT A PROBLEM?

When, in my last post, I said that I am an admitted stupid human, I am referring to the humankind predicament of not knowing.  Our not knowing of the most important big questions.  "What am I?  What should I do? Will Katrina come back?"  The human race experiences a constant, mostly unconscious and denied, insecurity,  because these questions are never empirically satisfied. Personally, I am blessed with a fairly sharp intelligence and abundant creativity but must admit that I am missing a few marbles.  Oh, well. You may have noticed the missing marbles part.  I blame it on ADD, Attention to a Different Drummer. 

Clipboard Notes

 Random Musings

Question Everything!!!  It is a Quest Thing!

Soul is the same, the world over.

Take me to your lier.

If you are bored, then be grateful.  Your mind is an empty house and the world is full of furniture.

Auntie Mame said,  "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death."

I think that greed is a big problem in this market fueled culture.  Our problem is to distinguish between our needs and our wants. 

When did shopping become the highest endeavor of human kind?

I am confused.  An acknowledged case of normal human stupidity.

There are many positive aspects to organized religion.  I am thinking about making a list.  Steven Johnson listed a few benefits of church attendance.  I only caught the end of the program.   He said, on Book TV, and I paraphrase, "Feeling of being a part of something larger than oneself.  Feeling of working to make things better.  Feeling of the sublime."

Yashoday and Jesus, oil on canvas

August 9, 2012

 

 Yashoda and Jesus

Creating Something that has Never Been Seen Before

A Picture Totally New to the World

Painting Process Documentation

May, 2012.  My muse has been leading me down a golden path of visual exploration and discovery. For many years, I dallied with graven images of ancient gods and goddesses. I began to see that celebrities inhabit the Hollywood pantheon of early twenty first century chaos. So, I wrestled with the features of celebrities. Following Queen Muse, step by step, I came to the place were celebrity faces inhabit the bodies of deified concepts. Celebrities were matched and mated with ancient deities and pictures created.  Belushi Bacchus,  Angelina Medusa,  Oprah Cleopatra, (Cleopatra not technically a goddess, but close enough).  

I thought, who is the biggest celebrity of all times?  Mary Madonna became my muse.  I gave her a modern day makeover.  Her look was sooo unfashionable. 

In May this year, I discovered that Jesus and Krishna had been switched at birth in an alternate reality. I visualized the two pictures and started working them with Photo Shop. 

August 9, 2012.  I start the Yoshoda and Jesus painting on canvas on a quiet, overcast day. The creation of this image began earlier when I made the digital version.  I print out the digital version and use it  as a draft, a reference, a study.   The first marks on the 36"x48" canvas are conte chalk,  to map out the primary lines.   I do measurements on the study,  to translate the proportions to the canvas. I have dyslexia for the measurements, finally I guesstimate placement.  I have a nice studio where I can work, mostly undisturbed, in a beautiful setting.  An estimate of the hours that I work in the studio is 30-40 hours per week.  I do Photoshop almost daily.

August 12.  After the third day,  I have the main areas of color blocked in.  The dogs,  Harpo and Princess Fou Fou, hang out with me.  When it rains, almost everyday, the weather cools slightly, and I open the two sets of double doors of the studio, the north side looks onto a small scraggly lawn and trees, and the west side looks into the Louisiana jungle.

 I work all over the canvas.  I use large brushes first and work my way down to tiny red sable brushes for detail. Brush techniques include lines, scrubbing with the ragged bristles of old brushes, scrumbling (which was a favorite of  Monet),  dancing brush, and lots of glazing.  I want the style to be painterly, but often that desire is overruled by the wish for fine detail in some places. The small brush is annoying, I consider changing my style.  I wont change, I like this style. It is pop art influenced.

There are many Yin/Yang decisions to be made.  Painterly vs detail.  Realistic vs expressive design.  Saturated exciting color vs elegant muted tones.  For the past few years I have exploded with saturated colors.

 August 16.  Continuing to paint all over the canvas, I refine and define.  I think that my current style looks like vintage illustration for children's books.  My Mother read to me when I was a child and I read to my children. I give my grandchildren books.  This is one of the best things that a mother can do for a child. "The Color Kittens", was a preschool favorite of mine. It taught me the color wheel early. I was tuned into color as a baby, I remember.

I just gave you advice on child care.  That correlates with the interest in mother and child icons.  This image is a visual metaphor for the human longing for joyful, comforting, totally accepting, supportive, heavenly, motherly love.   The use of figures from different cultures emphasizes that this longing is global, a desire of all humans. The image comforts us because it portrays ideal compassion.

Even excellent mothers sometimes let their children down.  It is the most challenging job in the world. The care of children gives us a second chance, to attempt the creation of perfect love.

Here is a vast generalization;  Mother love is accepting, father love challenges us to be better. We need both the Yin and the Yang. 

 August 17.  The digital version of this image has a camellia flower for an aura.  Aura's allow lots of  room for play.  I used to see aura's in time past, when I was doing a lot of meditation, fasting and yoga. When in an altered state, I saw lights around people.  Somehow, I have moved away from those spiritual practices.  I always plan to get back to it.  But, I would rather paint and garden.  Maybe next week.

I think that you might call me an explorer of inner consciousness.  This is part of my artistic practice. 

August 18. Auras appear as ethereal, transparent, colored light; with flow, movement.  Here I made large halos with floating flowers.  The digital study has a tree, here I put the figures in heavenly clouds.

The baby face really does not please me.  I change the features many times.  But, still trying to get it right.  I wish that I could paint better. 

Weather remains hot,  but if I dress lightly, I like the doors open.  Love bugs land on the canvas, while doing a flying fuggle.  The love bug season comes every year to Louisiana.  They can be annoying, their gism gets tragically splattered all over our cars.  They come in swarms.  But, what an inspiring reminder that this creature on this amazing Earth, exists simply to do the Flying Fruggle.

 Adjusting placement of features, and detailing take a lot of time.  Pleasurable time.  I like the clouds, they get better everyday.

To be continued

MARY AND KRISHNA

MARY AND KRISHNA

Oil on canvas,  36"x48", July, 2012

This continues the themes of  "The Persistence of Worship", "Luminous Femme", and religious mash-up.  Previously I published the digital version of this px, which I used as a study for this painting on canvas.  In the digital version I used a cosmic Hubble image for the background.  When I started painting I blocked in the Hubble image, but as I painted I saw this fiery aura developing.  So, I went with the biker tatoo inspired aura.   As I work, I often see unexpected things happening with the paint.  These surprises are one of the things that keep me making art, year after year.  

So, this fiery aura appeared,  woven by the paintbrush in my hand.  This is no soft ethereal aura, it is a blast of strength.  It is an explosion of fire. This is a visual metaphor for a spiritually strong Goddess.

Paring the Christian Mary with the Hindu baby Krishna continues the religious mash-up vein that I have been mining.  The companion piece, "Yoshoda and Jesus",  indicates that Jesus and Krishna may have been switched at birth.  A harassed nurse switched the little bead name bracelets on the babies.  It seems that someone in the hospital nursery would have noticed that the pink complected baby belonged to the pink complected mother and the blue complected baby belonged to the blue complected mother. Oh well, glitches worse than this have occurred in hospitals.

Anyway, these two paintings are companions.  I am currently painting the Yashoda on canvas.  One might wish that companion paintings look similar.  One can wish all one wants, but the brush has a mind of its own.  The Yoshoda painting is coming out all ethereal, light and airy, it is developing heavenly clouds.  While the Mary px is fiery and earthy.  Maybe that is the point?? Yin and yang, the interweaving of opposites.

I am taking photographs of the Yoshoda as I work.  Will try to document the step by step, creation of the painting.

Keep those cards and letters coming, folks. (Dean Martin).

Yoshada and Jesus

Yashoda and Jesus

 

According to  Hindu myth,  Krishna was born to Devaki. He was conceived without sexual union, by "divine mental transmission" from the mind of  his father Vasudeva and into the womb of Devaki.  The couple's first six children were killed by Devaki's brother King Kansa because prophecy foretold that one of the children would kill him. Before the birth of Krishna,  Kansa locked Devaki and Vasudeva in prison. Krishna was born in prison and secretely taken to foster mother Yashoda for protection. Yashoda is often portrayed as his mother.

Lets look at this.  Krishna was born without sexual union.  A King wanted to kill him.  These are parallels with the story of Jesus.  Even the unusual birth places, a prison and a manger have similarity.  Hinduism is older than Christianity.

Joseph Campbell studied and wrote about comparative mythology.  He found similarities between creation and salvation myths all over the world, in many different cultures with different religions.

Here is what Wikipedia says about Campbell:

As a strong believer in the unity of human consciousness and its poetic expression through mythology, through the monomyth concept, Campbell expressed the idea that the whole of the human race could be seen as reciting a single story of great spiritual importance

 

Its ultimate meaning relates to humanity's search for the same basic, unknown force from which everything came, within which everything currently exists, and into which everything will return and is considered to be "unknowable" because it existed before words and knowledge. 

Myth fulfills basic human needs, the needs based on the human condition of not knowing. In the words of Gauguin, the not knowing, the source of deep insecurity, are derived from these mysterious questions,  "Where do we come from?  What are we?  Where are we going?"

In my recent art work I have been mashing up, mixing up, different religious stories.  I have switched the characters around.  Mary is holding Krishna and Yashoda is holding Jesus. 

Here is Reggae musician Bob Marleys take on this subject:

One Love, One Heart
Let's get together and feel all right
As it was in the beginning (One Love)
So shall it be in the end (One Heart)
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right   

Gauguin's oil painting,  "Where Do We Come From?  What Are We?  Where Are We Going?"

Peace, Love and Art,

 Janet