No. 1: Positive Beats Negative: Unique Potential - Art is Like a Pair of Jumper Cables

Today is Sunday. Traditionally for some, a day of reflection and introspection about who one is in the realm of larger things.  And so it is for me today. A listening to the Inner Voice.

The Journey of Completing 120 Paintings to learn about the Artistic Endeavor and the Creative Pursuit starts with the first painting, Number 1. I am going to suggest that I completed that first painting four months ago.

Herein are two energetic tales connected four months apart. In this exposition, the end comes before the beginning. I shall entitle the first tale "The End" as you, dear Reader, shall soon discover why.

The End. On March 14 of this year, my wife was working late at the office. When she went out to start her vehicle to return home for a late dinner, the battery was dead. She noticed that an interior dome light may have been left on for a protracted period, perhaps even due to the daytime play of our beloved five-year-old daughter who enjoys pretending play in the car in the driveway at home with open windows and her dollies placed and buckled in the carseats. My wife ruminated that was the cause. She called me and I ventured downtown to offer an assisted start with well-known black-and-red jumper cables. We were able to get her home for a late dinner in a fairly straightforward manner.

After use, I placed the cables on the front passenger seat of my vehicle. The next morning, when I transported my very observant five-year-old daughter to day care, she noticed the cables and asked "What are those, Daddy, Chomper Cables?" That expostulation tickled my fancy! But where did that come from? 

I surmise that she had heard her parent's phone conversation the night prior and not knowing the details of the event in her innocence, had kept her quiet repose at the time but had attached some thwarted meaning to partially heard words with which she had no prior experience. She held any commentary in reserve at the time. When she was able to visibly see the cables the next morning, however, it all came together for her. Her memory of the conversation was immediately assisted by the now visible objects draped over the seat in front of her declaring their ferocity with copper teeth and she was able to attach her word label to the event. See for yourself. The interface clamps ARE armed to the teeth in an anthropomorphic sense. Jumper cables. Chomper cables. I get it.  ;o)

Original Photo: Chomper Cables - Copyright James E. Martin 2012

In March 2012, I was attempting to move towards understanding the discipline and effort required for a Daily Painting initiative. No small feat amidst a busy schedule of multi-tasking and numerous projects on my To Do list. The above-mentioned photo was a still life arranged by me after the comic event to instill some artistic meaning to those recently humorous anecdotes into otherwise mundane objects utilized in our daily lives. One of the genres I have noticed about the Daily Painting initiative is that the artists may select objects or scenes from their daily lives to practice their skills, approach, or develop a style. The genre clearly and concretely illustrates their Creative Pursuit while expositing the stories and script of their world perspective, their life's Journey and therefore their Artistic Endeavor.

Original Painting: Chomper Cables - Copyright James E. Martin 2012

It was a different experience for me as well to document this rather simple anecdote and potential memory in this manner. As the Reader will note in my now re-constituted blog history, I stopped my daily art blog entries two days later on March 16 and, at the time as I thought best, removed the history from the web. Too much going on at the time with some critical events that required my complete focus and attention. Art was laid aside. The blog was laid aside. Perhaps as a permanent decision. It was a sad day for me. "Chomper Cables" was my last painting in my first 90-day period of ramping up to an un-declared Daily Painting initiative. It was my end. So now, dear Reader, we shall return to the the second related tale.

The Beginning. I have been thinking recently about re-starting my art journey with some trepidations. I intend to re-frame the next part of my artistic journey by declaring to myself to paint 120 paintings to pattern my progress in a new phoenix. Of course, it's obvious that the declaration is now shared and is not at all a private one. The saga continues.

Last week offered mid-summer seasonal hot weather and high humidity. As I was dropping my young daughter off at day care, I returned to my vehicle and it groaned a bit at start-up. I got it back home to the driveway in prompt recognition of the matter and attempted two more ignition starts in a safe haven and it failed to turn over at the second try. I needed a new battery.

My dear wife had been up late at home and again early with work-related endeavors, and we agreed that I would use her vehicle that day to share a breakfast at a local restaurant, and I would drop her off at work and use her vehicle to settle my battery replacement endeavor. Sounded like a great plan. Later, I proceeded to a well-known department store to acquire a battery but they no longer carried the items in inventory. Darn. I left the store to proceed to another well-known department store that surely must have the desired item. Unfortunately, my wife's vehicle failed to turnover at start-up in the parking lot heat with what seemed to be a dead battery. No pre-indicating symptoms! Just a clicking of the solenoid. Yikes. Two vehicles down and now far from home.

I purchased a 350-amp quick starter from the department store hoping it might just offer enough margin to get me going. No such luck. Requires 48-hours of charging to enable effective use as per nominal warnings and instructions. Rather than call emergency roadside service, which by the way we have, and wait for an indeterminable time period for rescue in the heat, I decided on a Plan B to walk the perceived considerable distance to a known battery store, lug the battery home, and at least get my first vehicle going. I could return later to revive the second vehicle.

As I started out on my journey homeward in late morning, admitting to myself that I didn't really have any otherwise truly urgent business to attend to or to re-schedule and could work this solution at my discretion, lo and behold, there was an unanticipated battery and tire store in the proximal area. Returning to Plan A to get her vehicle restored, I purchased a battery for my wife's vehicle, borrowed some jumper cables from the friendly store manager, and proceeded back to my wife's vehicle in a rather short stroll to execute a jump start without changing out the battery per se. It didn't work. I tried everything, checked my assumptions, and then tried it again. I went into the department store and bought a couple of tools to change out the battery, surmising that perhaps the cable interfaces needed cleaning. I switched out the batteries to no avail. The vehicle wouldn't start. Could I possible have an even worse and more expensive problem with her vehicle? Although it crossed my mind that the new battery might be defective, I concluded that it was a quite remote probability. But the clicking solenoid and general car symptoms were sure acting like a weak battery. I called my reliable car mechanic to see if there was anything I wasn't thinking about. He affirmed that I appeared to be covering all the possibilities.

I decided to return to Plan B and get my vehicle at home repaired. I set out to walk the journey in the heat, taking some water bottles with me, and called a neighbor for a possible transportation assist to pick me up, purchase a new battery, and get me home to switch it out. The neighbor was able to assist after a food shopping maneuver and eliminated a long potential walk for me with some of it lugging a heavy battery. I revived my car late afternoon and returned to revive my wife's vehicle in early evening. My vehicle promptly jump-started her vehicle with our reliable chomper cables.

Yikes! I had been given a potentially defective new battery. What are the chances of that? What are the chances of three bad batteries, one of them brand spanking new, in the same morning? After starting my wife's vehicle, I returned the defective battery, had it tested, pronounced defective by competent authorities and calibrated measurement devices, then replaced the unit, and all was back to normal with two now operating vehicles after a long day's endeavor.

The Moral of the Stories. Of course, dear Reader, this a somewhat round-about long story of two interconnected, jumpered tales to get to the moral. You have been so patient with me to get this far in the stories. My last completed painting was four months ago of a pair of "chomper" cables where "Positive Overcomes Negative". I deliberately and literally put away the paints and supplies. Four months later, I started thinking about reviving my commitment to the art blog and Daily Painting activity, and I encountered three dead batteries in one day!  The chomper cables were involved but weren't the main character in the second story. The tale of "A Defective Energy Source" is one of remote probabilities not daily occurrences.

Perhaps the morals of the stories are tried and true. (A) "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again."; (B) "Check your assumptions and run them to Ground [pun intended]"; (C) "Carry emergency and rescue equipment with you"; (D) "Don't Ever Give Up the Ship"; (E) "A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed".

But all in all, I would like to think that Painting Number 1: "Positive Beats Negative" is where I would prefer to start my "120 paintings" journey of discovery. It is therefore an Alpha. But it is also an Omega. It is where I left off "Once Upon a Time...." [and all good stories start that way...].

I am not yet ready to declare for myself that the Artistic Endeavor and the Creative Pursuit are my sole reliable energy sources. To be realistic, I think that assertion would be a potential defect in my overall energy commitments and understandings at this time. But I have concluded that Art is a jumper cable in my life's path. It is a very important part of how I see the world around me and is part of that perspective. It connects the energy sources that I tap into and that I have relied upon and keeps the energy flowing among the necessary imperatives. And it is therefore required in my vehicles. And I have concluded that Art, in the form of the Artistic Endeavor and the Creative Pursuit, needs to be ready, available, used frequently, displayed, talked about, drawn, painted, and represented as a part of myself in my Daily Walk and in my Life's Journey. No. 1: "Positive beats Negative" is part of my Unique Potential. Now that's a decent moral to the stories. The moral is "Art is like a pair of Jumper [Chomper] Cables". It helps definitize one aspect of Unique Potential. Who would have guessed that I would learn these things over four months after painting a fairly mundane, straight-forward, serendipitous painting? And that I needed to deliberately lay Art aside for a time to find that I could not Leave It Be unless I would deny Self. Not me, to have planned these things, please be assured.

The journey of 120 paintings begins. My eyes are wide open and my ears unstopped. My legs are a bit weary and unstable but I will put one foot in front of the other. My heart and mind are in it. I am "chomping" at the bit. Ouch.

The Old Homestead: An 1896 Farmstead

I lament the loss of old New England. Much of the farming landscape, along with the homesteads and barns, the stone walls, the old fruit orchards, and the lifestyle, has gone the way of the past. We had the good fortune a number of years ago to buy a small 1896 farmhouse that had been updated. The barn was long gone and the woodland and fields sold off to developers for modern cookie-cutter living abodes. We found out from a local old-timer that we had purchased the original "Jones sheepfarm".

Once upon a time when I was much younger, I had wanted to have a self-sufficient farmstead. In my older age with occasional aches and pains, I surmise that due to the prolonged and extensive manual labor required for a successful farming enterprise, I would only be able to sustain a farm in my dreams...and I now encourage only the fantasy role of being a gentleman farmer...essentially limited to pointing my finger and getting someone else to do the actual work. Regular yardwork, remodeling, and personal landscaping has become my limit. And as hard as it is, it's so much easier to paint! The paint is still wet on this one.

Original Art: Newborn Lamb - Copyright James E. Martin 2012

Springtime is a'coming. Because of my longstanding interest in the subject matter, I might expect rural and farming content to be part of my artistic genre in the future.

Harbinger of Spring: The Crocus

This is my impressionist rendition of the crocus photo provided a few days ago.

Original Art: Harbinger of Spring - Crocus 01 Copyright James E. Martin 2012

For signature attribution, lots of time spent on the (E)xpression of the image. The (i)nsight was provided by the photo and the formulation of the approach in this (j)ourney was rather straightforward and progressing from recent findings and lessons learned.

The Creative Pursuit: Loosen Up to the Opposite Extreme

The last study from yesterday's blog entry was a darker somewhat monotone palette consistent with the subject matter of Hoarders and Spendthrifts in a subterranean Purgatory pushing bags of Accumulated Wealth up a hill in the moonlight.

Today's study brightens the color palette more consistent with the Impressionist legacy and selects still another position and posture from Gustave Dore's engraving for Dante's Inferno.

"Justice of God, ah! who heaps up so many; New toils and sufferings as I beheld?; And why doth our transgressions waste us so?" Dante's Inferno Canto VII, lines 19-21

Original Art: From Dante's Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise

Wealth and Fortune - Heaps Up So Many - Study 04  Souvenir of Dore

Copyright James E. Martin 2012

I like the color value and shade-shape modeling of the money bag much better and may use a similar approach in the larger work. The original color values that I used in the larger work for the bags of wealth were much too dark even for a subterranean aura with reflected hellfire and lost a lot of feeling and impact so they were scraped down and left until I identified a better alternative in the studies. Not convinced yet of the body color values for the context.

It's taking a little longer in this Journey to get this Artist's hands to execute towards the Artist's vision in the head and the Artist's feeling in the heart. Getting it all in Alignment.

The Creative Pursuit: Trial and Error

So I attempt a different pose from the several in Gustave Dore's engraving for this portion of Dante's Inferno and change the palette.

"For all the gold that is beneath the moon, Or ever has been, of these weary souls, Could never make a single one repose." Dante's Inferno Canto VII, lines 64-66

Original Art: From Dante's Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise

Wealth and Fortune - Under the Moon - Study 03  Souvenir of Dore

Copyright James E. Martin 2012

I may have worked this one too long not stopping when the image and the color was a bit fresher. The color values started to get muddier and the brush strokes less definitive over time. I finally decided to just get to a stopping point consistent with another reading of the source material and not let it get away from me.

It does constitute a different data point and interpretation from the other former studies. It is not yet the approach I wish to use in the larger work. I have a sense however that I am starting to surround the target point in the total visual space with alternatives that each have something that I might want to capture in the end result.

The Creative Pursuit: Experimentation

Although I am currently working on a "larger" work, I am ever mindful of the Daily Painting initiative and the benefits to be gained by working and completing smaller works each day to experiment, stretch, draft an idea, or review the basics on a frequent, repetitive basis. Most of the Artists who have committed to the daily effort have cited the benefits including the building of a portfolio for creating and offering a more affordable art market and to build a personal genre. Currently, my work efforts are characterized as Spurts and Bursts. Although I have not yet committed myself to a formal endeavor in the Daily Painting venue, it is ever present in my thinking to be sure. For me, there are sketches, research, reading, along with the actual work on Artifacts in the course of daily living.

Part of the Experimentation towards the current larger work is included below, an adaptation and evolution from this week's earlier post regarding Dante's Inferno. In the Canto VII, at Virgil's request, Plutus, the god of material wealth, dissappears into thin air. The strolling observers watch noisy Hoarders and Spendthrifts rolling huge weights at one another. The poets discuss Fortune's distribution of temporal riches.

 "Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; Thus is it willed on high...." Dante's Inferno Canto VII, lines 12-13

Original Art: From Dante's Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise

Wealth and Fortune - The Transient Riches - Study 02  Souvenir of Dore

Copyright James E. Martin 2012

There are attributes that I like and don't like about this small Study. I like the feeling. I like the contrast. I like the background. In isolation, I like the color of the sack of gold. I like the position and posture of the person rolling the wealth up the hill. I like the highlight and flow of the hair. The body tone is an experiment with the blue of depression and the red of muscular effort but I don't think I will use it in the larger work. The dark outline of forms is a trial and has been used by other and greater Artists than I. I have never used it before. It works OK here in the Study but I probably won't retain it in the larger work. I want to continue experimentation on the body tones compared to the sack tones in the overall context. This Study was an experiment in the blue and gold mindful of my ever present love of Van Gogh's palette which was my earliest intuitive approach for this content. I am not yet convinced of obtaining the overall effect I am aiming for at the date of this oil sketch. Within a day, I had matured my approach to the blending method used in the foreground colors in the exposition of the larger work to a degree to which I was pleased and reminiscent of Renoir.

As I exhibit this Study today, I am mindful of the earlier blog on the Apollinaire-Matisse interview:

• "I found myself or my artistic personality by looking over my earliest works. They rarely deceive. There I found something that was always the same and which at first glance I thought to be monotonous repetition. It was the mark of my personality which appeared the same no matter what different states of mind I happened to have passed through." [Matisse]

• "But this took place at its own good time." [Apollonaire]

• "I made an effort to develop this personality by counting above all on my intuition and by returning again and again to fundamentals. When difficulties stopped me in my work I said to myself: 'I have colors, a canvas, and I must express myself with purity, even though I do it in the briefest manner by putting down, for instance, four or five spots of color or by drawing four or five lines which have a plastic expression.'" [Matisse]

The Creative Pursuit: Driven Through Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water

We are Human and we are Artists.

We are of the Earth and return to dust, born of Water, cast about by the spirit Winds, and walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death lit only by daily Fires scattered among the Ruins of Chaos. We desire Light amidst the Darkness to establish Order from Chaos. We want to rise up, accomplish much, and Have something different. Which requires that we Be something different. Which requires that we Become something different. Which requires positive Change.

We are Artists and have been given to Believe that if we live our lives in the Artistic Endeavor through the Creative Pursuit, we will attain our ultimate and final Unique Potential which is the reason to Be and the reason to Become. Therefore we shall Create. We must Create to achieve our Unique Potential. We are driven to Create.

But what of Talent? Thinking of the biblical Parable of the Talents, we should avoid burying our one or two or five or ten Talents. To not use the talents we have been given? To Not Do? Oh, the horror! Could we even live with ourselves, never mind others with us? We pay the Price of Sacrifice to create or the Price of Regret to not create. To the biblical adherents, we are then guilty of failing to increase our Talents. There is something inferred here about the Accumulation of Wealth and Worth through Producing. As servants of the absent Master, we may incur His wrath when he returns after having given us those apportioned Talents.

Maybe I won't ever call my artifacts "Masterpieces" to maintain an appropriate position and posture of humbleness. Maybe if I call them "Talent-pieces", I can assuage some guilt. And maybe it is true that I have been given only one small Talent while others have been given many. What am I to do with that one? Bury it and endure the consequence?

And so the Daily Walk continues. It's like pushing a heavy bag of gold coins uphill in the dark in the similitude of Dante's Inferno. But I hope for inspiration and strength from above and outside myself. Illumination along the way. A clear head illumined with the right thinking. I fear the green of envy in my Hoarding consumerism and the red fires of hellish judgment for falling short in so many things along the Spendthrift way. I need focus for my Life's Energy to direct my hands and feet to trod the path and work the works in so short a time that is left. I am out of breath in only the thought. So I am Living the Moment at Idle Acres. Methinks I am leaking gold coin along the way to accumulating Wealth and Fortune. It is a transient farce.

"Now canst thou, Son, behold the transient farce, Of goods that are committed unto Fortune, For which the human race each other buffet; For all the gold that is beneath the moon, Or ever has been, of these weary souls, Could never make a single one repose. 'Master', I said to him, 'now tell me also, What is this Fortune which thou speakest of, That has the world's goods so within its clutches?'" Dante's Inferno Canto VII, lines 61-69

From Dante's Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise

Wealth and Fortune - The Transient Farce - Study 01  Souvenir of Dore

Copyright James E. Martin 2012

Art is the human Act of Creation. As humans, we Endeavor through our efforts and wish to have Control for their direction. We desire to have a Voice and speak our World View. We desire to Live Forever. We desire to Overcome our average and ordinary limitations. We desire to avoid living and dying into Obscurity as if we had never been. We are tempted perhaps to lead and have followers. To Build something special. Oh, the many Temptations and Desires that lead us astray from our Endeavors!

The Creative Pursuit and the Artistic Endeavor involve the design and the making of a never-before Artifact springing forth from the unique life experience, observation, insight, heart, mind, soul, and hand of the Artist in a moment of Time. No other soul can truly replicate it because the Artist is THE source of the artifact's creation. It's the grand ah-ha in the eureka moment of inspiration.  It's the grand ha-ha in the divine comedy. Beware the comparison and the contrast!

It is a type of assertion that "We can be as gods" or even that "We can be God". We can create from nothing. We make Light from Darkness. Our Light is separate from the Darkness and our Light will keep Darkness away. It's the eating of the fruit from the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We see what others cannot see and hear what others cannot hear. We walk among the invalids. We are the Genesis.

And who are we that reply against God in this audacious Artistic Endeavor? No small matter then that two of the ten Biblical commandments are "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" and "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Warnings and admonitions indeed!  How auspicious then that the Artist might say to the Maker, "Why hast thou made me thus?" as the hand of the potter upon the clay.

As mortal humans, none of us escapes crossing the deathly threshold between Time and Eternity. The work of Art may persevere after our earthly stay is finished and it can no longer be replicated or edited by our hand. Are the artifacts of Art a way to cheat Death by leaving a part of ourselves behind? We can still influence and inspire others through our Works even after we no longer remain in the flesh?  We can be as gods and have a semblance of immortality and truth. People will still talk about us and think about us. We can escape Ignominy. Few knew who Van Gogh was in his day. Look and see his works now. It's a kind of worship with pilgrimage to his haunts.

What of the natural man and the spiritual man? What sayest we in these roles? We are guilty of creating images and likenesses of things seen in heaven and earth. That's fairly self-evident. The natural man wars against the spiritual man. Yikes. Perhaps in different degrees among us. Perhaps in different flavors between us. But Yikes.

Each moment we lay hand to brush to paint to canvas, we create. We speak our Voice. We wrestle with principalities and powers. We wrestle with things unseen as yet. We dream dreams. We wrestle with natural and divine things. We suffer slings and arrows. We take arms against a sea of troubles. We attempt to oppose and end them through our creation. We would like to end the heartache and thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to. And perhaps, there is something in us that declares we may someday be capable of a masterpiece. To express Self. Now are those consummations devoutly to be wished?

If we choose not to lay paint to canvas, we are destined to live and die in Obscurity and Darkness. It's as if we never were. Our personal Darkness will be on the face of the deep. The creation will be without form and void of our Creative Pursuit and Artistic Endeavors.

This Daily Walk is an auspicious and audacious Journey through the natural and spiritual realms. Artists are driven in a unique manner. So I commit to tread lightly but deliberately. And prepare for the coming Judgment.

Today is the Leap Day of the Leap Year. An extra day apportioned in the plan to catch up the clocks for Timekeeping. Given time, can we paint our future, I ask?

What is Art? When Does the Artistic Endeavor Begin?

Drawn in September 2010 one month after yesterday's entry, Number Three Daughter provides further three-year-old Expressionism as depicted below. To my knowledge, she was not using any particular real world object to represent but this came from within her imagination. I marvel that this is a part of her still, small Inner Voice at the moment of the design and creation. Her rendition makes me think of Matisse due to the expressive simplified curves and the riotous Fauvian color. As her Dad, I was impressed with her unprompted ability to fill the entire canvas with at least two types of methodology - the curves and the color patches.....which was a milestone for her as well and one of the reasons why this work was retained by me. I call this original artifact Souvenir of Matisse (2010) but, of course, I am merely an admiring father. It makes me think of a clump of Bananas at rest on a surface. She continued to utilize the extended curves as a design motif for the next few months in more than one artistic session without referencing prior efforts which I found remarkable. When recently asked at five years old, she did not have any recollection of the subject matter or the representation at the time of creation two years ago.

Original Art: Souvenir of Matisse - Copyright James E. Martin 2010

Based on the Concept Attainment model proposed in yesterday's entry, there appears to be evidence of  Sensation, Attention, and Perception in Daughter's rendition at the time of creation but apparently the Labeling, Meaning, or Emotion for this particular effort may not have been explicitly retained in her longer term memory.

So, dear Reader, when does the Artistic Endeavor and the Creative Pursuit begin? What is the difference between an Artist and Not-An-Artist? When do we start on the path to achieving our Unique Potential along Life's Journey? Do we require an Audience for our Art? Are Teachers, Critics, and Reviewers required? Is an Original Artifact required? Is it necessary for the Artifact to be retained for posterity? Or Publication? Or Gallery Showings? Or world-wide Distribution? Is Self-awareness and Self-assertion of the Artistic Endeavor required? Is Commitment necessary? Is a Declaration of Intent required? Is Instruction required? To what degree is there evidence of Artistic Insight, Artistic Formulation, and Artistic Expression in the piece shown? These are apparently controversial matters in the affairs of mankind.

Concept Attainment: A Model to Understand Abstraction

My Number Three Daughter produced this piece on corrugated stock, I call it, Souvenir of Cezanne (2010), in August of that year when she was three years old. I recently asked her at age five if she recalled doing the work and she did not. Of course, proud Dad's are prone to this sort of collecting, naming, and labeling behavior. For me, it reminds me of Cezanne's splash of color in flat blocks without significant shape modeling or shadows. As I recall, this was one of the first efforts if not the first piece whereby she covered the entire surface with color leaving no gaps. I recognized that as a milestone for her development and retained the piece because of that. So why do I show this today?

Original Art: Souvenir of Cezanne Copyright James E. Martin 2010

There are attributes in Daughter's painting that make me think of Cezanne. There is Conceptual Similarity based on my experience and perception. And yet, her rendition is nothing like Cezanne.

I submit the following model of Hierarchy of Concept Development and Attainment to show some of the cognitive and emotive machinations we go through to identify and learn new concepts and how we differentiate concepts with intention to Explore and Innovate. It has been useful to me in the Realm of Art:

• Sensation  (Sight, Hearing, Taste, Touch, Smell, Proprioceptive)
• Attention (Focus on some things not others)
• Perception (Assigning meaning to what we sense; Patterns; Correlate to memory)
• Imagery (Develop an internal construct image in memory based on the external object)
• Labeling (Assign a name and taxonomy for the internal and external objects)
• Emotional Attribution (Assign emotional meaning to internal and external objects, i.e. like or dislike, trust or distrust, etc.)
• Concept Formation (Develop a higher level complex object with numerous attributes based on exemplars and non-exemplars)
• Concept Differentiation (Distinguish one concept from another based on comparisons of similar and dissimilar attributes)
• Abstraction (Develop a superceding, generalized, simpler model, a de-construction, or partial exemplar of a concept by adding or removing selected rules or attributes)

The reason I mention this Hierarchy today is because I am experimenting with some Formulations and methods generated from Impressionistic methods that appear Abstract in appearance. It is an unintentional and unplanned effect to get into Abstract appearances. This Hierarchy model can help the Reader evaluate what they are looking at when seeing new art or evaluating an Artist with a different look and feel to their Artifacts -What attributes do you see? What do you focus on? What does it mean to you based on your experiences? What other things does it remind you of?  What would you call it?  How do you feel about it? How is it the same or different from other things you have seen or experienced? How far out beyond your own experience is it? This is new territory for me to be delving into Abstract Art but I have an objective in sight and reason for conducting these experiments.  More to follow, Dear Reader.

Daily Walk: Splash and Play to Your Hearts Content

In April 2010, I was developing an increasing sense of wanting to re-emphasize the Artistic Endeavor and Creative Pursuit in a more deliberate manner in my life. I purchased two simple sets of drawing pencils, colored pencils, and colored markers with drawing pads of three sizes and kept one set in my vehicle and one set in my drawer at work. During lunches, I was then free and able to take some time and focus on Art to Relax by getting away from the daily grind. Materials were available and the mind was ready. This sketch reminded me of my then three-year old daughter's direct approach to joy in life - giggling, marching, splashing, twirling, hand waving, kicking, and jumping in the water to a full heart's content with her eye's intent on the effect of the splash in the warmth of the sun. I kept it at my desk as a constant reminder of my deep need to return to these basics and to visualize the benefit in my child's experience and in the Me as Child.

Original Art: Copyright - Heart's Content by James E. Martin 2010

As adults with responsibilities in a demanding and dynamic world, it is so easy for us to forget or avoid the riches of childlike play and exploration as a contributor to joy in life. In the Practical World, other Forces direct what we do with our Time and our Money and our Spirit and even our Self. And then it becomes an adult habit....to not play and miss the fun.  We might even lose some of our sense of Self over a period of time.

Dear Reader, let's agree not to forget about including those activities that bring us fulfillment in our Daily Walk. It's a daily time for repose, recreation, remembering, recovery, restoration, reaching back, and reaching forward. Welcome and prepare for the effects of Serendipity in the Creative Pursuit. Apply and direct our Life Force and Energy purposefully and with deliberate intent to those things that we know are of Value and contribute to expressing our individual Unique Potential.

Lessons Learned: Prepare for and make ready. Listen to our still and small Inner Voice. Return to our roots. Fill the cup on a daily basis to your Heart's Content.

Painting My Future: Starting an Unforeseen Mountain Climb One Year Ago

About this time last year, I was researching images for cherry blossom pictures. Springtime was arriving and I was looking in all sorts of places for reference images where I could put some small studies together signifying the harbingers of spring. Part of my thought process emphasizing fruit tree blossoms was triggered due to a review of Van Gogh's image of Japoniere -Almond Blossoms (1890). Many of the Impressionists were influenced by Japanese paintings and this one in particular shows that influence in Van Gogh's effort. I liked the overall composition and color contrast and was thinking that several small paintings could potentially be accomplished as daily painting initiatives focusing particularly on the branches and the blossoms in detail and arrangement. I never did get to do that.

Photo Courtesy: Van Gogh - Japoniere Almond Blossoms (1890) - Internet Commons Fair Use

As you may recall, on 11 March 2011, Japan incurred a devastating earthquake and tsunami. That event changed the scope and direction of what I wanted to portray. My cherry blossom research had incidentally included historical images of the peak period in Washington DC. Those trees were a gift signifying peace, healing, and restoration from Japan to the US people after WWII.  That concept influenced my thinking about the meaning and feeling of the blossoms and was timely Insight.

I was preparing a speech to a group of people about meeting challenges and was developing  the topic of "Why We Climb a Mountain" and, of course, Mount Fuji, was found in some of the cherry blossom images. As I was winding all these keywords [i.e., journey, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, mountain, Fuji, cherry blossom] into my dual tasks of content and image searches for speechmaking and artistic endeavor, I came across a particular woodblock cut entitled The Sea of Satta by Hiroshige (1858) that depicted most of the components of the composition I was interested in portraying except for the cherry blossoms. This was an important historical and Japanese artistic Influence.

 Photo Courtesy: Hiroshige - The Sea of Satta (1858) - Internet Commons Fair Use

I chose to compose a triptych (a three-panel effort in landscape orientation) to facilitate using the painted images in a step-wise progression for my speech exercise and also wanted to include the cherry blossoms as the harbinger of hope and restoration based on those recent events in Japan. I intended to at least finish a rough study of the Artifact to satisfy my intent to derive content, image, composition, color, and overall unity and utilize the images during my speech presentation as well. My thinking at the time was that I would get to a finished Artifact in a more durable medium at a later time.

Souvenir Art: Copyright James E. Martin (2011) - A Study of the Sea of Life

So the short version of the Study of Life's Journey goes something like this: We start in Our Center of Intent with Our Ship and Set Sail in Fair Winds on a Calm Sea to Our Destination to climb The Mountain that we see On the Distant Horizon. But along the way we may get diverted where there may be Hills to Climb with hardscrabble Bonzai trees clinging to the steep Cliffs in High Winds and Hard Weather and there may even be Sweet Blossoms of Spring or Breezes for Repose, Restoration and Hope as we Hike along those difficult Hills and Valleys along the Path. Occasionally, out of immediate sight, we may get hit with a Tsunami that seemingly takes us quite Off Course and may even be Devastating to the Intended Journey. Tsunamis are caused by large shifting tectonic plates underneath the land and sea. Mount Fujiyama lies at the intersection of four of those plates incidentally. But Why Do We Wish to Climb the Mountain? There are many reasons in the diversity of the human endeavor. For some it may be the Destination.  Perhaps because no one has been at the mountain before. Perhaps to say we have done it. Perhaps it's to be the first. Perhaps it's as simple as "To get to the Top". For some it may be the Journey.

Later in the year in September, I experienced my own personal earth-shaking tidal wave of sorts during an occupational Reduction-In-Force layoff but I had heard and felt the pre-indicative rumblings for a long period of time. We don't have a lot of control over some events that happen to us along our Journey. How we handle these events may indicate a lot about who we are, how well we are prepared, how much resolve we have to go forward, and where the source of our strengths lie.

So, this Artifact is still a Work-In-Progress. I didn't get to start the little floral studies. I drafted the tryptich but have not yet initiated the finish piece. The Journey includes the Artistic Endeavor and the Creative Pursuit. Sometimes there are things we must do to recover after a life-changing event blindsides us. Sometimes we must reconnoiter a new sidestep. Who would have thought where the Path would lead one year ago? Interesting to reflect and look back at my thinking and activity one year ago. Going forward? One step at a time. One in front of the other. Today's Daily Walk. To everything there is a season.

The Methods of Renoir: Adjacent Strokes with a Flick of the Wrist

My next endeavor in concert with Jonathan Stephenson's Paint with the Impressionists (1995) instructional Number 4: Trees on a Ridge (after Renoir). According to the book, Renoir's approach includes:

• Start with a primed, pinkish-grey canvas
• Use a rapid, brush outline drawing 
• Record the position and essential shapes of key features
• Follow with color to further define the subject
• Use brief, springy brushstrokes maintaining a wet medium
• Brushstrokes are adjacent to one another with a slight curve
• Develop a sense of light and shade
• Coordinate shape and direction of brushstrokes for appropriate effect

Here's my effort after executing the approach with a nod towards Renoir:

In the Glade Copyright James E. Martin 2011

I found this Artifact more difficult to resolve to an endpoint. I can see the potential for working this approach with changes in palette emphasis and with even more flow and sweep in the overall feel with an evolution towards a greater delicacy.

The Methods of Pissarro: Filling the Gaps

My next experiment followed Jonathan Stephenson's Paint with the Impressionists (1995) instructional Number 3: The Rowan Tree (after Pissarro). According to the book, Pissarro's approach includes:

• Starting with a white canvas
• Ignore all aspects of drawing
• Avoid specific outline and detail
• Observe color and tone as mass and occupied spaces
• Use small brushstrokes and progressively fill in gaps working layer upon layer
• Long periods or working and re-working

Here's my effort after executing the approach with a nod towards Pissarro:

Souvenir Art: On the Beach Copyright James E. Martin 2011

Although there was a bookplate image to work from in the book, this image is very different than the bookplate and comes from within me rather than from direct observation of nature. This is increasingly a form of Expressionism using Impressionism methods. The title reflects what I see.

Poppy Field After the Storm: An Experiment of Comparison

I wanted to execute another painting immediately after the first Storm Over Poppy Field and experiment with how it might differ but still remain the same. Here's the result.

Souvenir Art: Poppy Field After the Storm, Copyright James E. Martin 2011

Storm Over Poppy Field: A Drama

Have been taking lots of Cloudscape photos over the previous year and had a chance to play into some of that Insight and Inspiration with this work after Jonathan Stephenson's Paint with the Impressionists (1995) instructional Number 2: Poppies on a Mound (after Monet).

 Souvenir Art: Storm Over Poppy Field - Copyright James E. Martin 2011

As part of my Creative Pursuit, the most fun for me in this piece was the depth of contrast in the clouds and the play of light in the poppy field. The look and feel is quite different than the example provided in Stephenson's book which appeared to have much more open daylight. I also think that my image was influenced by my years spent in the Maine Woods and I was feeling that when I put brush to canvas. Part of the Artistic Endeavor is to observe, follow, accept mentoring and coaching, and be influenced by other sources. I wrestle a bit with the mentoring and coaching inherent in a personal relationship or through an art book only because part of my Artistic Endeavor right now is about Freedom. I can be excited by the work that other Artists are exhibiting but I can feel the constraints embedded in following another while developing an Artifact in this manner. Searching for Self. Moving forward.

Burst of Activity: Experimentation Toward the Daily Painting Initiative

I am very smitten by those artists who commit to the Daily Painting initiative. I am not there yet with the discipline and fortitude required for that level of effort since I have some other irons in the fire at this time in my life but I have a view towards that end. Nevertheless, I am learning something from each artistic session I am able to complete resulting in an Artifact.

In the Fall of 2011, I borrowed a book from the local library Paint with the Impressionists (1995) by Jonathan Stephenson.  I found it to be very readable and inspiring. He describes the technique and approach of the Masters and applies it to a scene of his choosing. I was able to go through about half of the book before I had to return it to the library. I was able to preview and work through four of the prescribed lessons:

• Linseed fields near Drakeholes (after Monet)
• Poppies on a Mound (after Monet)
• The Rowan Tree (after Pissaro)
• Trees on a Ridge (after Renoir)

After an overly long hiatus from my personal Creative Pursuit, reading Stephenson's book and starting on some of the lessons was one of the stimulus' that got me started on a Burst of Activity to break through and get some Works on the canvas. I have taken lots of Cloudscape photos over the last year and have been wanting to work some of that effort and Insight into my Artistic Endeavor.  Since I am a self-taught artist, I found it different to follow someone else's written artistic instructional advice with a provided example and work on something in the studio rather than en plein aire.

With no disrespect at all for Mr. Stephenson's direction, I found it just a tad less "fulfilling" perhaps because there was less Insight required regarding the composition and less Formulation required to decide how to arrange and complete the Work in the Journey. Emphasis for me on this task was mostly on the use of the media towards the Artifact. As you may recall, dear Reader, the Impressionists generally preferred to paint from direct observation of nature. Contriving a composition from memory or through indirect observation indoors was not indicated by them in the 1800s. Here's one of my first efforts with an explicit nod towards Monet's style.

Souvenir Art: Linseed Fields- Copyright James E. Martin 2011

Cherubs and Putti: Coypel's Triomphe de Venus (1693)

For the last six months, I have been researching and studying Old Master drawings and Renaissance art. Just a whim really that put me outside my nominal interests for the Victorian era. My wanderlust approach was not necessarily in a deliberate, disciplined way but was a fun roaming of sources following those items that appealed to me in style or content.

Also, during the Fall of 2011, I knew I wanted to produce a stylistic and possible nude work in dry pastels prior to my planned visit to the Degas exhibit in Boston Museum of Fine Arts since I would be viewing many of his works in that media. I became interested in the content of angels, cherubs, and putti because of the holiday season. I selected a small, image from the left-hand side of Noel Coypel's Le Triomphe de Venus (1693) as a source of inspiration.

From that small putti, I developed an 18 inch x 26 inch pastel and framed it for the holidays.

Original Art: Le Triomphe de Venus 01, Copyright James E. Martin 2011

I had completed some fairly small pastel works previously...perhaps considered more Studies than anything of note. In this particular piece, I was fairly well pleased with the synthesis of Inspiration, Insight, and Formulation resulting in the Original Artifact. This was the first time I had produced a pastel of this size and it was very different  for me in content and style. It is my first "nude" so to say. There is some attempt to utilize a Renoir color palette but is timid in that regard because it doesn't go far enough with the brilliance of color value. Backing off the color vigor, though, provides a more serene, ethereal sense consistent with the subject matter. Perhaps.

However, lest I become exalted in any semblance of artistic pride, my first critic..... also known as my wonderful, out-spoken five year old daughter and therefore well-regarded.... entered the house, took one look at the framed work of a nude angel, and pronounced with a loud gutteral belly laugh...."butt crack".... therefore providing an alternative title to the effort. So this is an itsy bit about how Manet might have felt when Luncheon on the Grass aka Le dejeuner sur l'herbe (1863) and Olympia (1865) were introduced in their respective debuts as an artist's statement about Artistic Freedom. Freedom of Expression does indeed go both ways!

So much for the lofty heights of artistic Aesthetics. The Artistic Endeavor and the Dialog continues!

The Late Summer of Life: Season of Change

Although we may live in the best of times, it appears and feels as if the times are a'changing on a global scale. In September 2011, I was part of a Reduction-In-Force layoff where I worked for 11 years. After a few weeks of getting some administrative things in order, I set up the easel in a nearby town next to a gently flowing stream and applied paint to canvas. Needed to get more dabs of Impressionism laid down. It was not necessarily a secluded motif and a few observers popped over and quietly partook of the Work-In-Progress.... aren't we all?

Original Art: Season of Change, Copyright James E. Martin 2011

I can look back at many canvases I have painted in my lifetime and they have spoken of events in my life with feelings at that moment in time. I surmise that the meaning of this one will continue to mature over time as I look back. Leaves may be falling at the end of one season but the water still flows, the light still shines, and this season too shall pass. The location and motif made me reminisce about canals in Holland 16 years ago. Which reminds me of two other paintings I would like to start and complete with someone in mind (as I take out my To Do list and add entries).

The Best of Friends: A Mentor of Stuff n'Such

Every year during the summer, we have taken some time to coordinate a visit with long-time friends in Sangerville Maine on a lake called Center Pond. When I was an undergraduate in college out in Illinois, I became friends with one of my college professors and worked for him and his family doing some construction projects in Illinois or in Maine. Over time, we became best friends. In fact, Bob has defined for me what a best friend is about and that hasn't always been easy for me...a very private and independent person. Bob is chuckling now.

A few years ago, I decided that I would do at least one piece of art each year during the time that I went up to Maine. In my mind, it would be imperative for me to do SOMETHING at SOMETIME no matter what other activities or imperatives might be at hand...and it hasn't always been easy. One of my first Impressionistic waterscapes was At the Lake, Sangerville Maine. I remember the challenge of the wind changing the waves, the clouds, and the light so quickly. I was able to experience where the Impressionists in France would then try to capture the feeling associated with the essence observed of the motif based on the exact moment's accidental experience captured during the artist's en pleine aire session. Looking North with a late afternoon sun in the west and wind from the east, I tried to capture the churning of the water and the light filtering through the shallows with the late sunlight backlighting the tree's at high level but the low shrubs at water's edge shrouded in cool, dark shadow. My vantage point included left foot on the beach and right foot in the water so there is a bright and warm sun and a coolness in the wind and water challenging each other and me.

Original Art: At the Lake, Sangerville Maine, Copyright James E. Martin 2009

For all those past thirty years of visiting Maine, through my eyes, Bob Cassidy, my friend and mentor, has always done some creative artistic thing in some shape or form. I don't think he ever really retired after finishing his occupational endeavors because he soon emphasized his art full-time and got a street-side studio.....Stuff n'Such in Illinois. I have been fortunate to have Bob as a mentor in that I have seen him develop over a long period of time as an artist, he has given me insight into the lifetime curve years ahead of my time to arrive there. I am watching his art career emerge and evolve because his example as a lifetime learner has helped me see what it is to return to one's roots, understand one's self, find one's center of balance, begin and walk the artistic endeavor, and follow the creative pursuit even amidst adversity and life's challenges. He is still asserting self expression with an intense personal drive to continue his art journey each and every day with a sense of urgency. And he has such a wonderful family that I have been privileged to know and love.

Thank you Bob for showing me that I have an Artistic Endeavor and a Creative Pursuit to accomplish during my life's Journey and the deep satisfactions that are possible. I just talked with Bob and he filled me in on his art accomplishments conducted today and his outlook for the near future that he needs to get done. He is a fine example of the artist Living In The Moment and ambling through the Daily Walk. Here's to achieving one's Unique Potential this day.

Impressionism: Precepts 1-5: A Moment in Time

After many years of studying and reading about the Impressionist style, I happened upon one the best characterizations of the movement from a book in my local library recently. How did I miss this one? Modern French Painters by R. H. Wilenski. Originally published in 1939, I borrowed the 1963 edition.

Lessons Learned: In summary from the rich detail provided, the Impressionist articles of faith include:

• First, a visual impression of a scene from a moment in time accidently encountered by the artist
• Second, start and complete the painting of the scene en pleine aire, outdoors not in the studio, preferably in one sitting
• Third, utilize a bright and lively palette of tonal color
• Fourth, utilize a method of "broken color"...the application of pigment in small strokes that merge at a distance 

Although I have not yet finished reading the book, there is one other tenet that shows in many of the Impressionist's works that I think should be included:

• Fifth, utilize a unique perspective, angle, view, frame, and/or panorama

Like many articles of faith and in accordance with the tenor and reach of each artist during the period, these parameters were jostled in the community of practice between artists and over time as the Modern art movement progressed. Interestingly, Impressionism would be considered part of the Realism genre based on Tenet 1 and Tenet 2 emphasizing direct observation as opposed to an idealistic, romantic, or theoretical composition arranged from one's memory in the studio.

The advent and rise of photography would also coincide somewhat with the Impressionist movement and eventually supercede its prevalence as a popular way to record a moment in history.  In years to come, the 'Kodak Moment" would become the more republican and democratic way to create and record the important "still life" image. An ever widening user-audience could frame the picture with a simpler skill set than the time, training or talent drawing and painting might require. The digital age has taken "point-and-click-and share" to affordable new heights with remarkable quality and distribution.

My first original Impressionist painting according to these basic tenets was Celebration of Passage (2009).

Original Art: Copyright James E. Martin 2009

Description: I had been contemplating doing an original Impressionist painting for quite some time. My oldest daughter graduated high school in 2009 and my second oldest daughter graduated from middle school the same year. A graduation party was hosted in our front yard replete with red balloons tied to our white scalloped picket fence representing the local school colors. The following morning I arose with the dawn to complete the yard cleanup and beheld two balloons lazily drifting in a mild wind after losing some of their helium by the open corner gate. That moment in time, the two balloons yearning to be free of their restraints at the open gate from within the fences bounding our property iconified how I perceived my two girl's Celebration of Passage through one of life's gates to the next phase of their maturity and subsequent release to the world at large. I had planted a small Blue Spruce christmas tree at the corner years earlier which had the potential to baseline the painting and the girl's growth over time as we viewed the painting against the tree's growth in the future. The perspective and composition for the fence, shrubs, flowers, trees, and gate was there in the blink of an eye. No arrangement of objects required. The light was dramatic. Today was the day. This was the moment.

With the five tenets of Impressionism in mind, the easel was set up for a suitable perspective to frame the picture based on that moment's inspiration and the painting started and completed within a few hours using colors straight from the paint tube with little mixing. Although, I took digital photos throughout the session of what I was painting to characterize the changing light for later retrospection, I didn't refer to them because of the sun's glare on the small digital viewer. I recall a sense of anxiety about the manner in which the light changed during the session. But I very much enjoyed the challenge of coloring the grass in the yard based on its hillocks, dips and shadows. Speed was of the essence. I felt I couldn't paint fast enough. It was my first experience with the Impressionist approach in real time. I found it challenging and exhilarating by the time I was finished. I finally and actually knew in some small way what they had experienced in France during the late 1800s.I have found that my study of Victorian history and the Impressionist era has influenced my "mind's eye". Capturing those particular observed moments in Time and Space in my daily walk serves to inspire a litany of potential art motifs and locations. Some days I cannot outline the ideas fast enough. Studying the Impressionist paintings regarding their approach, development of motif, methods, and techniques has served to influence how I approached this first painting and what I was seeking to accomplish. But caution is well advised that a "formula" to painting is not necessarily what I am about or what I am after.Lesson Learned: Living in the moment is one of the life's deep satisfactions. The Artistic Endeavor and the Creative Pursuit help give meaning to some of the important moments. Seek to exercise and emphasize Tenet 5 to discover unique perspectives.