Rememberance of things present

Here is a typical day in the life of a crackpot, type A artist.... Recorded in real- time, unlike Proust.

7:00. wake up...slept late (went to sleep at 1:00 AM) tired brain.

7:05..Check Emails.

7:15. Hit the Bike for a ride--NY Post and a Large red bull.

7:30- 7:45 Read the Post. Cut out Headlines that I like and file. I choose headlines that I can use in my art at later dates. (I look for ones that have no particular meaning in regards to anything specific if I can help it.)

7:45-9:00 Shower. Organize apt and art studio space. Layout things to do list. Read every major news website I can including the Nasa website and the sunspot website and look for art ideas. Scrub sink with ammonia (because it makes the gods of OCD happy.)

Things I read and learned today that really interest me:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,557581,00.html?test=latestnews

I wonder about the guy who found this, probably a poor guy who got nothing...I want to paint some coal miners one day, in the tradition of van gogh--he painted miners but he didnt go into the mines. I would like to see the earth from a few miles down. Imagine what it is like working 10 hours a day in hell? Probably like working in Walmart.

daily words I like: I'd rather be a tortoise from Galapagos
Or a span of geological time
Than be living in these dog years
In a dog's brain
A constant buzz of low-level static
One sniff at the hydrant
And the answer is automatic
It seems to me
As well make our own few circles 'round the block
We've lost our senses
For the higher-level static of talk

another great article--this one on art

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125426448028050665.html?mod=googlenews_wsj cleaning

cleaning art studio until 10:30

10:56 Studio is clean---work begins. Must finish my delayed painting of Rao's restaurant and start a queens book cover painting the Unisphere (my sixth painting of the Uni) Then I have to work on my portrait of Bo Dietl. I am going to paint about 9 hours today. Will post progress shots in two hours.


I had a couple of sangrias for lunch---sue me...when I have a tough spot on a painting I stress beyond belief.

I am back on my damn, Raos pic.. PROGRESS!!!

took an hour nap back to easel will post photos soon.

I hit a wall in my painting so I hid from it. I hide from my work like a boy from his chores...I hate walls in art...I usually just bang my head through them but today the energy was bad and I froze and walked around mumbling about failure and the flu vaccine..I am going to hit it again now...Night brings peace to my art mind and I create better.

Gold and the Autralian Dollar---by gardega

Gold is on the rise. When gold rises the Australian dollars also rises (not quite as eloquent as Hemingway's novel, but...) Why? because Australia exports so much gold! This is your financial lesson of the day by gardega. Artists should understand finance so they are able to survive in the sharky waters of life where The dumb and the slow are the first to go...

today's NY Post headlines

happy birthday JS!

this is why my generation is the prozac generation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2tEqqNvw4&feature=player_embedded#t=18

new work

I will explain this painting soon. It is not anti-religious---maybe you can use brain and figure as to what it means...also, that is a painted NYPOST headline--not a cut and paste job--DONT BE LAZY!

watercolors

Today I have the watercolor jones.. sometimes I wake up with the urge to oil and sometimes to paint watercolors. I am going to be a water coloring fool today as soon as I finish my busy work.

I am gearing up to paint an 8 foot by 5 foot mural for a mausoleum---I like murals, they make me feel in touch with the Ren-ay-sonce, especially when I am painting a saint picture. I am going to bring my laptop to time- lapso the process. I may start as soon as next week---Waiting for the deposit... My whole life is waiting; waiting for deposits, waiting for daybreak so I can get my NYPOST, waiting for the post office to open, waiting for this and waiting for that. Waiting for this is better than waiting for that because this sounds more personal and that sounds like it is someone elses. This is mine and that is yours.

my brother is now a famous artist

My brother painted this wheel cover for his friend and now it is on the Ween website. Ween is a pretty famous band from Pennsylvania. I used to hang out with the singer a bit through mutual friends. It is now on their website...Nice job, bro.


website is here:
http://www.ween.com/

email from my mom

Al, You'll be happy to know that I found all your Dali books. I organized all your books (LOTS) into fine art, drawing and anatomy, comics, movies and animation.---mom


Its good to have a good mother. All artists should have a good supportive mom if you can get one. There are no artists in my family or family tree that we know of. There are a lot of crazy people, that is a fact..Shake my family tree and a bunch of true eccentrics will fall out like fall leaves.

my colour palette

The creation of the universe (before the big bang) is called a "singularity" by physicists. That is when all arose from nothing. There was no light and then there was light and from light came colour. The entire universe exists in a constant dance between opposites. The yin yang symbol is the perfect visual representaion of this. The battle between light and dark, good and evil. This is the pancake mix of our reality. Out of light arose color and it is of colour I will speak of today. Here is a sample of one of my palettes (this one is smaller so I had to double up and squeeze me greens in) Here are the colours I use in clockwise order.

1) Titanium white: She is the purest of whites and because of her pure nature she is slow dryer.

2)Naples yellow: She is the favorite of all my colours she is great to mix with black and can add life to any skin or sky. Old Holland makes a brilliant naples yellow.

3) cadmium yellow light: Taken from the skin of the sun, another slow dryer but as brilliant and powerful as any colour. Put her next to purple for glory and to bring out the best of her.

4) cadmium yellow dark: the older sister to Cad. Yellow light. She is best used carefully so you dont wind up like an icarus.

5) Cadmium orange: Never underestimate a tertiary colour! Orange is best next to blue and orange is one of the moodiest colours, be careful.

6) Cadmium red light, med, deep: Cadmiums are glorious and poisonous. Dont use fake cadmiums or the great art lawyer in the sky will sue you for bad form.

7) Alizarin Crimson: One of the greatest things ever made. Mix alizarin crimson with naples yellow for the skin of angels.

8) Burnt sienna:

will finish this in a few...

3)

my favorite living artist (aside from gardega)

Odd Nerdrum--Norwegian.
Imagine actually knowing how to draw and paint! What A novel and rebellious idea in this post modern desesrt landscape of lies and deception. I am surprised the modern art police haven't arrested him for showing genuine feeling.

Thimerosal--- is it safe?

If you dont mind playing russian roulette with your health and children's health, it is very safe. Do not get vaccines. Do not take mercury shots, do not risk autism in your children...I could link all day to the dangers of these things.

http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/thimerosal.php


the amish do not get autism. they also do not get vaccines.

Suffocated by mirrors, stained by dreams
Her honey belly pulls the seams
Curves are still upon the hinge
Pale zeros tinge the tiger skin

Moist as grass, ripe and heavy as the night
The sponge is full, well out of sight
All around the conversations
Icing on the warm flesh cake

Light creeps through her secret tunnels
Sucked into the open spaces
Burning out in sudden flashes
Draining blood from well-fed faces

Desires form in subtle whispers
Flex the muscles in denial
Up and down its pristine cage
So the music, so the trial

THE BOOK

I have known a lot of people in my travels. I know a lot of people who lived their entire life "by the book" generally this was a choice not to please themselves but rather to please a "parental unit" My parents learned from an early age that I live for myself and for my own desires and dreams. As a child I gave not a fig for what the world or society wanted from me. I never gave a merde about the neighbors or impressing people or trying to live up to some ideal imposed on my by another entity. As I grow older I see many people I have known finding themselves at spiritual crossroads on the corner of Crises and AGE. I live at the corner of alex and Main, I built my own roads and for better or for worse I will always remain here. If your path is forced upon you, you are a tragedy without a hero and the great Jungian schism is close behind and on your heels like a shadow on a sunny day. A life lived by "the book" is fine but I dont trust the bastard who wrote "the book" and I certainly aint sitting down and having beers with him--- I ll write my own damn book, if it sucks Ill blame the guy in the mirror.

Proud swagger out of the schoolyard
Waiting for the worlds applause
Rebel without a conscience
Martyr without a cause

Static on your frequency
Electrical storm in your veins
Raging at unreachable glory
Straining at invisible chains

And now youre trembling on a rocky ledge
Staring down into a heartless sea
Cant face life on a razors edge
Nothings what you thought it would be

All of us get lost in the darkness
Dreamers learn to steer by the stars
All of us do time in the gutter
Dreamers turn to look at the cars
Turn around and turn around and turn around
Turn around and walk the razors edge
Dont turn your back
And slam the door on me

Its not as if this barricade
Blocks the only road
Its not as if youre all alone
In wanting to explode

Someone set a bad example
Made surrender seem all right
The act of a noble warrior
Who lost the will to fight

And now youre trembling on a rocky ledge
Staring down into a heartless sea
Done with life on a razors edge
Nothings what you thought it would be

No hero in your tragedy
No daring in your escape
No salutes for your surrender
Nothing noble in your fate
Christ, what have you done?

The NEA

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/24/white-house-issues-new-guidelines-controversial-nea/?test=latestnews

I will explain my views on this later. All I can say that as an artist is I avoid herd mentality and consensus thinking. "Think for thyself"--- Be a maverick and who cares if it is unpopular, we all wind up in the same ground in the end..

"One moment's high and glory rolls on by like a streak of lightening that flashes and fades in a summer sky..." Neil P.

lost souls--dawn

Sometimes I have a painting in my studio for months and I take it out here and there and fiddle with it. These lost soul paintings are very hard for me to paint because they come from a dark place inside and I hate to stir up that pot. Everyone has a dark side and ignoring it is not healthy but neither is dwelling in the dark. I do my best to keep my karma healthy so I dont wind up a lost soul. There is no such thing as getting away with lying or cheating because you know you did it and you are judged by your own self and I believe people will actually punish themselves in a Freudian sense for earthly misdeeds. I would rather paint the Hudson river but sometimes these come out of me.

water on the moon!

Scientists have found water on the moon but I always knew there was water on the moon. I also know that if you go out on any given night when there is a visible moon you can see the moon in the puddles and lakes and ponds. If there are moons in the water then conversely there is water on the moon.


alex said that.

How to gesso a panel--by gardega

DONE!!!!! (15 coats)

I forgot to mention you also want to gesso the sides and back of panels---WHAT ONES DOES TO FRONT ONE MUST DO TO THE BACK! DONT BE LAZY. I SPENT 5 HOURS GESSOING THESE TWO PANELS TODAY. THEY ARE PERFECT LITTLE GEMS, NO DUST, NO BUMPS, NO SMUDGES. When you have perfect panels you dont dare allow yourself to paint a crappy painting--that would be will be like driving a roll royce into the mud. Now is the exact moment when most artists freeze up in fear. What to paint, what to paint!!!! I too face this fear but I am bigger than my fear and I fight on through the dark woods of "blank panels..."
Second coat! Let dry, sand, wipe repeat! Do ten coats!!! Yes ten! Dont be lazy!!
Wipe down between dandings with moist rag!! Keep it clean!
I sand so fast it looks blurry! sand carefully and slow and dont worry if you see some of the board on first coat.
You want to use very fine sandpaper!! Very fine!! I start with a 400, then 600, then 1500 on last coat!!

After they are coated you must wait for them to dry..They should dry quick unless you put on too thick!!! it should be thin coats!
Coat from left to right (unless you are from japan then it is right to left)
Here is the sponge brush I use and I suggest you do as well.
Mix with water in a small bucket or container until you have a milk like consistency. It must be a tiny bit thicker than milk and thicker than skim milk. Mix it well!
Be sure to use a professional grade gesso-NO STUDENT GRADE..You are not a student--think professional.
Before you start you want to wipe your panels down with a damp cloth. This gets rid of finger print oils etc.

Process

I am going to display here how to properly gesso two wood panels for painting. I bought these great panels yesterday. The are cradled Masonite panels. Masonite is a good surface for painting and has a good reputation as something that lasts. Wood is good for smaller paintings as canvas has too much texture for fine detail. Vermeer painted on wood for the most part. I will show I treat the surface before I paint.

Goya is the beanz

These black paintings of goya really hit me in the right place. They have it all for me..they are amile deep with pathos, they are pre- raphaelite cheese free. There is only the horrors of life, the existential pain of reality painted thick and real.

Daily Color--Ultmarine Blue

This is the cognac of colors, the mercedes of visual stimulation of the retinas and the brain. Ultramarine used to be very expensive and the one we call vermeer was especially fond of her. I Buy Old Holland Ultramarine as A tribute to the great Dutch master of Delft. Ultramarine is used at the very top of my skies where it soon fades into cerulean glory and makes a sky god wouldnt be ashamed of. \Anything good should have the name ultra in it. I am changing my name to Ultra-alex.

Daily Dali

Dali and his anteater. If you notice he is coming out of an art nouveau paris metro station. It is a little known fact that dali was a huge fan of art nouveau and convinced the french govt to save some of the nouveau entrances as museum pieces. True fact. (can there be a such thing as a false fact?) This might be my favorite Dali photo. Here, one can see that the divine genius of dali is separated from the ugly burgoise masses by the iron wall of art nouveau genius. His seeing eye "dog" will lead him on a path of divine inspiration as he follows the ants of inspiration like a modern day Hansel seeking the bread crumbs of wisdom and safe return. But genius can never go home again, it burns bridges, and the rubicon is crossed alone and without guidance.

Daily Sunspot

Sunspots 1026 and1027 are members of new Solar Cycle 24. Photo credit: SOHO/MDI
Sunspot number: 26
What is the sunspot number?
Updated 22 Sept 2009

Spotless Days
Current Stretch: 0 days
2009 total: 212 days (80%)
Since 2004: 723 days
Typical Solar Min: 485 days

During 2008-2009 NASA scientists noted that the Sun is undergoing a "deep solar minimum," stating: "There were no sunspots observed on 266 of [2008's] 366 days (73%). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days: plot. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008. Maybe not. Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower. As of September 14th, there were no sunspots on 206 of the year's 257 days (80%). It adds up to one inescapable conclusion: "We're experiencing a very deep solar minimum," says solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century," agrees sunspot expert David Hathaway of the National Space Science and Technology Center NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center [3]. It's a natural part of the sunspot cycle, discovered by German astronomer Heinrich Schwabe in the mid-1800s [4].A "clockwork pattern" that has held true for more than 200 years

hmmm...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10348571-247.html?tag=mncol;mlt_related

How long before these are forcibly put into the sheep?

do not go gently into the dark, totalitarian future.

done!

one of these is the original crystal piece from france in the 1970's and one was made by my studio.
which is the original and which is the clone--Im not saying.
(carefully) putting it in place

Next Project!!! Thanks Hyatt!

Hudson River--Sunday Sunrise

Cast glass---NYC Deco glass

Two months of hard work and stress! mission accomplished!! The top piece is the finished cast piece to match a broken original for the Hyatt Hotel. Now it has to be cold worked--ground and sanded etc. And then I hand it off to client. Never give up, luke, never give up. Next I am casting a project I have wanted to cast for a long time, an "art" project. Viva gardega!

My Workhorse

I am thinking of getting a new drafting table. I bought this many, many years ago for 25 dollars in a garge sale. I estimate I got about a 8,000% return on my investment from this table alone. Those are good numbers by anyones calculator. On this desk is the agony and ecstasy of a million deadlines, sweat and tears and hair pulling complex glass layout jobs. I painted about 40 yellow page covers on her and made a few thousand drawings and a million doodles. I feel I need a bigger one but I am worried of losing the magic of this one. I can only draw on wood--- formica is the art equivalent of fake breasts. I never have enough room, I am always cluttered. She is a little small.

the daily studio

Here is my new art space..Here is where I now create. Some places have a vibe that works with you and some places a vibe that works against you. I have had studios where the energy is wrong and I couldnt work. There is good chi here which means I can create. Pet photography and illustration can be created anywhere but If you want to make art you need the right space and the right energy. Now, If I was only organized I would be a millionaire.

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!

After two months of stress and hard work (mostly by my assistant glass guy) I did the stressing--- he did most of the casting. We have succeeded in casting an impossible piece of glass for the HYATT!!!!! It was a hell ride with failures and broken molds and sleepless nights but Alex never quits and with the right team anything can get accomplished (even a fake moon landing) No one would touch the project with a ten foot pole but I was up for a challenge. Failure is nothing, failure is crap..it is not trying that is the thing that kills humans! Will post photos soon. Its a good day, wilbur.

some great japanese art from The Met

Japanese art is one of my favorite things in the world. It is strange, though, because they have a very conformist culture (rebellious freaks like me would be put to pasture) and art tends to be a very rebellious thing But somehow they managed to make some of the greatest art of all time...