sunburn...

the bartender on the coney island boardwalk said I have the worst case of sunburn he has seen. He even took a photo ( post later). I was too tired and sore to care.

Today I am going to the National Arts Club. I am both excited and honored to be a member. 20 years of persistence and hard labor has its rewards (one would hope...) If you bang your head against the same wall enough times eventually it will give. Sure you will have some bruises but the universe likes persistence. Luck is created by advancing confidently ahead in spite of all odds. Nothing good comes easy and if it did you wouldnt want it.

From first to last
The peak is never passed
Something always fires the light that gets in your eyes
One moment's high, and glory rolls on by
Like a streak of lightning
That flashes and fades in the summer sky

You can do a lot in a lifetime
If you don't burn out too fast
You can make the most of the distance
First you need endurance
First you've got to last...

bernie in the sand

I had my first real/ full day off of the summer yesterday..instead of relaxing I worked my butt off and made this...I woke up with the idea so I decided to jump in gung ho.. . I am sore and burned to a crisp---My first attempt was ruined by the tide--I wasted 4 hours and almost gave up. I went to the bar did a short of tequila and decided to start anew..all in all it was 8 hours of hard labor alone and without a rhyme or reason. SURREALISM! usually sand sculptors work in teams, I now understand why..it is ungodly hard work. It is my first sand sculptor, I learned as I went along in front of a crowd of about 100 people in Coney island. It was fun but I wont make a habit of it.


Dimensions : 8 x 5 foot

medium: sand and more sand

true or false! test your brain!

I decided to give my readers a little game I call "WHAT'S IN YOUR WATER?"

decide if the following statements are true or false before you click on the link...

the majority of your corn syrup based soft drinks contain the neurotoxin mercury.

T or F?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html

The plastic soda and water bottles you drink from fill your happy little tummy with estrogen.

T or F?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090326100714.htm


Most of your baby/infant formula contains rocket fuel.

T or F?

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=7242880&page=1



Tap water contains Prozac.


T or F?

http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=tap+water+contains+prozac&btnG=Google+Search

Fluoride lowers IQ.

T or F?

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS108377+02-Jan-2008+PRN20080102


enjoy!!!

casting glass--by gardega

covering the original glass piece with silicone rubber...
rubber (silicone)
coating silicone with plaster (for strength)
putting/ pouting wax into the rubber mold!
looks like chocolate--but it's wax! very nice...
these wax pieces will be used to make a plaster cast from, the glass will be "slumped" into the plaster mold. almost there...

the impressionist palette---by gardega

You often read about the impressionist palette, the colors used by the "daubers" (Monet and the like.) I decided to make an actual impressionist palette with an impressionist scene. I want to work out some issues with the sun etc but it works and the idea works. My palette was getting old and crusty and I need a new one so I made art out of it. I was going to put a fish eye in the whole and call it surrealism but that would be over the top.

autism and thermasol

In 1988 one in 2,500 kids had autism. Now it is 1 in 160. Why? Thermasol--this is the culprit. Autism startied to increase in 1989 the very year they upped the doses of vaccines for kids giving them enough vaccines for three full sized adults. They started giving kids shots with mercury (thermasol) levels 400 times what the EPA considers safe. If you ever read alice in wonder land you may remember the mad hatter, hatters used mercury to shape hates and would often go insane. But dont worry, most of your corn syrup now is mercury laced so you can have as much as you want without the vaccines.

symbolism

Symbolism was an idealistic movement, created by artists discontented with their culture. The style was refined, elegant, subtle, intellectual, and elitist. If there is one central tenet held by Symbolist artists, it is that life is fundamentally mysterious, and the artist must respect and preserve this mystery. Thus they insisted on suggestion rather than explicitness, symbols or equivalents rather than description, in both painting and poetry.

I am going to get back into one of my old galleries and reform a relationship (with their permission) I took a lot of side roads in my life and I loved them all but I want to paint real works again and important works. Sometimes I find myself painting works I can sell short term etc. I need to lock into a series of damn solid paintings that I am proud of. I often went south to get north in art and it all makes sense to me in hind site. I have a brain that likes to explore, my ghost likes to travel and I tried everything, animation, cartoons, glass, watercolors, oils, landscapes, pop art op art and hop art. The circle (or spiral) is almost complete and I start again where I was at 20. I feel wiser and older and still have my teeth and a lot of energy and bravado.

intérieur historien

today a name came to me out of nowhere--when names come out of nowhere it is usually a good thing, it is thought that is pure and without precedence--unforced notions (in a sense.) Inner Historian is my next painting. The inner historian is the memory of the soul--beyond the cellular memory. It contains the history of mankind, the Jungian unconscious , collective and vast..How one paints this is another question, I am doing many thumbnails on this one. They are coming straight from my brain to hand no deletion or selection or editing (not unlike my typing)

painting of the day rated by the gardega system

redon--- cyclops


gardega systemic scale of greatness:

1) originality 8
2) technique 4
3) heart 9
4) colour 9
5) mood 8
6) composition 7

I have a friend who is new to art but she shows great promise and a keen eye. Hope she keeps drawing! ---nudge nudge

http://www.rebeccakeast.blogspot.com/

school of athens

Just as a junkie's mind turns to drugs and a ponzi schemer turns to his next victim my mind turns back again and again to Raphael and this painting. This is the sum total of mans wisdom and the height of human aspiration and today we have pet photography, American idol and the slap chop. I want to make the art chop you slap it down and it makes art, quick and easy no fuss, no mess no bother..slap boom bam insta-art!

Plutarch - "The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."

I have a friend who is new to art but she has a real knack for it, there is something really nice about her drawings even though she is not trained etc. Here is her blog, (maybe this will convince/ nudge her to start drawing again.

http://www.rebeccakeast.blogspot.com/

how I feel about the suburbs..

Sprawling on the fringes of the city
In geometric order
An insulated border
In between the bright lights
And the far unlit unknown

Growing up it all seems so one-sided
Opinions all provided
The future pre-decided
Detached and subdivided
In the mass production zone

Nowhere is the dreamer
Or the misfit so alone

Subdivisions ---
In the high school halls
In the shopping malls
Conform or be cast out
Subdivisions ---
In the basement bars
In the backs of cars
Be cool or be cast out
Any escape might help to smooth
The unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
The restless dreams of youth

Drawn like moths we drift into the city
The timeless old attraction
Cruising for the action
Lit up like a firefly
Just to feel the living night

Some will sell their dreams for small desires
Or lose the race to rats
Get caught in ticking traps
And start to dream of somewhere
To relax their restless flight

Somewhere out of a memory
Of lighted streets on quiet nights...

I found a girl I went to sixth grade with online. I normally avoid my past at all costs but I sent her an email to see how her life was. It seems in sixth grade I taught her to draw a goldfish with bubbles. She still draws the same gold fish (now for her sons) Life is strange and long. (her name is withheld) her email...

Yep. One and the same (unless there is/was another by the same name). Nonsensical trivia: you showed me how to draw a fancy goldfish blowing air bubbles a few (20-30) years ago. I still, on occasion, draw the same fish to the awe and amazement of my two sons and their friends. I guess I have to start giving you credit now that you've found me.

Hope all is well in your world. Your art is fantastic.

casting glass

I am working with another glass artist to cast a piece of glass for a hotel. I will show the entire process. This job was turned down by many a person, I am stubborn and took it on---I like to solve problems. I have a feeling it is finally solved....I will explain entire process soon.

ballet

I went to my sisters ballet performance last night with my brother. My bro is a good photo-grapher--- he took this pic. I took some of my own with my cell phone. It was a great performance. My sister met Baryshnikov as the performance was in his space. The visual aspect of ballet really lends itself to art and painting.

boycott the kindle!

read real books!--not electronic' big brother, memory hole, e-books. Turn actual pages and keep book publishers in biz. I am adamant about this issue. Do no use Amazon and do not go gently into this Orwellian, totalitarian night.

alex has spoken (again)

in progress

lost souls--Absalom

in progress...

when I paint my lost souls I kind of paint in circles, there is no real method except for some interaction between the linseed oil and turpentine. If you are painting other worldly visions I think you need to let the painting work with you. I dont see the purpose in being a retentive doodler for these works. They have to flow and grow organically on their own.

Gardega on rembrandt

This is a cell phone photo of a detail of a Rembrandt painting from The Met...This detail is a a small slice of genius...(imagine if Einsteins brain was a watermelon and you were given a slice) this is a slice of art-genius. If the abstract dumspressionists had more brains themselves they would have realized that there is no point in painting abstract as you can never beat this small section of a very realistic (naturalistic) work of brushy-genius. There is no paint in going to kitty hawk today to try to invent flight and there was no point to waste all that valuable paint that was slopped around post picasso...this is the highwater mark and you cannot reinvent the wheel...

Coney Island Photos--by gardega

Coney Island is a strange place---I like strange places.

subway cell phone photo

the daily easel--lost souls: absalom

in progress...

An ill wind comes arising
Across the cities of the plain
Theres no swimming in the heavy water
No singing in the acid rain
Red alert
Red alert

Its so hard to stay together
Passing through revolving doors
We need someone to talk to
And someone to sweep the floors
Incomplete
Incomplete

Chorus
The world weighs on my shoulders
But what am I to do?
You sometimes drive me crazy
But I worry about you
I know it makes no difference
To what youre going through
But I see the tip of the iceberg
And I worry about you...

Cruising under your radar
Watching from satellites
Take a page from the red book
Keep them in your sights
Red alert
Red alert

Left and rights of passage
Black and whites of youth
Who can face the knowledge
That the truth is not the truth?
Obsolete
Absolute


Absalom, absalom, absalom

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5897234/Blind-border-collie-gets-his-own-guide-dog.html

Boycott the Kindle

Big Brother is alive and well at Amazon. If you bought one of those E-book kindle devices you will be interested in this story---Because of this info. I will never buy one of those things and I will limit my purchases from amazon. After people paid for the kindle which is supposed to be bundled with books Amazon went back into people's "bookshelf" and deleted books, namely, 1984 and animal farm. Imagine someone coming into your house and taking a book off your shelf! That is what Amazon did. Cant have the general population thinking!--- let them read mystery novels, drink fluoride and take pet photos. Make sure you keep them in the dark about the fact we are heading towards a totalitarian state. I think the joke is in the name--Kindle, which reminds me of something you use to start a fire which reminds me of book burning which reminds me of what just happened...The Orwellian memory whole runs deep and our memories are short and doom alone is what counts.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/17/amazon-kindle-1984

good news

On a good note, my membership to the prestigious National Arts club begins this week. This is a wonderful NYC institution with quite a legacy and I am humbled to have been asked to join.

todays post

I have been lax lately--- havent posted much art. I have been spinning in the habitrail that is NYC. I spend most of my time chasing my own tail and surviving. I love NYC but it is not the most conducive place for making art because you spend too much time running around like a rat. Art is always the main objective so I may consider relocation so I can really get back to my work. More painting, less circles. I will try to get a nice watercolor out of my brain today and post later. If I dont paint I get edgy and start to circle the psychic drain of bad thoughts. In eed to sit on an island and paint. Here is an oldy of mine---I painted this when I was 17 after my trip to jamaica. I like this composition as it is simple. I wonder what these two guys are doing now---maybe they are almost done building the hut.

jupiter

these are the storms of jupiter...I wonder why they are always in the same place.

rhino of the day

this is Albrecht Durer's rhino, methinks it is quite fino.

a healthy glow

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534390,00.html?test=latestnews

michelangelo's first painting

http://www.metmuseum.org/special/michelangelos_first/painting_more.asp


this is supposed to be Michelangelo's first painting..not sure If I believe it..it is a nice piece of work, though---I will be checking it out soon at the met.

often I look back at my old work and cringe and sometimes I actually like a piece---this piece still works for me...I like my lost souls---I believe this is in Colorado...

I snapped this photo with my cell phone over the winter...NYC BUS

I had a dream last night about hotdogs---- in short, cutting hot dogs into pieces so they look like "penny " shapes and then laying them out to mimic the dots that are used to print newspaper pictures. this was my dream--- I have odd dreams--- whether I actually try this or not is the 64,000 question.

story of the day

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,533803,00.html?test=faces

daily sketch

If you sketch on a toned paper you can use white to hi-lite. I love this method and use it often. I drew a few copies of Michelangelo's sculpture to get my hand "up to speed..." I am a little rusty in th eold hand---life drawing is best to get out the rust but just moving a line is helpful for alexo..the blot on the knee of David is on the scanner not on the drawing--lazy alex didnt clean scanner..

update

wrapping paintigs for shipping, getting out mt last orders of hot sauce. paying off bills, cheking out the state of the nation and the tour de france, still no break in site.....need vaca...took a day and relaxed at coney island post photos soon....

lost souls----jaded underworld

new work.

22 x 30 watercolor ink and guaoche on arches paper.

for sale

alexgardega@gmail.com

I took the old track The hollow shoulder,
across the waters
On the tall cliffs
They were getting older,
sons and daughters
The jaded underworld was riding high
Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky
And as the nail sunk in the cloud, the rain was warm and soaked the crowd.

p. g.

they gave me a 1919 haircut which I have grown to like and may keep..they didnt let me keep the tux or the car.

update

rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I was trapped as an extra in a Scorcesse movie for a few days---- 17 hour days in an un airconditioned room with 300 extras dressed in a wool tux. It was a great NYC experience--they stuck me next to steve Buscemi for a couple of scenes so I may be in the movie. I cant say the title yet except it was a great experience but I wouldnt want to make a habit of it. The worst part was that it took place in a nightclub in 1919 but we only had fake alcohol to drink. My computer is screwey so I am in kinkos. will post a photo in a few minutes.

alex thinks

2/3 rds of american are overweight or obese. If you want to create a national health care system this issue must be addressed first. Diabetes is rampant and expensive and is indeed the iceberg that will sink the titanic of health care reform. I believe in personal responsibility and do not want the govt involved in my life on any level. Alex does think that this issue must be addressed before there can be any thoughts of health care reform. How this is done I havent a clue but if you get off your ass and run everyday you will lose weight. Also you can try the artists diet--lots of stress and anxiety and money stress and you will not have enough money to get fat but you can always afford a few drinks to take the edge off...

back to the easel

I have been caught up running around like a rat in the grand maze that is NYC...sometimes survival takes me away from my beloved paints and easel... I get edgy when I stop painting and I start chewing on the tinfoil of darkness. I am looking forward to painting this weekend and I have ordered a bunch of glass for new glass pieces. I am very happy with my new designs and sketches for my glass pieces.


Sometimes it takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place--Alice in wonderland

NYC photo

I saw this yesterday...

goya

This is one of the most powerful images in the history of art. It has simplicity and mystery and darkness...an enigma wrapped in a burrito of timelessness. By the figure/ creature turning his glance back to the viewer he is giving one a sense that we have interrupted him---he has become aware of our presence...this is fine art at it finiest....Gardega has been hugely influenced by goya and this picture..

I am an extra in Scorsese movie on monday. I have to wear a 1920's tux and they are giving me a short haircut (which is a little unnerving)...I wouldn't even think about it if it wasn't Scorsese. The film is an HBO series.