Another item on my list

After removing the chimney, I opened up one of the walls in my daughter's room. It appears that our house was remodeled by Dr. Frankenstein's stoner cousin. To the right is where the window was and in the middle is a section that had no insulation or vapor barrier, just exterior siding behind sheet rock. This explains why every season, ants would show up in this region of the house. But the bizzare thing is, notice how the left hand scabbed-in stud doesn't even reach the old header.
Miso and Omeed were very helpful when it came time for the dump run.

New

I have finally cobbled together a website at www.stevenlarose.net. I used a software called Freeway 5 Express to form the dough. And then I paid some fly cat dat goze by da name of GoDaddy to let me walk the streets.

Please critique.

Two heads are better than one.

"My paintings are amalgamations of landscape, nature, figure, and flesh. Armed with a visceral exploration of the ontology of paint, I salaciously mutate the traditional genres of nude figure and landscape. Through this brash presentation of nature and the body, my work swaggers between something familiar and that which is completely foreign. I do not consider the work abstract; nor is it concretely representational. In the paintings, forms that suggest leaves, sticks, and vines, fuse with areas of amorphous flesh. Through the creation of these surrogate figures, an exaggerated longing for nature is transposed by a more violent reality. The recognition of aggressively congealing flesh and forest opens up a dialog on what separates us from nature, calling forth the implications of this widening gap. For me the issue is more than just ecological or biological; it is also psychological and spiritual." - Jane Fox Hipple

"There's always a confusion implied between my materials and the way I manipulate them. The sterile, sleek, refined and clinical qualities of my cast, molded, and spilled acrylic polymers are filtered through the fluid, the organic, the chaotic, and the ornamental. Categorical shifts like these are very meaningful to me--much more so than the actual choice of physical material. I'm fascinated by the ways in which, for instance, my paintings can reference at once psychedelia, science fiction, modernism, the rococo, decadence, and hermetic texts--wholesome, natural beauty, and toxic, synthetic glamour." - Gordon Terry

*

If you don't believe that there only appears to be spirals of dayglo lime green and light cobalt blue in the image above, than you should go experience all eighteen of Marilyn Fenn's Color Theory Exercises. You should because the blue and green in the image above are identical (R=0, G=255, B=150). (link)

Have any of you had any experience with interior chimney removal?

I could use some coaching with this one.

Talking

While visiting her mother (who lives here in the Rogue Valley), Eva Lake found time for a social call. What I took away from our conversation:
1) "Respect" and "Cherish" are good goals.
2) I should seek gallery representation in Portland and San Francisco.
3) I am more of a "gossip" than I thought.
4) I like people who paint.

I finally had a my PowerShot with me because this book has been singing to me through the window of some store.

To download this ebook for free, "click" here.

One's-Self I Sing

 One's-self I sing, a simple separate person,
 Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.

 Of physiology from top to toe I sing,
 Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say
     the Form complete is worthier far,
 The Female equally with the Male I sing.

 Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
 Cheerful, for freest action form'd under the laws divine,
 The Modern Man I sing.

Next chance I get, I'm going to buy that book.

Dink Lump, (where I clean out my bookmarks)

• When was the last time any of you used Technorati? I'm deleting it.
• I keep forgetting about Mental Floss even though it has been bookmarked forever. I'm adding it to my Link List and maybe I'll remember to check in then.
• Same with Unusual Life.
  
• I can't figure out why I am going to delete On the Cusp. I sincerely feel I should support this blog, but for some reason it doesn't resonate.
• Today is OK is one of those blogs that is more of a curatorial thread. It is simply someones accumulation of taste. I think I'll add it to my Link List.
• Bearskinrug is sufficiently dark and clever illustration stuff that I will also keep.
• What should we call blogs like Arkhives? Like "Today is OK" above, it is a string of images that the author is "looking at and thinking about." They don't write anything. But I dig their taste. To the Link List it is!
• I'm deleting my College Art Association link. I don't think we would move anywhere in the U.S. right now for a low paying teaching gig. In fact, I've let my membership of 15 years expire. I'm not applying for grants, entering competitions, or creating curatorial proposals, so what is the point?
• MW Capacity is "a painter blog for no-coasters" and is potentially interesting. Despite my obvious exclusion living in Southern Oregon the blog has some interesting posts. Although, I could do without that annoying "snap-shot" pop up application. Tough call this one.
  

That's enough for now. One has to pick away at these things.

Manifesto Monday: An Umberto Boccioni Snippet

Published in Poesia (Milan), April 11, 1910.

We declare:

1. That all forms of imitation must be despised, all forms of originality glorified.

2. That it is essential to rebel against the tyranny of the terms “harmony” and “good taste” as being too elastic expressions, by the help of which it is easy to demolish the works of Rembrandt, of Goya and of Rodin.

3. That the art critics are useless or harmful.

4. That all subjects previously used must be swept aside in order to express our whirling life of steel, of pride, of fever and of speed.

5. That the name of “madman” with which it is attempted to gag all innovators should be looked upon as a title of honor.

6. That innate complementariness is an absolute necessity in painting, just as free meter in poetry or polyphony in music.

7. That universal dynamism must be rendered in painting as a dynamic sensation.

8. That in the manner of rendering Nature the first essential is sincerity and purity.

9. That movement and light destroy the materiality of bodies.

We fight:

1. Against the bituminous tints by which it is attempted to obtain the patina of time upon modern pictures.

2. Against the superficial and elementary archaism founded upon flat tints, and which, by imitating the linear technique of the Egyptians, reduces painting to a powerless synthesis, both childish and grotesque.

3. Against the false claims to belong to the future put forward by the secessionists and the independents, who have installed new academies no less trite and attached to routine than the preceding ones.

4. Against the nude in painting, as nauseous and as tedious as adultery in literature.

We wish to explain this last point. Nothing is immoral in our eyes; it is the monotony of the nude against which we fight. We are told that the subject is nothing and that everything lies in the manner of treating it. That is agreed; we too, admit that. But this truism, unimpeachable and absolute fifty years ago, is no longer so today with regard to the nude, since artists obsessed with the desire to expose the bodies of their mistresses have transformed the Salons into arrays of unwholesome flesh!

We demand, for ten years, the total suppression of the nude in painting.

Yikes

Tonight's Figure Drawing Session

I never felt completely in the groove. This is likely because I was over anticipating a good time.

I did learn something however.
Sarah Burns, who was sitting to my right, was occasionally twisting her body away from her drawing and mechanically twitching. I thought, at first, that she had a piece of something in her eye. Then I thought Sarah was applying makeup because she was peering into a compact mirror. But it turned out that the twitching was because of the minute adjustments required to see her drawing and the model at the same time, in reverse, in a mirror the size of a sand dollar.
When I tried this device on my own drawing, I crumpled. In the future, I will always carry a small mirror to help my proportions.

Pencilexicon, Part 3 (with some gaps to fill)

Nodes

Ohshit

Pareidolia (2009)

Signature

Throne

Venus

Weed Waves

Zygomatic

syllogism

+

+

=

Mary Addison Hackett

Flashback Friday, Special Guest Edition

Todd Johnson circa 1997

"I took a break from painting for uhh. . . wow almost a decade. Took up another obsessive time sucker; raced Ironman Triathlons for quite a bit. That's done. I went to MOMA a few months back and upon entering the room where all of our heroes are I broke down and cried. Freaky shit but it reminded me where my home is."
"the first two are large scale (6' x 6' and 6' x 5' , on panel and on canvas respectively) All are oil and oil enamel."
"The black and yellow one is smaller ( 32 x 48") and is on aluminum."
"None of these are titled. Statement? Please. Memories? I remember being very comfortable /confident with mark making at the time and was almost at the point where these were beginning to approach the visage in my "i can see what I want in my mind, kinda" thing. I remember going to sleep during this time in my loft and every night I would fall asleep to this screeching clanging black noise cacophony thing going on inside my head. These remind me of that sound. I still try to capture that noise."

"so there I was in Hollywood in the late morning. i had just left some sort of eating/drinking establishment and we were collecting ourselves outside. i look up over my shoulder to find a massive billboard. "steve larose is proudly using facebook". had a little picture of you as well. I'm thinkin' damn this looks expensive! And then you come out of the same place i just left except it seems as if you are really hungover or off to an early start. I suggest we go back inside and talk about your advertisement. we sit at a booth. I can't figure out what to order, some girl sitting next to me has a ginormous purse that seems to take priority over everything else on my side of the bench. i look aver and you and your friends are eating macaroni and cheese! then i woke up."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Todd has started painting again. His furniture design web site can be found by clicking here.

Mobile Revolution

Christopher Jagers recently posted his two part interview with Dean Terry over at the Glasstire blog. Dean was nice enough to mention me by name as an example of someone who is considered a "traditional artist" and yet is fascinated by new media. I don't have an iPhone, however, my wife does and I covet it. I've got a couple video ideas, but who has the time for that? Facebook is like trying to catch a butterfly. I have stopped working on my web page (which has been down for months) because it is so boring. Obviously, blogging comes naturally. And I don't do it for the reasons that I suspected. I don't see the blogging as a way to become connected to more people. My visitor count is a testament to this.But I was never motivated to reach a huge audience in the first place. The stat watching is simply a fascinating by-product. Sort of like the wake of boat. My point is, contrary to popular opinion, I don't think the new media has gotten me in touch with a dizzying array of people. If anything, it has allowed a small community of like-minded people to interact. To play. A common complaint I hear about blogging is that like-minded souls cluster together and re-enforce their own agenda. Personally, I am finding that the elite audience is more valuable to me than nameless numbers.
Occasionally I have spikes in the stats that intrigue me. Even this week, someone from a usfca.edu computer is likely getting carpal tunnel damage from clicking through this blog's archives.
I thank them. I will likely never know who they are. But it does reinforce that the medium has been worth spending time with. Still, it is the old model, isn't it? I post things, people look at them. It is not very interactive or collaborative, except in the comments section or when shared themes are pursued. I've dabbled in co-blogging with various people and under various umbrellas but they didn't last on my end because I always felt stretched too thin. I guess I am wondering how much things have really changed? Blogging doesn't seem that "new" or different. Now, this whole augmented reality thing has got me interested. Maybe it can truly be revolutionary and help us to see the world in a new and better way.

Our Trinity

We live with three other mammals. Ole Man Jake is into his 16th year as a cat. The crafty devil's teeth may be hurtin' and he is constantly being challenged by the kitten, but he is certainly wise to the ways of the world.

Jake's new favorite mid-morning nap spot is on a Groovy Girl bed. He may be in heaven, but I'm thinking YARD SALE. I haven't seen my daughter play with dolls in quite some time. I'm thinking she needs the bookshelf space.

Jake is the king.
Jake had to deal with the introduction of Miso, the Chocolate Lab. Miso. Me so brown. Me so chocolaty. Me so sexy, mellow, and food driven.

Miso does not chase balls with that whacked out passion that some dogs do. She'll retrieve, for a price. She has created a relationship with ticks that I take personally. Her best friend is Omeed.
Miso and Omeed share many characteristics. Youth? Omeed is certainly the Jester of the House. Imagine being a 16 year old cat being pounced upon by a goofball.

"Balance" is obviously a good word when you have binary operations, but what is the language for a three-way balance?

Pencilexicon, Part 2

Impana

Jester Gestures

Kirby & Goliath

Land(e)scape

Mame Bonsai

Pencilexicon, Part 1

Abstraction

Bartolommeo Blowin' a Trumpet

Callisto

Disney

Egg

Frank Frazetta

Globs

Hurter's Hunter