Apophenia is the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data.

Flight

Steven LaRose, Our Fears Do Make Us Traitors, 2010

Acrylic and oil on wood, 24 x 32 inches

Highlights from blogs I follow "B and C"

"I love artists that break the rules and Andrei Molotiu breaks them all, with mind-bending and beautiful results."--Scott McCloud The image above is the most representation you will get over at blotcomics.

I should check in with Ryan of Brief Epigrams more often. He is always posting interesting stuff.

Somehow, Jonathan Adler at Cabin makes Art with a spartan capital "A" and Chris Jagers always is rooting up some aesthetic curiosity.

Shake it off. . . starting with "A"

I've been out of the loop for awhile. I thought I might actually follow the blogs I say I follow. Here are my internal, insular, and alphabetically favorite surf results:
I don't know who tonci zonjic is, although they are clearly of the professional ilk. Their official web site offers up some proverbial cool kaka (and I mean that in the most humble of ways). Because tonci's blog is titled "86 35" the next blog in line is Abstract Comics: The Blog. The above is a screen shot of a recent project in which I contributed the fifth panel. The whole thing can be found here. And there is talk of a forthcoming high resolution hard copy print for those who are interested.

Anaba is next. Martin Bromirski is on thousands of link lists. His taste leans a different direction than mine, but only slightly. . . there is some overlap.
Brenda Goodman paints with some wood stove and ash laden monsters. But and also, Beth Gilfilen, at John Davis Gallery is wiggin my proverbial out.Kathy at the blog AndMoreAgain always schools me.


An all-time favorite blog is Animations Backgounds:
and yet, Bill at Artblog Comments is posting less and less these days:

Tête à tête

Works in progress.

Some Long Overdue Skyporn

Calling All Smart People

This weekend I finally got around to painting the front fender of the Vespa. I crunched it last year running into a dumpster. I'd forgotten that the steering column was locked and I did a nifty pirouette into the big metal box. I'd rather not talk about it anymore, but still. . . .I did my first body work with these really cool hammer tools and some Bondo, etc.
You can see that the shape isn't so perfect anymore. And with the new paint, you can see the variations of my craft.
Still, the color is a good match. But that's not why I've asked you smart people to visit. See these rubber rings that act as suspension for the side car? Notice how they are starting to fail? I replaced them earlier this year because of the same issue. A couple had torn in half. Some guy in India was nice enough to send me these replacements for free. (As a side note, the box was a hand stitched canvas box. It was beautiful until it occurred to me that labor was cheaper than tape in India).
Free is nice and all, but these were a bitch to replace. Stacy and I were pullin' and yankin' and pryin' and flexin' for a long time. My question to you is this, what might be a clever alternative to these rubber rings?

Today's Plonsky Filter

What does it all mean?

I spent hours drawing this awkward drawing.


The sun set on our valley.


Some of us stayed and talked about the big scheme of things.


There were no answers, only a depressing camaraderie, even in the face of differences of taste.
I think I took away the notion that it is important to paint what you think is right.

Goofin' and Generatin' Shrwed Pratfalls

Phantom Guilt

Steven LaRose, What Charm Can Soothe Her Melancholy, 2010

Acrylic and oil on wood, 32 x 24 inches

No Comment

I hope you have a composed, palette friendly, and bad ass summer.

Goal

I got this from the Facebook group PLONSKY 2. If I am true to my self, I will make some silk-screened prints of my own one day. I LOVE that linen, and the ink, and the drawing. . .

Frigyes Karinthy was the first proponent of the six degrees of separation concept.

In the past twenty four hours I've reconnected with two friends from college. Louis Henderson is painting in the Laguna area of Southern California:
Painting from photographs isn't really painting, is it? But I suppose one needs research material and studies in order to accomplish the level of composition and craft that Louis achieves. Could I do what Louis does? I've been tempted to try over the years, but the motivation eventually seems to be driven by a peculiar need to prove something and henceforth, insincere. Other times, I think it would be a more responsible way to support my family; that is, targeting an audience and applying my skill set. I think I might try a naturalistic and orchestrated painting some day. I've also started an over-sized Vermeer forgery that seems to be slipping deeper and deeper into the storage rack. For that painting I've got a thick file of research photographs. Painting from that research requires a different mental state then what happens in my studio currently. The craft is still the same, but the discoveries are of diverging lateral categories. They are like the apples and oranges of a-ha experience.

Kristin Capp is based in New York, she has been taking photographs all over the world:
Some people paint with their camera. B.U.M.P.E rules the image. What is "B.U.M.P.E" you ask? Balance, Unity, Movement, Proportion, and Emphasis. Basic commandments of painting in one simple acronym. Kristin takes some wonderful photographs organized under thematic suites. It is all very painterly.

ABCOLAB #2 is finally here!

The image above is my submission to ABCOLAB #2. You too should take part. Simply follow this link. ABCOLAB #1 can be found at this link.

I started two paintings but one of them has been screaming for my marks

Some things I learned last night

Belly dancers don't necessarily make good models. Their clothes are distracting. At least for gestures. Paint is fun for gestures. It is easier to not seek out perfection of detail because the tool is so gross and gooey. Working from five minute gestures to one minute gestures is bass ackwards but I found merit in it. Some people find that three hours spent drawing from the hip is indulgent. After a session is over, I should not stay late and gossip.