Wednesday, October 21, 2009

What's Next?

So I'm making a book.

This has been in the planning/brain cookin' stage for a while now. Basically, here's the plan; This will contain 30 images, & once complete I'll publish to LuLu, which will distribute to Amazon, and through that, the whole world. BWAHAHAHAHA!

Yah! It'll be sweet!

Now to make it...

I've been moving in a different direction artistically. This next series will be as much about the method of creation as the work itself will be for me. All will start as a drawing, that I will digitally manipulate. The purpose of this will be for control, and because I may produce these as prints after the fact... and the imagery will work better in this kind of format. The source of these images will be from visions from meditation and alligorical stories from my memory, and/or both. That's the rub, I've never done a body of work based off of my personal mythology. I think it will make for some interesting viewing. Also I find that if it's something that I'm hesitant to do, then I should probably go do it.


To give you an idea of what you may expect, this print is a precursor to what's coming next. The symbols in the print (titled Kingsnake, 18" x 24") are alchmey based. The snake, the egg, and the young woman (virgin) represent fertility, new beginings, and the snake crowned in the Oborous (tail biting) position speak of rebirth... and maybe some other things that I just don't want to tell you because if I did... well that would be too easy. I prefer the folks who view my work to come up with their own definitions.

Yeah, I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to obscure symbols, that's the other advantage of the book format, I can write a blurb or prose to illumiate the subject for the viewer. In the next few weeks/months from time to time I'll preview parts of what I'm working on, & you're welcome to give feedback of course.

This is going to be my main focus, and I don't plan on having any other shows at this time so I can just work on this. But stuff comes up, and of course I'll tell you about it if it does.

Until next time, here's Billy Bragg & Wilco

Monday, October 19, 2009

Fun Links!

I apparently have the gift of finding strange things. When that happens (and I'm to tired to pull anything out of my ass), I'll present to you Fun Links (previously called PMG Fun Links. © er... me, um around this time).

yeah.

Anyway. 1st off, check out some Kachi Kachi Yama animation:

More at Dangerous Minds

Next, this one has been around for a minute, but tis the season!


And one more, a favorite of mine:


That's all I got time for, enjoy!

Wisteria


Well I've returned from the woods.
I guess first though I should explain a lil' about where I was. Wisteria is a privately owned event site and nature preserve. There are
several events held through out the year, and people come and camp and reconnect with nature & perhaps themselves. There are several places like this in the United States, but if you don't know where to look they can be difficult to locate. Advertisement is not widespread, and that's probably not such a terrible thing. The type of folks who visit places like this tend to be environmentalists, earth-spiritualists, and just about every age, level of education, and income level you can imagine. It has several spiritual sites, mounds, stone circles, a space for sweat lodges, and spaces for drum circles; as well as paths through the woods that are a little more wild than most people are used to. I've only started camping here again in the past couple years. Coming to places like this for some reason helps me re-wire a little bit, and I've needed it.

This past weekend was pretty short insofar as the time I generally spend there (which tends to be more in a 4-7 day stint vs 2.5 days). I arrive late Friday afternoon. The kitchen (Caffina's) was serving dinner, and most everyone was in good spirits bundled up against the cold. Oh the weather, it stayed in the 40's high, 32 low, and spotty misty rain. The highs were running 20 degrees colder than normal, but who lets the
weather stop them from a good time? Anyway, I find a spot and pitch a tent for my friends who were coming (I stayed in my old geriatric van), and huzza the weekend began.

I guess a blow-by-blow isn't necessary. I generally camp alone, and bounce around hanging out with people I know and meeting people I don't (the advantage of not being rooted in any one place). Since the weekend was so short I spent most of it alone. Highlights were walking around in the woods & nearly getting caught in the dark without a flash light... interesting because th
e paths there are a little overgrown and in the deep twilight of an overcast evening with no moon in the sky it gets a wee dark. I highly recommend the experience (be safe though, bring a flashlight and know where you're going).

Generally there are no animals on site, but this time around Natural Freedom LLC brought a few horses for a workshop. I didn't attend the workshop itself, but I did stop by. When I was younger I had lessons in english style riding, & the last time I had spent any time with horses was when I
lived in Colorado. These were extremely friendly and social animals, pactictulary the female Angel. You can see in the photo her pressing her muzzle to my head, which she did for at least half a minute. Very surprising, I've never seen a horse do this.

There was also the pig roast (very tasty pig), and the ceramic pit firing that happens every year. I didn't take part in the firing aside from hanging out by the fire (which gets about 6 feet tall roughly), listening to drumming and just talking to people. It was nice. On the last day I grabbed some folks and took a walk to the Fairy Shrine, which is a kind of land based... instlation for lack of a better term. People come and leave items for the land spirits, and whether you believe in that or not, it's a nice spot to visit.

So yeah, as bad as the weather sounds, it wasn't horrible. I find that these places give you what you put into it. If you choose to focus on the negative, without and within, that's what you'll get back. If you don't participate, people will leave you alone. But, if you engage the enviornment it will give you back what you need (not necessarily what you want, but what we want isn't always what we should get).
This is the last festival of the year, but if this is the kind of space that interests you I highly suggest coming next year.

More of my photos of Wisteria can be seen here

That's all for now.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

This and That

I host figure drawing sessions at Wild Goose Creative every second and fourth Tuesday of the month. This past session someone asked if they can bring beer, and I don't see a reason why not (I had never thought about it before). It's fine with me just so long as people don't come or get drunk and/or disruptive. Also if people want to make an evening of it they can stop by Rhumba Cafe afterwards and listen to some live music. They seem to have jazz on Tuesdays (and I love me some jazz!). If you want to come, I post a schedule on my website or you can join my group on Facebook. It's from 6-8, and cost 7 dollars to help pay for the model.

In other news I'm pretty busy this week preparing for Wisteria's Autumn Fires. I'll be down there for the weekend. Weather report says it's going to be close to freezing at night, and raining much of the time. I'll be camping in my van (I'm not the golden girl of roughing it). The site features showers and has an outdoor kitchen but there's no lodge or indoor space, so it's bundling up, staying by fires, & bringing a lot of blankets. Sounds like murder, but the leaves are turning now, and the ceramic pit firings, music concerts, and hanging out with new and old friends is not something to be missed & worth braving cold and wet. Photos and maybe a few stories will be forthcoming.

I probably won't be able to post again till I come back, so in the meantime here is The Eden House

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Wha? Blog what?

Back in the mid to late 90's I used to 'blog' a lot. I never called it that, I don't believe that word was in the general public lexicon back then. But I did, and I was very prolific. A part of it exists still on http://iam.bmezine.com (don't bother, unless you're a member you can't get in). Around 02-03 about the time I moved to Colorado I gradually stopped posting so much. You know, life happens... I have gone back into it occasionally. Every damn social media site offers a blog, & I just don't feel like cutting and pasting all over the place, so the purpose of this is to consolidate, and I need to get into the practice of regular journaling.


I tend to take a conversational tone. Imagine you and I are sitting in some cozy coffee shop, and I'm telling you a story, or ranting about something I heard, or saw. Generally that's how I tend to write. Like my art, I get personal. Oh, I'm not going to tell you about the date I had last night or anything I'd consider to be terribly private, and I don't want to give you some emotional drivel that will make you claw your eyes out afterwards asking 'whyyyyyyOHGODWHYYYYY!!!!'. But it's going to get personal. I wish I was one of those objective people that can make art in a scientific detached kind of way so I would not have to second guess; 'is this really a good idea?!'... but I find doing it that way to be boring honestly.

And who wants that?

By the way, that's why I call this a diary, it's more in the vein that I approach these things. Oh, and about the name (someone asked me what it meant, so I feel obliged to explain). Whetstone, is one of the old names for the Olentangy River which flows through Worthington Ohio, my home town (pronounced Ole-n-tan-gy, not Old-and-tangy). I've traveled a bit and lived elsewhere, but (a bit to my own annoyance) this is where I seem to always return to. The river is not impressive by most people's standards. In fact most people don't seem to be impressed by the geography of this area of the world at all. No mountains, no grand rivers, very few caves and very small hills (if there are any hills at all). But I've spent some significant moments around that body of water, and I think it's indicitive of the area. It's not obvious, you have to look carefully, get in it, and pay attention, to see it's beauty and find it's secrets.


Also, a whetstone is a flat stone used to sharpen tools, especially knives.

Sometimes I find obscure or rarely used words to name my work, because I don't want to just -hand it to you-. Maybe I should, people expect things to be so easy (just give me what I want, right now), but if everything was easy, we wouldn't learn anything. If there is a deep meaning behind the name I don't suppose I'd tell you, but really it's just a name that works for me.

If you want to know more about me, a proper introduction would be to go visit my website, the rest you'll find out as I go.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

1st entry.

I know, very exciting to have yet another blog. I'm excited for you.

So what's the point? I want to chronicle the things I find interesting. Much of this will be regarding art and/or art-related, but some of it won't.

We shall see what happens next as I get this set up.

So yay, let's kick this pig!