(use j/k navigate through the images)

Kept thinking about this scribble over the weekend so I though I’d record it here.

Asphalt stains in the parking lot, on the way to my truck, after a looong day.

The guy who saw me shooting these gave me a pretty wide berth on the way to his car. I guess someone photographing stains on the ground looks kinda weird. Especially at night and in a big empty parking lot…

Driving on the Hollywood freeway

The more of these I see the more ideas I get.

Grabbed this while in the parking garage for the art store. Just going to the art store is the most arty thing I’ve done lately. Sadly, no big bodies of work to speak of yet. I’ve been spending all my time working at the day job (no choice on that one and I like the work) and the night job (more and more reluctantly).

I’ve come to some conclusions about how I’m spending my life and I’m taking steps to alter it to be more focused on what I really want (sounds generic, I know). Probably not very drastic by some people’s definition but it certainly is to me. I’ll write about them as things start to manifest and I have more understanding of their effects.

Trying to get a few thoughts recorded about this image.

I’m actually not quite sure what I want to say now that it’s sitting right there. Maybe just some free association.

It looks like candy, the human brain, a weird defect on someone with orange skin. The main form is embedded into the surrounding area, producing a slight bulge. The colors are electric and vibrate next to each other. It has both soft and hard qualities. The mottled texture mimics skin to some extend. The inside form feels snug and protected. It’s comforting and exciting at the same time.

The cross-sectional look gives a private and vulnerable feeling, like looking at a part of someone you shouldn’t be seeing. This starts to border on the sexual. Not something I usually speak to in my own work, but definitely always present.

Image: I came across this image in Wired’s “Nano Photos Rival Modern Art” story. Scientists Muruganathan Ramanathan and Seth Darling made an ultrathin film of polymer, patterned it with oxygen-reactive-ion etching and used heat and solvents to make it more crystalline. Image courtesy of Materials Research Society.

The hardboard surface covering my studio table

My cats spilled a huge bucket of clay-filled water on my studio table a while ago and it created this great composition. What I like about it is that it looks more like an object than a flat shape. Reminds me of the ceramic shell gating used in casting. I usually find this part of the process more beautiful than the finished bronze. Of course, I’m not a big fan of bronze.

I was able to put some time in the studio this week. Started by reworking a painting I started a while ago. The critique that came back was that it needed more paint. So that’s what I did, added a lot more paint. Trying not to make any judgments about it yet.

It’s hard getting from idea to realization. Even harder when you lack a clear idea/vision of what finished means. In the past I’ve felt that having the most crystallized idea was the answer. The result would be exactly what I was looking for, I thought. This has produced formulaic results. What’s missing in this formula process is a philosophy regarding the obstacles that happen along the way. I’ve viewed them as just that, obstacles, rather than creative injections that can provide richer meaning to the final work.

I’m working towards a broader view as to what “finished” means. So far, absorbing obstacles into the creative process makes “finished” even harder to describe.

Untitled Sketch | 2007

Original ImageThis idea has been in my mind for a while now. Not sure how to execute it so I thought I would do a digital sketch to keep it fresh. The tar used to seal up cracks create such beautiful forms. Originally I figured I would try to take bird’s-eye photographs as the finished product. I’m still uneasy about photography. I feel that it would just seem like a copy of an original, although I’m still entertaining the idea. Cutting out a huge piece of asphalt would be great but a little impractical at the moment. Trying to recreate this is still what I’m aiming for.

The idea popped back into my just yesterday when I thought about going out and painting them where they lie. The complimentary colors have a nice vibration going as well. I’m not very dedicated to the idea so far but I though I could at least give a try without actually defacing public property. I can’t imagine what a home owner would think about seeing me out in front painting his/her street (except to call the police).