Merlot Painting on exhibit

I’ll be giving my artist talk for the Haley-Henman show on Sunday August 22nd at 3PM. What to expect at an art talk like this? Well, for all intents and purposes the gallery is closed except for people attending the talk which makes it a much more relaxed atmosphere, just a few people sitting around have a conversation, and since the gallery is mostly empty it gives a great oppurtunity to see all of the art that is on display. It is going to be a lot of fun, and I would love it if you can join me. Here is the address for the gallery:

'Colours' by Hot Chip with Terry

I had posted about a week ago a painting that I had started that featured a childhood friend of mine named Terry. Here is a snapshot of the finished painting that Jacqi took yesterday. The color comes from the song Colours by Hot Chip. It has taken a long time for me to be able to do a painting of Terry; I have started and stopped many times over the years, but I suppose the emotions I felt were still too raw even now years later. He and I were the same age; I only saw him whenever he and I were in the hospital at the same time; nevertheless we saw each other quite a bit, and then suddenly he passed away. I considered Terry to be one of my very best friends; we talked about everything together, and yet I didn’t know he was dying. Terry was one of those people that always had a smile on their face; even if a slight one, and whenever I think of how he had held everything in and didn’t talk about what he was going through it makes me wish that I had been a better friend. Terry was only about 14 when he died; I didn’t find out about his death until after the funeral when a volunteer that we both liked a lot called me at home with the news. He said that Terry’s mother was there in an orange prison uniform with her arms and legs shackled, and his grandmother, who raised him, was inconsolable. I hadn’t known that Terry lived with his grandmother or that his mother was in prison. I suppose I could say something like we were just kids so how could I have known, but that has never sat well with me, and I think that this was why I couldn’t paint my friend. I felt I had let him down when he needed me.

            All of this is very somber and morose, and to paint Terry I had to let that go because somber was the last thing he was. We played like crazy all over the hospital; Frisbee in the halls, video games, and it was a common sight to see Terry wheeling himself from his ward over to mine balancing a lap full of board games. When I think of this it makes me feel better, because maybe Terry just needed someone to play with. Lord knows I didn’t tell him about what tests or treatments the Dr.’s were doing on me; hanging out with Terry was a vacation from all of that. Perhaps he got the same from me; Lord I hope so. At any rate it has freed me up enough to finally draw his face, and it occurs to me, in an almost surprising way, how young he looks.

This painting will be a part of the Haley Henman show – the opening reception is July 31st at 7PM. After working on this painting it makes me a lot more appreciative of the friends that I have now – I am looking very forward to hanging out and talking to friends both old and new at the reception; I’m glad that Terry will be there – if even in a small way.

Zoos are awesome, but have you noticed that all of the animals in them aren’t from around here? They are all from places far away which makes sense because who would go to a zoo just to see a house cat or goldfish on exhibit? It got me to thinking though that perhaps we ought to thank the world for sending us their exotic animals by sending a few of our own back to them. To help with this I have started compiling a list that I call: American Originals – Exotics from the country that brought you such classics as Britany Spears and Boonesfarm. 

American Sweatered Dog - Canis Knitis Americanus

 American Sweatered Dog – This exhibit is all about the habitat; because out of context this is basically just a little trembler in a sweater with no pants, and how are people who are living in sub-Saharan Africa or the boat people of Central Asia supposed to connect to that? 

Viewed out of its environment there might be difficulty in understanding the behavioral and survival adaptations employed by the average American ankle biter; which is why each enclosure would be a recreation of the typical American suburban home including a grandmother whose hair is permanently in curlers, and her 11 year old grandson who mostly plays video games and feeds the dog a steady diet of fudgesicles and cheese puffs – Hey, anybody could relate to that. 

Hamster in Ball – Much to my amazement many peoples and cultures around the world don’t know that hamsters were meant to live in clear plastic balls; without the ball you basically just have a rodent running across your floor, and you know – yuck. 

Furries Bowling - Yes, even Furries can be boring

If they had a staring contest who do you think would win?

Furries – Your basic beast/man hybrid – not even Dr. Moreau himself could have come up with something this creepy, and may I add purrrffect. Basically this is where a normal (?) person just puts on an animal costume and hangs out with other people in animal costumes; which raises the question what a group of furries should be called: a herd? Pack? I think we should call them an awkward: as in, ‘an awkward of Furries crashed the party’ – it’s how they look and also how they make you feel; so it works on a couple levels. Monty Python did a sketch in the 70’s where groups of men would dress as mice and have clandestine cheese parties. It was meant to be a joke, but I suppose this proves that if something is on TV long enough it becomes real – after all we did make a Vulcan president. 

This is either Mr. Slave or Freddie Mercury - you decide

 Slave Man with Collar – This is a strictly urban animal, and while not perhaps exactly an animal a cage does seem strangely appropriate. Natural habitat includes hanging out in leather bars and garage conversion dungeons – to see how this is done just check out This Old House online. (Disclaimer: Not really, but heck if they did this episode I’d watch – I can see it now… 

             “Okay Bob, we’ve talked about the rack, and the scream room, and that’s all pretty typical, but tell me what you’re doing over here with the pit – Is that a pulley in your hand?”

             “Absolutely Kevin; How else would the person at the bottom of the pit get their lotion, and in these New England winters the skin dries out pretty fast.”

That’s all for now, but rest assured I will keep up the search for American Originals.

Terry

This is a painting I just started today, but it is one that I have wanted to do since I began painting. The painting will be a music painting, all of the colors of the painting will come from Hot Chip’s song  Colours, and will be included in my Poetry of the Senses series that will be showing at Haley-Henman in a few weeks. The figure in the painting is of a good friend I had back when I was a kid and was in and out of hospitals a lot. I have tried to paint him before, but have always failed. Terry was an amazing person, and I think it must have bothered me more than I even realized the fact that I lived while he passed away at such a young age. I suppose I have always felt a little guilty because of that; we were the same age, but just as his life was coming to an end mine was beginning. I have always been blocked when it came to trying to paint him, but instead of thinking about what he may have missed out on life; I instead chose to focus on the type of person he was, and finally this seems  to have freed me up enough for me to begin painting my friend. This painting is still very much in the beginning stages; I will post more pics as the painting develops.

DMA Workshop

One of my most favorite places to do workshops is at the Dallas Museum of Art, and the big reason is because of Amanda Blake and the other incredible people that work and volunteer at the Museum. This week we focused on activities that centered around sound and music; we also did some sculpting, sightless painting, line drawing the rhythms of different songs, and painting in a way that represents music. One of the great things about doing workshops in this venue is the amazing opportunities that it allows for. The wealth of artwork that is at your fingertips is staggering; you can paint for awhile, and then tour  a gallery for awhile – just an amazing experience.

Check out the DMA Blog here!

This painting is part of my ‘Poetry of the Senses,’ and is a flavor painting. Each color in the painting represents a paticular flavor found in the 2007 Bogle Merlot. The colors are meticulously chosen for their ability to interact with the other colors in the precise way that the flavors interact with one another. Prints will be available soon

Whenever I hear music I see color; this painting is a visual note for note interpretation of the bass line for ‘Something’s Wrong with this Picture’ by Galactic. The coloration of the woman is taken from the flavors from a Punch (Rothschild) cigar. Prints will be available soon.

This painting is part of my ‘Poetry of the Senses,’ and is a flavor painting. Each color in the painting represents a paticular flavor found in a Coca-Cola. The colors are meticulously chosen for their ability to interact with the other colors in the precise way that the flavors interact with one another. This painting is actually done on three seperate panes of glass that are seperated from each other by a speacially built frame. This gives the painting much deeper depth allowing the light much more penetrating power through the layers of translucent paint. Prints will be available soon.

Whenever I hear music I see color; this painting is a visual note for note interpretation of ‘New York State of Mind’ by Billy Joel. Writing that appears on side supports of painting – Right Side: It comes down to reality, and it’s fine with me because I’ve let it slide – Out of touch…free… Bottom: I know what I’m needing, and I don’t want to waste more time. No Reasons Left side: I don’t have any reasons, I’ve left them all behind, I’m in a New York State of Mind – 11 seconds Top: It was so easy living day by day, out of touch with the rhythm, and blues – B. Joel Prints will be available soon.

Audio Version of Mr. 1%

           I want to tell you about a person that I came into contact with through my artwork, but before I tell you about Phil Buchanan, allow me to explain how this came to be and why it meant so much to me.

           When I first began painting it was a necessary act for me to maintain my sanity. Images were pounding their way around in my head; they plagued my dreams, and I didn’t even have the luxury of closing my eyes to shut them out. I needed to let these images out, and painting allowed me to do this. Just as important as the need to express what I was going through was also essential for me to re-connect with people; to let them know that I was still here and was still me. When I lost my sight it disconnected me to a degree from those around me. People who had known me for years no longer knew how I perceived the world, and to what degree of understanding of what was going on around me. We live in a world where seeing is believing, and where to not know something is to be blind to it. Paintings showed exactly what was going on in my mind, and after awhile people seemed to forget about my vision loss altogether.

           One thing that separated me from others at first too was my anger at having lost my sight. I wasn’t angry at anyone around me, but at life in general for stealing my sight. Painting forced me to direct this anger in a positive direction. Some people have asked how I could paint up to 18 hours a day everyday when I first started to paint; well, anger can be a powerful fuel.

         The first shows I did I never let anyone know that I was blind until after the show was over. I didn’t want people’s perceptions of the artist to effect how they perceived the art – whether it was a positive or negative reaction didn’t matter because either way it detracted attention away from the art. Some stories were written in the media, and after that the idea of keeping the blindness a secret was a moot point. What I never expected were the emails that started coming in. People wrote to me asking me about my art, and they reciprocated by telling me about themselves. Emails came in from all over the world, from major cities to places in third world countries where they didn’t even have roads, but they had internet access and had seen my art online. Some emails are fluently written, some are in broken English and others I have to have translated – all are special to me. Art transcends all cultures and borders; even though two people may not speak the same language they can look at an image and both have the same understanding, and this bonding goes beyond culture, race, or religious belief. Art took me from isolation in a dark apartment to being connected with some very special people all over the world.

           The reason for this blog is because I want to tell you about one of these people; Mr. 1% – otherwise known as Phil Buchanan. When I think about courage and grace under pressure I can think of no better example than Phil and his amazing family. Phil was a woodworker who became blind either because of or from the treatment of meningioma, but he did not let this slow him down in the least. He learned Braille, the adaptive computers, and all of the general skills that visually impaired people need to get by all the while fighting a battle with cancer, and helping to raise a 5 year old daughter. On top of this he was putting together a wood working shop so that he could get back to the work that he loved regardless of his vision loss. It was Phil who inspired me to do my own woodworking when it comes to my paintings ( http://bramblitt.net/?p=641 ). He was also learning the route to his daughter’s school with a white cane so that he could take her to class as she began kindergarten. Phil, I am very sorry to say, passed away in March of 2009, but his legacy is firmly in place by the inspiring way that he lived his life, and by the wonderful family that he left behind. I actually started writing this soon after I learned about his passing, but I just couldn’t finish it until now. Ironically, while this blog is about a person who faced every obstacle with incredible courage, and who led such an exultant and visionary life; I on the other hand often take longer to process and deal with life’s twists and turns.

           We all talk about doing something with our lives; it affects me deeply when I see someone with as much heart as Phil Buchanan actually doing it. Someone who never gave up, and was always striving – not just for himself, but for his family. Phil called himself Mr. 1% referring to his battle with such a rare cancer, but his wife called him Mr. 1% for a completely different reason. She says , “Phil was one of the sharpest, funniest, most honest and most loyal friends I’ve ever known. I could always count on him to have a completely unique and insightful perspective on any situation. He really was one of a kind…a real “Mr. 1%”.”

           I hope Phil’s wife, Wendy, does not mind me using her words here; I am just so moved I had to share them, and I think it shows better than my words ever could what a special person Phil was.

           Whenever I try and explain to people what art means to me I feel that I always fall short of my goal. Art took me from being a person that was not only literally cut off from the outside world, but trapped internally as well – unable to express what I felt in any meaningful way. Art took me from being a person that had become disconnected even around my own family and friends to knowing amazing people like the Buchanans. People who have the courage to share their stories with me and hearts immense enough to bridge great distances, and call me their friend. Art has become not only my voice, but also the way through which I see the world. Is it no wonder why I am so obsessed with painting?