http://www.edensart.com/ee/index.php/eden/index/ en artist@edensart.com Copyright 2010 2010-09-08T22:54:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/curator_faux_pas/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/curator_faux_pas/#When:22:54:00Z Bathers by a River, 1909, 1913, and 1916 Henri Matisse French, 1869-1954 Painter Henri Matisse considered this large painting to be among his most pivotal; note that he didn’t say one of his best. The other day I watched an interview of two curators, one from The Art Institute of Chicago, and the other from MOMA. They were discussing the show they helped mount: Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917. During the interview, the MOMA curator uttered “obvious” at least five times—once was too many. As many of you who read this blog and my book, An Artist Empowered, know: obvious is on my verboten list of words, and for good reason. Obvious is empty calories; it means being apparent or self-evident (much better alternatives) to everyone. So, when the curator stumbles again with: “It wasn’t immediately obvious,” we understand that this sentence is flawed and meaningless. When then did it become obvious? When did “everyone” get it?  Was there a vote? Remember, Jefferson penned: “We hold these truths to be self-evident. . .” He avoided the “obvious” trap. Self-evident implies mindfulness; obvious implies the mob rule of rote—repeating without comprehension. There is nothing obvious about art—in making it or appreciating it; if art were obvious, then everyone would recognize your genius now, in the present moment. Removing obvious from your vocabulary strengthens both your character and art. You will be rewarded as your mind finds new inventions in a sea of stagnate hope, change, and mindlessness.  art 2010-09-08T22:54:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/patience_equals_dividends/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/patience_equals_dividends/#When:20:19:00Z Aldo resting in his mini-aviary If you’ve been following my remarkable storyline with Aldo, my wild rescued young parakeet, read on. If not, simply type in “aldo” in the search box to come up to speed. Today, Aldo made the next move toward trust; he had grabbed my finger in the past for millet; however, this time he stepped up onto my palm where he enjoyed his millet treat. Aldo’s display of trust was priceless. I specifically owe this progress to Robin, a member of the Talk Budgies Forum. I had watched her invaluable training video about having her wild parakeet, Strider, walk onto her palm. I simply followed her lead, which has taken some 5 weeks for Aldo to step onto my palm. And all this without depriving Aldo of food as a motivator—which Robin called the fast track—and least desirable. There is no fast track to art, either. You must learn to trust your own self in a sea of endless opinions and groping hands. awareness 2010-09-05T20:19:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/consciousness_conundrum_redux/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/consciousness_conundrum_redux/#When:18:52:00Z Back in the Game Here’s a repost from several years ago; it always bears fruit: Today, on the radio, I heard two famous scientists discussing consciousness in clinical terms, and brain research, which was in many ways fascinating. One, a nobel laureate, said: “Awareness is a form of consciousness.” While this assessment might sound correct, I would disagree. Awareness is a form of art. You can raise your awareness, but not consciousness. You can’t have a form of consciousness; it is already whole and not open to divisions or categories. As the Buddha observed: “Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” What did you learn today? awareness 2010-08-31T18:52:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/steroids_of_truth/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/steroids_of_truth/#When:22:24:00Z The Athlete Seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens was indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday for allegedly lying to Congress about using steroids and growth hormone. The criminal case writes a new chapter in one of Major League Baseball’s worst scandals, the rampant use of the banned substances. This legal matter is yet another red herring; does anyone in the room believe that if they took steroids or a human growth hormone, they would develop the pitching prowess of Clemens? Sure, these substances might harm your health, but to ban them because it might give one an advantage (level playing field notwithstanding) is ridiculous and hypocritical. The Scientist According to believers, ‘Francis Crick, the Nobel Prize-winning father of modern genetics, was under the influence of LSD when he first deduced the double-helix structure of DNA more than 50 years ago.’ Whether this questionable and anecdotal account took place or not is irrelevant. Regardless of how it happened, we do know this discovery was the result of ingenuity coupled with passion: a circumstance of a prepared mind meeting intuitive information. We thank Crick and his research associate, James Watson, for being sufficiently aware in March of 1953 to ‘see’ what was in the genie’s bottle: the molecular structure of DNA. Unless you were looking for it, how many would have recognized the double helix, the genetic instructions, or blue- print of life, if they saw it standing on their kitchen table? How many in the presence of an innovation in art would recognize the breakthrough for what it was before it was sanctioned by the powers that be? The Artist The topic of drugs and art is a volatile one; and we know that many an artist has, with disastrous results, turned to drink or substance abuse to cope with feeling blocked, rejected, or even accepted. If you think that ingesting substances will make you a better artist or give you courage, then you don’t yet see a clear picture of what I am writing about in this book (An Artist Empowered). An artist in dharma is already ‘perfect’ because he acknowledges the source of his gift. Nothing from the outside can improve upon the inner harmony that already exists. If you have a gift of art, you are then also charged with a duty: you must protect that gift from any vice that would destroy it.  kul cha 2010-08-19T22:24:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/el_coyote/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/el_coyote/#When:03:04:00Z El Coyote staking out the situation About six weeks ago I had an unexpected visitor show up at my doorstep: Baby Aldo, a young parakeet who is not indigenous to the harsh and unforgiving climate in the high desert. Aldo is like the man who came to dinner; he has become part of the family here, along with Sweetie Boy, the cockatiel. Late this afternoon, I opened the main door to my cabin. There in front of me stood a coyote. He looked at me, and I looked back. Although he didn’t run off, he was on high alert. Every now and then in the middle of the night, I would hear the distinctive and plaintive howls of coyote packs way back in the vast mesa beyond the cabin. This coyote had put fear behind him and had ventured down near the humans, the most dangerous of predators. I slowly closed the door, grabbed my camera, and took this photo through the kitchen window. After a while, it became clear why he came here: the fruit trees. He sniffed about, looking here and there, and behind him. Then, he began eating the pears that had dropped off the tree. Coyotes will eat what’s available, which is their ace in the hole when it come to adaptation and survival. After eating his fill, which took about twenty minutes, he dashed off, up the steep hill, and back to the mesa. Our mindless encroachment into the wilderness is unsustainable. Putting people first, regardless of costs, will eventually unravel the beauty of balance and evolution. Whatever happened to zero population growth? It’s a touchy subject that, if ignored, will come back to haunt us into oblivion.  We don’t need more consumers who fuel the engine of disaster; we do need more evolved people who will steward the earth—and I can think of no better dharma. awareness 2010-08-17T03:04:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/an_artist_empoweredfree_shipping/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/an_artist_empoweredfree_shipping/#When:20:54:00Z If you’ve been thinking of purchasing my book, An Artist Empowered, for yourself or a friend, now is a good time. Get free shipping from Lulu.com (offer ends August 23rd). Click on this link: An Artist Empowered Enjoy and get out on the farthest limb that will hold you—that’s where you’ll find most of the tastiest fruit. Eden art 2010-08-12T20:54:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/self_satisfied_redux/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/self_satisfied_redux/#When:01:53:00Z He said it thousands of years ago. Ignorance is the enemy of man. There is no doubt that the Buddha was clear on this point. Test this observation by looking at the world around you. There is another trap we can call complacency—as we move through our finite days, taking things for granted in an ever-changing and temporal existence. Look around again and see what you can do to overcome the insidious trap and smugness of self-satisfaction and the inertia that it manifests. Without an awareness of complacency, the artist becomes a hack, a murky cowardly reflection of what could have been.  awareness 2010-08-08T01:53:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/vincent_we_love_you/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/vincent_we_love_you/#When:23:13:00Z Vincent van Gogh sans his red beard 1890: Vincent van Gogh died in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, two days after shooting himself. From An Artist Empowered: However, it appears that far from being the isolated lunatic on the fringe, van Gogh was a practical and methodical artist with a healthy sense of his times, coupled with an interest in science, astronomy, poetry, and literature. As Becky Hendrick, in her fine book, Getting It, puts it: “He was a great painter in spite of his mental illness, not as a result of it.” Van Gogh wasn’t mad when he painted or wrote letters, especially to his brother, Theo, which were clear, pragmatic, and mindful of his mission as an artist. One could argue, as Albert Boime does, that Vincent was less mad and more a victim; he suffered seizures that were most likely brought on by a form of epilepsy; he didn’t recall cutting off his earlobe, and this frightened him. On July 27, 1890, van Gogh left for a nearby field (earlier that month in the fields he had painted vast stretches of wheat, crows, and turbulent skies) where he shot himself—which might be explained away by a seizure, but not why he had a pistol with him.  art 2010-07-29T23:13:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/adele_darling_redux/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/adele_darling_redux/#When:21:15:00Z Today would have been my dear late mother’s eighty-fourth birthday. I think of her daily and dream of her often. Adele had enough compassion for the whole world. She was brave and always willing to lend a helping hand. She spoke up when necessary; her compassion did not make her a fool. She would say to me: “Giving up on your art is like tossing your baby away.” So, dear Adele darling, who is now free from pain, be well in that place beyond. awareness 2010-07-14T21:15:00-05:00 http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/more_about_aldo/ http://www.edensart.com/index.php/site/more_about_aldo/#When:21:22:00Z It’s been about two weeks since Aldo, the parakeet, landed at my front door. No one has claimed him. He’s doing very well and is content. Since he had flown onto my finger outside, I thought he was at least partially tame. However, when I tried getting him to step up onto my finger inside his cage, he refused. This means that he and I are in for clicker training—a form of positive reinforcement training that requires patience. It turns out that despite being wild, Aldo perceived me as a port in the storm, flying over and landing on my finger. He overcame his fear of humans (who can blame him) for relief from the harsh desert and its predators. This gives new meaning to an outdated and erroneous concept: birdbrain.  So, we can say that little Aldo worked me, and we are both the richer for it. awareness 2010-07-10T21:22:00-05:00