Trimmings

This fall I've been hit with the almost manic surge to prune things: branches, life clutter, and even some beautiful things where I have to stop, breath in courage over fear of loss and think before I cut.   "Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater".

In real time it's been 6 recent weeks of more intense culling than ever.  I'm "listening" and re-focusing. Part of that is going through my "Artist's Way" workbook  again.  It's building on last year's nine month 12 step program called Freedom Sessions, which rocketed me into both clarity about my three main passions (music, art and specialized kinesiology) and the mystery of seeing them each become decidedly dormant.

I've frequently felt like apparently foolish Noah building an ark where it's never rained as I continue to chip away at these three passions.  They are definitely "out of season". Still, most of the time I see no reason to stop investing in them.  For one thing, each of these passions continues to receive tiny nightlights of encouragement along the way from people I respect. For another, these interests just won't go away, despite many prayers to the contrary in darker times.

For the first time in my life I am mostly quiet-hearted about the whole "no obvious success" thing. Something is being secretly grafted into my soul.  My value does not lie in what I do or love. I'm curious, though, what springtime might look like.

You're a lot more creative than...

Lots of notable and quotable things here on creativity.  I want to re-watch it myself to write things down but here it is for you all.

Keith Richards Part 2

I've just finished reading Keith Richards' "Life".  It's like saying goodbye to a friend I've never met.  Here are some more quotes.

Pg. 468 On songwriting with Mick  "We always come up with something when we're together.  There's an electric spark between us.  There always has been.  That's what we look forward to and that's what helps turn folks on."

Pg. 491  "The grind is never the stage performance.  Once we're up there doing it, it's sheer fun and joy."

Pg. 491   "The only way I can sustain the impetus over the long tours we do is by feeding off the energy that we get back from an audience. That's my fuel."

Pg. 491, 491    "All I've got is this burning energy, especially when I've got a guitar in my hands.  I get an incredible raging glee when they get out their seats.  Yeah, come on, let it go.  Give me some energy and I'll give back double.  It's almost like some enormous dynamo or generator.  It's indescribable....If the place was empty I wouldn't be able to do it...It's like sitting on top of a rocket."

Pg. 522  "Aside from poaching, which I haven't done since then, I lead a gentleman's life.  Listen to Mozart, read many, many books....I've always got some historical work on the go."

Pg. 546  "But I'm not here just to make records and money.  I'm here to say something and to touch other people, sometimes in a cry of desperation. "Do you know this feeling?" "

Pinocchio

This is a quick entry.  I've just finished a 9 month twelve step program that pretty much leaves no stone un-turned as far as forms of denial go, how I've been hurt, whom I've hurt, how to fix what I can, and how to live and think in more healthy ways.  In many senses I don't know yet what, if anything, has changed in me.  One thing that seems to have, is me being more open and honest (or are those the same?).  It's come out unintentionally in some large artworks I've done for my church this year. Really uncanny for me how many people in the last months have been magnetically drawn to these over-sized pictures I've poured my soul into and have come to tell me so.  I even got a card in the mail yesterday thanking me for the current display.   I don't know what it is.  It's as if the art now has a soul.  Like Pinocchio becoming a real boy.

An unexpected reward for willingly trudging through this 12 step program though it seemed to almost kill me at times. (It's called Freedom Sessions, by the way) Still not sure how to deal with all the responses but I'm starting with thank you's.

Keith Richards

As part of my rock star reading I'm plowing through a 500 plus word autobiography of Keith Richards called "Life" which has no boring parts.  Happy to discover another famous British musician who knows how to write.  Lots of interesting stuff in there but I'll focus on some quotes for this post.

About songwriting:

    pg. 240 "These crucial wonderful riffs that just came, I don't know where from.  I'm blessed with them and I can never get to the bottom of them."
    pg. 277   "So what makes you want to write songs? In a way you want to stretch yourself into other people's heads.  You want to plant yourself there, or at least get a resonance, where other people become a bigger instrument than the one you're playing.  It becomes almost an obsession to touch other people..."
    pg. 309  "Great songs write themselves...you're just the conveyor."
    pg. 310  "When I first knew I could do it, I wondered if I could do another one.  Then I found they were rolling off my fingers like pearls.  I never had any difficulty writing songs.  It was a sheer pleasure.  And a wonderful gift that I didn't know I had.  It amazes me."

About playing and recording:

   pg. 243  "It's what you leave out that counts."
   pg. 244   "Rhythm really only has to be suggested."
   pg. 306   "With a great band you only really need a little sparkle of an idea, and before the evening's over it will be a beautiful thing,"
   pg. 241   "The big discovery late in 1968 or early 1969 was when I started playing the open five-string tuning.  It transformed my life."
   pg. 244    "Five strings cleared out the clutter."
   pg. 315    "For me there is no such thing as time when I'm into recording.  Time changes."

Nordic

Recently I've developed a craving for things Nordic and Viking. Odd after so many years.  I was born on the coast of a Scandinavian country, lived there for a few years and went back often in summers into my teens. Didn't much appeal to me at the time.  So many hours driving through trees or seemingly passing the same scene over and over of yellow flowered fields and blue lakes with little else in between.  I think I was tainted too by the isolation my transplanted mother felt in those early years.  Apparently, though, my little kid self at least outwardly fit in pretty well back then. I was even tri-lingual for a while.

Lately I've been looking up a lot of old Scandinavian craftsmanship on the internet.  Especially silver jewelry and wood carvings.  And a friend got me listening to Icelandic minimalist composer Olafur Arnald and the group Sigor Ros.  I'm hooked.  Something has changed in my brain and associations and it's appealing now. Beautiful.  A part of my history that I'm ok with and more now.

It's expanding my creativity.  These weeks I'm working on a textured wall art project with a bit of a house theme and the details are all emerging with a Nordic twist.  I hope to take some photos of that for another blog entry.

By the way, the sweater above was handmade for my dad 50 years ago. It lives in my closet now.  Nothing like scratchy wool and pewter to bring back Scandinavia.  

Sir Ken Robinson - Escape Death Valley

The delightfully British, witty and inspiring teacher of education with a 2013 Ted Talks talk.  I especially liked his comment about the arts reaching a part of children's being that other disciplines can't.  

Our Father

My 3 D rendering of The Lord's Prayer.  I decided to confine myself to materials I had on hand instead of buying things and I used string instead of glue to attach pieces.  Felt more tangible, honest and gentle this way.  Rice crackers for Daily Bread, which became unintentionally more like communion than dinner.  Things like this hint strongly that art has a mind of its own and just humors me with my participation.  

Jack Turpin

Attended another workshop at an art supply store.  Featured was JACK TURPIN, retired teacher of high school English, P.E. and art, whose workshop subject was art journals.  I was open-mouthed from beginning to end of two lightening quick hours.

He brought in 10 or so journals, talked and showed us pages.  Mesmerizingly detailed pen and ink drawings, some in blue or brown.  Some he'd added just one, at most two watercolors to.  Often he'd written threads of stories in exquisite calligraphy that wrapped around his drawings.  Interspersed were glued in paper mementos at catchy angles: brochures, labels, programs etc.  He said that for the past 12 years or so he'd had two "characters" floating through these journals, cut out as stencils and appearing in various creative forms. Some of his writings were about these characters' interactions with whatever artistic inspirations he was illustrating and the travels he was documenting. The one character's name I remember was Nat O'graphy, taken from an old National Geography cover he'd found and cut out.

I looked up Jack's webpage, JackTurpin.ca.  Very professional and appealing. A lot of his paintings are featured and a number of the drawings from his journals.  What I really liked was reading on his blog about how he paints 3 hours a week with a fellow painter and friend.  For my current season of mostly artistic aloneness this sounds vastly appealing.  Brings up my same old theme and pipe dream of wanting to live in a musicians/artists community where all sorts of creativity synergizes and interesting conversations flow freely and extensively.  

Tillers Folly

    Recently a certain young fiddler I know took part in a summer concert and I, the driver, came along. We headed to a peaceful, tree lined field that sloped down to a fold out stage-in-a-truck. People trickled in leisurely with camp chairs and blankets.  The fiddlers did their thing under the diffused orange glow of a late setting sun.  Surprisingly varied tunes and fiddle styles, even for the youngest students.

    All this to say that the fiddlers were the opening act for a three piece group called Tillers Folly.  New to me.  Blue grassish/folk/country style which doesn't cross my path a whole lot.  In general I don't get to attend a lot of concerts.  Even fewer outdoor ones.  This one, thankfully, turned out to be a winner.  The lead singer's voice reminded me of Christopher Cross for some reason and I didn't expect such pretty melodies and intricate instrumentals.  The mandolin player was also fiddler.

    Soon the lounging crowd relaxed into a soothed, timeless trance.  It was soul medicine.  Soul salve.  I let the songs wash over me, carrying off the day and whatever had muddied up my spirit lately.  Another part of my consciousness said to myself, "This is what I want to do as long as I'm on the planet and beyond if I may." Let music flow into a collective stream and over whoever will receive it.  A solace and echo of sacrament in our fragile days.

 

Color Blind

As I ponder whether to register and actually pay for art courses I'm sampling free demos at the local art supply store this month. Two days ago I attended one by a recently retired tax accountant who has been an established painter since the 70's.  Not only did I appreciate hearing that many of his accounting clients had been artists but was also intrigued when this painter said he was red green color blind.  Apparently this has made him mix unusual greens which many buyers said made his art more interesting.  Even if his wife has to tell him occasionally that his colors have gone very off, he says for him painting is mainly about form and color values, ie. light, medium, and dark. In his opinion the specific colors themselves are almost irrelevant and completely interchangeable.  Wow!  Revolutionary thought for me who is so color sensitive. Have to ponder this for a while.

Boredom

One of my kids had to write a paper entitled:  "China - Friend or Foe?"  Talk about vague, if not unspecific.  Apart from relief that I didn't have to write this paper, I am inspired by the concept and will call this post "Boredom - Friend or Foe?".

Growing up I was told that "The (my family name) children are never bored". Truly untrue if it had to be said.  As ammunition again this vice, my mother often referred to the fictitious "boy in the hospital".  He and he alone was allowed to be bored.  Actually we never heard what became of him, even fictitiously. I still wonder.

Anyway, boredom, growing up, was equated with ingratitude and overall lack of character.  There was a strong implication that bored kids were shameful, spoiled brats. Sigh.  Doomed from the start.

In truth, I have often been bored.  Yes.  Not even just mildly. Yawningly, cavernously, soul-gnawingly, voraciously and so on.  Bored with tired vocabulary, bored with lecturers on auto pilot, bored with people who never try anything new.  Bored with bland food,  bored with song arrangements, bored with routines, bored even with...gasp...reading instructions and spending so much of my life being responsible, reliable and practical.  Not that I am considering a criminal lifestyle, in case my mother is reading this.

Boredom, for the most part, has been a powerful and even useful force in my life.  It has motivated me to take courses, read books, and jump headlong into new social groups.  Boredom has driven me to learn instruments, take things apart to make new things (sometimes successfully), talk to strangers, ask questions and squeeze the last drop of humor out of or into situations that would otherwise be, well, boring.  A tremendous asset, I'd say...again for the most part.  Maybe sometime I'll write another post on the cons of boredom. If I'm still interested.

Piano Practice

I just thought I'd write a bit about how I practice the piano, in case this is useful to anyone.
Just for context, most of my performance playing is without written out music, just with chords in a particular key and improvised along with a band. To keep myself in musical shape between performances and when I'm not getting ready for particular songs, here's what I do:

I sit at the piano about 5 times a week and play even if it's just for 5 minutes.  Frequency is important.  I start with just one exercise from the Hanon exercise book which most piano students meet in their first couple years of lessons. It's like eating your greens.  Might as well get it over with since it's good for you even if it's not very interesting.  I do this with a metronome.  The metronome keeps my ears and fingers used to following a certain tempo and being steady, just like when I'm playing with other musicians.

Next I pick one key for the day to do scales. (Over several weeks I make sure I get through every key or at least the harder ones so I'm ok playing in any key if I have to.)  I play the major scale in that key with a metronome but pick a different tempo or speed from what I used for the Hanon exercise for variety and more ear/finger training.  If I have more time I play it as a minor scale and/or as a blues scale, which I've started adding to my practice in the last couple years.  Sometimes I'll play solid, then broken chords in that key or do arpeggios in the same key.  Now and then I'll do a chromatic scale starting and ending on the first note of the key I'm in.

Finally, and again if I have the time, I'll set the metronome to yet another tempo and do some piano doodling or improvising in the key of my scale for the day.  I don't try to be very fancy or tricky. I just relax and fool around in that key.  Sometimes I'll come up with some interesting things, mostly because I'm not trying to.

And that's it for my routine.  Not very complicated but so far it has served me well and has been manageable.

Illustrator Irina Vinnik

Check out this illustrator's work online. Fascinating drawings that I believe are digitally done but look like inked art.  I really like how she does some of them in earth tones like a Da Vinci drawing. The details and patterns are mesmerizing to me.  Below is one of her works.

Fiddling

Attended a fiddle concert at the music school where my youngest is finishing her 1st year of fiddle class, though it's her 5th all together of violin.  Amazing to me how much variety and "cross pollinating" there is within this genre, if that's even the correct term. There were pieces with South American rhythms, Ukrainian, Irish and early 20th century American styles.  Professional musicians/instructors from the school accompanied the students on double bass, drums and guitar.

I think the most inspirational to me was the adult fiddle class of four people. Two women, two men.  The youngest was probably in his fifties.  It was also their first year of fiddle lessons and they'd worked hard.  They seemed like an interesting group of people. One man around 60 was very tall and probably half native with thick gray hair down past his shoulders. With the fiddle in hand he looked like someone straight out of a western movie set.

It was highly impressive to me that these people were learning an instrument relatively late in life. When I complimented them later they said I should join them.  Tempting prospect, though honestly less for this instrument and more for prospective socializing with a new mix of people.  Guitar and/or cello appeal to me a lot more right now.

Lennon part 2

I'm further in my reading of the book Lennon Revealed by author Larry Kane.  This time what has caught my attention is from when John reunited with his wife Yoko. And to be frank about my ignorance, I had no idea until last week that she was an artist too.

Page 82 "John, free of the addiction that had tortured his life, was now high on the thing he did best - talking."    "...their reignited relationship was illuminated by the art of conversation."

The author also said here, " From my perspective, the most memorable and invigorating part of knowing John Lennon was engaging him in any kind of debate or verbal joust."

Caustic though John could be, it would have been interesting to listen in on some of these chats or better yet to be part of them.  "The art of conversation" is one of the most appealing and energizing to me in life, especially with other creative people.  Like extra, extra dark chocolate there's never too much....or even enough.

Lennon Revealed

I'm reading a book by this title.  The author is Larry Kane.  Again, I'm probably way behind most people in their knowledge about John Lennon (and most famous musicians of last century, though I'm catching up slowly).  So far what I've found especially interesting is reading about John's highly creative friend Stuart Sutcliffe, a very early band member, painter and immeasurable influence on John.

Page 46 says,"..it was Stuart who honed and sharpened John's instincts as an artist. And that led to even more development of both John's art and being."  "...He inspired and challenged John to become a better artist..."

Sadly, Stuart died in 1962 just before he turned 22 but friends said John never stopped talking about him for the rest of his life.  A story that is intriguing, poignant and not without its shadow sides.  I'm curious to research Stuart now and see what kind of art he did.

Ellipses

Total? Lunar? Solar? Or.....punctuational???  Today I learned a new word.  "Ellipses." Webster defines this as marks or a mark showing omission, especially of letters or words.  I realized I've been using these....in an everyday fashion, like forks and knives, without knowing their real name.  Or their proper function. Hmmmmm......(space for thoughtful pause).  Slightly doubting my education now.  What else did I miss in English that is obvious to other people?  True, even simpler punctuation hasn't been my strong point. (And don't start me on spelling...)  I vaguely bluff my way through semi-colons, colons and even some comma uses.  I think learning and remembering these rules seems way too tedious for me in light of more important things like vocabulary and just getting something said. Very possibly it's also a subversive form of personal anarchy....

Near Kandern

I painted this from a photo I took during a 3 day high school reunion 2008 in southern Germany.  Maybe a bit idealized but it reminds me of many memories I have in common with classmates and how this fairy tale forested farmland corner of the world framed our years and experiences there.  It's been over 25 years since we graduated.  I still take dream trips back.

40 days

These are about 8 x 5 foot each, originally painted darker for the 40 days of Lent for a church sanctuary, then brightened up for Easter. Probably the biggest canvases I've done yet.  I've been pondering new 8 x 5 ' ideas so the analogue days for these pictures are numbered.