I'm going to use this blog as an extension of my website. My website is a free site that my web host provides as part of my service. In it's free version, it has limited capacity, which is why I only have three paintings available to view. For a few dollars more, I'll be able to increase the number of pages on the site as well as have photo gallery options. At this point I'll be able to post the rest of my work. I hope to have the rest of my work available to view here by next week.
Regarding the Juarez kids, I'm going to encourage them to paint their portraits in black and white. I'm not going to encourage any particular style of painting. I'm a realist painter but I don't intend to push that style. I think I'll show them examples of portraits by different painters from different disciplines: abstract, impressionistic, cubist, maybe stipple. I'm thinking black mediums on different colored backgrounds.
I haven't settled on exactly how I'm gonna' have the kids view themselves while they paint their own faces. Mirrors are an option. I could have them paint from a picture of themselves. That would entail shooting their portraits as soon as I got there and having a printer ready to print the photographs. I'm not sure what the orphanage has in the way of equipment. I might need to invest in a portable printer. I like this idea, the pictures could possibly make for good portraits of my own to paint once I'm back home.
Our brother Matt, has recommended a new band to add to our summer soundtrack, Fleet Foxes. They're a bit Beach Boys, a bit My Morning Jacket, and a touch of 60's Celtic-folk rock. The music is strange and beautiful. The band hales from Seattle, and their first album is great listening on summer evenings when you crave tight harmonies to go with your Beaujolais and Comte.
I'm voting for Obama. I'll speak more about why he's my guy down the road. I bring this up, because I received an email from a friend the other day. The email contained a short video from the website, The Urban Grind: Current events, politics and life in general from the perspective of a conservative woman in Manhattan. Bland title, if not overly specific.
It was decidedly anti-Obama in it's message. After I watched all 13 minutes of it, I just laughed. The video was the sort of media that's all over the web, and was made to scare people that are easily scared. It contained pictures of angry black people, Reverend Wright, as one example, screaming about the evil white conspiracy. It showed video of Obama not placing his hand over his heart during a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and not wearing American flag pins, juxtaposed with grainy pictures of decapitated heads and militant jihad warriors.The narrator insinuates the possibility that Mr. Obama is a proponent of radical Muslim doctrine because part of his name sounds Muslim, a theory that sounds very similar to the much ignored theory that Colonel Sanders was a vicious military leader intent on decimating the healthy blood pressure levels of every man, women and child with vast armies of over-salted chickens. Baloney. It's the type of video that captures attention by stirring the fear pot.
Friends and family: Don't place your trust in unnamed, anonymous stories from paranoid conspiracy theory websites, either liberal or conservative. Please get your news from reputable news sources that take credit for the information they put forward. And don't just follow one news source, watch the news and read the paper, compare and contrast. The truth is out there, but I assure you, it ain't found in obscure rants on the web.
Let's all agree to seek the truth, and leave fear on the side. Although, this show of integrity and common sense might be construed as witch craft which might lead to us being burned in the public square.
" We were all delighted, we all realized we were leaving confusion and nonsense behind and performing our one and noble function of the time."
Jack Kerouac
This weekend I'll be thinking of my Dad. He is a good man and I love him. My dad's a funny guy, too. Here's something to make him laugh. Happy Father's day, Dad.
Have a good weekend, and Godspeed, John Glenn
Dave
