The Week.... Rolling like a River

 

 This week has really gotten away from me. So many things to do and so much to catch up to. I've wanted to post pics of Bodega Bay for those of you not familiar with our coastline and I still plan to but for now this lazy floating young girl on a bright pink inner tube will have to do. I don't know about you , but I am craving spring to come and kick out the grey winter sky.

 I painting this little small sketch for a possible larger painting. I like the whole iconic statement it says about life on the American River here in Auburn Ca.

 I will be speaking at William Jessup University tomorrow at 10:30. If you are local, drop me an email and you can attend and also watch me do a demo.

 

 So for now, I have to put together images of my range of work from my Star Wars days to my Auburn Genre paintings. It ALWAYS takes longer than I imagine. The images have to flow and there has to be some type of narrative for the aspiring students to connect with. Its great being an artist and I want to communicate how infectious it can be as well as fulfilling when you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. Only your inner spirit can tell you what that is . Nobody can force that or imply that t you. You will be miserable and make those around you miserable if you cannot fulfill your destiny in some way. However . I understand  the call of Duty , whatever that may be in your circumstances that has to come first because you are a person of honor and you must do what puts food on the table. Guilt is not a good thing. Anyway , my topic for the class will be Art in an Age of Unbelief. How can " Belief " affect you as an artists? Is it even relevant? Should it be? Or is Camille Paglia , an atheist writer , correct when she shockingly claims that it will be the religious minded artist , who sees man as noble and redeemable that will make a new and uplifting art for the next generation.

 Here is a snippet to wet your appetite... here is the link for the whole article

 

I would argue that the route to a renaissance of the American fine arts lies through religion. Let me make my premises clear: I am a professed atheist and a pro-choice libertarian Democrat. But based on my college experiences in the 1960s, when interest in Hinduism and Buddhism was intense, I have been calling for nearly two decades for massive educational reform that would put the study of comparative religion at the center of the university curriculum. Though I shared the exasperation of my generation with the moralism and prudery of organized religion, I view each world religion, including Judeo-Christianity and Islam, as a complex symbol system, a metaphysical lens through which we can see the vastness and sublimity of the universe. Knowledge of the Bible, one of the West's foundational texts, is dangerously waning among aspiring young artists and writers. When a society becomes all-consumed in the provincial minutiae of partisan politics (as has happened in the US over the past twenty years), all perspective is lost. Great art can be made out of love for religion as well as rebellion against it. But a totally secularized society with contempt for religion sinks into materialism and self-absorption and gradually goes slack, without leaving an artistic legacy.

 Amazing ..........