Art -Old School

While I've been laying around fighting a cold virus, I've been looking through some art books I have. I thought I might talk about works that I've always liked, and some new ones I've discovered.

Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' has always been a favorite. The colors grab your attention, and though the style is simplistic and stylized, the emotion of the piece comes through. There is feeling and mystery here...are the people in the background just passersby, outside of the main figure's world of pain, or is there a more sinister intent ? And, honestly, another reason I like this painting is some days, I feel like this guy.

On the opposite end of the emotional spectrum we have Claude Monet. His expressionistic paintings have a serene , almost dreamy feel to them. To me, his works have an almost calming effect. His work has always been my favorite of the Impressionists.

For a a much darker work, it's time to go to Brughel's macabre masterpiece the Triumph of Death. Brughel also painted warmer works such as scenes of peasant life, but this particular piece has a power that his homier works lack, in my opinion. I first saw this back when I was in junior high, on an imported Black Sabbath Greatest Hits album cover. In college I did more research on the artist. There's a lot going on in this painting, none of it happy or reassuring. There is one guy down in the lower right corner drawing his sword in defiance, maybe realizing that it's a lost cause, but wanting to go out fighting, which is a very Robert E. Howard way to approach the situation. This is the equivalent of a horror movie on canvas...which is probably why I like it so much. It isn't happy or reassuring in any way, but there has always been a part of me that likes the darker side of things...and this painting more than fits the bill.

Ok, so as not to end this entry on a totally bleak note, here's one of my all-time favorite classic paintings-Starry Night by Van Gogh. Looking at this painting always makes me happy for some reason. I have always liked looking at the night sky, and this is a beautifully stylized view of the night. This is just a great work of art, simple as that.

You can almost feel the cool breeze and the night air around you when you look at this picture. There are some paintings that I look at and wish I could step into and be there...and this is one of them( This actaully happened in the film Akira Kurasawa's Dreams...an excellent film, if you've never seen it).

These are just some of the works of the old masters that I admire. I also like Degas, Lautrec, Manet, Renoir, etc. This is a sample of my favorites. Later i'll post on some more modern artists I like. See you then!

Random Thoughts

I hate colds. I really want a glass of wine, or rum , or a beer right now, but I'm waiting until my cold is finally out of my system. This is a weekend where I didn't have to go to work, and I had to spend it recuperating. I've been watching movies (Wristcutters-A Love Story was good, Killer Pad was not) and playing World of Warcraft a lot , and I feel guilty for not being productive.
Our friend that has been living with us for the past 6 months is moving out. I knew she would eventually, but I'm bummed out about it. I got used to her being around, I guess. I'll miss her cat, Phoenix,too.
Are you prepared for a zombie apocalypse? I think I am, at least in as much as I have lots of edged weapons about. I'm not sure you can really ever be fully ready for such an event.
I'm not sure where to go on vacation this year. Any suggestions?
I hope everyone is having a good 2009 so far.
I started a Facebook page recently...I was surprised at how many people I knew from way back that are on there.
Can anybody reccomend a good wine? Red or white.
I apologize for the random weirdness...must be the zicam and Nyquil. Goodnight, all!

Ink and Blood

My recent inking got me thinking about why I like tattoos so much. It's not just the end result that I like (though I do look forward to a finished piece), but the whole process. I read somewhere that there aren't enough rituals in modern society. There is religion, and each religion has its own rituals and practices, to be sure. But for those of us who aren't church-going folk, ritual is sorely lacking. The tattoo makes up for this for me. To me, every step of the tattoo process is an important part of the whole. Prepping the area to be inked...the placing of the template on the area...the first bite of the tattoo needle as the artist starts his work...the music in the background(usually punk or metal at the establishment I go to)...the smell of disenfectant, ink, and my own blood, mixing in an alchemical way...the pain as the needle puts its mark into my skin. Yes, I think that the pain is an important part of the process. I'm not necessarily into pain(not that there's anything wrong with those who are, mind you), but I accept it as part of the process, and even if there were another way to put images on your skin in a completely painless manner, I don't think I would do it. It is the one thing about tattooing that has remained the same since ancient times... a link to the past, if you will. The primitive in me likes that. And in a couple of weeks I'm going back to start the ritual once again.

Wondermark

There's a great online comic called Wondermark. It's done by David Malki. It's clever and funny as Hell. There's a particular strip that writers should take a look at. Here's the link-http://wondermark.com/467/ . New strips every Tuesday and Friday. Enjoy!

Dreams Pt. 6- Attics,Basements,and Skies

I had a dream the other night where I was in a house, and there was a room in the attic, accessable by a pull-down ladder and a trapdoor. I don't remember much else about this dream...it was one of those dreams where nothing really happens. What it does illustrate is that a recurring theme in my dreams is houses or apartments with weird features. Sometimes it's an attic like my dream the other night. Often it's a basement, that goes on and on, and gets deeper and deeper, with doors leading to sub-basements. At least once I dreamt of a huge house I was visiting that I got lost in, wandering through room after room. It was kind of cool seeing all these different rooms, as if the house was growing as I passed through it.
Another element that pops up on a fairly regular basis in my dreams is the sky. The sky often looks , well, bigger in my dreams...it's hard to explain. Also, the sky will often be a strange color, or there will be something going on, like huge images being projected into the sky, or comets and giagantic planets looming overhead. At times there's ominous thunderclouds or tornadoes. And in one dream, the night sky cast a dark blue light over all, and I found a black sword impaled in the ground, in a field of knee-high grass that swayed in the gentle night wind. I took the sword and went home, the breezes the only sound as I walked through the blue night.
As with any of the other dreams I've had, I have absolutely no clue as to what, if anything, they may mean. But I keep looking up at the sky...

New Ink- The Mark Of Eibon

In one of my favorite films, The Beyond (see my October Halloween Horrors entry), a German warlock named Sweick painted pictures of Hell in his room at a hotel in Louisiana situated on one of the seven gates to Hell. Sweick had the Book of Eibon, a supernatural tome , and bore the Mark of Eibon on his arm. The mark was also on the wall of the cellar. The locals lynched him, not realizing that he was keeping the gate to Hell closed. Later, in the modern day, his vengeful spectre returned to open the gate. I got this inked on my arm today as a warm-up for a more elaborate piece I'm getting in a few weeks.

The Mark , and a quote from the Book, can also be seen at the top of my page.

Now, I wonder if there's a gate here in Texas...

Dreams Pt. 5- The Lion Doesn't Sleep Tonight

A few years ago, I had another transformatory dream of a sort. At the beginning of the dream, I woke up in the back of a truck with a cage welded over the bed. I was locked in the cage. I was wearing black military -style pants and boots. I had no shirt, and I noticed that my midsection was even hairier than usual...I was covered in tawny fur. I looked in the back window of the truck and saw my face...it was as if my features were crossed with that of a lion or some other big cat. I was being taken to a base of some kind. I didn't know what was going on, only that I didn't like it. I pried the bars of the cage apart a bit, and crashed my fist through the back window and proceeded to choke the driver, sinking my claws into his neck. He stopped the truck, and I forced my way out of the cage. I saw two figures running towards me. They were wearing camoflage pants and combat boots, but were shirtless like myself. They were covered in sleek black fur, and had the heads of large Dobermans, snapping and slavering as they ran towards me. At first, I was pretty scared, but then I realized- they're dogs, and I'm a lion. Screw these guys! I stood my ground and literally tore into them. Flesh , bone, and blood were like paper to my claws and fangs, and the dogmen were reduced to a bloody, howling mess in short order. I looked about to see what my next move was, but I woke up...I guess the adrenaline gets the best of me , because I almost always wake up at times like these in my dreams.
I think any sort of dream analysis would not be flattering for me, but hey, this is what my head plays for me in my sleep.