by joeralt on January 18, 2012
It was a while now that I did some sketching with live music, something I used to do more often. It is a great fun really and if the music is really inspiring, then usually the ignition happens, which means that the whole experience becomes so much more then just visual processing of data that passes trough the eyes. last night, was a little sluggish and the general feel was that the players are a bit tired. In fact, the whole atmosphere of the place was a bit slow.So I believe it is actually possible to see by the results here that there is no real ignition.Still, I enjoyed doing it and this is the reason I am showing it anyway.
by joeralt on December 31, 2011
2011 was not an easy year for me, in many respects.
On the personal note, my mother passed away in the last spring and two of my close friends also decided they had enough and crossed over. A relationship I had, also ended in August and if it’s not enough it coincided with my 60th birthday which is also not an easy thing to come to terms with.
I was not accepted for a residency I applied for in Germany and didn’t even receive an answer that would at least help me to stop hoping that maybe it is still in process of being decided, which I know now that it was not.
On a more general level, what seemed to be a history in the making with the eruption of the big summer indignation of the people going out to the streets protesting the merciless rule of the Disaster Capitalism, dwindled into insignificant whispers that can still be heard in some corners of the more socially aware. The revolution is dead and we seem to be even in worse situation with an added threat of a nuclear holocaust heading towards us from Iran and a significant increase of the general level of political instability generated by what was hoped to be the spring of the Arab nations but is turning out to be a very cold winter.
In the field of Art, the big money all but took over the control and rendered obsolete any kind of serious critique that could put some perspective on what is a good art, versus bad one and what kind of future we are heading towards when art has become entertainment and museums turned into amusement parks for the masses.
Films such as Boggie Woogie or Art School Confidential depict with remarkable clarity the magnitude of the cultural devastation left by the prevailing relativist philosophies and the late Postmodernism. Together with some recent books on this issue like Peter Timms’s ,” Whats Wrong With Contemporary Art”, or Sarah Thornton’s “ Seven Days In the Art World “ they expose the many intricate ways in which artist striving for recognition cooperating willingly and gladly with the elite rulers of the Art Establishment. Most of them have totally relinquished any scruples about doing the kind of art that furthers the agendas of the super rich, betraying in the process the sacred duty of the creative people to be a clear channel of Inspiration.
My earnest wish and hope for the New 2012 is to be a year in which Art will start returning to its former exalted place in the faithful triangle of the True the Good and Beautiful.
by joeralt on December 20, 2011
Jenny intial sketch
The project of the café is advancing slowly and has become a little sluggish, since I had to devote a little more attention to some health issues, which require reorganizing my life in such a way as to meet some basic requirements to stop the deterioration.
Still, I paint all the time, working on solving problems in order to clear some obstacles.
Jenny is a new model that I started to work with yesterday.
After initial struggle with composition, I found this position that has nothing to do with the final composition that is supposed to enter into the painting that I am planning.
Jenny, second stage
You can still see in the background my initial struggle with the composition…it is such a great feeling to find just the right position and the right angle and not to succumb to the first suggestion that comes up…really love this process of searching and experimenting.
Jenny, the third stage
I must admit, at this stage that in spite of the fact that I am quite happy with the general feel of the composition it is not exactly what I had in mind and It bothers me the fact of some distortion of the proportions and there is a good chance that I may start all over with a bigger canvass.
