The Best Art Instruction Manuals: Painting

Over the past two years I’ve been working through a series of books on Art, from histories to theory to manuals. I’ve decided to share some of the best works that I’ve come across. I’ll be adding all of these, and future works, to my Very Artistic Library page. It will be an up-to-date list… Continue reading The Best Art Instruction Manuals: Painting

How am I going to pay for this?

My daughter is earning her college degree. Which is a peculiar phrase because really she’s paying for the degree. Which is another peculiar phrase because most young adults fresh out of high school don’t have $80,000 or more to pay for a four-year degree. So I guess the actual phrase is more like she’s promising… Continue reading How am I going to pay for this?

Being Bad

I don’t think I’m getting my thoughts out properly. It feels like there’s a gap between what I want to say (portray, write, etc.) and what I actually say. I’m clumsily groping for the words to express what I’m trying to say. The solution: allow yourself to do things badly. Make 1000 bad drawings Paint… Continue reading Being Bad

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Podcasts for an Aspiring Artist

I’ve been listening to a wide variety of podcasts since I began my art reeducation. Here are the best I’ve found so far, related to Art and the creative process. Your Creative Push Your Creative Push is the podcast that pushes YOU to finally pursue your creative passion, whatever that passion may be. If I… Continue reading Podcasts for an Aspiring Artist

This is not hand soap

People think in symbols but the symbols in our mind are not the actual objects themselves. That is to say: when you think of an apple, that apple is not real. This is the treachery of symbols. The symbols in our mind don’t always match the reality of an object. We think we know how… Continue reading This is not hand soap

The Joshua Tree

As preparation for launching Space Westerns magazine I began researching Western-genre fiction. I wanted to be familiar with the tropes, plots, themes, stock characters of a Western so I’d recognize them in a Space Western story. So I read John G. Cawelti’s The Six-gun Mystique, and David Mogen’s Wilderness Visions, and Jane Tompkins’ West of… Continue reading The Joshua Tree

Neanderthal Art?

Neaderthals lived in Europe and parts of the Middle East approximately between 200,000 and 30,000 years ago. We’re discovering that they are more like modern humans than we previously thought they could be. How to Think Like a Neanderthal gives a good overview of what we currently know. Neanderthals were social, cooperative, family-oriented, planned ahead,… Continue reading Neanderthal Art?