garbage in, gospel out
I've been experimenting recently with some nonobjective abstract painting, an area of painting I've shied away from until now [it's hard to get it right and if you do, you're left with something of questionable interest to others - to this I reason: if it interests me, it's bound to interest someone else out there]. Palpable texture and interesting shapes along with dark, inquisitive line [or at least the potential for these things] are what interest me most about abstract painting.
As for the title, it is a play on the phrase "Garbage in, garbage out" - this from wikipedia: "This phrase is a sardonic comment on the human tendency to accept the results from computer systems with unquestioning faith. An example of this blind-faith GIGO mentality is to believe that your work, stored in a computer, will be there whenever you need it even though you never perform data backup or virus scan."
Garbage in, Gospel out, acrylic and china marker, 34x30", $600
ubuntu
So I just thought I'd take a moment to show off my geeky side and talk about how much I've been enjoying playing around with ubuntu. I've been dual-booting along with XP, and I've just about got it configured to where it's quite usable on a daily basis [I'm typing this blog post from within ubuntu].
Backing up for a moment [and keeping things as simple as possible]: linux is an operating system [like MS Windows is an OS] and ubuntu is a distribution of linux [like Windows XP is a distribution of MS Windows]. Unlike Windows, most linux distributions are free to dowload and install [...and alter and customize and share with friends and even sell to others] - and so it is with ubuntu. Dual-booting means I've got both ubuntu and windows on my computer [on different partitions of my hard drive] and I can choose which one I want to use on boot-up.
Bottom line: I wouldn't hesitate to suggest this as a daily operating system for my mom [how's that for confidence?] - though she is fairly adept around computers... One caveat, however: I would need to spend a little extra configuration time upfront so that everything works as it should. That said, it's rock-solid, full-featured and open source.
wessforeman.com version 1.7 is complete
I've finished the gallery portion of wessforeman.com, giving the website a much more polished look and making it easier to find, read about, and purchase paintings. Check it out and let me know what you think of it.
renovation continues
The road to wessforeman.com version 2 is going swimmingly [that means good] - in fact, with this next phase, "the gallery overhaul", the site will be skipping from version 1.2 directly to version 1.7 [that's how big a jump this will be].
Stay tuned to this channel for more...
wessforeman.com version 1.2
I've just completed the first phase of renovation of the website [wessforeman.com version 1.2], and it looks fantastic if I do say so myself. Among other things, I made the simple menu along the top look cleaner [the links change colors as the pointer hovers over them]. The other obvious addition is the right hand sidebar where I've added a place for news and for links of interest, as well as a few photos [which I hope to change out from month to month].
Overall I'm happy with what I've got, though I may tweak it a little. Phase two will be an overhaul of the gallery - showing available paintings first, adding sizes and prices, etcetera. In phase three I will tackle the guestbook - I'm not totally sure what happened, but I think my web host, VizaWeb, updated the guestbook module which threw it into a default template which does not match the rest of wessforeman.com . . . anyway, this is what I will be addressing.
renovation work
I'm working on a renovation of the website [wessforeman.com]. I need a way to show the paintings I have available [and for sale] in my studio right now. As it stands the gallery shows some of my better paintings of the past - some are in the studio, some are at the Louisiana Furniture Gallery in Ponchatoula and a great percentage of them are already sold . . . not to mention the fact that I don't have titles, sizes and prices listed.
Another thing I'm considering is adding some short videos - studio tours, painting how-to's, etcetera - I've just purchased a larger memory card for my digital camera so I can now take useable videos.
Check back often for these changes, and let me know if you have any ideas for me.
like a fly
Like a fly
in a spider web we are
caught in this world
so hold on to your fortunes
you are
a butterfly trapped in
a spiritual caccoon
a sleeping beauty
this seems to be quite true to me
Like a Fly, 24x30", $400
talk to some seagulls
Looking forward to
take some time off
Drive down to the coast
talk to some seagulls
Swim in the ocean for
three days straight
Talk to some Seagulls, 22x28", $300
simple games we played
this red ball, it bounces
down the hill
ever down
we make castles
in the sandpile
out of sand
we turn circles
in the playground
we all fall down
ever down
simple games
we played
Simple Games we Played, 22x28", $300
you are not alone
April showers
don't come soon enough
You buy flowers
to make it seem like cheerful
bright sunshine in May-time
might arrive and
you won't feel alone
[but you are not alone]
You are not Alone, 24x18", $200
a comet came from outerspace
Story goes . . .
A comet came from outerspace
Crashed into the moon
Green cheese filled the air
And the whole world worried at
The growing mob of green mice
And opposing army of green cats
Green cats versus green mice
And the whole world worried
"Am I gonna die or
Will it be alright?"
A Comet came from Outerspace, 24x30", $400
grid 1 and grid 2
I have been experimenting a lot lately on nonobjective abstract painting [a catagory I never had much interest in until now] - and although I have painted "grids" before, they were always part of, or superimposed over, a landscape of some sort. These are just grids, that's all. Nothing much to them really - color and line and a bit of positioning, that's what little grids are made of. They are colorful, aren't they?
Grid A, 24x24", $250
Grid B, 24x24", $250
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