Garrison's Meet the Artist

Garrison's is a great little internet cafe with a wonderful atmosphere and wonderful people. Quite a number of people turned out to see the artwork and smile and shake my hand; and despite my introverted tendencies I could not help enjoying myself a little. [the compliments I received certainly helped]

I met many nice people [whose names escape me, now], and I sold a large painting [which is good great]. Also I was very impressed with the live music: Lilli Lewis; a one woman singer/songwriter/pianist whose artistry certainly surpasses my own [seriously, she has amazing musical/vocal talent and seemed like a good, sincere person to get to know in the short conversation we had].

meet the artist

On short notice, I will be appearing at Garrison's Cafe in Hammond, LA for an informal "meet the artist" from 5pm to 7pm next Thursday [Sept. 21st]. Several of my large paintings are hanging at Garrison's, and I will be bringing some new paintings for the evening. There have been some interest in my paintings there, so I'm hoping I will be meeting with some interested patrons. I'm excited/nervous - wish me luck!

"Everything in life is designed to wound me with the realization of the world's insufficiency, until I become so detached that I will be able to find God alone in everything. Only then can all things bring me joy."
--Thomas Merton

strange forecast

Strange Forecast, acrylic, 30x24", $400

strata #2

Strata #2, acrylic and china marker, 24x24", $300

dancing clover

Dancing Clover, acrylic, 28x24", $300

This painting went very quickly.

identity

Identity, acrylic, 24x24", $300

strata #1

Strata #1, acrylic, 24x24", $300

four acre spread

Four Acre Spread, acrylic, 24x24", $250

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.

cartoonwess

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.

when he was alone

When he was Alone, 22x28", $300

waiting to exhale (winter oak)

Waiting to Exhale (Winter Oak), 30x40", $700

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