doreyme

I did do a "daily painting" a tree grows in montreal today, but it was so awful it was scary. AhhhhHHHHH! A Hallowe'en special.

#7, a tree grows in montreal

painters are insane to even try + compete with nature. On the other hand, nature is rather fleeting + often a tad cruel. Here's another 8"x8"...a mother tree on Duluth, near the controversial Parc.

#6 a tree grows in Montreal

in my own backyard. A little Canadian gooseberry tree. Big storm today. Most leaves swept off their branches. These leaves haven't even yellowed. Mid summer firm.

#5 a tree grows in Montreal

...or is it LA. Maybe I should get my eyes checked. But this is a little tree on Laval St. 8"x8", oil on canvas.

#4 a tree grows in montreal

this poncy little number grows in Westmount, natch. In front of "5 Seasons" on Green.

bravo city workers

it took them a few weeks, but once they were here, whoa nelly. Very fast, efficient, professional work. Let's just hope they fill it in before the snow hits...

#3 a tree grows in montreal

whoa, this was a challenge for an 8"x8" canvas. This is a little gib tree on Laurier Street, just before St. Denis St. I saw today that cried out, "paint me, paint me..."

save the parc, pul-leeze

walkin' the dawg in the park beside the controversial name shifting street by the park. Thoughts: what kind of decent city doesn't have a Park Avenue. Why lose a big chunk of history to rename a street running thru cultural heart of the city for a politician? There already is a Bourrassa street or avenue, etc. in the northern part of the city. why not rename metros named after dubious characters, eg. Lionel Groulx? Or power stations, or something. Lastly, somewhere I read it will cost at least 16 grand, or is it 36 for the city to change the park + berri signs. Today, alas, my dawg, Mr. Poo Head, again rolled in human excrement on the mountain + I'm thinking, why not leave !*%$#@! Park Avenue's name alone + spend the dough putting some johny-on-the-spot cans on the mountain for potty challenged losers?

#2 A Tree Grows in Montreal

Second of the daily tree paintings. This tree I saw on Wellington St. in front of some municpal building. Same size, 8"x8", oil on canvas. Wonder what it'll look like without it's leaves. Something to look forward to.

jumpin' on the bandwagon...

with all the daily painting painters currently in cyberspace. Let's see if I can keep this going...day #1 of A-Tree-A-Day or A Tree Grows in Montreal. This nifty little number grows on the lovely, south west Club Price lot. The painting is 8x8", oil on canvas + called... (drum roll)... "Oct.24/06."

wow, only 21 days

after calling the city to report an overflowing personhole that was leaking water into the Jointe's 1890's cellar, a crew came to paint blue stripes around it.

my backyard sumac, the last few leaves

boring boring boring...

...all this navel gazing. Why art? Blahblahblah...Not only boring but a waste of time. I should be doing what those nice folks at Nike say..."just do it or get off the pot..."

reason #5+ :to save people from boorishness

"Fine art (without the million-dollar-signs) has a story to tell. It speaks to the soul about our ideals and values. The artist makes meaning about life and times. He/she tells us who we are, why we love and suffer, what our civilization stands for or against, what is important and what is not.

Art is something that graces a tedious life with joy, beauty, taste and, yes, a critical eye. It speaks to the past and the future of who we were and are, and who we ought to be. It elevates us to personhood.

Art finds splendor in an uglified world.

Without being reared to know art, we will simply be a very tired, bored and boorish people. We will look but rarely see, listen but rarely hear. " (an excerpt by Jerry M. Landay, a writer, who has taken up photography, and belongs to art and photo guilds in Bristol, Portsmouth, and Newport. He is a former CBS News Washington and foreign correspondent)

reason #4: art brings us together

..."people wanted to have art as a playground and as entertainment. And that's fine in good times, but when something terrible or powerful or meaningful happens, you want an art that speaks to that, that embraces the language that would carry us forward, bring us together, all of that stuff. I think that September 11 showed us that as an art world we weren't quite qualified to deal with this. Not trained enough to handle it." from an interview between Eric Fischl + David Rakoff, New York Art World, 2002. (watercolour by E. F. too)

the departed

wow, a real movie movie, not specifically aimed for pimply 14 yr old boys... that scorsese, dicaprio,nicholson, damon, et al...true artists.

reason#3, Loving art a moral quality

"...a picture of Titian's, or a Greek statue, or a Greek coin, or a Turner landscape, expresses delight in the perpetual contemplation of a good and perfect thing. That is an entirely moral quality--it is the taste of the angels. And all delight in fine art, and all love of it, resolve themselves into simple love of that which deserves love. That deserving is the quality which we call "loveliness"--(we ought to have an opposite word, hateliness, to be said of the things which deserve to be hated); and it is not an indifferent nor an optional thing whether we love this or that; but it is just the vital function of all our being. What we like determines what we are, and is the sign of what we are; and to teach taste is inevitably to form character." John Ruskin, "Traffic".

reason#2, in the art is long,life is short dep't

went to Peter Brawley's funeral today in D.D.O. Beautiful sunny day, bohemian royalty of Montreal in attendance...natch, very, very sad. 59 once seemed very, very old, but not now. Peter's films live on, his art lives on... At the end of the outdoor service balloons were released...they caught in tree's branches, struggled upwards, finally free squirmed upwards like little sperm into the blue sky....(not to be an opportunist, I've been struggling about why it's important to make art, but it did occur to me during the service, life IS short, art IS long.)

reason #1: Art allows people to convey or demonstrate deeply held feelings and beliefs as well as moral, ethical, and political sentiments in socially acceptable ways.

from Alan Bamberger, an online art consultant. (I haven't thought this out or anything. I'm looking for other people's reasons. I'm trying to figure this art thing out. In my heart I think art is really, really important...but right now, I need to make my brain understand that so I'm looking around to what other people say + think.)

in the coals to newcastle dep't

I'm going to find/give/seek/offer 10 reasons why art is important. This is partially for my own sanity. Why make art in these cruel times of demented rampagers, war, strife, religious zealousness, poverty, etc. ?

in the it doesn't rain it pours dep't

the manhole outside the Jointe isn't this bad, but give it time. My first day back at work + I notice water in the basement. An Aqueduc bus from the Ville de Montreal rushed over + agreed. Oh-oh. Problem. Apparently their's. Broken city water pipe? Will they start tearing up the street tomorrow?

blue bird of happiness

funnily enough...as I haven't been able to paint in my studio for a full month I've been prone to finish my "Blue Bird of Happiness" script... 10-15 more pages + it's done. Maybe that's why I broke my foot bone...