Robert Reeves: Oil & Dust

I’ve never been all that keen on flying.  I find the entire experience somewhat distasteful.  Hauling around luggage, slogging through security checks (God knows I couldn’t possibly pack several 3oz containers with the same explosive substance.  Sorry TSA, but it’s true), being packed like sardines into metal canisters and tiny seats.  Don’t even get me started on turbulence.  The only parts I rather enjoy are liftoff and touchdown.  These days, however, it’s a necessary evil.
I had the opportunity to spend some time this week on plane rides to and from Chicago for my day job.  I’ll chalk the trip, for the most part, as one of my worst experiences ever.  I was in Chicago, but I didn’t get a chance to enjoy the Windy City.  Being one of my favorite American cities this was a big disappointment.  It wasn’t Chicago’s fault, however.  I was there to help move an office from one building to another.  While the final outcome was good for the office workers the experience itself was nothing short of hellish.. or at least Purgatory-ish.  I was raised Baptist.  We didn’t have Purgatory so I’m guessing here.  I’ll have to arrange another trip this Summer to wash the taste of it from my mind.

I was able to find a few distractions, however.  I like to draw while flying.  It helps to keep my mind in a happy place: concentrated and lost in my work.  Some potential clients have inquired about me doing an image of the Hindu god, Ganesha.  I’ve always been fascinated by Hindu imagery.  Frankly I find mythical imagery from nearly all cultures completely enthralling, but that’s a topic for another day.  So with the plane sitting on the tarmac I started doodling.  At the end of the trip I had this. I like his eyes.  They seem a bit weary, but peaceful.

It was short flight and I was doodling with a ball point pen which makes mistakes a bit hard to correct.  Is it a masterpiece?  No, but it IS a start.

I’m all about starts. 

Cheers,

R

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Access… It’s an all-encompassing word, but it helps to describe one of the bigger benefits of moving into a studio space.  I have access to all sorts of things and people I didn’t have while working from my basement.  I’ve been able to connect with people from a number of other artistic disciplines: Photography, Architecture, Music, etc.  It’s been an enriching experience thus far.

It’s that level of access that has allowed me to do a bit of growing lately.  I’ve now got access to other points of view.  Other impressions of the work I’m doing.  Other people’s work.  It’s hard to get a decent critique working from the bowels of your own home.  Sure you can post items online, but most of the commentary you get is overwhelmingly positive with little or no critical observation.  The remainder is overwhelmingly negative with little or no supporting discussion and the ubiquitous anonymity the Internet provides.
For the record: I have zero problem with negative criticism so long as there is an intelligent, well-thought discussion that accompanies it.  I’m looking to get better at what I do.  Not just hear how talented (or talentless) someone might think I am
BTW: Thanks, Mom!

One of the other great things about being in a shared studio environment has been having not only the space to bring in a model, but easy access to people who are willing to model.  If you’ve been following this blog you’ll know I’ve been spending more time focusing on the human form.  Easy enough if the subject is male.  I can always look in the mirror if no one else is willing.  It’s a different story if the subject is female.  I don’t always set out to do figurative work, but some nights the opportunity just presents itself.  When that happens you go with it. The result of which has been a lot of development in my figure drawing abilities and my ability to stage scenes the way I want.  I always equate creating Art to problem solving.  Having models in easy supply is a big problem solved especially since I’m starting to envision works featuring a larger number of figures.

Got some good figure sketches from one of last week’s figure drawing sessions.  I had a photographer in along with the model to take some pics at angles from which I just couldn’t work. I’m looking forward to seeing those.  Hopefully tonight.  When things have gotten a little farther along I’ll share.

Promise.

Cheers,
R

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Charcoal has been my friend lately.  I don’t remember when I first used it (probably Drawing I in college), but I just love it.  For home studies I’ll settle for a cheap-o ball point pen, a Sharpie, or litho crayon to avoid the mess, but for studio drawing few things make me happier than charcoal.  Charcoal is immediate.  It has the potential for great boldness and amazing subtlety.  It’s messy and it gets everywhere. 

It’s for this reason that I think my next shows will be increasingly dominated by works on paper.  I’m starting to tape large sheets of the stuff to my studio walls and am looking for yet more ways to make it available at a moment’s notice.  In doing so I’m setting myself up for doing a lot of framing.  We’ll see if I don’t break down and have someone else do it.  Framing charcoals can be dicey work.  I was a framer in a gallery in a former life and have spent many hours picking bits of charcoal and pastel off archival matte board while trying to get all the pieces situated in a frame.  There’s nothing like sealing up the back of a piece only to flip it over and find that somehow another magical, black speck has found its way onto the facing board.  When framing charcoals or pastels you should always put in a separating layer between the piece and the front matte to let future dust settle behind the part you want to remain clean.  Even then it’s no guarantee.  A good fixative is your best friend, but take it easy on the application.  Too much and you can screw up some of the subtlety of your drawing.  Not enough and your drawing starts falling off the paper. 

Speaking of framing… I’m looking for a corner vice and a V-nailer.  Let a guy know if you have a line on one OR would like to go in on one (other Northland Studios residents, I’m looking in your direction).  Otherwise I’m waiting for a good sale.  This stuff ain’t cheap.

Come visit Northland Studio most evenings and you’ll find me there… hands blackened and face streaked like a kid playing happily in the dirt.  You can join me.  I’ve got paper and there’s always more charcoal.

Cheers,

R

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“It must be Thursday. I Never Could Get the Hang of Thursdays”

Arthur Dent said it in “The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and for some reason it’s carried with me all these years.  Thursday is like the Monday of the second half of the work week.
Think about that for a bit.
Ok… aaaand we’re moving on.

What brought that on, eh?  Maybe it’s because Thursday is the day when you realize that the week is really slipping away from you.  You start the week with so many things you want to accomplish.  By Thursday you’re starting to realize that your lofty aspirations of hyper-productivity sort of went by the wayside.  This week has gone that direction for me.  I started with such high hopes for the amount of work I would complete this week.  To be fair to myself I’ve run into a couple of snags here and there.  That’s always the way it is right?  You make plans that are meant to go off flawlessly in a perfect world.  A world where you always leave on time.  Where your kids are standing at the door (shoes on) waiting instead of beating each other or strangling the cat.  Where you don’t get hung up doing unexpected work for people because you just happened to be standing near them (“I’ve got this problem with my email…”).  A world where you can work in blessed peace and quiet. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ve ever been to this world.  Time management is a difficult subject.  You can’t just make plans.  You have to give yourself tasks with realistic expectations as to your ability to actually complete them.  Something always comes up and you’ve got to account for that to some extent or run the risk of operating in a constant state of frustration.  This is part of where road rage comes from.  Well, that and people driving around 5mph below the speed limit with their signals on…

You know who you are.

Part of time management also includes making an effort to avoid situations (and people) that continually drain you of your precious time.  Oh there are vampires in the world.  They suck your time and energy away leaving you exhausted and feeling like you’ve literally aged while being near them.  You know them well.  They’re not bad people.  Many times they’re people you like or can at least tolerate.  This part comes down to discipline.  Sometimes you just have to tell  people you’re busy.  Lock your door.  Put up a sign.  Learn to say “No”.  You won’t permanently damage them unless by “damage” you mean “educate them to the understanding that other people have things to do too”.  You’re not being rude… Just honest.  It’s OK to be honest and not so accommodating sometimes.  In the Midwest we’re taught to be pretty accommodating.  It can be a shackle nearly as often as it is rewarding.

I did manage to get a few things done this week, time vampirism not withstanding.  I posted new prints on my ETSY page (www.ETSY.com/shop/RobReeves ) for your purchasing pleasure.  This time I’ve included our birdie-headed friend, “The Numbers Man”.  I managed to get some good work done on 2 new paintings and a charcoal.  I also had a couple of new ideas crop up that I quickly committed to my wall-sized chalkboard.  AND I helped my aunt with her cable TV.  So not an unproductive week.  Just not quite what I’d planned. 

I’m getting a “Do Not Disturb” sign for my studio and another for my forehead.  “Do Not Disturb” sounds better than “Piss off I’m busy, love Rob”. 
Then again maybe it doesn’t.

Cheers,

R

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My father always railed against the Pursuit of the Almighty Dollar.  As a child I never understood his furor and frustration.  As a child you only dully grasp the source, and function of money.  It’s there.  You get stuff with it.  It grows on trees.  What happens along the way is that we forget money’s purpose.  It becomes an end in  itself. 
And it’s indicative of and in direct proportion to our sadness as a species.

I think Douglas Adams nailed it when he said,

“This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.”

Pretty good, huh?  Why are our solutions for unhappiness always fringed with greenbacks? The paper’s happy enough.

I was taught much the same thing as most of the rest of us: You go to school and study hard so that you can get a decent-paying job.  You get a house and some cars.  You have a family.  Aaaaand then sometime thereafter you kick the bucket.  As a teenager you naturally rebel against this thinking, but what happens more often than not is that you wind up doing exactly that which you swore you’d never do.  Before you know it you’ve got a house (mortgage), cars (loans), TVs, stereos, furniture (credit cards), and children(medical bills, etc, etc)… and expectations to live up to.  We’ve been taught that this is the normal course of things.  We’ve been taught to follow the money because we have to do all of these things to lead a normal, fulfilling life.  Oh, and don’t forget… bigger is better.

If watching our televisions has taught us anything it’s that being rich is no guarantee of happiness.  We see a constant stream of celebrity train-wrecks.  The pain of Love, intrigue, betrayal, jealousy, hatred, indifference… these things don’t care how much you take home after taxes.  You routinely see people who could literally spend money for the duration of their lives and never go broke crash and burn like gnats around a bug zapper or drown soaked in their own despair.

What does this mean?  To me it means that money doesn’t necessarily have a direct correlation to happiness.  Everyone has heard this.  Not everyone believes it.  Those that do rarely take it to heart.  I make pretty decent money at my day job.  Not enough so that I didn’t have to find other ways to earn cash to keep the lifestyle I’d lived afloat.  I’d pursued money and possessions beyond my means.  I’m not ashamed to say that now.  Looking back I let myself get caught up in that very thing I said I’d never do: Allow myself to get over-burdened with things and the pursuit of The Almighty Dollar.  I had things.  Not tons of things and I was never much for keeping up with the Joneses, but a fair lot of things nonetheless.  Turns out these things did not make me happy.  They did not resuscitate my marriage.  They did not shield me from self-loathing or a crushing self-doubt.  No amount of money was going to fill in the gaps.

You see somewhere along the line I’d hit a plateau.  Seems to me you can only get so happy and you peak.  Throwing wads of cash on top doesn’t really improve the experience.  My favorite experiences in life came from the simplest events: A canoe trip with friends. Watching leaves float down the gutter toward the storm drain when I was a kid.  Bass fishing with my dad.  Playing with my sons.  Drawing and painting late into the night.

But Gordon Gekko in Wallstreet told us that Greed is good.  Good for the economy.  Good for America.  Good for you and me.  Wrong.  Unbridled greed has landed us where we are today.  Our air, land, water, and culture have all been poisoned in the pursuit of the Dollar Almighty.  We’re some greedy bastards and we’ve gotten what we deserved and it’s landed us in some serious shit, but no one seems to care because we’re getting what we want and so long as we get what we want that’s OK, right?

Pass the Budweiser, baby, Jersey Shore’s on.

We want what we want and we sure as hell want more of it… and cheaper while you’re at it.  It’s become a religion.  In some cases it’s even been adopted into popular religion.  If you’re looking you’ll see it.  Funny what a little “translation” can do. 

What’s it all for though?  Really?  I like games, but does an XBox360 make me smarter?  Does an expensive suit make me more of a man?  Do I really sleep better on a $3000 bed?  Or is it all just more junk?  Maybe if we were hermit crabs and carried our homes around we’d be more selective about how choose to fill our lives.  In truth we do carry the weight of these possessions with us everyday.  If we didn’t want all of this stuff would we need the money?  And if we didn’t need the money well, what would we do?

I’m not saying I’m going to give up all of my possessions and live in a tent, but recent events have made me consider just where my level of diminishing returns is.  Where is the point where I’ve got the things I need and I’m happy?  How can I simplify my life?  How can I be fruitful without taking more than I really need? 

I’ll leave off by restating this burning question:  If you didn’t need the money what would you do with your life?

If you can answer that question you’re like me.  If you’re like me… you’ve got some work to do. 

Cheers,

R

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Just a quick note this morning to post a pic of my new charcoal, The Lucky One. There are still some funky issues that I’ll be working out in the finished painting if and when that comes around. I like him the way he is right now and that’s enough for me. He gave me some food for thought and now my studio chalk board is filling with ideas. Many of them may never see the light of day, but that’s the way it is with ideas sometimes. Some of them come along to help us find others.

Cheers,

R

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I knew from the moment I was struck with the impulse (notice I don’t say “Idea”, but “Impulse”) to give one of my best friends the head of a crow that the resulting character would inevitably gain companions.
I’ve had a number of the characters milling around in my skull for more than a few years, but I never really knew what they were for until recently. Some are nightmares from my past. Some are permutations of characters I’ve come to know through books I’ve read, songs I’ve heard, or stories I’ve been told. I want to keep them rooted somehow in a reality that’s tangible to the viewer. I’ve decided that I want to base these characters on some sort of photographic reference. That poses some interesting problems and possibilities for me. Thankfully these days we have the miracle of Photoshop, but that’s only going to get me so far. I’ve got some very specific ideas about some of my new works. I’m sure that with enough web-dredging I’d be able to come up with an acceptable series of images upon which I could base my next piece. My problem with that is simple however: The images wouldn’t be mine. With a very few exceptions I’ve always taken… exception to working from someone else’s photos. There’s a connection missing that keeps me at an uncomfortable distance. Like if I never knew the subject first-hand I’d never truly understand the context. I want these to be my own images or engineered by my hand at least. I’ve had some opportunities open up recently that might help with that. Oh the new-found joys of working in a studio setting. I’ll have better access to models, decent lighting, and photographers who actually know what they’re doing. I’ve got some pretty specific things in mind and I’m going to need a hand. I’ve been so used to walking around and finding the shots that show me potential. I stumbled on many of my favorite images. While I’m always open to the joys of the happy accident I want to try to achieve something more intentional. I really want to embrace a different way of working.

We’ll see how I do. Frankly, I’m excited. So I’ll introduce you to Cocktails with the Crimson King II: The Lucky One. This is a preliminary study and it’s not finished, but I’m pleased with many things about him. We’ll see how much of it makes it to the final painting. Doing studies like this has encouraged me to start including some larger charcoal work into my upcoming shows. I’m looking for recommendations on a good, over-sized charcoal paper. Let me know if you’ve got any favorites.

In the meantime I’m going to keep finding ways to help these guys and gals come out into the light… or at least a dim, lounge-y glow.

Cheers,

R

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There’s a a line from a Morphine song that always gets me. It goes something like, “People always wanna give ya free advice. Well, it’s something that I always try, but you get what you pay for that’s what I say…”

A long time ago I got some free advice. Actually it wasn’t the only time I ever got this particular bit of advice. One time it came from a college prof. The others were from gallery owners. I was told to eschew one side of my work in favor of the other. I’ve discussed in the past how my work tends to swing from the highly representational to the personal and surreal. To use a bit from an interview I did last week:

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I know I’ve posted this event already, but here it is again with an image I’ve put together and a few extra details.

The reception officially runs from 6-10pm on Friday, March 5th. Feel free to show up whenever and stay as late as you like. I’ll be there.

The Lift features excellent martinis, a pretty decent selection of brews, and some great atmosphere.

Catering will be provided by Out of Box, LLC. Anthony always produces something interesting and unexpected. Looking forward to something aside from the standard wine & cheese trays.

The Art will be a mix of my cityscapes and more figurative works. I’m thinking that putting them all up in one room will help me (and others) to figure out where they come together. Thus the clever title.

If you don’t get to make the reception you can still see the Art which will be hanging up through the end of April.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Cheers,

R

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Gracehttp://img.tfd.com/m/sound.swf (grs)n.

This week I was reminded of something. I was reminded of a choice we all have. About how we choose to carry ourselves from day to day. Our lives are hectic. Some say that we as a species are subjected to a historically unprecedented level of stress. I don’t know if that’s true, but I can say speaking strictly for myself it seems like things never stop. There are getting to be fewer and fewer opportunities to sit down and decompress. These days it seems that if I stop moving for too long… I just fall asleep. Those of you with children will understand.

Through all of this chaos (organized or otherwise) we still have some choices as to how we decide to live. Recently it’s occurred to me that the only good choice, barring the ability to remove the stress, is to go through it all with a certain measure of grace. We can choose to walk effortlessly through our daily struggles letting the difficulties wash over you as water to a duck’s back OR we can choose to let these adversities crash against us as though we were rocks on the ocean shore. While the latter may sound like a position of strength and endurance you have to remember where all that sand on the beach came from to begin with. It seems to me that moving with grace is the only logical choice.

People have been encouraged to forget this option. It doesn’t sell. But when I look at the individuals I’ve admired in my life I think that one of the things that they all have in common is that, to me at least, they moved forward with a certain grace. It used to be the order of the day. Glamorous movie stars living so effortlessly. Heads of state with honor and strength. I know… I know. The past is largely an illusion created from memories of real events airbrushed by a sense of nostalgia, but I can’t think of too many people that routinely make the headlines these days that I can say, “Yes, I want to be like that”. I think they’re out there. I think people prefer to see the Trainwreck. It’s easier to look down on others and demean than to look up and aspire. Maybe it’s also easier to stomp your feet and act like a child that it is to make the effort and inspire.

As for me: I’ve made my decision. I can act like a child. I can be a stressed-out trainwreck. I can be unorganized and confused. I can suffer the slings and arrows… I’m going to try to keep that on the inside for a while.
For the time being I’m going to try to walk with a little Grace.

Cheers,

R

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