Another one bit the dust. Boom and a smouldering heap of gouache, canvas and ink died an unceremonious death. The idea I had as a sketch…

just did not translate into a painting (lucky Velofello has the original too).

It happens, it’s frustrating but that’s it. One has to deal with it. It got me thinking though why so often sketches are sometimes so much better than something more full blown. I think it’s a speed thing. A sketch is fast, a spewing of what’s in your head onto paper without wanting to be all uptight about it. As such, the spirit and character of the image comes over and ends up on paper.

Then it comes down to perception. Is a sketch lacking the merit of a fine work, something that took days, months? I always thought so but my mind is changing. My best work is where I sit down and just lay it down. Five minutes or five hours, I don’t think about it too much, I just do what’s in my head in one hit. My worst is where I labour over it for days. Apparently Hokusai painted his famous ‘The Hollow of the Deep Sea Wave off Kanagawa’ (Which if you don’t know is the very famous Japanese print of the big waves… and know one actually has been able to translate the title 100%) in an extremely short time after having thought about it for a long time. Maybe there is some truth to my thoughts of speed?

I have also started to question the appropriation of other images into one’s own work. Musicians do it all the time, samples are the mainstay of so much Hip Hop, Rap and other genres that using them is an accepted practice. Certainly in the realm of modern graphic design, sampling other’s vector art is, like in music, accepted…. many graphic designers, contrary to popular belief can not draw/illustrate. Somehow though, ’sampling’ is shunned upon when it comes to more traditional art. Not sure why.

Meet Oscar, aka Oscar-La aka La-Boy.

Oscar is one of the major factors that has got me thinking about so many things of late. The most interesting thing Oscar has brought into my life is the simple marvel of a 2 year old. It’s an uninhibited amazement of the world around him, every thing’s new, fresh, wonderful.

While I know why we loose it, I have been wondering why we let ourselves, especially every time he’s around. On the trip up north recently we ended up being stuck at a lot of road works. Big machines doing big things. For once I just sat and watched them do their thing. Sure I know how and why these things work and if I chose to look at them through those eyes, all I would have been was annoyed about being stuck in traffic. Instead, I just watched, like Oscar would. And you know what? They are wonderful and amazing, these big yellow machines scooping up the earth. Very, very cool. I became transfixed and was actually annoyed we had to get going and leave them behind.

It then occured to me that true genius’ are like children (and I am so not a genius) - everything amazes them and they have an unquenchable thirst to understand. They manage never to loose the simple wonderment of a 2 year old. Einstein was reportedly like that.

I learn a lot from Oscar.

I had some down time and unlike what I usually do, which is worry about the fact that there is some down time and do nothing productive, I did something I know I should be doing.

On went System of a Down (oh yes, very meditative music that) out came the paints and I hit up a canvas I have been threatening to finish for some time. Though no conclusion was made (something’s just not right with this piece), I spent a few hours doing something I want to do. I feel very good for it.

Hit the gym after lunch and then it’s time for some more cash productive work (hear that Mr Velo?).