While I had posted this to my FB a little while back, I forgot to post it to my blog. Here’s the most recient painting I’ve completed:

“A Ghost in the Machine”

I’ve loved the move “Ghost in the Shell” for the deep philosophical questions and implications the movie explores. This painting was inspired by the movie as well as noticing how the drive to cling to the Dualist belief system plays out in society. The concept of self (the one who knows) is something that we’ve struggled with for a long time. I like the way Ghost in the Shell deconstructs Dualism.

So, this is a painting of both the ideal and critique of theory of dualistic consciousness.  Is the “ghost” an extension of consciousness or supporting it?

After finishing the other painting that’s been sitting unfinished for months, I was inspired to do another one… which I churned out in only 10 hours:

“The Three Paths”

I’ve noticed something about taking pictures of my paintings: I doesn’t work. The above photo just does not catch what the real painting looks like. The top and bottom panels look more red in this painting because the way that I did it, the farther away you are from the painting, the more tan it looks. If you look at the same panels from a different angle, they take on a pastel greenish tone and when looked at at another angel, it takes on a more redish hue. Also, the luminosity of the paint is entirely missing. You don’t get that, “OMG! This is really cool” feeling from a photo… which sucks.

Another thing that sucks: I’ve run out of walls to hang my paintings and now I’m just stuffing them into my closet.

The title comes from Hindu mythology: karma-marga, jnana-marga and bhakti-marga.

I just got done with a painting that I’ve been struggling with for many months now. Last night, in a flash of inspiration, I finished it up in one sitting:

“The Three Pillars”

The piece is around 5 feet tall and 2 1/2 feet wide.

The title comes from the 1965 Western Zen classic, “Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice and Enlightenment”.

Last night I got fed up with having my apartment stuck in the same decor, so I moved some thing around. I really love how the painting I did looks. It really ties the room together quite nicely I think.

So, I did two other paintings while I was going through some turmoil a couple of weeks ago…

Abstract 3

Abstract 4

Its kinda funny that I invariably wind up painting segregated spaces. I was determined that I wasn’t going to paint that, but it’s what I wound up with at the end. Oh Freud, where art thou?

I did a couple of paintings over the weekend. I have no idea (other than lack of talent) why I keep on painting rectangle-ish shapes in such happy colors, but that is what I seem to wind up with for some reason.

The past week or so has really grounded me and I finally feel as though I’ve moved back into my apartment. I’ve reconstructed my tsuboniwa complete with koi. I’ve made more time for tea and meditation and I had an itch to paint again. This time I used a rather large canvas. It is kinda funny that even though I’m happy and feel peaceful, my painting turned out to be dark. In fact, I’m noticing that any art I engage in seems to take on a dark feel for some reason! Anyway, here’s the new painting:

I think I’ll hang it in my office tomorrow.

I’ve tinkered with my tsuboniwa a bit today and finished a painting I was working on. I posted the first painting in my last blog. Here is the one I finished up today:

Another painting for my office