art is a verb

I got an email update from Hamlett Dobbins today, a great guy I went to grad school with. Easily, of all the people I went to school with, I respect and admire Hamlett most of all. Not only are his paintings beautiful, evocative, enigmatic, suggestive, personal, inclusive, and compelling, he paints with an easy virtuosity I would envy if I could get past the feeling of wonder they evoke in me as a painter. His website, art is a verb has tons of images of his work. There are new images of his posted on the 'Paintings' and 'Studio Views'. And, as a bonus, he has an entire section dedicated to his visits to other artist's studios. I really like looking at the other people's studios; it helps me to feel less like I am working in a vacuum, and lets me daydream about having a real studio of my own.

On another note, I got the November 'Harpers' in the mail the other day, and there is this wonderful article in it by Mark Slouka, titled " Quitting the Paint Factory -- On the virtues of idleness". (the paint factory referred to is industrial, not artistic) As a bonus, it is illustrated by Brad Yeo. His illustrations look like they are wood block prints, but these days who knows, it could be illustrator. Method of construction aside, they are beautifully designed and compelling. Anyway, back to the article -- It basically examines the obsession with work and how even hobbies and leisure activities are measured by ones work.

"Leisure is permissible, we understand, because is costs money; idleness is not, because it doesn't. Leisure is focused; whatever thinking it requires is absorbed by a certain task: sinking that putt, making that cast, watching that flat-screen TV. Idleness is unconstrained, anarchic. Leisure--particularly if it involves some kind of high-priced technology--is as American as a Fourth of July barbecue. Idleness, on the other hand, has a bad attitude. It doesn't shave, it's not a member of the team, it doesn't play well with others. It thinks too much, as my High School coach used to say. So it has to be ostracized. "

I am just getting into the studio in earnest, for my show coming up in April. It has been hard, because I have had niggling thoughts of "what are you doing, no wants to buy one of these" and "what a stupid, expensive waste of time." This article has struck just the right cord with me, appealed to my rebellious nature, and has me itching to make a bunch more of those little pictures that no one but me wants to take home.