Painting and Museums

I don't know how many people out there in cyberspace know that I like to paint but I loooove to paint. I took painting in college and instantly fell in love with it. Plus I had one of the best teachers, Keegan O'Keefe teach me everything I know. There's paintings all around our apartment of stuff I've done over the years and I just can't seem to get enough of it. I want to paint all the time. Unfortunately my wallet doesn't feel the same way. ;)

Today a good friend of mine, Kelly and I went to the Getty, a well-known fabulous museum here in L.A. and man, I love art. Every corner in a museum brings new discoveries, enlightenments and inspirations. There's soooo much art out there and it's all different! Some of it's good and some of it's crap but either way you can always take something away and apply it to your own life and art.

I'm really glad I get to call myself and artist, and that others look at me as an artist too. It makes me ... proud, I suppose?

I used to draw on test papers in school, doodle all over assignments, get in trouble for not paying attention because I was drawing cartoons and put off homework to draw some more. Now I'm drawing things for children's books, painting things for paid assignments, and photography is my main artistic focus which thrills me to no end. I love being an artist. I wouldn't have it any other way.

New Website Version

Hey guys,
New version of my webpage is up. Check it out!

Peace,
-marc

Inspiration

It's funny when inspiration hits. You could be anywhere in the world. In any hotel room on any street doing anything and bam - it hits you in the face. It comes from all around and the realization part is sometimes overwhelming. To realize who you are, what you're doing and what you're creating, and then be inspired by that is a crazy feeling. It's also who's around you, what you're surrounding yourself with, the projects you're involved in, the energy you let in and out of yourself. It's a combination of all these things to find inspiration, I think. And I guess you take these moments and run with them. Just sit down and spit it out, whether it's a drawing, a web page, a graphic or photo. Then it becomes books, and bigger things, and what's next, who knows? It's almost like you can't create fast enough. There's not enough daylight or night time to accomplish everything you want to do. There's always this book to read, photo to take, painting to paint, next painting to paint, doodle to doodle out, emotion to express, etc. Sleep seems pointless until you're in bed.

I wouldn't say this post was inspired.

Or perhaps it is.

A live one man show, one that many around the world would love to see, is unfolding before me in this old dusty hotel room in San Francisco. It's cold and rainy outside but blasting warm inside with just the pure sound of an acoustic guitar and the typing of my keyboard.

Life is good.

Peace,
-marc

Uncertainty

This blog is for me. It's really something I only come to in random times. Most of the time when my mind is just overflowing this is one more way of expressing things and then figuring them out.
At a time when there's a lot of certainty in my life there's also a lot of uncertainty. I don't know if this is good or bad. Let's say I'm uncertain if uncertainty is good or bad. Sometimes I think I just put things away and leave them in the uncertain pile because "there will always be uncertainties ... this must be one". I'm ok with the unknown. Without having things exactly figured out. I'm unclear and almost apathetic about a lot of reasons for a lot of things that have happened in my life. But I don't think that's a bad thing. It's not that I don't think about them, that I don't try to draw some clear conclusion about certain subjects. I guess some things are more important to me and those things I seem very secure and certain about. But I never claim to have anything figured out because anything can happen. Life can change in a night and you never saw it coming.
Life is good. Life will be good compared to what I've gone through. Not to say it won't be difficult, not to say I won't want what I don't have when I have it. I even know that yeah ... it is possible for life to get worse than it was. Not to even say I know what I want or will ever know what I want. And I'm ok with that, at least for now. As long as I'm being productive, thinking and creating I'll be happy. And that's what I am doing so I am happy.
I just think too much sometimes. And then I write it down. And it's only a peek into what's going on inside my head. You can't judge what I write and take away from a few paragraphs an accurate perception of me. It's like reading one page in a novel.

Peace,
-marc

2008!

Two Thousand and Eight. The Year of of the Portrait.
Life is good.
Business is good...(could be better, could always be better) ;)
Friends are great.
Production is up.
Creativity is flowing.
Life is good.

Booya.

-marc

keep drawing

when i went home i found an old journal on my bookshelf. it's first "entry" is October 26th, 2001. it's about halfway full of stuff. but tonight i drew in it because,... well, it's not finished yet. =)

peace,
-marc

Springfield, MO

It's been some time since I've written a blog. There's been many a times I've clicked on "New Post" and written something but never published it. Perhaps this will be one of those times ... if you're reading it, I suppose not.

I'm back in Springfield, MO ... the birth place of me and my brothers. It's the Holidays which have become very interesting times in my life. Here I am at a Panera Bread not far from the house I grew up in and so many thoughts are running through my head. Here's a few of 'em...

The fat lady today, driving a mini van, smoking a cigarette and talking on her cell phone today flipped me off after I tapped my brakes at her because she was too close. It made me laugh and love Springfield even more.

I used to have a blog called "Diary of Disciple" back in the old days. I printed some posts off and put 'em in a journal that I found the other night. I can't believe how I thought, how I wrote and what I said. WOW. It was amazing. Now I don't even want to go to church tomorrow morning. How I've changed... It also made me realize how silly things are sometimes. Things that I wrote about, things that I worried about. It made me realize that even what I'm writing right now will seem trivial in a few years. Still trying to comprehend that...

We went to go see my Uncle Don yesterday at a Assisted Living Center in Sullivan, MO. It's always a trip to see him and yesterday was no exception. Life is simple for some and it's nice to be brought back to that.

I went to visit my mother's grave site for the first time a few hours ago. So many thoughts and memories and emotions went through my head and heart and soul. It was hard to focus on anything. I didn't know what to do, how to think, how long to stay or anything ... it was a good experience, one I'm finally glad I got around to. Even through death my mother is still teaching me things.

I have a girlfriend. Her name is Stacey. I like her. =)

I feel like there's more ... I'm sitting in this familiar booth with a cup of coffee just staring at the screen wanting to ... I dunno. I don't even know who reads this anymore so I don't know my audience. How open do I be? How much do I express? What can I say without having family members write me and quote scripture? Where is the balance between truth and entertaining words?

We'll see. I guess I'll go ahead and hit publish and see what happens.

2008 is the year of the portrait.

Peace,
-marc