Old World Swine

The Non-Commission (and Why I Like It)

In the combox on the post below, a reader asks if the painting shown is for sale.

The answer is "sort of". **(see UPDATE, below)**

See, a kind and loyal patron has first dibs on the painting. This is the kind of commission I enjoy most, which is to say, it isn't really, properly speaking, a commission.

Let's suppose a patron says to me "I tend to prefer 'X' kind of paintings. If you had some paintings like that, I would probably be interested in buying.".

Then suppose I say, "I just happen to have plans to do some more pieces something like that, in fact I had hoped to start on a whole new series next month. I'll be sure and let you know as I get them completed.".

The patron says "Okay, great" and that is basically the extent of it.

This kind of creative arrangement is ideal, because it relieves the patron of the absolute obligation to buy something he/she hasn't yet seen, AND it relieves the artist of the felt obligation to let the patron become the creative director of the piece ("...Could you put a starfish in the foreground? I collect starfish... and could you put a sailboat over here?"). That kind of thing can make an artist's soul shrivel, curl up into a ball and suck its thumb while staring blankly into space.

The Non-Commission allows the artist to retain complete freedom and creative control, while it allows the patron an escape hatch in the event that he/she looks at the piece and goes "Ugh!" or more likely, "Meh...".

Portrait commissions are the most tricky, because they allow the least amount of creative freedom for the artist, and they strongly obligate the patron to buy. I've been fortunate, though, in that the response to my portraits has been very positive.

**UPDATE - the painting has, in fact, been sold.

Painting - Port Said, Egypt

This painting has been sold.

I have wanted to paint this scene for a long time. Port Said (pronounced "Sah-eed"), Egypt, early in the morning on a November day in about 1999. Photographed from the railing of a (small, modest) cruise ship. It is a study in contrasts; the old-world architecture of the apartments, the jumble of the docks and fishing shacks, the colorfully painted boats, the brilliant water...

As always, the painting is my impression of the scene, using the photo as a reference, but also influenced by my memory of the place and modified in any number of small ways. One has to be careful in painting from photos, because the camera can distort and leave out a lot of information.

Even painting directly from life, though, involves making choices and decisions so that the finished painting gets across the sense of the place while allowing the painting to become a harmonious and beautiful object in its own right. It is like writing a story. Even in writing a true story, some events and characters may be combined, modified or just left out (and others may even be invented) in order to more effectively communicate the real point of the story, the reason for writing it in the first place. It doesn't help to get every detail exactly correct if the story ends up so dull and tedious that no one can stand to read it. The writing has to engage the reader so that they will be drawn into it and have a chance to absorb the story.

I've come to the point where I am very reluctant to paint from any but my own photographs (though I make exceptions), so that I can draw on my memory and at least attempt to call to mind how I felt when I took the picture, and what it was about the place that made me want to remember it and pass it on to others. Even things like the sounds and smells and the temperature of the air can change the emotional perception of a place or event.

I have more photos and memories from the trip that I hope to paint.

Be sure to visit my Online Store for lots more art, cheap! Baby needs a new pair or hiking boots.

Big, Fat Tuesday

I just read on Facebook a comment passed on by Barbara Nicolosi, summarizing an age old truism;

"If you like Lent, you're doing it wrong.".

I used to be one of those people who actually looked forward to lent, and would say so. I was a new Catholic, and everything Catholic was fresh and novel and interesting, so Lent seemed like a positively exotic spiritual exercise. I thought I would feel like Kwai Chang Caine at the Shaolin temple, probing spiritual truths, lifting sizzling cauldrons with my bare arms, inhaling peace and exhaling enlightenment (well, all except for the cauldrons thing).

What I discovered over the next several Lenten seasons is how weak, fleshly (not to mention fleshy) and self-centered I truly am, and that's always fun. Lent, in other words, has kicked my butt... up, down and sideways. It still does.

And that is the point, maybe. Not that Lent is supposed to make us feel shallow, weak and selfish... it just shows us that, yeah, we really ARE shallow, weak and selfish, no matter how we like to spin some more flattering narrative, and no matter how we would like to feel about it.

There is good news, of course. Great news, in fact. But before we can genuinely understand and embrace the Good News, we have to come to some real grasp on the Bad News that makes the Good News so necessary. We are fallen. We are preternaturally self-centered, weak and prone to sin. We begin to understand this more readily when we make the effort to deny ourselves some favorite thing, or change a bad habit, or stir ourselves to some good work that involves actual inconvenience.

Not that Lent is about being miserable. It is about realizing our sinfulness and our need for redemption. It is about repenting and firmly resolving to do better. It is about offering our Lord the praise of sacrifice. It is about spiritual training (as St. Paul said, "...train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things..."), it is about turning some of our faith flab to muscle. The Good News is that, through the Holy Spirit and in the strength of Christ, we can progress toward the heavenly ideal. We can be more godly, and find a deeper life in the Kingdom of Heaven. We can "produce fruit in keeping with repentance"... but only by the grace of God.

Lent, in other words, is a complex reality, taking on different shades of meaning at different times to different people. I have to say, again, that - even as difficult as it can be - I do look forward to it, if only for what it may teach me about myself, and (in spite of all my weakness) about the fathomless, unconditional love of Christ.

Here is a brief history of Lent from Catholic Exchange.

Just Read This

Catholics will get more out of this piece by Daniel Matsui (as it deals with the reality of the Eucharist), but non-Catholics may gain some increased appreciation for what Catholics mean when they use the word "incarnational".

Just read it.

(Hat tip to Paul S. at Spike is Best)

Right, Left and Center

"So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left." Deuteronomy 5:32

Paul at The Aesthetic Elevator brings to light the phenomenon of The Artist as Closet Republican.

Coming out as a conservative - of any kind - in many art circles takes some major chutzpah.

I remember knowing I was out of place back in art school. I thought liberalism was nuts, but I never would have called myself a Republican and am even less tempted to become one now.

I sensed that a lot of the leftist agitprop I heard from professors and other students was hogwash, but it took me longer to begin to see the problems with the knee-jerk conservatism from the right that was often a response to it.

Still, I was glad when I heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio for the first time back in 1991. It was very liberating and encouraging to hear someone - anyone - of national prominence having so much fun lampooning the old liberal cliches, and giving the hand-wringers on the far left a poke in the eye.

Not that I have ever been a regular Dittohead. I've always had areas of disagreement with Rush, and never more so than over the issue of torture. I also see problems with the kind of chemically pure capitalism that gives free rein to guys like Bernie Madoff. If it weren't for original sin, Capitalism might be a perfect system, but I could see some making the same argument for Communism.

I have come around to what Chesterton and Belloc called Distributism and what the Church calls Subsidiarity... the idea that everything ought to be accomplished at the lowest and most local level possible. Big Business and Big Government are equally enemies of the Distribustist idea, and so far from being in competition with one another are in fact partners in the ongoing project of taking from the common family any right or incentive to look after their own property, produce their own goods or make their own decisions. Why spend two or three evenings by the fireplace carving your mother a new hardwood stirring spoon, when you could work that same amount of time at The Plant and make enough money to bury her in a pile of machine made wooden spoons?

(Stop reading and think for a minute about what we have lost in making that trade)

Property and estate taxes make it practically impossible to ever really own a piece of land or a house. They are never finally yours, free and clear. Living "off the grid" - or even substantially independent of the grid - is actively discouraged in both modern law and commerce.

You must have legal tender, and for that you need A Job, and once you have A Job, you will have little time or energy to worry about much else.

But don't fret! The government will raise your children in the public schools and prepare them for their own Jobs and to be compliant citizens, while the corporations will, through the media, prepare them to be good consumers and to take passionate stands on approved and allowable political positions (Red, or Blue?). They will never miss the Old Farm. Besides, they can watch stories about farm life on the high resolution flat-screen. They can also Google "farm life" and find enough information to choke a horse.

There is an opportunity, with this current economic downturn, to perhaps re-learn a few of the things we have forgotten. There is maybe a chance for Small is Beautiful to be discussed without being laughed to scorn. There is a little more time, maybe, for carving a spoon by the fire.

"Our society is so abnormal that the normal man never dreams of having the normal occupation of looking after his own property. When he chooses a trade, he chooses one of the ten thousand trades that involve looking after other people's property." - G.K. Chesterton

Addendum: Over at What's Wrong With the World Francis Beckwith explains why he is a conservative, and...

Professio has further thoughts...

It's International Pipe Smoking Day!

No exposition needed on this first picture, except that the smaller figure with the speech balloon looks kinda like Ronald Reagan.

I only include this picture to make three observations;

1) That's a pretty clever way to do a portrait
2) This image would probably leave Rene Magritte speechless
3) It is not safe to smoke around turpentine-soaked-rags. Do not try this at home.

Link to the International Pipe Smoking Day website!

"Christian-ese" Redux

Reader Louise  (at Jimmy Akin's blog) has asked in relation to this previous post;

"But what about the Christian pop music, and the hat with IHS on it? Are these things bad now? So that we have to beg God's forgiveness for this "rot"?"

A fair question, and one difficult - or rather impossible - to answer directly. I'm certainly not interested in even beginning to say "Well, you shouldn't listen to this, but I think it's okay to listen to that..." or "wearing Christian symbols on clothing is a compromise with the consumer culture, and is therefore bad". Everything depends on the individual's determination (or lack of same) to live a life radically committed to the Gospel.

It comes down to a matter of perspective. Is our faith just "part of a well-rounded life", or is it the organizing principle that gives meaning to everything else? The question might be framed this way; if not for the ICTHUS emblem on the car, or the IHS hat, or the bible verse t-shirt, how would your neighbors, your friends, your community recognize your lifestyle as especially Christian? If these things didn't exist, what is it about you that would make people know you were a committed follower of Christ?

Keep in mind that in saying "God forgive us" for these kinds of things, I am praying mostly for myself, having been in a position to contribute to the mess by designing Christian T-shirts and other knick-knacks for several years. The horror, for me, would be that anyone could truly say, "You can always tell a Christian becasuse they have little bible verses on their knick-knacks".

Yes, I do think we need to ask God's forgiveness for the extent of the compromises we have made with the prevailing consumer culture (mostly without even thinking), and we need to look hard at our relationship to the wider culture, but much of the responsibility lies with Christian artisans of every stripe to dig deeper, reach higher and not settle for mediocrity by merely putting a Christian spin on a material culture. This might mean having to work a lot harder, it might mean walking away from a job opportunity. It might mean lots of things.

Catholic artisans in particular have a rich and ancient tradition of excellence to build on... we should ask ourselves, where is today's Pieta? Chartres Cathedral? Mass in C minor? Crucifixion of St. Peter? If we don't create the masterpieces of our age, who will? (...and again, I'm mainly talking to myself, here)

I don't want to be guilty of making the perfect the enemy of the good, but from my perspective it looks much more likely in our culture that the good has been seriously undermined by the "good enough". Am I being a little hard-assed about it? Yeah, maybe.

I was once much more involved in Christian Retail, which meant getting a good look behind the scenes at how Christian products are developed for the mass market (a process which, like the making of laws and sausages, one might not really want to see). Part of this involved attending a massive Christian products convention in Dallas one year. I have to say, the reality of the sheer amount of money flying around, the slick marketing, the celebrity culture, opportunism, etc... I found disturbing. I heard a reliable report that one Captain of Christian Industry took some visiting manufacturers (atheist foreigners, which is not their fault) out to a strip club. Why? Because they would like him, they would feel like they were buddies, they would be impressed, they would be easier to work with.

But for every lap dance proffered at such a gathering , there are a hundred very expensive steak dinners, rental limos, pricey gift bags and the like. It is (I believe) fundamentally a culture of materialism, with a Christian gloss. This is not to say it is this way in every single case, only to say that I found a disturbing materialist atmosphere prevalent in that Christian marketplace. Were there good points, as well? Sure, and I could name some for which I was grateful. But the overall tenor of the thing was... creepy.

I tried to imagine Jesus walking the aisles of the cavernous convention floor, and decided pretty quickly that had he been there in person, he would have slipped out quietly and would likely as not have been talking to the homeless guy at the roadside who we passed on the way in. I, myself, couldn't leave without breaking a lot of commitments. I consider that I "left" that place over the next several years.

Current Stuff and Future Stuff

New Mary painting  in process   (copyright 2009 - Timothy Jones)

Detail - (copyright 2009 - Timothy Jones)

I went to visit with our parish priest this morning and talk with him about offering my services for developing some liturgical art over the course of time.

I say "over the course of time", because some of the projects I have in mind will probably take years to develop, and will (of course) require the input of at least one committee (yay...). I hope this can turn into something fruitful and become a way that I can contribute to my parish, in addition to monetary support. As a freelance artist, it can get pretty difficult to give consistent amounts regularly because when you don't know what your income is going to look like over the next few months (or even the next few weeks) "budget planning" can at times amount to nothing more than crossing yourself and going online to check your current bank balance.

I really want to do what I can - little as it may be - to help the modern church (both locally and more generally) to set her sights a bit higher in terms of culture, for the sake of those she shepherds. Banners are fine, but we can also do better than graphic banners, if we want to take the trouble. I'm willing to give my time and what skills I have to the endeavour.

More short-term, Monsignor did mention the idea of having an art exhibit in the Gathering Space featuring the art of parishioners. This is something he had done in his former parish (he is also an artist, a watercolorist, I think). If he were to put me in charge of that, I might try to expand the show a bit to include some outside the parish, but I can't say. I don't even know how many Catholic artists we might come up with locally. Maybe more than I think.

At any rate, I will keep everyone posted.

The art at the top of this post is a piece I am working on for one of my regular blog readers (so I hope he likes it, *cough*...). I am a little hesitant to post it at this stage, because there is a great deal more work to do. The image right now is very high contrast, with the stark white spheres and the intense blue background. It will become more subtle and finished as I add more layers of pigment. I am approaching this piece a little differently, using the Grisaille method I have mentioned before, which is the use of a tonal underpainting with transparent glazes layered on top of that. This is why Mary is rendered (at this stage) in shades of gray (with the warm tone ground showing through in places).

I have high hopes for this method, and may start to approach a lot of my figural pieces this way. It is a process that requires patience, though. I am letting this layer (painted in oils with some alkyd medium) dry before I can move on to the transparent glazes (also using alkyd).

The image itself is inspired by Our Lady of Guadalupe (Patroness of The Americas), though it takes certain liberties with the image as it appears on the miraculous tilma of Juan Diego. I hope it amounts to a respectful and reverent re-imagining of his vision.

New Painting "Peach, Plum & Glass"

(Visit my Daily Painting blog)

The Smoke Filled Room

Samwise Gamgee fires up.
(New Line Cinema)

The stars that govern the mysterious paths of pipe-smokers have recently aligned and cast a friendly glow on my little neck of the woods here in the Ozarks of Northwest Arkansas.

First, a few months ago a vendor of pipes and tobacco (who knows his stuff and has real enthusiasm for what he is doing) set up shop not ten minutes away from our house. He opened a pipe shop because he loves pipes. And then last night, in this same little shop, I attended the second meeting of a new pipe smoking club now officially named Ozark Pipe Smokers.

Prosaic? Sure. But of all the alternatives, this name gets the point across in admirable fashion. We have pipes, and we smoke them.

In the Ozarks.

This was actually the third meeting, if you count the Emergency Meeting last Saturday. We have been notified that emergency meetings may occur with some frequency, whenever any one of the members can marshal the energy to hit the "send" button on their e-mail and request one.

This meeting reminded me that one of the chief reasons I like pipe smoking is that I like pipe smokers. This is a great group of guys, as became more apparent over the course of the evening, though one could tell as soon as the door opened.

I brought my favorite pipe and a pouch of some tobacco I had bought a few weeks ago. I need not have bothered bringing my own, though, because tobaccos of every kind and description were enthusiastically and continually thrust upon me, and I ended up leaving with a tin of a brand called Connoisseur's Choice by a company called Peterson of Dublin (est. 1865) as a gift from Andrew, whom I had never before met. Just like a pipe smoker. I could have left with many more tins.

Everyone present had more pipe smoking knowledge and experience than I did, which seemed to make them all that much more interested in just how much and how long and what and how I had smoked. This group will not only help me to learn a lot more about the Art of the Pipe, but will make it much more enjoyable, as well. Every pipe smoker ought to have someone to smoke with from time to time. That's part of the experience. A pipe alone is good, but a pipe with a friend is better.

There is nothing of joyless addiction about a pipe. You won't see a pipe smoker say, "I've got to have a pipe right now, or I'm going to have a nicotine fit and possibly strangle a co-worker".

I think Satan hates pipes, as pipe smoking (in moderation, as with all things) is an honest pleasure that can't very easily be turned toward some nefarious end. A pipe (and a good smoke) is appreciated simply for its own sake, or it is left alone. A pipe, because it contributes to a state of thoughtful and quiet contentment (for a few minutes, anyway), makes the pipe smoker rather more sales resistant than before. It turns no wheels of commerce, excites no lust or greed. A pipe is almost a symbol of contemplation. You can't smoke a pipe in a hurry.

We didn't talk just about pipes, though. Pipe talked weaved in and around other topics like fishing, hiking, music... this group was into just about every kind of music. I brought up Chesterton, as I do more and more frequently, now that I'm looking at starting a local G.K.C. society. I send out feelers every chance I get. The response last night was the most common one " I think I've heard of him... ".

Naturally, I smoked more than usual (three bowls in a couple of hours) and was feeling pretty mellow by the time I got home. I know I smelled like someone who had, well... just spent three hours in a small, smoke-filled room... but nobody complained.

I look forward to the next meeting of Ozark Pipe Smokers... an Emergency Meeting planned for February 20th... in honor of International pipe Smoking Day!