4/9/2022 #59
Here and Now, Imperfect Art, Ines Freedman, Janice Lee (h/t Susan Schultz), Courage Within, Sophie Woodrow, Anastasia Selby, FogChaser, Sascha Ring, & Moderat.
HERE AND NOW
I’m going to an event this evening, and need to get this out early, although it may result in a generally shorter and “rough-edged” issue.
Six-point update from the quiet after Instagram:
1) After years of scrolling, my “normal” thinking process feels like it’s been disrupted, creating a habit of disrupting itself. Focus flits back and forth constantly, and it’s difficult to sustain unless I am physically tuned in to an activity—like drawing or painting, say. Or writing. Is this old age? Is this the effect of social media?
2) No surprise, the impulse to scroll continues (YouTube!), although it’s easier to dispel it nowadays.
3) Slowly, I’ve started doing more sustained reading.
4) Slowly, getting back to doing more stretching and walking, which is important for the arthritis that’s affecting my knee/leg/feet
5) Giving myself time for short breaks where I just chill on the bed and do NOTHING.
6) Recognizing the imperfection in everything I do. And that’s OK.
Had to laugh when I saw this very short video by the Art Prof., Clara Lieu, confiding to her dog, Maggie (who, while trying mightily to appear interested, got a bit bored with the whole discussion), lol.
Really tempted to rename this newsletter “The Imperfect Artist.” But I’ll hold back on the impulse and give it some thought.
ART
I was going to write that I’ve been struggling a little with my impulse to “overdo.” But really, why the “struggle”?
Here’s an “overdone” piece, haha:
Here are two “less done” pieces—basically, studies for larger works (one hopes). In the second one, I decided to incorporate smudges into the piece, because—sometimes you just gotta do that:
LINKS
Ines Freedman on “Embracing Imperfection” from a Buddhist perspective.
Poet and educator Susan M. Schultz pointed me to this essay, by Janice Lee, on “The Limits and Possibilities of the Sentence” and on language as both failure and awareness.
Artists partner with and reflect upon unhoused women and the housing crisis in Monterey County: “Courage Within,” part of docuseries by Monterey Museum of Art.
Haunting figurines by Sophie Woodrow (in Colossal).
An eye-opener from former wildfire firefighter Anastasia Selby: “Texas Wildfires and Why Dying Trees Might Be a Good Thing” from her Substack newsletter Fires:
SOUNDINGS
You’ll find musical works-in-progress with every issue of FogChaser, a Substack Newsletter. Check out Meditation #8
I’ve been watching the German SciFi thriller series “Dark.” The opening credits soundtrack, “Goodbye,” has been haunting the hell out of me (amplified, perhaps, by what’s been going on in Ukraine). It’s by composer/musician Sascha Ring (aka “Apparat”); Ring grew up in the Harz region of East Germany—an area that he felt was “disconnected” from the rest of the world.
Then, he moved to Berlin. Ring is currently part of the Berlin-based band, Moderat. Here’s another dark, and more recent, piece that reflects on tech/surveillance: “More D4TA - FAST LAND” (WARNING: this video could be triggering):
Wow, I’m actually getting this out the door before 5 p.m. Despite dark tech, despite weird weather, and bad faith actors—the weekend is upon us; at the moment, it’s beautiful here in Monterey. Yes, there is beauty! Until next Saturday . . .
My website: jeanvengua.com