The Biology of ... Mermaids???

My best paintings tend to be of subjects I know very well -- deserts, especially.

So doing an underwater scene, in the Mediterranean Sea, mermaids, sunken classical ruins -- these are new things to me, as least as far as painting them myself is concerned.

The City of Mermaids shows the sunken city of Atlantis, which I always imagined was somewhere (if it existed at all) in the Mediterranean Sea, perhaps near Greece or Italy. Legend has it that the place was an island that sunk into the sea due to an earthquake, volcanic eruption or both.

Thus, I did a lot of research so the fish and invertebrates that I depicted would be those one would find in the Mediterranean, including the sea grass (Posidonia oceanica) which seems to be the dominant plant there. (Thank God for the Internet and Google Images!)

Mermaids are another story. I went with the legends of the half-human female - half fish. Mermaids (and fairies) are beings I kind of wish existed. While I'm not obsessed with either as art subjects, they're fun and an escape from what I usually do.

Being both an artist and a biologist, I had to think of what a mermaid would be like from an anatomical standpoint. Unlike women who perform as mermaids by wearing a pull-on fluke (or tail), mermaids would not propel themselves like humans moving their legs inside of the fluke. Mermaid backbones would extend all the way to their caudal (tail) fins, and thus would feature that neat up-and-down motion of dolphins and whales. Humans' knees don't allow for this and only bend in one direction.

Likewise, I don't believe mermaids could sit on their "knees" as humans do -- their tails wouldn't be flexible enough for that, not could they wrap their tails around themselves as I've seen depicted in 19th century paintings of the critters.

Oh, yes -- my mermaids don't wear clothing to cover up anything. I can't imagine marine creatures needing to do that -- modesty is a human failing, after all!

Finally, my mermaids are not exactly skinny. Besides the fact that a little weight on women is attractive to me, the warmblooded mammalian half of mermaids would require fat (aka "blubber" in seals and whales) to insulate them from the cold ocean depths.

In the legends, mermaids seemed to like human males, and they somehow managed to enjoy each others' company. I didn't touch on those themes here, and I didn't get into mermen or merkids -- that might appear in a future project. Supposedly, mermaids were known for being fickle; for that reason, I would avoid trying to have a relationship with them. ☺

Meanwhile, The City of Mermaids is one of the hardest pieces I've ever made, and I'm not entirely sure it's of the quality I want to see in my terrestrial scenes. But it's hard to say, really. I've never seen a view like this! Feel free to comment and let me know if you think this image works!

Finding Light in the Desert

Finding light in the desert...well, OK, it's normally not hard to find light in the desert, of all places. But finding the right kind of light can be problematic.

One of the major blessings of living so close to Joshua Tree National Park -- a place I love to paint -- is being able to pop on over there any time I need to so I can be there when the time -- and the lighting -- is right.

Dawn

The above image is one of my prints that is available at FineArtAmerica.com. I went to the Park just before sunrise so I could be in a good spot to capture the rising sun along with some Joshua trees and the monzogranite rock formations that climbers love to scramble over.

For, you see, it isn't just any kind of light that I look for. Lighting changes so much during the day and in different seasons. Early-morning and pre-sunset light (my favorites) come from different directions, and summer lighting at those times comes from further north than winter lighting which is more from the south. As both a photographer and a painter (especially the latter), it helps to go to the Park knowing what kind of light to expect. And since I know the Park reasonably well, I often know where I need to go to take advantage of the light I'll find.

In fact, sometimes I develop an idea for a painting and then go to where I will find a locale to match. Sometimes I'll wait as long as six months to return to the site i want to photograph/paint because I know the lighting will be what I want to depict.

The photo above that I took will assist me in a painting I want to make, hopefully soon. Since I wanted to offer it as a print, too, and I don't have an ultra high-resolution camera that costs more than our house, I had to Photoshop it just a little -- I used a watercolor look which a.) makes it appear to be a watercolor painting, and 2.) hides the blurred edges that would show at larger magnifications since my camera is only an 8MP camera. And: I cheated and added the image of the red-tailed hawk in flight. Personally, I think the image turned out well.

In the end, both photography and painting work better when the artist chooses his/her lighting carefully. And if the artist lives close to a place that makes it quick and easy to get to a favorite spot when the lighting is fantastic, so much the better.

Art is a Jealous Mistress

Art is a jealous mistress, and if a man have a genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture or philosophy, he makes a bad husband and an ill provider, and should be wise in season and not fetter himself with duties which will embitter his days and spoil him for his proper work.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson


OK -- I hope I'm not THAT bad. But the first five words of Emerson's brief observation certainly rings true with me.

If one is really serious about art and trying to make each work the best work one he/she ever done, it must be practiced a LOT. One must give up everything to be an artist -- or so I've heard. An artist can't become good in his/her craft by taking the casual approach.
 

But then there's this: Matthew 6:24 (KJV) -- No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (My emphasis).

Mammon, in this case, is a reference to money, but it can be anything that becomes #1 in our lives. I don't think art comes before God in my life, but it is pretty important, save for those times when I feel fed-up with art and the art world.

And then there's the issue of trying to sell art -- another entire source of stress and frustration. Whether paintings sell or not, I have to keep working -- either to replace the items that sold, or trying to find paintings that people are willing to buy.

I've also learned that selling art is not as simple as "paint what they like and they'll buy it." Having a "following" -- a certain amount of fame -- tends to be a major component of an artist's success. This has been a little out of my reach, unfortunately. And in some cases, painting in the current trend of decorator colors -- matching the sofa -- is important, too. When you paint in a classical way as I like to do, color matching has nothing to do with it. But try convincing decor-orientated buyers of that!

So in short -- art has taken over my life, but I almost can't afford to do it anymore. Art is a jealous mistress. One must give up everything to be an artist.

That includes any semblance of financial stability and, perhaps, sanity!

By the way -- these paintings are available for purchase at Crystal Fantasy in Palm Springs, CA. Stop by or contact them soon. Don't wait too long!

The Enchanted Realm

For desertophiles like me, most of the desert is an enchanted realm. But in this case, it's also the title I gave to my latest painting of Joshua Tree National Park in California.

The Enchanted Realm                                                                         18" x 24"

I was in this spot a couple of times (although I may not return -- the desert has a delicate layer of cryptobiotic soil -- "dirt" + microorganisms -- that is disturbed easily by hiking on it and that can take years to heal). The first time I was there, a neat cloud shadow spread across the land as you see it here.

I added some minor touches of my own, but I was so moved by the way nature painted this magical place, I felt it didn't need much help from me.

I use "The Vast Spaces of the Southwest" as my tagline. This scene is a perfect example of what I love about the desert and all of that distance that seems to touch infinity. It's a place where one can go and be in touch with the universe because we can see so much of it here. Not intergalactic space, obviously, but just -- big spaces and small us!

Sometimes I Long for the Old Days

Sometimes I long for the old days. With photography, that is.

In many ways, digital photography has been a real blessing -- no film, no processing, no darkrooms, instant results (if the pic didn't turn out, you can do a re-shoot on the spot). And, of course, the images are immediately website/Internet-friendly with minor tweaking. Even infrared photography is so much easier to deal with, as in the following picture:

What bothers me is: all of the 35mm cameras and accessories that are just sitting in a large camera bag and a box. I put a LOT of money into getting the best items that were available for my Minolta X-700 (and XGM) cameras, including zoom lenses, fixed-focal lenses, closeup extension bellows and two lenses to use with it, slide copier... I never totalled up how much $$$ I spent on all of it. But now it all just sits there.

Meanwhile, I'm using digital cameras that were affordable and they do the job (mostly), but they can't begin to compare in quality to my 35mm setup.

Oh, well. There's a season for everything, I guess. Maybe someday the 35mm season will return.

Goin' Down a Side Canyon

Goin' down a side canyon. Wow -- ah reckin' that sounds all western 'n' such -- something a desert/western landscape artist would do.

No -- in this case, it's about developing alternative ways of selling art-related items.

Does this look like impressionism to you? I hope it's close. Impressionism seems to be the favorite art style in southern California, along with abstract and all kinds of avant garde stuff. Frankly, sales of traditional landscapes just don't happen around here.

So I'll continue to paint desert and western scenes as time allows, but I've been thinking: I've got literally thousands of 35mm slides and color negatives of places we've visited over the years. I don't have a high-quality film scanner, so I would not be able to achieve high-resolution digital images to make into posters.

But I do have software called PhotoPlus (from serif.com), similar to Adobe PhotoShop. It has many features I've rarely used -- maybe I need to start!

As in the above image. It's my painting, A Place of Wonder, that I turned into an impressionistic artwork by the mere click on a button.

I figure I can mask the relatively poor resolution of the scan of a slide using the effects and then make it large enough to produce a print -- which I would do via print-on-demand services such as FineArtAmerica.com and deviantArt.com (no link directly to my work at this time). And this way, I can offer low-cost alternatives to original pieces that maybe are too realistic and detailed for some folks, anyway.

I have a number of effects and alterations available to me besides the "impressionistic" one you see above. The "Watercolor" option gives a blurry, dreamy effect that I like -- but probably not for desert scenes. But a redwood forest...o-o-h-h, yes!

And if this works beyond my wildest dreams, I know of software I can buy at a discount (being a P/T college professor and all) that would expand my horizons even more! But first things first.

I already have the slides and computer tools I need to do this -- good, since we're pretty low on $$$ right now. Wish me luck on this side canyon excursion.

The Holidays Are Comin', the Holidays Are Comin'!

Sometimes, when it gets to be around mid-September, I start to wonder if I'm part bird or something. I can't say I have a migratory instinct, but an excitement over the time of year seems to well up within me. Autumn (even if autumnal equinox hasn't hit yet) tends to put me in high gear. Just the thought of fall colors, Jack O' Lanterns, pumpkins, turkeys and Christmas flood my mind, and I get images of the beauty of this time. And it makes me want to paint artwork that shows what's in my head.

You may remember I essentially gave up hope of ever deriving a steady income from the sale of paintings. They just ain't being snatched up for whatever reason. But I have had the idea of developing an end-of-the-year holidays book -- possibly an e-book -- illustrated by me, painted during the height of the appropriate holiday when I'm feeling the most excited about those days.

So -- definitely Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. No New Years -- I tend to go into a funk after Christmas, and New Years finalizes the season too much. Hanukkah -- maybe. I'm not Jewish, but I've had SO-O many Jewish friends over the years (and even some Jewish girlfriends) and had been invited to Hanukkah parties and stuff -- I may include this celebration in the book as well. As for Kwanzaa -- I'm considering it, but I have absolutely no childhood memories or associations of Kwanzaa, so it would be hard for me to develop meaningful images of this time. It might increase my audience, but ... I dunno... I think I'm done painting for the market anymore.

Admittedly, the "holidays book," as I call it for now, has been in my head for years, and progress toward it has been slow. I don't know if I'm just old, out of shape, not exercising enough, or what -- but I just don't have the energy I used to have to do things like this. Maybe I'm just tired of art, period -- let's face it, I've had more negative than positive experiences with the art world, and it's possible I'm just fed up. Lost interest. Long-term depression (which I do struggle with). Utterly discouraged -- can't quite put my finger on the problem.

Well, let's hope I'll be able to get some work done on this project, although I don't think I'd ever make much money on an e-book like this, and painting isn't fun enough anymore to be a reward in itself. But let's hope, anyway.