Finding our artistic style is part of the process of becoming an artist. We struggle to define it even as we paint and draw our way towards it. Part of the journey is asking ourselves what art we like and dislike, what influences inspire us. We struggle to answer what our style is because it’s […]
Art on the wall: my love of physical media in art
My desire is to produce paintings to go on walls or a diptych on a table. It’s a tactile object, not digital. Digital imagery is throw away. There’s so much of it the impact is mostly lost among the deluge. It’s how I feel about books; a real hardcopy book is better than say blog […]
We suffer because we Don’t know How To Face This
It’s hard to accept that just when you think you have a good grip on life, it does something to upturn it. Fear and anxiety come at every turn. Some people are good at facing it, others like myself not so much. For most of my life, I kept safe, but in recent years my […]
The rut of despair and getting out
Probably the worst thing I had to deal with is the depression that can come with my fear. There were times when I just couldn’t be bothered to do anything; I felt a listlessness with my circumstances that can lead to all-pervasive apathy. It’s a negative spiral of loneliness, worthlessness, powerlessness, and meaninglessness (what I […]
Personal Development and The ‘Improvement’ myth
‘Self-improvement is masturbation. Now self-destruction…’ Tyler Durden Fight Club. In facing my anxiety and depressed moods, I’ve read my fair share of self-help books. But after many years, I became somewhat disillusioned with the genre. My quest for personal development leads me to read, listen and watch so much advice. But a part of me […]
Buddhist Causality: Interdependent Co-arising
One of the most challenging ideas of Buddhism is their understanding of causality. It’s not based upon the western idea of because it doesn’t trace its history back to ancient Greece and the ideas of Aristotle and Plato. The Pratityasamutpada of Buddhist teachings asserts neither direct Newtonian-like causality nor a single causality. But a multiplicity […]