Quantum Portriture

This portrait was done of @instantBanana 

 As an artist I follow my instinct, I lay down a number of marks without a reason other than it belongs there. This may resonate with more people when we are talking abstraction than when talking about portraiture or a work that has a narrative. But it is not really not different for any of that when it comes to my making. Of course when artwork become formulaic things change dramatically and this idea breaks down pretty quick so I will not be addressing artwork made by assistants or in a factory format. For me, in my practice, I try to make very few choices, it starts with mark-making and grows from there. I can tell thoughts are coming in and some of my marks become reactions to what was put down that is okay as far as I am concerned. If my mind wanders, that also is okay. Where it stops being okay is when I like or don't like something, when arbitrary rules get in the way of the creation process, and when I have preference or revert to formula.

When it comes to portraiture it is no different than any other artwork except everything on the page will be organized in a specific way. After observing my surroundings for 41 years I have a lot of material in my mind all stored up that I can use.  If you were to ask me to draw a specific eye or nose, in all honesty I probably would not be able to do it without a bit of frustration with trying to get it right. The problem is there is no "right." In the hypothesis the request is outrageous. If I as an artist set out to recreate something there will be inspiration behind that driving it, there will be purpose. If I am setting out to make something beautiful, I will, as far as I am concerned, if my goal is to make something you think is beautiful I will research what you think is beautiful and let go knowing that I will find that which you think is beautiful.

Having faith in inspiration is how these will be created. I do not want to question if something is right or wrong, that is not a natural thing to do. Animals act to what is and if that changes they change. How much proof do I need know that I am making the right decision or doing the right thing? I know I am doing the right thing because it is what I am doing, but still I doubt it all the time. I look at myself and ask "What the fuck are you doing?" "How the hell is this gonna work?" mired in doubt I continue to move ahead. To what? To where? I could not tell you and that seems to be the best because anything is possible from there. I may be delusional but if I am it is fun none the less, but stressful at times as well.

So my new portrait adventure is to do portraits of people I am connected with but never seen. I feel like I am up for also doing portraits of people I have met before of course, at this point though I think knowing what they look like would be a bit of a hindrance. It is not easy to let go to inspiration completely when I also have ideas of what I ought to be doing. Reach out to me if you want to have a portrait session with me, especially if we have never met.

Portrait Counseling : See Yourself and Love Yourself (some initial thoughts)

Portrait Counseling starts by accepting the ancient idea that we are all connected, that we are all one. Whether that be through a god, the quantum unified field, cosmic consciousness or any other of the myriad way we have discussed all being connected. Accepting that we all harness that which is in everything, allows the patient and counselor to immerse themselves into the sub-conscience, connecting them to that which is all of us.

In Portrait Counseling, like in traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), there is fluid discussion to find repeating patterns of thought that may be in conflict with the desired goals of the client. Portrait Counselling is unique to traditional CBT in that it adds the portrait process to the initial session. Portraiture allows the counselor to focus on the the client while discussing issues or diverging thoughts. This process wholly entangles the artist and the person who they are rendering. During this process there is information shared and the focus and intuitive concentration of the counselor it spelled out within the portrait. During this initial 2 hour session the conversation may ebb and flow over a variety of topics, the whole time bringing the client and counselor closer, understanding and sharing through the intimacy of entanglement.

The counselor, or artist, then trusts that connection allowing them to create during the session. As the discussion flows and the patient shares the counselor allows intuition and spirit to guide them. Although written notes may be taken, the portrait is the primary record of the session. Upon completion of the portrait and the session there is a dialogue about what was create and what ideas get stirred by the portrait. The patient is encouraged to reflect on the portrait over the following days taking notes as to what thoughts arise from the portrait, what may be frustrating or comforting to them. The counselor is given the same task and notes ideas that came up during the process of making the portrait. It is important to understand what information there is for the patient to glean, and what information is solely that of the artist.The relationship between the patient and counselor grows over time and it is important that these portraits not be seen as finished artworks but as bi-products of the work being done.    

The goal of this type of counseling is for there to be a greater understanding of self. Trusting our path, and that we are all on a path contributing to all that is, is a great step to loving deeper. Looking at oneself is not always easy, we are critical and can see past mistakes much clearer than we can see future success. Blame is often a way to divert that which we will eventually take responsibility for, and Portrait Counseling can help ease that transition so that we can more easily stand up for what we want rather than be distracted but what we are told to want.

This processes will not open you to to anything you are already not open to. If you hold beliefs that you no longer want to hold, this process can open a path to letting go of those things you are ready to let go of. Looking at yourself is not easy especially when done from a place of entanglement with another person. When you are alone you can hide from yourself, but when you are seen there is nowhere to hide, and you will find that the instinct to allow and be yourself will overwhelm you, love will be there to hold you, and moving forward will happen when you are ready.  

Is there Magic in Art (or) A Simple Portrait

I think that most people would agree, in theory at least, that there is some sort of magic in the arts. Somewhere between the artist and their canvas, script, lens, or myriad of other mediums, lies something that is hard to grasp. Why is it that music is a class I never here about from high school students? Why is being an artist so damn novel to so many people? What the hell do I care that your cousin is a real good drawer?

As an artist I have created thousands of drawings, paintings, prints and all sorts of other kinds of artwork. Some of those pieces are, of course, more substantial than others, in terms of importance, to me and/or to the world in which they reside. Art is no joke. There is some serious stuff going on here and the proof of what is going on there is often just out of reach. With historically famous artists being quoted as saying thinks like, “There is only one valuable thing in art: the thing you cannot explain.” George Braque or “Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist.” Rene Magritte, we, as artists, live day to day, working within this mystery, trying desperately to explain that our work is important to someone somewhere.

In 2001 I began a project I simply call my Portrait Project. In this project I bring art into homes by doing portraits of people. It is a huge project and I have done 473 portraits, to date. The portraits are done in oil pastel on Bristol board and, that is where the technical aspect of this project ends. From this point on I am going to talk about the mystery of art and how I have been stumbling on the threshold of something very interesting.


Upon completion, every portrait I have done, has been given to the person it is a portrait of. This was, and is, an attempt to help people have art in there lives, to try and explain or impart some of that art mystery into the lives of people.
A funny thing began to happen after I had been working on this project for a time. People who had their portraits done were telling me about a process that I was familiar with. They were telling me that over the first 48 hours of owning the work, their feelings about it would change. One moment they would love it, the next they would be self conscious about some aspect of the portrait. They were going through, what I now consider the taming of an artwork.

Lets say that art is some sort of raw creation, and that an artist has a very specific skill of tapping into the ether of what binds us all together. Under these circumstances, when a piece of art is completed by an artist there needs to be an amount of time to look upon their creation and exclaim, "it is good". While this raw art is being examined by the artist, they begin to struggle with decisions they made, they think about their life they meditate, all sorts of things go on during this process, all the while imbuing the recently complete work of art with meaning, vitality and life. Personal insights, political commentary, reality that is so real it is hardly recognized as such, these things are there with us not really knowing where they came from, we are lucky if we get to recognize any of that before it gets either piled in the studio or shipped off to a gallery. Once again art is no joke.

Moving back to the Portrait Project, people take these portraits willingly, and for the next two days real in self reflection, hopefully changing them from that day forward. It is hard to know if this process is similar to musicians, and actors or performance artists. I would assume that they have something that is similar but as a painter I stare into a painting, and I have watched people stare into their portraits unable to look away, gathering and instilling information, understanding something very primal and raw. Unable to explain it they grow knowing that not everything needs an explanation.

For those of you who know about this phenomenon please let me know by leaving a comment. I would also like to hear from people whose portraits I have done, Thank You.