Go Listen
Annie Clark/St. Vincent: http://video.pbs.org/video/1287561166/ Go 28 minutes and 9 seconds into the session. She’s a creative talent, easy on the eyes and can completely shred a guitar. Mr. Hendrix would stand up and applaud. And on You Tube: Her cover of the Beatles’ “Dig A Pony” :
Somewhat older stuff, but when in production and the Ipod goes on and on, musical friends reintroduce themselves: “In Rainbows” by Radiohead. Unique, great melodies and a sophisticated touch. I’m sure many of you have heard it already but hey……
And Mr. Aaron Nakagawa recently wrote and produced a 35 minute piece inspired by the Transcendental Realism paintings of Adi Da Samraj. A musical hand in glove fit with the incredible artwork and an excellent stand alone work. This is just a tease as a link isn’t available yet for you to download or listen to it but soon……
Speaking of painting: The reflecting pond on the Sanctuary received a much needed clean out, clean up and concrete stain. Left a few brain cells on the table unfortunately, but I had six or seven leftover from my long painting career so there were some to spare……
Where did that last thought go?
You can’t believe how many toads we had to corral before we could start painting. But now I am back working on the less mobile one on the lilypad in the “studio” corner of my bedroom. . He even stays still while I paint warts on him.
Thanks for taking some LIP from me.
Bruce
Soon……
On an artistic note, I am afraid the Odalisque series has had too restful an affect on me and it is hanging on a a lily pad now with Mr. Bufo. In a fit of discipline I am giving myself a deadline of ten days to finish it. Mostly because of the embarrassment that my website has not been updated for a while and feels neglected. Electronic cobwebs are such a downer.
The dragon fly painting unfortunately is ka-put. It just wasn’t strong enough to fit into this Kauai Images series well as a stand alone painting. And so rather than invest more time into it, I simply placed poor Dragonfly between the toad and the lizard and…….you can visualize the ending. This may be Hawaii but it isn’t utopia.
So in memoriam to our winged friend and as a way of refreshing the color memory of my corner of the internet, here is a sum total of the Kauai Images Series to date. Once the Bufo is done I’ll photograph him and then update the website with new prices and exciting info, raffles, Hawaiian getaway giveaways, frequent flier miles for multiple purchases, etc. I am holding off on T-shirts at this time, but I gotta admit, I would wear a Bufo t-shirt. Bet I could send one to President Obama and he’d wear one too. That guy could certainly use some humor right about now.
The Roxy Hula; 24 x 30; acrylics
Salt Pond; 18 x 24; acrylics
Canefield Church; 24 x 30; acrylics
The Aloha Theater; 18 x 24; acrylics
Quan Yin; 16 x 20; acrylics
It All Started Here; 18x24; acrylics
Odalisque #1- The LIzard; 16 x20; acrylics
" Finish me.... please"
Thanks everyone for all your support. I appreciate your emails and encouragement. As always, click on the images to enlarge them for more pleasurable viewing.
Thanks for taking some LIP from me,
Bruce
The Fine Print
Take a deep breath. Feel it go in through your nostrils, feel your belly and your lungs fill and expand and arrive to full in your frontal line. Now feel the release of pressure as air comes back out the pathways it entered. Rest in the space between breaths and…. ahh… uhmaa.. ahem–this probably isn’t a good time to tell you this, but -that next breath? There is no guarantee that it will occur. Please read the fine print in your contract of Light made dense by Spontaneous Manifestation.
It goes something like: “Just because you had a lot of good breaths, please do not assume that implicitly guarantees a continuation of said services. We reserve the right to spontaneously change the pattern of manifestation as well as spontaneously manifest manifestation because that is what spontaneity is all about. Thank you for your understanding.”
You might want to get a tad angry at such a statement. For me, however, anger is usually where I was at just prior to being handed the above contract. I more than likely was in the middle of a subjective tantrum, having completely identified with a situation of frustrated disbelief that something wasn’t working out as I wanted or would normally expect. And to be honest, I could distill that a teeney bit further and come up with, “What I felt I was owed.” Ouch. Or if you really want to get down to brass tacks- I was completely in the process of actively assuming a separate personality, thereby efficiently arresting any further attention from realizing, as my Spiritual Master, Adi Da would say when instructing children in the art of sensitvity, “You are more than what you look like”. Somehow, I get a feeling I am not alone in this particular club.
Oh, the myth of the “Guarantee”. But having the fine print pointed out before the actual exercising of the above described option is a big gift. And whoever enters my thick skull or hard heart at such moments to deliver it, let me express my gratitude.
There is a reaction that now takes place for me in this event of being made aware of contractual specificities. Everything heavy suddenly drops away. The heaviest being the emotion of expectation for one outcome or another. And there is simply free attention and a relaxed heart. A certain disposition of being, of feeling with awareness. A pleasurable, sit down at the rivers edge with your feet dangling in the warm water of flowing change kinda feeling. Suddenly whatever happens next is pretty damn okay because it just doesn’t have to.
And it also dawns that there is no reason to be expecting a certain behavioral response from those I am with under whatever circumstance. That doesn’t mean things get stilted. Au contraire. Free attention is a feeling matter and that is a feeling of being present in this moment. And this moment. And this moment……. Another one of those fine print thingies that is worth finding out about.
Thanks for taking some LIP from me,
Bruce
Odalisque News Roundup
Odalisque Series Progress Photo
As spring springs on, always green Kauai doesn’t necessarily get greener. Everything just grows faster. So what appeared incredibly trim and conscious on Saturday looks likes it has been blithely neglected for six weeks on Monday. Nature’s five o’ clock shadow.
Consequently, I have been spending more functional time out in nature versus getting much done on our above friends . They are fun together and so in the spirit of web based electronic relationship, here is a progress photo for you. All 16 x 20 inches by the way. Odalisque # 1 The Lizard is done. I thought it was done before till I showed it to a friend, who although has no formal training in the arts qualifies as one of the worlds fussiest people. If they had a performance catagory for fussy on American Idol, he’d be America’s choice hands down. So when he took a look at the painting last week he was able to point out what had been bugging me but I couldn’t see as I had gone into snow blind mode. After another round of color massaging and edge finessing and lizard detailing I am quite happy with it and grateful for his insightful feedback. Odalisque # 2 The Toad is a about fifty percent done. Lots to do still but I could not help myself and jumped onto Odalisque #3 cause I just wasn’t into painting warts quite yet. The Dragonfly is about 75% done , its very simple content is a nice foil to its more ornate series mates. And remember, viewers can interact with the LIP by clicking on the image for a larger image.
That’s it for the arts and culture new today. Now onto the weather…..
Showers today, possibly lasting all day. The temperature is a pleasant 80 degrees under rainy skies. No snow in the forecast, hah hah…..And this just in from the farm and agriculture desk…
Local eyewitnesses report everything is growing as fast as the national deficit with every blade of grass and all foliage reporting record growth and for all accounts, looking like, a jungle….. It is recommended to stay indoors during this wet weather and save your strength till Monday cuz you know what you will be doing.
May your weekend be creative.
Thanks for taking some LIP from me,
Bruce
Consciousness’s Job Review
Reviewer: Thank you for being here today for this job review.
Consciousness: Your welcome. Actually I’m always here. Nothing personal, but normally you’re just a little too preoccupied to notice. I just amped things up a bit to help out today. Kinda burn some of the fog off, you know.
Reviewer: Uh….okay…. uh, thanks again. Shall we proceed?
Consciousness: No problem
Reviewer: First let’s go over some practical things to make the record keepers happy. I noticed you didn’t put down a residential address.
Consciousness: That is correct.
Reviewer: Could you give that to me now and I’ll just fill it in.
Consciousness: I’m nowhere.
Reviewer: Nowhere? Do you mean you’re homeless? Could you be more specific?
Consciousness: Actually I am everywhere.
Reviewer: Please, we just need to have the records updated. So which is it. Nowhere or everywhere?
Consciousness: Both.
Reviewer: Come again?
Consciousness: I am everywhere. There is no place I am not. So you don’t have to go anywhere to get to me- consequently, since I am no place you can go, I am nowhere. Everywhere and nowhere. Nowhere and everywhere. Get it?
Reviewer: Not really
Consciousness: Don’t worry. It’ll hit you some day. Let the bureaucrats work out the street address okay?
Reviewer: Fine. Moving on – I see you didn’t fill in your birthdate. We need that for social security.
Consciousness: Are you serious? Okay, I see you are. Let me put it this way: I was never born.
Reviewer: Uh, please….. how old are you?
Consciousness: You’re not supposed to ask that are you? Let just say I can never die.
Reviewer: You’re making this complicated.
Consciousness: Look, you’ve got infinity on one side and infinity on the other. Right? Can you show me the middle? Didn’t think so. Don’t we have other things to talk about?
Reviewer: Fine. Let’s talk about your work habits….. Generally we feel you do a good job at jumping into things and getting started. But we have noticed that you could benefit from a little more organization.
Consciousness: I must confess, I don’t have a much of plan past a certain point.
Reviewer: And what is that point?
Consciousness: Manifestation
Reviewer: Pardon me?
Consciousness: I mean I really want to be here, hanging as everyone and everything. You could say it is a completely spontaneous kinda thing. So here we are but once things get conditional, I am not really sure where it’s all going. Actually I don’t see the point, anyway. It’s all kinda the same in my book. I’m not really that goal oriented.
Reviewer: You must have a plan to get anything done in a timely fashion.
Consciousness: Things do progress a bit slowly, I must say. But hey, at least it seems like once things get dense there is a mechanical part that just takes over, kinda keeps things in balance. Until it’s not. But then balance tries to reasserts itself in one form or another. Things have gotten a little better don’t you think? Just because there is a little bit of mechanical order, though, doesn’t mean I can take credit for some plan or something. I mean really- do you plan your dreams out?
Reviewer: Uh, this is your job review. I don’t want it to make it about me, so–
Consciousness: Uh huh….. Remember that mechanical thingie? Sorry , you make everything about you. Kinda hard not to but….. Look, this sense of separateness is just a neat little organizing tool that gets a big head once things get rolling and forgets where it came from. If you have some sort of form, it is handy to know not to walk out in front of a bus, right? The stove is hot right? Okay, so don’t touch it! That’s what “you” is good for. But really, feel into it. You really think you are an individual? A some one in a bunch of someones?
Reviewer: Of course
Consciousness: I know, everybody does. It is this funny little hitch in the flow of things. Spontaneous manifestation has its drawbacks.
Reviewer: What does this have to do with your job?
Consciousness: Actually, I don’t have a job. Never did. Don’t want one. Nope.
Reviewer: What do you do?
Consciousness: Be
Reviewer: What about all of stuff you’re saying just showed up?
Consciousness: Just because “you” see boundaries, things that look separate with lines and distances and blah blah- you think there is a lot of different things going on. Well, you say ”to-may-to”, I say ”to-mah-to”. There might be discreet forms, but that doesn’t mean they are separate now, does it?
Reviewer: I don’t know.
Consciousness: As far as I’m concerned there are way too many seemingly separate things for there to really be any separate things. No way I could pull that off. Really- it’s all just condensed water vapor sloshing around in a big sea. A little choppy on the surface maybe so it feels like a bunch of action going on and you get excited by it all and put a lot of energy into counting all the waves. But eventually you get real tired of making differences, of counting waves, of treading water just to count waves. And when you finally sink below the surface you’ll see it’s one big sea. Nothing separate going on. Only sea. Sea only. You forgot about the waves. Boy, let me tell you, that’s a relief. Not a lot going on then really. But everything goes on. There’s more I can say but your eyes are looking a bit glazed over.
Reviewer: I think I need more time to digest this and come up with a recommendation for management.
Consciousness: Oh, you’ll have lotsa chances to figure it all out. Take my word for it. Hey! Hows about lunch? I’m hungry. You must be too, since I am you and you are me.
Reviewer: What…..what?
Consciousness: Sorry, couldn’t resist that one. ….. we’ll talk about that later…… maybe over dessert..
Thanks for taking some LIP from me,
Bruce
Elephants and Jeff Beck
What do elephants and Jeff Beck have in common?
Not a heckuva lot. Just the fact they are in the same sentence at this very moment and they are on the things to explore list in case you are searching for something to stir into your weekend recipe.
If you like elephants, “Modoc” is right up your alley. The cover photo is worth the price of the book itself. The true story reads like a movie, is charming in a simple way and is an easy read. Not the most sophisticated writing- you can tell that Ralph Helfer, who wrote the book is foremost an animal trainer and secondarily realizing a desire to be an author. Still for those of us who love and spend time with our non-human friends, it is a pleasurable book to read and pass along. So I guess if you wait long enough you’ll get a copy in the mail as I’ll be done with mine shortly.
Jeff Beck has a new album out- “Emotion and Commotion”. You wouldn’t think that Beck with a symphony orchestra playing “Over the Rainbow” and “Nessun Dorma” would mesh but man, does he pull it off. His guitar has that distinctive voice and he excels at coaxing everything out of it. The songs are mixed, as the title alludes to, so you have some seriously vigourous R and B to go with the silkier, floating offerings. Not a long album, but a darn good one.
And as long as I am sounding like I know things……whilst working on an incredibly repetitive task the other day, I was about to play Jeff Beck on the trusty Ipod but over shot and landed on John Coltrane’s ” A Love Supreme”. Hadn’t heard that album in quite a long time and it was an auditory delight to visit the church of John C. again. No other sax sounds likes his. McCoy Tyner’s piano work is equal to the task also. Just superb. Re-visit it if you have the chance. By the way, if you dont know about NPR’s “First Listen” and “Tiny Desk Concerts”, they are two great ongoing features on their web site that brings a variety of new music to your ears free of charge. Good music archive too.
Have a safe weekend.
thanks for taking some LIP from me,
Bruce
Transcendental Realism
No way I am going to sit here at my little keyboard and tackle the explanation of Transcendental Realism to the thousands (okay, we’re in the twenty to thirties now- go team! ) who eagerly await this LIP on a regular basis. Much better for you to take it all in via the web link and good stuff you will find at Da Plastique.
Let me simply say, everything vibrates. Absolutely everything is a cocktail of atoms and molecules, charges and reactions, orbits and magnetic dances done to the most subtle imperceptible degrees of manifestation.
Art is incredible. No verbal or written language necessary, please. Here is an image, drink it in, feel it. Perhaps it moves you, maybe it doesn’t. In a week the same image that didn’t affect you pops up in your consciousness and you suddenly “get” something about it.
Adi Da Samraj, prior to dropping the body in November of 2008, was creating monumental art. By that, I mean art that won’t you let shrink it down to something the mind contains. By its content and sheer size alone, you are brought into the room with it. It becomes the room and you participate in it like walking into a charged atmosphere. It participates with you. What is imparted to you from that encounter is all part of the wonder of the vibrational existence we are and the mystery of transmission.
Adi Da had very successful exhibits in Italy in 2007. One in particular was at the Venice Biennale. The beauty of this venue was the control the artist and curator were able to exercise in presenting the art so that the venue itself was part of the art. Not the same as installation art, but the opportunity that the creation of a space allowed you, for the time you were in it, to drop out of the sidewalk world you just entered from. Many people, when leaving the exhibit, had a similar comment….” I don’t know why, I just feel happy after viewing this art”. Art, in all its modalities does indeed transmit. It is intentionally made to represent vibratory nature.
There will be a show of new works of Adi Da Samraj in New York in September of this year. Alas, I don’t have the funds to make such a journey to the wilds of New York, but some of you might. If you can, I’d encourage it.
In the meantime, here is a photo of the announcement for the upcoming show. Absolutely click on the images and the info below to enlarge it for much better viewing.
If you care to explore further: www.daplastique.com or info@daplastique.com.
Thanks for taking some LIP from me,
Bruce
