Camouflaged

This new piece has been sitting around finished for a bit, but I didn't really know it...or would that be "I really was not ready to admit it"? In that sense it was right under my nose, camouflaged. It's a bit different than most of my other pieces in that it's not a running narrative type of image. Most of my work has a story to it (if they don't have one at the inception they certainly do by the time they are finished). This one doesn't...or at least it's not very obvious to me. This one is sort of an observation without comment if you will.

It's funny how I can look for something till I am totally discouraged and give up in exasperation only to notice that it's been right there in front of me all the time. (I'm very familiar with that one.) I think it's really the same with life and everything around me. It's all made of the same basic "stuff" and exists in the same "sea of ether", (the space that's between each and every bit of "Stuff" in existence), but somehow I manage quite efficiently to sort it all out and make sure that the limits of everything are carefully delineated in my mind. There are times when I stop to realize that there really are no limits to anything... my physical body, my life force, trees, animals, my keyboard, all overlap and spill into one another. It's just very convenient to look at everything as if it's all separate in some way. After all, if I can't have a determination as to where I stop and you begin...well, that might just change my whole outlook and way of acting! No wonder that my usual way of looking at things tends to get me into a lot of trouble, while simultaneously causing a great deal of trouble for those around me!

It is a tough nut to crack since I've all spent most of my life buying into the concept of individuality and separateness. At times and with a bit of effort, it is possible to see past the camouflage I've carefully constructed...if for no other reason than to occasionally scare the selfishness out of myself...and see the marvelous continuity and interplay that I am a part of and is in turn an integral part of myself.

So having finally admitted it done...I offer "A Carefully Camouflaged Whole". (An original painting by WB Eckert (Acrylic on canvas, 24"x 24" [...with a custom frame, not shown, that appropriately establishes it's limits]).

Delusions of Grandeur

I am quite often amazed (in retrospect of course) at how often I think that I've got it all figured out. One would think that observing how often I've come to this conclusion in my life that I'd have learned my lesson...but NO! I wonder why that is? I'm sure that part of it is situational amnesia...that once deluded that I've "figured it out" I am so relieved that there is an answer that I forget about the short duration or the spotty history of "the answer".

Umberto Eco's thought on the matter, "I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth." causes me the knee jerk reaction of nodding my head with the suspicion that he may be onto something there. In any case no matter, next month I may find the answer to it all...again.

For now, some visual meditation. "The Grand Delusion" Acrylic on two 8"x 8" cradled wood panels. This work is currently on exhibit but is available, so if you are interested, please feel free to view more information at http://WBEckertStudio.1000Markets.com or inquire at WBEckertStudio@gmail.com)

What's with the birds, man?

Ah, the birds. I like them...pick a meaning for them...beautiful, nervous, quick, elegant (and clumsy of you ever watch a pelican touch down)... wonderful shapes and colors. They set my mind to wandering when i see them...flying alone, in squadrons, in gangs diving into a rosemary thicket, tiny finches, turkey buzzards, regal and aloof hawks and boisterous and raucous scrub jays...a bird for every purpose and idea and emotion under the sun. Sometimes they are speeding shapes in the corner of my eye and sometimes huge flocks above the waves feasting on schools of "unfathoming" fishes. So, I'm doing birds in all kinds of situations...in whatever venue that seems fitting.

And here is "A Morning Flight" Acrylic on canvas, 15"x30". This painting is available, so if you are interested, please feel free to view more information at http://WBEckertStudio.1000markets.com or contact me at WBEckertStudio@gmail.com

Spicy

i like peppers, i like how they taste, i like how they make other things taste, i like how they look. i prefer the twisty ones the most. i've noticed that many stores seem to prefer peppers that look like storybook peppers...uniform and uniformly "pepper-like". i think that i prefer the "Mapplethorpepper"...suggestive and sensually twisted...visually spicy!

what i did with three of them one afternoon...
"3 peppers" original painting, acrylic on canvas 8"x10" study on stretched cotton canvas ($125)

Secret Places

funny thing about "art"...if it has any chance at all to be any good, it comes from, and in all reality is about, the secret places in the craftsman's heart and soul...the very private and personal element that is mostly unseen by anyone but the artist....then it is outed for anyone with eyes to see. probably not a good thing for the artist to muse on, but definitely a great thing for the enrichment of souls and hearts...

"casual enticement" and "heart of the secret place"

Jumping Off

well, after considering the virtues of asking the important questions before i take a shot, i have to equally consider the virtues of just jumping in...that doesn't say that the eye behind the lens shouldn't think...maybe it's more that i wonder how often after thinking some fine impulse over and over, to my later regret (or surprise) i realize i missed something special.

the included visuals are older shots revisited...areas cropped for visual and visceral interest and to the dogs with my nagging technical (nice word for it) conscience. i find that very often, the result is more satisfying than i had considered...so here's to "on the higher plane" and to "jumping off"

See Worthy

a couple of new ones...i had taken a batch of photos while wandering among the tide pools and the rock formations and this is my second round at some of them. many looked good to me after the first round, but lacked the bite that i felt i had experienced while taking the shots.

i did some experimenting with light as the focal element and actually am a lot happier with these two than originally...once again, i had to go back and remember what it was that excited me about the subject matter that day...the closer i can recall that and focus on that, the closer the finished pieces satisfy my emotional memory of that day.

"stand offish" and "untitled rocks" (so far).

STARK

"what was it about this scene that compelled me to take the shot?"

years ago, i read some advice from photographer Freeman Patterson about taking photos...the idea was that it is so easy to pick up a camera and point and shoot that we really need to ask ourselves what it is about the scene we are contemplating that is enticing us to make the shot...and then do all we can to capture that element.

i have tried to do that over the years with better success at times than others, but i find myself just as often asking myself the question afterwards...it certainly can be an intriguing exercise and at times illuminating....

"night in day" and "stark"