[Added Tuesday, September 16, 2008.]
I’ve been upgrading my paintings site, and I updated the painting notes, which you can read as a web page or as a printable PDF file.
Some of the originals are for sale, at prices newly marked-down as of today.
And you can buy prints or even notecards of my paintings at rudy.imagekind.com. The three newest pictures (but not “The Wanderer” yet) are on the site too.
“Sell it, Ed!” … to quote David Foster Wallace (from a 1980s story about some guys getting wasted while watching pitchman Ed McMahon on TV.)
[Added Monday, Sept 15, 2008:]
I’m working on yet another painting, called “The Wanderer,” which is loosely inspired by Jeroen Bosch’s “The Pedlar,” this is just today’s draft version above.
I got the background in an ab-ex fashion by simply painting shapes to match the shadows of leaves that happened to lie on my canvas, then fashioned it into the scene and added the Wanderer (me). I’m thinking I might put some creepy critters in those rocks (?) on the left, and maybe some cows in the field.
[Sept 12, 2008 entry follows:]
I’ve been painting a lot lately, and doing my best to stay relatively idle. Who knows, it may be awhile till I start another book.
This one is called “Alien Picnic,” and I started it en plein air on St. Joseph’s Hill in Los Gatos. I mentioned it before in the blog, but recently I finished it up, adding more colors and layers to the hillsides, and touching up those cute l’il eyeballs.
This is a picture of someone in a hospital and it’s called, uh, “Cerebral Hemorrhage.” It’s supposed to show how he feels. I like the 3D blob of blood and its shadow on the sheet, also the way the guy’s soul is flowing out through the soles of his feet…with the lobes of his brain piled up on the right like a compost heap, with a terrified, watchful eye on top, twinned with the eye of the soul in that starfish shape. Buy the notecard! Send a “Cerebral Hemorrhage” greeting today!
I’d rather be at the beach anytime.
The last few days I’ve been putting together issue #6 of my webzine Flurb , and should be able to serve it up to you next week, the line-up’s all set and I’m just waiting on a few author bios and so on.
I have one story by my friend Michael Blumlein, “The Big One,” a kind of magic fish story, rather than an orthodox SF story, and his magic fish got into my head to the point where I painted him just the other day.
A technical painting issue that interests me these days is getting transparency effects, that is, glazes and veils, when you’re using the somewhat dead and opaque medium of acrylic paint. I’ve been using Liquitex fluid gloss medium lately, though in past I’ve used Golden medium, and I’m thinking it might be interesting to try the gel medium.
I’ll let you know when the fresh platter of Flurb is ready to serve…
September 13th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Stay outta that hospital, Rudy! ;-D (I use the emoticon to make sure you understand that I’m just being cheeky, not a wise-ass. I realize the difference is very subtle, but it’s an important one)
Speaking of “Cerebral Hemorrhage,” a few years ago, Ram Dass had a stroke. Later, after he had recovered sufficiently, he referred to it as “being ‘Stroked’ by God”. I think I can do without that kind of strokin’ thankee kindly.
September 15th, 2008 at 5:48 am
mmmmm….magic flurb fish…..so. Tasty.
September 15th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Can’t wait for FLurb #6, amazing paintings love the “Cerebral Hemorrhage” painting. I’ve been getting intensely into souls lately. Writing a short-story now called +/- about the Semper Eadem Wars in the future. Where doppleghanger shadows in dimension 4 try to steal Sacred Ores, souls with Intense Energy Properties. Their intent is to fold their Dimension into ours and thusly elimanating our relaity. They kill the people with Sacred Ores in them, which are souls but more powerful. All victims die under mysterious circumstances. Soul-Hackers are the only hope to unraveling the mysteries of souls. Also each soul is connected to both Dimension by Invisible Membrane Strings like a Guide Line for energies. Sacred Ores possess the energy needed to unfold Dimension 4 onto Earth. Monks and insane people are also key players in combating the threat of the Shadows. People in deep Meditative states or out of their heads cross the Dimensional Threshold into the Dimension 4. Still working out a bunch of ideas to it and Rudy if I may ask can I incorporate themes from the painting and a mention of you into the story. I plan on submiting it to F & SF when I finish it?? Anyway take care and keep up the great work. And this will all tie into a Dystopian Cyberpunk Novel I’m also plotting right now called Echo Of A Scream. This world needs more creative people like you Rudy. I hope one day that the old suits in the ancient universities recognize the merits of you literary genius and have a couple of your books as mandatory reading for highschoolers like the Lord Of The Flies is right now. Well take care Rudy!!
JON
September 15th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Speaking of death, David Foster Wallace died the other day, a great writer, I’ll miss him, and I’m sorry I never got to meet him, he always seemed like a kindred spirit and I wish we could have been friends.
In hindsight, his story “Good Old Neon,” in his story anthology Oblivion, might be viewed as a warning flag that he was in danger. This collection made a big impression on me when I read it, see my old post about it. And it woudl be no exaggeration to say that Wallace’s long novel Infinite Jest changed my life.
Ed Champion has a nice collection of authors’ tributes to Wallace on his blog.
Adios, King.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Rocks? Hmmmmmm…Looks like the Wanderer has found his very own personal firewall…or perhaps some sort of freight train! Very dynamic and dramatic sort of whooshing going on there.
September 15th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Jon, if it was a dystopian cyberpunk novel I’d call it Lord of the Files. But then, I’m either a monk or an insane person(I forget which). Yes, Rudy as mandatory reading for high school kids sounds about right.
Rudy, I don’t have the patience for an infinite jest. Wouldn’t it have to be recursive in some way anyhow? And, ARGH, another worthwhile person does himself in! Here I am trying to live to be 1000 and people are throwing their lives away all around. It’s depressing. Sets a bad example.
The hospital painting is pretty choice, racked brain and all. I dread and fear hospitals with good reason. The fish is great and should be included with the Flurb. Tartar sauce on the side.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Your paintings are wonderful, I wish I could afford to buy a few.
btw. I saw this on the BBC about The art of mathematics
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7617191.stm
The 4th Dimension picture looked especially good.
September 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
….loss Rudy. I hate when your idols die. Anyway hope you feel better. Can’t wait to tear apart Flurb 6 read part of your Qlone story so far. Amazing stuff everytime. And please everyone out there don’t kill yourself, it aint worth it. Light will always arrive when you least expect it. Hold on to the darkness for awhile for it’ll disperse soon enough. have hope, there is someone outthere who loves you. Believe in it, try to hang on. Don’t give up, please. Life is wonderful. Warhol said there’s beauty in everything. See it and trust. LOve is all you need. PEACE, SHOLOM, AND EMPATHY!!
September 17th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Hey Steve, Echo Of A Scream is going to be a comic book story. Where the main character Darby Blanko, falls into an animation tank. A tank that stops a soul from reaching trancendence. After finding the truth about the mysterious death of Jessi the main protangonist that propells the story. Her soul merges with him and reconstructs his DNA. Resulting in super powers like lightining fast speed, he can look into a persons mind and read their souls, plus he can suck in energy around him and shoot out white heat electricity that he can control the angels of projectery. He’ll be called Neon. Suicide is awful too many artist were lost to such tragic events. Kurt Cobain, Jack Kerouac, Jesse Berstein, etc. Sucks, such a bull**** act. Anyway sounds like a great arthur. Hey rudy I picked up a book from 1959 with short stories by Philip K. Dick and Ray Bradbury. It has a funny lloking bursting rocket on the bottom and is mostly white. It’s a best new Sci-Fi collection. It has “Father Thing” by Dick which is amazing. TAKE CARE!!
JON