Work In Progress, Red Nude

WIP, Red Nude, Encaustic on panel and paper, 12" x 24" .
The picture could be better, and will, but a WIP, this'll do. Ive got lots of work left on her, will post when done!

Christmas and the Holidays

I love this time of year, I really do. My Pagan self loves the Christmas tree. I love the way the ornaments sparkle, and the way the lights glimmer in the dark. I remember when my kids where small, and they used to like to sleep out in the living room with the tree, and truthfully, if I hadn't been a grown up authority figure with an image to maintain, Mom the Almighty, then I'da been out there with them!
It's not hard to remember that the Christmas tree is originally a Pagan symbol of everlasting life, when I look at the sparkling lights of the tree.
I LOVE this time of year!
What do we, as people, think of this time of year, and the next question I have is this; why can't we have a spirit of giving every day?
Why can't we, as people, look at our fellow human beings, and see them as human, for more than just this one day, for more than just this season?

WIP The Next Chair

This is the WIP of the third chair, Conditional Love. I've fallen in love with anthraquinone red... SUCH a beautiful color, it's transparent and deep, with the same undertone as blood.
I haven't taken a photo of that yet, but here's a picture before the lovely new red. I'll post new pics of it with that red, soon.

As an Artist, What is my Job Description?

In my mind, and the minds of many artists before me, to Goya and back further, we artists have pointed out things in our world that are not right, things that are not just.
As an artist, I believe that it is my duty to point out the wrongs that I see around me. It is part of my ability to celebrate the good, but it is important that I note, record and expose to the world, the things that bad people would not have exposed to the light.
If we artists were to forget this, to just paint pretty art, are we really artists? Or are we decorative painters? Isn't art about the human condition, and the expression of that condition? It is to me; to me, there is no more sacred a duty than that rooting out of hidden evils.
Some of us do that with a video camera, some of us with a still camera. Some of us write about it, in books, blogs, and articles. And there are those of us who express these things with art, using paint, pen, sculpture, wax or a myriad of media to get the point across.