Patrick Gorman Pettis' Blog

36th Entry "The Shinigami Series of 2011"

2011-08-24T21:38:00.001-07:00

There is a strange sense of strength in feeling free, without the inhibitions of the physical - where the rules though they are still present can be skated on like leaves in the wind against gravity.

This was the leading thought behind the premier piece in the 2011 Shinigami Series "Shinigami Aki". But to understand the theory and concept behind the entire process one has to know what a Shinigami is.

The series came about after reading some Chinese and Japanese folklore. The stories were rich in a time where forces and spirits walked the Earth - timeless, wise and/or bored. These forces played a variety of tricks on humankind for what ever reason and administered tests of character testing one's cleverness, inner strength or worthiness of honor.

I used this spark of interest in tandem with a song by Origa which uses Russian, Latin and English vernacular in a haunting message that to some may seem common sense. However, it is so profound in its portrayal of near to 100 beats per second in some areas (you can hear and read the song in complete translation here CLICK THIS just use your browser back page to return you to the post when you are done).

The Shinigami are a curious lot, no one can really say for sure exactly where they come from and their history is shrouded in mystery being that there are several theories as to how they got the title "Shinigami" and what exactly they are. Some think of them the Asian version of Guardian Angels or a mix of Angel and Soul Reaper, while others view them as Gods of Death or dead spirits. Within the many stories Ive read in research and portrayal of these interesting creatures I have seen examples of all kinds of Shinigami and their interpretations. Some state that these creatures are based on the Shinto, Buddhist and Hindu mix of their deities of the after life. They combined in time with the European influence of the classic 'Soul Reaper' image during the Sengoku Era where all of these cultural elements were in contact and mixing.

The first time really that the term is recorded is in the Italian Opera titled "Crispino e la Comare" which in turn was based on a German fairy tale recorded by none other than the Brothers Grimm (Grimm Fairy Tales). To the best of recorded knowledge this was the first time that Japanese term was actually used.

The threads of consistency that run through each of these tales are what I based my own creative concept on. The Shinigami are 'strong souls' some of which who once were human and others still that represent forces of nature even plants and animals. They are eternal creatures whose wold is made of 'Reiki' or 'spirit energy'. Each of the Shinigami's powers and authorities are contingent with their divine assignment. Some serve as guardians and advisers while others are warriors and punishers.

The work "Aki" literally means "autumn" I thought this image appropriate as we view life as a spring and summer season in our minds and death as winter as in the "dead of winter" it is a seasonal symbolic trine I wanted to create in this initial piece. Autumnal existence symbolically is where the spirit of things escape their physical, they rest or save their young and leave for the return in the spring. As the first piece I wanted the viewer to in some way be part of the separation into this middle where the physical and spiritual though mixed are becoming more separately defined.

To capture true fall colors in their richness I chose for my raw material all those which carried with it the essence of fall. Cinnamon, Mustard, Jewel Weed and a favorite hue Cayenne Pepper.

The stain from Cayenne Pepper I make takes 48 to 72 hours mixing the dried spice carefully with vinegar and water just enough to saturate the whole mix but still keep the color rich and potent. Too much and it will make the stain runny and weak as second bag tea.

If it isn't done properly, and the saturation is not complete, micro dust in the powder will escape into the air with each stroke of the brush playing complete havoc with one's eyes and sinuses. But when done correctly the treatment is quite worth it. As depicted in the photo's to the left. The final color is a rich fall iron oxide red ox stain in coppery hues. The effect is simply brilliant and after painting several of the fall leaves in the piece went on to add it to the figure's hair and robe.

The image is a fall spirit. A female figure was used as the Earth spirit which is often synonymous with mother nature. She stirs a freshly barren forest with her wooden staff winding fall leaves in the movement to dance. Set in symbolic twilight blue as fall is the proverbial sunset and twilight of the year. The piece captures movement in swirling dynamic air energy. I love the quirk in illustration styles of the 1960's - 1970's. The men and women who did classic comix like "Conan" and "the Warlord" were brilliant innovative artists. They used intense imagery and the physical dynamic in defining a movement that became inspiration for many of today's artists. Though I still wanted the piece to be a finger print of my own creativity this is kind of an homage to them. Still you can see the influence in the direction in which the piece went. The assembly as it is with the element of human, animal and plant in a specific season of time is intended for the viewer to attach a symbolic personal value to the painting as a whole.

Adding to the fall spirit is a pheasant in flight. They are actually very dedicated birds having up to three mates at the same time to which it he serves as a loyal protector. Those who possess a pheasant as a totem use it for the wisdom to know when and when not to express their powers of attraction. Spiritually, it is a symbol of intense love and deep attraction. It provides in nature the ability for its bearers to tap into a personal power to be more productive and creative while utilising their own personal passions to motivate.

"Shinigami Aki" 20 inches by 16 inches on 100% cotton ph balanced canvas mounted on tea soaked pine painted with mixed natural medium. Click the image for further details, click the "price" there for pricing and availability.

Thank you all for taking the time to read and for the love. I hope you enjoy it.

Feel free to ask questions in reference to the other eight pieces in this series and stay tuned. More entries on this series soon. You don't need to be an art ninja to know what you like, you don't need a doctorate in art to see if something is beautiful.

2011-07-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

35th Entry - "The String Quartet Series of 2011"

2011-06-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

This series was directly inspired by the work of Philadelphia based Composer Jeffery Cotton and his body of work. His artistry is a combination of surprise and harmony which is ultimately quite literally haunting. It leaves a deep and unforgettable impression that lingers - an impression that one memorizes in its intrinsic folds - like a person can recall the smell of coconut from memory or the taste of a very tart lemon but a layered small eternity more intense, what better a source of inspiration to an impressionist painter. You can see him and sample listen to some of his work here http://www.jefferycotton.net/info.asp?pb=26&pg=1

The more I worked on the pieces the scope of the project changed. I chose to create a string quartet series for a few reasons - a person can be uncomplicated and still be complex. Though I don't believe I am one of those people (yet) I still know they exist, that said I believe we are all equally made up of four basic parts - the mind, the body, the soul and the being as a whole (the sum of its parts which form a piece indicative of its own nature separate from yet intimately if sometimes unconsciously attached to each of its composition).

In a string quartet there are traditionally four instruments and a quartet piece is played in four movements so that symbolically twice applied brought a depth to the artwork. Also, each of the instruments used in a traditional string quartet were created in the 16th century which of course is four times four - the end result is four or four references to the value in kinds of 'four' in the each piece within the series - anyway I digress, it seemed to fit perfectly. Using this as a foundation to the inspiration of Composer Jeffery Cotton's music I was able to carry the influence throughout four individual pieces.

I have an affinity for string instruments. They are a symbol of fire signs astrologically and being a fire sign I'm naturally drawn to their sound. Anyway, for this set of work I wanted to break into something different that was unique to the series, as the composer's work is unique. I knew that Jeff Cotton uses geometrical shapes which manifest in his compositions lyrically and I wanted it different and special while still being identifiably mine. In short, I had been experimenting with artwork similar to that found in graphic novels so adding that as a spin I began to create.

"The First Violin"
(you can click the image for dimensions, details and availability)

The Violin as it was developed in the 16th century were hand made from cruder string instruments. During that time period they were regarded as the instrument for lower classes, being used mostly in folk and family gatherings. It would be about a century later that more composers would use them in their work. Within the melodic creature called the string quartet it is traditionally the lead, it sets the tone of the piece playing the melody. As performed by the Cypress String Quartet in Jefferey Cotton's String Quartet #1:Overture, he is easy to see (click to hear a snip) http://bit.ly/mg7fmp a leader, his notes a statement the movement deliberate and focused though intense near to wildly passionate.

The color red mentally tells people on a subconscious level to pay attention or note detail. On that same level it draws a halting attention in a capacity that draws them to see what is next. The color was chosen for this reason. This hue of red was acquired through the use of raspberry extract combined with rose essence and cinnamon (with a few other things) in an oil resin. Once the cotton canvas was treated to take the color it went on in two layer resulting in a thickness of tint and hues. Striations within the canvas were managed by the use of feather tips from one of the many robins that live in the area. The opening movement is traditionally swift and energetic which reminded me of these birds and I wanted to somehow incorporate that in this piece.

Using the feather tips to carry each line into its geometrical shape allowed me to do that, the technique is very easy and there are several resources on the Internet which can teach you. The trick is not to saturate the feather and simply use the very outside lip of the tips. Going beyond that or allowing the feather to soak up too much of the coloring tincture will create blobs and smudges. If this begins to happen simply use a fresh feather. In an area like the northeastern part of New York I am in there are several just lying around outdoors but they are also for sale at most dollar stores.

The applications of geometrical shapes in the background are deliberate - a literal to the composer Cotton's own inspirations. Also being a symbol for the mind I needed to add the element of logice - if this then that, as an undertone to make the piece more well rounded. This ended up being my personal favorite from the series. As for the shapes, they too are layered like each instrument's place within a harmony but together they form 16 types of hidden images that I will not iterate. I hide images in each of my pieces as a way to reward those who are willing to look at them. This is consistent throughout the entire series.

"The Second Violin"
(click for painting details, dimensions and availability)

The second procession of music within each quartet is traditionally a bit slower. In lieu with the color symbols I used this concept in the piece. Green is the "what's next" a symbol of 'go'. It inspires activity and motion on a subconscious level to the viewer. The background is loose and free floating though also with its own hidden images that extend into the face of the piece. She is a violin as well, once a lower class instrument placed by wit and creativity into finer more intimate settings, refined composed but still as intense.

The second violin in a musical quartet serves as an accompaniment to the first violin, sharing in the melody, yes, but adding fine detail creating depth through harmonies and soft complexities woven into the movements of that musical dance. I did not intend for her to be a woman but the piece painted itself - as sometimes they do (creative types will be able to identify with this), and so here she is. Clever and complimentary, both in the back and foreground just a touch mysterious. Intuitive to the movement of the first violin and iterating each expression with deeper meaning. Like the body will most times do what the mind suggests and at others wont listen at all lol. I believe as a mate she went well as the body symbol.

"The Cello"
(you can click this image to see details on the piece, its dimensions and availability)

The Cello, also developed in the 16th century came about in Italy as an attempt to reach the lower notes that a violin could not do. Its intent within the quartet is to support the other instruments and allow them to shine while he himself is the phonetic foundation (not to be confused with the melody).

I wanted to use the color blue, which inspires imagination and creativity within the subconscious. Staying with the idea, like a tired parent supporting their playing children, that the Cello supports the lot. The soul is enduring, it can be weary but stong at the same time. I used a slightly resting position to the head, not bowing because that would be inattentive, but lax and eyes that wear low on the brow but still show an acute awareness. I suppressed the background latticework by using pastel and talcum which was hydrated with olive oil, this made it malleable providing a lulling effect in texture and hues. I wanted to depict a quiet strength, which would insinuate a longer limb and taller stature to add to the overall impression. Keeping in tune with the rest of the series this piece also has its own set of hidden images buried in lines and tints that span the painting.

"The Viola"
(you can click the image to see details on the painting including pricing, dimensions and availability)

The fourth and last procession of the quartet's performance is classically the climax. The image on the canvas has turned direction and is closer to the frame as if almost to exit the stage save a glance over at the participant, its viewer It incorporates all three colors within it's works - red, green and blue and in being of its own nature has one of it's own. It is the expression of all three combined to create a complete and separate being.

Here the architecture as seen in the others has moved into the background and wider, broader strokes of pitch and charcoal for looser associations of braided squares, triangles, circles and helices. The viola meets a range between that of the violin and the cello, it is the missing piece and the joining part. Sometimes it will use melodic counter points to the first violin creating deeper tones and a richer experience. All four instruments allow the listener to experience a richer melody and any one could accomplish alone. Though without each part the composition would not be whole. The number four appears in this piece several times to kind of allow for a visual disclosure to what else might be there.

Well, there it is. I really appreciate your reading and am grateful for your interest so thank you to all of my loyal darlings. I honestly do hope you like them because I had so much fun creating them to be enjoyed. I am equally as grateful for the brilliant talent of Composer Jefferey Cotton and his amazing body of work which provided the inspiration of this labor of love. I find it amazing how creativity, in any medium or 'language' if you will, seems to connect in ways across the senses. I person can almost hear the color blue in a musical composition or smell the color red in a perfectly cooked fine meal. It never ceases to amaze me and that's why I love my life of art.

More later,

pgp

34th Entry - "Anagram" 2011

2011-04-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

Often I am asked as an artist, what inspires me - the truth is most anything can inspire me, where I am fixated is the concept behind the desire to create the piece - I will see something in everyday life that simply stands out, yes, but it isn't always an object its more a theory or societal norm or attitude almost and once it gets my attention it is all I can see until the piece is done. At that level of contemplation the piece will usually take care of itself, it just "makes sense" and it's painted.

For example, I have often noticed that no matter what roles we play in life, son/daughter to mother/father or boss or child or friend or enemy we are still completely us - no matter what section we portray to fulfill that role we are complete within ourselves and carry each role like a living filing cabinet of lives tapping into each file when needed (or sometimes not needed), when appropriate (or not always appropriate at all). We are who we are, better at some roles than others but variations upon the same theme with an underlying constant like saying "tap" or "pat" the letters are the same just in different placement.

I then thought that people will sometimes choose a role over who they are entirely - a person will choose to be a mother/father even with their spouse or a child around their friends. They surrender to the role rather than remind themselves that they are in fact so much greater. It usually doesn't work well or for long or at all. Its like a single tooth trying to eat an entire meal, it cant you need the whole head (should you not use your mind and attempt to eat something totally inedible).

Sometimes a person needs to be reminded they are greater then their parts, I know that as a son, a brother, a boss, a nephew and grand kid and all of the other things (some four lettered) that I can be I needed to be reminded of that. The idea then became that I wanted to figure out a way to do this on canvas. A small reminder in symbolic value a non conventional un-obtrusive way to make that statement. I loved the details of these simple everyday type items in the photograph above. The lines of the empty bottle, the detail of the lattice and braiding in the incense burner, the shape and colors of the leaves on the paper napkin. See - so the painting was inspired really by a concept, a thought that left it's "impression" on me, these objects as photographed above are secondary really.

I love hyacinth, the flowers are so abundant and they come back every year. They smell great too so when I am painting with them the whole place just fills with it. If a person takes a few blooms from each plant they can have more than enough and it wont kill the plant. In fact it will inspire the hibiscus to create even more flowers to make up for the ones its lost just to be sure it gets pollinated - which in turn means a stronger perfume from each plant.

Once the flowers are clean with a warm salt and water mix the canvas is then treated with a similar "tea" and some ground alumn then they are pressed one by one onto the desired area. Oxygen will darken the stain the longer it is exposed to air and a variety of other mixtures and plants can be used to alter the over all color, tint and effect. This piece has coffee, lemon and cinnamon in it to name a few others.

It isnt a quick and easy process, it takes time, with some percentage of trial and error. Once air hits the stain the oxidation process is literally ON and you cant un-do it. A specific application of a lacquer or counter agent will stop the process and seal the color as is. Thats how the paintings stay vibrant and fresh looking. Some protective sprays can be purchased with UV blocker (which I recommend) that prevents bleaching from exposure to the sun.

So with the concept in mind I decided to create a piece from two canvases that when joined together in one of four ways will make a different painting. The same images just in a different expressed portrayal. The title of the piece seemed appropriate.

"Anagram" by Patrick Gorman Pettis
17" x 17" on mounted cotton canvas
in natural mixed medium

Viewpoint One

In all of my paintings I place hidden images, I think of it as a "thanks for looking" to the people who actually take the time to see the work. There are near to one hundred faces in this piece some more obvious than others, four dragon flies, the word "love" and other things. I wont give away where they are but a hint is always fun. Here in Viewpoint One you can see a sitting angelic figure looking out onto a sea of lives opening in it's foreground.

"Anagram" Viewpoint Two

In center placement there is a Valkyrien face complete with winged helmet, and a mountain of lives in the back ground.

"Anagram" Viewpoint Three

In viewpoint three a pillar of braided souls takes center placement to two angel pylons which frame the work.

In a close up of viewpoint three you can see some of the detail. Natural coal was used to create shading. As mentioned earlier there are about one hundred faces in this painting, some obvious and others hidden.

"Anagram" Viewpoint Four

There are two angels with their back to the viewer with reaching out arms and wings hail a myriad of souls in front of them. I love the versatility of the piece and the way it turned out. I think its a great conversation starter.

Thank you all so much for reading this entry and for looking, I hope you enjoyed it.

More Later :)

To get a price listing on this
or if you would like to see additional works
simply click here

33rd entry - Castrato Series "CASTRATO SETTE"

2010-05-06T20:46:00.000-07:00

There comes a time when a person has to reach beyond themselves, this is not an epic moment, sometimes its as small as getting the milk behind the cream in the fridge - its the choice to do so, to try, to make the effort and do something to make your smallest wishes come true that makes the start, and that makes the difference - not the act, the mind, attitude and spirit behind it each time we blink, every time we open our eyes or listen with our ears

it is beyond our senses and intentions, it is how we feel
and what we do about it.

Would it be beautiful for us or ugly? It is a choice and an attitude toward the action.

And yes I know that sounds so complex, but really its simple and its easy to find where your true heart lies and where it tells the truth

there is a small exercise that anyone can do and it takes three minutes

step one) read this sentance

step two) close your eyes and count to ten forwards then backwards

step three) focus on the last number in your mind and open your eyes

look at yourself, how are you sitting, how are you feeling, how are you breathing

what is your frame

of mind

and where was your soul from 2 to 10 and back again?

what ails you and what are you grateful for? who can you help today? what have you done for yourself lately?

you see we detach from ourselves so easilly, and its so hard to learn something when you are simply "not there" - life has a way of conseuring us into a drone like syndrome where we simply fulfill our roles and do whats expected and that means we might be doing a good job or a bad job and its inter-related and definative and congested until some way or another it pops and we smoke cigarettes or use drugs or drink or fuck or become addicted to money or success or worse, other people

its not us but what we stick to ourselves

like bad chewing gum or a washing machine with an uneven load that needs sevety five more cents

its a half-measure

it doesnt do its job but its not broken

we've simply mis used it

we do the same thing to ourselves

we mis use us

misused

and although there is no cure there is a solution

it begins where the question began

with us

again folks this is simple, just read

In most of the culture of the Castrati (it would be the equivilent of the houses of vogue in the 20th century) there was an infamy a level of delinquincy which brought the voices of angels to a studdering halt. The question of the Diocyces was why cannot they simply be voices, well honey we are not machines we are more complex - if you want a plant, pot it - however mess with a man's horemones and you have hell on your hands.

Fact: in all of nature we are female based, men are rare - there are approximately one male baby born for every eight female babies born and in eight of those females are infertile and one in six men are gay or "homosexual" and this is not limited to our species, it happens in squirrels, dolphins, swans, ivy, lions, and just about every friggin thing thats on our planet that has a split sex differentum, the males of our species specifically are geared to procreate as much as possible and as quickly as probable, unfortunately having a male baby means twice as much work as a female because females have something called "intuition" that unless they're gay men are completely void of . . . i digress

CHAPTER VII: Venice 1819 " . . . . . . . where are you cortisan? I cannot find you, you seem like a woman but you are simply too large, too grand and I am afraid"

32nd Entry - The Castrato Series

2010-04-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in each person's life when they wish they could simply reach out and touch god, but they cannot - as children we look to the sky and at the ground and wonder why. When presented to the solution "because" we are each challenged with the definition of our ownand at times that can become quite frustrating.

There are moments in our lives wherever we are when we look into the mirror and can barely recognise ourselves, and these are not monumental moments they go on and on within us in their own proclivity droning about like the hum of a cell phone set on vibrate. It is simply a need, to sing, to paint, to draw or caption or write or dance.

Alexander Scott once saw prints of my paintings and stated " Stop this train I want to go home tonight" and in the background to the left you can almost see a train. I digress - what is the real reason why we exist - this is the question

The answer is "because"

On Page 129 of Anne Rice's Book. "A Cry to Heaven" there is a single caption

"I do not know what saves me, I am a stranger to god and all of her incumbants - I am nature and a fierce voice to be recogned with"

31st Entry - The Castrato Series

2010-04-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

"Castrato Cinque"

There comes a time in each person's life when they look at the people they know and wonder what if.

These are not epic moments, sometimes they last only a fraction of a second, the woman we know at the drug store, the child we know will become an adult, the parent we've only known as a child and not as a person - these moments are valid, they're human, and they happen all of the time within us.

"Castrato Cinque" was inspired by the ninth Chapter to Anne Rice's Book "A Cry to Heaven" - the lead character is simply looking into a mirror at his own reflection - however the moment he has is one of those what if moments - a heartbeat long, and he for a spit second wonders exactly how far he has gotten away from himself

what has he become

who is he when he is alone

and

does he exist outside of simply playing a role at all.

The painting is done on wool backed with a sulfur and aluminium mix combined with salt water,

dandelions were used to make a simple stain called "pressing" to form a background - when combined with honey and oxygen they turn blue or even black

If you look closely at the eye - the main focus dilutes into a church in the background - a reflection upon a reflection, there are five dragonflies in the piece and twenty seven faces.

There is a message here - can you find it?

more later

31st Entry - The Castrato Series "Castrato Quattro"

2010-04-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in each person's life when they are faced with an equivicalble challenge where they must either face themselves and grow or fuck themselves over and simply survive - these arent always epic or monumental moments, sometimes they happen at the ass end of a grocery line, but they are so very important to each of us personally and impact us as equally.

The question most people most of the time ask during these moments is "really?" and the answer most of the time is "yes, really". Although this seems a redundant dance between situation and participant the result is near to magical because it is a choice and in our choices lay our character in the play called life - where we can either play out to the fullest or break our own traditions and create consistance and find opportunity.

The concept between "Castrato Quattro" and this scenario situationalism is really quite similar - Imagine a time where the idea of you was more important the real you, imagine if your role was actually more valuable than you as a person.

It happens every day, thats why its so easy to forget ourselves. As in this painting - the Castrati performs to an empty opera house in full dress. There are no applauses, no clapping hands, not a note of music from the orchestra yet he sings in perfect pitch, a perfect performance in private to chairs and windows, wood and stone. He sings for himself and has succeeded in convincing the world that he is what he is not. Flawless illusion

not simply a she

an etherial she

of terrifying and epic

proportion.

Near to Chapter XII - There is a caption of Anne Rice's book where the main character goes into being dressed and she (the premier dresser of Italy's Opera Houses) is more than willing to do so because she is being paid by our centurty's equivilence "by the hour" and the woman works her masterful handiship and stands back then flee's - something dark something wicked too perfect as though I must either repent my sins or die from them, and you are neither man or woman

"An Angel"

The companionship between the etherial and the human has been going on for centuries and is most of the time fueled by emotion. In this particular piece there are three words written in three different laguages that make one word. Can you find them - I will be taking answers from the 24th of April to the 15th of May - the winner gets a special prize lol

In the meantime enjoy the musings of my favorite aucoustical italian artist Marcus Areillius Ruggiero http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7V5CSNK0GI

more later

30th Entry - The Second Series for 2010, CASTRATO

2010-04-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

Introducing the 2nd Series for 2010 "Castrato"

As inspired by the Anne Rice novel "A Cry to Heaven" which is a tale about the Castrati in Venice Italy during a time where the Catholic faith was deeply vested in politics, wealth and beauty - these men some from more than humble beginnings, in exchange for some security traded the essence of their manhood for the voices of Angels.

What impressed me is the time period and language in which Mrs. Rice used to tell the dramatic tale about such a Castrato. Without giving away any of the plot or further iteration on her characters I will say it's a must read if you haven't done so you can acquire it in paperback for under ten dollars in some places, its highly addicting.

Once considered a fascinating oddity reveared and feared for their strange appearences, these men comprised a group held tightly by their own subculture - almost bohemian. Unfortunately the only known recording is from 1902 - the last Castrato Alessandro Moreshi, he was born in 1858 and is the only Castrato to ever make a sound recording. You can hear him here www.youtube.com/watch?v=slhhg8sI6Ds&NR=1, just click back to the blog when you're finished.

The series is scheduled to be released on the 5th of May 2010 and will be available to purchase in both the original and limited prints at that time, the location of the release is pending. Above in order are "Castrato Uno", "Castrato Due" and "Castrato Tre" there will be eight in the series released to the public with an additional two created strictly for private viewing making the series ten pieces total. Each Piece is created using a combination of acrylic resin and natural paints and stains made from things like chocolate, coffee, and cinnamon. As with most of my work there are several hidden images in each, I wont give those away but will hope you enjoy finding them.

More of the series as well as sources of my inspiration and photographs of me creating it will appear here once a week until the series is completed. Please stop by from time to time and check the updates.

In the meantime I will guest at the "3rd Friday Arts Night of Schenectady" in Downtown Schenectady NY, three pieces of mine from previous series will be shown and available for purchase at the new gallery and studio of glass master and artist Carolyn Markytan on 135 Jay Street - the event will run on Friday the 16th of this month until 9:30pm so feel free to stop by.

Thank you again for reading, and all of your words of support.

More Later

29th Post - 1st Series Reveal For 2010 "Waiting"

2010-03-16T22:57:00.000-07:00

"FADE" 18 inches by 12 inches

#2 of 7 in the 2010 "Waiting" Series by Patrick Gorman Pettis

* a teenaged boy exchanging video games for store credit at the mall

Its difficult to be consistent in a world that is constantly changing,

though I have to state it isn't the "world" so much as the daily on goings of our own human society which requires our adaptability to be pushed so far to the extreme.

There's always something else, and the challenge then - even if subconscious, is to find comfort within uncertainty.

Gleefully those days of "Live, work hard and die later" are interrupted by the latest buzz and sales pitches coming from pop culture divas and latest technologies. Not that I mind, mind you, but it is just all entertainment on the road toward the inevitable and the inevitable has a three letter word "PAY". That concept, the concept of "pay" is elemental, which to me means it is beyond being human and much less complicated and far more basic - the law of equivalent exchange states that in order to gain something another thing of equal value must be spent.

We, as a species per empirical trends of history, have a tendency to "spend" rather brainlessly. The omni-present and over-all result culturally is then an overburden on the individual who then will tend to simply demand more from themselves and work harder but never really being happy or the best, maybe look for the best buy or or price or best way to either get things done or get better things in a cheaper way. All the while burdening and completely incorporating a disease of "more" and "better" as a syndrome rather than a condition. Its just an exhausting lie, the truth is there is no "I'll be happy when . . ." or "I'll be happy if . . ." and people have a tendency to distract themselves from themselves sometimes at all costs. The solution is within ones own perpetuity and the connections we have to the world around us and within us. So at the cost or our own true definition and how well we know ourselves and each other, what exactly are we paying for and what is it's worth?

The 2010 series "Waiting" was created because I understand that we expect that others are too busy to pay attention or perhaps we are too busy in our own heads to pay attention to others. During our public moments, especially when we are forced to wait - we often let our minds wander or we get wrapped up in our frustration. Our faces will give our thoughts away and often unknown by our own selves those expressions give a much deeper meaning to anyone within eye shot.

Each of these pieces are based on people who in one way or another were simply waiting - either in a line or alone, in various situations. Unsolicited photographs were taken of each person using my personal cell phone then - with permission of that person ;) a modern impressionist style piece was created. I used a high gloss paper made in the 1960's that isn't even reproduced anymore to finalize each concept. Every individual image has its own "world" that I hope you can appreciate given the story of each moment that image was motivated toward inception.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy the artwork. Feel free to comment as you wish, please allow 48 to 72 hours for response to any general correspondence. To order any of these pieces or view some of my other artwork simply visit my online gallery as listed above.

28th Post, A few New Works for 2009

2009-09-07T21:46:00.000-07:00

"Hirnlael"

part of the 2009 Angelic Series

"Pendulum"

part of the 2009 Human Condition Series

"Sideward Glance"

part of the 2009 Angelic Series

Well after taking a brief sabbatical from blogging I'm back. I've been really rather busy wrapping up projects and boucing around the state but I am still here :)

Life is being good to me as of late and I'm surfing these waves with much zeal and child like enthusiasm. I believe at this stage in my development that almost everything I do has to do with a healthy attitude. I think above all things it is a person's attitude that either makes or breaks them - - that perpetuates any and every blessing or disaster they experience.

Saying that I have the greatest of hopes for a warm fall and a new series full of varied focus matter and inspirations.

Quick thanks for all my loyal fans and readers. I will be back to detail more of the work at a later time.

27th Entry, November 29th 2008, Angelic Series part 9

2008-11-29T16:34:00.000-08:00

Remahlkraeil - the littlest Angel and Giver of the Red Autumn Leaf
14x11 inches on cotton canvas
as commissioned by Mr. James Beck
valued at 890 Euros, 1,074 US Dollars
receipt number 1994756320

Everyone has an Angel

Here is the story behind Remahlkraeil

Once Upon a time when all the world was covered with the most beautiful of creations, Angels became separated.

You see, there was a momentum of creation then and so it was, as it was known by all that could be known so as a gift and guide there were special ones, like seeds scattered amounst the Earth, the Sea and Blue Green Jewel - and to each of them - from those that were left - were assigned an Angel to keep up the Garden of Humankind.

One for the right shoulder, and another for the left. Of all of the Angels there 14 that stated their gifts were at the mercy of all of creation, there are 9 left today still here with us.

The most powerful of which are Obian (brown), Cerah (yellow), Remahlkreil (red and gold), Taurmaline (blue and violet) and Pheonas (silver and pink).

The littlest Angels

We have come so far and know so little as a species. However although I am a simple and often silly tool in the hands of these elements I trust, I take comfort in knowing I am not alone.

The unremembered Ms Dottie Rambo was quoted as saying, "The Greatest gift that I have ever come across is the ability to sing, it's as though I'm not the one even singing. I just get so full up it has to come out somewhere. . . ."

one hell of a lady in all her awkward glory, just simple and good and wouldn't hurt a fly

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmEQWFeH5Xs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HLIH0uTcVY&feature=related

as a simple aside I offer my readers this story

In a Q&A during one of my lectures I was asked by a young music artist, a rather seemingly angry young man, "Why do we [humans] exist?". My agent was at the microphone at the time however I couldn't resist to answer the boy so I promptly stood up from my chair, walked to the microphone, and asked him his name.

I answered him in the following statement, "We as a species exist because we are the ones who are charged to take care of it all, organise it all or destroy it all - the same power that makes villains can make heroes, the choice is individual. The key is to remember that there is a power within each of us that makes us all unique and it is the ability to create in our own ways that makes us special. There is a garden within us, above, and beyond us and it is not exclisive - it lies within each of us." - ver batum folks, and I have it on video too lol

He promptly shut up and sat down. His name is Eric and I still speak to him this very day from time to time. He's actually quite successful and still quite angry lol.

Life is really quite precious and also both quite complex and fragile.

Most people don't understand that.

Underneath the initial painting there are seven hidden images including a sacred script in Enochian translate. The Artess, and custom card maker Ms. Lisa Wray was kind enough to contribute her quote for this specific piece - she states in Reference to this Angel "To love and Be Loved, Is the Greatest Joy on Earth". You can find her artwork here: http://www.lisawray.com/ - she is one of the best card makers and a personal favourite on the face of the Earth, if I were to choose two words for this woman it would be custom and kind.

The print was transcribed into Enochian (aka Angelic Script and sandstone was used to create some few striations in the piece - when mixed with white wine vineager and grape it produces an acetate that settles into a gloss, depending on how much lye is in the stone). If one can see it in person they can also see the text.

Anyway, it was inspirational, as was this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D__p-de-GfE&feature=related

More later ;)

pgp

"keep a secret but tell the world"

26th Entry, November 27th 2008, Angelic Series part 8

2008-11-28T15:51:00.000-08:00

From time to time, even when we don't really know it, we all call on Angels.

It is simply a basic force of creation to assure us that everything is simply ok.

We humans being human can get so very busy we sometimes end up the last ones on our "to do" list. And sometimes we end up so far down that list we get lost. In my single experience, and in my simple understanding, it isn't really fair of me to treat something so special so poorly. However, I also understand that everything happens for a reason and that the reason exists before that specific "thing" did to fulfill it, me included lol. Admittedly I am not always at the top of my own to do list, but that's why I have a special reminder by the name of Annael, I digress.

Anyway, it happens in nature all the time.

Once the apple peel oxides it creates a simple wax at it's skin which when heated turns into an oil that is really quite popular in candles and is extremely fragrant. Added to willow and lemon at a high evaporation rate it can separate pigment from cotton and create texture on just about any basic platform except papyrus, birch, tique or bamboo. The end result are pencil hair thin and fine striations (as depicted in the 2nd photograph).

I used Papal colours in this specific piece (Crimson, Violet, and Gold) because of the royal content. In my understanding, as best explained to my fans, and readers; The tertiary and smallest Angels have the backing of two other tiers of Angels behind them because they , in fact, are fragile - the most precious amounst the holy. So those above them protect them most zealously, they are the rarest and in my soul's knowledge I know that there are fewer and fewer left on our right shoulder's. SO at this point in time they are highly protected by the "bigger ones".

Think of it as an imp with more than three-thousand big brothers/sisters, a billion countless cousins and a really REALLY big dad/mom. I wouldn't harm that dart simply out of respect for it's affiliations let alone from some plain old basic fear and common sense lol. In fact, I listen to mine rather frequently simply out of respect, humility (that after all of my stupid stubbornness it still sticks around) and earnestness.

Anyway, once dried it was placed into a bed of Autumn leaves and I used a tincture of henna, honey with cinnamon and garlic to outline what would be the image in my mind. However the power behind each of those elements visually led the viewer to a rather strong and "pissed off" experience (as depicted in the next three photographs, note the facial expression). It depicted an incomplete, though partially correct essence of this specific Angel.

At this 22nd hour it was clear to me that more work needed to be done for this specific piece, and that it also needed to be coaxed rather than demanded onto canvas. A kinder and gentler method was required for such a delicate source.

However that's a private process.

More later

;)

25th Entry, November 26th 2008, Angelic Series part 5

2008-11-26T22:48:00.000-08:00

" All that we spirits desire, we spirits attain and so

if it were an eye for an eye the whole world would be blind,

know then too that a work of art is a step from what is "so obvious" and well known by the wise

toward what is Arcane and concealed.

Forget not that the very Earth delights in the feel your of bare feet, as does the wind love to play with your hair.

For it is known also by the wise

that Love knows not it's own depth until those hours of separation. And a little knowledge that produces even the smallest of action is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle"

- Kahill Gibran

This Thanksgiving I challenge each of you to stand up at your tables and be grateful because none of us deserve anything and we have everything and at least more than someone else, I dare you to feel grateful and to announce and express gratuity in your own ways

even if it just means looking the next person in the eye and saying, "Thank You".

Now lets get to the art

A simple tincture consisting of coffee, green tea and pepper flakes was used to treat the cotton canvas. The wood is a sanded and dried pine (which swells and is greatly receptive to any kind of moisture once it's protective layer of bark is removed).

Sea salt (thick grain) was quickly rubbed onto the frame to preserve the exact stretching of the canvas as you can see in the 2nd photo. Brass locks are used to hold and secure the shape of the frame into a perfect 14 inch by 11 inch shape - otherwise it would become oblong, a trapezoid or parallelogram.

Once completed and perfectly dried I applied apple peel, cotton and milkweed to make sure that the frame would stay pristine.

"Remahlkraeil - the littlest Angel, the red autumn leaf"

The power of the smallest action can produce a ripple that can actually move mountains. A simple vibration at the right time at the right frequency has been known to break glaciers in two. One calorie of heat can charge a battery for almost one 4ths of a second if done a certain way.

As a species we really have lost more than we know from one another than we have attained anything from each other - so who are we to say that something as ancient as even the littlest of Angels, of the likes we hardly even see anymore, isn't more powerful and comprehensive than even the mightiest of humans? That's rhetorical folks.

Poetess Abbiola Ossipov writes, in reference to (or inspired by) little Remahlkraeil, "Embrace Life with no Restriction. Be true to you always, that is what really matters most . . . the you as you should be and nothing less".

However it's so easy to forget something so small as ourselves sometimes, when society and things like debt and such are so big.

Well Angel's don't think that way and honestly neither do I, and I'm not alone. Just like a little long gone Gospel Muse by the name of Dottie.

Anyway, I'll tell you more about her later, in the meantime here's a song for you wonderful readers I am so grateful for. I've used it as part of my inspiration for the piece: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaX0IcT_2sw

Happy Turkey day all -

be it with family of birth

or family of choice

we all have a reason to be

thankful

;)

24th Entry, September 20th 2008, Angelic Series part 4

2008-09-19T00:04:00.001-07:00

" . . . . with eyes closed I could understand something

that perhaps it is not me but the things that need me that provides me with the power to move and go,

and I understood then that, basically, if it (anything really) was to be it was up to me and that I needed to not do it alone but to draw all of the strength of all of those connections

and become an adult

and simply knowing that was enough, so after some silly fit and medium term discomfort quietly I went and now I am here and it is really quite beautiful where I am today, this moment and right now.

I thank the best and beyond of me for that each day, I am grateful but know myself well enough now and after all of this "growing up" to state that I am still not done yet. There's always plenty to do, but even more than that I find myself interested and actually quite passionate about people's lives.

Lets just say I'm alive, smart, with a healthy curiosity - I have my druthers about me young man, now pour me a whisky, light me a smoke, and let me take a nap. I'm gettin old." - Rosie in summation by pgp christmas 199x

"Sariel" by Patrick Gorman Pettis

the Angel of Emotional Healing

14 inches long by 11 inches wide

on pine framed cotton
in natural inks stains and dyes

asking price is $540USD to be featured 03/06/09 at the Romaine Robbins art Gallery
currently availible for purchase

To master the colours in this specific piece I had to do some pretty clever improvisation.

When a natural element is used, especially if it isn't being "fed" and attached to it's living branch root or vine it has a tendancy to decompase literally - the real crook of color in such a preservation process is oxygen, time and basic rot. It takes a little bit of alchemy and apothicary to compromise with nature and keep it as is lol. With this piece I learned a few new things.

My process is a sensative process. To capture and hold such a thing as light and refraction as is, really its a language and compromise or one might even call it a "dance".

Nature has it down to a pattend, jade - amber - fossilization etc - but I have only moments not decades before the colour is lost and hours and small hand strung strokes on a canvas, well it all can easilly turn to brown, grey, rust or even black. Take an apple and cut it in half then leave it sitting for five minutes, its pretty much the same thing. This piece has granny smith, wild grape, tomato and thorney branch thistle in it lol. Can you imagine . . .

Ugh - easilly it was a moody thing until finally I paitently let it paint itself.

Sariel - the Angel of Emotional Healing.

Within each of us there is a grasp of something both unique and powerful. Each and every soul has a pourpose, at least that's my simple belief, we all have a reason for being here.

Coinscisively, and this is my theory, as a simple collective we are not designed to be solitary but collaborative. Sayings like "team effort" or "gang" or "clan" and even "nationality" bears us to something familiar - however proximity forces us to not only deal with eachother and those psycho emotional terms but ourselves and define our own worlds. I believe it is healthy to interact with the both - and by that I mean the world around me and the world within me. I believe in looking at something close up and listening, then learning and doing.

Life is precious and undefined to date and sometimes we treat it all so poorly. What I try to do and sometimes fail is simply maintain a second look at the state of the world within me and around me, the rest is honey. Hell, if a fingel nail bee can do it - we people can a million times over.

Ok anyway enough of my tangent (for now).

If a person just looks at the piece they'd see a figure reaching outward on what appears to be a flat line - its a deliberate image and so in talc and corn starch it's white. The line though level is not flat it is fractured and within it there are 14 faces. A human body slipping through a single layer of fabric, its a symbol or "impression".

When a force of creation such a Sariel is called it's a silent thing, a gush or squease, an out reached arm but not a hug, a cupping of the wounded soul in arm and hand. It is a silent and mysterious compassion toward the suffering which keeps them from falling too short.

I used a pink Boulenvilia to create the fuscia red hues outlighning the wings shown in the photographs here as an homage to a friend but when it interacted with the acid of my garden grown tomatoes it created spots - so I went with it lol. After I received a plant titled "The Patrick Mint" I finished the piece.

Many of my fans ask me how I get a metallic muster on my pieces I have to tell ya - I do not know it just happens sometimes. I sometime use a home made mother of pearl paste mixed with salt and vinegar then a joint compound made from lye and god knows whatever to produce texture or what I call "sparks" (little shards of light refracting into the eye) but really I don't know. It just happens sometimes.

What I really love about his specific piece is that it was made for someone who actually needs it.

Ok anyway - here's something that I do. I walk outside and look up then close my eyes for 5 seconds and take a deep breath and make a wish. I don't open my eyes until I've made my wish. Then I look and for some reason the world seems brighter around me and somehow my wishes come true. It doesnt matter if it's raining, or bright or dark out, up is up and me is me.

It's so corney but believe me it's quite powerful.

more later

23rd Entry, September 18th 2008, Angelic Series part 3

2008-09-19T00:04:00.000-07:00

"You mean each breath we take there is enough power to fuel a light bulb? Can you imagine if we were to run to something at the same time?! Holy Crap."

- Kaityn A.

Marlboro Mass, age 11

Zephreil

by Patrick Gorman Pettis

20 inches in height by 16 inches in length on pine framed cotton in natural inks stains and dyes valued at 1,727 USD by the Filopoly Board of Fine Arts

What happens to us when it seems as though the world we know and the one we wanted has left us behind?

We cope or suffer or both and either

live or die from it.

And there is no testament to strength to either

simply example as to how and why

the rest we can choose to keep private or share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yIDt97zQgY

The Angel Zephreil was once known as the Angelic force "ZAPHREIL"

allowed it to serve as primary spy on behalf of the Name's into the Lucifer's very organized in dependant curiosities.

This creative force could change its nature and walk into the dark side but always coming back against the struggle with new knowledge and information, new strengths that going to such places can bring.

However, even for forces of creation to dwell in such an area until familiarity takes a wear and it eventually becomes, for lack of a better term, "infected" (much like depression or anger is contagious so this force was infected - think of it as a holy challenge major ass fiber of creation flu- tarred and feathered).

Anyway it almost "fell" or for a better depictive phrase basically "it got stuck" or "lost".

It is a terrible pain when one loses its way, cut off, isolated and heavy, still jigsawing the miracle and possibilities within ones self but wandering, looking, crossed between a world of giving up and hope without direction or path.

The thing of being found again is the reason why crickets chirp and fire flies spark in the late summers. They want something familiar, even if it is just a face attached to the flash of a memory. It happens in nature all of the time. Unfortunately for us humans, the creatures who were supposed to learn how to care for it all and understand most of it - it is my limited perspective that perhaps we were designed too weighted and that's why we mostly try to control each other. Being lost or found then becomes an individual choice and experience, just as we choose what we care about and take care of.

Love is after all perfect - even if we aren't.

I digress . . .

By right Zephreil is the Angel of the self struggle and self delusion. It is the essence behind the private detective in us that puts pieces together about things we believe in whether or not they are in fact true - our greatness vs weakness, or our generosity vs selfishness - the reality of who we actually are vs what the world sees us as or want from us.

This can confuse or clarify depending on where the caller's soul is/what their mind is like - it is not always a necessarily a good angel but it is a reminder as to how easy it is to become trapped by ones own self and what a person is used to.

Things like addictions, depression, bad relationships, anger, isolation, incommitment - these things that just continue on and on without change and are so very obviously unhealthy can also be a source of strength once they are traversed and the knowledge of how to conquer and cope with them is attained; this is the very essence of what the Angel Zephreil symbolizes.

The fiery sharp points of color used in baking soda and vinegar with wild grape against a deepening blue set the eye into a flash point, a skeeter-ed glimpse of a bucking horse in honey and henna as is in the foreground but there are literally over 43 separate images in the piece.

Chocolate, Salt, Kiwi, Strawberry, White Cherry, Corn, Vanilla, Aramis, Ivy, Platy Codon, Thistle, Cinnamon, Orange and over 20 more make up the ingredients to this piece.

The piece is not abstract, though to a knave viewer it might be considered so, it is in fact impressionist - it is my impression of a very old soul held in the immediate who chooses to be lost. To be lifted up or to fall, hands are there but as in the case of Zephreil do we choose to grab them or hide from them (rhetorical).

more later

22nd Entry, September 14th 2008, Angelic Series part 2

2008-09-14T09:21:00.000-07:00

- "Uriel" by Patrick Gorman Pettis 36"h x 24"l on framed cotton canvas completed 07/2008 in natural medium as part of the 2008 Angelic Series

The Angel Uriel assists us to convert our greatest disappointments into the source of our grandest triumphs if we are strong enough and open enough to let it happen.

Have you ever been so disarmed by someone else's actions that you hurt as though you were a child being beaten by a Leviathan?

That feeling puts one in a place where you are powerless to stop it, you are that defenseless against it and you do not know when it will end. More so you fear to be forever changed by it.

During those moments for some there is a hero known as the Arc Angel Uriel.

My inspiration behind "Uriel" was one at first of a rather specific and terrific disappointment. If one can see it, it wears itself on the canvas that way at first. However through time with this force of nature it then became what my definition of strength was in the grip of intense emotional, physical, and mental anguish.

I mean honestly, if we are all each having individual experiences in this world where then is the help through something like that? Where is the resolution when nothing makes sense to that individual, no advice can really be given and no further information is provided just a throb of the unknown and an ache for some kind of safety. A wordless desperation forms because no words can say the braided knotted mix and mess sufficiently, there is no easy remedy to such an impact and thing - rather than a cut it is like a burn, and it takes time to heal it. This Angel's purpose is to help that process and ensure it's success beyond better unto greatness.

Now a broken heart is one of the most terrific pains a person can experience, people have died from it. The term "unbearable" is mentioned in correlation to such a subject - and for those who know it's weight and pain, without me saying so, they know it really is.

It does not have to be due to a romantic complication, it does not have to do mostly with outside sources. Just like the physical placement of our literal hearts, it has to with the very center of things and that support which all things depend on - our very selves. Unfortunately to have expectations is to have disappointment, and it is so very human to disappoint one another and expect too much from each other.

For some it is a familiar thing and a way of life, and to those people, the "plate spinners" I call them, my heart goes out to them. No true happiness ever really reaches that sort, just drips of it matched with long periods of complication and meandering, wandering to the next thing, person or place. All the while leaving a trail of shattered plates they could no longer keep spinning, their belongings, their chapters in skeletons and secrets. In my singular opinion they are not an evil creature, some are quite beautiful and enchanting for awhile, they have simply lost touch with their natures and buried themselves in irrational fears, half truths and partitions. They choose being lost and eventually in time and age as such a thing does - end up shutting themselves out of life completely or becoming destructively desperate. It happens in nature all of the time.

An Ivy vine has no real roots of its own, without bark its a frail thing though it's leaves carry a fan like beauty but it is a wiry thing, and it needs a tree with a big strong trunk to live. It spends all of its time trying to cling to that tree and goes as high as it can unless knocked away or it gives up due to some complication it cannot traverse and it keeps moving to what could be the next bigger better tree until it eventually dies or is the first thing destroyed by bad weather. The tree, however, with strong roots and a thicker structure and bark to protect it has no need to worry about anything but taking care of itself, and many can stand hurricane force winds. Unlike these two co-inhabitants of our world, us humans can choose our methods and master them with some knowledge and understanding. So for all the "plate spinners" and "protractors" working your angels lol, there's hope, just try something different - your way isn't working after all really is it?

A song that helped me process and co create this piece is "Say" by John Mayer, I consider it a message to a loved one really - you can access that here just use your web browser to come back to my entry if you'd like to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejZGnBDTNto&feature=related

I digress with my personal philosophy and insight on these common things (for now lol).

In terms of betrayal, heart ache, etc this Angel provides a foreground toward clarity and resolution - not necessarily serenity but the method to gain it.

The reason it is such a dramatic piece is because when one calls unto itself such a powerful force of creation as Uriel one must be inside a terrible drama. Whips of color spin in and out of the upper left of the painting - but then as one looks a little longer colours settle and something solid begins to appear. The longer one regards it, the piece's drama turns to shape and settles into clarity and Uriel can then be seen - several times. I wanted it to be this way because as in impressionist art this is my impression of pain and the process of healing.

The leader in such images is the large head of Uriel looking over one shoulder outward. Its face intense and fixed, as a loved one irritated into deep powerful inconvenience. The notion of which calling for an action the depths of which could move planets and souls to make things more appropriate. Uriel, after all, as an Angelic element is the essences of deliverance and prosperity, justice for those just and treated unjustly, strength for the strong who are weak momentarily. It is a very passionate image using sweeping broad strokes with crisp to fainting lines and striations.

I used combinations of cinnamon, vinegar, salt and eremurus among other types of blooms to create the brilliant orange and violet red color streaming through the piece. The mineral Talc with pitch, chocolate and dandelion were used in contrast against a salmon back which was made from wild tiger lilly and an oak with an acrylic hodge podge applicae.

The piece was then placed and finished outside in a light early misted rain to place into it a symbolic sense of renewal as well as the knowledge that somewhere out there someone is missed. As it goes in my traditions when it rains it is a reminder that someone who loves you misses you and wishes you home. The rain serves as a symbol to that longing, where even the sky cries in response to the person's honest feelings. The water used in the stains and to create the stream like striations in the paint was from that very rainfall and one of the rivers near my home here in Scotia.

Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed the entry.

I have been getting alot of questions as to when my central web site will be finished - the answer, honestly, is that I'm not sure but probably within three months and definitely before my show in the Capital.

Until then I am still using my good ole catcher page here:

http://www.geocities.com/tanmanmighty2/index.html?1206114561140

In the meantime

if anyone needs to ask questions, has a request or just wants to write simply shoot me an email at tanmanmighty2@yahoo.com. I really try to get back within 24 hours if I can, but as of late I have been busier than a one legged man in a butt kickin contest so it may take awhile but I will always respond.

- more later

21st Entry, August 27th 2008

2008-08-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

"Serenity is a frame of mind, it is a way in which one thinks then moves it is not a destination but a discovery one derives from within ones self and though lost at times, once made it cannot be undone but attained again and again if one chooses it."

- Tobias Talbott
caption from a short story titled Of Wolves and Angels written by
Tobias Talbott 1994

Have you ever seen or heard something that for no particular reason simply stuck in your head?

For me the answer to that is "many times" call it a job hazard or my nature as a creative force but yes I have a proverbial library of such things and to each a memory attached and to those a stimulous and emotion and to such an attitude built upon and therefore an action,

I paint it.

Ergo the term "Impressionism" people, stories and even surroundings - they impress me

by definition to impress means to leave an imprint derived from the latin term onis rhet philo (appearantly the way its spelt has nothing to do with the way it sounds and thats why I hate latin but I digress) anyway Impressionism means the artist paints not the actual thing but the impression it makes on them.

One impression that astounds me and I dream about to this day is of my own father. I am telling this story because I feel as though the readers and fans of mine for whom I am so very grateful need to know a little bit more about me as a man.

So to my readers and fans and clients alike I will forgive your perceptions if you forgive me my presentation of the material.

all judgements aside

the story

It was in early August the tail gate of the very tail end of a warm summer in northern New York when my father in a cut off pair of shorts and I in an inner tube went out into the water. My mother had lathered me up in so much bug spray and sun block my skin was literally water proof but I love the water even then eyes wide open.

Pine trailed and birchwood lined the breeze swept across an always calm lake shore with three feeds leveling it's water through what I thought then were waterfalls big, medium, and small.

I was never really afraid of anything and always wanted to push myself even at that age, and at that moment right then
my goal

was to follow my father to the dock,

he had no clue I was behind him

that is until he had gotten out of the water and heard my mother yelling from the shoreline

and even then I'm not totally convinced he had heard a word what she was saying but he looked toward the shore at first with a "what now" then another toward her with a "what?" then without saying either looked down at me in the inner tube smiling up at him and laughed and smiled back then grabbed me up out of the water and onto the dock.

I think that men have a built in mechanism that enables them to ignore shit which is pre puescent, like even in the Y chromasom as in "Y me, Y now, Y do you want me to do that, Y do you keep talking etc etc -- so ladies dont blame us, blame god cause us boys are designed to simply tune out

anyway

I saw him dive off a few time and I was more than content to sit there but it was time to go in.

Ma had started to call out again.

Not knowing how to get both me and the tube back to shore cause I had no clue how to swim at that age so he had me get into the tube and I was game.

One Pitch

and not a very hard one

and I was out of the tube

and straight down to the bottom

Now at that very moment

I had no clue that what was happening was wrong, and I had no panic

I trusted completely the hands of my father and the voice of my mother

so as I sank I looked up

and saw a brown yellow light, the sun beaming into a shade of gold

and saw blue and gold speckled fish with dark finned dots running away because they somehow knew I didnt belong there

I remember seeing bubbles like diamonds coming from everywhere upwards

and all of the sudden coming towards me I saw my father under water

and the look on his face was that of an angel's

I know because that day I knew what it meant what it is to not trust and to trust

and what angels were.

I didn't cry until my mother wrapped me in a towel and lifted me off the ground, I think it was because my dad simply gotten back in the water and swam away and not because I had almost drown.

My father as a man was nothing particular and there was nothing as equally particular to his destiny really save that he give part in creating three bodies for three souls.

The first of which is me,

the second of which appears in the photograph at the beginning of this entry

the third of which we wish would come home but cannot.

I digress

Honestly

I have dreamt of Angels ever since that day.

and from time to time when

at my age now

when

I actually can feel whats wrong and what it is to sink

I paint them.

Carouseil by Patrick Gorman Pettis

for a link to a song that co-inspired this piece please click below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlqymdcqRcM

August 13th 2008, Hairless

2008-08-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

Who are we really?

How honest can we possibly be in a world where we're almost expected to be unimportant and simply go?

I know that we are in fact each of us precious, and perhaps each of us just a little weird. We have our tools and "things" like our bodies, our homes and our details or preferences/addictions but hind sightly really how much do we need? And who sets that definition?

Well for any graduated soul the answer is simple, in reality, I do.

I do myself and only me set those definitions of who I am and how I am presented, let the rest be left for angels and devils to decide in how I am perceived

or how my true image is perverted.

Trust me between the mob and rumor they usually if not always do and 99.9% of the time need no permissions.

What is the difference in psycho-emotional miles between manipulation of one's own presentation and of other's perceptions then? Where within that does the truth lie (so to speak)lol?

This was a theory put on canvas by me after a psychic reading from whom I would consider one of the most wonderful and beautifully well communicated smooth and honest creative forces I have ever met in my own life time. His name is Michael Baldwin, hairdresser and a psychic one too. He and his partner have a local Spa.

Anyway he read my proverbial "beads" and I felt absolutely powerless, quiet and still although exposed quite beautiful. This man must attract muses and angels because there was an honesty and tact that would bound itself on miracle

I digress lest my thoughts get ahead of my words.

I went there for a reason - a change.

The gift needless to say was in exchange for extraordinary services and it is now hanging in their salon appropriately named

"Magical Scissors"

located at

2236 Broadway in New York, Historic Schenectady up Broadway through the old Rail Bridge past Ontario Street
12306

There are two songs I used to create this piece to kind of acclimate my inspirations, you can hear them here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AFDHia51Do&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDiJSNADKIk

The Theory behind the Piece titled "Hairless"

We as human beings are masters of expressing non verbal communication. We do so in our every day and mostly unconscious lives. Using clothing to express who we are or what role we play, how we are to be perceived. Using facial expressions, make-up even what we drive to sometimes make wordless statements about what we like or who we are.

Who then do we become or even are for that matter when the wrappers are off? This was the question I posed to the canvas – what of mans self image without the wrapper.

The image is meant to produce a calm unwilling, a shyness in its beauty. Broad strokes were used to signify the idea that we sometimes deal with ourselves too broadly. Tend to outline rather than fill the definitions of who we are and what we want.

A backward glance of the male figure was given toward his viewer to induce a want or acceptance and hope of understanding, perhaps even help or advice as to how to turn and face them.

Over all I was happy to use both elements of the home made natural materials I create and acrylic to capture a color spread which inspired me from the future owner’s business as my palette.

I hope they love it as much as I loved creating it for them.

Perhaps then still they might provide me with a picture of it hanging there for my blog unless they sue me for metioning their business without permission lol.

19th Entry August 9th 2008, "6th Installment: To Move A Bloom"

2008-08-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

"To Move a Bloom" by Patrick Gorman Pettis

These are the final pictures of the piece. Henna and black acrylic were used to apply the very last details.

Thankfully it has already been purchased by a wonderful gentleman in Florida. It is the only one of its kind, unique in so many ways to my other work. The subject alone sets it in its own category.

As I've stated before in previous entries my collectors and fans, readers of this blog already know that I add images hidden into the piece as my way of rewarding those who really look. If a person is interested in a work of mine I want to keep them entertained while maintaining the integrity of that piece's statement and idea.

And although I cannot tell you, my reader, where they actually are in the piece I had pictures taken of a few of them. The last three pictures in this entry are of those images.

Thank you all for reading and watching the development of this specific work. To see it in its very beginning stages and the story behind it simply go to the 1st installment in this blog.

- More Later

18th Entry July 30th 2008, 5th Installment "To Move A Bloom"

2008-07-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

The mass majority of who we are is not bones and muscle, it is not brain tissue and cells, it is intangible - remove that "thing" and we are no longer the occupants of our physical beings.

However we are in a way addicted to these symbols of ourselves, these bodies and faces; having no memory of what it is that we really “look” like in an existence much greater and longer prior to this splash in our earthly pond. This is why ghosts still look human even in the period dress they once wore while living. It is familiar.

When love happens it happens in the soul. Yes there are physical releases of peptides doing their job making us feel “Ah’s” and “Oh’s” and an entire series of internal physical events that transform us down to the very cells and mapping of our brains. However what sets those things off is a stimulus and connection then a choice. What makes that choice albeit of our thinking or waking minds is that part of us which is intangible.

And when that choice is mutual – we merge. The observer and the observed are then one and the same, a unit. This is the statement I wanted to encapsulate by using the genderless figures here. The soul has no gender; energy possesses a consciousness graduated beyond the use of such a thing.

The painting now having reached it’s early adulthood is ready for the hidden images. I will be updating the blog with those in about a week or so. Thank you for reading, please stay tuned for the finished product.

17th Entry, July 24th 2008, 4th Installment "To Move a Bloom"

2008-07-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

"i do not know what it is about you that closes and opens;

only something in me understands the voice of your eyes

is deeper than all roses

nobody,

not even the rain,

has such small hands"

- caption from EE Cummings' poem "Somewhere I have never travelled" as outlined in the 1st installment of this series, see entries 14 through 16 for more information

In a place within the single nature of all things, where the wants and needs of that thing meet, love sometimes appears washing the zenith. Love is both a want and a need in and of itself but it is beyond those things as well. I see it as the catalyst that makes one aware of itself peaking the senses and priming the soul. Eyes dilate, breathing increases, heart rate elevates, habits and appetites alter as if subconscious and a small curious ache appears; logical or not it is none the less quite real.

In the caption above the idea of not even the rain having small hands stood out like a pin prick of light in a dark black room to me when I first read the poem over a decade ago. EE Cummings also included images of snow to a flower and it's effect - these two ideas I wanted to add into the piece as a passive but powerful statement. Sometimes a person only need whisper and the right mountains are moved.

My collectors and fans, readers of this blog already know that I add images hidden into the piece as my way of rewarding those who really look. If a person is interested in a work of mine I want to keep them entertained while maintaining the integrity of that piece's statement and idea. Hands would be a perfect opportunity to do this - a visual quiet tone of promise made without saying a word. Like the state of love is a promise.

No hands could open a bloom, that had been established. The bloom will open if the environment is right - that is a fact of simple nature. The bloom itself as a symbol of us as humans in our vulnerability, a request of love not to harm and to see. The hands then would be there to answer that request and promise, to hold and cherish, to respect in spite of imperfect understanding. And how imperfect would it be for a hand to look at something? Well, hands do not have eyes to see they rely on something else. Hands need to literally feel in order to define, and can do so in an amazingly accurate fashion. As love also needs to feel it's appropriate definition between the two experiencing it.

The idea then came together. The ego and id, want and need, a symbol of that admirer's position - two sets of hands. In compliment to that the idea of a fading snow, they should be outlined and not solid, defined and a presence but not overpowering to human bloom. The piece then began to enter it's early adolescent phase, adding to my inspiration was the song "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain. If you aren't familiar you can listen to it here and use your web browser to come back:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0hvOdYVTG0

Hands to hold and caress such a vulnerability. A promise without words made in response to a wordless request but as solid and tangible as hands and roses.

These then would be half hidden behind yet another image but that's another entry.

thank you for reading

More later,

16th Entry, July 14th 2008, 3rd installment "To Move a Bloom"

2008-07-14T12:37:00.001-07:00

There is a kind of love which happens where it’s fruition into a relationship is irrelevant to it’s existence. It is a wish and a power. Not to be confused with an obsession or desire to possess, it is a hope based admiration which runs so deep it inspires and infects it’s bearer completely. It is both battery and muse.

The words are hard to find to depict such a love but those who know it personally know it exactly. It would be as if to see something in nature, in the wild. Where the desire to walk up to it and touch it or pet it is so great but if one would move they fear it running away all together so they just stay in place and still, watching and waiting to see what it does instead. Imagine then if the admired came a little closer and closer still.

That feeling that something so adored is so near and it’s tangibility is so fragile, as a flower is so fragile. So I went to the next step. Immediately I looked for roses that could encapsulate this idea. After searching for two days I was terribly frustrated because none worked completely. Each one in photograph, art, and life reminded me of all the hundreds of other “flower” things out there that I didn’t want this work to be added to.

Then a light went off, I remembered that the flower isn’t a flower at all – it is a person; each petal of the bloom a facet of their being. It’s opening and closing a metaphor for its presence, proximity and trust as observed by another who adores it so very much.

I then was able to look at the flowers in the right perspective. I needed a flower that best symbolizes a person, where it wouldn’t be a Georgia O’Keefe flower focus look alike. I didn’t want that at all, I wanted the symbolic value of it. Petals layering much like we as humans layer our aspects but connecting them infinitely as we compose our conscious and unconscious selves.

After some additional searching I came across a book titled simply “Flower” (Artisan Books) by Christopher Beane who once worked in New York’s famous flower market. Of the 133 pictures of different blooms and breeds I immediately turned to Ranunculus White – it’s flower seemingly dressed by one single petal that wrapped into a small forever around the bloom. If anyone gets a chance to see the photograph they would know how I could see instantly how that was it.

Using a base of henna, honey, hydrated organic coal and mocha I began it’s placement. I chose an open bloom, or really a bloom which had already opened and is in a position of full faced beauty and vulnerability. In my mind I imagined it doing so and slowly. As if trusting in a safety which although is intangible is quite real. The famous song titled “The Wings” by Gustavo Santaolalla makes me feel that way. When hearing the notes I could almost feel each unclenching of the petals as if requested by love. It’s a short song but potent and haunting in its way if a person is open minded enough to appreciate it’s statement. It is an aching and asking into love. If you aren’t familiar with it you can access the song by clicking below and simply use your browser to come back here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yIDt97zQgY

It is an exposure into vulnerability made by holy and pure request and is in itself a request, not to harm and to see, to see it all completely and understand it.

Then filling each layer with the remaining rose essence it produced the most amazing jewel toned blue based red, the pictures really cant capture the color as it is seen in person. Egg white was used on most of the petal tips to add to depth details and subtly play with light. When dried it produces a light gloss.

The result - a human bloom, at least to me - but the piece is still a baby at this stage and more is still to come.

15th entry, July 8th 2008, 2nd installment "To Move A Bloom"

2008-07-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

There is a timelessness to love.

It is a universal thing, known by many species. No matter the culture it is understood. The strength of which distances in time and spaces between have no effect. I wanted to add this concept in the piece. To make it "generational", weathered but beautiful and in this wish an idea evolved in compliment to the two inspirations (see previous entry).

As if in the attic as part of something greater - something lost for a period of time and forgotten by those unfamiliar. A painting that represented a deep and beautiful story between two people. A love story about to be learned by someone whose life is a direct result of it, but continues it in their own life and is inspired by the piece.

I know that the concept when read is wordy but please forgive. I haven't ever really written these thoughts out before in or during my creative process. In this attempt to communicate them I think I over word because I fear misdirecting the reader or prejudgement by the reader of the piece lol. I digress.

The key words here are "timeless, tested and beautiful, weathered but strong, forgotten then discovered and new again".

In order to accomplish this I created a type of "plaster" (for lack of a better word) and mixed it with red rose essence. I chose rose because that flower is specifically mentioned in the E. E. Cummings' poem (last entry).

This offset the smokey ivory natural pigment of the plaster with an antique rose red based light beige (1st photograph). The essence is of a much higher water saturation than the plaster.

When dried rapidly and strategically adding a local influence of heat, the folds in this combination pull together producing hairline creases in it.

So even though they aren't, to the observer they look like cracks (2nd and 3rd photographs). More heat applied equals greater and more frequent creases.

This added a raw earth hand cast quality to it, like the ancient stone works of Rome. I did not want to simply paint marbling or cracks in the piece because I wanted it tangible. After all this is about love, not like right?

I wanted to produce as close to the real deal as I could without compromising the integrity and longevity of the actual piece here.

Once dried it was time to further this impression of my terms. I wanted to enhance this timeless, weathered, forgotten and discovered concept by placing on top of the antique rose color a cracked oxen rust. It would make the base tone of the piece richer and without over burdening it with texture create depth visually.

The technique was performed much like other crackling, however my gluey substance was made with milkweed and aloe (4th and 5th photograph).

Once the piece was covered I then applied my oxen rust(6th photograph).

One has to consider humidity when performing this because it can be a god awful mess if it's wrong. It has to be dry and breezy outside or it cannot be done the way I like it. Timing is actually everything here because both aloe and milk weed have high evaporation rates.

As it dries small cracks appear in the superficial color pulling against itself (7th photograph). When done right the color is what actually becomes separated not the substance itself so the piece is still as smooth as brass with zero flaking.

The end result was perfect for my intention. So with my foundation laid, the piece made it's way from newborn to it's infancy stage.

14th Entry, June 28th 2008

2008-06-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

treating the piece titled, "To Move a Bloom" with a mixture of coffee, cinnamon and vanilla

I am currently working on a piece I have wanted a reason to develop for over a decade now. It was not something I would simply do without a reason because of it's inspiration and meaning to me. I knew it would be an intense dedication of my energy that I would have to begin and stay with until completion.

There are a few of those types of pieces where the desire to see it unfold is so complete that I am consumed by it and working on it up to 30 hours straight in one sitting. Others still, that I can put down and work on or pick up again, and even others which are what I call my "now and then's". I knew that in order to communicate what I wanted on the canvas the piece would require my undivided attention.

The inspiration took seed after I read a poem by E.E. Cummings titled, "somewhere i have never travelled" - the poem goes as follows.

somewhere i have never travelled

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond any experience, your eyes have their silence: in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me, or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will enclose me though i have closed myself as fingers, you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens (touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly, as when the heart of this flower imagines the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing we are to perceive in this world equals the power of your intense fragility: whose texture compels me with the colour of its countries, rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

This poem moved me to the point where it just stuck in my head, and the final sentence repeated itself in my mind like the chorus to a favorite song. The touching honesty and adoration behind it, and the longing - it inspired me at first to write a poem as a response to it. I wanted the poem to be a response, as in conversation to E.E. Cummings' piece. That is the second half of this inspiration, and my poem is below.

Stubborn Bloom

With all of their doings and deeds never has there been a set of hands made that could force a flower open.

Too soon to bruise and kill such sensitive bloom would the fumbling be, ultimately the attempt destroying the thing they wish to see in it's entirety.

So much more sensitive am I.

Still so effortlessly you place a calm in my heart, and over again the process begins. My dearest sir, gardener of my most personal, were our moments as to petals this time past would lay set a garden like none other.

Forever springtime and the flowers waxing full as the moon, never to know thirst nor threatened by fighting storm or biting thing.

A place most beautiful in a space most sacred we have created and for only you for you have moved the most stubborn but precious bloom.

And so with these two things being my bulk of inspiration the title of the piece is, "To Move a Bloom". There is more behind it of course which I will detail in the entries to come. Right now the painting is still a baby.

me using thistle, clover and rhubarb to lay a foundation of the piece titled, "To Move a Bloom"

More Later ;)

13th Entry, June 12th 2008

2008-06-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

The opening during 1st Friday's event in Albany was a great amount of fun and a success. I kind of went in knowing from other people that it was going to be a busy event but it was literally packed.

Alan Ilagan, art director and fellow exhibitor, did an excellent job and was quite a wonderful host. I was honestly proud to be a part of it. Being a moderately awkward person with a shy streak it's difficult to come into a new and social situation. Add to that attribute talking about something so personal as one's creative work.

Because people, lets face it, there are so many ways to be awkward lol. For example, I was already dressed and literally at the front door about to enter the gallery when I was stopped on the street by a man with his dog who smilingly said, "now that is a BLUE shirt." I then realized that you could probably spot me from space in it lol. He wasn't being insulting, just observant and once I thought about it I found it hilarious. A decade ago I would've searched for a store or well placed rock lol.

Anyway, it took some "training" so to speak to become assertive and I'm always learning more. When Rachael (my assistant) and I walked inside the greeter, Bonnie, made the task all that much easier. She was warm and inquisitive setting a fun and casual comfort which lasted the rest of the day.

Here are some more photographs, the show will be there all month it is at the Romaine Brooks Gallery on 332 Hudson Avenue in Albany off of Lark Street. The gallery link is right here: http://www.romainebrooksgallery.30art.com/index.php

Alan and I at the Gallery, the piece "Reminds me of Eric" is to the right

Rachael, my assistant, and I in front of the space (see what I mean by it being a really "blue" shirt lol)

The following photographs are of the pieces which are currently at the Romaine Brooks Gallery. For more information on their availibility please contact Alan Ilagan at (518) 462-6138

"Lilith"

"Past That comes Between Us"

"Reminds Me of Eric"

Patrick Gorman Pettis' Blog: 12th entry, June 4th 2008

2008-06-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

Patrick Gorman Pettis' Blog: 12th entry, June 4th 2008

12th entry, June 4th 2008

2008-06-03T20:12:00.001-07:00

"5 day Saint"

I believe in the temporary hero, the person who isn't always perfect but is mostly good and tries. I think that the world is full of these kinds of men and women, boys and girls. Yet where really are they recorded?

We can look in any church to see images of those more saintly - the people who could be perfect seven days a week. However more times than not there are everyday angels among us who go unknown, live and die unseen.

Though history may never mark their names and society never really hear of their deeds they are a necessary element to our populations. That is the reason I made this piece, it is for them. In a way to let them know that I can see that they exist and am grateful for them.

The piece has natural inks from rose, lobelia, sweet potato vine and chocolate. It was done on a 16 inch wide by 20 inch tall fine cotton, wood mounted canvas. I wanted to create a look of empathy and deep understanding. Like a listening that creates feeling within. To that concept I really felt the face needed realistic fatigue or a "well worked" tone - as if they had to walk a very long way. I kept the features soft to make it feel warm, open and approachable.

This notion was actually inspired by a real person, Geoffry Welsh. I saw him rather recently actually casually shopping. He was a college professor of mine that had unknowingly changed my life by changing the way I looked at the world around me. He is an amazing man I have a world of respect for, unconventional and stubborn lol.

The guy could really be intimidating, tall and intense but honest and kind (most of the time). I knew him to always be so passionate about the things he loves and a master in knowing them. I remember those qualities in part scaring the hell out of me and in ways making me pay attention.

I think at one point or another we each have our own 5 day saints and some of us actually become them. I hope you all enjoy the painting.

You can also look at the piece here if you like:

http://www.artmajeur.com/?go=artworks/display_mini_gallery&mini_gallery_id=1204761&login=patrickgormanpettis&image_id=2990961&artist_id=112229

11th Entry, May 23rd 2008

2008-05-23T09:22:00.000-07:00

"Reminds Me of Eric"

What makes a person who seems happy enough or functional enough one day simply disappear?

It happens much more than we think. That question, however significant, was only part of the inspiration behind this piece. The idea really was to stamp a memory of someone who disappeared one day, an aching snapshot of someones recollection. Based on several very true stories I wanted to combine emotions of loss and hope to create the overall effect.

There are people who have touched my life, some I had seen every day at one time that I have no contact with anymore. Placing that fact with the concept of disappearing within ones self and how a loss would effect someone colors and images started to play their part. Its my experience that when someone is terribly effected by a loss it is themselves they end up looking for over again. I know of people who grossly decline because of it. They wither and are never the same and still others that survive it, spread their wings and fly.

What I meant by "Its my experience that when someone is terribly effected by a loss it is themselves they end up looking for over again." isn't so complex. It has to do with the familiarity and love associated with that loss, the exchange and investment of energy. When a closeness occurs to that most personal point an exchange of selves occurs. So when that person, place or thing goes away and it becomes debilitating a duplicate loss occurs. The loss of a section from this person's own self, more specifically that part which was encapsulated within the "other".

It is a terrific and confusing pain, more complex creatures actually can die from it. To recover from that loss, adapt and prosper in spite of it shows a tremendous strength. This happens in nature all of the time.

A rather public example of this would be the performer George Michael. His success, money and talent could not weigh out the pain he felt after the deaths of both his life partner and mother. A pain so great it imploded it's host. His abuse of drugs, alcohol, his illicit behaviors and legal run ins are all public knowledge. For 17 years the artist lay in obscurity, a self inflicted pariah simply because there was no solace.

Then he came back, his song and performance is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZXE8Fohj8M

He's now about to do a tour for the first time in almost two decades. Hope, recovery and resolution in spite of a terrible loss. This was the second half of the inspiration. A face in white looks upward, it is the largest image in the piece .

Instead of using a single canvas the choice I made to use four smaller ones was because in reality, when it comes to other people, we never really get the whole story all at once. We sometimes have to piece those things together to achieve a perception of what is going on, segments and sections to produce a revelation. We see signs of this or recall snippets of that which in retrospect make sense when placed next to one another. The result is a kind of clarity directed toward that result we are then left to deal with.

I layer the images because when I remember it happens in layers. One triggering another with wisps of straying thoughts and daydreams mixed into emotions and opinions. It doesn't happen like a story completely from beginning to end, its a pool of thoughts really. Diving into each one touching on it briefly before another envelops me.

Once the piece was finished I had a private viewing of it. I rarely give the back story when I do these, simply because although I don't mind explaining a work I dislike telling people what to look at or for. I don't want to influence the viewer, after all that is the painting's job lol.

Anyway, it went into the viewing as yet untitled. There a woman stood in front of it staring for the longest while and was asked what she thought. Without taking her eyes away she said ever so softly ". . . . it reminds me of Eric".

10th Entry, May 13th 2008

2008-05-02T10:26:00.000-07:00

"If art mimics life, what piece are you working on today?"

- Patrick Gorman Pettis

"past that comes between us"

When it comes to getting an element to gift you with it's colours there are a few methods one can try.

The easiest of which is a technique I call "pressing". I love dandelions, they kind of remind me of me in a way lol. The misunderstood weed that tries real hard. My grandmother told me of a time when they would use them in salads and how my great grandfather would make wine from them. They are very bitter to taste and have an earthy tart and hearty smell.

If one really looks at these little guys and forgives them their reputation they can see something beautiful. Not only the delicate petals packed into a square inch sometimes by the hundreds but a bright snap of creation's purest yellow. It almost says "Hey!! Get Over Here! Lighten up!" they're just cute little persistent buggers to me.

It was really neat to learn that at a time when people were hungry and resources were low those characteristics made people grateful for them.

Anyway, what makes them great for this pressing method is that they can

be so abundant. Simply take the flower from it's spot, put the face of it flat to the paper or canvas adding a little pressure and drag it where you want the color.

The longer the color is exposed to air it gains lime then brown green hues to it. The timing of when to apply a color protect to prevent or enhance those changing tones is something that needs to be practiced.

If left in the air the color mostly fades after some time or turns a rustic mustard tone. It is this technique (among others) I used in the piece photographed above titled "past that comes between us". It's one of those things that even if you're not a painter it's fun to try.

The work itself is based on a true story of a couple that had simply gone through too much together. There are literally over seventy faces in the piece. I wanted to reflect the emotion that I believe we all have experienced when we accept that it's done and done.

The piece just went up in the gallery at :

http://www.artmajeur.com/patrickgormanpettis/

under "Artworks" so feel free to take a peek if you'd like.

9th entry, April 30th 2008

2008-04-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

Fans, friends and family have often asked me if it's ever hard for me to part with a work.

My answer is never the same twice really lol but the words are,
"it depends".

These pieces are a measurement of my energy and time on this earth. Considering that on a generous average in a rounded up kind of way that we only have about 100 years here that makes what we are doing each day a pretty big deal.

Easily they are a part of me, and I never really say goodbye to any of them, they are all in my head and locked into chapters of my life. They never really say goodbye to me either because a part of me goes with them each time a piece is sold. Some of the newer artists and people I've taught have had problems with this. My advice to them was really to have two bodies of work.

There are those works created that I simply cannot part with for whatever reason, too personal, too illicit etc. Those are part of a secret collection that no other eyes save my own have ever seen. Those are the pieces that are just for me. Not saying that they are more "important", I don't think that way. Each piece is special in its own right, unique and celebrated by its own nature.

These pictures to the right are of the painting "Breathe" as detailed in the previous entries of this blog. It arrived to its owner a brief time ago and was immediately taken to the frame shop. It's owner once having saw it in person for the first time allowed me to quote him on his thoughts of the piece:
___________________________________________
_________________________

"In Breathe I see a tortured elaboration of the realization of self-freedom, an exalted vision from which Pettis squeezed living tones and colors from an intense alertness to the inrush of daily sensations."
_________________________
___________________________________________

Once it is framed it's owner might be generous enough to send me pictures to post here. That will complete the story of "Breathe", at least from my life's chapter for now, from concept to creation to completion and finally display.

I used, actually at first rather timidly, the Glenville UPS location in Socha Plaza off of Route 50 to send "Breathe". It was a Saturday when I walked in there approximately 3 minutes before they locked the door (artists can be quite magnificently oblivious to the world in some aspects and extremely sensitive to it in others - we are a weighted eccentric folk mostly but god loves us anyway lol). Barring the inconvenience to them all I felt a team of professionals waited on me smiling, the head of which was named Chelsea - patient and kind to a overly paternal client. She assured me the piece would be fine as did the driver himself. I have no clue if she was a manager but she spoke and carried herself with ownership and I respect that. I will be back there again for their kindness and professionalism. I highly recommend it for others in their shipping and packaging needs.

I digress, I'm currently obsessed with another concept I would like to share in my next entry, but I have yet to iterate it. Right now it's more a feeling in color lol but when it goes from fetal to form I'll be sure to share it here. In the meantime I'm going to get out in this super sunshine bright warm weather and perhaps do some go-carting with friends.

More later :)

7th Entry, April 27th 2008

2008-04-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

The very last bit of paint to touch a nearly completed piece is my signature. I have to be sure that the work is finished and spend quite some time living with it before I even contemplate putting that seal on it. The photographs to the left are of me doing exactly that to the work known as "Breathe" as outlined in the previous six entries of this blog.

If you'd like to see this work from the very beginning all that you need do is scroll back. I personally find it entertaining because even though I've had pictures of me taken while working in the past I have never before journaled it this thoroughly. I found journaling this series to be both revealing and rewarding. I am really looking forward to actually writing more about the pieces to come.

By the time this blog is posted "Breathe" will already have been

treated with a special preservative to protect the living parts of it and keep the colors and striations fresh as if just painted. Because

there are natural inks, stains and dyes in the work made from flowers, bark and leafs I use a sealant mix I make myself (trade secret) that is non-obtrusive and doesn't add unnecessary or unwanted effects to the piece but preserves it forever.

As it stands the piece is already reserved by someone who fell in love with it. That is the greatest gift someone can give to this artist - to form a connection and in a way fall in love with a piece. Each and every time I create a work that is exactly my wish - to find that one person who can identify with the piece, be inspired by it and make it their own.

I feel it's because, like beauty, art is a mix of preference and perspective. What is wonderful to some is awful to others; sometimes we creative types get alot of awfuls before we reach that one person who sees your work just holds their breath for a second and tells you it's beautiful, and in that one painting they understand it. It's worth it for me at least, and its very humbling when I paint something that touches someone. To know that what you are saying is not only being heard but is understood. It is an amazing feeling really and it's why I do what I do.

"Breathe"

ta-da :)

forgive the time stamp

it's wrong

but I have no clue how to get rid of it
eventually I'll call help desk and figure it out
or I'll have to get a new camera lol

6th Entry, April 18th 2008

2008-04-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

I believe that we human beings are much more sensitive then we are aware. I think we kind of have to "dumb down" that awareness to survive in a world where we are subjected to so much stimuli. Otherwise it would flood our minds and ultimately confuse or overwhelm us leaving a really nasty impression that never stopped on our beings. Kind of like tasting a dish that has every flavor in it all at once and leaving an aftertaste that never stopped. As a form of survival our minds are designed to specialize, connections in one or more areas are strengthened and others weaken. The result offers us as a race the potential to surf an omnipresent saturation of psycho-emotional and physical experiences and dive into those we ultimately choose to. That said I believe that the way a mind works is the way that life will be.

There are those moments where we allow our sensitivities to dialate and that sense in some capacity opens, widens and takes in, every ounce of what exactly is going on in the worlds around and inside ourselves. I could never find a great title for those moments or a simple explanation of them but we've all had them. I do not think we completely ever turn off our ability to be aware or our sensitivity, I believe that on some level we are always aware, cognoscente of everything that's going on. Have you ever loved a thing but not know why really? Or know that you were about to make a mistake but do it anyway and be absolutely right lol?

In the same vein there are things that trigger us to remember, or associate moments with them. A scent that can open an entire chapter of our lives, a color that can really piss us off, a single sentence that can inspire us to take action. Sometimes it takes so very little to do so much, and a single thought can change the very physical world around us.

Its amazing what can happen once we allow ourselves to become aware of it. This perspective is reflected in my creative process. I simply want people or even just one person to still themselves a second, open themselves up and become aware of what is in front of them. Then before you know it, one picture becomes many pictures in one, making the whole. Whereas air itself is not oxygen alone neither is this work titled "Breathe" simply one painting.

Now I cannot tell you where each of the secret images are placed (that would be no fun). However, I will in gratus for you reading this blog show you a few ;) These pictures were taken some time ago and the piece still has a little more work to be done on it as of the writing of this entry. By the time I've posted this the amount of hidden images will be almost doubled. I apologize for the date on the camera being wrong, someday I'll fix that just as soon as I get out the direction manual I can't seem to find lol. The image to the left (in case you still can't see it) is magnified almost 130% and is male figure looking downward.

Light brushings of violet concentrate with iodine and henna create the faintest outlines. Then if you allow yourself to defocus on the detail just for a second before you will appear a face, neck and shoulders looking upwards.

Below there is an image magnified at nearly 150% of another male figure looking down. In each of these expressions I wanted to create a single appearance of reflection, a mind in after thought. The kind of look one receives when they interrupt someone who was just remembering something personal. I believed that feeling of being interrupted went well with the leading male figure in this piece. Simply because the lead figure is very much not interrupted or distracted. As referred in the previous entries what the painting itself is trying to capture is the celebration of a single breath in a single moment.

Although this picture to the right (below) was taken while the piece was still drying and reflecting alot of natural light I hope you can make out the old woman's face.

She is actually one of my favorite of these hidden images. I was even almost surprised at the emotional content of her eyes when I was through with her. My work is all very personal to me, its an expression in and of itself, but there are those times when the piece simply takes over and I'm just a guy taking notes. This was one of those times when I stepped back and looked at her thinking "wow, where did you come from?" lol.

I know that sounds so eccentric and almost crazy but people who are really into what they are doing all experience this. Even professional athletes talk about a "zone" where they experience a type of flow between what they are doing and their environment. Where the brain seems to just turn "off" and other things take over making them feel more "on" than ever. I've even heard bartenders talk of something similar occuring on a busy night so it's not unique as much as it is really cool to experience.

In the last image I'll explain to you can you make out a close up of a face? You'd be amazed as to how many people cannot. Once people do take a second and actually see it they are amazed that they missed it at all. I'm always a little tickled at that point, because it's always the same kid like response no matter the age or background of the person. As I've mentioned in previous blog entries I think of these little secret additions in the piece as visual rewards for a person who actually takes the time to look at it. I feel that in order to really get to see something for what it is and to get to know it takes time. Today there's so much stress about that instant gratification, and although that's a great feeling it isn't the only one. Some things take more time to really get to know, like making a best friend.

I'll place one more below and let you figure it out. When the piece is actually complete I will post more photo's of it. I think as far as the work goes as a whole I'm really happy with it. The pictures really don't do it justice unfortunately. I feel there's something lost when it's transposed. What one misses are the delicate textures adding to the piece. They undulate throughout it so the eye has a multi-dimensional appetiser. It's the component that appeals to one's desire to reach out and run your fingers over the images. It's just so much more powerful in person. At least the pictures are here though so I can share with you this process and in my way take you through the birth and maturity of a work as it is developed. Most of all I hope you all enjoy it.

More Later :)

5th Entry, April 10th 2008

2008-04-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

second set of photo's taken of the piece titled "Breathe" a work in progress as outlined in the previous entries of my blog

the piece is done with natural inks, stains and dyes made by me on mounted canvas 24 inches tall by 30 inches wide

nothing has been done to the photographs outside of adding sample txt, these were taken by the same exact camera without a flash of any kind in day to evening lighting

a side effect of using natural inks is that as in nature, when they are prepared correctly, the colors seem to change in different lighting

I often wonder how many times a person looks for the rewind button before they simply stay put for a second, and breathe. I suppose its become my nature to be grateful for the simplest of things. It's funny how almost losing your life can have that impact, and how contagious an attitude is between people.

I'm from a sleepy little place called Glenville that rests it's head on the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. Schenectady, the oldest part of New York State is literally, across the bridge and the rivers are still frozen. It was a hard season and now it's getting warmer and people here are also warming up, lit inside by their growing greener surroundings and longer days of sunshine. There are those days in this river wind town where a smiling face is hard to find and the work is hard.

I stopped by the local Hollywood Video Store located on 11 Saratoga Road to look again for a dvd I had been trying to rent for about a week every day since it's release. It's such a day denter when you expect something to be there that just isn't, even if it is a small thing to look forward to. Like that one ingredient, or not having sugar for your coffee.

Anyway, I had just left the store a bit disappointed yet again when one of the so many copies just happened to be returned. Both people behind the counter actually tried looking me up in the computer and couldn't remember my name (I never pulled out my card). I happened to call later that day and the girl told me what happened. She then made sure to take down my information so that maybe that evening the night staff would call to let me know it was there.

About a half hour later the phone rang and right now I am about to make some kettle corn and watch it. My point is (and Hollywood video staff if yer reading this EXCELLENT JOB IN CUSTOMER SERVICE YOU ALL DESERVE RAISES) they did not have to do that but they did. It reminds me of the reason why I choose to live here. The hope and kindness that seems to be a shared experience of this entire community.

The fact that there are those that see someone going through something that might even be a small ordeal but they take the time to make it easier for them just because they can. Strangers still hold doors open for one another here and say please and thank you. These are luxuries today, common old fashioned luxuries that don't cost a penny but are so very priceless. It impressed me to be kinder too throughout the day. Not that I'm a mean bastard, not at all, but I mean to actually go out of my way in departments of patience and courtesy. So if you think an attitude isn't contagious try holding open the door for a stranger and see if they don't do the very same thing for the person behind them.

The pictures were taken sometime last week, the date on the camera is wrong and I have no clue how to fix it lol. I wanted to give the idea of a self-portrait and my feelings of coming out of a hard winter into something fluid and cool the prime placement in this piece. I still wanted to combine a movement attribute as well as being surrounded by an element. So within the hair I used both a wind and water image to emphasise the fact that the figure simply is not paying attention to his physical being but is more focused on a feeling, a sensation, the act of one single breath.

I usually never show a piece in it's stages like this because I always get those people who are uncomfortable with change that say, "I liked it better before". I do try to explain to them "Well it wasn't this painting before - it was a background. This piece is supposed to look like this, and always has - it's just now you can see it better." Most times I don't think they get it though. Anyway, the inks used here are a henna and eucalyptus base. People tend to think that henna is black, it isn't. True henna powder can be light to dark olive green and when mixed it has a very dark deep burnt red brown that from a distance looks black.

When it is applied to blues and greens it appears very dark blue and black, when it is applied to flesh tones it almost looks brown. Like alot of natural hues it changes color depending on the colors around it and the lighting in which it is viewed. In this case the henna powder from India was sifted then mixed with the appropriate amount of lemon and honey. It produces a wonderful stain that worked well with the other colors in this piece.

As a side note, there is a thing out there called "black henna" (also known as PPD) but it is a very dangerous and caustic carcinogen; among some of its many nasty side effects is that it eats muscle tissue if consumed accidentally. Just a warning, in spite of it's much cheaper cost do not buy it and never use it.

Up close like this - at a magnification of approximately 150% you can better see some details. Hundreds of lines of color actually form the image where there can be up to 23 different shades found within a single square inch. It gives the illusion that it is one single color until viewers actually look into the work. Can you see some of the hidden images yet? I don't mean the text either lol. When I am completed there will be over fifty such hidden images. As I mentioned earlier it's my style to do that as a kind of reward for those who actually look at the piece.

I also mentioned that during my process I rely upon a mix of different inspirations to add in staying consistent within the painting. One of which is this song by Anna Nalick called "2am breathe", the chords and some of the message resonate well with what it is I am trying to express here.

If you'd like you can access it by clicking this link, just click back in your web browser to return here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPz3YaIJkjQ&feature=related

More than anything with this I want to express the feeling of hope, an important relief in one's self simply being for a split second, acceptance and gratefulness in ones own Independence - it is the celebration of that one single breath which is stretched out into a permanent memory forever in one's own skin and it is very much me. In a way it's a kind of love beyond the averages of melancholy and monotony, just being.

4th entry, April 3rd 2008

2008-04-03T02:51:00.001-07:00

the base coat of "Breathe" a recent work in progress as outlined by my previous entries it is 24 inches by 30 inches

When a person desires to do something so badly that they want to do it well and even communicate that way they have a “passion”. When they make that passion a way of life it becomes, in a way, a “discipline”. They are different creatures and the change is a noticeable one.

A quiet focus assumes them where the thought of that very thing become omnipresent, and saturates their existence and they are pleased with that. The world responds to them differently as well, with a kind of respect if their dedication is complete.

For me simply being passionate about a thing is not enough, it is the half step or the half read book. It needs the discipline in order to hone it in its own way toward a form of independent personal perfection. There are several types of this occurring all throughout nature, human and others, putting a proverbial “reason” to rhyme and creating desired balance.

I was watching the Bravo TV show tonight “Top Chef” and I have to say that the amount of admiration for people in the art form of cooking is so very great. It is a combination of science and method, palette and placement. A mix of passion with discipline and look at the diversity in cuisine and presentation throughout time it has made for us.

After the show I read some of the blogs on the bravo site and realized something. That there was a string of familiarity in the way they talked about food, the way they all “lived” food and their art, the way they work their art and how they know it and came to know it.

It’s a competition of discipline, knowledge, style and passion where individuals are not so much judged on the conformity of their dishes but really on how well they execute them and the result. It is in a way for them to express themselves in as a master of their art and be tested as to how well they know how to. I think that’s why I love to watch shows like that. There’s a level of bravery to expose something so personal as ones art and say to the world, “what do you think?”

In the show it’s a bit fairer than in real life, usually the ones without the required amount of basic technique are removed first then the ones without the right levels of passion and/or discipline are removed. What got to me is that, so far with few exceptions, in this particular season the contestants are either too distracted or really afraid to express themselves – to go out there. When there’s a really great opportunity for them to show who they are as artists they’re tending to waste it on burying themselves in the process and technique. To me a master does not do that, a “top plumber” does not do that. They stand aside and focus on how to do it themselves, autonomously/independently and know themselves better for that.

In retrospect I think it’s because I have personal experience here. Although I use the same ingredients they prepare for consumption orally, and I use them for consumption visually I think it’s very much the same. I am able to create these visual dishes because I know myself and know how to express myself in a way appreciated by others. That was not always the way and WHEW was it brutal sometimes trying to progress. It's easy to become complacent or discouraged. Becoming an emergent is a learning process, and its good to be reminded to be brave and continue to learn and communicate better in my own art form. Funny how I got that from a cooking elimination reality television show but it really does make sense to me.

The picture of “breathe” was taken a few days ago, it’s still in it’s baby phase and needs about 200 or more hours before I really get it to where I need it to be. Then I’ll begin hiding the underlying images (little things I think of as rewards for those who really look at the piece) which will eventually be overlaid by a master image. The photo really does not do what’s going on justice. This blog arena can’t host the required definition needed to honestly give someone the real gist of what’s happening. I’m thinking about moving my blog altogether to a better site but I digress.

I used a concentrated co co, henna and coffee mixture to create the darker hues. To that I added vanilla and cinnamon which created a burnt sienna color and thinned out the co co mixture to allow for stretching those hues over the canvas. As stated in an earlier entry I wanted to give the idea of being underwater and opening your eyes and looking up at the sky in an early cool morning setting. It’s a depiction of the experience really, married to the idea of taking one breath, this is not a photo realistic painting – it is an impression.

After the base was applied I took a concentrate of violet and thistle with bay leaf to make my prime colors. When mixed with either clay, polenta or flour they change in color and after it is dried appropriately it makes the desired textures for the piece. At first the smell was really pungent and it took awhile for it to calm down lol. After it had settled a bit small brushings of the original violet concentrate then lilac, platycodon and egg yolk were applied to add variation of hues and bits of shine.

I’ve been asked several times as to what methods I use to extract the colors and I’ve taught a few people in informal demonstrations. Really it’s not extraordinary and has been done for ages and anyone can find that information anywhere. What I do to get the exact colors I use though are methods I keep personal, those are mine but there are many resources online should you want to try the general technique of making your colors from things like fruit, spices, vegetables, flowers, roots, bark etc.

I really think that so far the piece is coming together; it’s still a baby though and needs quite a bit more work. I’ll be looking forward to showing you another picture once the next step is completed.

More Later
;)

3rd Entry, March 26 2008

2008-04-03T02:41:00.000-07:00

That's me working the very 1st part of what will be known as "Breathe"

It's amazing what can happen to time when a person is really into what they're doing.

It's just as amazing how the simple everyday act of existing can be so effortless when someone really enjoys the activity they're into.

On a side note, I mean I know people with regrets, you know the ones that claim they woke up one day and they were 90 or something to that effect.

I think the difference is being grateful and having the appropriate attitude.

That way one's life isn't a series of distractions, they're a pearl string of events and chapters to re-read/recall fondly and others still to look forward to. It's a way to make a moment into the most intricate forever and a day into a minute you can remember every second of.

Anyway,
I can't sleep tonight, and this painting titled"Breathe" and everything behind it is very much on my mind.

I started from 10am on it yesterday, and am still continuing to work on it at 4am and it seems like a snap of the fingers really.

When I think of my process I think of my mind being a very still pool - waiting.

Then Small drops of fluid-like thought and formless words drop into that pool creating ripples each where they connect.

A few at first, like a sign more's about to come and then its happening.
And I am tracing each drop, and listening, and seeing the pattern and taking notes as it is happening.

Before long there's form to the story and its taking greater shape before I am even aware of it.
I cannot say that I am exactly focusing on the work itself as I am trying to keep up with the velocity of it's transfer if that makes any kind of sense.

I know it must all sound very cryptic and "artistically deep" but lol really there's no better way to describe it and I can't help if it comes across a little romantic.

Well, the arts are all romantic, I certainly have a love affair with mine, and deeply adore my muses

oh my muses, the inspirations

they open me up to so much and mix so well
they trine each work in process
like the sum being as uniquely beautiful as each of it's parts
"trine"
I love that word

anyway for lack of sleep and this blog being so very empty I descided to be a good boy and write a bit

I liked it, and I think I might be even more dilligent about it -

more later

2nd Entry, March 23 2008

2008-04-03T02:29:00.000-07:00

I am not a man of words really - easily I am better written than spoken, and even better painting than I am writing when it comes to communicating the idea.

I suppose that's why I have always drawn and painted even since I was a child.

Stating so, I cannot really apologize for my blog lol

it's just simple me trying something new as a suggestion by my agent so here it goes - my 1st entry.

Were it to be I had no voice and no words and

were I to speak in sound alone

and had I to exchange the art of writing in sentences

to that of notes in stanzas

I would describe myself in a single five minute and forty-three second paragraph

called

"Whisper of a Thrill"by Thomas Newman

those readers who would truly like to get to know me should find it

it is me to a proverbial "t"

it is the song I hear in my head each morning and the song that comes to me when I'm painting and real serious about things and real peaceful with things

I sometimes use music in a variety of types to increase or enhance a mood while producing a piece. Sometimes it is simply to remind me of a moment when I heard the song, like a themed notation in my head.

Lately I've been drawn to another song titled "No Air" by Jordan Sparks and am working on a piece titled

"Breathe"

inspired by so very much more than just the music.It tries to embody the almost universal feeling that someone encounters when a loved one is so very far away, then comes back.

It's an expression of pain for a distant love and then relief from that pain - even if short and temporary relief - it is both fragile in it's reverence and terrifically intense

There's a poem I wrote while in the middle of a great moment hearing the idea of it played out in my head and that song was playing. Here's the poem . . .

Breathe
- for max

From the shoreline I trailed the thoughts of you thinking "somewhere"

and imagined perhaps what you might look like
what you might feel like,
like a home I knew and had yet to have
but so so very familiar and I knew I would know you

and now I know your face, and can hear your words
and I have followed you through threads of pulses
beating in sync from the shoreline
and I am so very very deep

before the wish and now the need
and although you stole my breath away

it aches that you're so far from me

so come closer still my sweet familiar

and for the very first time
let me breathe

PGP

I feel that when a person is really in a love that they can trust they emotionally spiritually and psychically "breathe" - in any relationship really,

be it a pet a child a lover or friend or even themselves - it's a relaxed and aware state

the link below is the song I mentioned above (for you less than lovers of the current top ten I apologize but I adore its innocence and complexity)

it really helps when the song is playing while you read the poem if you'd like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icv6DgZ-9O4

so this is my first entry the blog is still taking shape but hey we all have to start somewhere

- I’ll be sure to post some pictures of the piece as it takes shape

Happy Easter to all that celebrate it

to those that don't enjoy your time off anyway ;)

- more later

Very First Entry, March 21st 2008

2008-04-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

WELCOME!

Thank you all for looking into my blog - this section of the website is new so forgive the short first entry.

This is my very first blog, I started it upon recommendation of my agent so we'll see how it goes.

I hope to use it to express the notion behind the method and communicate more closely with my fans (thank you all so much for your support).

Feel free to sign the guestbook and post any questions for me there ;)