Blog Archives

until then then

28/12/2014

Ask yourself
What would you do if you could do anything?

Me? I would travel full time, visit and stay in wonderful places around the world.
I would make up my days as they came along... be lead into adventures and new discoveries by chance and fate.
I would escalate the surreal element of my reality - move it closer to a dream state.

I would like to find out who I would be if I was granted unlimited access to whatever I wanted.
I imagine I would go wild, then rein it back to simple.
I would like to experience that procedural journey.

And who am I?
Am I the man who is writing this now?
Are these my thoughts?
Do I have any real attachment to them?
Or ownership?

Or am I just functioning as I must?
Taking one step at a time along the path that is in front of me.
Laid out from birth to death.

Do I care what I think? Am I interested?
Am I smarter that what I write?
Or are my words, as they flow from within me, coming from a higher intelligence to inform and enlighten me?

Do I think too much or not enough?
Is there any measure?
Of anything? Ever?
And what would it be in relation to?

So - no. The answer is - no. There is no measure.
Everything flows. Multiple streams. Infinite streams.
Never standing still. Never the same.

But I am writing these words now. I can see them.
And I hope that one day when I reread them I will have a deeper understanding of the bigger picture.
But do I really hope that?
No. I may never read these words again.
They are just time fillers. Perhaps.
Just static. A recording. Random.

What's the goal here?
To keep moving, keep writing, until I hit something that resonates. Something that feels substantial, meaningful, essential.
The artist's quest for truth. The thirst for essence.
From a man in a cave scraping on the wall to a man in front of a computer screen.
I am here, it says.
I am alive now.
It feels like this.
It occurs like this.

I have eaten dinner, I have swum in the ocean. My need right now, my desire, my goal in this endeavour - the one in which I am investing my time in - is to find a feeling of satisfaction through shining a torch on the cave walls of my own awareness and trying to make sense of the scribbles and patterns.

The caveman in me doesn't care. He has ADHD.
He wants to do some killing. To fire up a carcass, eat some hot, greasy meat. To feel the thrill of dominating and terminating his prey. He wants to dive into the river from the branch of the tree. He wants to stare up at the moon, mouth agape, mind boggled. He wants to clumsily dance with his woman, thrash about in her warmth and tenderness, invest himself in her moisture. Laugh with her, escape with her. He wants carnal things.

That's him. Still there. But the me of now. The me of sometimes. Wants other things. Things out of reach. Things out of sight. Things that seem to spring from within. Higher callings. Spiritual lightness. He wants to break through the barriers of common living, he wants to be in the future. Now. He wants to find a way to transcend the limitations imposed upon him.

He is me and he is you, too, most likely.

If we can imagine it...

It must eventually occur/appear. And the notions of higher self that we all share, the awareness of something so much greater, so much more...

Something is coming next. I think many of us can intuit that it's a spiritual awakening. A mass expansion of human consciousness. This tawdry everydayness that we plod through - well, it's well past it's due date.

In the meantime, let's celebrate and appreciate what is good in ourselves and those around us and look forward to a playfully profound future.

0 Comments

20 lessons from 14

26/12/2014

0 Comments

1. You can go lower than you thought.
2. You can come back from lower than you thought.
3. Not all friendships endure.
4. People influence other people. Not always in a good way.
5. It doesn't matter how good you think you are - it's a delusion.
6. Time can be both a friend and an enemy.
7.
8. Getting older (50 and beyond) can be fascinating and enlightening - but you need to let go of some stuff and pay attention to what you've got.
9. Kids are pretty much the best things in the world.
10. Romance is mutual delusion. Sometimes it will carry you through to something of substance. Sometimes it will dump you on your arse.
11. If you can be good friends with yourself; it helps.
12. As time ahead diminishes; focus sharpens, energy is reserved for what is essential.
13. Laughter is still, and always will be, the best drug.
14. Laughter shared is even better.
15. Any kind of judgement of others is probably wrong. At best it is a waste of time.
16. The smallest things are often the greatest.
17. Some dreams - those no longer attainable - are to be released into the night sky. This makes way for new ones.
18. Consider yourself lucky.
19. When you can (or must) - step up to the plate and give it your best swing. Don't let too many pitches fly past.
20. Magic can happen at any time. Don't be prepared.

0 Comments

You Can Do Anything

24/12/2014

0 Comments

You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything.You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything.You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything.You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything.You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything.You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything.You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything.You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything.You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything. You can do anything.

A good friend said this to me on the beach this afternoon. I was surprised. As I continued on my walk, I felt bolstered by his comment and considered what he had said.

I believe him.

On my way back, I repeated it over and over to myself out loud. It felt good.

The first step to being able to do anything, is believing that it is possible.

Makes sense, right? It's kind of a prerequisite. So, the second step, I reckon, is being open to the next thing that comes along and presents itself in that kind of new and challengy way. Dares you to take it on. Looking forward to it.

I'm ready.

0 Comments

beyonder landing

18/12/2014

0 Comments

I was lying on my bed early this evening, having a rest before the night's entertainment episodes (Project Runway All Stars, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and an ep or two of the final season of Sons of Anarchy), thinking about the day, thinking about what is, what could be, things that are and things that may be, as well as some that never will, when I considered what this blog entry might be.

I usually don't think about it too much in advance, just shake up the jar, open the lid and see what spills out - but I wanted to write something with currency, perhaps even temerity. I wanted to do this because I have an internal rating system in my memory and carry a constant idea of the aggregate weight and substance of my recent entries. If I feel there has been too much fluff or self indulgence in sequence, I try and mine the deeper recesses of my creative subconscious for some stuff of greater value, higher payoff, more meaning. If not gold, because gold has to be stumbled upon, not manufactured, then at least a good vein of silver or some random shiny diamonds.

And did I find anything while mining my mind tonight?

Maybe. I cannot say.

What I did come up with was the realisation that whatever I write here in this cyberspace journal, my artist's diary, is really only a translation of what goes on in my head. And a pretty rough one at that. Rough and basic. Very basic. The true nature of what occurs in our minds is so vastly more complex and incredible than we could ever express with mere words that it is almost inane. It's like a super genius explaining something to an eight year old and then getting him or her to then retell it to a friend the next day during playtime.

Seriously. I was paying some close attention to the amazing, yes, amazing, cerebral zinging that was going on while I was prone pondering this evening - and I knew, that there would be absolutely no way that I could ever, EVER express the full spectrum of the stellar light show that was occurring. Still, I resolved, I would try. At very least I would be able to explain and apologise for the gap between what goes on and what is reported. And that in itself, that may be somewhat illuminating.

What I am saying is true for us all. We are so much more complex than we realise. We are absorbing and processing and filtering such a vast amount of information from so many sources on so many levels in our every waking moment. And then, when it comes time to condense and arrange it, we end up with, by default, a simplistic sliver of the whole. It's not a surprise, really - or a revelation. But the interesting thing is that a lot of the wild thinking can be observed in moments of solitude and respite and not only enjoyed but quietly marvelled at. What beings we are! Incredible. Way, way, way beyond what we give ourselves credit for. And way beyond what we are currently able to manifest. Or type out in a soliloquy. And this is a good thing to acknowledge. Because it means that we are all very much richer than we know.

Take a look, have a listen to what goes through your mind when you take some time out to quietly think or meditate. Once you go out beyond the breaking waves of the chatter, there's a whole ocean of incredible power and timeless beauty there. It's yours. It's you. It's all of us.

Despite the horrible tragedies and injustices that are occurring daily in our time - that seem to be coming to a head, perhaps - there lies beyond a splendid and unlimited array of alternative realities within each of us. Accessible now.

Go on, go take a look. See for yourself. It's just like someone whispered. The change we long to see in this world comes from within.

0 Comments

one per

17/12/2014

0 Comments

Reach
Reach for anything
Reach for what you want

Seek
Seek whatever
Seek your heart's desire

Teach
Teach the curious
So they too may be wise

Give
Give what you can
It'll make you feel richer

Talk
Talk about what you're thinking
We want to know, we need to know

Leap
Leap into the unknown
You won't be hurt, you won't regret

The sky
Is your limitlessness
You may not get there
On the first jump
But eventually, eventually
You'll be out of sight completely

Completely completed
A compliment to eternity
A snicker from up the back of infinity

Until then
Stay focused
Stay in the sun
Stay close
But travel far

Use your imagination, kid!

0 Comments

All the wisdom in the world

8/12/2014

0 Comments

See, the thing is - the more you live the more you learn. And the more you learn the more you realise that all that you know is really so little. You acquire wisdom but you do not become necessarily higher functioning because wisdom itself is finite. And life is infinite and ever changing.

I guess what I am trying to say is that when you are younger you think that at some stage you'll have it all worked out. Well - you never do. The game keeps shifting.

One thing that becomes apparent is that life is hard. It's a constant struggle. It's demanding. Things need to be attended to. There is no escape. There is no easy way out.

Life never becomes what we imagined it would become. It becomes something very different. It becomes that same thing that it always was, and always has been: a challenge.

Each of us, struggling to work things out, get it together, get to a place where we can relax and enjoy. But this is impossible. The nature of existence is that you constantly get bombarded with difficulties to overcome.

Like the turtle in the picture above, we are going nowhere. If we are lucky we might make it to water. But even then we must evade predators, find food, keep moving.

Like T, most of us develop hard exteriors and as often as we can, retreat inside ourselves - grateful to escape the demands of the day, the surroundings, the activities. Over the years we have somehow constructed and nurtured a complex and hopefully comfortable relationship with our inner selves. We've devised a silent sanctuary to which we can retreat.

Nobody likes being hassled, stressed, to have demands put upon them. We just want to be left alone. We just want to breathe easy for a while. To not have to attend to the never ending demands.

We are souls trapped inside the bodies manifest of human beings. And it is hard work. Do we not, all of us, wish life was... different? Why isn't it the way we all wish it could be? Why have we chosen, on some deeper level, to attend this form of existence? Is it really worth it? Why are there not other options? Mankind seems to be taking far, far too long to evolve. Where's the bliss? How far to heaven on earth? We are tired of being turtles stuck on a bird bath.

Is anyone listening? Anyone who can do anything about it?

Of course not. Feels good to have had a whinge. A lament. A sigh put into words. At least we have this - we can share our feelings and thoughts with fellow sufferers. We can unite in our misery. Come together in hardship. Perhaps it is our salvation. Perhaps it is the point. To join together.

All is know is - in the end you die. And the end comes to quickly. Sure life is pain and heart ache - but why does it have to end so soon?

0 Comments

anything is possible

6/12/2014

0 Comments

As one chapter ends a new one begins.

After creating 5,000 images over the last two and a half years on my Samsung Galaxy Note 1 - like the images the have adorned the posts of this blog - I have changed tact and have begun to work on my recently acquired phone - the newly released Note 4. I'm working on a series of black & white drawing and comics that I plan to publish next year in a book.

I really enjoyed the daily, accumulative process of creating the colour works and often wondered how long it would go on for. But with the exciting new purchase of the exciting new portable studio - with it's fancy, fandangled technology and crisp, clear screen image quality - I found myself naturally drawn to creating clean and simple greyscale sketches. I have done a couple of hundred already and plan to present the best (and the worst) in a simple paperback style tome early next year in a small, self-funded print run.

It feels good to be working on a fresh project and with the knowledge that the pieces will be published and shared via good old fashioned printing on paper methodology. I have always loved books of all sorts, so the prospect of making one of my own is exciting. In 2001, I self published my first paperback - a collection of writings called 'All I've Ever Wanted Is What I Know I Can Never Have.' I did a small run and sold out quickly - a large percentage at the launch in Sydney. For many years also, in the 90's - I self published and distributed zines of my line work and writing under the titles - Free Spirit, Script Head and Hip Shots. One day I plan to release a best of compilation of these, too.

One day.

I like those words. Not today. Not tomorrow. But not just any random future day either. One day. It is so full of hope and fantasy. It may of may not come. But if it does, it will be beautiful. It's good to have one days.

0 Comments

until then then

20 lessons from 14

You Can Do Anything

beyonder landing

one per

All the wisdom in the world

anything is possible

ART GETS ME HIGH

Author & Artist

Archives

Categories

until then then

20 lessons from 14

You Can Do Anything

beyonder landing

one per

All the wisdom in the world

anything is possible

﻿ART ﻿﻿﻿GETS ME﻿ ﻿﻿HIGH﻿

﻿﻿Author & Artist﻿﻿

Archives

Categories

ART GETS ME HIGH

Author & Artist