In Buddhism, the most important practice is mindfulness, a continuous awareness of the Eightfold Path. Mindfulness has taken on a more secular meaning in modern times: awareness of the moment itself. This is a difficult thing for us monkey-minded creatures. In the modern practice of mindfulness, we are to constantly remind ourselves to be aware of the world around us, of our breath, of the birds singing, the grass growing, the cars grumbling by on the frantic streets, and even the taste of the food we eat. Imagine being aware of our dinner as we eat it. It’s almost laughable. […]
Camping Rough Like John Muir
Robert Lewis My experiment was about to begin. I had been reading about John Muir and wondering. How did people in the early days do basic things? How did the American pioneers, my ancestors, do the simple things of survival? What did daily life feel like while walking the Oregon Trail? How did they start a fire? How did they sleep out without a roof? Everyone’s ancestors got through their days without the comforts we expect. For a hundred thousand years and more, our ancestors did these things to solve these problems. They lived good lives. They relied on their […]
Trailer Trashed
I slept in a cupboard. My parents made me sleep in a cupboard. That’s how I have always remembered life in the trailer in Anchorage, Alaska. At bedtime, I was ordered into the padded shelf and they slid the plywood sliding doors closed and I was enclosed in a small space. I felt trapped and panicky. Sometime after I finally fell asleep the nightmares would begin. It was always the same dream, abstract shapes before my eyes constantly changing. The shapes were geometric, meaningless, and in perpetual motion, a square turning into a circle, pierced by a jagged yellow arrow […]
The Things Left Undone
I am sitting at a desk in my dead mother’s little house in Barnesville, Georgia, on April 6, 2011. On the desk next to me as I write is a cardboard box containing the ashes of my mother who I had expected would be here, alive, when I planned this trip. Instead, she could not wait for me any longer. I’ve been here for about an hour, arriving early this morning. This is hard. I knew it would be. I understood that her death would not be real to me until I stood in her little place, with her […]
My China Trip
“I’ve got just the thing.” She teetered near the top of a rickety wooden ladder and reached up to a dusty cardboard box on the top shelf of the cobwebby garage. I steadied the ladder from below. Brushing the dust off the box revealed the word “China” written in marker. Old newspapers crinkled back from around the two fragile bone china cups and saucers of different designs as we opened the box. Laid away so long ago, each cup was the remnant of a larger set, long lost even before she owned these pieces. Each cup the last in a […]
Sedona Plein Air: I Call Them Heroes (5)
Note: This is Part 3, the final post, of the account of Sedona Plein Air Festival 2010 In which the artist(s) may not have seen themselves as heroes yet, nevertheless, they became heroes. Before we go any further I want you to click on the first image below. (The image will enlarge and, after that, you can click on each image to advance the slideshow.) In these photos of the Sedona competing artists by photographer Tim Poly, look at their faces and/or their demeanor. Do you see the fully-engaged people I see? Serious and yet lighthearted, present and focused yet […]
Sedona Plein Air: In Search of “The View” (4)
Note: This is Part 2 of the account of Sedona Plein Air Festival 2010 In which the artist becomes finds himself obsessed with finding the perfect view and comes to realize it is all perfect in its own way, something he should have known in the first place. The View Joshua Been‘s “Cathedral Reflections” made a powerful impact as the image used in the Sedona Plein Air Festival 2010 postcard, website, and mailings. His inspired decision to paint this iconic land form as a reflection in a small river is plein air at its best. This is a powerful image, […]
Sedona Plein Air: Out of Thin Air (3)
Note: This post is Part 1 of several posts about the Sedona Plein Air Festival. Wherein the artist has his breath taken away when realizing that photos can not do justice to a place like Sedona, Arizona, only paintings can. And wherein 32 artists attempt to remedy this by creating, out of thin air, a major exhibit. Take a moment to look at this photo. See that modest little road? Note the clearly visible bike lanes, firmly painted as if to say “bikes are as important as cars”. That’s 179, the major highway into Sedona. See the buildings, adobe-like dwellings, […]
Gearing Up (2)
Wherein the artist holds his breath wondering, will it all fit? Having shipped three large boxes off the the Sedona Arts Center earlier in the week, I still had one thing looming over my head: would I be able to fit my easel, paints, umbrella, and mediums into a single suitcase or would I become a victim of extra baggage charges!? For months now, I’ve researched every kind of plein air easel known to man. The Soltek, the Guerrilla painter, the Julian, Craftech, Pro Advanced, Easylite, Utrecht, Open Box M, Beauport, gloucester, French full box, French half-box, thumb-box pochades and […]
Ready for Sedona Plein Air Festival (1)
In which the artist pauses for a moment to savor the fevered preparation it has taken be ready to paint and paint well. For the past several weeks have been filled with preparation for competition in the Sedona Plein Air Festival. Plein air competitions are an amazing thing. When the competition begins there is nothing but potential. When it ends there is an amazing exhibition of fresh, wet plein air paintings, and a thousand intense experiences that have turned into memories. At the rate we are going, us plein air painters will fill every art museum in America with plein […]