Insane Imaginings, Random Reveries & Other Creative Cogitation

I planned on taking the weekend off to paint.  I got on my computer, Saturday, and just spend the whole day there. I had eight paintings I needed to get on my website complete with all the lovely pictures, most of PopCult Gallery Three got uploaded.   Then I needed to start getting the word out there via social media, posting pictures on my Facebook fanpage which automatically goes to various places.  Once that was done I was finally able to post a blog about two of the new pieces and deep link on a couple of other posts that are in the que waiting their turn.

On the upside I started five, zero and a painting called Vuvuzelas in honor of all that soccer stuff I keep hearing about; I don’t have the sports gene so I was nit watching the matches. What that means is that I am still on track with respect to a painting a day for the first week, assuming I finish them by tomorrow  You should hear me right now… I am chucking at the unrealistic deadline I just set myself. In addition to this blog I want to write a bit about the other two paintings I uploaded so I can do some deep linking to them too.

I am finding social media is taking a lot of time.  I am trying to work in some more Linkedin and today I hit a bunch of new Facebook friends with a request to become a fan of my Fanpage.  While I was at it I uploaded the 8 new paintings to the photo album on my fan page and changed my avatars on my fanpage and Facebook page all the while chatting away via TweetDeck.  Oh my. 

I keep hearing that I need to automate newsletter sign up.  I have a newsletter – it tends to go out when I am have a show, but right now it’s too hot locally so no email newsletter, so I wonder what am I going to put in a newsletter.  Then there is affiliate marketing, monetizing the site, etc. etc. - those are just words to me right now – I don’t know what they mean.  Anyway while I was blogging I figured out how to put links to Twitter, my Facebook fanpage, Linkedin and MySpace etc at the top of my art blog.  When I set up the blog that idea never occured to me, now of course it’s, “Like Duh…”

By the time this post gets done I will have five and zero done, but will they be uploaded to my website, I am making heavy sighing noises even as I think about it. 

five, by Jake Beckman. Five yellow canaries cavort about an orange number 5. The background is an abstract of warm purple bubbles. The binary reads "five" and "5".

So this is five, finally posted in this blog, and zero is below.  Vuvuzelas got its own blog on the eve of the World Cup final.  I had to post it before the end.  It was coincidentally painted in the colors of the winning countries flag-red vuvuzelas and a bright yellow canary (excuse me, gold canary) .

zero, by Jake Beckman. An outline of a canary, representing the canary null set, flies before a gilt number 0.

OK I guess by now you know what 6, 7, 8 and 9 will look like.  But zero was a puzzle for me until I came up with my “null set” canary.   I am enjoying the miniature abstract backgrounds more too.  As much as I love painting my big ones, some of my effects take a long time and a long time to dry.  Working on this scale definitely speeds things up. 

As I write this blog on day five (pictures to be inserted later) I realize time-management is definitely and issue for me.  Got any tips? 

Also all this art is for sale.  Mama needs some more canvases.  Want to buy some? Check out five and zero‘s pages on my website.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

I finished this painting more than a month ago.  I can’t believe it has taken me that long to upload the images to my website and to sit down and blog about it.  As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you are making other plans.”  So true for me too.  I found myself spending several weeks dealing with feral cat issues, softy that I am.  Adding that one thing really put me behind on everything and so these paintings languished in the obscurity of my studio.

But no more.  Since June 27, 2010 was a total washout on painting I endeavored to “catch up” on my blogging, and my website maintenance among other things. I cranked out quite a few so I can post them later. It’s now later for this blog, enjoy.

Bridge is a spin off on iPod Tweety and iPod ads in general, but it is also a contrast as well. Once I did iPod Tweety, one of the first things that came to mind was a person who conducts an imaginary orchestra while listening to a recording of some kind. The cockatoo became the obvious bird because of the crest. I dunno but I think of conductors as having shocks of unruly hair sticking up.  Conductors usually wear dark suits so the bird in silhouette also tracked in my mind. 

But unlike the music behind Rock Me! classical music has layers, movements, changes in melody, key and other such devices that generally imply a more complex arrangement; besides most classical works are much longer than your average pop radio tune.  With this in mind I set out to make my abstract background conveying this complexity and passage of time.  I chose green.  The background is a very dark green, which is overlaid with bright green and then light sea green. I did several waves of color sweeping from the top of the canvas to the bottom around the conductor bird as a melody.  I placed a series of thick bright spires behind the cockatoo opposite these waves, I think of them as a deep throbbing baseline.  Finally I painted some thin verticals that were much lighter in color to convey a sprinkling of high notes.  The top of the painting is lighter in color and the bottom is still bright green but much darker, the waves and vertical lines “bridge” the two zones. I also have some textural elements in the waves and the thick bright spires. Of course while I was painting it I was not in this literal “this means that mode,” I was feeling the music. 

Bridge, by Jake Beckman. A crested cockatoo conducts and imaginary symphony while listening to its iPod. The green background is an abstract representation of classical music.

That was the thought behind Bridge.  I hope you like this different take on Binary Birds, iPods and music.  Any comments?  If you would like more details about Bridge or would like to buy it, please see its page at AKAJake.com.

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

As I sit down to write this blog I realize I finished Rock Me! a month ago.  I can’t believe that much time has passed before I finally got it posted on my website and of course do this thing.  But I guess I must push on as I really do want to paint tomorrow, oh wait it’s 2 AM which means I want to paint today!

One thing I decided to do starting with Rock Me! was to create a series of smaller more affordable paintings.  I have heard person wanting to start collecting me might want to start small and work up to a larger piece.  There is an advantage in these smaller works in addition to affordability to my collectors; to some extent they do go together faster, my investment in materials is a little less, and they take up less space in my studio while being stored.  The downside is, I am not used to working this small, to some extent working in the smaller scale with smaller brushes takes as much time as working with larger brushes on a larger scale and doing abstract backgrounds on this scale is limiting. It feels odd to create non representational flow of color on something so tiny.  But I am endeavoring to do this very thing.

I love the idea behind Rock Me! It’s a spin off the idea behind of iPod Tweety and iPod print ads in general.  My first sketches had the full body of umbrella crested cockatoo including the spread wings.  As I fooled around with the sketch in photoshop I realzed what enamored me most about this idea was the full head of back lit feathers.  I really felt like it conveyed Rock & Roll’s energy.  The suggestion of the open beak completes the image of the rock afficianado howling and grinding to his or her favorite song. I decided not to zoom in any futher as it would have been too much black.  DH thinks I went too far… 

Red also seemed appropriate.  I love the energy of blood red.  And black is a very powerful color too.  As for the background I just wanted it to appear splattered with sound, volumn, energy.  As I do my abstract backgrounds I realize I think they not only represent emotion, but are accompanied by music as well.

Rock Me! by Jake Beckman. An umbrella crested cockatoo rocks out to iPod tunes.

I think I resemble this animal, I am pretty much a rocker babe. I hope you like this latest Binary Bird as much as I do.  Rock on!

If you would like to find out more about Rock Me! or buy it, check out it’s page on my website. Feel free to comment-like it, hate it? 

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

Part of my thinking about Social Media revolves around the fringe element.  I think we all are fringy at times. Here’s a fringe theory from me. Please explain otherwise why kittens are a perrienial favorite posting in all forms of social media? I think it’s their secret power – I’d reach for for my tin foil hat but my cat is sending rays to me bending me to her will… I… must… pet my cat.  Just joking – but I think you get the drift. 

I have been hearing about the end of time (according to the Mayan Calender) since I was a teenager.  My mom is a go to source for all things fringy.  I love my mom, but she did expose me to everything from Nostrodamus, to theories of Atlantis so I have known about fringe element theories for quite some time.  I am sure the modern day Mayans (yes they are still around) are sick of hearing about the end of the 13th b’aktun as they know the 14th b’aktun starts the next day. To them I am sure its just a flipping of the calendar like January 1, 2000.  If you want to find out more about the Mayan Calendar, read my post discussing the wheel of time that appears in the paintings below.

Anyway, from what I have read, it seems the Mayans would view the flipping over of their calendar as an auspicious event, a time for celebration.  “Hey folks, we made it another 400 years.  Lets Party!”  Of course you really don’t need an excuse to party, “Happy Wednesday!” Anyone?  But flipping a 400-year calendar seems to be a good a reason as any.

So when I was contemplating my Binary Birds painting on the subject and figuring out how I was going to depict the the long count calendar, I decided the paintings would reflect this more joyous take on the end of the 13 b’aktun.  I decided to use a red-crested parrot as the bird in the paintings as this distinctive bird is a native of Mexico; after all it is their celebration… no? 

But a something happened when I went to paint.  I could not decide how many birds to put in the painting so I came up with two versions.  The first simply entitled 12/20/2012 has a happy parrot dancing on the outer most cog of my wheel of time; the painting is dominated by the entire calendar.   By the way anyone else notice the end of the 13th b’aktun as number is kind of the same forward and backward? See how easy it is to point out spurious coincidence and build some fringe theory around it? Of course true to Binary Birds theme there is ASCII binary which reads right to left & top to bottom 12/20/2012. 

12/20/2012 by Jake Beckman. A red crested parrot dance in Jake;s conception of Mayan Long Count Calendar.

The second painting I think expresses the celbration aspect a bit better.  The wheel is still pretty large, but my partying parrots are definitely more compelling.  The title is Party like its CJJHJ!  Which is of course a take on Party like is 1999! reflecting on the parties that occured at the end of the last century (of course some like to point out that the new century didn’t begin until 2001, but I am going with the majority on this one-even if they are not technically correct).  The binary reads Party like its CJJHJ from left to right & top to bottom. By the way, is it just me or do parrots have ugly feet? If you are wondering about CJJHJ, read more about my representation of the Mayan long-count calendar in my blog post on the subject. 

Party Like its CJJHJ, by Jake Beckman. Three red-crested parrots celebrate the end of the 13th b'aktun of the Mayan long-count calendar.

So thats the story of my paintings on the subject of 2012 as relates to Binary Birds & social media.  I hope you like them.  If you want to find out more about these paintings or buy one or both check out their pages on my website: 12/20/2012 and Party like its CJJHJ

By the way I have confirmed my participation in the End of the World Facebook party on 12/20/2012.  Have you?

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

UPDATE June 21:  I survived a weekend of pushing myself away from the computer.  I wish I could say I got a lot done, but I didn’t-I felt like I was missing something.  It was hard-I admit it I am now a social networking junkie.  I logged in once on Saturday and then by Sunday I had a whole bunch of stuff that I had not seen before; one person complained it was hard to follow my tweets as they did not remember what I was responding to a day later.  But on Sunday I only logged in one more time and got off within 10 minutes or so.  I have decided 1 time per day is not going to be enough to keep up with my stuff.  Today its business as usual.  But I am seeing the possibilities…  So the experiment will continue.  During the week I need to work on my computer, but Iwill only check my social media and email 2 times at most and I will only be on the computer when I have to.  Of course all that free time gave me another idea about how to spend more time on my computer.  Eek.    More later. 

June 19: OK. I am in communication overload.  I find myself in front of this device all the time.  I spend so much time in my office that I grow cats who get very comfortable on me while I am working.  It is not easy to work with a 15 pound feline demanding attention, which I guess is their way of saying, “Step away from the box…”

Me, working at my computer with a helpful feline in my lap and another on my desk generally knocking crap over.

I have come to feel like my desk has a gravitational pull that stronger than the rest of the earth.  I am in orbit around it regularly and it is very hard to pull myself away from it-and I always seem to wind up right back in front of it.  Sure my day job forces me to be here at least part of the time, but more and more I find myself drawn into email, blogging, online marketing, social media and other electronic communication to the point where I believe it is taking too much of my time. 

Resolved, I will start budgeting (limiting) my time in front of the glowing screen so that I can get out  and do stuff in the big blue box too.  I was thinking I would try to stay away from the computer all weekend, but I think that is probably not realistic so I may just need to get a timer or something to limit the amount of time I sit here.

We’ll see how it goes.  Stepping away from the computer… as soon as I post this, link to it on my website and post it to social media-see what I mean?

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

Just finished recycling a bunch of “free” metal frames I have been moving around my office for two years by filing them with matted gicleé. Never again.  Them things just aren’t designed for mats.  Even though the results appear quite nice it was a lot of work, cleaning them up and then cramming the mats and prints into them.  My fingers are pretty chewed up now.  Hopefully some of them will sell at the SunnySlope artwalk on Saturday – the Artwalk is between Butler and Dunlop on the East Side of Central Avenue in Phoenix AZ USA April 10, 2010. I just realized he Flights of Fancy show at the Sundust gallery opens tomorrow.  Busy busy busy.

I am working on two more sketches, but I have been too busy this week to get any painting done.  Next week doesn’t look good either as April 15th approaches and taxes are my day job, and I actually have an artisan market that day.

Anyway, here is the blog on the last piece I finished.

Long before the invention of the World Wide Web, there were loose sets of conventions for communicating over networks. Most had to do with multi-posting, cross posting, off-topic posting, electronic signatures, whether or not to use abbreviations, hijacking a discussion thread, in addition to basic professionalism, courtesy, a distaste for spam, prohibitions against writing in ALL CAPS (which is the cyber-equivalent of yelling) and bans against flame wars. An unwritten idea behind netiquette is that all these communications forms: email, forums, chats, and other networks are not really private and messages conveyed over them should reflect this fact. If you would not want to see something you said on the front page of the NY Times, you probably should not convey it in cyberspace.

In this installment of Social Media Birds, I return to my Tweety. Them bright yellow canaries are just so happy looking.

Netiquette, by Jake Beckman. A singing yellow canary is perched atop his grumpy flaming cat monster.

I struggled with sketching this painting for quite a while.  The concept came quickly enough: flaming monster, social media tweety – high concept.  My original drawing with a canary operating a “blue”berry device, while sitting on his vaguely Chuck Jones’-esque flaming monster was very unsatisfying.  It was too literal and did not lay out well.  I went through several iterations until I realized my monster was looking a lot more like a cat than anything else.  Suddenly it dawned – few things look more disdainful than a punch-face Persian cat.  When my monster took on feline elements the rest just came together.  The binary swirling out of the background reads “Netiquette” of course.

For more information about Netiquette, please refer to its art page at AKAJake.com.

What are your thoughts on Netiquette?

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

I can think of no better phrase to convey the paranoia that is encompassed by conspiracy theories. The Grassy Knoll, Area 51, the NM UFO crash, 2012 End of Times (I think I might do a painting about this too…), Illuminati, Free Masons, Skull & Bones, Knights Templar, other secret societies, theories about who really was behind 9/11, theories about what is really causing global warming, aliens, theories ancient civilizations that would make Erich von Däniken blush-the list of conspiracies goes on and on and I have not even begun to tap into this vein of Pop Culture. Social Media provides a new media-rich platform for the fringe to espouse their outlandish beliefs.

In this latest edition to the Social Media Birds series, I take on one theory that has some basis in fact-the idea that the US States government is spying on ordinary citizens. Various governments are using Signal Intelligence to search for terrorists and their plots, to track drug dealers, and for other political and diplomatic intelligence. Fringe theorists also claim it is being used by governments, secret societies, aliens or other secret coalitions for large-scale commercial theft, economic espionage and of course general invasion of privacy.

Conspiracy Theory, by Jake Beckman. A menacing American bald eagles swoops out of cyberspace to snatch information for a data stream.

The menacing American bald eagle is seemingly formed out of the nothingness of cyberspace to snatch at information passing through a data stream in the foreground.  The edge to edge binary reads, “Warning: They know you’re reading this… Warning:”. Several people have suggested I use something other than a tweety bird in these paintings, so here one is.  This intimidating raptor is the very antithesis of my joyous canaries.

For more information about Conspiracy Theory, size etc., please visit its art page at AKAJake.com.

So what is your favorite conspiracy?

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

In this second painting inspired by Roll Play Games online, I draw upon the idea that anyone can become anything and be successful at it.  One of my friends who was having a hard time in the Big Blue Box several years ago, but online she did become master of her guild and empress of her universe.  Too bad success in the real world doesn’t seem to correlate well with cyberspace, but who knows maybe cyberspace is becoming the new “real world.”

I admit I used to play Dungeons and Dragons back in the 70s; of course in those days players would get together and play face to face – sometimes we even took it “live” roaming through the city “adventuring.”  I even played an “online” version on a community college’s mainframe, but back in those days there were no graphics – just a series of events that would be triggered if you inputted a recognizable response.  Games have come a long way.

CMAP (Cover My *Butt* Parter), by Jake Beckman. As they near the entrance to an ominous looking castle, the house finch gamer turns to his raptor buddy and asks him to cover his butt.

This image is inspired by what I consider the grandfather of RPG online, namely D&D.  Adventure awaits those who dare to enter the foreboding castle, but it is always good to have friends looking out for you even online.

For more details about CMAP see its art page at AKAJake.com.

Any comments? Do you like it, hate it, think its too dark, think its funny?…”

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

NOOB is a third painting inspired by online roll play, specifically first person shooters.  I have been around long enough to remember playing the original version of Doom – it was very popular among the budding scientists at my university. It makes me laugh to see old time computers in movies from the 80s and 90s, which I remember using.  It is all so very different now.  You used to need a lot more imagination.

In general NOOB is an acronym recast from “newbie,” which can refer to anyone not familiar with cyberspace, but in the context of RPG it refers to an unskilled player.

NOOB by Jake Beckman. Two yellow house finch gamers perch in a tree gazing down upon a fallen comrade as the first person shooter roll play continues on.

In this painting I harken to Halo, Half-Life, Call of Duty, and other vaguely military first person shooters.  Although their comrade has fallen, he can rise again and be slain again ad infinitum. In cyberspace death is a temporary inconvenience.   I kept the background including the helmet that as fallen off the dead bird in shades of soft blue gray to contrast the yellow house finch players from the cyber game space.  In the middle background I have placed several vague military figures engaged in the continuing game play. Update: Someone suggested I put the size of the painting in the blog; size and other particulars are available on the NOOB art page.

Any comments? Do you like it, hate it, think its too dark, think its funny?”

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.

Sorry to take this long to post something new.  Back to back art markets wiped me out.  I have completed several paintings in the interim, and even wrote a couple of draft posts about a week ago.  Then I got busy. Oops. It happens.  Even though Conspiracy Theory is not yet done, I did wander into another social media topic – online gaming, which turns out to be a very rich source of material indeed.

Avatar, I’ve always thought it was kind of a cool word back when it was only mentioned in conjunction with earthly incarnations of Vishnu. Then I read a novel by Poul Anderson, called The Avatar,  which introduced me to an alternate definition, the  embodiment of a principal.

I can’t remember when the word came to refer to the image that is the “embodiment” of online persona, but in general I feel many avatars are the quintessence of our aspirations rather than who we really are.  Avatars can be the picture of a person 20 minutes ago, or 20 years ago, like the newspaper columnist’s picture that never ages.  They can be a photo from a day that a person just happened to look particularly good.  They can be pictures of objects of desire. They can be the image of the moment;  some people change their avatar as often as they change their socks.  But like all things in cyberspace they are not necessarily a reflection of reality.

Avatar by Jake Beckman. A yellow house finch uses a fierce, godlike screaming raptor as his avatar.

In the context of RPG, avatars generally are illusory.  Even if a scrawny social misfit in real-life can be project as the unbeatable warrior, or irresistible sorceress. And so  a house finch could take on a fiercely divine raptor as his avatar.

Update: Someone suggest I put the size of the paintings in my blogs. Details of this work are available on the Avatar Art Page

What avatars do you use and why? Do they bear any resemblance to reality or are they firmly lodged in fantasy? Do you think avatars should represent the true self ? Or are they just good fun?

Jake

Artist, AKAJake.com Come Experience the Art!

The art work in this blog is federally copyrighted. All reproduction and publishing copyrights are retained by the artist. Images are not to be copied, re-distributed, imitated, derived OR otherwise used in any form without the explicit written permission of the artist.