Florida -- Interview

Florida is nice this time of year, maybe the best month to be there. I had a very enjoyable workshop at Art Center Manatee, which is also currently hosting the National Watercolor Society traveling show. Looks like I'll be returning there to do a Photoshop seminar, maybe this year. I met Anne Abgott, reunited with some familiar faces, and then spent the rest of the week seeing friends.

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Artist Jeanette Jobson does very cool work, much of it using the Japanese technique of fish printing (gyotaku). She also maintains a popular blog and writes a monthly art newsletter. She includes an interview with other artists in each newsletter, and I appeared in the December edition. I really appreciate being asked, and admire artists who support other artists - thanks Jeanette!

Read interview here (scroll down).

Kevin Slater - Amazing Grace

I never met Kevin Slater, but he was a good friend, and a huge inspiration to me and many others. Kevin was left a quadriplegic after suffering a spinal cord injury during a wrestling match in high school. He struggled through a tough period when he almost gave up. But he triumphed, and resolved to live life as fully as he could.

Kevin became an artist -- a "mouth painter." I have seen many physically handicapped artists who paint this way, but Kevin was different: he painted in watercolor. The vast majority of mouth painters work in oil, as it's too difficult to control a wet medium. I don't know how he did it. And he was really good. I tried to paint watercolor holding the brush in my mouth to see whats it's like, and it was impossible.

In 2004 we crossed paths on an art website where he was known as "Strider." Pretty soon we became friends, and I used to call him at his house in Indiana to talk about painting, music, and anything else that came to mind. I cherished those conversations, and always came away from them revitalized. He was into guitar music, and I sent him a CD of mine.

In 2007 he was approached by a company that offered to buy his paintings. Kevin would have an income, and part of the proceeds would go to a foundation that supports people in his situation. He was really excited about it, and so was I. Unfortunately, just as this was happening, he was afflicted with a serious lung ailment and ended up in the hospital. The next couple of months were a roller coaster of procedures, gains, setbacks, emotions, and ultimately, heartbreak. When I called him in his hospital room, he couldn't speak, only listen. It was my intention to travel to Elkhart to visit him, as some other friends did. Before I could do so, Kevin died on July 17.

I drove out there a few days later to play at the funeral, and to meet Kevin's family. The church was in North Manchester, not far from the little town where Kevin grew up, Sidney. He was born in Wabash. I sort of wanted to play The Wabash Cannonball, one of my favorite American songs. I ended up playing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot as they brought him into the church, and Amazing Grace when they took him out. I'm not a religious person, but I love a lot of the hymns. Knowing the kind of music Kevin liked, I took a chance. Amazing Grace starts out as a reverie, but about half way through I turned it into a testifyin' footstomper. Using a looping device (very dangerous in a live situation, especially at a funeral!) I then put down a rhythm track, bass line, and started the sermon. Listening to it now I can still hear at which bar I glanced down from the balcony to see if the priest was going to cut the power. He was stunned, no doubt about it, but everyone in that place was moving to the music. Kevin's family and friends told me it's exactly what he would have wanted.

He was buried in a small cemetery next to an old church out in the middle of the country. In a pine box. At the graveside his brothers, father, friends and I shared cigars and a few shots of Jack Daniels. A nod to Kevin. You'll see them all in the photos, along with his mom, wife Pam, his beautiful nieces, close friend Sandra, the loyal young Carly who lived across the street and assisted in his studio. You'll see the studio, the brushes with the telltale bite marks, the palette. Some of the photos are difficult for me to look at, but I felt they are appropriate. I believe his family would agree. People live, people die, and we go on. If Amazing Grace was written for anyone, it was written for Kevin Slater. I loved the guy.

Kevin Slater art on Zazzle.

Best of 2010 - Watermedia Weekend 2011

Thanks to Jessica Canterbury and Watercolor Artist magazine for including Nassau #1: Discount Warehouse in their "Best Watercolors of the Year" feature (February 2011 issue). The painting won the gold medal at the 61st Texas Watercolor Society National Juried Exhibition.

Friday, May 13-Sunday, May 15

Water Media Weekend 2011 in Western New York presented by American Artist magazine and the Burchfield Penney

Join leading water media master artists/teachers - Philip Burke, Margaret Martin, Margaret Roseman, John Salminen, Nicholas Simmons, Mel Stabin, Mary Whyte - for an engaging, hands-on weekend of workshops, demos, and roundtable discussions at the acclaimed Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY. Learn from the masters, network with fellow artists, meet the editors of American Artist and Watercolor magazines, and enjoy the art and architecture of the renowned Burchfield Penney Art Center, home to the world's largest collection of Charles E. Burchfield works and archival materials.

More information and registration HERE.

Turn Up The Volume

This was recorded live at the Florida Guitar Show, at Thoroughbred Music in Clearwater, late 1990s. At the time I was sponsored by Ibanez guitars, Laney amps, D'Addario strings, and Roland. All music and guitars by yours truly. The louder, the better!

William K. Moore - The One And Only

Heaven is Hell - 17" x 21" - Xixtograph by W.K. Moore

About four years ago I came across an artist who amazed, disturbed, challenged, and touched me -- all at the same time. Reverberations through the blogosphere led me to the Cool Kids On The Block, and the leader of the pack, identified via one link as "William Moore, the crazy." I had to click.

William K. Moore was living then in Los Angeles and traveling to Colombia to paint the colorful denizens of the Bogota barrio, as well as local phenomena you don't see in the travel brochures. As the Bogota Painter, he took the urban guerilla approach, mixing with a crowd that is wary of American gringos. Fluency in Spanish, a heart full of compassion, an eye for the unusual, and loads of street smarts allowed him to chronicle a segment of society most would ignore, let alone immortalize.

Que bellezA - 18" x 15" - watercolor

It is essential to scour the Moore blog archives, because there is just way too much work to discuss here. Start at the beginning and work forward to best appreciate the evolution of themes and methods. You'll find sensitive and beautifully-painted images of people such as the tamale woman, homeless vagabonds, prostitutes of the Candelaria district, and a number of self-portraits that could only be described as bizarre. (I'm proud to own Chink Chank Chunk) Sometimes I wasn't sure if they were self-portraits, as the photos on his profile were just as outrageous. I kept thinking, "Who is this guy???"

It turned out he is a tall, dashing native Chicagoan who studied at the Art Institute and continued to hone his talents in drawing, figure painting, portraiture, and plein air, etc. across several mediums. All of this prowess combines with a prodigious imagination to form one of the most diverse portfolios you'll ever see. And he's prolific. The entire range of of the human condition leaps from the canvas, and instantly impresses as the work of one who has forged a unique style, unflinching, unapologetic, and in your face. As the artist forewarns, "Get ready to have your pants pulled down and receive the visual spanking you deserve." Yes!

Cotton Candy - 19" x 14" - watercolor acrylic

2008 saw the artist return to the Windy City to live, and marks the time where new design elements and working modes emerge, many pieces utilizing cubist environments with distorted perspectives. One thing that I find very stimulating in these works is the visual buzz created by disjointed edges, practically vibrating before your eyes. The concepts become more volatile, many in a horrifyingly spectacular way. Bill Moore is not afraid to explore the darker, grittier recesses. I have been rendered breathless by the supreme boldness of what this artist is putting out there, and wishing I had half the guts. There is often a humor that softens the blow, Tee Hee, but this is not your aunt's parlor art, and was never meant to be.

SpinxSpanx - 30" x 24" - silk screen

Accompanying most of the entries are mind-bending, often equally-disturbing narratives. I go back to read some of them, my favorite an ode to the hapless Gingerbread Man. Do the stories connect to the paintings? I would never presume to know for sure, and that's part of the adventure.

During 2009-2010, silk screen and mono screen is added to the arsenal of techniques, followed by the artist's own Zeit Screen and Xixtograph processes. Chicago provides a new cast of characters in street preachers, sidewalk loiterers, and fascinating faces masterfully depicted with heartbreaking poignancy.

Foster Exit - 7" x 18" - acrylic

Don't miss Bill's other blog, B Side Paintings, office annex to the main gallery!

It is impossible to adequately pay tribute here to an artist so original, broad, and daring. Bill Moore is one of the few I look to as a true innovator, a courageous force in contemporary art.

Chicago Painter William K. Moore

William Moore - B Side Paintings

Silk Screen Boiler Room

WKMoore Artbreak

The Art of Watercolour

From L' Art de l'Aquarelle:

We created a prestigious book on a selection of the artists that have appeared in the watercolour magazine over the last two years... the book is completed and printed. It is sincerely well above and beyond any other book on contempory watercolour artists that we have seen.

24 of the world's greatest artists
100 never before published images
6 major paintings explained
24 x 28 cm.
Full colour high quality reproductions of all paintings on 150 gms paper

For information about purchase, email: Sonia Seince at s.seince@megastar.fr

BACH & friends

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein says that playing Bach is "as close to religion as I get." This sums up my feeling as well as that of most of the musicians who appear in Michael Lawrence's superb new documentary, BACH & friends. The Baltimore filmmaker (see also the brilliant Barrueco: A Gift and a Life) has assembled a stellar and eclectic collection of musicians who all owe a lifetime of gratitude to the most remarkable composer in history. Fascinating interviews are joined with spellbinding performances into a two-hour (plus second bonus DVD of all performances) journey that awes as it stimulates.

All of the performances are noteworthy, but special highlights are organist Felix Hell's amazing rendition of the D Major fugue, mandolinist Chris Thile blazing through the E Major prelude, and Joshua Bell playing the Chaconne. Great camerawork captures Bobby McFerrin, Bela Fleck, Richard Stoltzman, Jake Shimabukuro, Peter Schickele, The Emerson Quartet, my friend Manuel Barrueco, and many others demonstrating the universal effect Bach has had on music and their lives. A provocative, recurring theme throughout the interviews is the notion that Bach did not "compose" the music, but rather simply wrote down what he heard in his head, channeling some otherwordly muse.



My favorite segment of the production is perhaps the Badinerie performed by the Swingle Singers, featuring the wonderful Joanna Goldsmith. This piece reveals the deep connection Bach has with humanity, transcending race, language, and the centuries. It brings to mind something Randy Kentfield once wrote:

It seems to me the various art forms are at varying stages of spiritual development, which I take to be a progression from identification with finite biology to a union with infinite physics. Dangling from the lowest rung of Jacob's Ladder are the verbal modes of expression. Poor, harried humanity, in order to deal with the world at the level of animal survival, has invented labels for what it sees, and has become attached to those names; the underlying processes are hidden from dull men's eyes by the dead weight of their illusory forms. The visual artist is somewhat more liberated. He can transform an animal's limited eyes into totally new ways of seeing. But the musician - that man has forsaken folly and revels in God - deals in a fluid medium unseen and unfelt but ecstatically experienced.

Thanks to Michael Lawrence for another landmark documentary, and I'm delighted to learn there will be a second Bach installment. I highly recommend BACH & friends, no matter your taste in music or art - there is something here for everyone to learn from and aspire to.

BACH & friends page on Michael Lawrence website

Thanks to Michael Lawrence for printing my comments!

Bienal Internacional de la Acuarela - NAWA

SIX AMERICAN ARTISTS TO REPRESENT THE U.S. IN THE NINTH INTERNATIONAL WATERCOLOR BIENNIAL IN MEXICO

Kathleen Alexander, Carol Carter, Mark Mehaffey, Thomas W. Schaller, Nicholas Simmons, and Keiko Tanabe have formed the North American Watercolor Artists, a group of six U.S. watercolor artists, to represent the United States in the IX International Watercolor Biennial in Mexico. The exhibition will be held at the National Museum of Watercolor in Mexico City, December 5, 2010 through February 13, 2011. Artists representing countries in five continents are participating in the Biennial, which is invitation-only. Begun in 1994, the purpose of the Biennial is to establish or enhance friendly relationships among watercolor artists and promote watercolor painting around the world.

Kathleen Alexander www.kathleenalexanderwatercolors.com

Carol Carter www.carol-carter.com

Mark Mehaffey www.mehaffeygallery.com

Thomas W. Schaller www.twschaller.com

Nicholas Simmons www.nicholassimmons.com

Keiko Tanabe http://ktanabefineart.com

Museo Nacional de la Acuarela http://www.acuarela.org.mx/

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I'm very happy to be included in this group of incredible painters, and look forward to representing the USA in the upcoming biennial. As soon as there is a website for it, I'll post a link. In the meantime, each of us has submitted one painting for the exhibition, and we may have more opportunities to exhibit as a group in the future. Each of the other artists has done a lot of work that blows me away, and I expect this association will inspire me to try even harder and do better. A big thanks to my five compadres....we are the NAWA!

Upcoming Workshops

More workshops have been added to the schedule for the next couple of years. Next week I'll be doing one for the California Watercolor Association, which you can read about in the current newsletter. (thank you for the great write-up!). Next month I'll be in Florida for a few days at beautiful Amelia Island and a new venue for me, Amelia Island Artist Workshop. I'm looking forward to that, I've heard wonderful things about it from other artists. I believe there are still spaces available, see contact info below.

2011 includes a watercolor expo at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, five days at the incredible Manoir de Maison Blanche in France, and a return to Idyllwild in the San Jacinto mountains. 2012 includes workshops and judging major shows for San Diego Watercolor Society, Florida Watercolor Society, and others. More events are added regularly, see updates on the Workshop page of my website.

4-day workshop - California Watercolor Association - Concord, California. October 18-21.
Contact: Karen Powers 510-502-6211

3-day workshop - Amelia Island Artist Workshop - Fernandina Beach, Florida. November 12-14.
Contact: Mikolean Longacre 904-415-3900

2-day workshop - Plaza Art - Rockville, Maryland. November 20-21.
Contact: 301-770-0500

1-day Photoshop Secrets For Artists seminar - Plaza Art - Rockville, Maryland. December 11.
Contact: 301-770-0500

2011

3-day workshop - ArtCenter Manatee - Bradenton, Florida. February 4-6.
Contact: 941-746-2862

2-day workshop - Plaza Art - Rockville, Maryland. February 19-20.
Contact: 301-770-0500

3-day workshop - Brazos Valley Art League - College Station, Texas. April 7-9.
Contact: Cynthie Hanks 979-229-6242

Judge - 2010-2011 National PTA Reflections Program (Visual Arts)

Demonstration and 1-day workshop - Watercolor Expo - Burchfield Penney Art Center - Buffalo, New York. May 13-15. More information TBA.

2-day workshop - Strathmore Mansion - Bethesda, Maryland. May 20-21.
Contact: Holly Haliniewski 301-581-5125

5-day workshop - Manoir de Maison Blanche - Dordogne, France. July 4-8.
Contact: manoirdemaisonblanche@orange.fr +33 553 56 90 55

3-day workshop - Idyllwild Arts - Idyllwild, California. July 18-20.
Contact: summer@idyllwildarts.org 951- 659-2171 x 2365

4-day workshop - Ann Arbor, Michigan (web page TBA). July 25-28.
Contact: Debra Zamperla 734-662-8734

2-day workshop - Plaza Art - Rockville, Maryland. August 13-14.
Contact: 301-770-0500

4-day workshop - San Antonio Watercolor Group - San Antonio, Texas. September 13 -16.
Contact: Sandy McCoig or Karen McCauley - 830-281-4903

1-day Photoshop Secrets For Artists seminar - Plaza Art - Rockville, Maryland. October 1.
Contact: 301-770-0500

2-day workshop - Plaza Art - Rockville, Maryland. November 5-6
Contact: 301-770-0500

1-day Photoshop Secrets For Artists seminar - Plaza Art - Rockville, Maryland. December 17.
Contact: 301-770-0500

2012

2-day workshop - Plaza Art - Rockville, Maryland. February 4-5.
Contact: 301-770-0500

4-day workshop - Waterloo Watercolor Group of Austin - Austin, Texas. April 2- 5. Demonstration April 1.
Contact: Nancy Charbeneau 512-795-0203

5-day workshop - Utah Watercolor Society - Salt Lake City, Utah. April 30-May 4. Demonstration May 1.
Contact: Joyce Baron 801-375-4933

Judge - Utah Watercolor Society 2010 Annual Open Juried Exhibition. April 2012.

4-day workshop - Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society - Buffalo, New York. May 14-17.
Contact: Carol Siracuse 716- 867-9044

4-day workshop - Acadia Workshop Center - Mount Desert Island, Maine. July 30-August 2.
Contact: Gail Ribas 207-460-4119

4-day workshop - San Diego Watercolor Society - San Diego, California. August 13-16.
Contact: Alice Kayuha (619) 876-4550

Judge - San Diego Watercolor Society International Exhibition. October 2012.

Judge: Florida Watercolor Society Annual Exhibition. August 2012.

4-day workshop - Florida Watercolor Society - Orlando, Florida. September 10-14.
Contact: Linda D. Neal 321-544-8888

4-day workshop - Greentree Studio - Lawrenceburg, Indiana. September 28-October 1.
Contact: Sandy Maudlin 812-539-4505

3-day workshop - Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society Workshops - San Jose, California. November 12-14. Demonstration November 11.
Contact: Jeanne de Campos-Rousseau

Ocean City & Hold the MSG

Ocean City, Maryland is a place people like to go when it's warm and sunny. Last week I was there during what must be the off-season for the town, and it was windy, foggy, rainy, and almost deserted. Perfect. I had a condo overlooking a very wild and dramatic beach, and got some good pics. See the view down the beach from the balcony, above.

Unfortunately I had to cancel the last day of the workshop for the Art League of Ocean City, due to an illness. Yes, an illness called Worst ****ing Migraine Headache I've Ever Had Thanks To MSG. Ever gotten that one? I had dinner the night before at Outback steakhouse. Chicken. Ever wonder why everything tastes exactly the same at that restaurant? Because they bury it all in their "seasonings." Most of which are obviously loaded with MSG in one or more of its disguised or undisguised forms. Doesn't matter what you order - steak, chicken, pork, it all tastes the same. Anyway, aside from that I really enjoyed the place and the welcome fall atmosphere. Thanks to ALOC for inviting me, the great accomodations, and sorry especially to those who traveled far!

Luna Faerie Meets Wes

Having fun on a 3/4 size kid's guitar! First the bass line, then rhythm, then lead on top using the Lexicon JamMan looper. All improvised, one take.

Square 1

E-Z Terms - 102 x 102 cm.

A blog buddy urged me to organize thoughts expressed in my replies to comments posted on this entry. Realizing it could add up to something close to an artist statement or explanation about personal "process," I pause. Re the former, I rarely read artist statements. They tend to subtract points from the work before I've even seen it, and in some cases allude to things that tell me I'm about to see some bad art. Without getting specific on that score, I've also heard this opinion from galleries and curators, etc. I don't recall ever reading an artist statement that measurably enhanced my enjoyment of the work, so I'm reluctant to compose one. Anyhow, I prefer the idea of art speaking for itself.

The process part is more interesting, especially if you happen to like the artist's work.

When I used to hear artists discuss their process(es), I always felt like a bit of a chump. They had this thing that sort of guided them and it seemed as though there was a discipline to it. I, on the other hand, had no such method or consistency. Eventually I decided that not having a process was my process, flying by the seat of my pants. Rather than fitting subject matter into a certain approach, style, or ethic, I simply would get an idea for a painting, imagine how I think it would look best to me, and then figure out how to do it -- or at least try to do it. This often means going back to square one with each new piece. In workshops I tell people that I often feel like a rank beginner when starting a painting, and that this is my "comfort zone." Not knowing where it's going but listening to the picture as it takes shape has yielded better and more surprising results than anything I likely could plan. It doesn't always come, and it can't be forced. I like how the poet William Stafford described it as a thread: you search for the end, pull gently, and follow. Which is starting to sound suspiciously like a process. :)

And so I've ended up with a body of work that is all over the map. I like it that way, diversity is one of the things I value most in art. Part of this is due to an inclination to avoid much of what I've seen in watercolor since I first got hooked. There is a lot of recycling in every medium, and watercolor is no different -- maybe worse. Perhaps because of its immediacy and associated traditions, there are legions of watercolorists who develop a style that often says to me "this is how I paint skies...this is how I paint trees...this is how I paint figures" etc. Facile and attractive, but I can tire of it quickly. Lots of painters play almost every tune in the same key, same tempo, with the same feel. I've been to concerts like that, but I don't stay long.

The painting above is an example of something that popped into my head a while back. I've never painted a dog, and don't even particularly care for dogs (un-American, I know!). But I had a hankering to see something like a junkyard canine with a fence and sign. Nothing deep, just shapes and colors and edges. Got it out of my system.

Next!

The Artist's Magazine - Shanghai

The new October 2010 issue of The Artist's Magazine has a feature I wrote about the Shanghai Zhujiajiao exhibition (see earlier posts here and here re the judging and opening) on The Artist's Life page (edited by Cherie Haas). Photos include my wife Olga at the opening with my painting Russian Woman, myself with the other judges, some of the award winners, and the lucky shot I got in the water village of Zhou Zhuang. Sorry about the low-res pic -- if you don't subscribe, please go out and buy this excellent magazine!

Cabaña Con Carne

Cabaña Con Carne - 61 x 142 cm.

Based on a photo I found, with some serious adjustments! Da Vinci watercolors on 140 lb. Fabriano hot press paper.

Happy Birthday, Tommy!

Carmine Appice and Nick

Did some fun reminiscing a couple nights ago with an old friend of yours. :)

Kiss The Sky

Kiss The Sky - 102 x 102 cm.

Da Vinci watercolor on 140 lb. Fabriano hot press paper. And check out my new axe! The guy who dreamed up the Tommy Bolin "Teaser" guitar for Dean finally got one of his own. These guitars take a while to make and I wanted people who ordered them to be first in line. More soon.

Idyllwild

Just finished a workshop at Idyllwild Arts, a fantastic private arts academy in the San Jacinto mountains of Southern California. During the school year it serves as an arts-focused boarding school for grades 9-12, and adult classes are offered during the summer. The campus is spread over a mountain and consists of about 100 buildings in a breathtaking setting. Last night while wandering around I happened on the ampitheater and was quite taken with six enormous canopies that cover the hillside leading down to the stage. Sunlight was streaming through them and it was beautifully surreal. There are lots of artists visiting here teaching courses in clay, metal, sculpture, painting, Native American arts, etc. I had a great group of people, and look forward to returning again.

When I drove here from Santa Ana airport last Friday and started up the mountain I quickly got a sense of how remote the little town of Idyllwild is -- like going back in time, and I fell in love with the place. Proximity to airports is a bit of a problem, otherwise I wouldn't mind moving here. Today I hiked along Strawberry Creek and took a lot of photographs. Tomorrow it's back to LA area meeting with DaVinci and hanging out in Laguna. Rough, huh? :)

100 Mid-Atlantic Artists

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La Vida Breve - watercolor by Nicholas Simmons

La Vida Breve will be featured with several other paintings of mine in a new book by E. Ashley Rooney, 100 Mid-Atlantic Artists, published by Schiffer Books. I'll post a notice when it is available.

Johnnie Bolin!

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Tommy and Johnnie Bolin - Mile High Stadium, Denver

August 29, 1976

I was in Dayton, Ohio two weeks ago doing a workshop, and on what was supposed to be my last night in town (Thursday), I was sitting in a restaurant having dinner. I got a call from Johnnie, and without mentioning where I was, asked him where he was off to next:

"We're playing in Dayton on Saturday."

"Dayton? That's where I am!"

I hadn't crossed paths with Johnnie since the NAMM show in January of 2008, so I hung out for a couple days. And glad I did! It was great to see him, especially looking so healthy and happy. Black Oak Arkansas was playing Dayton's rock & roll club, McGuffy's, so I also got to meet rock icon Jim Dandy and the rest of the band. Too good to pass up. :)





This gives me an opportunity to post a few of my favorite pics of Johnnie, such as the one of him with Tommy when they were little kids. Even then, music was obviously going to be the family occupation. I love the photo of them together (see above) many years later when Johnnie was playing drums in Tommy's band, and performed for over 50,000 people at Denver's Mile High Stadium on August 29, 1976, only a few months before Tommy's death. Also on the bill for this show were Gary Wright, Steve Miller, and Peter Frampton at the height of his fame. You can read more about this period of the Tommy Bolin Band on the Tommy Bolin Archives site. There is some rare surviving footage from the Mile High show, where Johnnie can be seen drumming. (it was shot on silent 8mm film, so the audio has been dubbed from another concert)

Johnnie has played with too many bands to list here, and has been pretty much everywhere. He can really tear it up, as you'll see on the video I shot during the BOA gig the other night. Not great audio, but I wasn't expecting to see him or I would have brought a good camera. Johnnie became a sponsored DDrums artist recently, and soon there will be a page for him on that site.


Besides the colorful musical career Johnnie has lived, he has also endured a lot of personal tragedy, and survived. Tommy's death at age 25 devastated not only the family, but the entire town of Sioux City (the whole state of Iowa, actually), not to mention legions of music fans. Johnnie's younger brother Rick died at an early age in the 90s, followed by his father and mother. Johnnie's the only one left, but he has a spirit of optimism and kindness that rubs off on all those who know him. He is blessed with a son, Bobby, who just may have some of the Bolin musical genius in him as well, and must be the best-looking kid in the Midwest!

My frienship with Johnnie is one I cherish, and I think about him everyday.

Juan Carlos Cardesin

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Hidden Landscape IV - watercolor, 28 x 42 cm

Juankar Cardesin is an artist in San Sebastian, Spain. It would hardly scratch the surface to refer to him as a watermedia artist because his work is all over the map -- not just medium-wise, but also in subject matter and handling. It's hard to put into words what he does, it really must be seen. And felt. However, following the initial shock of stumbling over his blog (thanks to another heavyweight San Sebastian painter and compadre, Enrique Ochotorena), I came to two conclusions about his art:

1. He is absolutely fearless, or, alternatively, he is terrified of everything.

2. He is an extraordinarily sensitive person, responding like litmus paper to his environment.

I should explain. I believe Juan will paint or draw anything, and in the way he feels at the moment -- something that is very, very difficult to do without succumbing to self-doubt, and that artistic governor that shuts down the motor when things get too far afield. There is an honesty in that approach that is enviable. But in attempting to analyze it, I wonder about the presence of a yin yang gene that, instead, drives the artist through fear and awe; fear, if nothing else, in the prospect of losing an idea or precious flash of inspiration. This is a raw artist, exposed nerve endings in a constant state of flux, without buffer or filtering mechanism between heart and canvas. This guy won't make you question whether or not he is an artist, but whether or not you are! And that, is scary.

In artspeak, Juan might be characterized as a sort of Expressionist-Deconstructionist-Minimalist, with notes of Picasso, Schiele, Mauricio Lasansky, and Euro-trashism. Decay is a major feature in much of his work, be it human or industrial. The painting above, Hidden Landscape IV, is watercolor on Martele Damier paper, which is a synthetic surface similar to Yupo. This painting arrived on my doorstep out of nowhere last December, which tells you something else about the artist: he's a wonderful and generous man. We've become quite good friends via the Internet, and it was my loss last fall when my planned trip to San Sebastian fell through. I did experience a Cardesin-induced near-cardiac-arrest when I beheld his magnificent Shining Mountains while judging the Shanghai Zhujiajiao International Watercolor Biennial (shown below with our mutual friend, Javier Oña, a great painter from Cadiz, Spain).

Shining Mountains - watercolor, 65 x 95 cm

Going to Juan's blog is always a chest-pounding adventure, you never know what you're about to see. And good luck trying to keep up with him -- he's incredibly prolific! He has what a departed friend of mine, jazz pianist Fred Williams, used to call "the worm." The term refers to musicians and artists who are so compelled to create, they simply cannot stop, cannot rest. I've said that true artists are explorers, and Juan Carlos Cardesin is one of the trailblazers.

Juan Carlos Cardesin links:

Cardesin

Mimoleskinenegro

Apuntadeplata

Cinema Paradiso

Music by Ennio Morricone from the Giuseppe Tornatore film, Cinema Pardiso. This is an arrangement I made of the main theme and love theme. If you haven't seen the movie, I highly recommend it -- the last scene is surely one of the most beautiful ever. Also, don't miss another Tornatore/Morricone masterpiece, Malena, my favorite movie of the past decade.

* * *

I'm headed this week to Krakow, Poland. My next post should include some photos of that magical city, where much of the world's attention has recently been focused. To na razie!