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Buy a house, get a car
New appliances and vacation packages aren't unusual giveaways in the housing slump, but one woman is taking the unorthodox step of throwing in a car with the purchase of her home.
"My daughter came up with the idea," Catherine Poe said. "We're losing money on the house, and the Prius only adds to losing money, but we also realize it's time we really got to sell the house."
Poe and her daughter bought the 1907 three-bedroom colonial in Easton, Maryland, in 2005 as an investment property.
In the past, the pair has bought two historic homes within minutes of Maryland's shoreline, renovated and resold them during a red-hot housing market.
Poe said she and her daughter bought this house for $335,000, spent $300,000 restoring it and were hoping for a $40,000 profit when they first put it on the market.
But after more than a year of trying to sell it, taking it off the market and putting it back on, they say they're ready to cut their losses.
With gas prices hovering about $4 a gallon in most states, they hope the fuel-efficient Toyota Prius hybrid, which costs about $23,000 for a new model, will sweeten the pot even more.
Poe's real estate agent said he is optimistic about the giveaway, saying that an incentive of that magnitude was a first for one of his clients.
"You have to be creative. You have to learn how to do different things, and if we learn anything from this, certainly, we will replicate it," said Chuck Mangold, who has put an ad for the Prius in the local newspaper.
But Elizabeth Blakeslee of the National Association of Realtors cautions buyers about "gimmicks" to draw attention to a house.
"In my 18 years as a Realtor, I have never known anyone who has actually received whatever it was, the trip or the car," said Blakeslee, a regional vice president for the NAR. "It's generally negotiated away during the process of the buying or selling negotiations."
She added that a competitive selling price is a better way to get buyers interested and generate a sale.
According to the NAR, existing home sales remain 14 percent below a year ago. Even with a projected small uptick in 2009, analysts are predicting a slow recovery.
Poe said she is motivated by a love for old homes. New appliances and vacation packages aren't unusual giveaways in the housing slump, but one woman is taking the unorthodox step of thr... more -
Emerging Artists Are A Relative Value
A new era of value equality is unfolding among the worlds' artists. In the case of the price differential between the work of the contemporary 'art stars' and emerging artists, consider for a moment an important influencing factor also found in the stock market: uncertainty. For instance, a company operating in an industry where a key competitor suddenly becomes the subject of an investigation will undoubtedly see its stock price at least temporarily negatively impacted regardless of culpability simply because of investor uncertainty. Lack of knowledge in any industry acts as a damper on value, and let's face it, the famous are such because to date they've received the entirety of the spotlight from the art market apparatchik, hence relatively little is known about those without such support.
However, the internet is THE equalizing factor. In an era where the internet functions as the facilitator of the distribution and promotion of the work of emerging artists from all over the world, the era of the 'art star' deemed such by the critics, curators and self-appointed art experts has come to a necessary end.
In order to assess value and predict the direction of prices with respect to any asset, including stocks, it's instructive to look at comparables. The work of the Old Masters and other dead artists has stood the test of time thus guaranteeing its worth in the form of the stratospheric prices garnered today. What is less clear is the rationale for the difference between the prices paid for the work of many contemporary artists and the much larger group of emerging artists. In any other industry, over time such a relative value disparity would disappear.
Given the increasing recognition of the value of art today, equalization of the prices between discovered and undiscovered artists is inevitable if only because the relative value of the latter is highlighted. In the case of two stocks with equal earnings generating power where the sole exogenous, differentiating factor is the amount of 'coverage' by Wall Street that each receives, the difference in price to the long-term investor highlights the less expensive as a powerful value, and the common sense choice. Yes, the value stock may lack the imprematur of the big Wall Street analysts, but how many times have they overlooked a diamond covered in coal dust? Emerging artists are the greatest investment opportunity that no one has ever heard of. A new era of value equality is unfolding among the worlds' artists. In the case of the price differential between the work of the co... more -
Economic future of global energy
Another message on the economics of Global Energy from TouchArt's friend Bill Brown up in Taos, NM at New Mexico Global Warming.
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Greetings, All -- I call your attention to a new research report from the investment community that looks at the economic growth and growth projections for "alternative" forms of energy to supplant oil and other fossil fuels.
Download the 16-page document from Guinness Atkinson Funds Research Reports at:
http://www.gafunds.com/research_reports.asp
The report begins: “In the 20th century, mankind's massive material and financial progress were only made possible by the exploitation of oil. Oil was a main force in global geopolitics and the driving force behind unprecedented industrialization. Oil has been such a powerful lynch pin that it is hard to believe that its days of prominence may be waning. But as demand for oil steadily increases and reserves are consumed, oil is in the autumn of its life. In its place will increasingly emerge an array of alternative— non-fossil-fuel —energy technologies, both high tech and old tech. This is the dawn of the alternative energy age...”
The report attempts to answer the question, "So, what do alternatives have to offer and at what price and with what technology can they start to add to and replace the world's energy infrastructure?"
The report is directed entirely at economics and investors, and presents a broad array of data and graphs to explain investment positions for energies from solar photovoltaic, onshore and offshore wind, hydro, wave and tidal, geothermal, fuel cells, hydrogen, biofuels, coal, natural gas, nuclear, and IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle that turns coal into a gas, and then removes impurities from the coal gas before it is combusted).
The report cautions: "All energy prices are highly sensitive to government policy frameworks and national economic systems. This leads to wide differentials for the same energy technologies in different countries. The range in the above tables produced by
the IEA [International Energy Agency http://www.iea.org/] is also due to the variance of the discount rate from 5% to 10%. They do not include transmission, distribution or greenhouse gas emission costs."
The report is a concise 16 pages based on 65 references and is well worth the read for anyone interested in the economic future of global energy.
-- Bill Brown
www.nmglobalwarming.org
Go to link above for full report from Guiness Atkinson Funds Research Reports
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From TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
Another message on the economics of Global Energy from TouchArt's friend Bill Brown up in Taos, NM at New Mexico Global Warming. ... more -
Abu Dhabi buys into the Chrysler Building
The controlling stake in one of New York's most famous landmarks, the Chrysler Building, has been sold to the Abu Dhabi government's commercial arm.
Prudential Financial confirmed it had sold its 75% stake in the Manhattan Art Deco skyscraper to the Abu Dhabi Investment Council. The council was reported to have paid about $800m for the stake.
The controlling stake in one of New York's most famous landmarks, the Chrysler Building, has been sold to the Abu Dhabi government's c... more -
"Dialogue between a painting and its surroundings." Art by Bo LI
about the artist
1999,2000,2001,2002,2003,2004 and 2005 Participated “ International Art Expo “ held in Shanghai, China . The works were purchased and collected by the collectors of Peking,Shanghai,Hong Kong,Taiwan...etc. 2004 Participated “The Art Fair Zurich “ in Switzerland. All the works were sold out and won a good reputation from the buyers and art collectors. 2006 Participate the “Art Ireland “ and exhibition in the Marziart Gallery Of Germany. 2007 Participate the Artexpo New York 2007 2007 Personal exhibition be hold in Taiwan at March 2007.
artists' statement
I am a professional artist from China. The flower and garden are topic of my artworks. It is the eternal topic for human.The concept behind my work is creating a dialogue between a painting and its surroundings. about the artist ... more -
"Listening to what the mandalas were telling me"
about the artist
David J. Bookbinder was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1951. At age 6, inspired by the launching of Sputnik, he imagined himself a future space scientist. He started photographing in high school where, as yearbook editor, he took most of the candid pictures.
After college, he moved to New York City. There, for several years, he did black-and-white street photography, took pictures of musicians for a book he wrote on American folk music, shot an occasional record album cover, and worked part-time as a photojournalist.
In 2001, after a 20-year hiatus, Bookbinder bought a digital camera and started shooting again. The shift from straight black-and-white, wet-chemistry photography to shooting in color and manipulating images on a computer was literally an eye-opener. Bookbinder still takes pictures of street life, nature, and people, but his current preoccupation is with transforming photographs of flowers, stone, metal, wood, and the sky into mandala-like images.
Bookbinder's early influences included Walker Evans and Diane Arbus. The present work is inspired by the paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe, the nature photographs of Andreas Feininger, and the flower images of Harold Feinstein, with whom Bookbinder briefly studied.
Bookbinder lives north of Boston, MA. He works as a psychotherapist, primarily with artists and people with addictive behaviors. He is the author of four non-fiction books and is currently writing a memoir of the aftermath of a near-death experience.
artists' statement
My personal motivation in creating these images was to heal from a decade of physical and emotional trauma, the consequence of a near-fatal event in Albany, New York, in 1993. I began this project shortly after I bought my first digital camera and found myself shooting patterns of color and light, rather than the people and buildings I had shot in my black-and-white days. I learned to manipulate the images, hoping at first merely to improve them, but soon realizing that once an image file was on my hard drive, I could do anything I wanted with it. The experience of creating these mandalas is reminiscent of meditation.
My choice of the hexagram (the Star of David, "beloved" in Hebrew) as the organizing shape for these mandalas was subconscious, but I believe this choice was no accident. In many traditions, the Star of David, composed of two overlapping triangles, represents the reconciliation of opposites — male/female, fire/water, and so on. Their combination symbolizes unity and harmony. Listening to what the mandalas were telling me led me out of a dark place and, indirectly, to my decision to become a psychotherapist.
Carl Jung, one of the fathers of modern psychology, believed mandalas are a pathway to the essential Self and used them in his own personal transformation. In a small way, as both mandala artist and psychotherapist, I carry on Jung's tradition. I display several of the flower mandalas in my treatment room, and from time to time they become part of discussions with clients. The combination of natural elements and digital manipulation seems both to stimulate and to relax them.
The current selection is part of a book-in-progress that pairs images with inspirational quotations such that each image-and-quote pair resonates with a fundamental aspect of human experience.
I hope publication of these images will further the process of harnessing the power of the mandala to heal. about the artist ... more -
Fed Seeks Sweeping New Powers
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, seeking to allay renewed concerns over the health of the nation's financial system, said the central bank may extend its emergency-loan program for investment banks into next year.
It's the first time Bernanke has indicated how long he'll extend the lending programs that were introduced in March in a provision of Fed credit to nonbanks unprecedented since the Great Depression.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Banks Index, a measure of 22 firms including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest sources of U.S. home financing, fell to 155.48 yesterday, its lowest level since 1996.
Mean while the Fed is using this as an excuse to extend the powers of its agency
{source http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/bernanke-seeks-ne...={7DFB82A4-1E02-4F50-B445-B8E68B8E0EFD}&dist=msr_4
Congress should consider giving the Fed power to set standards for capital liquidity holdings and risk management for investment banks, as it now does for commercial banks, Bernanke said.
In March, as market conditions worsened, the Fed established two lending facilities for primary dealers of government debt. One allows them to swap a range of illiquid assets for Treasury securities. The other facility provides cash to these broker-dealers in a system that is similar to its discount window for banks.
Bernanke said Congress might give the Fed broad power to promote financial market stability.
If Congress makes this choice, "I do not think the Fed could fully meet these objectives without the authority to directly examine banks and other financial institutions that are subject to prudential regulation.
Increased power for one agency typically comes at the expense of other agencies that have their own strong alliances with powerful members of Congress.
Although Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said that he would like to see Congress give the Fed more power to ease the fallout of financial market turmoil on the economy, it is another matter for an agency to be seen as seeking power for itself.
As a result, Bernanke bent over backwards to suggest, rather than demand, that the Fed get the broad new regulatory responsibilities he seeks, though his desire for the new powers was apparent. "
Two-year note yield rose (UST2YR) 3 basis points to 2.46%.
{source http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djhighligh... Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, seeking to allay renewed concerns over the health of the nation's financial system, said the... more -
How Urban Art is Changing the Art World
How Urban Art is Changing the Art World
The traditional path to art world notoriety has usually included art school followed by showings in galleries, and being noticed and collected by well-known art patrons and eventually museums, with the accompanying media attention to keep it all going. Urban art has by all accounts turned this system on its head and instead of artists praying to start out in galleries they are finding their audience first, literally, out in the open, on the street. From there, with the masses telegraphing their preferences via the internet, the attention-getting artwork then moves into the galleries.
Artists' long-held frustration at often not being able to have their work seen in galleries has, in the case of Urban Art, found an outlet in having unlimited audiences able to view their art, thus propelling it into the galleries. In February, 2008 when Bono's Red auction was held in New York it was Banksy's work that set new price records even in the rarified company of work from some of the art world's most lauded producers. The Tate Modern in London, the world's most visited Modern Art Museum, in May hosted 'Street Art,' an exhibition during which an entire side of its building was utilized by Urban artists.
As accessibility has driven the meteoric rise of Urban Art sales worldwide, the availability of emerging artists' work on facilitating mechanism that is the internet will eventually yield the same trajectory.
Mural: by Rahmaan Static and R.K. Design mural Located at 47th St. and Lake Park, Hyde Park, Chicago, IL
Watch Artists' Videos
Capucines Boulevard
Your Online Gallery to Discover Original Fine Art How Urban Art is Changing the Art World ... more -
Art by Phototransformation @ CapucinesBoulevard.com
Art by Phototransformations @ CapucinesBlvd.com
My personal motivation in creating these images was to heal from a decade of physical and emotional trauma, the consequence of a near-fatal event in Albany, New York, in 1993. I began this project shortly after I bought my first digital camera and found myself shooting patterns of color and light, rather than the people and buildings I had shot in my black-and-white days. I learned to manipulate the images, hoping at first merely to improve them, but soon realizing that once an image file was on my hard drive, I could do anything I wanted with it. The experience of creating these mandalas is reminiscent of meditation.-David Binder Art by Phototransformations @ CapucinesBlvd.com ... more -
Art by Maxim Bondarenko @ CapucinesBoulevard.com
Vincent Van Gogh quote opens for contempary artirst Maxim Bondarenko; art available at CapucinesBoulevard.com
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"...All life is like petals on the same flower."
Charles Collins is known for his encouragement of other artists through his God in the Arts Foundation, which evolved out of a desire to encourage anyone who "believes that all life is like petals on the same flower." Ultimately, his work seeks to change our collective consciousness.
Most of his oil paintings are profoundly spiritual and evoke a strong sense of peace and timelessness. He begins with a charcoal drawing, adds a thin glaze with a dark color, terra green or burnt umber, which provides the base for light to reflect off. This is covered by an under painting -- when his images in the over painting are complete, he adds up to 30 glazes.
He has learned most of this on his own, by experimentation, though he has a degree in fine art from the Dallas Art Institute in Texas. His work is in collections all over the world and he is the first Taos artist to have painted an album cover for singer Michael Martin Murphey and another for Arlo Guthrie. His painting, "The Ambassadors Meet in Washington," was the first in the then 23-year history of Taos Invites Fall Arts Festival to win both Best in Contemporary and Best of Show.
"When I'm painting it's like creating an image of the attributes of God, creating the same vibration that created you, like a loop that feeds back to you in a circle of life, with the same resonance." - Charles Collins
Charles Collins is known for his encouragement of other artists through his God in the Arts Foundation, which evolved out of a desir... more -
Découvrir la Valeur de l’Art
Découvrir la Valeur de l’Art
Bonjour, je m’appelle Cappy Price et je vous invite à Découvrir la Valeur de l’Art.
• Dollar contre Euro
o Tout le monde sait que l’économie américaine est en dégression
o Entre 2002 et 2007, le dollar a perdu près de 40% (pour cent) contre l’Euro. Rien qu’en 2007, le dollar est tombé de 10% et jusqu'à présent, c’est une perte de plus de 7%
• Marché Boursier
o Les principes fondamentaux d’économie nous rappellent que le marché boursier, qui se négocie actuellement autour de 150% de Produit Brut National, contre sa moyenne actuelle de 57%, est surestimé et vulnérable
• Couverture Excessive
o L’inflation et la couverture excessive ont rapidement dévalué l’importance des investissements traditionnels
o Les consommateurs recherchent des alternatives avec une capacité à préserver leur valeur économique a travers les périodes de turbulence
• Quote Brinson
o On estime l’art un investissement aussi précieux que l’or, l’argent et les francs suisses
o Historiquement, l’art se préserve bien pendant les crises économiques, y compris les guerres et récessions, et possède une valeur unique, lui donnant une protection de prix systématique
o A la fin de la journée, l’art n’est comparable a rien d’autre et il est démontré qu’il n’y aucune corrélation avec les mouvements boursiers
o En particulier pendant les crises de turbulence économique, l’art est un atout qui non seulement fait plaisir mais est aussi profitable
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Découvrir la Valeur de l’Art Bonjour, je m’appelle Cappy Price et je vous invite à Découvrir la Valeur de l’Art. ... more -
Meaningful Communication
I am motivated by a prescience of the challenges to the human spirit, and my desire to depict its inherent unboundedness. Sometimes what I create is beautiful and sometimes it isn't. I believe that an artists' creation of powerful emotion within his audience is a prerequisite to meaningful communication. I am motivated by a prescience of the challenges to the human spirit, and my desire to depict its inherent unboundedness. Sometimes ... more
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Art by Quinn Gregory @ CapucinesBoulevard episode 2
Interview with Chicago artist Quinn Gregory discussing his inspiration and technique behind his art
Swarovski Crystalized Male and Female Human Skulls As Art by Artist Quinn Gregory. While the artist was a lawyer for several years; approximately four years ago he was diagnosed with a rare heart disease. This diagnosis altered Quinn’s life in many ways. Naturally, it forced Quinn to focus on death and how our Society deals with death. Quinn strongly believes that our bodies are merely shells we use while here on Earth (nothing more or less). He believes that the human skeleton is innately beautiful. He also loves the extremes of death (in the form of a human skull) and bejeweling it with colorful Swarovski Crystals. Each original and limited Quinn Gregory Skull contains somewhere between 8,500 to 12,500 crystals. Interview with Chicago artist Quinn Gregory discussing his inspiration and technique behind his art ... more -
Art by Quinn Gregory @ CapucinesBoulevard episode 1
Interview with Chicago artist Quinn Gregory discussing his inspiration and technique behind his art
Swarovski Crystalized Male and Female Human Skulls As Art by Artist Quinn Gregory. While the artist was a lawyer for several years; approximately four years ago he was diagnosed with a rare heart disease. This diagnosis altered Quinn’s life in many ways. Naturally, it forced Quinn to focus on death and how our Society deals with death. Quinn strongly believes that our bodies are merely shells we use while here on Earth (nothing more or less). He believes that the human skeleton is innately beautiful. He also loves the extremes of death (in the form of a human skull) and bejeweling it with colorful Swarovski Crystals. Each original and limited Quinn Gregory Skull contains somewhere between 8,500 to 12,500 crystals. Interview with Chicago artist Quinn Gregory discussing his inspiration and technique behind his art ... more -
Art by Boris Kudryavtsev @ CapucinesBoulevard
Boris Kudryavtsev practiced the landscape painting just in the open air. In his works we see the nature near Moscow in its season changes , as well as autumn and spring landscapes of Sudak environs in Crimea. Maybe it is precisely the small size of his miniature pictures, that helped him in any weather conditions and in spite of time shortage to cope with rather complicated landscape painting tasks – to find the special moments of nature’s beauty in its color, light and form. Instead of brush, he always used mastichine and with it he developed his filigree original technique which transmits the nature's shapes and rhythms and eloquently speaks of the artist's highly inspired character. Boris Kudryavtsev stopped his landscape painting in 1991. Boris Kudryavtsev practiced the landscape painting just in the open air. In his works we see the nature near Moscow in its season chan... more
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The Rise of the Emerging Artist
Cappy Price talks about the investment value of emerging artist at the 28th Annual 7th Congressional District High School Art competition Cappy Price talks about the investment value of emerging artist at the 28th Annual 7th Congressional District High School Art competit... more
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"...Beauty of natural and idyllic paradise."
about the artist
Krystyna Suchwallo .She was born in Vilnius at 1958.From 1959 she is living in Poland. Studied-State Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk. Graduation with honours in1986 from Prof. Sramkiewicz’s class. She has many exhibitions in Poland ,Sweden, Germany and Austria. Works in many private collections in Germany, Holland, Japan, Poland Sweden and USA. “Krystyna Suchwallo, one of the outstanding Polish landscape painters, studied painting at the Fine Arts Academy of Gdansk under the eminent artist-Professor Kazimierz Sramkiewicz. She is of Lithuanian descent: thirty generations of her family have always held in the highest regard the memory of their legendary ancestor-Prince Gedymin who lived as early as in the pagan times of Middle Ages. As befits a descendant of the family who once ruled the Great Princedom of Lithuania, she is a neoconservative. Her painting reflect a noble search for the beauty of natural and idyllic paradise. It is the world with could be seen during a magic, subcelestial flight. The most beautiful spaces open up like a dream before our eyes. We admire what human beings have always admired: Our Earth. We look at wild shores of the sea, steep rocks full of pathos and sublimeness, clouds witch haven’t been painted by anybody before. The artist’s virtuosity, her perfect technique and her sensitive eyes of a master recall the best tradition of both the French and English landscape paintings. Like Corot, Turner, she reacts to atmospheric phenomenons rather than architecture of landscape .Her fogs, dawns and twilights, her southern seas and northern fiords are the true poem woven from joy and nostalgia, power and weakness, pathos and pensiveness. Her pictures aren’t common landscapes. Her mountains are also beautiful sculptures and her oceans are impressive displays of firework, of sparkles and glitters, of sudden strokes of the brush illuminating like flashes. To the artist painting is everything. First of all it’s a mysterious ritual, during which she discovers like Theseus the secrets of Labyrinth. At the time of painting, listenig to the music without melody and rhythm, she put herself in an odd trans. She becomes her own medium. The painting space draws her into its interior. She stands on the thresholds of her pictures and then-like Bulhakow’s heroine passionately depicted in his “Master and Margarita”-she starts her flight to the lands of eternal beauty. It happened also to me: while looking at her pictures I got an irresistible feeling that I heard a sough of gentle breeze and smelled a sandy soil warmed by the sun .”Gdansk 27th February 1989 Professor Czeslaw Tumielewicz
artists' statement
Your work: I find the paintings skillfully executed in an expressive style that includes compositional aesthetics, as well as use of light and color to convey mood and emotion. The work reveals subtle form within a complex structure of abstraction to convey a sublime vision of the landscape. Resolute in style and milieu, the paintings achieve poignancy through a unique perspective that resonates throughout the cohesive presentation. I feel that the work will resonate well with our audience. Excellent work. Angela Di Bello Director of Agora Gallery / Editor-in-Chief of ArtisSpectrum Magazine about the artist ... more -
Art by Roger Cummiskey CapucinesBoulevard
Roger is a Dublin Watercolourist, living between Ireland and southern Spain. Roger´s paintings have been exhibited in Australia, China, Finland, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA, and in many national and private shows in Ireland. His paintings have represented Ireland at the Florence Biennale and also at International Art Exhibitions in London, Stockholm and New York.
Music by Warvadal edited by Roberto Romero Roger is a Dublin Watercolourist, living between Ireland and southern Spain. Roger´s paintings have been exhibited in Australia, China... more -
"...I want to let the paint fly."
about the artist
Born 1970. (American abstract painter) Living in Los Angeles, California, Scott Spencer loves to listen to music while he paints. "Classical music is great for the more cerebral pieces and good old rock and roll works best when I want to let the paint fly." Spencer takes inspiration from his immediate surroundings, real or imagined, and paints into the wee hours of the night. "That's when the energy comes." He began painting full time after a brush with cancer in 1999. Spencer is represented by renowned gallerist and art dealer Biljana Grcic-Beran through Galeria Jan in La Jolla, California, and was admitted into the Pasadena Society of Artists in 2004.
artists' statement
Life is a game. Play along. In the Grand Scheme of it all, we may very well be experiencing different realities. These are definitely wacky times. We live in an age of orange newscasters and Burger King memorabilia. I stepped off the deep end a long time ago and have been dogpaddling for dear life ever since. Nobody taught me to run from my problems. I had to learn that one on my own. I give myself over to That Which Governs. I know Someone or Something is watching after me, keeping vigil. Every day I thank my lucky stars and the Powers That Be that there are art collectors in this world. "Thank you," to everyone who owns and all future owners of these paintings. You are wonderful people, allowing me to continue painting and giving me great satisfaction. If you're ever in Los Angeles, please look me up. I'll buy you some lunch. I'd like to get to know you. Every canvas has an agenda--a life of its own separate from its maker, separate from thought or logic or reason--and to plot its course is only to interfere. To plan is to destroy. Let it paint. Trust the mess. All marks are good. Oh, but the mutiny of scrutiny . . . if we could only leave it alone. The self-taught artist has a great chance to be unique. Without knowledge of "rules" to hinder the hand or an instructor's style to imitate, what results is pure, entirely his own. Contrary to popular belief, abstract art is "meaningful" on a parallel with representational art. Each of us sees differently, and individual responses to an abstract work of art are varied. An abstract work's "meaning" is oftentimes stronger and more personal for the viewer than it is in purely representational art where the subject matter is obvious and can only evoke a limited range of emotions. Nowhere else in this existence have I found the freedom and exhilaration that oil painting affords. Albert Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." Welcome words to a daydreamer like me. "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." Francis Bacon Being gay is a gift, a variation on a theme. Love is too powerful to be shaped or confined. At the moment, I'm loving the paintings of Cecily Brown, Raimonds Staprans and Paul Balmer. My all-time favorites are Max Beckmann, Milton Avery, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Joan Mitchell, Egon Schiele, Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler and Lucien Freud. about the artist ... more
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Investment
