Monthly Archives: March 2012

Mark Ryden does wonderful and tiny paintings

http://www.markryden.com/

Blending themes of pop culture with techniques reminiscent of the old masters, Mark Ryden has created a singular style that blurs the traditional boundaries between high and low art. His work first garnered attention in the 1990s when he ushered in a new genre of painting, “Pop Surrealism”, dragging a host of followers in his wake. Ryden has trumped the initial surrealist strategies by choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation.  Ryden’s vocabulary ranges from cryptic to cute, treading a fine line between nostalgic cliché and disturbing archetype. Seduced by his infinitely detailed and meticulously glazed surfaces, the viewer is confronted with the juxtaposition of the childhood innocence and the mysterious recesses of the soul. A subtle disquiet inhabits his paintings; the work is achingly beautiful as it hints at darker psychic stuff beneath the surface of cultural kitsch. In Ryden’s world cherubic girls rub elbows with strange and mysterious figures. Ornately carved frames lend the paintings a baroque exuberance that adds gravity to their enigmatic themes.  Mark Ryden received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a retrospective “Wondertoonel” at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of California Art, and in the exhibition “The Artist’s Museum” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Maria Pace Wynters does luminous portraits

I love finding a new artist.   Maria Pace Wynters does luminous portraits.   This Canadian painter is a born creative, an artist to the core, creating art from a very early age. Her artwork embraces creating for creativity’s sake, focusing on the pure process of creation and enjoying the act of making. We are constantly pushed and pulled in every direction at once and Maria’s paintings “represent this dynamic struggle that we as humans are obliged to embrace”. As a mother, Maria takes inspiration from her children, drawing on their carefree nature and approach to life to create wonderful, unrestrained artworks that provide a connection to our inner-child.
Here are two links to her work  http://mariapacewynters.wordpress.com/2010/11/  and http://artodyssey1.blogspot.com/2012/01/maria-pace-wynters.html. Continue reading

Trolling for Dollars: Snitching Patents and Looking for Someone to Sue

Patent Troll Sues Apple, Dell, HP, 21 Others Over Automation.  It is a plot that we see several times every week.  An old patent gets snapped up by someone who creates a company around it and sues a bunch of easy targets to extract license fees in the hope that their potential victims want to avoid perhaps even higher fees following a court ruling.  This is one remarkable example.  A company called Data Carriers is suing 24 tech companies, including Apple, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, RIM, Nokia, Nintendo, Motorola, LG, Lenovo, HP, Dell and Asus over a patent that is entitled “Proactive presentation of automating features to a computer user.” That may sound very general in its nature and is, in fact, a rather complex description of what we find to be common sense today: The patent describes the idea that a an application is able to record a certain usage of an application to provide a feature that would provide an automated execution feature later on. You could consider it a patent that covers all context-sensitive aspects of applications today. Every time a software reacts to user input with the suggestions of some automation feature, this patent could potentially be infringed. A prime example would be Microsoft’s ribbon menu bar. Interestingly, Microsoft is not among those being sued at this time. Continue reading

There would be so many more good psychic readers if they just believed in their ability to (really) develop their skills

A friend asked me if I’d seen Long Island Medium yet and I had not.  He said he has a problem, that no psychics are able to read him.  I told him that few can read me but that’s because my experience is many “readers” are giving a canned speech which they give to 80% of everyone and it’s so general and vague that 80% of the people can think it applies to them.   And when they’re unseasoned, they don’t know that it’s obvious to someone when they are doing that.  There would be so many more good psychic readers if they just believed in their ability to develop their skills, and keep them honed.  The aura changes when they fall out of guidance and into their practiced “advice.” It changes when they get a psychic flash which they recognize as a thought popping into their head, a thought they feel compelled to speak aloud. If they’re smart, they meditate to learn to distinguish their random thoughts from the thoughts of guidance. If they don’t begin to train to distinguish the voice of guidance, they may think they have to voice every “thought” aloud. Continue reading

Seven Parables from The Lotus Sutra

I read today at ‘Buddha’ goes to the hospital: A convergence of science, history and art  CAT scan of a a 17th century Korean statue of Buddha reveals sacred texts hidden in the stomach and head. The retrievable text was translated to be The Lotus Sutra.  “Wiki: The ultimate teaching of the sutra is implied that “full Buddhahood” is only arrived at by exposure to the truths expressed implicitly in the Lotus Sutra via its many parables.  Here are seven parables from the Lotus Sutra:

Continue reading

The Way Into The Vortex

Abraham-Hicks says, “The fastest way to get somewhere other than where you are is to make peace with where you are. What are the positive aspects about where you are right now? Stop making excuses.  Stop telling the old story  Stop giving any conversation to anything not in the vortex. Just get in there.  No more excuses, no more conversation about what you see happening that you don’t want.  Tell the story that brings you the greater relief,  Get hooked on alignment with Source energy.  Complaining is out of the vortex, whether your complaint is valid or not. Think the better feeling thought. That’s the way into the vortex.”

Don’t tell anyone else the story of what all has been going wrong, even if it’s a good, juicy story.  Telling the story would just make you vibe in a place you don’t want to vibe at and it would keep you from moving on to other good stuff.  Then don’t beat yourself up for it.  We all want to tell the juicy story; we all want to tell our side.  We don’t think we will be held back too long by just telling the story one more time.  But we can nip it in the bud if we want.  Stop telling the old story and start telling the story of everything there is to appreciate in the life you have right now.

The world is not in the hands of madmen, the world is in the hands of God

Cultivate a perspective that sees beyond the worries, ambitions, and ordinary issues of your life. This is not easy to do, but give up complaining. Give up being a pessimist. Give up thinking life owes you anything. Give up being lazy and wishing things were easier all the time. In short, give up wishing your life were other than the way it is and do something with the life you have. Reaching for your sacred other requires that you love or appreciate at least part of your life, that you are striving to make the most of your life, and that you recognize that life is a gift. The sacred other is not difficult to find. But your own worthiness and appreciation of your life may be difficult for you to find—and that’s the raw truth.  Prayer draws you into the energy field of the sacred and protects your soul, your sacred other. Hope is the Face of Grace, and it reminds us that ultimately the world is not in the hands of greedy politicians or terrorists or corporate moguls or fundamentalists praying for Armageddon.  The world is in the hands of God.

 

I don’t write about luck and miracles to brag, but to let you know it’s possible for you, too

A friend responded to I Get To Practice What I Preach saying I am always bragging about my good luck. I don’t write about my experiences to brag, but to let you know it’s possible for you, too.  I write down my train of thought since it is that train of thought that keeps me in the flow and keeps good things coming my way.  I’m no one special, but I know how special and powerful I can be when I can stay conscious of what I’m doing and hopeful about where I’m heading.  In fact, when I can do that, then luck is a no brainer.

Is it Real? Red Flags and Being Played

In transferring files from old diskettes to cd, I found a letter from 1995.  A friend was concerned that I’d married someone I barely knew, who was now incarcerated.  Being a 12th house Aries, I figured I was fulfilling my dharma.  He was a law office client, we were dating, a DUI conviction sent him back to Texas as it violated an old lifetime parole condition not to drink alcohol.  We wrote daily letters the four years he was gone and looked forward to our real life together.  When I mentioned to a friend I was excited about Lee’s release, they said all they could see were red flags. Continue reading

I rerouted the squirrels’ main highway

I love Springtime and all the new buds forming on everything.  I’ve been out in the west woods cutting a path through the palmettos to the newest oak, maybe 18 feet tall. I’ve trimmed the lower branches of the oak and hauled branches and fronds to the east garden to be woven into the privacy wall. Now onto the grapevine portion of the project.  I just re-routed about 5 miles of grapevine and snipped the old vines; I also moved some bamboo around so the squirrels can jump from tree to tree. When a dead branch came down, it took one of their major highways out. I added a length of bamboo for them. Izzy had taken to lying beneath the route, waiting for one of them to fall into his mouth. Sorry big kitty.