Art Archives - Page 2 of 6 - The Aging Artist

Vienna: Part 1

Vienna Opera House

City of Arts and Culture

Today’s post examines my love affair with Vienna, the one of the great cities of Europe. I visited Vienna in June this year.

Brief History

Vienna developed from Celtic and Roman settlements into a medieval city. In 1683, Vienna became the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled by the Habsburg dynasty.

Landmarks and Museums

Vienna is known for its cultural heritage and landmarks such as the Hofburg Palace, the State Opera House, and St. Stephan’s Cathedral. In the 1800’s the city fortifications were replaced by City Hall, Parliament, and The University of Vienna. Countless beautiful museums, churches, streets and parks are found throughout Vienna.

Not only are the structures themselves spectacular, the columns, arcades, staircases and ceilings are works of art.

Musicians and Artists

Renowned musicians and artists called Vienna home. Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Brahms, Schubert, Mahler, and Schoenberg worked there and made Vienna the “City of Music”. Viennese designers, artists, and architects contributed to Art Nouveau, the Secession, and the early Modern Movement.

Museums Galore

The Habsburg emperors were avid collectors. The Museum of Art History houses their primary collection, with works by van Eyck, Dürer, Titian, Brueghel, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Vermeer, etc. It also includes extensive Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Antiquities.

The Leopold Museum houses Austrian Art from the 19th century and Modernism, highlighted by works by Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Alfred Kubin.

The Albertina Museum collection spans French Impressionism, German Expressionism, the Russian Avant Garde and Modernism. It includes masterpieces by Dürer, Rubens, Schiele, Cézanne, Monet, Klimt, Kokoschka, Picasso, Beckmann, Chagall, etc.

The Upper Belvedere Palace exhibits art- from Medieval through to Contemporary. It includes Gustav Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’.

The Weltmuseum is the largest anthropological museum in Austria with ~400,000 ethnographic objects from Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America.

The Museum of Natural History has a collection of 30 million items, including meteorites, fossils, and minerals.

Infatuated!

It was a joy to wander the streets, window shop, and absorb the ambience. I admit I was infatuated with the glitz, glamour and the opulence of Vienna. I was seduced by the extravagance of the decoration- the gold, bronze and marble, the sculptures, carvings and embellishments. Like infatuation it was a brief romance for the senses.

Sightseeing Overload

A week of dedicated touring of galleries and museums was both amazing and daunting. The quantity and quality was astounding. Every gallery in every museum displayed hundreds of artworks. What I sampled was amazing, yet countless others were equally worthy of attention.

The Candy Shop

In Vienna I was a ‘kid in a candy shop”. Vienna was a feast, an all-inclusive buffet of art. There were so many temptations, so many choices. Unfortunately my appetite was large, but my capacity was not.

Saturation and Satiation

Despite my enthusiasm, my eyes and my mind quickly reached saturation. I had to make instantaneous judgments of what appealed. After a quick scan of each gallery, I focused on one or two ‘objets d’art’ for a few minutes before moving on. For a week I binged on museums, art and culture until I was fat with overconsumption. I became a over-indulged visual glutton.

I couldn’t sustain my appetite before overwhelm and optical indigestion overtook the experience. When I returned to Canada my brief affair with Vienna was like a beautiful dream. I was sad that the romance was over, and I was back to reality.

Love Actually

More than the whirlwind attraction to Vienna, I felt a deep affection and devotion to the artwork and artifacts. If I had a year to savour what I was trying to cram into a week, I would never tire of Vienna. Art and craftsmanship were evident everywhere. I loved the museums, the architecture, the sophistication. Vienna must have a vibrant community of artists and artisans to create all this. I can understand why Vienna has been named the best city to live in.

Inspired by my Vienna memories, I painted the rainy scene of the State Opera House after a wonderful ballet and opera performance.

Infatuation: a foolish and usually extravagant passion or love or admiration… an object of extravagant short-lived passion
Vocabulary.com

“Love: an intense emotion of affection, warmth, fondness, and regard towards a person or thing.“

Synonyms: Love, affection, devotion all mean a deep and enduring emotional regard,… Love may apply to various kinds of regard: … reverent adoration toward God .., romantic feelings .., etc. Affection is a fondness … that is enduring and tender, but calm. Devotion is an intense love and steadfast, enduring loyalty …; it may also imply consecration to a cause.
Colins Dictionary

Vienna’s Dark Side?

Are there aspects of Vienna that may not be so wonderful? That is the topic of my next blog.

Happy Birthday?

What’s with this event called “Happy Birthday”? It happens once a year to everyone. It’s a day when we get to eat cake, blow out candles and indulge in having our way for 24 hours.

Birthdays were great when we were 9 or 10 and probably peaked at the age of 21 when we became real adults who could drink and vote.

Now as the decades pass, a birthday isn’t so much fun. Like Cinderella after the clock strikes midnight, we are left in tatters. “Holy Bleep!” We are a year older, we look in the mirror and imagine we see a more wrinkles, less hair, and our memory about yesterday has disappeared. We look more like the pumpkin. than prince charming.

We know we are getting old when It takes twice as long – to look half as good.

we know we are getting old when everything hurts, and what doesn’t hurt – doesn’t work.

We know we are old when the candles cost more than the cake.

Pessimistically Optimistic

A birthday happened to me last weekend. I am faced with the cruel reality that I am a year older.

This could be a happy occasion, but I am unsure. The pessimist in me sees the sand draining from the hourglass, and feels infirmities slowly prevailing. Darwin told us only the fittest survive, and I survived another year.

The optimist in me wants to celebrate a year well lived with many many happy moments. My optimist is grateful for the parts that still function well. There is much more than mere survival.

It is not my habit to celebrate my birthday extravagantly. It’s a time of quiet introspection and resolve. It is a time to make changes based on recent experiences.

Magnificence

I once belonged to a men’s support group. We shared experiences in order to have fuller lives. Each meeting ended with this affirmation:

“We love and accept you just the way you are- in all your magnificence.”

At first this seemed to be an insincere and ridiculous affirmation. We were average, we were broken is various ways. We didn’t love ourselves very much.

However, something happens when we look at each other differently. The key phrase “just the way you are”, means we are worthy right now. We don’t need to improve, or achieve or become. We are accepted unconditionally. We are worthy, we are magnificent!

“Worthy now. Not if. Not when. We are worthy of love and belonging now. Right this minute. As is.”

Brené Brown

Figure drawing helped me see this clearly. As I draw the person before me, I am seeking something unique, something about their spirit. If I am observant enough, I might capture a bit of their magnificence. They are beautiful just the way they are.

Drawings from winter/ spring 2023

My birthday is a good time to apply this affirmation to myself, for myself.

I acknowledge my magnificence just the way I am.

If I don’t see myself as special, no outside compliment will overcome my critical self judgement.

It’s time for me to find and acknowledge my own uniqueness, my own magnificence- if only for a moment. I am worthy.

That is my birthday present.

I don’t know a perfect person. I only know flawed people who are still worth loving.”
John Green

Incompletions

No New Posts?

I feel guilty that I have not produced a new post. Last year I committed to regularly write this blog, possibly every two weeks. Here are reasons why I have not kept this commitment.

Conflict of Interest

Life has offered other tempting activities. Winter came late to Nova Scotia, so I skied the final sunny cold days. Travel planning, drawing and painting occupied my attention. By the end of the day, I felt too tired to work on the blog. I feel guilty that other parts of my life are more important than blogging.

No Value

The blog is not a newspaper that reports events (no matter how mundane) to a paid readership. It’s a waste of effort to create trivial posts just to meet a schedule.

Not all trivial things stay trivial. Seinfeld, one of the most sitcoms, was a show about ‘nothing’. The humour was in the mundane aspects of daily life.

“There’s more to life than making shallow, fairly obvious observations.”
Seinfeld

I won’t publish what I had for breakfast or where I went for my walk. Those may be good topics for Facebook.

Rejected Headlines

Here are a few headlines that I won’t be writing.

Failed Expectations

Some posts haven’t worked out. I was hoping to present the ideas and works of other artists. I was hoping to discuss the influence of artificial intelligence and radical technologies on art.

These ideas require more research, effort, and insight than I am willing to devote. They may become feasible in the future.

Solution: Quality Over Quantity

I should only write posts that offer value. I need to reject weak proposals.

The content has to be organized and well written. I should only write and publish articles that meet a high standard.

Half Way Isn’t Far Enough

I have several posts waiting in the queue. They need refinement, revision, editing and imagery to complete the narrative.

Half-done posts should not be published. Like the paintings below they are not ready for viewing, I need to be fully satisfied before I reveal the final product.

Completion

My commitment is to produce fewer but better posts. I need to convert incomplete ideas into finalized works.

Be patient. Keep plugging. Keep working slowly but steadily. The final product should be worth waiting for!

Some beautiful chapters in this book called life, always remain incomplete.”
Somya Verma

Resolving Old Habits

Changing How I Live

It’s 2024 and time for new resolutions. What needs to change?

As I work on this post, I am eating breakfast while I check my phone for emails. Music is playing, as I stretch my sore knee and type another sentence. The day is rushing by as my mind jumps from thought to thought. I won’t feel happy until this post is published. This busyness has a familiar pattern.

Business and Busyness

I have worked hard all my life. When I retired from my science career, I became a full-time art student. After my BFA, I began a career in art.

For a decade I immersed myself in the art business. I built a portfolio, developed a niche, and made lots and lots of paintings. I networked, marketed and sold my art. It was (and is) stressfully satisfying. I have always been busy.

Creating Time

Over the decades I prioritized efficiency and speed to create more time for productivity.

I multitasked everything I could. I planned breakfast when I showered, evaluated traffic when I ate and theorized science as I commuted.

I juggled 3 or 4 activities simultaneously. I would read a book, listen to music, look after the baby, and do yoga.

Multitasking was a carrot for saving time and completing my ‘to do’ list.

I rushed through everything I could. No time to waste! Why walk when you could run? I learned to speed read and paint fast. I crammed my day with frenetic activity.

I set goals, some small, some large, some unattainable. My happiness depended on these markers of success. I delayed any gratification to only the highest outcomes. Pain was part of the gain. Happiness depended on success.

Rushing Roulette

While I was highly productive in reaching goals. I had a problem: my mind was always somewhere else and one step ahead. The destination was my top priority and much was lost in this preoccupation.

The future was my focus, and the present always seemed a distraction and not a place to linger. I regret the moments I never savoured. I didn’t stop to hear my son’s laugh or enjoy my dog’s playfulness. I had been gambling the present for some unreachable future. I still am gambling away the present.

If happiness was the destination, the satisfaction was short lived. As quickly as one goal was attained, new ones were set. The train headed for a new destination before I could appreciate where I was. I was always on my way to somewhere else.

Limited

I am riding on a limited express, one of the crack trains of the nation.
Hurtling across the prairie into blue haze and dark air go fifteen all-steel coaches
holding a thousand people.
(All the coaches shall be scrap and rust and all the men and women laughing in the
diners and sleepers shall pass into ashes.)
I ask a man in the smoker where he going and he answers: “Omaha.”
Carl Sandburg

Getting Off the Train

I realize I have been on the express train to Omaha most of my adult life. I don’t want to take that train anymore. I look out the window and see life flashing past as a blur as I wait for Omaha to come into view. Then what?

Something big is missing. Satisfaction or contentment? It’s time I resolve to change how I live.

“… To the mortal man
We work our jobs
Collect our pay
Believe we’re gliding down the highway
When in fact we’re slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
Slip slidin’ away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you’re slip slidin’ away”

Paul Simon- Slip Sliden Away

Resolving to Change

I have made my happiness and satisfaction depend on future destinations. Getting off the express train doesn’t mean my journey is over. I need to change my concept of living. I no longer need to be so efficient or accomplished. I want to find a slower heartfelt trail- where I can smell the honeysuckle.

I want unstructured time. I want curiosity without regard to commercial sales. I want to paint portraits, carve wood, and make coloured glass bottles. I want to mess around.

I need to change my lifelong habits of rushing and multi-tasking my life.

Can I make the present more important than the future? Is it the journey itself that counts?

I have been telling myself “I will be happy when I get there’.

Maybe I need to say ‘I can be happy while I am getting there.”

I need to find out.

I am being driven forward into an unknown land.
The pass grows steeper and the air colder and sharper.
A wind from my unknown goal stirs the strings of expectation.
Still the question- Shall I ever get there?
There, where life resounds,
A clear pure note
In the silence

Dag Hammarskjold

Window into 2023

Getting Going

Publishing the agingartist blog has been gratifying. The more I publish, the more I feel motivated to address new topics.

As I ponder what to do, I stare out the window. My mind seems preoccupied as I contemplate the view. Is this procrastination or something else?

The Creative Process

Beginning a creative process seems chaotic. It starts with questions rather than answers. What am I curious about? What do I want to learn? What is making news in art?

From this cloud of questions come possibilities. How does technology influence art making? Are we oversaturated with imagery? What makes an image meaningful?

How do I turn these fuzzy thoughts into publishable material? That’s my problem.

Deduction and Induction

We use two thought processes, deduction and induction, to solve problems.

We often start with deduction: breaking a problem down into logical parts, then analysing each part for solutions. It’s like taking a motor apart and reassembling it with better components.

Perspiration or Inspiration

Sometimes a problem is unsolvable using deductive methods alone. We can hit a roadblock with no obvious way ahead. We get the urge to get up from the desk and pace around the room, or stare blankly out the window.

I was always puzzled by this urge to stop and take a break. I felt that I needed to think harder and to keep my nose to the grindstone until I cracked the problem. That approach often doesn’t work.

At an impasse we need to rethink the problem and consider unusual ‘outside the box’ possibilities . At this frustration point, we need to switch to inductive thinking.

Amnesia

To digress, consider what happens when we can’t recall a name. Suppose we forget the name of a person we haven’t seen in awhile, or the name of an old movie, book or song. Try as we might, we can’t remember that ##@$# name! When we give up trying and resume other activities, the forgotten name suddenly comes to mind. Ah ha!

Inspiration

Sometimes the unconscious part of me needs to take over the problem. It uses a myriad of circuits and processes that the conscious mind cannot access.

It takes time for the inductive process to digest the information in this unknowable way. That’s when the urge stop and stare out the window strikes. The subconscious mind is telling the deductive mind to go away. In the background while I am preoccupied with other things, my subconscious is fully engaged with the problem. When I am out on a walk, doing household chores, or at 4 am when I can’t sleep, a solution to will present itself, seemingly out of nowhere. Amazing and wonderful!

Is this inspiration at work? Unlike deductive thinking which follows a logical sequence of steps to a solution, inductive thinking or intuition is a mysterious process. It is the basis of creativity.

Deciding on topics for this blog requires retrieving information accumulated over a lifetime and buried in my memory. I need to relax and let the innate ‘Google’ inside of me find what I am looking for. The ‘light bulb’ will glow once the sunconscious mind is ready.

Intuition and Painting

Inductive thinking is a crucial ingredient of painting. We start with an vast number of options: what to paint and how to paint. We need to decide on topics, composition, medium, style, etc., etc. Our intuition makes some choices.

We start by deductively choosing colours and making marks .

Eventually these ideas are depleted. We pause and take a break while unconsciously thinking about the painting. A few hours or days later we return and see the painting with fresh eyes. This ‘deduce, pause, induce/ inspire’ cycle repeats over and over. The end product is often a surprise and not anything like our initial idea.

Here is a photograph that inspired a painting and the final landscape.

My idea of a productive day, as both a child and an adult, was reading for hours and staring out the window.“
Gail Caldwell

Inspiration Thwarted

Here is an interesting story about windows. I once worked at a research laboratory that had a beautiful outlook over the ocean with snow-covered mountains on the horizon.

View of Juan d Fuca Strait and the Olympic Mountains

Strangely, the large windows in every office were high on the wall so you could not see the marvelous view unless you were actually standing at the window.

I was told that the original laboratory manager had the building designed to prevent scientists from wasting time looking out the windows at the view. He must have been a deductive thinker and consequently quelled the creation of countless inspired ideas.

Looking out of windows is not procrastination: it is part of the creative process!

The results of my inductive contemplations will be evident in my future 2023 blog posts.