I'm a bit enraged about ArtRage

Hey, want to experience painting with oils? Well then you can try software called ArtRage that mimics painting.

Or...

...you could actually pick up a real tube of oils and a real horse-hair brush and really paint! Don't be lazy. Don't be afraid of getting your hands dirty! You could then really experience it. Painting with ArtRage, I'd image is like taking a shower with a rain coat on; sorry, unoriginal, couldn't resist.

Oh, and after you are done with this great mock experience of painting with oils, acrylics or even drawing with crayons, you can take it into Photoshop and apply an adjsutable width stroked frame with a mimiced wood feel and add a beautiful drop shadow - Then, I guess, we could call it digital fine art.

Why, why, why?

Trust me I'm not one of those anti-technology, old school, people that won't learn a new trick. I learn new technologies every day. I just feel that just because something can be developed doesn't mean it should be. And correct me if I'm wrong... didn't Corel do this with Paint and Draw?

This painting software may be helpful for those with disabilities. It would be a good tool for graphic designers that want to mimic the texture of paint, I suppose. And it might even be good for fine artists that can't touch oils, acrylics, art materials or paint thinners because they developed an intolerance to them over the years from exposure. But even then, until there's a pressure tool that mimics the feel of the brush in your hand and the push back from the flex in the canvas, this software's experience will be lacking.

In my view it is a blessing to be able to feel and paint with real pigments and mediums. And that is something you cannot download!

We can all learn something from Michael Jackson

I think we can all learn one thing from Michael Jackson, besides the Moonwalk, and that is: to not let our inner-demons get the best of us.

It is a bit obvious that what happened on June 25th, 2009 was the end result of a slippery slope that began many, many years ago — probably with "A, B, C".

VH1 'OCD Project' says OCD is Pop Culture, no?

So I Googled Obsessive Compulsive Disorder today - as I sometimes do - and was pleasantly surprised at what I found on page 7 (or so). It seems that someone else out there thinks the same way about OCD becoming mainstream as I do. Vh1 is kicking around the idea of creating a reality show about suffers of this mental disorder to show the real toll the illness has on their lives.

A few months back I wrote about it on one of my Fine Art pages.

I wrote:
My focus subject matter, OCD, seems to be on a real tear in popularity nowadays. Shows like Monk are in re-syndication and teen stars on popular Disney® sitcoms are saying "...I'm OCD, I'm OCD..." and laughing about it. OCD is now mainstream! Forget about the days when Howard Hughes was looked upon as an isolated freak. We now give an admitted obsessive compulsive fanatic like Howie Mandel - not one - but two prime time shows!

So I then wonder... if OCD is becoming Pop Culture... when I paint about it in my conceptual fashion... will my Conceptual Art now be classified Pop Art?

"Jeff Olde, VH1's senior VP of programming and production, noted that OCD has become a part of pop culture, thanks to various viral Internet videos as well as entertainment projects such as USA's Monk."

Full write-up here: OCD Project coming to VH1

Monoprints — Fine art prints about Relationships, Intimacy & Fashion

I just posted (6) six monoprints, that I did a while back, to my fine art website.

The thing I find most interesting about monoprints is that they are one of a kind prints. That explains the "mono" intro. Anyway, very fine art-like, and the uniqueness increases the value and rareness of the print.

In most printing formats you can run many copies of the same artwork; hence the name print.

The creation process of the monoprints I made was:

1. Subtracting by wiping away sections of the color from several different colored plates. The plexiglass plates where colored with thinned oils that I rolled on with a brayer.


2. Meanwhile, I soaked the Reeves BFK paper in a huge vat of water.


3. Then one at a time I ran the different colored plates (laid on top of the wet paper) through the press.


4. After the paper dried, I then went over certain areas of the fine art and accentuated aspects of it with Rembrandt soft pastel sticks.

More of the monoprints can be seen on kickthefaucet.com

Songs about psychological disorders

So, yes, I paint and draw about psychological disorders (e.g. anxiety, OCD, phobias and paranoias) but thought it would be interesting to see what other artists, maybe even musicians are doing with the theme.

I've found 6 great ones so far; in a bout 5 minutes, so I'm sure there are many more.

Below are a collection of wonderfully, clever lyrics from a group called Swollen Members. The song is called Paranoia. Hear it below the lyrics in the YouTube embed. Great tune - one of my favorites!

[Mad Child]
Sometimes I smash the wall when I'm alone in my room
I'm an abusive reclusive like Dr. Doom
Parts of darkness descend and consume me
You wont believe the gloomy thoughts that run through me
I'm proof ? if you spend the night
Leave the next day like "I don't think his heads on right"
Try to talk to myself but I don't listen
I've got split personalities and competition
And which ones Amanda? I've got issues
I could be standing in front of your face and I'm not with you
Schizophrenia, Shane's brains distorted
Sort of compulsive, obsessive, disorder
Mathematical pattern addict of depraved mind
Before I go to bed I hit the light switch seven times
Yes, um, never mind, put the knife back
Mad Child I'm outta my mind, but I'll be right back

[Chorus]
It's all in your head, you need to unwind
Your losing your grip, the paranoia never ends
It's all in your head, what you see in your mind
There's no reason to trip, the paranoia never ends
When your mind is acting wild
And you swear your insane
Can't nothing help you out
Of this trap your in
You don't know which way to turn
And your head is in pain
Can't nothing help you out
Of this insanity

[Prevail]
There's no one behind you, there's no one beside you
There's no one beside you, you know as well as I do
There's no voice inside you, that shadow isn't moving
You must be losing to confusion having illusions
Still you wanna prove it, paranoia
That someone might be coming for you, no ones trying to kill you stupid
There's no Norman Bates, peeking in your window
There's no Patrick Bateman trying to pick you up in limos
You pop another pill, to try and calm your nerves
But prescriptions make the descriptions a lot worse
Your seeing red bursts, and then your head hurts
You should have checked under the bed first
Crawling on all fours, locking all the doors
You must have flown over the cuckoos nest and lost your course
I thought I told ya, don't let that shit control ya
'Cause paranoia will destroy ya just a lesson for ya

[Moka Only]
Yo it's paranoia in your brain cell
You think the worlds looking at you but you can't tell
You need to find yourself a hobby or something and stop frontin'
Nobody's out to get you, nobody wants nothin'
I think you got a chemical imbalance
When theres silence, you swear you hear cops and their sirens
Maybe it's a different environment that you need
But whatever it is, your minds dying to be free
Your trying to perceive with the usual procedures
Your chests feeling tight, you think your having seizures
Maybe your just trying to hard to fit in
You need to let that shit go and get counseling my friend



I will post more songs as the mood swings right...