who needs a hit counter when you have friends?

My good friend matt sent me a message today - and i got happy because someone is at least looking at these:

-I'm talking here about those last 3 watercolours. This following critique didn't post on your myspace blog. After that, I decided the critique was too long-winded, not critical enough, and too much 'my perspective' to post as a comment. Anyhow, you might get a kick out of it though:

A Wrinkle in Time?

I've never been a fan of watercolor, (except maybe for that old Japanese style.) However, you took the foo-foo out and emphasized the fun!

I'm not an expert by any means, (which is why my opinion may actually be somewhat valid,) but... beyond the old masters, the watercolour medium does make me think of "flowers and barns;" it makes me think of amateurs/working-class, probably because of the relatively low cost of watercolor paint to other mediums. (As a former CPF it makes me think of mediums that you should never drymount, and mediums that fight with their substrate, as watercolor often permantly warps the paper its painted on.) Also, watercolors seem naturally more delicate, gentle, and lighter in color than mediums like oil and ink.

I see the watercolor as a dead, or irrelavant art form.

All that amateur talk aside, I like these pieces. My favorite is "Juliet," the A.M. radio piece. Beyond looking cool, (the base value of any work of art,) it incorporates my aforementioned views on the watercolor medium and uses them to good effect. It also implies Juliet from Romeo and Juliet... passionate love that dies.

From my understanding of the A.M. radio heyday national D.J.'s were in charge of the airwaves, and the songs and bands played. That's how rock and roll got popular. Not only is the A.M. format dead in terms of playing and popularizing music, but that function of the D.J. is largely dead too. More recently? Clear Channel and invested major labels control the airwaves: the playlists have already been pre-destined. Real D.J.s, who choose the music? You can find them late night often on public radio like Linn in Providence, RI. Now? perhaps digital technology is slowly resurrecting this old-style D.J. function back from the dead, (I'm thinking Left Of Center a show locally D.J.'ed by Dodge.)

Now being a passionate lover of rock and roll, of radio in my youth, and still mourning the loss of the now-dead 'Juliet' that it was to me; the work makes complete sense to me. Yet the handwork is playful; it doesn't put on airs, or take itself too seriously. That mood reminds me of one of the precursors to rock and roll, but one that took shape at the early stages of recorded music: the blues. The melodies of the blues are upbeat often in contrast with the subject matter. I'm a fan here too. (I'm a fan of the real old stuff, 1920's and 1930's: Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Willie McTell, Skip James, and even Robert Johnson.)

Aspects of all this seem to be present in this piece; it rocks genuine style. Though genuine blues is undeniably dead, the music-junkie-promoter function of the D.J. may be resurrected; like the watercolor medium seems resurrected here, both to mourn the old and celebrate the possibility of the new.

The drips are well placed too!

My only criticism: I wish that lightning bolt was bigger.