Smart Girls are Sexy

Smart girls are sexy.
I should know, I've got three of them in my family.
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Digital Watercolor by Jay Larsen

Dapper Chani, Stepping Out

A Digital Painting of Chani,
all spiffed up and ready to explore the world.
Have a great time at the Shakespeare Festival, Chani.

Blue Moon Racer

Blue moon racer
Braced against the solar winds
Goggles turn the winter sky
To burning chemical yellow
But the smell of exhaust is reassuring
Even as the roaring machine
Careens toward road's end
With untested brakes
Race, blue moon racer
Who the fuck needs brakes?
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Echoes:
Digital Painting and Digital Words by Digital Jay Larsen

Voodoo Painting

I still don't know who he his.
But I fleshed out the sketch from last week.
Maybe he will appear in a future episode of Super Ordinary Living.
Episode 3 is available for your reading pleasure: No credit card or karmic kube required.
I still like that hair!
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I think it is time to start figuring out some heroes that came through from Super World to Ordinary World.

Stargate Digital Painting

I turned that doodle into a digital painting.

Spelling

Syntax is not meaning
But it defines the in and out
Decoders do not make meaning
But they are the feet
The feet that bring ambition
Ambition to the thoughts
The thoughts denied the shout

Instrumentation is not melody
But it helps to pass the night
Singers do not make the words
But they are the cry
The cry that brings aching
Aching to the heart
The heart flailing in the fight

Symbology is not biology
But it calls out a snazzy tune
Characters do not make novelty
But they are the color
The color that brings attention
Attention to the ass
The ass of a virile baboon

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Credits:

Words by Jay Larsen

Painting, Carousing Characters, by Jay Larsen

Spelling ability is not an indicator of Intelligence

Eagle Envy

Lost little lambs
Keep finding their way to our door
Too much snow to be spring
But the calendar contradicts
All the kids walk that arrogant walk
But they got every right
We all want to fly
But the age of our bones
Keeps us leaning against the fence post
The horizon beckons eternal flight
But gravity does not consent
Come inside beside the fire
We have a nest an eagle would envy
And we must prepare our hearth
For the next visiting lamb
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Credits:
Words by Jay Larsen
Illustration, Eagle Envy, by Jay Larsen
Fondness for your presence by Love recognizing itself in Other

Table Top Standing Stones

I've been painting miniatures lately. Not that these photos do them justice, but I was trying to capture my latest project.

The Guardians of the Balance: Ferris the lynx, Trixy, Anna, Molina, and Braun (from left to right). A brave group of adventurers making a stand against evil within an ancient circle of stones.
The circle of standing stones I carved from styrofoam and mounted on an old CD before painting and adding moss and sand for effect.
They look pretty heroic for being only 2 inches high!
Enjoy.

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Mobile Nirvan, Acrylic & Ink on Art Board

Buddha of the Canyon

Solitary
But never alone
These rocks
This tree
This shimmering atmosphere
Are witness
To the slow erosion
That reveals
My true heart
The one I share
With you

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Buddha of the Canyon, 14”x18” Acrylic, Ink & Paper on Canvas

Super Secret Process Pt 2

I got a chance to get back to my new painting this weekend.
I took the paper cutouts off and put more paint on by hand to accentuate the geological designs created by the plastic. And then I added some starbursts to increase the focus on the Buddha’s head.

Then I glued the paper pieces down with clear acrylic medium. This is always the nerve racking part, because as the acrylic infuses the paper all sorts of bad things can happen to the ink printed on them. Also there is always the possibility that air bubbles will get trapped under the paper and keep it from bonding to the canvas.

After the glue has dried, I put another layer of clear acrylic over the top of the paper to fully encase the paper in plastic. This layer acts like varnish and protects the paper and the ink printed on it from the ravages of time.

I then added more ink and paint to outline the Buddha and to add some dynamic contrast to it. I am very please with the pattern behind the Buddha—It looks like a cross between a tree and canyon walls. I have seen some desert sunsets like that. A pretty trippy effect overall, even if I do say so myself.

So there it is, a new painting from start to finish. Behold The Buddha of the Canyon. Hope you like it.

Cool Blue Mystery

Sometimes a mystery
Works her way into your life
Turning over certainties
Pulling the rug out from under
And landing you firmly
On your ass
Smiling
As you look up
At her loving mischievousness
You are ready to tumble
Again
And again
As long as your heart
And your body holds out
Welcoming
Your cool blue mystery

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Cool Blue Fire: Acrylic on canvas

Super Secret Process Revealed

I know there are lots of industrial spies just waiting to figure out how I produce my top-selling paintings, so it is probably going to kill my art career posting these pictures. But if all 23 of my readers promise not to tell anyone, I will probably get away with this. Otherwise, the art market will be flooded with cheap rip offs, so keep this to yourself and don’t tell anyone. It’s a secret.

I am in the middle of a new painting. I don’t know what it is called yet, names come last.
I started by laying down a base of solid colors in acrylic, just so the canvas wouldn’t be white anymore. Then I laid the canvas flat and splashed on some very wet yellow, red, purple and black ink. Lots of black and lots of yellow.

While all this wet ink was running and bleeding I took a big piece of plastic (the plastic bag from the art supply store actually) folded it up like a big paper fan. Then I spread out the plastic and lowered it onto the wet canvas so that the fan lines all spread out from the center of the canvas. The plastic touches wet paint and ink in some places (the low parts of the fan) and doesn’t touch in others (the high points of the fan).

Then I left the whole thing to dry for a day or so. The paint and ink dries slower where the plastic touches it and faster where the air can get in. It also leaves distinct ridges in the paint where the edges are. This causes the paint and ink to create random shapes that are very geologic in appearance.

I then went scavenging through magazines for pictures and patterns of interest. I cut them out and saved them for later.

When the plastic came off, I got to see the pattern produced for the first time. Then I played around with different placements of the paper cutouts, looking for patterns that I like.

That is where I am with this one. Later (probably this weekend), I will lay on some more paint to enhance the pattern and start gluing down paper. I’ll post another update letting you (all 23 of you) know how it turned out. Keep your fingers crossed. If I screw this one up it would be kind of embarrassing at this point. But if things come together, it might be a work of art.

Shadow of a Wing

There once was a man who thought himself king
His kingdom was small
Composed of many cages
Song birds in them all
Waited on by no pages
All their needs met by the man who thought himself king

Sweet song for the dawn
Mournful song for the moon
Song issued from all the small cages
The man wondered what song
The birds would sing for the wind
But he could not bear to free them
So he paraded them each day
Down the towns dusty streets
Hands loaded with wire cages

The townspeople were greeted
Each day around noon
By whispering songs on the wind
The songs made them feel hopeful
Yet strangely forlorn
When the twittering faded into the distance

There was a man who thought himself king
He ruled over many small cages
Birds sang in them all
Until one day while taking his walk through town
All the bird fell silent, never to sing again
When the shadow of a wing fell upon them

One wild cry
Came down from the sky
And the shadow of a wing fell upon them

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Shadow of a Wing, Acrylic, Ink & Paper on Canvas

Jammed Up at the Crossroads

Too many chosen people
Jammed up at the crossroads
Confused about what to do
With prophets made of stone

Again
You gotta keep those redhead girls
Firmly on your side
They know where bones are buried
They know those fears you hide
Pickled in a secret jar
Not deep but very wide

Again
Too many one-eyed captains
Too many monkey ships
Jammed up at the crossroads
Where even elephants forget

Again

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Jammed Up at the Crossroads, Acrylic, Paper & Ink on Canvas

Time to Paint

It’s my birthday. I’m 44.
My wife asked me what I wanted.
I said, I feel a painting coming on.
So she gave me a whole day to paint.
And this is what came of it.
Two pictures, like bookends.
I put Saul Williams and John Mayers on the stereo.
I put them on repeat.
You can see their music running as a white line,
A cardiograph of sound cutting through the clutter.
I took a deep breath.
I trusted my mind, my intuition.
And created something I still do not know the meaning of.
I will put up better pictures one day when I’m older.

For now I am just happy to have created something.