Space Pilot X-Ray Gun

4"x6" oil on panel ••• I have three things to possibly talk about. One being that I am thinking about painting the above space gun five feet wide. The other option is to talk about the Axiom of Choice and the last is... Wow, I just heard a squirrel running around on the roof of the studio. • I'm going with number two hoping, in vain, that it will make me look at least somewhat intelligent. • I have always wondered at my exhaustion at the end of a painting session. The act of painting completely wipes me out, so that by the end of a day (or night) of painting, I am flat out beat. Sure, there is a certain level of physicality in the act of painting, but it is nothing compared to say... digging a ditch. When you are done digging a ditch, you are dang tired and you sure as heck know why. When I am done painting, I am dang tired and I really wonder why. • Well, I may have found a partial answer. It is something called the axiom of choice, which has something to do with decision fatigue. The gist is that in this modern age we are confronted on a daily basis with too many decisions. All this decision making leads to decision fatigue and blah, blah, and blah. The blah, blah, blah did not mean much to me until I considered how many decisions I make whilst painting. I would hazard a guess that we are not talking hundreds, but many thousands of decisions. The amount of my decision making is amplified by the fact that my color work does not "follow the book." There is no road map there for me to follow, hence the decisions are new and all mine. • You will note that I stated above the axiom of choice may be only a partial answer. The other part of the equation may be that I am pitifully out of shape. Not only physically, but mentally as well. Remember, I claim to have only four functioning brain cells left in my echo chamber of a cranium and those dissociated brain cells... wait... Oh yeah, the squirrels are running around on the roof again! • What was I talking about? Ah, who cares when you can listen to squirrels joyfully romping around above your head?

Posted May 7, 2018

sold • private collection los angeles, ca