by Marty Coleman | Sep 4, 2009 | Breasts - 2012-2013, Marty Coleman |
This is a little different than what you are used to seeing at The Napkin. But it is something I created for a charity auction and thought you might like to see it. It is titled ‘The Singing Inside’ and consists of the painted body cast set inside a frame made from the wood of an old piano. It is a lamp as well, with a rope light wound around the two supports holding the cast in place.
Here is the story. I was asked to participate in a breast cancer charity auction. ‘Breast Impressions’ of Tulsa and its founder, Judy Grove, created body casts of various celebrities in the Tulsa area. Artist’s around town then ‘adopted’ a cast, painted it and put it up for auction with the proceeds going to the charity. I adopted this one. I had no idea who the model was and the rule is the artist wouldn’t know unless the model actually wanted it to be known. In this case the model, a well known TV news reporter, and I knew each other and when she found out I was the artist that had picked her piece she contacted me and let me know it was her. That added a cool personal element to creating the image. I thought about her personality and character and it helped form my ideas for the piece.
It started out as just a plain white plaster of paris cast of her torso. That was given to me with no restrictions on what I could do with it. I had done some sculptures years before that used translucent mannequin bodies. In those I had ended up making one into a lamp so I had thought I would try that in this instance as well.
Here is a close up of the painting with two of my oldest and favorite characters, Talking Turtle and Singing Snake. I also included on of my recurring images, a volcano. It seemed perfect for the idea of something coming from the inside.
I even got an engraved title plate for the piece.
I figured it was almost like a person so it should be buckled up for the trip to the exhibition site. If it had a head I might have been tempted to drive in the HOV lane!
It was on display at the Woodland Hills Mall in Tulsa, Oklahoma in September and October of 2009. The auction took place in the center court of the mall and was a great success. My piece was purchased by a wealthy donor who then gave it to the Abbie, the woman who initially modeled for the piece. She still proudly displays it in her home.
Artwork by Marty Coleman
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Aug 21, 2009 | Antonio Porchia, Heart - 2010 |
Pretty simple really, the more you feel for others the less it takes to be moved.
Some are always wary of people caring about them, especially if the person doing the caring is in a stereotyped group.
Some don’t let themselves be cared for out of worry about being exploited or taken advantage of.
Some don’t care for others because they don’t feel anyone cares the same for them, and that is unfair.
Some think they aren’t worthy of being paid attention to in their pain and so never let it be known.
Some love to care but don’t have proper boundaries or discipline.
But no matter what the mutation of care is, we can all strive towards having that pure heart of love; the heart that cares, that pays attention, that is helpful.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“A large heart can be filled by very little.” – Antonio Porchia, 1886-1968, Argentinian printer and writer
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Aug 20, 2009 | Death - 2001-2011, Jorge Wagensberg |
I know, I know. Who’s to say life before birth is all that bad, right? I mean you get to float around in warm water, get fed intravenously, and travel safe wherever you go. Maybe that is what happens after life as well. How are we to know.
The quote made me wonder and so, here are my profound questions of the day. Do you exist before conception? If so, where and in what form? If not, then how do we end up living for eternity given that we had a specific starting point in time before which we did not exist?
Just something light to think about as you go about your day.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Life after death can’t be much worse than life before birth.” – Jorge Wagensberg, 1948 – not dead yet, Spanish academic
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Aug 18, 2009 | Albert Einstein, Education - 2016 |
Quote is by Albert Einstein. Enough said.
Ok, not enough said. In honor of students going back to school and college I am presenting a napkin about the end of school. I do this so you who are taking care of these students will keep in mind throughout the year that they are learning school stuff and they are learning life stuff. You are teaching them both whether you realize it or not.
Realize it.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Aug 12, 2009 | Edwin Teale, Heart - 2010 |
The first half of this quote is ‘The Measure of an enthusiasm must be taken between interesting events”.
In other words, keep your faith and your drive going when there is nothing outside yourself to bring it out or else you will likely falter and give up.
Don’t give up.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“It is between bites that the luke warm angler loses heart.” – Edwin Way Teale, 1899-1980, American naturalist, photographer and writer.
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Aug 4, 2009 | Fame, John Churton Collins |
This quote is SO TRUE!
Think of all the things people are paranoid about that have a truly miniscule risk. maybe it is elevators, or boats or sidewalks or spiders or a million other things. Is it really likely you will be hurt by any of those? No.
But think about your desires; drink, sex, gambling, money, fame…Man, those things can kill you!
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“There is often less danger in the things we fear than in the things we desire.” – John Churton Collins, 1848-1908, English Literary Critic
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Jul 30, 2009 | Aging - 2009, Pearl S. Buck |
Ok, one final drawing for ‘Aging week’. Next I think I will do completely random stuff that comes out of nowhere.
My feelings about aging all seem to revolve around not doing it. I don’t mean physically aging, and I don’t mean growing in wisdom. I mean becoming old in attitude.
The attitude that so often sees things ‘as they had been’ as being the best it will ever be. ‘Back when I was a kid’ or ‘When we were raised’ are clichés that are covers for not being willing or able to see new ideas and new ways of doing things.
The resistance to the new can start early, just think about how the best music ever probably was the music that came out when you were in high school and college. After that it all went down hill. Did it really? Didn’t you simply get use to certain musical ideas and then closed yourself off to new ones?
When Igor Stravinsky debut of the ‘Rite of Spring’ the audience became enraged and revolted against it. Why? Because it was an idea so new that it actually caused them pain. That of course changed over time, until now that same music is seen as almost safe and boring. It took time, but people have accepted it, it’s not new, it is not painful.
What I try to do is withhold judgment of the new until I can get use to the idea, start to understand its value. It is one way I work to not be ‘old’.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.” – Pearl S. Buck, Author
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Jul 30, 2009 | Aging - 2009, Henry David Thoreau |
Day 4 of aging week! I missed yesterday, just a bit too busy between visiting my dad in the hospital and taking some time off. Sorry about that.
Having dealt with my elderly father all week, trying to get him up and moving after a hip break, I have seen once again how important motivation and enthusiasm is to recovery. In his case we are helping him remember his friends back at his assisted living home (his girlfriends at his dining table in particular)!
But enthusiasm is more than motivation. It is about interest, curiosity, feeling like you have something to reach for, something you want to know about. In my father’s case he has started to think he might want to live to 100. It’s a goal, it’s something to think about and imagine.
We are encouraging that by saying we are expecting another party (we have one every 10 years for his big birthdays) so we expect him to live to 100. He might not make it, we understand it, and he understands it. But we have hope, and we have enthusiasm and we impart that to him as best we can. That is the key, not just to have it in yourself, but to figure out ways to impart it to others.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Jul 28, 2009 | Aging - 2009, Madeleine L'engle |
Day 3 of ‘Aging Week’.
My father is on the roller coaster that is old age, bone breaks and lung congestion. Not an easy thing for him to deal with. His efforts are continuing to cause me to think about the whole process of aging.
I remember when this quote made sense for the first time. I was talking to someone much younger than myself. I realized that he didn’t have the flow of time I had. He had gone through 25 years of life, and for him to consider the next 25 he had to project. I, on the other hand, had all 50 years to remember. I had the age of 30 in my memory, the age of 20, the age of 40. I hadn’t given up any of those years, I had just added to them.
It helped me realize why younger people can so often not understand older people. They simply have to take a much greater leap than when an older person has to understand a younger person. They haven’t lived that age yet. Of course, many older people forget what it was like to be young, but that is an issue for another blog entry!
“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you have been.” – Madeleine L’engle, Author
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Jul 27, 2009 | Aging - 2009, Holbrook Jackson |
Day 2 of ‘Aging Week’! I am thinking about it due to witnessing my father’s time in the hospital.
Everything fun you do can be seen as something you should know not to do, that you should ‘know better’.
Whether it is mountain biking, dancing all night, surfing at 6 in the AM or twirling your kids around by the arms someone will think you are crazy or not being responsible or frown upon it for some reason. I say grab your joy, your kids, your surfboard and go have at it. Do be responsible, but at the same time don’t let a stick in the mud stop you from playing in it!
Like this:
Like Loading...
