by Marty Coleman | Jul 21, 2013 | Photographic Sunday |
Dallas Museum of Art
Over the 4th of July long weekend Linda and I went to visit our daughter, Caitlin, in Dallas, Texas. We had a lot of things planned for the week, including some time I reserved for myself to go museum hopping. I was planning to drive over to Fort Worth and see the Amon Carter Museum of American Art which I had never seen before, but time constraints directed my choice to the Dallas Museum of Art which I also had never seen before and was much closer to Caitlin’s apartment.
The fact that the museum was free all summer helped in that decision, as did the special exhibition, ‘The Body Beautiful in Ancient Greece’. There had recently been an exhibition at my hometown Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art on the same general topic which I loved, so I thought I would continue my education in that area by taking in this exhibition as well.
Two Structures – Museum Muse #1
The Museum as Muse
I have been doing a series for many years now called Museum Compositions. I also photograph people quite often and frequently refer to the person I am photographing as my muse. I realized while putting together the images this morning for this post that one of my most compelling muses of all is the museum. Not a specific museum, but all museums. No wonder of course since they aren’t called museums by accident. They house the muses. And to me the house it self is a muse. I am compelled to explore, discover, reach for, secretly find, the perfect composition within the walls of the museum.
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‘Two Dark Muses’ – Museum Muses #2
Finding the formal and the casual creates a perfect moment for me.
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‘Muse and Design’ – Museum Muses #3
The people within the museum are also my muse. It is the relationship of the living to the historic, the flesh to the stone, the real to the ideal, the moving to the static, that excites me.
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‘Phallus and Look’ – Museum Muses #4
And sometimes the relationship between human and object is found within the art itself.
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‘Muse and Vortex’ – Museum Muses #5
You know how a wildlife photographer will tell you he or she has to wait for a long time to get the perfect shot of that animal looking just the right way? It’s the same for me in a museum. I am looking for the location, the juxtaposition of elements in space, of content in relationship to each other. But I am also waiting for the moment the living muse passes by. The moment when they are in perfect relationship to the space and art. I love that moment. I am a hunter of that.
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‘Muse, Man and Boy’ – Museum Muses #6
Compositionally I look for the highest level of formality. I am driven to find the perfect division. In half often, sometimes in thirds. I am looking for a rigorous balance of visual weight.
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‘Muses in Red and Green’ – Museum Muses #7
The mystery of the Museum Muse is that they inspire but they are not known.
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‘Muse at Work’ – Museum Muses #8
Splitting images exactly in half, either vertically, horizontally or both, allows me to fragment and unify the image at the same time. I love the simplicity of the compositional device, and the discipline it takes to find the the composition keeps me pure in focus.
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‘Beautifully Filled Space’ – Museum Muses #9
This quote embodies the root idea behind my compositional efforts.
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‘Dream and Image’ – Museum Muses #10
Contemplation that is embodied in the composition of the image and in the people in the images attracts me.
‘Muse and Waterfall’ – Museum Muses #11
The adrenaline of having to explain myself pumps at moments like these.
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‘Muse on Muse’ – Museum Muses #12
This moment of seeing the living and created muse so blended was sublime. I felt she was taking a photo of herself.
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‘Yellow Muse’ – Museum Muses #13
He split the scene in two and at the same time brought the two sides together. I love when that visual moment occurs.
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‘Ancient Greek And Muses’ – Museum Muse #14
One of my favorite things about museums is how you can see through from one space to another. I like finding the formal composition while seeing through to new spaces.
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‘Formal Muse’ – Museum Muses #15
Sometimes for me the image can be devoid of a human and still be filled with humanity. I found the formality of this visual composition so strong I didn’t think any living thing would enhance it.
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‘Wall Piece and Muse’ – Museum Muses #16
I like when images defy gravity and sense, much like life.
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‘Sleeping Muse’ – Museum Muses #17
Storytelling with art, people and no words is a recurring phenomenon in a Museum.
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‘Male and Female Muses’ – Museum Muses #18
I loved finding the refined and the rough together. As well as the real life muses partially seen, as if in a De Chirico painting.
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Muse with Red Purse – Museum Muses #19
The anonymous woman, reserved but stylish, silhouetted against the grey, was as beautiful as the artwork. Finding them together made both more beautiful to me.
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Muses Coming and Going – Museum Muses #20
Everyone in a museum is a Muse. Everyone and everything is art.
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Here are more ‘Museum Compositions’ posts
Museum Compositions – June 2013
Museum as Muse – Dallas Museum of Art – July 2013
Bouquets in Dallas – Dallas Museum of Art – November 2014
Anonymous Eyes – Dallas Museum of Art – November 2014
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© 2021 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 18, 2013 | Buddha, Making Mistakes - 2013 |
Truth: Making Mistakes #5 appears today.
The Comfort Mistake
It seems to me that the search for truth often times is a search to justify one’s comforts and prejudices. It ends at the most convenient location, in other words. That seems to me to be a mistake. If we want to be satisfied, truly satisfied, we have to pursue beyond both of those things.
Religious Truth
We have some good examples, not in the discovery of an absolute and final truth, but in the courage to continue the search. A number of religious leaders and congregations over the centuries showed great courage by walking the road of truth as far as they could. In many cases it turned out their truth wasn’t (and isn’t) accurate. It could even be seen as a mistake. But the best of them were sincere and committed to the journey.
Scientific Truth
Equally courageous were the scientists who dedicated their lives to walking that road of truth. Some were excommunicated, some were shunned, some were killed. But they knew the road they were on and were seeing it to the end. Just as in the religious journey, the scientific journey also had (and has) truths be discovered later to be inaccurate. It could even be seen as a mistake. But the best of them were also sincere and committed to the journey.
The Road of Truth
The truth is the road of truth demands effort. You can’t cruise down it in a BMW on cruise control. You can’t take a bus down it, or a train on the tracks next to it. You can’t fly over it. You have to walk it, explore it, commit to it. It’s a long journey that everyone has to take by themselves. You can stop and read, stop and sleep, stop and contemplate, but it would be a mistake to not get up again and start down the path. And the farther you go, the more you realize you need no facade, no fancy clothes, no money, no glass house. Just you naked in your search on the road of truth.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by the Buddha
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 17, 2013 | Making Mistakes - 2013 |
I deem it a success that today is ‘Making Mistakes’ #4!
The Wrong Mistake
Yogi Berra, the famous baseball player and manager has a great quote. While explaining why his team didn’t win he said, “We made too many wrong mistakes.” I turned that around to come up with my quote today. Yes, you need mistakes in life to grow and learn, but they have to be the right mistakes, not the wrong ones. How can you tell the difference? It’s not easy, but it has something to do with risk, as fuzzy as that sounds.
Over a Cliff
When I lived in San Jose, California, there was a big news story in 1983 about Dennis Barnhart, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who worked for years and years to make his company, Eagle PC, a success. He finally did it and took the company public. As a result he was an instant multimillionaire and decided to reward himself by buying a Ferrari. He then took the Ferrari for a spin along the curvy mountain roads above the valley. He was alive and free and had made it! He then made a mistake and went over a cliff to his death. He made a wrong mistake.
Into the Wild
The book ‘Into the Wild‘ tells the story of a young man, Chris McCandless, who wants to truly live out in the wild, on the edge. No fall back, no plan B. And he does. He goes off to Alaska and proceeds to live just like that. He is successful until he misidentifies a certain plant as being ok to eat that actually wasn’t. As a result he died alone in the Alaska Wilderness, his body found 2 weeks later by some hunters passing through. He made a wrong mistake.
The Bad Divorce
I remember talking to a friend about my divorce once. I told him that my unwife and I are now at peace with each other and what happened. That we are thoughtful, kind, forgiving, supportive and helpful towards each other as often as circumstances allow. He responded that he had wished his mother had been able to do that after his parents divorced. She had not, but instead had held on tightly to every anger, every slight, every fault and every failing of her ex-husband. She had spent well over 30 years since the divorce focused again and again on her anger and hatred of him and his mistakes. She had not let go and not moved on. She made a wrong mistake.
The Wrongest Mistake
What do those three examples have in common? In all three, people died. ‘Wait a minute, no one died in the third story!’ you say? But what would you call being held and tortured as prisoner of a mistake (yours or someone else’s), in a prison of your own devising, for the rest of your natural life?
To compound a mistake by condemning yourself forever has to be the wrongest of mistakes if you ask me. So, while it is important to avoid wrong mistakes that might kill you, it is even more important to avoid the wrongest of mistakes, the mistake of condemning yourself to death while still alive. Don’t make that mistake.
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Quote, drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 16, 2013 | Family History, The Granddaughter |
Introducing Vivian Isabelle Evans.
Born today to my first born, Rebekah Eleanor Coleman Evans. I am now the Napkin Granddad.
and 30 years ago….
Holding Rebekah right after she was born, 1982.
Resemblance maybe?
Rebekah Laughing, 1983
and 58 years ago….
me, one year old, 1956
And 87 years ago….
Late Great Grandmother Lee Powell Coleman in her carriage, 1926
and 95 years ago…
Still living Great Grandfather James F. ‘Skeets’ Coleman, 1918, in his mother’s arms
I couldn’t be more blessed with the circle of life I have been born into.
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 15, 2013 | Franklin P. Jones, Making Mistakes - 2013 |
I have enough experience to know that ‘Making Mistakes’ #3 is here today.
Why Do I Always…
Do you ask that question? You know, the one that ends with “end up with the wrong guy?” What answer did you come up with?
I don’t ask myself that exact question. But I do wonder why I repeat the same mistakes more than once. It’s not that I never learn, it’s just that it takes more than one experience to learn. Even if I can see that next mistake barreling down the highway at me, I still sometimes avoid getting out of the way until it’s too late. Do you, or did you use to, do the same thing? Why is that? Why does it take so long to learn from our mistakes?
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Drawing and questions by Marty Coleman
Quote by Franklin P. Jones, 1908 – 1980, Philadelphia reporter, public relations executive and humorist
“Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.”
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 12, 2013 | Making Mistakes - 2013, Scott Adams |
If I am not mistaken, today is day two of our ‘Making Mistakes’ series.
In The Beginning
When I was in about 4th grade I did an art piece. It was a collage with painting. It had pieces of newspapers here and there on the paper, with big areas of white and big areas of red overlapping them. When I had got that far I looked at it and thought it still looked boring, wasn’t complete. So I took some blue paint and sort of drip/splattered ala Jackson Pollack, all over the piece. I thought it looked great.
However, my best friend, Craig, looked at it and said something I have never forgotten. He said, ‘You ruined it with that last blue splatter stuff. You always go to far with your art.’ Now I know what you are thinking…4th grade? Really? Who were you two pretending to be, Matisse and Picasso? But as odd as it sounds, that is exactly how it came down.
The Editor
I remembered that admonition from Craig throughout all my years in High School, College, Graduate School and as a practicing and exhibiting artist. I remember it not because it was true in that particular instance, I still liked the piece and that it was better with the blue splatters, but because it was my first real lesson in looking at art as not just what you do but what you don’t do, what you leave out. It was my first encounter with the verbalized idea of editing.
As I went about getting my degrees in art back in the 70s and 80s I saw the lesson lived out again and again, in my own development and in the development of my fellow artists. The ones who progressed, who moved forward and got better, were the ones who spent as much time discerning, editing and rejecting as they did creating. The ones who languished were the ones who only created and never edited. The created, but they didn’t create art. At least not art of a very high caliber.
The Tale of Three Camps
They were in one of two camps. They either were too easily satisfied, never going far enough or they always went too far. Of the two camps, ‘Camp Too Far’ was always the more interesting and compelling. It’s like a Ferrari that goes too fast. Seeing it speed by is energizing and a bit scary and perhaps seeing the wreck down the road may be hard to look at, but you look anyway. I’ve been in that camp before (As Craig pointed out). ‘Camp Not Far Enough’ is like Ferrari driven too slow by a little old lady. Not only is it boring to watch but it is frustrating because you know the potential is there, they just won’t put on the gas. Rarely have I been in ‘Camp Not Far Enough’.
Of course, for me, the camp I aspire to live in, and do so more and more as the years progress, is ‘Camp Far’. It’s like the driver who may drive fast at times but knows when to speed up and when to slow down. They don’t often wreck, but they also are willing to risk having a glorious failure in their attempt to push their passion to where it needs to go. The driver knows the accelerator and the brake pedals are next to each other for a reason.
The Fourth Camp
Are you willing to make a mistake? If you aren’t then you aren’t likely to achieve much either. You might be in another camp. The one Henry David Thoreau named ‘Camp Quiet Desperation’. You don’t want to be in that camp.
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Drawing and Commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Scott Adams, 1957 – not dead yet, American cartoonist. Creator of Dilbert.
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 11, 2013 | Making Mistakes - 2013, Tallulah Bankhead |
My Pet Peeve
You know what I used to hate? I hated it when someone dies tragically and a grieving relative says, “Well, at least he died doing what he loves.” When I would hear that in my mind I would be yelling “HE DID NOT LOVE HAVING HIS BODY TORN TO PIECES BY A GRIZZLY BEAR! THAT IS NOT WHAT HE LOVED! People like dying in their sleep at age 100 with no pain and a long life. That is how people love to die!”
A Different Understanding
Ok, so I sort of know that is not what they really meant. But it sounds like it at times. What they really meant was this person who died was out living life, choosing to not worry about the possibilities of death to such a degree that it stopped them from doing what they loved. Would they have chosen to not try to feed the grizzly bear that day? Yes. But then again maybe they would have still died if they stayed in the warmth of the cabin that morning. After all, we all are going to die, right? We can be as careful as we want and we still won’t avoid it.
Sooner Rather than Too Later
Delaying your life because you are afraid of making a mistake is a big mistake. Are you a planner? Then plan something now that you love to do. Are you the spontaneous type? Then focus that spontaneity in an area that really matters to you and go do it. It doesn’t have to be some death defying adventure. Your big ‘mistake’ can be going to a museum. Your big ‘mistake’ can be taking a Sunday drive to that small town 100 miles away that you have heard had a great ice cream shop. The point is to break through your paralysis of fear of making a mistake and go. The alternative is the scene in the Napkin above.
I don’t want a tombstone that reads, “You Know What I Would Like To Try…” I want it to say, “I made the best mistakes EVER!”
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Tallulah Bankhead, 1902-1968, American actress
She was a great source of quotes in Hollywood. She also said,
“It’s the good girls who keep diaries, the bad girls never have time.”
“I will come make love to you at 5 o’clock. If I am late, start without me.”
“I am as pure as the driven slush.”
Ms. Bankhead at Finocchio’s with female impersonators
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If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 10, 2013 | Bodyless Ghirl Ghosts - 2012-2013 |
Last we saw of the bodyless ghirl ghosts they were hiding under towels in a women’s locker room. This is what happened next.
Curious Angelica and Mischievous Kimber
After all the women left the locker room the bodyless ghirl ghosts played in the showers, getting wet and zooming through the locker room. They sprayed water everywhere as they went. This, by the way, is the reason you see big mysterious puddles in locker rooms when no one has been around.
Angelica, the curious one, went out around the corner and found a funny looking wooden door that was slightly ajar. She slipped through the opening and found herself inside a small room all made of wood. It had benches at different levels and had what looked like a box of rocks on the wall. It was warm inside and she dried off pretty quickly.
She flew back to the rest of the bodyless ghirl ghosts and told them they about the funny wood room and followed her back inside. Kimber, the mischievous one, stayed outside and when all of them were in she flew up against the door really hard, pushing it closed. Immediately the light went on in the room as all the bodyless ghirl ghosts looked out the window in the door at Kimber. They all laughed, thinking it was pretty funny. They enjoyed the heat and dried off very quickly.
Meanwhile Kimber decided to go check out the men’s locker room, knowing the water polo team was done practicing and were changing clothes.
The Heat
While Kimber went off to ogle the Water Polo team the bodyless ghirl ghosts were starting to get hot. It turns out none of them had ever been in a sauna before. When the door had closed it activated the heater and the rocks were now starting to glow red with heat.
They were starting to shrivel. While alive people shrivel when they are in water, bodyless ghirl ghosts plump up when they get wet and the shrivel a bit when they are dry. They can really shrivel a LOT when they get too hot. This is what was happening now. The all pressed up against the window yelling for Kimber to come back. She couldn’t hear them.
The Water Polo Team
Kimber meanwhile was being very naughty zooming all around trying to get a good look at the boys in all their glory. She hadn’t seen many boys while she was alive, having been raised in a convent. She was amused by the boys because some seemed to really like showing off their bodies and others were trying to hide them. She wasn’t sure why this was so. In spite of her confusion she couldn’t wait to tell the other bodyless ghirl ghosts all about the boys and what they looked like naked. They would be so jealous.
The Angry Prunes
She finally decided to go back to find the other bodyless ghirl ghosts, thinking it odd they had not already caught up to her. When she returned she laughed at all the bodyless ghirl ghosts pressed up against the window screaming because they looked like little angry prunes. She smashed into the red button on the outside of the wood door and it popped open. The bodyless ghirl ghosts streamed out, gasping for air.
The Showing Off
They all yelled at Kimber, head butting her (that’s the only type of butting they can do since they don’t have real butts) and calling her names. She didn’t know what the big deal was, plus for once she looked better than they did and so in her mind it was worth it. She told them about the Water Polo team and her questions about their behavior and their anatomy. The bodyless ghirl ghosts decided they had to see for themselves and so they all flew back into the boys locker room. They ogled for quite a while, paying particular attention to the team captain who was showing off the most.
The bodyless ghirl ghosts had to go back to the hotel and take cold showers after that.
The End
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Click in the series drop down menu on the right and pick ‘Bodyless Ghirl Ghosts’ to see and read the rest of the adventures.
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 9, 2013 | Illustrated Short Stories, Quote Authors |
While I was in Dallas this past weekend I went to a bookstore late at night. I once again found a person sitting still who would be a good subject. I drew her in my sketchbook instead of on a napkin. This time I wasn’t able to meet her as she left quickly while I was barely started on the drawing. Instead I made up a story.
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The Realizing Woman
Chapter 1
Her laptop was dead so she borrowed her boyfriend’s computer to go to the bookstore and study.
Chapter 2
She finished studying and started rummaging around her boyfriend’s computer. She found a folder inside a folder inside a folder titled with her name. She opened the folder.
Chapter 3
She saw files titled with her name. She double clicked on one and when it opened it was a photo of herself nude from 10 years before, when she was 19, before she knew her boyfriend. She had never shown the photos to him or ever told him about the photo shoot she had done.
Chapter 4
She looked at the photo, and a number of others he had from the same shoot, for a long time. She was angry. She was angry that she had let herself go and no longer had that same great physique.
Chapter 5
She left the bookstore, went to her boyfriend’s house and dropped off the computer. She thanked him, broke up with him and left.
Chapter 6
She went home, stripped to her bra and panties, took a photo of herself in the bathroom mirror and titled it ‘Day One – Before’. She then got into her running shorts and tank top and went out the door. She ran 8 miles in her neighborhood, finishing at 1 am.
Chapter 7
She got home, stripped down again and took another photo, titling it ‘Day One – After’. She repeated this every day for the next 9 months.
Chapter 8
She posted her before and after photos, all 9 months worth, online as a video montage. It went viral. She became a world renowned personal trainer with videos, a workout clothing line, and fitness equipment for sale.
The End
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Drawing and short short story by Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Jul 8, 2013 | Travel Napkins |
Early Morning Practice
As is my practice when traveling, I try to get out early to a coffee shop of some sort to draw, read, or write before the rest of my family is up and about. On the day after Independence Day I walked over to a local Starbucks for my venti size Cafe Mocha. This woman was deep into her work and I, thinking she would likely be there for a while and I could get a good drawing in, sat down at the table next to her. I couldn’t see her face because of her hair hanging down and that added a technical element to the drawing challenge I liked.
How I make my Drawing Decisions
The only real movement she made was to lean forward closer to the laptop screen or further back. I drew her hair, hoodie and body first, leaving her face and it’s angle until I was sure I could get it right. The hoodie actually had a couple stripes down the arms but I didn’t like the idea of breaking up the lines with more lines so I didn’t include them. Her skirt was a print with very light and delicate flowers. I know I could get the colors right even if I couldn’t get the flowers in detail so I went with dots of colors.
She had on a ankle bracelet that I wanted to include but I didn’t really like where it fell on her leg, feeling it looks a bit too much like a sock top or a tattoo. I really liked her little container of watermelon and made sure to include that. She had a book on top of it which I thought might make it harder to recognize as a container if I added the book on top but I did it anyway, just another challenge. I finally committed to drawing her profile at a certain angle behind the hair. I felt like I got it right though the neck line from the chin probably could have been just a tad bit farther to the left.
I tried a number of different markers for shading, experimenting with layering a slightly darker shade of whatever color I had used. That worked somewhat but it wasn’t really dark enough so I eventually used my go-to color for shading, Prismacolor Celadon Green.
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Reference and Record
I took a photo just in case I didn’t have a chance to finish the drawing and wanted some later reference.
Reference Photo
I usually like to show the drawings I do of strangers to them if possible. She started folding paper into little rectangles and tearing them apart. She then proceeded to make what looked like spelling test cards. I noticed she had a couple big words on her screen and I got the impression she might be studying English, perhaps not speaking it at all. I wasn’t sure if I should approach her or not because of that but I decided I would.
Esther at Starbucks
It turned out she spoke English perfectly and was happy to see the drawing. I gave her my card and told her to email me so I could send her a copy of it. I also told her to come to the blog in a few days and I would have it up for all to enjoy. Let’s hope she does. Esther, if you do, leave a comment, ok?
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Drawing, photos and story by Marty Coleman
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