by Marty Coleman | Oct 5, 2012 | Travel |
I am in Arkansas, speaking at the Southern Region 4H Volunteer Forum. Here are some of the drawings I have done and people I have met so far.
Her friend said Ruby was sexy and fun so I should draw her, so I did.
Someone told me this was her favorite quote and I decided its one of my new favorites as well.
Boy, where to start with this retro poster I happen to see in a display this morning! What do you think it is saying?
She is also a web designer so as we talked about the confusions of WordPress after my presentation I asked her to let me draw her.
The good folks at Oklahoma 4H set up a fun space for people to come by and draw their own napkins. I sat at the table and did a meet and greet this morning. This is where the drawings you see were done.
This was the sunset that met me this morning.
Karla, the woman who hired me for this gig, had a meltdown over a technical issue last night. Kevin, her co-worker, saved her butt. In return he wanted her to kiss his toes. This drawing I did for her is as much as he got in that category!
Ruby’s friend wanted her drawing done as well!
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by Marty Coleman | Oct 2, 2012 | Creativity - 2009-2013 |
Creativity Within
I come across a lot of people who, when I say I am an artist, say in response, ‘Oh, I am SO not creative.’ My usual response is ‘You are probably more creative than you realize.’ But in truth often times I am thinking, ‘Yea, that is probably true.’ Why would I think that? Because anyone who says they aren’t creative obviously thinks they aren’t. And guess what? Those who say they aren’t something very seldom become it.
The Grand Mystery Illusion
The other reason people say it is because it is they think it is something you are born with, something ingrained, mysterious. Not something you can learn. But that is not true, you can learn how to be creative. You just can’t learn it from someone else very easily. You have to learn it and practice it with yourself. So, if that is the case, how can you become creative when you aren’t creative enough to teach yourself.
Talking to Yourself
The key is in talking to yourself. The talk is not of the ‘do this, do that’ variety. it is of the ‘hmmm, I wonder what would happen if’ variety. It is the voice of fearlessness, the voice of curiosity and the voice of joy. If you are willing to talk to yourself, encouraging yourself to try something, something a bit off the wall perhaps, you have a way to bridge that gap.
But, this is a case where you really do need to take your own advice and say, ‘OK, I’ll try it.’
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Drawing by Marty Coleman. It is the second drawn interpretation of this quote. You can see the first drawing, from 2009, here.
Quote by Arthur Koestler
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 28, 2012 | Texas, Travel, Travel Napkins |
I went to Dallas, Texas for a few days this week to visit my daughter. I did this drawing while at Starbucks one morning.
Haley Being Drawn
I hung out at Starbucks yesterday morning and did a drawing of a woman having what seemed to be a mentoring time with someone who might have been a family friend, maybe a past professor, who was helping her talk through career ideas. I drew her as they talked. She stayed on to work after the gentleman left. After I showed her the drawing a guy came up behind me and said how good the drawing was, how beautiful she was and how the drawing didn’t really do her justice. He went on about her beauty and the drawing and I had a feeling the double attention was making her uncomfortable. Knowing a guy had been drawing her was probably awkward enough, but another guy coming along and focusing on her looks as well was a bit too much. I gave her my card, told her where she could find the drawing later and went on my way. As I went outside, the guy who had said something about the drawing came up to me and said ‘we have the same taste in women.’ I simply said, ‘She is beautiful.’ and went on my way.
Paying Attention
It bothered me though that he would say that. It’s like my deeper appreciation of her was sullied by his shallow response. Then again, his comment wasn’t offensive really, or tacky, trashy or rude. It was just a pretty average male comment. But it bugged me nonetheless. I sat down at that table because I saw her there and was hopeful she would be there long enough to draw her. She was interacting with someone so she had her head up and I wanted to take advantage of that instead of another person who might have been looking down and a book or computer. I also was hopeful I would have time to get the person she was talking to into the drawing, which I did, just barely. And yes, I thought she was beautiful and I wanted to draw her because she was attractive and well manicured in hair, makeup and dress.
How I See
So, why did that guy bother me? Were the two of us that different? Is the fact that I used my time viewing of her by doing a drawing better than the other guy just staring and doing nothing? In the end, what I love about drawing or photographing people vs just staring blankly at surface ‘beauty’ is that in my creative act I feel I am discovering the person to a much deeper degree. I am seeing the outer shell, true. But I am also investigating, paying attention to the tones, shapes, colors, expressions, style, body language, feelings, etc. I am interpreting and exploring who the person is and how I see them. I am making something of the encounter. Something that says more than just ‘she’s pretty’.
At least that is how I see it. What do you think? Do you think I am any different than that other guy?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman at Starbucks on Greenville in Dallas, Texas
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 21, 2012 | Apelles, Judgment - 2013 |
Your Area of Expertise
What do we know? And what do we know we don’t know? That is key to successful (yes, successful) judgment. The problem is we think we know more than we know. Do I know shoes? I am not a shoe maker so I can’t judge the excellence of shoes in a technical sense. However, I am a long time shoe wearer and a shoe looker so I feel competent to judge in those areas. The problem is that can easily spill over into judging the technical construction of shoes, of which I know nothing. Obviously, if my shoes fall apart or I have some shoe needle still sticking out of the sole I can judge the making of that pair of shoes as being faulty. But that doesn’t mean I actually know what goes into making an excellent pair of shoes. But I sure can sound like I know if I get going.
Painting the world with Judgment
So, I don’t like this one particular pair of shoes. That then can translate into recommending to a runner I coach that they avoid that brand. All of a sudden I have taken a specific issue with one specific pair of shoes and painted an entire company with that judgment. That is how it goes in many things, isn’t it. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Judgment can’t, and shouldn’t, be avoided. But it should be implemented when you have knowledge, not when you are ignorant. If I hear enough stories of bad shoes coming from this one company then perhaps I have some reason to judge the company. but to just have a single isolated pair? Not such a good reason to judge anything bigger than that pair of shoes.
Paying Attention
One of the reasons I love going to museums is so that I keep up with my expertise. I can’t very well judge my own artwork, or others, if I am not practiced at viewing and exploring art work out in the world. If I want to be a helpful, competent judge for a fellow artist on whether a certain piece is up to snuff or not, don’t I have to have a good foundation AND a current, fresh understanding of art in the world? Otherwise what can I really offer?
Hip as Hip Can Be
It would be as if a man had never moved beyond his 1970s clothing style. Would you trust him to advise or help in judging your fashion choices? Probably not.
Or a woman who has never done her own make up and hair beyond the 80s style she used in High School and then felt competent to judge her friends attempt at contemporary hair or make up circa 2012. Would she be a trusted advisor and judge? No, she wouldn’t be.
Judgment requires both foundational knowledge and contemporary knowledge to be trustworthy.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Apelles, 4th Century BCE, Greek painter
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 20, 2012 | Judgment - 2013 |
Raising Kids and Others
One of the big elements of raising healthy kids and helping others grow up into adulthood is to help them understand the true nature of judgment. Kids learn about judgment early on. After all, school is actually more about judgment and placing people in slots of acceptability than it is about formal education.
Consider the Source
I mentioned a number of months ago that my ex-father in law, Dwight Johnson, passed away. I went to the memorial service and spoke briefly at the reception about what he meant to me. One of my favorite lines he used to say was, ‘I just consider the source.’ He was usually referring to me having said some sarcastic remark at his expense. It was his way of saying, ‘Marty’s judgment says way more about him than it does about me so I don’t worry about it.’ He was a wise man.
Are You Vulnerable?
I have a friend who is very, very modest. She is working through why that is, and basically it comes down to feeling vulnerable. Now, my definition of vulnerable is about being at a high risk of something bad happening. She feels that the bad thing that might happen is that someone might say something negative about her body. And the truth is, there is that risk. She is sensitive and it hurts when it happens, whether the person is a jerk commenting on her appearance or figure, or an innocent family member who isn’t even old enough to know how to hurt someone on purpose saying something funny in her bedroom as she changes into her work clothes. So, how does she overcome that? I would tell her to contemplate the napkin quote. Is the comment exposing something about the person saying it, not the person it is directed to? The first person can be blown off as a jerk, easy enough. The second person’s comment, while not being blown off in the same way, can be at least understood as not being purposely hurtful. And think about it, aren’t most judgments coming from one or the other, either a jerk meaning harm or an innocent meaning no harm? If that is the case, then the only ones you really need to worry about are the judgments in between.
The Judgments in Between
What judgments are in between? What judgments are left? Maybe ones you can contemplate and decide for yourself if you agree with them. For example, someone says, ‘That hairstyle makes your face look long.’ Consider it. Does it? Do you mind that it does? Do you see something you hadn’t realized before and maybe agree with? No, you don’t? Then easy enough, you disregard the judgment/comment and go on your way. You do agree? Then easy enough, next time you change your hairstyle you consider styles that don’t make your face look long. In other words, it really becomes your own judgment, your own observation. It’s no longer seen as something hurtful or mean or anything like that. It’s just an observation, neutral in judgment, that you can consider as if it were your own observation.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Anonymous
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 19, 2012 | Art, Censorship - 2012 |
I am going to sell you on the fact that today is #5 in my censorship series.
Back Door Censorship
I love when a quote gets me thinking about something in a completely new way. I had not really considered that creating a market for some things but not others, based on moral judgment, is a back door method of censorship. It’s really not about whether something can sell or not, it’s much more about the powers that be building a market world that only allows certain types of images, books, films, dance, songs, to be distributed and sold.
Here ye, Here ye, Judge Money Presiding
Think about the Ratings Board for Film in the US. What is that but a censorship bureau? I am not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing, but that it is a construction meant to limit the commercial viability of products they deem as ‘too much’ in one way or another. The stated goal of the Ratings Board is to help society know what they are about to see, whether it is appropriate or not. But it also is guaranteeing that any film rated NC-17 will not be distributed widely at all, thus making it’s commercial viability minimal. That isn’t just a by-product of the Ratings Board, it’s one of the main functions of the ratings board, albeit not publicly stated.
Profit within the non-profit
How does a non-profit organization, like a museum deal with this idea? They can’t say the paintings won’t sell, since they aren’t selling anything. But they can say the artwork won’t bring in people to the museum, that it will cause a controversy, that it will offend people, and the result of that? The museum will lose what? Money, that’s what. Now, most museums I have been to make some pretty courageous choices about exhibitions. But they also reject exhibitions because they are not ‘commercially viable’ for their institution, even though their institution is supposedly not commercial.
Basically, behind it all, and around it all, I think the power of money is a huge censorship device. What do you think of this idea?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by David Mamet, American playright
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 18, 2012 | Anonymous, Censorship - 2012 |
The Dividing Line between Reasons and Rationalizations
Where is the censorship line drawn? Kate Middleton, Britain’s Princess of Cambridge, is photographed with her bare breasts showing while sunning one a private balcony one half mile from the nearest road in the south of France.
How does a person rationalize taking the photos and selling them for what we have to assume is millions of dollars? The photographer says, ‘I could see her through my lens so she obviously was not in a private situation.’ What about the idea that she doesn’t want photographs of her breasts to be shown to anyone, much less published and seen by millions of people. Does that count for anything, does that matter? Obviously it isn’t a persuasive argument to the photographer, to the agent selling the photos, to the publisher purchasing the photos or to the editor and writer arranging and captioning the photos. They know she doesn’t want those photos taken or distributed. So, what is their rationalization? They might say, ‘Well, if she didn’t want her breasts shown she shouldn’t have shown them’ What do you think of that argument? Did she show them to the world when she exposed them to the sun and air on that secluded patio? Was it her fault?
Everyday Modesty and the Mundane
A friend of mine here in Tulsa, a news anchor, is an extremely modest woman. She is livid that anyone would do this and that laws allow it in certain countries. She said she would die of photos like that of her were exposed. She says it is a private, intimate moment, not one to be shared. What do you think? Is being nude in and of itself an intimate state of being, no matter where you are and what you are doing?
Others I know say it is just no big deal. It’s not a scandal, it’s not a moral failing on her part, it’s not a embarrassment. It’s just a woman sunning topless in private. Big deal. She isn’t in flagrante delicto, she isn’t doing anything outlandish. She is doing something incredibly mundane and pretty boring. Laying down and sunbathing, hardly the most arousing of activities whether topless, bottomless or both. Her boobs are shown, alright already. Done. Next.
Blame
What do you think of this whole situation? Is it ok or not that the photos were taken, sold and distributed? Who is to blame for it happening? Does Princess Kate hold any blame?
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Drawing by Marty Coleman
Quote by Anonymous
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 17, 2012 | Censorship - 2012 |
I think it is appropriate that it is Censorship series #3
Disapproving but Indulging
Being a photographer who often photographs women I have made a habit of checking those who favorite or comment on my photographs on Flickr, where I show them for the most part. My rule is that if the person has a well balanced range of photographs, either their own or those they favorite, then I will not do anything. But if I find they have photos only of one type, primarily pornographic or fetishistic, then I will block them from seeing more of my work.
But what that means of course is I have to go look at their site and their favorites. And that in turn means I see those pornographic and fetishistic photos. And the truth? I can be hypocritical about it. I see immediately that I am going to block this person, but I also sometimes spend more time looking than I need to. Why do I do that? Because the images are exciting to look at, duh.
The Company You Keep
What is the alternative? Here are the questions I have thought through. If I believe my art and photography is not pornographic and is worth looking at, then maybe it doesn’t matter who favorites it. They might favorite some cheesy sex kitten porn image that I think is pretty trashy, but if mine is next to it, doesn’t mine shine through? Or is mine diminished due to the company it keeps? And the other question is if I allow my image to be in a gallery of images I find offensive, then aren’t I approving of those other images? Aren’t I telling my viewers that it’s ok if they follow threads and go to that other site?
50 Shades of Appropriateness
That is where I draw the line. If someone sees my image and collects it somehow, along with images I don’t like, but they keep it to themselves, there isn’t much I can do about it. But if they are going to put it for public view then I am going to censor it if I find its surroundings offensive. This might be similar to the written word, let’s say, 50 Shades of Grey, which is now a very popular book. We have a copy of it (given to me by my wife, as of yet unread) and it is on my nightstand. We live alone and all our daughters are grown women now. As a matter of fact we know one of them has read it. But I wouldn’t have it on the nightstand if they were still living at home and were teenagers or younger. I would censor myself so that what I had in public was appropriate for those who might see it. It isn’t a matter of approval, it’s a matter of appropriateness. if, upon reading it, whether I am aroused by it or not, if I find it bad, trashy, mean-spirited, or otherwise lacking, I will get rid of it because I won’t want it infecting my bookshelf. I will let you know what I decide in a later post.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman
Quote by Edward Anthony, 1895-1971, American writer
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 14, 2012 | Censorship - 2012, Henry Steele Commager |
Don’t tell me I can’t make today day #2 of my Censorship series.
"The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purposes, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion."
Going Berzerk
The recent events regarding the anti-muslim film, the riots in the middle east, and our American conflict between first amendment principles, common sense and common decency have got me thinking, How and why do we censor ourselves? The reason I ask is that self-censorship really is the the art of exercising real discretion in life and it is quite important to becoming a mature adult.
Some live in a rule bound society where they have very little freedom of expression. As a result they don’t have much reason to learn self-censorship and self-discretion. When those rules are changed or abandoned, or they move to another land with less rules, it can be very hard for the person to stay within any bounds, since none of the restrictions they had before were necessarily theirs. They were put on from the outside. I am not saying everyone in a rule bound society goes berzerk with freedom when the rules are lifted, but there can be that danger.
Figure Drawing
Last night I did something I haven’t done in many, many years. I went to an open figure drawing session. What that means is you aren’t in a class being instructed, you are just being given access to a studio and a model in a group setting so you can draw as you please. I don’t think I have gone to an actual figure drawing session since before I moved to Tulsa in 1994. I have drawn from the figure here and there, but not in a group studio setting. It was great fun and very energizing and challenging for me. It engaged me in a very rigorous and serious period of time of seeing, evaluating, drawing and creating.
I decided since I was thinking a lot about censorship yesterday that I would do something different in my drawings. I decided I would censor myself and see what I could come up with. There were 2 twenty minute poses where I was able to arrange myself so that there were objects in between the model and me. I worked it out so I could see that she was nude but that she was also obscured in the areas most people see as most private. Then I started drawing. What I love about those sorts of challenges I give myself is that I almost always end up with something more original, unexpected and visually compelling that if I had not given myself the challenge.
Self-censorship #1
These were drawn at Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK
Self-censorship #2
It was an added bonus that I learned after the class that the model was a friend of 2 of my daughters from their time in Tulsa. We had a good conversation in particular about one of them. I was very happy I went for the drawing and the new insight she gave about my daughter.
What do you think of these drawings and what are your thoughts on censorship in general?
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Drawings and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Henry Steele Commager, 1902-1998, American historian
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 13, 2012 | Mark Twain, Naked vs Nude - 2012 |
Nipplegate
The New Yorker posted a funny cartoon online this week. It was taken off Facebook by its censors because it violated the terms of service. The violation was that it showed ‘nipple bulge’. In truth it showed a cartoon Adam and Eve sitting down leaning against a tree. They were naked, as you might expect. The drawing had 2 small ink dashes for Adam’s nipples. Those weren’t violations. Then they had 2 ink dots for Eve’s nipples. Those were violations of the ban on ‘nipple bulge’ (their words, not mine).
Here are the offending and non-offending marks.
- Not Offensive
- Offensive
It is the height of absurdity and The New Yorker wrote their own blog post about it that I think you would get a kick out of.
NIPPLEGATE
Then FB reversed it’s decision and decided to allow the cartoon. The New Yorker however did not trust them and so posted an even more inflammatory and provocative cartoon. You can see it if you dare.
NIPPLEGATE – The Exciting Conclusion
I meanwhile, in support of The New Yorker, have posted my own offending marks. They are behind the tree in the drawing above.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Mark Twain
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