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January 6 to January 23, 2010
January 23, 2010
The contest is over. Someone on Ovation t.v. made the closest guess. The
photo is of a pan with remnants of homemade mac n' cheese. Now the
lucky guy will get one of my paintings that won't sell. Ha! Congrats, Mike!
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January 21, 2010
Want your Social Security benefits taken away so there's nothing left when
you retire? I thought you might be interested in this Alliance for Retired
Americans e-activism campaign. Click here to check out what is at stake
and send your own message directly to the relevant decision makers. It only
takes a minute to fill out the form. No more behind the scene deals affecting
our future!
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January 20, 2010
Contest: The first person to email me and correctly guess (or get really
close to getting it) what the below picture is of gets a free painting of my
choosing. You can see some of the options by clicking on "CJH Abstracts"
above. Only one guess per person, though if you are really close, I will give
you a hint. There's only one small catch: if you win, you have to write a short
testimonial for my marketing package. Examples of testimonials are here.
The painting will be mailed to you around February 10, 2010.
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January 14, 2010
As you can see, I have added a box for some of my photography as well as
a box to get to my new newsletter, "CJH Philosophical Discussions". For a
while, I will be discussing atheism, because that is what I am reading about
right now, but then I will move on to other topics. The photography area of
the site is under development; I will be adding photos in the coming months
(especially old buildings and barns) and I will post an entry to let you know
when I have added a photo.
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January 13, 2010
It still feels weird writing "2010". Hard to believe how time passes. Anyway,
I have officially gone vegetarian. Lacto-ovo, that is. I like the protein from
eggs, love cheese, and have to have milk in my coffee. But goodbye
McDonald's, steak and fish, and chicken. I want to purify my body so that I
can better find my spiritual center for my painting. I have been trying to
meditate, but I am not good at it! My mind just won't shut down. Then, when
I am trying to not think, I am thinking about how I don't want to be thinking.
Argh! I know I just need to keep at it. It too will help me find my center for
painting. Plus, I just want to take care of myself in all areas. Mind you, this
was NOT a New Year's resolution. I have never successfully adhered to
those. This is a life choice. One I plan to maintain. D got a really good
vegetarian cookbook and has been excited making new dishes. They have
been really good. I am a little worried about the carbs, because I want to
maintain my weight, but the thought of eating healthier is more important. I
can always use exercise to counteract the carb overload. We went
shopping for the ingredients at Walmart. It took forever to find some of
them. It took an hour! Usually I spend about 20 minutes grocery shopping.
Some items they didn't have, naturally, since NC country folk just ain't
looking for sun-dried tomatoes. But we found most of the stuff.
It looks as though our move to Myrtle Beach isn't going to happen until April.
We will secure a place in March, but of course have to give 30 days' notice
with our current realtor and come back and pack. We have so much stuff!
Or should I say I do. The garage is by far the most; tons of art stuff. Both of
ours. I am going to rent the largest truck that can be found, but I still worry
whether it all is going to fit - and we only have three bedrooms! I am really
looking forward to the move. Moving itself will be a pain, but I will be excited
to start the next chapter of our lives and be able to watch the sunrise on the
beach. We plan to stay put for a long time. I will miss parts of Asheville -
especially the luxury of being able to go to my favorite artist's gallery
whenever I wish and see him paint on a weekly basis - but overall, it is time
to go. I have made some friends here that I will miss, but that's the great
thing about email and the phone. You can stay just as close.
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January 10, 2010
If you've been using the print screen feature and want a better option, try
Evernote. I've been using it for a while. Forget the days when you screen
captured and got small print you couldn't read and information you didn't
need or want displayed. You simply install the software, open it, go to the
information you want to capture, hit print screen. Then you stretch the box to
fit your wanted capture area, hit the elephant icon, and then select the image
in Evernote by clicking on it. Choose copy and paste it into a Word, etc.
document. As you can see, I copied and pasted this from the web and
didn't have to include my browser header or any information I didn't want to
include.
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January 8, 2010
How to Sell Art (Advice to Others and Myself)
1. Evaluate your work. Examine 5 – 10 of your most recent works and think
of how you could have done them better. Ask an advisor to do the same
thing.
2. Associate with other artists. Take workshops, classes, etc. Join a local
organization.
3. Have passion about your work.
4. Produce a LOT of inventory. Keep track of it.
5. Decide on your target market.
6. Price your work with confidence. Be consistent. (Pricing by size is a
good way to start).
7. Develop a marketing package. Business cards, brochures, postcards,
an artist’s statement, resume, biography, a portfolio (the most important
thing when approaching galleries). Keep the portfolio full of most recent
works. Use a notebook with sheets where you can change out the images.
Have a professional web site. (You may want to even include a podcast
introducing yourself - people love to know about the artist they purchase
from). Every piece of art work should have a digital image taken with a
quality camera. You can make a shadow box inexpensively that will allow
you to take your own pictures.
8. Participate in art shows. Get yourself out there.
9. Get on web-based galleries for more exposure.
10. Take the right approach with galleries. First check out the gallery to see
if your work fits. Note the pricing. When you approach the gallery, introduce
yourself with a smile and ask them to take a moment to review your
portfolio. Leave a copy if they want you to. Get their name to refer to at a
later date. Dress business casual. Carry actual samples of your work in the
car in case they want to see them. Show samples of the size you normally
do.
11. Keep a good attitude. Don’t get discouraged if a gallery does not
accept your art. Keep trying!
Source: “Starving” to Successful: The Fine Artist's Guide to Getting Into
Galleries and Selling More Art, J. Jason Horejs
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January 6, 2010 - The First Writing of the New Year
Descartes (1596 – 1650, the “father of modern philosophy"):
Of God: That He Exists
From Discourse on Methods and the Meditations, written between 1619 –
1628.
As you can most likely discern from his name, Descartes was a French
philosopher. He was also a physicist and mathematician. Interestingly, he
states, “I before received and admitted many things as wholly certain and
manifest, which yet I afterwards found to be doubtful. What then, were
those? They were the earth, the sky, the stars, and all the other objects
which I was in the habit of perceiving by the senses.” To me, this points to
a question of whether even science can be trusted, which is interesting
because of Descartes’ life quest regarding his research of science and
math.
Descartes is credited with bringing the natural sciences into a philosophical
framework. That is why I choose to discuss his philosophy on God here;
many think that science and God are mutually exclusive, but Descartes
proposed the contrary.
Descartes is most well-known by his theory, “I think, therefore I am.” And
because he doubts, this is more evidence that he exists. He doubted his
experience with corporeal things and the limits of the senses. From
Wikipedia:
“To further demonstrate the limitations of the senses, Descartes proceeds
with what is known as the Wax Argument. He considers a piece of wax; his
senses inform him that it has certain characteristics, such as shape, texture,
size, color, smell, and so forth. When he brings the wax towards a flame,
these characteristics change completely. However, it seems that it is still the
same thing: it is still a piece of wax, even though the data of the senses
inform him that all of its characteristics are different. Therefore, in order to
properly grasp the nature of the wax, he cannot use the senses. He must
use his mind. Descartes concludes: ‘And so something which I thought I was
seeing with my eyes is in fact grasped solely by the faculty of judgment
which is in my mind.’”
So, he would agree that while people believed through their senses that the
earth was flat, this proved to be untrue and the senses can deceive. So it
therefore subsequently follows that science can be doubted.
Descartes was concerned with the concept of ideas. He believed ideas
were adventitious (by chance), factitious (artificial) or innate (existing from
birth, which he believed were conferred by God).
Another concept Descartes greatly pursued was mind/body dualism. As his
perception of ideas existed in his mind, and he proved his existence by
thought, he believed that the mind exists outside the body.
Now, of God.
Rather than go into a diatribe here, I have decided to sum up his beliefs and
proof of the existence of God in a list and using a Venn diagram:
1. He perceived a God as sovereign, eternal, infinite, all-knowing, all-
powerful, and the creator of all things outside of himself. He believed that
this belief was more objective than those ideas by which finite substances
are represented.
2. He questioned finite reality. God is infinite.
3. If he is not the cause of his objective reality, there must be a being
outside of himself who caused these ideas into being.
4. He believed everything – and everyone – was created by God.
5. The infinite is a concept that we – as finite beings - cannot
understand, just as we cannot know that we negate the finite, much like
questioning whether darkness is the absence of light or something else?
6. We know we are imperfect. How would be know we are imperfect if
a perfect being did not exist?
7. If we had the power to create ourselves, we would doubt nothing,
desire nothing, and perfection would be possible.
8. Our parents did produce us in so far that we are thinking beings and
are given certain dispositions, but God presents ideas that cannot be
known through the senses alone.
We can consider this Venn diagram (imagine that they overlap in the center,
since my web software is very limited):
There are no doubt arguments that would consider Descartes’ theories as
easily disprovable based on lack of perceived evidence, but one must
consider the validation, in particular, of knowing our imperfections by
comparison to a perfect being. There are no perfect beings on Earth. It
makes me wonder why an atheist would feel that they failed at something, if
their values are merely intrinsic, since their admitted failure at particular
things (such as getting a divorce) is often based on comparisons to others
and the "values" of society.
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