Wandering the Path of Izula

Sketchbook fun...

2006-04-29T13:19:00.000-04:00

Here's a quick ink sketch from the park by the Bushnell Theatre where we are currently performing The Lion King. I think I'll do a few photos, studies of this angel before I leave, it's quite intriguing.

Oil pastel

2006-04-29T13:18:00.000-04:00

This was a drawing of a "model" from a fashion magazine that I did in oil pastel. I think it has good energy and life to it. I'm participating in two exhibitions right now, the Death Penalty Project and The Human Pixel Project, I'l have more details about both very soon.

Hope Atherton

2006-04-01T16:57:00.000-05:00

I did this quick sketch of Hope Atherton from the cover of ArtReview in the style of David Mack.

Activating the Surface

2006-04-01T16:56:00.000-05:00

This was an experiment in filling the whole surface with line to activate it. I like the busy, whimsical feeling it has. I'd like to try this as a background to paint and draw on top of.

Milk!

2006-04-01T16:48:00.000-05:00

This is a copy of a drawing from the cover of an erotic comic book called Milk!from Radio Comix. This Demon Girl is very sexy and on the original she is holding a box of EVIL! It makes me laugh AND turns me on. I'd like to submit an erotic comic to them sometime. Maybe I will...

David Mack

2006-04-01T16:38:00.000-05:00

I've been very interested in David Mack's work on the Kabuki series of comic books. If you see them, pick them up, they are fascinating. His style of drawing, painting and collage, merging text and visual storytelling is very attractive to me. These two drawings are copies I've done from pages in his sketchbooks.

Contour Drawing

2006-04-01T16:36:00.000-05:00

Two contour drawings done at the Auditorium Theater in Rochester, New York. One is of my dressing table, where I put on my make-up and prepare to play Ed the Hyena for The Lion King. The other was a series of drum stands stacked on top of each other just outside the orchestra pit. A local dresser was watching me and I started to get nervous, so my concentration was off. I need to draw in public more to gain more confidence.

Van Gogh and Cathedrals

2006-04-01T16:34:00.001-05:00

This is a drawing copied from a photograph in a book of 1000 nudes from the Victorian era. The quote I've put at the bottom is from Van Gogh. "I would sooner paint people's eyes than cathedrals. For there is something in the eyes that is lacking in a cathedral, however solemn and impressive it may be. To my mind, a man's soul, be it that of a poor beggar or a streetwalker, is more interesting."

Street Art

2006-04-01T16:34:00.000-05:00

These are just a few designs for some street art I've been thinking about lately. Toxic Love is dangerous but addicting. The people should be warned!

Death Penalty

2006-03-30T21:58:00.000-05:00

These are three new pieces I did for an art show with the Texas Moratorium on the Death Penalty. They were looking for pieces that reflected artists thoughts and feelings about the death penalty. The assemblage with the wind chimes and hanging figure is called "Sad Song for Rubin Stacy." Rubin was lynched for scaring a white woman when he stopped by her house looking for food. Was there a trial? Was there a fair jury? Does his spirit still sway on that tree and if it does, what would it sound like? The mixed media painting is Tookie/Bush Crip/Blood. Stanley "Tookie" Williams was executed for the alleged murder of four people. He was a founding member of the Crips gang. Some people believe he was innocent. While in solitary confinement he realized he could make a difference by turning young people away from gangs and violence and he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. The clown with the word BLOOD over his head is the leader of the Halliburton gang who earmarked 251 billion dolars for the Iraq war, 10 billion for no-bid contracts for his Halliburton gang members, 423 million is his projected deficit in 2006, 40 billion in reneged funds for the No Child Left Behind Act, 6 million people who have lost their health care since he took office, 40 people executed while he was governor and how many millions of Iraqi innocents killed in the name of non-existent weapons of mass destruction? Which gang leader needs to be stopped more? The final piece is a woodburning of Emmett Till, a young man from Chicago who was sent to the Delta for the summer and came back lynched because of comments he may have made to a white woman. "Was There Justice for Emmett Till" is the name of this piece. His body was exhumed recently and an inquiry made into whether anyone could still be prosecuted for the crime of this man's murder. Nothing can be done at this point, but the original trial was a mockery. I should hear by April 10th whether any of these pieces have been accepted.

Future Terrorist???

2006-02-24T19:53:00.000-05:00

This postcard is a drawing of a young Pakistani man living in London who advocates radical Islam and thinks that a lot of killing must take place before Islam eventually takes over the world. That sounds like he is a sword of truth and justice too. Which one is the true truth and the just justice? The world may never know...

Another postcard

2006-02-23T14:54:00.000-05:00

This one goes to Utne magazine. It is a portrait of Robert Gass, a self-proclaimed "spiritual activist." In an exercise recommended by Robert, you are supposed to come up with a phrase to inspire yourself and one of them was, "I am a sword of truth and justice." Wow! That seems like a difficult statement to live up to unless you mean your own truth and your own justice because other people's truths and justices are different. Something to think about...

Postcard Art

2006-02-22T23:08:00.000-05:00

Here is another drawing I finished recently. It is a copy of an ad/layout in Details magazine on the back of a Details subscription card. I did it in pen and ink and white gouache. The layout was called Drawn Together and the artist is photographer zbela Borsodi who crafted life-size models based on Hiroyuki Utatane's erotic manga. I left out the commercial products and tried to get some of the eroticism of the manga into this postcard sized artwork. I hope they enjoy it. I wonder if it will be confiscated by a postal inspector?

Postcard Project

2006-02-22T23:01:00.000-05:00

This is the first in a series of small paintings and drawings I'm going to do on the back of those annoying inserts in magazines. I want to make small pieces of art, scan them so that I have a record of them and then mail, no postage necessary, to the address on the card. I wonder how many of them will be tossed and how many of them will be kept? I think it's an interesting use of commerce to further art. The company has paid for the postage, hoping to get subscriptions, but what if they get art instead? Maybe the art is worth more than the subscription or maybe it's worthless. Who determines that? The individual sorting the cards? If the cards have an erotic image on them, is it art or pornography? Aren't most ads pornography anyway? They use sexual and erotic depictions to arouse interest in their product. Mostly I'm going to take images from the magazines themselves and reproduce them in an artistic way on the cards. This image is from the New York Times. I wonder what will become of it? It is painted in foundation make-up that is oil-based. I'm not sure how to preserve it yet, but I'm going to try sealing it before I send it. I also have to get a scanner too, so I can document the cards before I send them. I think it's an interesting project and I'm calling it "No Postage Necessary." Any thoughts?

ARK DARK DARK DARK DA

2006-02-07T22:52:00.000-05:00

I was at the Beggar's Banquet in East Lansing, Michigan with some friends when I noticed this poster of a very homely woman on the wall. I took some paper towel from the restroom and started sketching. On the original poster there were hearts surrounding her head. I didn't like the hearts so I left them out. I did paste a Mr. Goodbar Valentine candy wrapper underneath and a Hershey's Kiss tissue flag above. The tissue flag says ARK DARK DARK DARK DA, hence the name of this post. --wpyle

Keep Your Plans Secret

2006-02-07T11:42:00.002-05:00

This drawing is a copy of a photo on the cover of Screen Actors Guild magazine. Shirley Temple Black is receiving a Lifetime Acheivement Award this year. She looks very innocent and happy with her puppy in her lap and her bib overalls on. I wanted to try using a Sharpie and it gives the drawing the look of a linocut I think. I drew it on a sheet of cardboard that came with this new pair of Gap underwear I bought. The silver rectangle in the trees is from a box of chocolate fortune hearts I got for Valentine's Day. It says, "Keep your plans secret." I like the way the fortune gives the innocent drawing of a girl and her dog an almost ominous quality. It makes the scene more ambiguous and open to interpretation.

A Grotesque Old Woman

2006-02-07T11:42:00.001-05:00

I copied this from my drawing and painting book. It said that the original was probably made by Quinten Massys 1465-1530. There is a great contrast between the ugliness and elongation of the old woman's face and her very fancy hat.

$1,000,000 Question

2006-02-07T11:42:00.000-05:00

This $1,000,000 was at another truck stop. I am fascinated by quirky objects like this, so I picked it up to take a look and on the back was a solicitation to become a Chrisitian. I think these things are so strange. How many people have stumbled across a fake $1,000,000 bill, picked it up, looked at the back and the vague threats printed there and said to themselves, "Gee, I guess this fake $1,000,000 bill is right, I SHOULD be a Chrisitian. Where's a Bible?" I mean, really. I wanted to put the actual bill in my journal, but I decided to draw the back of it first. I'll enter the text on the back another time, it's really interesting, and kind of scary. For some other interesting and scary CHRISTIAN stuff, click on THIS. Be WARNED, not for the faint of heart, this lady is a GOD WARRIOR!

Truck Stop

2006-02-07T11:37:00.000-05:00

This is a little drawing of a truck that I bought for my son Stephen. I was driving from Norfolk, Virginia to East Lansing, Michigan by way of Pennsylvania and I couldn't sleep. So I pulled out the truck and started sketching. It was just long enough of a drawing session to put me fast asleep. I think I should do some more quick sketching to try and capture detail quickly.

Pastel Experiment

2006-02-07T11:32:00.000-05:00

Just a self-portrait of me feeling sorry for myself. I don't really like it all that much, may still work on it some more, may toss it, not sure. Ugh.

Draw anything...

2006-02-03T17:56:00.000-05:00

Danny Gregory recommends drawing whatever is in front of you if you aren't sure what to draw. One night at work, (I play Ed the hyena in the touring production of The Lion King) I decided to draw several different views of my hyena gloves. I love trying to capture the folds and textures and it was quite challenging. I take my illustrated journal with me now wherever I go. It's kind of addicting. I highly recommend it. --wpyle

The Delphic Sybil

2006-02-03T17:55:00.000-05:00

This is a copy of a Michaelangelo painting. I love the symmetry of her face and the feeling of movement. The strong, round arm is nice too. Her hair kind of looks like the swirls in Van Gogh's "Starry Night".

Freudian Slip

2006-02-03T17:36:00.000-05:00

I bought a book of Freud's paintings so I could do some studies in pen & ink and possibly oil or acrylic if I get brave enough. Lucien was born in Berlin in 1922. He is the son of the youngest son of Sigmund Freud. When Hitler came to power in 1933, the Freuds, Austrian Jews, moved to London. I like the weight and volume and vulnerability of this painting from 1980-81. I tried to capture some of that feeling in my nervous, tentative style. This one was drawn at the Starbuck's in East Lansing, Michigan on Grand River Avenue, the happening street at Michigan State University.

D·mon Trtl & Angel Mailbox

2006-02-03T17:30:00.000-05:00

Alright, don't ask me which part of my brain dreamed up these two characters! I was just playing around with my Prismacolor markers and decided that these two characters were what I wanted to draw. Not sure why though...hmmm...

Two Views

2006-02-03T17:27:00.000-05:00

I'm staying in a suite hotel in Lansing, Michigan right now for the tour and I decided to sketch two different views. The b&w ink drawing is the view from my bed looking into my kitchenette which in this hotel is quite nice. The Prismacolor Marker drawing is from the floor looking at my bed. I like both drawings and they will remind me of where I've been when I look back on them in the future.

Francis Bacon/Lucien Freud

2006-02-03T17:18:00.000-05:00

Was looking at a painting of Francis Bacon by Lucien Freud and decided to sketch it in the sketchbook. For some reason, I elongate faces when I draw them, so I have to get better at measuring proportions when I look at faces. I like the way this drawing turned out but I think he looks a little pear-shaped and kind of like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. When I picked up a book on Lucien Freud, I found out that he also sketches in pen and ink in a very similar style so I want to try copying some of his drawings. There was also an article by Robert Hughes about this very painting that said, "Bacon's pear-shaped face has the silent intensity of a grenade in the millisecond before it goes off." The original painting is quite small and painted on a copper sheet.

Self-portrait

2006-02-03T17:08:00.000-05:00

I got a fortune cookie that said, "A modest man never talks to himself." I talk to myself all the time, so I figured I must not be that modest. I drew the self-portrait without looking at myself and it turned out pretty well. Then I added the speech balloon behind and decided to fill it in. Filling in the balloon took about three or four days! I was just going to write,"blah,blah,blah," but then I decided to add a few real thoughts in there as well. I like the overall effect and the fact that I covered both pages in the sketchbook with one drawing, that's something I've never done before.

Inside cover of Journal

2006-02-02T01:42:00.000-05:00

The inside cover of the journal is a drawing of my hand, some quotes about drawing and painting by some favorite artists and a pattern created with Prismacolor markers. --wpyle

Creative License

2006-02-02T01:40:00.000-05:00

Been reading Danny Gregory's book about illustrated journaling and decided to try it for myself. It's been quite rewarding. I bought a spiral bound sketchbook and decorated the cover with a collage featuring Jackson Pollock, Willem DeKooning and Jacqui O as portrayed by Andy Warhol. I drew halos over their heads to show how they are saints in a way. The masked figure in the upper left feels like a wild side of myself that I let come out and play every now and then. Jackson is speaking with a Roy Lichtenstein type balloon. I like the overall effect. It makes the journal very personal and it feels special instead of just a sketchbook.

Nellesa Walthour

2006-01-14T06:32:00.000-05:00

She was trying to take a photo of someone else with her cellphone when I snapped this quick pic of her. I started an illustrated journal after reading Danny Gregory's License to Create. I find it very calming and quite enjoyable. My writing journals are full of bile and self-pity with occasional bouts of greatness, but Gregory recommends that you celebrate your life and who you are with an illustrated journal, keep negativity and self-loathing out of it. I figured Friday the 13th was as good a day as any to start one, so I did. I'll post some entries here when I get further along. --wpyle

New Work in Progress

2006-01-05T17:51:00.000-05:00

Trying to sort out these feelings of anger and sadness visually. I did a quick sketch of this in my sketchbook first. Then covered the canvas with Liquitex Black Lava Texture and Utrecht Ivory Black acrylic paint with a painting knife. Let that dry overnight and then started sketching in with Utrecht Titanium White acrylic thinned with lots of water. I like the composition so far and I'm going to leave it as is until tonight. I may have to sleep on it before I do anything else to it. I like the ghostly quality it has right now...hmmmm...what to do? What to do? Must head into work now. Peace. --wpyle

The Skull

2005-12-28T15:24:00.000-05:00

This the lateral view of a skull. Thought it turned out rather nicely. Got keep pushing on with other parts of the body. I can see where this would be really useful for figure drawing. It's relaxing too. Ahhhh, skull...

Anatomy

2005-12-27T13:14:00.001-05:00

Decided to do some anatomy studies on my own to get my mind off losing my muse. This is a sketch of the first cervical verterbrae known as the Atlas. This is the cranial view. You can see the transverse foramen, transverse process, superior articular facet, the posterior tubercule and the anterior tubercule. Interesting, huh? --wpyle

Angela Peel

2005-12-27T13:14:00.000-05:00

Well, my muse deserted me, so I took up brush and canvas and decided to try and break myself free. I think Angela Peel is pretty cool, so I did a painting of her based on a photo off of her website, I think it turned out ok. Also, I found out that a couple in Japan bought my postcard sized artwork "Siyabonga Protected" from an earlier entry. I helped raise $35,000 for Visual AIDS and as part of The Lion King's Gazelle tour we've topped $125,000 for Broadway Cares/Equity fights AIDS. Maybe someday we'll find a cure...imagine that... --wpyle

Providence, Rhode Island

2005-10-21T14:41:00.000-04:00

Now in Providence with the show and living near Trinity Rep and the Trinity Brewhouse in a crappy Holiday Inn that has construction going on all morning long. It's fall, and cool, my favorite kind of weather. The skies are overcast and the trees are losing their leaves. It's a melancholy feeling, but an enjoyable one. This is a college town and there are lots of drunken kids on the streets late at night. The police had to stop a fight last night and about five or six squad cars came roaring into the area. This smal city in the Northeast is nothing like the sleepy hamlet of Birmingham. The crowd for the show was quiet last night and I worry that we've lost something of the excitement of the show. We'll see I guess. Izula, wandering like a gypsy, that's me. --wpyle

Race for the Cure

2005-10-15T14:17:00.000-04:00

Ran 5K this morning for the Komen Race for the Cure for breast cancer as part of Team Lion King. I did pretty well for not training at all. Being a hyena must keep you in pretty good shape! I always enjoy running when I do it, the hard part is getting motivated to keep going with it. My legs are a bit sore and I have two shows to do today, but I think I'll recover ok. It was cold in the morning, but by the time the race started it had gotten quite warm. I think I ran under 28 minutes, but I'll post the official time as soon as I know it. We had fun, raised money for a good cause, and sweated a lot. Maybe it's time to do more of these races. --wpyle

Political Artist

2005-10-10T18:03:00.000-04:00

I've been kind of busy at work lately, so I haven't made any progress on my large painting. Tonight I'm going to a political event sponsored by WesPac, an fundraising organization for General Wesley Clark. I'm interested in seeing what he has to say and what kind of people will be there. Will it be reallt boring or quite inspirational? Will it be a bunch of rich people there to be seen or concerned people wanting to create a new US? Had to go out and get a tie because I don't own one. Since my suit is black, I decided I needed a splash of color, so I bought myself a nice orange silk tie that I really like. I hate wearing a suit, but I just look at it like a costume. I feel different wearing it, and people treat me differently. Am I a different person when wearing it, or is it just a different side of me? Hmmm. Maybe that's what all those coats and robes of Jim Dine are about... --wpyle

Caught!

2005-09-28T14:53:00.000-04:00

Well, working half-naked in the middle of the afternoon on a garage rooftop in the Bible Belt is a lot different from working stealthily at night. An ancient security guard came creeping up to see what I was doing. He was so dessicated and fragile looking, I thought he might get blown off the roof. He just looked at the canvas as if it was something quite distateful and quietly asked me if the paint took very long to dry. I packed up and high-tailed it out of there, but not before some suits got out of their generic company cars and looked at me warily, as if I might want to paint them too. --wpyle

Painting...on a muggy afternoon

2005-09-28T14:49:00.000-04:00

Went back to the roof of the garage and did some more work on the large canvas. Re-did the hand, this time I just looked at my own instead of trying to copy a photo, much better results but I'm still not satisfied. Everything is still too stiff and awkward, haven't hit my stride yet. Not sure how much of the white line I'll keep (it'll be red or pink when I'm through), but I like the way it ties the figures together. I made the headgear on the female larger like I said and that looks pretty good.

Read about Joan Brown today and find her work compelling and inspiring. Her canvases synthesize figurative imagery with dynamic gestures of abstract expressionism. She died at age 52 in 1990 while installing one of her sculptures in India. The floor above her collapsed, crushing her and an American assistant.

Monster from the deep?

2005-09-28T01:43:00.000-04:00

No! It's just my pen and my hand, but somehow it's also a very creepy sea monster staring out of the depths. Kind of a self-portrait... --wpyle

That's a wrap!

2005-09-27T00:35:00.000-04:00

All cleaned up and ready to go. I'm going to get a couplea brewskis and relax. After I'm done, I'm going to take some digital photos and do some manipulating of the images in Corel Draw. I want get denser with my images. Even though I got a lot done, overall I'm kinda depressed, thought I'd get more done tonight, thought I'd be able to get that arm right, but tomorrow is another chance I guess.

Cheers!

Here's to a good night's work!

--wpyle

My mobile (Birmingham) studio

2005-09-27T00:32:00.000-04:00

Who needs a warehouse or loft studio? Just drive to a garage rooftop where no one wants to park and paint away! You get great views of the city, no one bothers you and its cheaper than renting a loft in Park Slope or Greenpoint. Course you have to pack everything up when you're done, but it's cheap way to get some art done. This photo sucks, but it kinda gives the right impression because the air is really muggy and hazy tonight.

--wpyle

Painting over is hard to do

2005-09-27T00:28:00.000-04:00

Definitely reached my limit for the night. Time to clean up and let this sucker dry. I'm going down to the Sports Bar to have a few and then I'll come back up to check on the canvas.

--wpyle

Venus de "Me"lo

2005-09-27T00:26:00.000-04:00

Now it looks like a Venus De Milo sculpture sans arm. I kind of like it. It is sort of disturbing and ambiguous now. But I am going to try again after the paint dries. Starting to get fatigued. Will have to work on it some more another day.

--wpyle

Arm and hammer (hand)

2005-09-27T00:24:00.000-04:00

I repainted the hand so that it was larger and coming forward more, but the arm shape still isn't right. I'm going to paint over the whole arm, wait till it dries, and then try again.

--wpyle

Reference photo - flesh tones two

2005-09-27T00:22:00.000-04:00

Trying to match skin tones again. This time I took the paint from Futhi's skin tone (ochre, umber, yellow) and added white and quinacridone crimson. It seemed to be a pretty good match. I still hate that foreshortened arm though and have to paint over it.

--wpyle

Take a step back

2005-09-27T00:19:00.000-04:00

Here's an overall view of my portable "studio" on the rooftop of the parking garage. I needed to take a step back and decide what to do next.

--wpyle

Flesh tones

2005-09-27T00:16:00.000-04:00

Time to match flesh tones to my reference photo. I used yellow ochre and burnt umber for a mid-tone and burnt umber and cadmium yellow for a highlight. I have to reshape the face and make the headgear a little bigger, but it's getting there.

--wpyle

Painting and pain...

2005-09-27T00:10:00.000-04:00

I was out of the show because of severe back pain on Sunday, but I'm finding that working on this huge canvas actually stretches out the back and makes it feel a LOT better. I'm taking a break here to mug for the camera and give the back a little rest at the same time.

--wpyle

It's not easy being green...

2005-09-27T00:08:00.000-04:00

I filled in the space around the figure in a sort of sap green watered down so the brushstrokes show. I mixed in some permanent yellow later and I eventually want the color to be more opaque. I've planned my side to be yellow-green and her side to be greenish-yellow from the beginning. I think the two colors will be a good contrast to our differing skin tones.

--wpyle

Figure Complete

2005-09-27T00:05:00.000-04:00

I finished the figure pretty quickly, but the foreshortened arm is giving me some pains. I'll leave the figure for a moment and paint in the ground. Some of you may recognize the figure from my other piece called "My Exquisite Pain" (which is still for sale on e*bay, by the way).

--wpyle

A brush in hand is worth???

2005-09-27T00:02:00.000-04:00

It's hot and muggy tonight, so I had to take off the shirt to paint. Not sure where to begin and the thought of starting scares me. The canvas is a bit wrinkled from being in storage but I'm going to go ahead anyway. I need to draw in the figure on the other side and set up the green/yellow contrast. South African Rhythm Riot is playing on the car stereo. Brenda Fassie gets me in the mood. --wpyle

The Beginning

2005-09-26T23:59:00.000-04:00

I dragged everything up to the roof of the parking garage, my paint toolbox, brushes, paints, the large canvas, reference photos and I filled the bottom of the toolbox with a garbage bag full of water. Time to start! --wpyle

It started with sushi...

2005-09-26T23:55:00.000-04:00

Feeling lonely and sad, and having sushi and sake at Surin West in Five Points South, Birmingham, Alabama. Reading ART PAPERS and ART US and trying to get up the courage to continue painting a huge canvas I started back in Buffalo (February) when my baby was ripped from my arms and sent far, far away. All she needed was someone to talk to her, not punish her, make her lose all her furniture, her brother, her family, her lover. They've turned off the electricity in her house and her mother is there. She can't afford to call me or come see me. People just don't realize the damage they do sometimes in the name of what is "right". Hasn't anyone ever been crazy in love? The hotel room is too small, so I think I'll drag everything to the top of the parking garage and paint there. I'll turn up my car stereo and go to work.

YouDraw.com

2005-09-26T05:15:00.000-04:00

Okay, this is a drawing I did on YouDraw.com Another way to pass the hours while waiting for sleep to creep up on me. Check out the link to the right.

Sold on e*bay...

2005-09-26T05:10:00.000-04:00

I sold this sketch recently on e*bay (unfortunately the price of the sketch won't even cover what it cost me to post it). It was a very quick sketch of my Muse resting on the sofa after a nice long bath. It's now going to a good home in Canada! I like the freedom of the sketch and it really caught a sensitive side of her, her vulnerable side. I'll post a completely contrasting view of her on another day.

The Eye of the Beholder

2005-09-26T04:44:00.000-04:00

Well, I had to go through photobucket.com in order to post photos to my blog. This is a photo of my eye proving to myself that I do indeed have "hazel" eyes. I always used to say that my eyes were both green and brown and this photo clearly shows a brown center with a green ring around the outer edge. When I get very intense, (making art, making love) my eyes get greener. I wonder if I can document this somehow?

This blog posting is the result of yet another night of not being able to sleep. My hips and back are all messsed up from work, my Muse is still far, far away, the hotel TV movie service stopped working and I can't concentrate long enough to put pen to paper or brush to canvas. So here I am, back at the blog. I'm even having trouble typing tonight. At least I finally figured out how to post photos that aren't from my phone! If you need an online photo album click here.

Time travel?

2005-09-24T20:23:00.000-04:00

In the elevator at the Sheraton. Looks like I'm in some kind of time warp. Maybe my essence has changed from fasting and I've become more ghostlike. I wish I could walk through walls, merge my molecules with the substance of the wall and then come out the other side, still me, but changed slightly by having passed through something. Actually, that is me right now. You too?

Expressionism...

2005-09-23T18:39:00.000-04:00

Currently reading Taschen's book on Expressionism by Norbert Wolf. In the book the Art of Isms from 1925 Jean Arp and El Lissitzky called expressionism "that metaphysical German meatloaf" of Cubisma nd Futurism. I am very attracted to expressionism and some of my favorite artists are part of that movement. Max Pechstein once exclaimed, "Work! Intoxication! Brain racking! Chewing, eating, gorging, rooting up! Rapturous birth pangs! Jabbing of the brush, preferably right through the canvas. Trampling on paint tubes..." The expressionists were driven by the need to shock and revolt. They emphasized the process and had a tendency towards mysticism. Many art historians tend to now describe expressionism as a direction or tendency rather than a style, since there is almost no formal common ground between artists like Kirchener, Kandinsky, Kokoschka, Klee and Dix. The two most important artist's groups that appeared in the years prior to the First World War were Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter. These two groups attempted to realize the ideal of a future existential world order. The artists of Die Brucke urged anyone who was capable of expressing "what urges them to create, directly and without adulteration" to join them as adepts of a new and progressive religion of art.

Pushing it to the limit...

2005-09-21T04:14:00.000-04:00

Fasting is sometimes used as a spiritual technique for lightening the heaviness of desire. The denial of food can allow one access to other modes of consciousness, visions and hallucinations. While fasting, one should rest the body and mind, but continue to stay active. Sometimes it is good to push the body to its limits to see where the mind will go.

The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, Shoghi Effendi explains "It is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires."

Fasting for spiritual reasons has been known for ages. It is mentioned in the Qur'an, in the Mahabharata, in the Upanishads, and in the Bible (in both the Old and New Testament).

Recent studies on mice show that fasting on every other day while eating double the normal amount of food on non-fasting days led to better insulin control, neuronal resistance to injury, and health indicators similar to mice on calorie restricted diets. This may mean that alternate-day fasting is an alternative to caloric restriction for life extension. However, this result may not apply to human physiology.

In homeopathic medicine, fasting is seen as a way of cleansing the body of toxins, dead or diseased tissues, and giving the gastro-intestinal system a rest. Such fasts are either water-only, or consist of fruit and vegetable juices. Some results have been achieved while including fasting in the treatment of some kinds of cancer, autoimmune diseases, and allergies.

Political fasts (today more commonly known as the hunger strikes) seem to be an invention of Mohandas Gandhi. Some people see a difference between a hunger strike, a pure political act, and fasting, a political and religious act. By fasting, they intend to take some of the responsibility of the problem in question.

Hunger strikes have been used by personalities all over the world, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Lanza del Vasto (during the Algerian War, Vatican II and the struggle of the farmers of the Larzac plateau).

Today, hunger strikes are often used by refugees seeking political asylum.

A crossover between the religious fast and the political fast can be seen in 40 Hour Famine, an event run annually by the Christian relief organization World Vision Australia, in which participants fast for 40 hours to raise awareness of world hunger and funds for World Vision's relief efforts. Each year the 40 Hour Famine draws hundreds of thousands of participants throughout the Pacific Rim and beyond. (I'm in the 39th hour of my fast right now but mine has nothing to do with World Vision Australia).

Physical effects of fasting

When food is not eaten, the body looks for other ways to find energy, such as drawing on glucose from the liver's stored glycogen and fatty acids from stored fat and eventually moving on to vital protein tissues. The body is fine relying on fatty acids but the brain and the nerves depend on glucose. Once the glucose is significantly used up, the body switches and begins to produce ketone bodies (acetoactate, hydroxy-butyrate, and acetone). Even though this transformation to an alternative form of energy has been made, some parts of the brain exclusively need glucose and protein is still needed to produce it. If body protein loss were to continue, death will ensue.

After approximately three days of fasting, feelings of hunger usually become infrequent or disappear altogether.

A Breatharian is someone who believes that food (and possibly water) are not necessary for human sustenance. Breatharians claim that the body can be sustained solely by prana (the vital life force in Hinduism), or according to some, by the energy in sunlight. There have been no verified cases of this occurring indefinitely to date.

Now there's a fast!

--wpyle

One more time...

2005-09-19T13:59:00.000-04:00

After seeing the previous photo I realized that the composition was unbalanced, so I added a small piece of gate to the left side so that it almost looks like he's busting through the gate. --wpyle

Siyabonga Protected

2005-09-19T13:42:00.000-04:00

I decided that the previous version of Siyabonga with protecting spirits was kind of boring and passive. Now I've added sculptural elements by raising the images from the face of the canvas, and adding yellow-painted sewing needles around Siya's shoulders as energy rays. I also did a little touch up painting to some collage elements like the rusty gate and the three spirits: Rhino, Sparrow and Woman. I feel like the spirits are actively protecting him now and not just floating peacefully nearby in some kind of cliche-ish spirit world. Now they seem like real presences instead of rubber stamp images.

--wpyle

Hotels, motels, on the road

2005-09-17T10:51:00.000-04:00

Woke up this morning sore as a bedbug in Pavarotti's bed, and got right into the shower. I have a new puppet harness at work, new hyena costume and the gigantic elephant puppet we carry recently broke, so that is acting all crazy now too (threw my right hip out of place last night). The good news is I'm going to to the spa in the hotel for a nice deep tissue massage and try to ease those kinks out. Also, my muse from afar woke me gently this morning and put a smile on my face that I hope will last all day. As I stepped out of the shower this morning I also had a thought, looking around the hotel room at the crazy izula life I lead, why don't I document the many hotel, motel days on the road in some way? I pulled out the Canon GL2 yesterday for a short video of me falling into the tub fully clothed, (the housekeepers are going to wonder why ALL my towels are completely soaked!) so now I want to use it to document more of this crazy izula life...

Antelumpen

2005-09-16T16:16:00.000-04:00

Standing in the rain outside the Birmingham Museum of Art. A public sculpture by Zachary Coffin - steel mounted to stone. --wpyle

Can't sleep!

2005-09-16T07:30:00.000-04:00

I've got a lot on my mind lately, the divorce, the unfair way the courts treat fathers, my muse is on the other side of the world and will be for some time, the loneliness, the sadness...ah, the path of izula it sure can be hard sometimes. Since I couldn't sleep I worked in my sketchbook. This is a self-portrait in oil pastel. I may work on it some more, but I think I got some of the sad energy out of myself and onto the paper. That's all for now.

Wayne playing the didjeridoo...

2005-09-15T12:58:00.000-04:00

Sketchbook pastel

2005-09-15T01:46:00.000-04:00

Some kind of pastel creature with the horns of a bull (devil?) and the udders of a cow...latest entry...izula baby! --wpyle

September 14, 2005

2005-09-15T00:22:00.000-04:00

This is me in front of the BJCC in Birmingham, Alabama. This waterfall fills me with great joy. The rest of the complex is like a fortress. I'm also an actor in The Lion King and I play Ed the hyena. We are here through October 16th and then move on to Providence, Rhode Island. We're off on the road to Rhode Island! (Any Family Guy fans out there?)

Siyabonga with Protecting Spirits

2005-09-14T04:03:00.000-04:00

This is a postcard sized-piece of art that I made today to include in the Postcards from the Edge exhibit for an organization called Visual AIDS. It is a digitally manipulated photo of my brother-in-law, Siyabonga, who is HIV positive. His older brother died of complications from AIDS last year. I produced this in Corel Draw IX. The spirits are Dragon Slayer flowers with angel wings. We need some kind of dragon slayer to come and destroy this virus so that it doesn't take any more loved ones away from us. This piece took about six or seven hours to produce. Each postcard is priced at $50 and they get a thousand or so entries. The deadline is Sept. 30, so if you want to submit a piece, the link is to the right. Yours on the path of Izula...

Wayne recommends...

2005-09-13T16:15:00.000-04:00

As an artist, what I create and how I create is often influenced by what I am reading. One book (of several) that I am reading right now is Dr. Wayne W. Dyer's "The Power of Intention." Dr. Dyer considers intention as a force in the universe that allows the act of creation to take place. His book explores intention as an energy we are part of, not something we do. There are lots of great quotes and anecdotes that are very inspiring. Beyond just inspiring, this book gives you practical ways to call upon the energy of intention to accomplish whatever you need to in life and in art. I highly recommend it for all of you on the Izula path!

My Muse

2005-09-13T14:48:00.000-04:00

This is a pastel I did based on a photo of my beautiful girl, Futhi. This was just before we left Boston. I didn't do the pastel till much later though. I drew the face from memory and then made corrections based on the photo.

My Exquisite Pain

2005-09-13T14:45:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd try sending the photo from my phone since the browser application isn't working. --wpyle

My Exquisite Pain

2005-09-12T21:58:00.000-04:00

This is a piece called, "My Exquisite Pain." I made it earlier today by printing out part of a rasterbation on my R200 Epson Photo Printer onto wrapping paper. The ink was kind of runny, but I dried it with a blow-dryer and sprayed some matte fixative onto it. Then I attached the pieces with masking tape. I had to attach the wrapping paper to a regular sheet of paper in order to get it through the printer. It took several tries and this project took about six hours to do. I'm kind of tired and a little stoned from the fixative spray. I like the contrast between the runny, splotchy ink, the dots of the rasterbation, the foil covered wrapping paper and the screaming figure. I'm not sure if the ink will ever dry, I'll post the result in a few days. (Unfortunately, Blogger won't upload the photo for some reason, so I'll have to post it later.)

The Rasterbator

2005-09-12T21:20:00.000-04:00

The Rasterbator is a cool web application (see the link to the right) that will take any image and rasterize it, then save it as a .pdf file so that you can print it out on your computer one page at a time. This is a "rasterbation" of a photo of Futhi and I on a whale watching boat in Boston. We were both very tired, the sun was hot and the boat was lulling us to sleep. I thought I'd capture the moment. It took 32 pages to put together this image and I used masking tape to put the pages together. I tried hanging it up with masking tape, but it kept falling so I got some heavy duty adhesive squares to hang it. I like the look of the rasterbations, so I'm going to try some other images and techniques and see what happens.

Welcome to Izula!

2005-09-12T18:30:00.000-04:00

I'm setting up this blog to chronicle my work as an artist. Each time I create something new, or start something new, I'm going to post to this blog to keep track of my progress. This will motivate me to keep creating, keep moving forward, in other words...izula. I have several projects started right now and I will be making more posts very soon. This image is from my iSight webcam. I like the composition and blurriness of the image and may use it as inspiration for a painting, either a background or main image.