Three web addresses, 14 passwords, 20 usernames, and no memory--distracted!

I am in jail in blog ville. I fell into the blog sump, and I can't get back onto the blog highway. I'll get it......get what? I've already forgotten. What were we talking about? I forgot that too! Should I write down this stuff as I go? What stuff? I don't function well in command specific environments--especially with two second retention. In the 50's my brother, Richard, used to hit the top of the TV with his fist and it would often fix the problem--the picture would magically reappear. I smash my keyboard in a cyber spasm of rage and nothing happens. Another episode of cyber block gone wild--but....you can hit your canvas hard with paint and a miracle might happen. Remember that TV ad where the girl just heaves the bucket of color at the canvas and the paint seeps down on the guys downstairs?--IBM color printing if I remember. Only in America and only among artists!

One of my art friends said to me the other day--"....Hatfield you paint intuitively, but I need structure." Boy, I understand that! Its just that I can't provide structure (recipes) for anybody. The good thing about oil painting is that it provides everyone the opportunity to find their own way and at their own pace. My mother said to me on her death bed when I thought I had to shorten my visit because of work--"...what's the hurry?" You don't hear that question much anymore. It's hard to slow down in this culture. As a professional artist have you ever been asked--"...how long does it take you to do one of those (paintings)?" Then the following--"..how much do you get paid for one?" "How many can you do in a week?" So there you have it--productivity. Capitalism and the Art Spirit. I've been reading a little Robert Henri lately--both he and Nicolaides agree on the necessity of emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical identification with the object if it is to be painted or sculpted. When we embrace nature this way it is possible to understand St. Thomas Aquinas's arguement that existence itself is the greatest proof of God's being-- Art, then, invites one to live fully in one's own skin so as not to miss anything with the senses. If we are stoned, distracted, or in a damn hurry we miss it all--and we will sure as hell never paint it with any real authority. Guess how I know this.