Sicily Bound……

The realization is finally hitting me that I’m leaving for Sicily, Italy this coming Tuesday morning. I’ve been working so hard trying to get ready for this trip and get all my school and administrative commitments taken care of, I haven’t had time to really think about my visit to see my daughter Andei. I’m traveling with a group of painters from Denver and plan to also participate in a few “plein air” painting workshops when I am not spending time with my lovely daughter. I also hope to photograph and write (blog) about my travels as I journey around the Island of Sicily.

I’ve been to Italy twice before, but I haven’t been to Sicily, so this is going to be a real special adventure for me. I’m going with the painter Mike Untiedt from Denver, Colorado. I met Michael when I was at the artists retreat Anam Cara in Ireland a few years back. This should be a great experience, although 10 days just isn’t enough time to do it all - paint, visit with Andei and see the historic sites of the Island.

I’ll do my best to post to the blog while I’m there. I haven’t seen Andei for almost 10 months so my primary agenda is spending quality time with her. God knows I miss her so much! Unfortunately my base camp with the other painters is in the coastal city of Cefalu, which is about 2 hours from Catania - I’ll have to take a bus or train to see my daughter, but that will just be another adventure considering I don’t speak any Italian. I only speak Irish (cheers mate) and Brooklynese (where’s the beeeyr) and something tells me that will not be very helpful. Fortunately Andei is almost fluent in Italian after being there for 10 moths and being immersed in the language and culture. She is even going to an Italian school instead of the American school at the military base. That took courage in itself to go to a school when you didn’t know the language. I’m not sure I could have done that, BUT Andei did and she is excelling in all her classes.

Just a side note…the light is incredibly beautiful on my porch this quite Sunday evening.

I finally have some down time after grading online exams the past 2 days and getting all my classes wrapped up before I take off on my sojourn. Even though things have been extremely hectic for me this past week I’ve still made a little time to paint and I am very close to finishing my backyard painting. It’s been evolving for the past 2 weeks and I am starting to feel good about where I am going with it.

The photograph and my translation in paint and personal expression

Hopefully Mike and the other artists going to Sicily will give me some new tips and insight into painting outdoors. I have such a long way to go before I get to where I want to be but with my painting but then again…artists are NEVER where they want to be. It’s all a process…a creative journey and our art just continues to evolve over the years. It is an incremental process and it shouldn’t be forced. You just have to LET GO and be willing to take risks and go where your creative vision takes you.

My translation of my backyard

So I’m going to see Andei and we will see how this trip evolves…I’ll do my best to keep you all posted - I will probably lose it emotionally when I see my daughter after 10 months, but hey…I’m her Dad and I love her even though we don’t see each other very often - it hurts to the core of my being, but it is what it is.

Thoughts on ArT

You don’t truly realize the incredible talent and skill that goes into painting and making good art in general until you have tried to paint, draw, sculpt or even compose a really good photograph. There is so much that goes into making highly expressive, dynamic and engaging art. I have picked up the my paint brushes after a year break due to the demands of my teaching and distance learning jobs and I must admit, at first I was very frustrated trying to get back to where I left off last year. I am not a representational painter by no means, although I am now trying to incorporate external references (subject matter) into my work unlike the Jackson Pollockesque non-objective art I make in Graduate school and beyond.

Take a moment and truly scrutinize a Van Gogh, Kandinski or Gauguin painting. Your first impression may be that these artists just quickly dashed some paint onto the canvas. Now…study them again, look at them hard and long and you will begin to realize that you can’t replicate their work. Van Gogh and Gauguin were putting their hearts and souls into their paintings and filtering external reality through their highly sensitive, intensely aware and empathetic sensibilities. Not everyone can do this, in fact…most people can’t.

Making good art, viable art, dynamic art, powerful art, expressive art ArT that reaches into your heart, mind and soul and grabs YOU and shakes You up is really hard to do. This is what frustrates me the most, because I understand the theory behind art, have studied and taught about all the great artists through history, the visual language and appreciate what all the great artists through history were trying to accomplish and yet…here I am with me easels in my kitchen making this feeble attempt to make a painting that expresses what I feel about the subject that I am translating to the viewers of my work.

Jackson Pollock Lavender Mist 

I am so much better at doing this through my photography, BUT painting is a whole different creative approach. You MUST be true to yourself as an artist and when you are working through the various challenges that confront you when painting or trying to harness and communicate through any creative medium, it is important to remember and be aware that none of the great artists in history had it easy and it took real blood, sweat, tears and GUTS to produce those great works of art that we all appreciate and cherish. Making art takes courage…it takes dedication…it takes perseverance and you (the artist) must be willing to take risks every time you pick up a camera, paint brush, pencil or put your hands in wet clay. Nobody said making art was easy and most artists don’t sell much if any work, they don’t get any recognition in their lifetime as well - you make art because you have to - you are driven to - you get depressed when your NOT making art, your not thinking about making art and now after teaching for 25 years it is time to redirect that creative energy into making some ART. I don’t have any idea how good it will be, BUT what enriches me - what keeps me going is the process, the act itself of making art because I really don’t care who likes it, who wants to buy it and if I get recognition for it - I make it because I have to - it is that simple.

Van Gogh is me hero so read Lust for Life and you will understand and “get” me and the issues I am addressing. Lust for Life was the best damn book I ever read next to Agony and the Ecstasy about the life of Michelangelo and On Photography by Susan SonTag.

Anybody can be an artist or writer…you just have to begin the creative journey - find a medium that feels comfortable to you and begin expressing yourself through it.

The Creative Process

The Photo of Atlantic Beach Pier

No matter what you do for a living I believe creativity and innovation are important factors in how much we as human beings enjoy and are sustained (enriched) by the endeavors we pursue. Succeeding in the global (technological) economy demands constant innovation and creativity. This is becoming more and more evident as economies are getting more and more dependent upon each other and so much business is conducted over the internet. We don’t even know the types of jobs that are going to be out “there” in ten years - information and knowledge are growing at such a rapid pace. As I have mentioned before in my various blog entries…the Industrial Revolution is over and so is the Information Age and as many techno Guru’s like Dan Pink are predicting we are now living in the Creative Age and the people who are going to succeed in this new age are going to be the highly creative, right brained entrepreneurial types.

My Translation in Paint

With that said…I’m really glad I’m painting again. Painting forces my creative spirit to emerge from the depths of my being. I’ve learned so much over the past 20+ years teaching Art History and Photography and now I am attempting to incorporate my knowledge of the theory and design elements of art and translate them into my own art ork. Granted…I’ve been painting and creating mixed media works for many years, but never have truly practiced my painting craft like I do teaching and photography because of the amount of time it takes to get really proficient. I had a major creative breakthrough yesterday because it finally dawned on me that I do NOT have to paint external reality in a purely didactic representational manner. While I was taking a painting class last year this is what I focused on because I wanted to learn how to paint what I saw in front of me and that was a good thing as I climbed the learning curve of mixing paints and palette management, but now that I have some of the basics down it is time to synthesize my personal sensibility as an artist (creative person) with those basic painting skills and create a style that is all my own. This painting of the Atlantic Beach Pier at Sunset is the first time I’ve been able to meld the new knowledge with my personal (highly expressive) style. I’m not there yet by no means, but I at least know what direction to take with my painting. Last night it occurred to me that it takes personal courage and confidence to paint and I do believe this - that is to paint from your heart and soul and not try to paint like someone else.

R&R on Ocracoke

Blog Entry April 11, 2007 12:00

We just pulled out of Ocracoke on the 12:00 ferry. I always feel rested and rejuvenated after a few days at one of my favorite get –a-way spots. I enjoyed spending time with my artist friend Ann who owns Oscars B&B. Getting away from the demands of work and all my online teaching commitments enables me to see things a bit clearer. Yes…technology is a great and wonderful thing and I love how it empowers me to do the things I do in my career and creative pursuits, but with that said…I think we must keep it all in perspective and not let technology be the end all of our lives. Sure I have my laptop with me and I’m glad Ann had wireless at Oscars, because I do like to check in occasionally. That’s one of the reasons I love teaching online so much. I can do it from anywhere – in fact…I am writing this blog entry as I sit on the Ferry looking out at the seagulls flying over the choppy water.

I did a great deal of introspection these past two days. I enjoyed some long walks at the beach, a good book, some cold beers at Howard’s Pub and even found time to paint a small abstract sunset. I am very aware my representational painting is amateurish at best, but I make art because it is a very therapeutic outlet for me and forces me to tap into my creative side.

Ocracoke Sunset

It’s all about finding balance I think. Balance in our lives, relationships, work and play. I could easily let my work, the internet and technology in general consume me – it is very easy to do and I do get sucked in more than I should. Life is meant to be lived, savored and enjoyed. I think it is important to break away from the work and computer and take that long walk, paint that picture, write that poem, plant that flower or just sit quietly in the backyard and listen to the birds or watch the kids play.

Life in this new millennium is so fast paced, complex and demanding, however, I’m realizing in many ways I create much of the anxiety and tension in my life and just by stepping back a little – slowing down the pace and refusing to get caught up in the technological rat race I feel more centered.

You don’t have to take long, expensive vacations to rejuvenate, just by taking short break from the computer and doing something completely different from your normal routine can be healthy and mentally and physically refreshing.

I got on this ferry the other day wound up and anxious about God knows what, and now after two days of being away from my normal routine and the office I feel more connected to my inner self and have a better sense of what is really important in this life. It is very easy to lose sight of this when caught up in the daily grind and our technological world.

I go back to work tomorrow with a renewed spirit and a sense of calm. Sure..it won’t last that long, but I have at least learned what it takes to tap back into it when I need to and that for me is a good thing.

The e-mails aren’t going anywhere, my online students will be there when I check into my classes and all those web sites you visit will also be waiting for your return from your brief respite.

Paintin AgaiN!

I’m enjoying a little down time hear at Easter. School is out for a few days and I’m taking it easy…reading, working in the yard and getting back to my painting in preparation for my trip to Sicily to visit Andei and participate in an landscape painting workshop with an old artist friend Michael Untiedt who I met in Ireland a few years back.

Its taking me awhile to get back in the groove of mixing and applying paint. It has been almost a year since I took the painting class with Jason Smith. It is slowly coming back to me and at this point I’m just trying to tap into my expressive personal style and translate what I see onto the canvas.

I like to use the landscape (my backyard at the moment) as a point of departure for an impressionistic, slightly abstract composition. Check out my new catagory to the Blog - My ArT for some of the mixed media pieces I created in the past year.

The painting is very therapuetic for me - very much like working in the yard - I lose all sense of time when I paint - it literally takes me to a different place - very much like contemplative prayer.

Van Gogh, Giotto and Kandinski are a few of my very favorite artists. Van Gogh for his highly expressive and passionate approach to painting, Giotto for his naturalism and the great non-objective painter Kandinski for his intuitive sense of color, form and his highly conceptual works.

Van Gogh said, “I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God’s help I shall succeed.”
That sums up in one sentence where I am at this point in time.

ok…back to the painting.

We be PoDcAstin!

It was great having the Blogmeister Joe Poletti and his team of highly motivated (enthusiastic) and extremely talented Carteret County School teachers visiting Carteret Community College today. I really enjoyed sharing what we are doing at CCC with technology as it relates to online learning.

I truly believe we need to be working together more (CCC and CC Schools) than ever before. I am sure Joe has shared with you how we are living and teaching in a different world - a whole new learning environment and if we (as educators) don’t start getting innovative, creative and proactive in our approach to teaching, this new generation of millenium students are going (in my opinion) to look elsewhere for the information, knowledge and training they need to succeed in tis global economy.

We as educators have all these new powerful and sophisticated tools to communicate to our students via the web and in the traditional classroom environment. It is our job as educators to harness (and channel) this technology in order to guide our students (no matter what age group) to the resources they need to succeed in this ever changing world we live in. The Leave it to Beaver days are over (DARN) and as much as I hate so say good bye to those days I am absolutely jazzed about the potential for learning and teaching in the cyber frontier.

So we learned a little bit about the WHY behind podcasting and the WHY behind incorporating a variety of rich media content into our classes.

One of the goals with podcasting and enhanced podcasting is to break down the barriers (walls) that seperate students from teachers in the online environment. When a student can not only read the instructors lectures and assignments, but also listen (and even watch) him or her explain, demonstrate and articulate exactly what is expected from the student for a particular assignment we as online teachers are tapping into more senses, connecting with more learning styles and adding a personal touch to the class.

As I mentioned in my presentation…most of our younger students are very comfortable (and proficient) working, learning and communicating in the online environment, and if we are going to keep them engaged and motivated in our classes we must do a better job harnessing and mastering these new instructional tools (podcasts, video, ITunes) and incorporating them into the fabric of our courses at all levels.

Here is the link for the CCC ITUnes U I promised you all - feel free to watch the podcasting training podcasts located under Distance Learning Icon. Remember you must have ITunes on your computer to view this site - you can download it for free at www.apple.com. Feel free to post questions and comments to this blog.

ITunes U - Click Here for Audio Lectures

cheers and keep on PodCasTin!

Patrick