Now that I’ve had a few days to look at my for-real website and proudly read over the first post, I should address what sounds like false altruism in that introduction. The image of social connectedness that I conjured in those opening remarks a few days ago is one of smiling folks holding hands and swaying in an unbroken human ring around the earth. But, this is a blog, so let’s talk about what’s in it for me.

For one thing, I’ve called this site “Look On My Works” (from Shelley’s great sonnet “Ozymandias”) because that’s what I would like you to do: look at my stuff. I make things and I want to share them with you and everyone else I can show them to. The artwork I make and the things I write here are my side of the online conversation that I alluded to in my opening post. If I just wanted to hang out online and make friends, there are plenty of sites, with degrees of anonymity, where I could do that. But, I want my voice to be clear and distinct in this global conversation. This website is the home for that voice.

So, let there be no pretending that this site isn’t, ultimately, all about me. But, for my taste, I’m going to focus on what I make, write, and think, not so much on the trials and joys of my daily personal life. If you’re interested in those, click contact and we’ll talk. For this website, I try to imagine what I’d like to hear and see from my favorite artists, and then use that vision here on the site.

Soon I’ll be writing about some of the art exhibitions I see, mostly here in Las Vegas, where the pickins are slim but persistent, god bless ‘em. And I’ll be posting images of my artwork as it comes down the chute.

Good, now I can proceed with a clearer conscience. In the meantime, I leave you with some Shelley, which is always worth another read.

OZYMANDIAS

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

With just a little bit of fanfare, this website is born. It’s just an infant right now, untainted by experience and dazed by the newness of everything, but as posts and new content start to accumulate, I hope it will take on some kind of worthwhile identity that will bring you to it and keep you checking in, and maybe cooing at it a little for encouragement.

Briefly, I’ll say something about myself, which I know is common in the blogosphere, but I don’t want this to become a compulsion. (This blog being so young and impressionable, let’s start by establishing some good habits.) Now about myself, I am an artist and I love art. Actually, I don’t love a lot of specific art, but I do love the broad category of Art, including the standards: visual art, music, literature–those categories which, especially when you prattle on about them in mixed company, soon wear out your friends, co-workers, family. Some of us are fortunate enough to have friends who share our enthusiasm, or eclipse our own fervor; but these kindred spirits are too few.

Thus, this website and blog. There are billions of people in the world, some of whom are connected to the internet. My goal is to find and be found by the art lovers out there who, without the web, are beyond my reach, and to spare those who don’t care to hear about Glenn Brown’s wicked oil paintings or Franz Liszt’s staged fainting spells: you either read the blog or you don’t, and no one’s feelings are hurt. There is the third option of leaving a searing comment on a post you don’t like. I think I can take it, but if not, I pledge not to post my sobs.

Even more about myself now, and I swear I’ll stop. Mine is a life that keeps me both busy and secluded. I like the life, and I know that my childrens’ youth is temporary; but I don’t like the seclusion so much. This website is an attempt to embrace the house-arrest which early parenthood can be. I paint, draw, sculpt, and so on, in the garage, and miss most social events where I might consort with my artist peers around town, most of whom I either know casually or not at all. But, lo! What light through yonder iMac breaks! They call it social networking, and I take them at their word. The art community that I miss on foot I will find with my fingers. On the keyboard. I will type my way back in to the art world, is what I’m trying to say.

There are many reasons to cough up a website, and I’ve presented two of the broadest. And really it’s one big reason: to be connected to people. So, posts of all variety are coming; in the meantime, please enjoy the Artwork pages I’ve added, which sum up in quite short order the work of eight years and counting. Notice that you can comment on pieces of artwork as well as posts, and then go ahead and make some comments. I won’t turn away praise, but I hope you will also share what you don’t like, or even consider offering unsolicited advice. Feedback is one of many drugs of choice for an artist.

I hope you’ll return and bring friends. This infant website thrives on your attention, and as they say about raising a baby, it takes a village.