A Call to Action

"A Call to Action" - mixed media on wood panel,  24" x 18".   Available here and at Artfinder.

Who you are is defined by what you're willing to struggle for .  MARK MANSON, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

There are SO MANY paintings going on simultaneously in the studio.   This is what happens when the world conspires to keep me focused on art.  A small silver lining in the chaos that is the Eggplant that Ate Chicago (the plague).  This beauty wanted to be painted amongst a bevy of abstracts.  Who am I to refuse her?

And, of course, the universe gave me an interesting chapter in the Manson book to accompany her creation.  The chapter, called Happiness is a Problem, proposes the question we should be asking ourselves is not what do you want  but instead what are you willing to struggle for?  He clarifies: What is the pain that you want to sustain? The path to happiness is a path full of shit-heaps and shame.

A Call to Action

Let's follow the logic....you might want to be a MotoGP racer, for example (yes, I am obsessed with this sport - thanks to Brian).   But once you're out there on the track, going 200 mph with nothing but a leather jacket between you and the gravel, you decide maybe it just isn't worth the pain (abrasions, broken bones, concussions, fiery death) and so you say "meh" and pursue another dream.  Which means you really didn't want to be a MotoGP racer in the first place, perhaps. 

Manson's point is a good one - the thing that will really make us happy is the one we're willing to go through hell to get to.  
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While we're contemplating that, let's scrape the ground with body parts while we zoom around corners at speeds too fast to be reasonable...

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About the painting: beginning with a grayscale underpainting in gesso and a basic drawing in Posca paint pens, followed by many layers of acrylic, acrylic mixed with gesso and water-based inks liberally spritzed and toweled and scraped.  Finished with oil pastel highlights.  The title, also from the book, is taken from this quote: "...negative emotions are a call to action.  When you feel them, it's because you are supposed to do something."