The Art of Motion

The Art of Motion is something that applies to both martial arts and to art. This example above is from a collaborative project that I did with a friend of mine years ago. Kenda Scott took the photo and it was included in an installation piece that we did for the Gallery of Alternative Space at CSU, Chico. I had approached Kenda about what we could do to show motion in martial arts and she had suggested an extended exposure of a single frame. If I remember correctly, my friend Eric Frank took either the prints and/or the negatives and blew them up and did some things in the photo lab to create a different look. If you look at the original print, you can tell it was definitely from a time when using a photo lab was more common than running your photos through a computer, although we did have that option at the time. While the piece in itself is able to stand alone, it is but a small part of an entire concept that spanned many disciplines of art from 3 dimensions, to 2 dimensions, to sound, to photography, to aspects of architecture.

What I really like about this piece is how it shows movement and contrast y- 2 things that are very important to me in art. I am still trying to find new ways to push this in my art. The two ideas by themselves can say a lot. When combined with other ideas, it can be a powerful vehicle for story telling and sharing visual ideas.

As for the part about martial arts, I like how it shows so many lines of movement that recall the design of the Universal Symbol from Kenpo. There are so many planes of movement, this is what makes Kenpo such a diverse art, among other things, of course. It is also another reminder, for me, of just how deep the connection of art and martial arts can run...yet another idea avenue to explore, if I can just find the time!

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by.

Jesse

The Way of the Warrior - The Art of Training





One of the things that I learned as I was away this summer was that your environment can heavily influence the way you think and appraoch things. Also, environment can influence the way you train. Just from a physiological and psychological stand point, your mind is cleared when you are away and can focus yourself. Martial arts on the beach, at sunset, was a very fun experience for me. I think it is important to find these places that transport you to allow yourself to be able to take your training to a different level. In my time away, I was not able to train as much as I would have liked, but I enjoyed the psychological break, which is important for maintaining perspective.

While I was out there training, however, it was a unique experience. The peacefulness and quiet allowed for me to feel transported and experience new kind of focus. Also, the feeling the sand beneath my feet, I was given a new experience in how to negotiate a different kind of surface. There are also other surfaces to that you can experience to give training variety. variety in training keeps you sharp and gives you different experiences to draw from. This is important. Sometimes we get into routines and forget to allow ourselves to experience other things. Each new experience is a chance for new knowledge. That is an important concept in many ways.

The photo posted here looks peaceful and the experience was every bit of what the photos is saying to the viewer. It was an amazing moment. Carrying moments like this one with me are invaluable for so many reasons. I strongly recommend that anybody interested in bringing variety to what they do or train try changing up their environment to some place that is different and more peacful. It will bring some much needed refreshment. It did for me.

Just a note about the photo - this photo is taken by my wife at sunset. Gina is becoming very good with her camera. I have appreciated her efforts to photograph my martial arts endeavors to help with the blog here. A special thanks to her for helping out!

Have a good day!

Jesse

More on the Urban Forest

I find myself constantly looking at the city around me and thinking of the ways we try to bring nature closure to us, no matter how big the city we live in. Living in the Bay Area, I see it everywhere I go. In San Francisco, where I took the above picture, I saw some vines growing up the side of this building, and it was purposeful. It reminded me of back home, in Chico, where vines and undergrowth dominate the park that is close to the university. Here you can see a pale reflection of a tree just past the ivy. Green cities just are not that prevalennt, and I wish we could see more elements of a 'forest' in our cities' designs. However, I do appreciate the feel of those cities that are successful in blending urban and natural elements to make the city more comfortable for us all.

Here is another one in the series idea of Water and Stone. I always appreciate running water whever I can find it. This location by the Ferry building was great. I can't wait to sit down and make some art from some of these photos...it will be exciting. Hope you all like the photos.

A work in progress



This is a piece that I started some time ago and I picked it up again to finish it. I am finding that I started several pieces several months ago, and now I can see them in a better light, after some time away. This one is also more complex just because I had more room to work. the other pieces were 2.5 x 3.5 inches, this one is 6 x6 inches. So, this is much bigger. I have several pieces I am working on now, trying to finish. This is the one that is furthest along at the moment. I like it because it definitely changes things up from some of the recent ones I have posted about. I have tried to mix in some different color patterns, as well as differnt shapes. This piece has a strong reflection of my trips to Panama. The ruins Old Panama, as well as the prevalence of the bright birds and the rainforest are both strong. I was strongly influenced by how amazed I was by visiting a country with a tropical rainforest for the first time. Spending time in the rainforest is an experience unlike any other...and I highly recommend everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to visit a tropical rainforest if they get the chance to. I will try to post more new stuff soon. It has been incredibly busy lately, so I have been slow the last couple of days.

-Jesse

Water and Stone

Water and stone form one of the starkest contrast in nature. I love this contrast because water is just an element that brings peace to those who are around it. Stone has this ancient quality, even when it is being recreated by people, that gives this timeless type of presence. In a way, this is going to be one of my themes I am looking for in my new work - peace and timelessness. The elements of nature, and of forests, speak this to those who try to experience it. To be able to capture the fluidity and strength of water, while portraying the historical presence of stone, that is what I would strive to do to help a view understand what it means to be in a city-scape where nature and cities and co-exist and work towards a green and sustainable environment.

Urban Forest - A thought process on Nature vs. City

This slide show is a visual thought process on a theme that is close to what I am already working on for my current series. However, since it is a theme for an upcoming juried exhibition, I decided to go (with Gina)  on a photo exhibition into San Francisco to get ideas and see what I could find that reminded me of what an "Urban Forest" might look like. The very thought is a contradiction unto itself. A forest, which is an ecosystem created by nature, usually evokes visions of green trees, plant life, some animals, sources of water, and very few people. However, something urban is born of a city and usually can be found a variety of presentations, all quite often appearing artificial and separate from anything natural. However, what I find fascinating, as I explore this subject, is the varying degrees of efforts used to blend the city scape with a nature scape that calls to mind images of a forest, or aspects of a forest at least. It creates a unique contrast of organic and human-made objects that often bring either peace or good feelings to people. One thing you can notice, at least from my view, is that when a city incorporates more natural forms and objects into the city-scape, people gravitate more to that than if it were simply concrete, steel, and glass. In these photos of the slide show, the forms and contrast are more of the focus than the interaction with people, but it is an unmistakeable attraction of people when the soft forms of trees, flowers, and shrubs contrast the hard edges of buildings, bridges, and streets. I particularly like the contrast of the sculptural founntain in Embarcadero Plaza, because the fluidity of the flowing water created such a stark contrast to the hard, geometric forms created to funnel the water through the fountain system. Flowing water is the center of a thriving ecosystem for a forest. Trees and plans need water, just as people. It was unmistakeable how popular the flowing water was...and the hard stone, while in the form of some very un-natural geomtric shapes were layered with some very familiar earth and stone textures to call to mind rocks that are often found with flowing water. All of this, in short, is just the beginning of a thought process of where I will go with this new work. I hope people like the slide show, and, always, please feel free to comment.

-Jesse

Sphere of Influence

This is a third one in the trading card series. I call this one "Sphere of Influence". While this one is not the first one created in the series, it could be title piece of the series. I am interested and fascinated with the ideas of spheres of influence. As we look around at nature, we see everything inteconnected. There is no way around it. It is the bottom line. What we do in one place will affect someone or something somwhere else. As I write this, there is a devastating drought on the Horn of Africa. I have friends there right now, as we speak, who are dealing with this. If you look at the spheres in my picture, they are interwoven into the primary image, to the point where they are transparent, but extremely obvious. The patterns I use within each sphere are used to work with the natural composition and design of the primary image, yet the sperhes have a pattern all their own. These patterns remind me of certain things. The jagged lines of one remind me of fractures. These fractures are occurring everywhere as we continually persist with agendas without regard to the consequences. There is a sphere with horizontal blocks, that remind me of sky scrapers put on their sides, but with an organic feel to them. This takes me to a human-made sphere, one where the influence is created by humans. The third sphere is one that is wrapped by organic shapes...maybe leaves, maybe something else, but it is one that is natural in feeling to me. Notice how this one blends the most with the background image. It should be our goal to leave as little foot print as possible and work with our environment. If we look at the world and life, we should view it in layers...I truly try to achieve a feeling of layers with this image. In my others ones, not so much - part of that is a limitation of the colored pens...but then I let the colors speak more, and put away the layers for another time with those images. However, even with those, There is a certain amout of interconnectedness represented in the color drawings. I draw upon the subconscious to guide me and allow myself to respond as each part of the the drawing unfolds, so it is spontaneous...only following a feeling, not trying to drive the feeling before me. I simply talk about my thought process here as it unfolds in my work. Thanks for viewing.

Jesse