Michelle Arnold – Page 5

I Seem To Be Having Tremendous Difficulty With My (Creative) Lifestyle

I know some of you loyal JA.O readers have been wondering where you can find my artwork online, and whether it is available for purchase. Some nice person even made a bid for my last piece in the comments box, which was real flattering.

That particular piece is bound for our state Eucharistic Congress at the end of October, but will be available afterward.

I have been hinting at a web page of my own for some months, but as yet it has not come together (Soon, honest!).

I have been in a kind of transition period, professionally, and things have not always developed in a linear way.
Let me ‘splain-

No, there is too much… let me sum up…

After closing my art gallery in May of ’05 (another story), I endeavoured to set up a working art studio in my home, with the idea of painting on a regular basis. I had other freelance work as well, but the painting would now be my main focus. My immediate goal was to produce a well-rounded portfolio (at least twenty pieces) so that I could begin to approach some serious regional and national galleries, as well as having some to enter in competitions.

But running my gallery had taken me away from other duties for almost a year, and I found I needed a few weeks just to catch up on chores that I had left undone.

My beautiful family was also home on their summer break, and I found it hard to work with alot of people and activity going on in the house.

So I didn’t really paint that much all summer.

Then fall came, the family was back in school and I could get things really rolling… except my studio wasn’t right. It took me another week to figure out a workable layout and to control the lighting, etc… . Proper lighting is crucial.

Finally, everything was set. All my ducks were in a row. I was in my studio, by myself, all day, with nothing to do but paint.

That’s when I ran into a serious case of "painter’s block". Ugghh.

Discipline was called for, but with prayer and a few weeks of self-examination, I was really, really ready to paint.
And so that’s (finally) what I have been doing.

So with apologies to those who have been so encouraging about my art, I ask for just a little more patience. I should be online within a month or so.

In the meantime, the act of painting has got me thinking about possible parallels to writing, especially in the area of the Gospels and what we might reasonably expect of the gospel writers.

But that is another post.

We Are Nuts

There is almost no comment that can be made on THIS ARTICLE (from Catholic Exchange, originally from Catholic World News) that could adequately express the contemptible and farcical absurdity of the "demands" made by the folks at We Are Church to the current Synod in Rome. I literally laughed out loud.

Consider this paragraph from the article:

"At an October 4 press conference in Rome, the dissident group called
for reconsideration of the key Catholic doctrine on the
transubstantiation, an end to the "hierarchical monopoly" on the
sacraments, and approval of shared communion with other Christian
denominations."

Never mind that the dissidents seem to be demanding that the Catholic Church simply cease to exist.
What struck me is how much really hangs on the Real Presence. Look at their three main complaints and how they hang together. If Jesus is not really present in the Eucharist, then it doesn’t much matter who administers the Sacrament, and so there is no need for a "hierarchical monopoly" (the priesthood).

It follows also that, if the Eucharist is just a symbolic remembrance, it doesn’t much matter who is allowed to receive it. Sure, open it up to everyone, even non-Christians. After all, wouldn’t it be petty and mean to exclude anyone?

What, are these people just too fond of drink to become Baptists?

Oh, I forgot, that would involve believing in an inerrant and inspired scripture, and you know these folks’ brains are too highly evolved for that.

What they are asking, in a nutshell, is that we give up every distinguishing feature of the Catholic faith. I have no doubt that they, or those of their ilk, will eventually demand this of all religions. We will be allowed to keep everything except our most deeply held beliefs; after all, those are "divisive".

Well, this makes me especially happy that my last painting (above) honors the Eucharist. Anybody know how to say "This is my body" in Latin? That is how I would like to name the piece.

Holy Envy?

My wife has always been drawn to a particular genre of non-fiction in which people struggle against great difficulties, especially physical or mental disabilities. She has read dozens of books in which the main character wrestles with something like autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, blindness or some other malady (though disasters, abuse and hard pioneer life count also).

I have read a number of the books she has around the house and have learned to really appreciate several, not just as interesting stories, but as good, well-written books.

One such book that I can recommend is called "Karen". It is the story of Karen Killilea, who was born with cerebral palsy. It was written by her mother, Marie Killlilea, in 1952. In the book we see how Karen fights both her physical disability and the sometimes callous response of the society around her. There is a bonus, in that the Killileas are a warmly devout Catholic family and the book touches on very relevent themes, such as the intrinsic value of all human life. The book is available at Amazon.com, and you can find more information about the Killileas HERE.

Lately I have wondered what it is about such stories that is so compelling. Everyone has enough trouble of their own, why read about people who have it so much worse than we do?

One good reason to is that these stories throw into sharp relief the virtues that we need to overcome the hard things in our own life. Our admiration for Anne Sullivan’s tenacity in teaching Helen Keller helps us to be a little more tenacious in pursuit of some worthy goal, etc…

Another reason is that we are often tempted to view our own lives as dull and prosaic. Our own struggles don’t seem quite as dramatic as those of people whom we perceive to be "in the trenches", and who struggle under great burdens. It is part of what G.K. Chesterton called the desire for "an active and imaginative life, picturesque and full of a poetical curiosity". In a sense, we envy these people, we covet their stark, tremendous struggles because we are tired of our own small and tepid ones. We don’t often see ourselves as heroes.

But not everyone might agree. It occurred to me that, in our daily battle against the World, the Flesh and the Devil, the angels may view us in a way that is similar to the way we see the heroes in these books; these people who contend with crushing misfortune, or constant deprivation. The fallen world we live in puts us "in the trenches" in a way that makes even our mundane troubles more vital and heroic.

The idea that our lives are dull and meaningless is a lie from the pits of hell. The truth is, every decision we make is of eternal importance.

Not that the angels would envy our place in the battle. If I understand my Bible, they are certainly in the thick of it themselves, and have no lack of excitement. But, if there could be such a thing as holy envy, the angels might envy our role as overcomers. Even in heaven, a scar may be a badge of honor.

An angel might say to me one day, "Tell us again how the grace of God helped you to overcome your sloth, thoughtlessness and all-around deficient faith!".

And I’ll tell them.

Radio, Radio

There is a kind of archetypal image in American culture, of the young teenager, hidden in their room with a battery-powered transistor radio, listening to music that was very, very different from what they heard in their parent’s home. People who grew up in the fifties still recall how hearing Little Richard or Elvis opened up for them a new world (for good or ill).

I still have a vivid memory of hearing Paul McCartney and Wings’ "Jet" on a similar little radio and thinking that my life had changed forever. Having grown up on Hank Williams, church music and Broadway tunes, hearing the Beatles or Stevie Wonder simply was a whole ‘nother universe. It was much more than music, it was the common culture of my generation. Listening to American Top Forty on Sunday afternoons was like picking up a secret signal from Underground Command Central.

But The Rock and Roll became big business and listening to the radio inevitably became boring. ClearChannel is, for me, sure proof of the second law of thermodynamics; the universe is destined to dissipate and run down, becoming a thinly dispersed, dark cloud of matter at a uniform temperature just above absolute zero (unless Jesus comes back!).

So it was kind of cool to find myself delicately twiddling with the nobs on my radio tuner at home, the other day, patiently trying to pull in the weak signal of a new Catholic station in our area. It reminded me of how I had to finesse that old transistor to try and get my favorite AM station as a kid.

Relevant Radio is a growing network of Catholic stations across the U.S., carrying Catholic talk programming. Radio worth listening to! It’s like Underground Command Central all over again, but without the acne.

We are blessed to have a parishoner who leaped out in faith and got the station (KDUA – 96.5 FM) up and running. They broadcast from our parish hall (Rogers, Arkansas) and have only a few precious watts of signal power, but have plans to beef up in the future.

In the mean time, I get to hear faithful Catholic programs, including Fr. John "Tell It Like It Is" Corapi and Catholic Answers Live!, which frequently features our favorite apologist, Jimmy "Not Bad for a Texan" Akin. The static, for the time being, just adds to the counter-cultural thrill.

You can find out more about Relevant Radio at their WEBSITE, including broadcast schedules and locations.
Start praying! Maybe Relevant Radio will come to your area, too.

Tastes Like Chicken

A wily whale at MarineLand in Ontario, Canada has developed a taste for seagull and has been teaching the other orcas in his tank how to nab the airborne snacks.

According to animal behaviorist Michael Noonan,

“The orca lures gulls into his tank by spitting
regurgitated fish into the water. He waits for a bird to grab the fish
and then lunges."

The other killer whales in the tank have begun to follow suit, offering
scientists an opportunity to see how animals learn from one another.

" They catch three or four gulls this way some days.", says Noonan.

Hey, I love seafood, but anyone would get tired of the same old thing every day. This also gives the whales a little leverage in negotiating with their trainers ("Now that we’ve got some freelance work, there are going to be a few changes around here. No more double back flips for a lousy herring…").

GET THE STORY.

Covering My Tracks

I have an art dilemma.

Fortunately, my development as an artist over the last year or so has taken a positive turn. I have been blessed to get to know some professional artists whose work I admire, and who have been generous with time and advice. I have also found the style that I think suits me best (classical realism) and returned to the medium I have always had the most affection for, oils. Slowly, I am recovering from my Masters Degree, and I feel I am beginning to produce some art that I will not be embarrassed to leave behind when I die.

Here is the dilemma; I have too much old art. I have art that I have been dragging around with me from my earliest days in college. Lots of it. So much that I have been giving serious thought to burning most of it.

There are several good reasons to burn most of my old art, two of which are most relevant:

It’s really awful
It’s taking up lots of storage space and is deteriorating anyway.

Now, as soon as I thought of burning all this old art, I thought that a bonfire like this calls for inviting some friends over and hoisting a few brews. Kind of like a viking funeral, without the water.

So here is the dilemma; alot of my artist friends don’t think I should burn my old art at all. Some were SHOCKED that I would want to destroy ~~evidence~~history in this way.

In deference to their concerns, I reassured them that I will be keeping enough old pieces to make plain to any future historian precisely how crappy my work was was at each stage of my early artistic development. I plan on keeping anything that I think is of genuine worth, along with one or two pieces typical of each period, no matter how horrendous.

Surely you writers out there have happily (with some relief?) round-filed old efforts, simply out of fear, that by some wicked twist of fate, they might end up associated with your name for all of history.

Do creative professionals have the freedom to put their name to what they like, and deep-six everything else? Isn’t that part of the creative process?

The Real United Nations

It struck me while watching coverage of World Youth Day in Cologne that, as you look out over the vast crowd with flags flying from virtually every country on Earth, you are seeing the real United Nations. The Catholic church is truly catholic.
For the most part the United Nations that we all know from the newspapers is a group of mutually suspicious, grudging, scheming members united mainly in their desire to get a larger piece of the pie. They are united in the same way that hyenas are united around a carcass.

By contrast World Youth Day shows us a gathering of people who come together spontaneously, joyfully, with no greater desire than to demonstrate their love for Christ by showing love for one another. It is easy to sense, even through the satellite feed, that they are united in their love for their Papa and the One he represents.

I’m sure there are large numbers of people around the globe that find the scene somewhat alarming. Some of them call themselves Catholics. A Lifesite article relates that
Hans Kung has complained that World Youth Day is “triumphalistic”. To such people WYD is mysterious, and therefore dangerous.

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (Jn. 3:8).

God bless everyone at World Youth Day, and long live Papa Ratzi!

The Bar at the Center of the Galaxy

NASA scientists using information gleaned from the Spitzer space telescope have determined that we live in a barred galaxy;

"It is a major component of our galaxy and has basically remained
hidden until now," says team member Ed Churchwell, an astronomer at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison, US. "The fact that it’s large means
it’s going to have a major effect on the dynamics of the inner part of
our galaxy."

NewScientist.com, the source of the article, also recently reported that the Milky Way has been officially granted an extra arm;

"Astronomers are shocked that the feature has been overlooked until now. ‘I was absolutely flabbergasted, it was quite clearly seen in some of
the previous surveys but it was never pointed out or given a name,’
says Tom Dame at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in
Cambridge, Massachusetts."

The exact nature of our home galaxy has in some ways been difficult to determine for the same reason that you can’t see your own face (without a mirror); we are just too close to see the big picture. Our view is also obscured by lots of dust, debris and interstellar gasses, so often scientists are left to subtle interpretations of indirect or sparse data in order to construct useful theories.

Apparently we now have enough data to solidly suggest that there is a bar at the center of the galaxy, even if we can’t be sure whether there is a restaurant at the end of the universe.

GET THE STORY. (Warning! Possible Evil Subscription Requirement!!)

Bertie Bott’s Beans Bodacious

If there is disagreement about J.K. Rowling’s literary legacy, she should at least be given credit for inventing something really fun, and the people at Jelly Belly are to be commended for bringing her idea to life.

Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans are sure to bring your family, friends or co-workers hours of fun at one another’s expense.

For those who may not be familiar with Bertie Bott’s Beans, they are (in the Harry Potter stories) basically jelly beans that have a magical property that makes them able to take on the flavor of, well, almost anything. They are unpredictable, and the only way to tell what flavor one may be is to taste it and see. A green one might be Lime Sherbert (yum), or it might be Broccoli or Slime Mold – there’s no telling.

In the muggle world they are real jelly beans that come in a bizarre range of flavors inspired by the candies in the books. They are available in candy stores nationwide.

Our family had a great time sitting around daring one another to try different flavors (this is more fun if the flavors and corresponding color schemes are not known to the taster, but not absolutely necessary).

Some flavors are just interesting (Bacon, Grass…), some are not as bad as they sound (I found Vomit mercifully toned-down and Booger just kinda salty…) and some are wickedly nasty (Sardine would not go away and Rotten Egg was truly revolting).

How a candy company like Jelly Belly goes about manufacturing and testing such a product is a mystery. I am not sure I really want to know how they decided what Booger was supposed to taste like. How do you know when you’ve got Earthworm just right?

We enjoyed them, if you could call it that, and not all the flavors are gross. Buttered Popcorn was pretty good. Still, I will be a little more cautious from here on out if offered jelly beans.

I’m just gonna go brush my teeth… again…

Have You Seen This Virus?

Well, folks, I feel a somewhat responsible that Jimmy’s most excellent blog has been a little slow the last couple of days. Since inviting me and Michelle to jump in with him on JA.O I have been the least consistent of the three in getting posts up, but I have a good excuse this time; I am just coming back from a virus (the organic kind, not the digital kind) that has had me out of commission for the last week or so. Ordinarily I would keep that to myself, but this virus has been surprisingly, well, virulent and I am wondering if anyone else out there may have had it or seen it recently. This can be like our own very un-scientific study.

Here’s why I’m so curious: My brother and his family, who live three states away from us, have had a bug with a very similar M.O. at their house. His entire household has had the thing, as well as our whole family, though I dodged it for a week. This makes me think that it may be unusually contagious.

To help you to recognize this foul little beastie, look for the following:

Really sore throat, followed by-
Sinus infection
Painful ear infection (my eardrum actually ruptured)
Conjunctivitis (eye infection) with discharge (eewww!)

There are other symptoms I won’t go into here, but the above are the most characteristic. I don’t mind telling you that this thing turned me into a whimpering bag of protoplasm for a few days, fit only to hold down our sofa. I am crawling back to normalcy now, and hope to post something more interesting soon (my brain has always been slow to boot-up). Meanwhile, I am open to chicken soup recipes.

So, you want to see the scar from my operation…?