Today's Thoughts

Taking a breather from painting, which, by the way, hasn't been smooth. I'm struggling a lot, but I can't give up. I'm a realist who knows no other way to get better in painting than to keep on painting. I can't sit around thinking of a solution. Solutions elude me outside the physical engagement inside the studio. Even then, some days I just can't see I'm making any headways, still I have to keep trudging along. Sometimes no choice is the best choice.

For what it's worth, I've decided to stay away from FaceBook for a while. Never a place for serenity, FB is getting even sillier now the presidential election heats up in white flames. I've gone from having a very low opinion of the social medium to tolerating and gradually enjoying it in the span of about two years. It has been especially rewarding for me to have connected with a circle of good painters whom I would not have had the opportunity to meet in person. To be able to see their work and dialogue with them professionally has been stimulating. But I can not say the same of its social benefits. Without being too pedantic, I would say that FB is a place to trade personas rather than authenticity. I've considered why texts and social media have taken place of voice calls and even emails these days. One quick answer is that it's easier to socialize mutely than to bump sound waves, so to speak, with one another, not to say being face to face and making eye contact for an extended period. Human interaction is going minimalism trending trouble-free.

And we all know (or not), how much we want relationships trouble-free, until, when we want to be wanted. Even more so, to be loved.

So for that and other reasons which I won't get into here, I'm taking a break from FB. I'll come back when the elections are over. If the full-throttled anger vent and the half-baked moral pontificating persist and linger in the aftermath of the dogfights,  I'll wait still longer. After all, man do not live by FB alone.