AKA Abraham Bacoln

I have never in my life seen a Thomas Kinkade painting that I liked. There’s something super-saccharine and kind of grossly Gatlinburg about them. They just rub me the wrong way. Then a year or two ago I read this LA Times article about what a jackass Kinkade really is – pissing on a Pooh statue? Seriously? But nothing will top the fact that this man who is known for his garish cabins, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, and otherwise generally outdoorsy (and radioactive) scenes is now offering a Nascar painting. Yes, now there’s a Kinkade for both the missus and the mister. I suggest putting the Daytona one over the television and the cabin over the couch.

In news that isn’t making me want to throw up, I’m sorry I haven’t been taking as many pictures. I’ve been using film lately and I’m not as adventurous with my shots when I know it’s going to cost me money every time I push that jolly candy-like button. Also I’ve been spending more time outdoors going bouldering, which I would go so far as to say is my new hobby. I’m trying to get as much of it in now as I can since I don’t know where I’m going to end up after I graduate and therefore I don’t know if there’ll be a place to climb.

For those that aren’t in the know, and I honestly don’t know where you fall (yes you), bouldering is rock climbing with the emphasis on the technical, not on the altitude. That’s fine by me, since I’m scared of heights anyway. I get to go out and wear out my body (and turn my fingers into hamburger since all we have around here is sandstone) and be able to drop once I’m exhausted without worrying if the person belaying me is paying attention and so forth. Plus I get this great feeling of accomplishment when I chose a problem, a route or traverse that’s too hard for me, or so I think. Then I work at it all day and if I get it by the end that just makes me feel fantastic.

I have to thank my old friend Alex for getting us into it, and I mean us because there are a few more of my friends that have been going just as much as I have. I used to love going to the rock climbing gym but I never felt proficient or even that I was getting better. Alex is a great teacher and therefore I’m learning and getting better every single time I go out.

Past that it feels like I’m spending a huge chunk of my time reading Don Quixote. It’s fun, but time-consuming. I’d rather be bouldering.

Or setting Kinkade paintings on fire.

RE: Thomas Kinkade – Wow. Gotta love Amer’ca. Gatlinburg, NASCAR, and Kinkade paintings seem to all fit well together, though. They all bring about the same sorts of feelings when I think of them. Did you watch the video? That was the best. My favorite quote:

I tried to capture something that couldn’t be captured in just a photograph. As a matter of fact, there wasn’t a perfect moment where the fireworks were going off, the planes were flying overhead, and the starting flag was being dropped. But leave it to an artist’s imagination to bring those various pieces together…

Yes – no one but an artist’s wild and crazy imagination could have thought to put fireworks and planes flying overhead in the same picture! That’s edgy! Maybe a little too shocking for the more traditional, conservative art critics.

Comment by JTJ September 3, 2008 @ 11:05 am

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