Blog
It’s Henna
A few weeks ago as summer vacation was coming to an end I produced my most recent voluntary public art commission. My niece had returned from a trip to Hawaii with a small tube of smelly green goo–a lot like a fine pesto, really–for making henna tattoos. She had run out of time in Hawaii… Continue reading It’s Henna
Jormungand at Home
Here is Jormungand Releases His Tail in its current natural habitat, which is directly in my line of vision if I look across the room from my side of the bed. I give it a good look for a few moments maybe every other day; I miss it much of the time because I take… Continue reading Jormungand at Home
Jormungand Releases His Tail, 2010, by James Hough
Jormungand Releases His Tail, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 45.25″h x 41.25″w Buy Last fall, while I was working on God’s Covenant at the Event Horizon, I was also at work on a painting similar in size and technique. I was looking a lot at the mid-to-late-20th century American painters Joan Mitchell and Philip Guston while… Continue reading Jormungand Releases His Tail, 2010, by James Hough
Neighbors, September 2, 2011
Walking Through Camelot
It’s still terribly hot here in the Camelot neighborhood, and forecasts of cooler temperatures and rain have been steadily warming up and drying out. September in Garland is much like August except school is in full swing, and, to the detriment of students and staff alike, on hot days like these the kids don’t go… Continue reading Walking Through Camelot
Life, with Art
It is said that when selling artwork online one should take nice photos showing the art in a pleasing environment, such as you would find in the pages of home design magazines like Dwell or Architectural Digest. Looking at photos and ads in these mags, I get the feeling that the usually fluffy decorative paintings,… Continue reading Life, with Art
God’s Covenant at the Event Horizon, 2010, by James Hough
God’s Covenant at the Event Horizon, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 48.5″h x 41.5″w Buy I want to catch you up on some of the larger artworks I’ve made in the last year since we moved to Garland. A lot of the paintings I’ve done over the years are in the medium-to-large size range–between about 3′… Continue reading God’s Covenant at the Event Horizon, 2010, by James Hough
Jim Public Is Growing Up
I’m happy to announce two extensions of the Jimiverse! First, I’ve made this blog available for Kindle at Amazon.com. The cost, set by Amazon, is $1.99/month, and you get a 14-day free trial. If you click the Amazon link in the sidebar, just there to the left, not only will you be taken to the… Continue reading Jim Public Is Growing Up
Camelot? Yes, Camelot
In my last post I talked about making mistakes, and although I don’t intend for my errant ways to become a habitual topic on this blog, I would like this morning to present you with an example of sloppy decision-making. When I dreamed up this idea of Facelife I first came up with the quest… Continue reading Camelot? Yes, Camelot
Screwing Up, Over and Over Again
If I ever decide to write a blog devoted to my screw-ups I have an overabundance of material to work with. I could begin with my decision on Monday to write down as much as I could remember of my conversation with Marge so I could share it with you, as a kind of character… Continue reading Screwing Up, Over and Over Again
Painting at the Elementary School (Year 1 of 9)
With JPG in 3rd grade and JPS not starting kindergarten for another two years, the Public family is looking at eight more years of involvement with our lovely neighborhood elementary school. Last year was our first year in this community, and my wife and I volunteered throughout the school year and over the summer, assisting… Continue reading Painting at the Elementary School (Year 1 of 9)
Neighbor, August 23, 2011
Facelife has begun! On Monday morning it was not yet 90 degrees and there were some clouds in the sky. “The sooner I start this, the better,” I thought, and I recalled that I had seen a retired-age woman working in the yard of the house where I had planned on beginning the neighbor-meeting campaign,… Continue reading Neighbor, August 23, 2011
The Public Family, August 22, 2011
That’s me and JPW, the tall ones in the back. JPS is the short one with the silly grin, and JPG is showing us her demure smile. So, Facelife continues to come together. I have always hated approaching people without having anything to offer. This has been a problem for me in dealing with the… Continue reading The Public Family, August 22, 2011
Reading, Crying
Yesterday was the last day of summer vacation. In one hour I will be dragging what I hope will be two very chipper children from their beds, 2 1/2 hours before the time they awoke just yesterday. JPW, my wife, would have preferred that I had started channeling them into the straight and narrow in… Continue reading Reading, Crying
Nancy
Yesterday ended the Public family’s epic month of vacationing, and we now look ahead to 3rd grade starting in a few days for JPG and pre-K for JPS a few weeks further. As we were getting settled on the plane which was to rend us from Salk Lake City, and as we were just tasting… Continue reading Nancy
The Hyper-Local Artist
I’ve stated that I am a hyper-local artist, and I see two aspects of what this means. First, I am a geographically local artist, a person who does creative work in my suburban neighborhood and attempts to connect the work to the life of the neighborhood. True, I am still in the planning stages of… Continue reading The Hyper-Local Artist
Ready for the Small Time
August has truly been a summer travel extravaganza for the Public family. During the weeks prior to our camping in the New Mexico mountains we spent 5 days each in Austin and Tulsa. Then after one day of recovery from New Mexico (and Carlsbad Caverns, which was beautiful both underground in the caves and on… Continue reading Ready for the Small Time
Everything’s Hot But My Feet
Vacation has a way of stretching out the mind. I’ve just spent the last week in a re-purposed Girl Scouts camp in central New Mexico. My household met up with most of my wife’s siblings and parents for 6 days of camping, and it was quite the bevy of cousins, uncles, in-laws and so on.… Continue reading Everything’s Hot But My Feet
Tips for Going Door-to-door
Knocking on peoples’ doors as a way of introducing myself to them is an unnerving prospect, so I’ve gathered some tips from the web that I hope will keep me out of bad situations. A caveat: I’m writing this post in a lobby where MTV2 is broadcasting, so I can’t guarantee the quality of what… Continue reading Tips for Going Door-to-door
Terms for Going Door-to-Door
Still several weeks out from knocking on my neighbors’ doors, I’m still trying to name the thing that I intend to do. I may have to start using the term faceliving for what I’ll be doing, however, because I haven’t found an appropriate term that means, “to make a friendly introduction of one’s self to… Continue reading Terms for Going Door-to-Door
On Going from Door to Door
I’m still several weeks away from the official kick-off of the Facelife door-knocking campaign. As I go about my summer travels and family gatherings I’ve been searching the web for tips on being a successful door-to-door canvasser. I’m putting together a preliminary list of tips that should give me courage as the big day nears,… Continue reading On Going from Door to Door
Facelife
I’m excited to announce that my inaugural quest as an artist building himself a grassroots art career has a name… Yes, in fact it is Facelife. And here is what Facelife is: I will be donning a nice shirt and putting gel in my hair, walking through my neighborhood, and knocking on all 227 doors,… Continue reading Facelife
A Respectable Haircut
I’m happy to share with you that I’ve made some progress since my first Jimmy, Meet World post, in which I took a look at my look to see what I could do to make myself less freaky-looking as I introduce myself to people in my community. I got a haircut. I’ve spent most of… Continue reading A Respectable Haircut
What to Expect from This Blog
I spend a lot of time in the studio, which some of you may recognize as a standard suburban 2-car garage with paintings and free-standing walls in place of automobiles, a fact that, to her great credit, my wife has endured since we moved into our first house. Do cars really need their own room… Continue reading What to Expect from This Blog
Jimmy, Meet World
I want my artwork to reach a lot of people and a lot of different kinds of people. Working toward building a large, diverse audience helps me achieve two goals: 1) I’m more likely to make a living doing this, and 2) I satisfy the drive that artists–all people, really–have, to cross the barriers that… Continue reading Jimmy, Meet World
Beachfront Floor Sculptures, 2004, by James Hough
Beachfront Floor Sculptures, 2004, acrylic on wood
