-

Thanksgiving dinner came early but as always i am late

2009-12-08T17:53:00.000-08:00

i get lucky every once in a while and several weeks before Thanksgiving Simple Me and i were invited to dinner at the home of a student from a couple of years ago

He now has a degree and a job but i best know him for coming back to visit during one of his vacations from college and greeting me with the line "I touched a Renoir." (such jealousy)

Here are the photos from the incredible dinner at his home
one of the best meals of my life

Thanks Alfred!

marriage???

2009-12-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

Simply Me and i have been taking a look at marriage and making stuff related to marriage

Here are four photos i sent out for a friend who may show them at one of his event

music for my kids

2009-12-04T20:29:00.000-08:00

my bbf reminded me of a time when i would gather my records (yesterdays cassette tapes) and compile several musical artworks (more than ten) together into cassette tapes (yesterdays Cd's)

the question was what music would i put together for my kids from what i like - so here is a list of the artists i may want to share with my kids (15-13 -11)

Johann Sebastian Bach
Tom Waits
Lou Reed
John Cage
Philip Glass
David Bowie
Black Sabbath
Brian Eno
Talking Heads
Violent Femmes
Sisters of Mercy
Johnny Cash
REM
The Clash
Thelonious Monk
Elton John
Heart
Neil Young
Elvis Costello
Bosto
Janis Joplin
Frank Sinatra
Greatful Dead
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Patsy Cline
Bebe & Cigala
Yo Yo Ma
U2
Kate Bush
The Cure
Bob Marley and the Wailers
Crash Test Dummies
Public Enemy
Bob Dylan
Jethro Tull
Santana
Cassandra Wilson
Itzhack Perlman
Celia Cruz
Tito Puente
Leonard Cohen

and i have not even started to go too far down memory lane

films

2009-12-04T18:10:00.000-08:00

took a look at a couple of trailers tonight - films i may want to see

UP IN THE AIR
IT'S COMPLICATED
EVERYBODY'S FINE
THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS
Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS
A SERIOUS MAN

i am hoping i make it to one

going to paint

2009-10-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

got some things to show you but i am going to paint instead

white on white

2009-10-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

the littlest crab claw had a project for his photo class this weekend (white on white) - so out we went to find the film and get it done. i could not resist the urge to pick up my phone and photograph right along with him. here are my results from his assignment and a couple off shots of little crabclaw and little diva.

cast party at fridays

2009-10-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

one of the teenage crabclaws was in a show for the past two weekends - saturday was the cast party and i was picking up tacc around midnight. bored and waiting i took out the phone in hopes of making tacc more nervous and embarrassed so i could go home it took a short amount of time and photographing some odd things before he realized what was happening but as soon as he saw he knew it was time to get dad home before any real damage could occur to his prestine reputation. here are the photos.

and more

2009-10-16T13:58:00.001-07:00

more - more - more

2009-10-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

what type of camera is your relationship

2009-10-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

i am using a my phone camera for most of all my photographic needs - here are some shots from the last couple of weeks - maybe months.

Take a look

2009-10-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

Craw Claw and Diva Loves Crab Claw are working on a new project together. We have been researching and creating sketches and works based on the subject of marrige/partnerships. The following photos are from before we made the decision to work on this together back in May of 2009.

long time no blog

2009-10-13T13:00:00.002-07:00

hi!
crab claw has been keeping his head in the sand for a while -he is working on a couple of projects and will be continue blogging soon - sorry for the delay
enjoy

long time no blog

2009-10-13T13:00:00.001-07:00

Busy Busy Busy - Glitter Glitter Glitter

2008-03-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

I know I have been away for some time but things got kind of busy.

Here are three works I just finished they are in the "Reflections of War" show, or the "Women and War" show, both are one and the same.

Suicide Bomber - February 2008

Tosca - Frebruary 2008

Woman with Groceries - January 2008

A couple of Shows

2007-11-29T21:15:00.001-08:00

I'll be attending the show in Miami.

Sunday at Unity

2007-10-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

I stayed out late last night (4:30 am +-). When I got home the bed was full of papers I was working on and left there because I was late getting out, so it took another 30 minutes to get the bed ready and then the computer wanted attention and it became 5:30 am before my head hit the pillows. I was not sure I would make it to the 9:00 am service, but I did.

It only took the first song of the service, "Bridge Over Troubled Water", for me to realize how lucky I was to be at Unity and we had not started. Here are a couple of drawings from today's service.

The Rest of the Weekend

2007-10-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

The rest of our weekend we were at Marco Island with family. It was a wonderful place full of nature for the kids to see and experience, tennis and golf. The little crab claws also help set up a croquet course. Here are some photos.

Poetry Friday - October 19, 2007

2007-10-28T12:35:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to tell you about my incredible weekend but I have no time and/or energy to post. So now I am forcing myself to do it for I do not want to loose the taste of the experience.

Friday night, it was humid and hot but we were there for the outdoor event. A poetry reading by the tiniest crab claw's class. Poems about us the parents and then poems from the parents about the children. It was beautiful. Here is the card I received after tiny crab claw did his reading, his poem and mine.

Fun Dad
by tiny crab claw

Dad you kept me safe from danger.

You have showed me the light that comes inside.

We have gone through the worst time and the best times.

As you mess up more than me I still love you gleaming shinning star.

And we know were like a vase that has to break.

Dear Tiny Crab Claw,

by Crab Claw

So, a poem about you

so many things to say

it should be an epic

from how fast you ride

the yellow bike

to how you reach over

and share appetizers & dessert.

The truth is

you are the little one

with a big heart.

It took weeks

for you to stop

Saying, "it isn't fair"

after seeing

"The Bicycle Thief"

I know you still

don't understand it

I am sitting outside

at your favorite spot

candles lit and wind chimes on

trying to remember

every time we walk

the dumpsters

where you found the candle holder

now in our yard.

I can always see it in your eyes

the treasure is in the next dumpster

Tattoo design for my back - August 2005

2007-10-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

Friday Night

2007-10-11T20:21:00.001-07:00

Good Morning!

2007-10-09T03:29:00.000-07:00

Have a great week!!!!!!!!!!

The Morgue

2007-10-08T19:35:00.000-07:00

This post should really be called

"Too Chicken to Post"

One of the the ideas when I started this blog was to share with the viewers many of the entries in my sketchbooks. Part of those entries are letters I write to Dear God, Dear Universe, Dear Humanity, Dear Energy and a couple of others that show up from time to time. I sometimes even write to myself, Dear Iggy, but I am doing that anyways if no one else sees the entries. The truth is I am way too scare to show something so private and revealing, not to mentioned that anyone that knows me will be able to figure out who I am going on about, falling in love with (that week) or many other little things I share with a select group of individuals, because I need their attention (Leo - August 18). Tonight I was looking at several sketch books thinking about posting a couple of entries and it ain't going to happen - not tonight - and maybe never.Above is the sketch for one of three paintings I have not worked on for several (six) months. They gave away to other things I am doing but I think I am about to go back to all three in November after the set for "The Servant of Two Masters" is done. The reason I chose this painting is that with it came a poem or better yet the poem came first then the sketch. So a way to not feel so bad about not sharing the deep personal stuff is to give you a poem. I think I have the final version of this poem at work so I may change the poem by tomorrow.

It is two for one

at the morgue

Golden Liquid?

"I'll take it"

10:47 and all the boys are here

looking pretty ass the absent girls

their hot topic darkness

not their own, borrowed

and i

Barton Fink on steroids

our touch of death

looks so different

no strength in it

a pale thin weakness

if we could see it

wrinkle, old, unforgiving

without the exuberance of heroin

weak and full of life

another contradiction

and here at the morgue

we are all looking

acceptance, love, affirmations

no one escapes the value

of being, a puzzle piece

so we dance

grasping the veil

of a fictitious underworld

accepting transparencies

Going Once - Going Twice

2007-10-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

My "bestest best friend" (now) and fellow blogger Downtown Diva got me involved in "A Place to Call Home" (see card above). A great idea and an incredible show. I will do shows like these the rest of my life. I get to do what I love and give a little bit back. So, this afternoon I got the call, "One of YOUR works sold" and tonight the second shoe dropped. I got the email, "a second one sold".

After I stop doing a jig and singing "I am special...", I'll figure out which ones are gone.

THANKS DIVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Words for New Works

2007-09-30T13:10:00.000-07:00

Here are acouple of things I am playing with in hopes of making art?

The Servant of Two Masters

2007-09-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

One of the projects I am working on is the set design for the play
"The Servant of Two Masters" by Carlos Goldoni.

Here are some drawings - the process and explanations come later.

Post it Sunday

2007-09-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

More Crab Claws

I do it to myself

2007-09-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday and all is not well but it is what I built.

Just by Radiohead

"You do it to yourself, you do

And that's what really hurts

Is that you do it to yourself

Just you, you and no-one else

You do it to yourself

You do it to yourself "

Friday night was the opening of "A Place to Call Home" and it was wonderful, friends came by to see the work and support the cause and driving home that night was the void at the pit of my stomach. It has not gone away it usually lingers for days the feeling of not belonging, not wanting to be a part of anything, longing to be alone. I was reminded the other day, when I mentioned my dream trip around the US in the Winnebago, that I have always been this way. Ready to leave the car by the side of the road and walk away from it all.

I gardened Saturday afternoon and it was nice to feel the earth in my hands and on my face. I think I could live there forever in the garden. How different from the boy leaving the car on the side of the road.

Saturday night I "met up" with a new friend and the void lingered and I was trying to not let it show but I am sure it did (in my mind). The setting was so nice and my new friend could not have been nicer but I was at that place, I built. Dreaming of the world where I do not need to interact, exchange or speak. I am sure there were two of me last night. One enjoying the pool, the rain, her perfume and the other pushing the insecurities and whispering in my ear all night. I have a friend that says you need to go by your gut. Well my gut was very annoying this weekend.

"You do it to yourself, you do
And that's what really hurts
Is that you do it to yourself
Just you, you and no-one else
You do it to yourself
You do it to yourself"

Where am I and what do I do?

2007-09-23T22:02:00.000-07:00

How long does it take a person who is scared to overcome fear? How long does it take for strength to reach the point where "I" is most important? How afraid does someone need to be before they stand and speak? I wish I knew.

(A friend I prayed with several weeks ago, said to me today that it was all inside me. That our prayer was me and things happened because of me.)

How long does it take to realize our own goodness even when it is flawed? If goodness can ever be flawed?

And then there is the problem of building a bridge for a second time with the tools and skills you used for the first one, enhanced skills and tools mind you but still the same ones. When do you loose the fear that this one will also fall while you are on it or below it? Bridges get built all the time and the only thing that stops them from being built is our ability to say "no". And the final question is - how long will it take to say "yes"?

"Would you rather be happy or right?"

2007-09-16T20:23:00.001-07:00

This was a part of today's message by Rev. Chris Jackson at Unity on the Bay and i would rather be happy, but what got me was how both of these things are tied together. Equating happiness with being or doing right has been a part of my entire life. I constantly say to my students what criteria are you using in terms of your judgement, (something I learned from aesthetics). So what tied right and happiness together for me? It does not matter as long as they stop being attached to each other. Now my happiness can be about being happy not being right. It is funny how i complicate such simple things.

another gift from a friend

2007-09-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Subject: Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit the conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen andreturned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups -porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the alumni had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking; expensive cups were taken up,leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup; but you consciously went for thebest cups ... and then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life. The type of cup one has does not define, nor change the quality of Life a person lives. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God makes the coffee, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Enjoy your coffee!

The Season in Hell is done

2007-09-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the 12 drawings from "A Season in Hell". When i started this project i was not clear on where it would go and maybe i now know a little bit more. The poem that has been a great part of my life for 28 years is no longer the mantra it had become. It has transformed and with its transformation i accepted the change and now i have 12 places. They are the places where i go in my dreams of not being here, they are landscapes and forests. Enjoy them as i did for i had a wonderful time finding them

drawing 001

drawing 002

drawing 003

drawing 004

drawing 005

drawing 006

drawing 007

drawing 008

drawing 009

drawing 010

drawing 011

drawing 012

Found a Drawing & I wanted to thank a friend

2007-09-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

I wanted to thank my friend QueenVikki for her help with the Craw Claw Header.

I found another Crab Claw drawing in a sketchbook under the bed while looking for construction paper. So here it is

Work from 1991

2007-08-17T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of watercolor/charcoal drawings from the summer of 1991.

More Hell

2007-08-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Here are more drawings from "A Season in Hell".

A Season in Hell - 2nd drawing

A Season in Hell - 4th drawing

A Season in Hell - 5th drawing

A Season in Hell - 10th drawing

I got flowers!

2007-08-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, i was having a conversation with a friend about how wonderful it is to receive flowers from anyone and for whatever reason. I don't think it is a secret that i love to get flowers but i am partial to just picked wild flowers and just picked flowers from a garden.

One of my morning habits is to go out in search of a new Passion Flower (yes - every morning). On the days i am lucky the flower becomes the center piece of my kitchen table. It will only last a day but i always have that as an excuse to go out and look at the garden the next morning (not that i need an excuse).

I woke up around 8:00 am this morning because one of the little Crab Claws was going to have breakfast at a friends house down the street. After waking her up I could not get back to bed so I started my morning routine. When I got down stairs there was a gift on my kitchen table.Take a look.

Little Crab Claw went out and made a center piece for the kitchen table from flowers in our garden.

Little Crab Claw's photo of the center piece.

coffee, cigar & a couple of beers

2007-07-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

I have been wondering lately about my job. Should i leave and go on to a more financially fruitful endeavor and as with yesterday the response to my wondering is in the form of a younger individual. An ex-student of mine in working in a cigar shop and tonight he called to see if we could get together for a smoke. He came by to pick me up and took a look at the drawings from "A Season in Hell". We headed of to Starbucks for coffee and cigars. After a couple of hours of conversation, Starbucks had closed by then he asked if we could go have a beer. "Always say yes" is my motto, you never know what they need until you are told and sometimes it takes a little bit of time.

We talked about art, writers, girls and family but by the end of the night he took with him a sketchpad for charcoal and pastels, a piece of inked dipped canvas and Nabokov's "Lolita" (my own personal copy). So now you know, coffee cigar and a couple of beers will get you my "Lolita".

"Surely I'd give it for a nipple a rubber Tacitus
For a rattle a bag of broken Bach records"
- from Gregory Corso's poem Marriage

A Season in Hell by Arthur Rimbaud

2007-07-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

The Poem

The book of poems "A Season in Hell" by Arthur Rimbaud has been a part of my life since I was 17. Not long ago, several months?, a friend asked if i would be interested in working with three other artist to put together a show. The theme had not been chosen but the issue of homelessness may be a factor in the show. I dislike issues that i have no ownership to. Homelessness is something i have not experienced and i feel does not belong to me but if this show is for charity, how could anyone say no. I am still unsure what we will be doing for the show but i ran with an idea of my own.

Ideas are strange things, sometimes they hold all the power and at other times i do. In this case the idea was to work with the first poem from "A Season in Hell" and it had a life beyond my reservations. Maybe it would never end up being about homelessness but it would be a place to start making some interesting drawings and that is all i need, a place to start.

Working with words from poems or songs is something i salivate over. When it is a poem i read, reread, look, sound it out, use my high voice and low voice, search for meaning and keep it close until it feels right. In this case I got my book (the original one i read at 17) and started reading. How delightful it was, like an old friend. I could feel my youth rush upon me as if 17 had returned. My lips tasted the beauty of my youthfull dark thoughts, the ones that still have hope as their linning. When i work with words i change the line structure of the poem or song to fit the work i am trying to create (sorry Rimbaud and all the others) and this was the case with this poem.

The sketchbook page where it all started.

I will post more about the process later for now here are four (unfinished drawings) of the twelve drawings. I am working on all twelve at the same time.

the 1st drawing

the 6th drawing

the 8th darwing

the last drawing

Enjoy!

i am back & not sure why

2007-07-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

It was a great idea a blog for the claw and almost a month from my last post i am beginning to wonder about great ideas. Ideas in my brain are constant and non-stop but the execution is faulty. The "to do" lists are all over my sketchbooks and in all my thoughts but there are books to read, drawings to work on, an unkempt garden that is more important because of its grounding force. The doing and the experiencing are not the same. The devils are at my shoulders and they both want my time and i can't seem to hear either one over my needs. Laziness comes to mind when certain individuals roll their eyes and the comments about doing what you have to do being more important than what you need to do for yourself. My life belongs to whom or what? But today an affirmation came to my home in the form of a child. He was laughing and happy jumping in the water over and over, sometimes staying under too long for the adults but returning back to the jumping, splashing and enjoyment right after we got him above water. It was wonderful to see and if i was more concern with the things i have to do i would have missed it all. Instead i am blessed to have seen joy, caring and genuine love. So the concern has subsided and i will continue to live a life of faith in the process of living and not the process of the "have to".

Crab Claw Search

2007-06-21T20:14:00.001-07:00

One of the little ones and i googled Mr. Crab Claw and Crab Claw and found the following video clip. Take a look

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2687023

Enjoy,

Mr. Claw

Crab Claw is OUT!!!!!

2007-06-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

There was a plan to try to maintain the order of time but i found a treasure today and i could not help myself. In my locker at school i found a bag that said Florida Educational Technology Conference 1999. When will i learn to trow stuff out? In the bag were several drawings of crab claw, a larger drawing from a Rumi poem and a sketch for Golden Orchids, a painting I made for some friends. Who could resist posting this find.

Meet the Claw

Crab Claw at the old 2 bedroom apartment kitchen 2005?

Crab Claw at Scott and Hollie's for diner and wine 2005?

Crab Claw at L & H's pool party 2005?

Crab Claw with Mike and Carrie having beers by the water 2005?

Crab Claw wake boarding with Mike and Carrie 2005?

Crab Claw testing 2005?

2007-06-09T11:30:00.001-07:00

Night Ritual

Around, all around, the dark memories gather.

My dread grows as the dagger of your words falls against my

naked soul.

It wounds me, and darkly my

essence drips

to the wicked earth that is my prison.

In a strange and terrible glee I beg forgiveness

while nothingness surrounds me.

Now alone, my soul falls upon uncaring eyes.

This is my salvation

Go to deadlounge and make your own gothic poem.

Saturday

2007-06-09T05:45:00.000-07:00

Have a great Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is it Saturday or Friday? - i love summer time
the claw

Too tired to post

2007-06-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

I took a look at these this morning and the word "prayer" came to mind, maybe "worship" is better, how about "meditations".

The claw said it should be "Wordship".

Dear Diva,

Thanks for mentioning me in your blog.

Enjoy - Mr. Crab Claw

what am i doing?!?!?

2007-06-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

Everything has to start somewhere. The beginning seems like the best place but it was so long ago that maybe it is better to focus on one thing. Crab claw as it was originally called seemed like the best part out many years of work not because of the quality, aesthetic substance or social references but because crab claw has a history rich in the experiences that bond people together, plus at times I am crab claw and he is i. Many years passed before crab claw was conceived, so this may take some time, but the story will be told.

The story started at MOMA in NY with a Jackson Pollock. Less that a year later i made a couple of attempts at painting (see the last post) and i still have them so they have some value, maybe just emotional. It took the laughter of an entire six grade class and the lack of control of the Nun in charge to seal the painting deal. Fresh from Puerto Rico into the parochial school and it was all foreign to me; the language, the culture and the people (i do not assimilate well). Add to all this, the constant feeling of “not belonging” that many children get, and you have a potential outcast. It was September 1973 and time for “show and tell” at the American school. With two very special paintings in hand i went to school with the hopes of sharing my discoveries with the class and they found the work hilarious. Where do I run to? How do I hide? Can anyone please take me back to Puerto Rico? The day we left the island I held onto the gate at our home and my parents had to pry my fingers from the bars so we would not miss our plane. Why did they do this to me? Why did we leave home for this?

It took years for me to paint again. Drawing was something I always did but painting did not come back until college. There was a couple of exceptions to the painting hiatus. A car on plywood and a flower and they both belong to Mom for they were gifts to her. They may show on this site soon enough. As for what else happened between six grade and college, well i have to visit my parents and rummage the boxes of stuff to see what they kept. Some of it may lead to some clues as to where crab claw came from but it may be a while before i can do that so we shall go on to college.

A drawing from page 2 of what may be my first college sketchbook(1980? - 1983?). The assignment was "cloth".

A drawing from page 2 of what may be my first college sketchbook (1980? - 1983). The assignment was "cloth".

Enjoy,
Mr. Crab Claw

First Time Out

2007-06-07T00:14:00.001-07:00

What i find truthful today maybe nowhere near the reality of what was and if you ask others i am sure they would say my accounts are not accurate and far too romantic to be truthful. With this i start a blog with lofty ideals of what is to come and what i have left behind but always being clear of my memories and my lies. It is 1973 and I am 10 years young.

The summer of 1972 my family visited the USA; New York, Washington DC, Jacksonville and Miami. Summer is such a great time for change. Creativity flows when the structures that dominate our childhood no longer wield their powers over our playfulness. I remember my encounter with Jackson Pollock, i have a hard time separating the painter from the work, to me they are one and the same. It was at the Museum of Modern Art, i think? My childhood was one of plenty but i was the kid that never fit in. Let me correct that - the kid who thought he never fit in. The Pollock painting at the MOMA was an embrace an affirmation. Its warmth filled my body and i understood that it was ok to be anything or anyone. It gave me the strength to continue being myself and i fell in love with painting and Jackson. As with all stories there is more.

It took some time but after the summer of 1972 i made my first painting, January 4, 1973. My parents had some painting supplies in a closet and i tried to make something.

My second painting May 3, 1973. Today i still love to paint flowers, butterflies, suns, moons and water.

Enjoy,
Mr. Crab Claw (The name becomes clearer about 1988 or 1989?)