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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1444

first posted in facebook june 20, 2025

ann craven -- "purple beech (night sky), 2023" (2023)

"my paintings are a result of mere observation, experiment and chance, and contain a variable that’s constant and ever-changing — the moment just past" … ann craven

"craven may have painted the moon thousands of times, but she still relishes setting up a row of easels in her maine backyard as the sun sets, working on as many as five canvases at once" … julia halperin

"the moon is sooooooooooooooo maine … and maine truly is the moment just past" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1443

paul de vos -- "fable of the dog and the dam" (ca. 1639)

"i'm suspicious of people who don't like dogs, but i trust a dog when it doesn't like a person" … bill murray

"The dog trots freely in the street and sees reality and the things he sees are bigger than himself and the things he sees are his reality Drunks in doorways Moons on trees The dog trots freely thru the street and the things he sees are smaller than himself Fish on newsprint Ants in holes Chickens in Chinatown windows their heads a block away The dog trots freely in the street and the things he smells smell something like himself The dog trots freely in the street past puddles and babies cats and cigars poolrooms and policemen He doesn’t hate cops He merely has no use for them and he goes past them and past the dead cows hung up whole in front of the San Francisco Meat Market He would rather eat a tender cow than a tough policeman though either might do And he goes past the Romeo Ravioli Factory and past Coit’s Tower and past Congressman Doyle He’s afraid of Coit’s Tower but he’s not afraid of Congressman Doyle although what he hears is very discouraging very depressing very absurd to a sad young dog like himself to a serious dog like himself But he has his own free world to live in His own fleas to eat He will not be muzzled Congressman Doyle is just another fire hydrant to him The dog trots freely in the street and has his own dog’s life to live and to think about and to reflect upon touching and tasting and testing everything investigating everything without benefit of perjury a real realist with a real tale to tell and a real tail to tell it with a real live barking democratic dog engaged in real free enterprise with something to say about ontology something to say about reality and how to see it and how to hear it with his head cocked sideways at streetcorners as if he is just about to have his picture taken for Victor Records listening for His Master’s Voice and looking like a living questionmark into the great gramaphone of puzzling existence with its wondrous hollow horn which always seems just about to spout forth some Victorious answer to everything" … lawrence ferlinghetti

"i'm suspicious of dogs that pretend to like me, but i trust dogs who stay clear of me" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1442

first posted in facebook june 14, 2025

hendrik goltzius -- "lot and his daughters" (1616)

"when death lurks at the door, the physician is considered as a god. when danger has been overcome, the physician is looked upon as an angel. when the patient begins to convalesce, the physician becomes a mere human. when the physician asks for his fees, he is considered as the devil himself" … hendrik goltzius

"one day the older daughter said to the younger, 'our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth. let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father'" … lot's older daughter (genesis 19:31-32)

"happy fathers' day?" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1441

first posted in facebook june 13, 2025

dirk bouts -- "the fall of the damned" (ca. 1468)

"my mind's a raging blame a crying shame and i'm sad a city of sin, a bottle of gin so dog-gone bad a cool reaction for a big attraction that's fine a pissed off god, oh mother of god yeah i'm blind and i fall will i fall? will i fall? did i fall?" … brian james

"well, WILL they fall?" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1440

first posted in facebook june 12, 2025

yatika starr fields -- "white buffalo calf women march" (2017)

"my work begins swiftly and intuitively, as momentum shapes the composition on canvas. i challenge myself to integrate the physical environment around me with its unseen emotional life. gradually the narrative of the piece is revealed" … yatika starr fields

"in times like these we need to be strong we need to carry on we need to get along, hold on and right what's wrong in times like these we need to find a way to make a better day keep my feet on the ground turning 'round come what may" … leroy marinell & jim tullio

"in 'white buffalo calf women march' fields interprets a moment from the fight against the construction of the dakota access pipeline at the oceti sakowin camp. this painting honors the labor of women-led movements at standing rock together with the lakota oral history of the white buffalo calf woman, a figure of solidarity, fluidity, and hope within lakota and other communities. on this canvas, the feeling of hope is found in the liminal space of the highway and the vastness of the sky. for fields, painting allows these subjects to exist as they do in the world, intertwined" … from the 2019 exhibition 'portrait of the artist as an indian / portrait of the indian as an artist', guest curated by rayna green

"NO KINGS!" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1439

first posted in facebook june 11, 2025

choy moo kheong -- "blue whispering day" (2022)

"there is another alphabet whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky" … dejan stojanovic

"we live in a world of perceptions which govern the way we see things and give us a sense of the reality of the shapes, forms and colours around us. artists interpret and translate these elements into their version of reality" … choy moo kheong

"to hear never-heard sounds, to see never-seen colors and shapes, to try to understand the imperceptible power pervading the world; to fly and find pure ethereal substances that are not of matter but of that invisible soul pervading reality. to hear another soul and to whisper to another soul; to be a lantern in the darkness or an umbrella in a stormy day; to feel much more than know" … dejan stojanovic

"i can't hear the sky for the forest" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1438

first posted in facebook june 10, 2025

kristin malin -- "october full hunter moon" (2017)

"my paintings are concise, intuitively rendered responses to carefully observed events in nature, and when painting directly on-site, i am capturing moments in time. with the passage of time, light and other elements change, which are incorporated as they happen, and the images become elongated moments. painting from observation captures the dynamics of fleeting moments and requires efficiency of brushstrokes, with forms defined by shape and the path of the brush -- each stroke is important to the composition of the painting and the articulation of the subject matter. it’s a spontaneous, honest and genuine response to painting phenomena in nature: this is what i saw" … kristin malin

"this is what i post" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1437

first posted in facebook june 9, 2025

istvan nagy -- "young wife keeping apples" (1934)

"do you like apples? … well, i got her number. how do you like them apples?" … will hunting

"sonuvabitch … he stole my line" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1436

first posted in facebook june 8, 2025

phelan gibb -- "three graces" (1911)

"i was tired of seeing the graces always depicted as beautiful young things. i think wisdom comes with age and life and pain. and knowing what matters" … louise penny

"the english artist still living whose work probably is of the most permanent value is phelan gibb. one day phelan gibb will doubtless come into his own, and his finest paintings take their place alongside examples of manet, cezanne, picasso, … in international exhibitions of modern art" … lucy wertheim

"an artist whose work might have value is phelan gibb. he doubtless will come into his own and his paintings will be posted in 'when i paint my masterpiece' alongside 1435 others" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1435

first posted in facebook june 7, 2025

david arsenault -- "overdue conversation" (2025)

"connection, i just can't make no connection but all i want to do … is to get back to you" … mick jagger/keith richards

"he comes for conversation i comfort him sometimes comfort and consultation he knows that's what he'll find" … joni mitchell

"yes, we speak of things that matter with words that must be said 'can analysis be worthwhile?' 'is the theater really dead?' and how the room is softly faded and i only kiss your shadow i cannot feel your hand you're a stranger now unto me" … paul simon

"please close the door as you leave" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1434

first posted in facebook june 6, 2025

federico zandomeneghi -- "in bed" (1878)

"early one mornin' the sun was shinin', i was layin' in bed" … bob dylan

"i decided to stay in bed until noon. maybe by then half the world would be dead and it would only be half as hard to take" … charles bukowski

"daily dawns another day; i must up, to make my way. though i dress and drink and eat, move my fingers and my feet, learn a little, here and there, weep and laugh and sweat and swear, hear a song, or watch a stage, leave some words upon a page, claim a foe, or hail a friend- bed awaits me at the end" … dorothy parker

"the best thing about the bedroom was the bed. i liked to stay in bed for hours, even during the day with covers pulled up to my chin. it was good in there, nothing ever occurred in there, no people, nothing" … charles bukowski,

"i just saw things from a different point of view … and grew tired of waiting for you" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1433

first posted in facebook june 5, 2025

charles joseph grips -- "waiting for a loved one" (1894)

"i long for you; i who usually longs without longing, as though i am unconscious and absorbed in neutrality and apathy, really, utterly long for every bit of you" … franz kafka

"[but] she hardly ever thought of him. he had worn a place for himself in some corner of her heart, as a sea shell, always boring against the rock, might do. the making of the place had been her pain. but now the shell was safely in the rock. it was lodged, and ground no longer" … t.h. white

"some times i feel as boring as a sea shell … as safe as a rock" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1432

first posted in facebook june 4, 2025

gustave léonard de jonghe -- "love letter" (ca. 1870)

"when shall we pass a day alone? i have had a thousand kisses, for which with my whole soul i thank love - but if you should deny me the thousand and first - 'twould put me to the proof how great a misery i could live through" … john keats

"yes, dearest vita: i do miss you; i think of you: i have a million things, not so much to say, as to sink into you" … virginia woolf

"lonely days are gone, i'm a-goin' home my baby just wrote me a letter because my baby just wrote me a letter" … wayne carson

"i never knew before, what such a love as you have made me feel, was; i did not believe in it; my fancy was afraid of it, lest it should burn me up. but if you will fully love me, though there may be some fire, 'twill not be more than we can bear when moistened and bedewed with pleasures" … john keats

"i think i won't come on thursday for this reason; i must get on with writing; you would seduce me completely” … virginia woolf

"well, she wrote me a letter said she couldn't live without me no more listen mister, can't you see i got to get back to my baby once more? any way, yeah" … wayne carson

"i write letters to you that you’ll never see" … jennifer elisabeth

"i draft posts to you that you'll never see" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1431

first posted in facebook june 3, 2025

carl holsøe -- "waiting by the window" (ca. 1930s)

"for a long time, she held a special place in my heart. i kept this special place just for her, like a 'reserved' sign on a quiet corner table in a restaurant. despite the fact that i was sure i'd never see her again" … haruki murakami

"the figures in his paintings are mostly women and children, but they're unimportant in this context which we can assume by the way he painted them – very blurry, turning their back on the viewer. his women are engrossed in their own activities; they are shown reading books, writing letters or simply sitting by the window and looking outside, or waiting by the white doors in a greenish light of a serene day. their face expressions, their thoughts or feelings are unknown to us for they are irrelevant in these paintings, and like the furniture their role is to beautify the interior and bring focus to a subject that matters – doors and windows" … asya (from "byron's muse")

"'for a while' is a phrase whose length can't be measured. at least by the person who's waiting" … haruki murakami

"the waiting is the hardest part every day you get one more yard you take it on faith, you take it to the heart the waiting is the hardest part yeah, the waiting is the hardest part" … tom petty

"i dunno, i think maybe the "wanting" is the hardest part … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1430

first posted in facebook may 31, 2025

bartolomé esteban murillo -- "joseph and potiphar's wife" (ca. 1645)

"lie with me" … zuleikha

"stay with me, stay with me for tonight you'd better stay with me" … rod stewart

"what's your name again?" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1429

first posted in facebook may 20, 2025

andrea mantegna -- "madonna della vittoria" (1496)

"where did that cockatoo come from?" … rebecca mead

"cockatoo up in the tree squeaking, squawking down at me you are such a noisy fellow feathers white and cone of yellow how can you crunch seeds and bellow perched up in that tree?" … margaret bradford

"when heather dalton, a british-born historian who lives in melbourne, australia, took a moment to examine the painting some years ago, [she] noticed something that she well might have missed had she been peering up at the framed original: perched on the pergola, directly above a gem-encrusted crucifix on a staff, was a slender white bird with a black beak, an alert expression, and an impressive greenish-yellow crest. moreover, without the context of her own surroundings, dalton might not have registered the bird’s incongruity. 'if i hadn’t been in australia, i wouldn't have thought, that's a bloody sulfur-crested cockatoo!'" … rebecca mead

"when cooking a cockatoo, boil it in a billy can with a large rock. when it is cooked, throw out the bird and eat the rock" … traditional australian saying

"before dalton put down the mantegna book, she asked herself, 'how did a bird from australasia end up in a fifteenth-century italian painting?'" … rebecca mead

"before you finished reading this post, you probably asked yourself 'WHY do i care how a cockatoo ended up in this painting?'" … al janik

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al things considered — when i post my masterpiece #1428

first posted in facebook may 13, 2025

max gubler -- "venice" (1949)

"one by one the guests arrive the guests are coming through the open-hearted many the broken-hearted few" … leonard cohen

"when i seek another word for 'music', i never find any other word than 'venice'" … friedrich nietzsche

"and all goes stumbling through that house in lonely secrecy saying 'do reveal yourself' or 'why has thou forsaken me'" … leonard cohen

"though there are some disagreeable things in venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors" … henry james

"and no one knows where the night is goin' and no one knows where the wine is flowin' oh love, i need you, i need you, i need you, i need you oh i need you now" … leonard cohen

"streets flooded. please advise" … robert benchley

"pull the plug?" … al janik