To suffer and ESCAPE

For the last few months I had been dealing with the health issues of an aging parent. All my art related activity had stopped, and I focused on family.

When I did return to painting, plans that were previously made were alien to me. Everything felt very distorted, not an artist’s block, but a disconnect as I was living with more tension than usual. Being a painter is the worst occupation to deal with these emotions. Men’s pride demanded me to work through it.

The Covid pandemic made this situation worse as the new variant Omicron had appeared just as we believed it was coming to an end.

Courtesy of Toronto Star

Note: At the time of this writing, Ottawa is under a siege against the Covid Vaccine Mandate. A grassroots movement called The Freedom Convoy, Canadian truck drivers have set up a Occupation of protest outside of Parliament hill. This movement continues to grow throughout Canada into different provinces.Ontario is now under a State of Emergency.The downtown core of Ottawa is still under occupation and in its 17th day.

2021 had become a mirror image of 2020 except differently distorted and disturbing. Many people were frustrated as traveling had become limited. Vaccine passports have been forced alongside covid masks as a necessity to our daily lives. For the unvaccinated, this had become a barrier to employment, a divided argument among families, and a prison for passionate travelers. Homebound, I could relate to what they were feeling, and wanted to be somewhere else.

Whatever I was going to do next would be living with this tension. I started thinking of ESCAPE, how tight that window of opportunity was for most people, and knew I could not go anywhere. Winter was coming.

Escape drawing. Pencil on kraft paper. 2022

Originally, all I was thinking about was the weather, but then the animals started to come. The Tiger was not planned, and I would find out later that 2022 was the Chinese new year of the Tiger. Interesting synchronicity.

I continued with this idea and developed a painting with no certainty to what was coming next.

Friedrich Nietzsche is always quoted by others as saying “To live is to suffer..” but they often leave out the second line which is the most important part, “to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”

I didn’t find any meaning in this suffering. However, if there is someone else going through a similar situation. My hope is, this article helps them feel a little less alone.

Victor

Seeing THE SEANCE

The Seance was a painting I had been thinking about for a long while. My interest in this wasn’t for artistic purposes. I remember seeing the posters displayed at carnivals for mediums. They were either illustrated or photographed, and you weren’t sure if they were real or not. This was at a time before digital was around. As a kid, we are very impressionable and one would tend to wonder about these superstitions. When we become adults, we outgrow these things and dismiss them as fables and folklore.They are just immaterial and not tangible. Some may look at religion in the same way.

Recently, I had become curious about these things again. Modern life with it’s technology had become cold. Digital is now the excuse to the answer to everything.
I was considering going in a more Victorian direction using models or friends at first. As the idea developed further, and after speaking to a few people, it began to change. One person I knew remarked, “ No F#&*g Ouija boards.”(No argument from me.) It was apparent how uncomfortable this concept was. I am sure some people that I knew began to think I was becoming an Occultist. The other reason was that the drawings I had done previously seem to intuitively draw me in on their own. After a few false starts, and getting out of my own way, it slowly started to come together. I had to divide it up in three parts to keep all the details.

One influence was this old documentary from the BBC called, “Science and the Seance”. The history of the Seance and Spiritualism. You can watch here, broken into four parts.

The photography of the late 19th and the 20th century also continued to inspire me. The magical quality of these old photos really captured something. You can see them for yourself and decide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0HncGNBCqY

I had finished my painting after a long period of working in winter darkness. The process of creating this was both challenging and comforting, unlike some other projects I had done.

Whether you believe in it or not, a healthy amount of skepticism is fine to have. There are plenty of frauds claiming to be mediums. For the very few that are real, they are unassuming and go unnoticed. The world comes with many prejudices. These type of things were mysterious and interesting growing up when I was a boy. As an Adult, it is nice to know they still are.
Victor Ramirez

*THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ*© All written articles and visual images are the copyright and creation of Victor H. Ramirez-vichramirez2015, and not affiliated with rhometechdesign.com

Countdown to CHRISTMAS

Christmas 2018.

I took a week off before the holidays to begin my descent into the shopping frenzy that has overtaken many of us during this December. As like yourselves, I have been shopping too, getting gifts and christmas cards. In the age of online shopping,  one might wonder why I still do it? Why do I go out to the mall with the busy crowds when I can sit behind a computer screen and just choose my items? I guess I am just old fashioned in that regard, thrill of the hunt, and still leftover from a era where that was part of tradition. For the record, I am still not finished getting gifts, and late this year.

Christmas traditions are something I still cherish, the sparking lights of a decorated tree, the classic music of Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra heard in the background. The sweet treats, cookies and a glass of milk. Also, of course, the snow, lots of snow, looking out through the window from the inside, staying warm and comfortable. The snow always makes it feel like a white Christmas, much like icing to a cake.

We haven’t had any snow in Toronto the past few days. So it might be a Green Christmas this time around. However, it might snow by the time this article gets posted. Fingers crossed.

The quiet time comes before phone calls are dialed and plans are made. The moments that inner reflection come in, where I take the time to go outside, visit places I might have passed but not really seen. I am reminded of life and all the good things that have happened, and trying to forget all the bad.

I take a break just watching the people go by as I drink my coffee, thinking about that last gift I need to get, or wanting that extra dessert before I go on my way. I catch my breath before I get up from the chair and proceed to shop again.

Thank you for all the continued support. May you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New year.

Victor Ramirez

*THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ*© All written articles and visual images are the copyright and creation of Victor H. Ramirez-vichramirez2015, and not affiliated with rhometechdesign.com

Love in a LUCID DREAM

She kissed me slow and deep. There was a familiarity to it I couldn’t deny, like we had done this before. Images flashed in my mind, about her and I having a life together.
Sometimes, I would be older and she would be younger, or sometimes it was the reverse. Her hair color would change every time I would see her. First she was a brunette,  then it she was blonde, or strawberry red. No matter how she presented herself, I knew it was her. All of that were just costumes. She was very mischievous in that way, knowing all my thoughts before I did. When she spoke, I couldn’t hear her voice but only see her lips move as one would in a silent film. The kiss felt emotional, happy, and sad at the same time. Goodbye.

Then, I had awakened, paused for a moment, only to ask myself just what the hell I am doing here. It was a dream. It was only a Dream.

For the next few days life would resume as usual. There was a tint of sadness following the next few mornings, workdays, and evenings. I thought about her for a while, yet didn’t know her name. I went to life drawing class in the evening like I usually do. While concentrating on drawing the model, they were playing ambient music in the background. I asked the Moderator of the studio what CD was this. He told me it was a mix, and mentioned some band which I can’t recall. It made me think of my dream and I began to work on this painting.

Most of the time, I would be visiting the parks, going for walks. I didn’t want to lose that feeling, looking for the same type of colors and plants that I saw in the dream. The fall season had just started around this time. I kept wondering who she was, but my memory kept coming up with nothing. In hindsight, I believe I was meant to forget, but she left  just enough for me to remember. The intensity of these feelings eventually faded over time. For a short while though, the dream felt more real than life over here. She was real enough for me to create this painting. I hope I see her again.

Victor Ramirez

THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ© All written articles and visual images are the copyright and creation of Victor H. Ramirez-vichramirez2015, and not affiliated with rhometechdesign.com

Inbetween HAUNTED SPACES

Haunted Spaces was the fifth of a series of paintings called SPIRIT.

I was interested in doing a painting of the interior of a room with a fireplace. I have always felt drawn to fireplaces, the way they warm and light up a room. When this came up, it was an opportunity to do so.

The idea of a haunted room had been brewing for a while, but it had constantly been put aside for various reasons. During this time, I had been getting into looking at old furniture and decor. I really wanted to make a painting about a room and space.

A spiritual residual haunting of a person’s home is an intriguing subject. When someone’s spiritual energy is attached to a home, it comes from a violent traumatic death or emotional experience. The event is so painful and frightening that the energy imprints itself onto the home and the space inside. The emotional energy left behind can sometimes repeat the event over and over again like a film recorded loop. In some other cases, it can have its own separate, negative distorted consciousness, behaving in destructive ways.

There are many stories and documentation about hauntings, not all can be verified or denied. Some of the most famous hauntings like the Winchester hauntings and the Amity Horror house stand out to me.

Oddly enough, I was more focused on the whole design aspect of the room, particularly the fireplace. It wasn’t until I started looking at mirrors that I began to think about ghosts. The aspect of looking into the mirror and having the room reflect back at us, as the viewer, made me rethink how distorted things can be, both in life, and in death. Everything seemed to converge together after this realization.

I chose a large canvas for this, which measured ’36 X 48’ inches, almost life sized. The larger size felt right and I really wanted that feeling of space. The whole period of working on this painting felt very obsessive. I would paint every chance I would get, often cancelling other plans, and not going out at all on the weekends. There was this feeling of anxiousness to get it done, afraid that if I didn’t, I would lose it.

When it was finished, I felt a great heaviness was lifted and relieved. By then, I was left wondering if the painting I had done, had always been there. There are paintings you work to achieve, and then there are ones that create themselves. Haunted spaces was one that I felt was born into this world, and I was just here along for the ride.

Victor Ramirez

*THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ*© All written articles and visual images are the copyright and creation of Victor H. Ramirez-vichramirez2015, and not affiliated with rhometechdesign.com

The Nature of a TREE SPIRIT

Tree Spirit is the first painting I had completed when I began a new series of works called SPIRIT. A series I am still  working on which isn’t finished. This painting was something that came about rather intuitively and quick. At the time, I didn’t realize the importance of it until I started to write this article.

The summer of 2013 had arrived, and it was very hot and humid. I had been keeping myself in the apartment with the air conditioning on. The hot smog in the city was making me feel sweaty, dizzy, and uncomfortable. I didn’t venture outside very much and when I did, it was for small moments at a time. I felt sluggish and lazy for most of this period, but despite it, I was happy that summer was here.

I had still been sketching on small pieces of paper pads, from my previous painting series. It was still the way I had worked before I changed methods again. I had been randomly drawing and this odd looking tree body came up. Since my focus has always been on the human figure, I hadn’t really gave it much thought to this sketch. Restless, I put aside the drawing for the time being. There was this strong desire to go out and be with nature. However, every time I would go out, I would be turned off by humidity and smog and go back to the apartment. This became a rotating routine for a while.

Several days would go by before I would sketch on the pads again. When it did happen, I ended up doing another drawing of this tree woman. This second sketch felt random but there was a slight nudge, almost as if she herself was pleading with me to do it.
As an urban city person, you tend not to think of nature very much. It becomes part of the background in daily life. But I felt very preoccupied feeling the green. The concrete jungle I was living in was making me feel very grey.

I had only began to read about Tree Spirits after I started painting, the various myths and interpretations about a deity. A tree nymph that was worshiped as a god of nature and fertility seemed to be symbolized universally in different religions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tree_deities

There was many references and different websites dedicated to Tree Spirits. As much as I found them interesting, I moved on rather quickly with this painting. There was just an urgency to do so, and I really didn’t think of anything else.

At the time, I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going creatively. Eventually, I decided that I needed a change and started to attend life drawing class, which led to Earthbound. The human figure, the shapes, body and character that make up a human being still interested me. But I needed to change, and this painting was the first seed of the new series.

I will never forget the summer of 2013.

Victor Ramirez

*THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ*© All written articles and visual images are the copyright and creation of Victor H. Ramirez-vichramirez2015, and not affiliated with rhometechdesign.com

Along came a BUTTERFLY

When this idea started, it was something that was unexpected.

I was downstairs in my building, putting out my recyclables as I usually do.  As I began to throw them away, I noticed this large yellow monarch butterfly sitting on the rear corner edge of the large metal bin. It was a little larger than some others I had seen, with yellow wings and black dots. The butterfly sat there for a few seconds, flew off quickly, and then disappeared. I resumed putting the rest of the recyclables out and resumed my business for the day.

For some reason though, I kept thinking about that butterfly. I was partial startled by its appearance. My curiosity translated into looking up that Butterfly, to looking at many butterflies. It brought me to see the butterfly as a symbol of resurrection, rather than one of vanity.  The resurrection aspect made me think about ancient tombs and sculpture. There was an angelic feeling to this even though I wasn’t thinking about Angels specifically.

Around this time, I had also checked out a book from the library called “Proof of Heaven” by Eben Alexander. He was a Neurosurgeon who experienced a near death experience and returned to life from the dead. I felt drawn to read it, even though I wasn’t thinking about it for my project. It was a short book. Oddly, it had a small butterfly on the cover too.

Eventually, I chose a drawing I had from my sketchbook and proceeded to work on this.

My final composition didn’t deviate too much from the original sketch, but my feelings were different. I wanted to stay closer to that angelic mood. As I was developing this, I was looking at a lot of art from Gustav Klimt, particularly his use of gold in painting. Gold Leaf, it was known as, got me curious to work in this medium. I mixed Gold leaf with Gold acrylic paints in my drawing on canvas, not really sure how it would be, but welcoming the challenge. I enjoyed the process very much and was happy with the results.

Most people would wonder, why bother writing about the events that influenced you to create a painting? But, based on my past experiences, I have learned not to dismiss or ignore anything as trivial. All of these steps happened very slowly and subtle.

As I continue to write this, I am reminded that the Egyptians used gold for their coffins. When I used gold leaf, I did not consciously think about them. As one can see, going from the butterfly, the book, and to the gold leaf, this influence was far-reaching.

In my opinion, I think the butterfly was a message.
One that I received, loud and clear.
Victor Ramirez.

THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ© All written articles and visual images are the copyright and creation of Victor H. Ramirez-vichramirez2015, and not affiliated with rhometechdesign.com

Being EARTHBOUND

Earthbound is one of the paintings from a new series called SPIRIT I’m working on. There were a few influences that caused this painting to come about. A few months had passed after I had finished the DAYDREAM series. There was this strong need to explore and experiment. I wasn’t sure of what I wanted at the time but I was open to many things.

During this period, I had started attending a walk-in life drawing class to get some more practice in. The usual areas I would sketch in were becoming stale to me. A change was needed, and it was really helpful. Being in a group atmosphere with people of similar interests kept me from feeling isolated. The Life drawing sessions kept me grounded and humble when I felt I ran out of things to explore.

The other influence came from a conversation I had with a friend, while being a passenger in his car. A discussion about the human consciousness. What was said between him and I will always remain private. However, what was spoken about, remained with me a long time after we parted ways.

Ghosts is a subject that has retained my interest from time to time. People who have died and are stranded here on earth, unable to move forward or connect with our world. It had been in the back of my mind for some time, waiting for me to acknowledge it. How life must be for them, and to remind us how short our time is on Earth.

What also came to mind for me, was the thought of people who have the ability to see spirits. The Mediums, Empaths, or Psychics who have the gift of Clairvoyance or Clairsentience. I imagined that a person like this wouldn’t be able to get much sleep or privacy. They would be constantly hassled by spirits of the dead. Despite what you see in television shows like Ghost Whisperer, I think their lives would be very lonely or have very few close people they could confide in. Isolation seemed to be a common theme for this painting. We are often always alone, are we?

With both of these scenarios in mind, I came up with a drawing and decided to get to work on this. There were some approaches I wanted to try with color, both on an abstract level and the figurative. This painting gave me a chance to expand my color palette in ways I couldn’t do before.

I wasn’t trying to copy or emulate how ghosts were portrayed before in Cinema. My primary goal was to first tell a story, without speaking or being so obvious. I rather let people use their own imagination, to look and find what they want to see. Personally, the end result was very satisfying. I was happy to do it.

Victor Ramirez

*THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ*© All written articles and visual images are the copyright and creation of Victor H. Ramirez-vichramirez2015, and not affiliated with rhometechdesign.com

Finding POLLYANNA

Pollyanna was a painting originally intended to be a color experiment. I was in-between projects and felt a need to do something different. A different enough piece that it was able to stand alone on its own. There was also this need to produce something that had a feeling of joy. Most of the paintings I had been doing up to this point had dealt with dramatic themes.
To work on a painting that had a lighter theme was much more challenging for me. All I could think about was the colors orange and yellow, which led to flowers, and finally to Pollyanna.

The term, Pollyanna, always seemed to be used with a tone of crass and sarcasm, when I hear it. People would tease one, calling them a Pollyanna as if it were a bad word. I looked up some reference on Pollyanna while researching flower designs for this painting.

Pollyanna, the word, comes from the 1913 Fictional novel “Pollyanna” of the same name, by Eleanor H. Porter.  The story is about a young girl named Pollyanna Whittier, who is an orphan and goes to live with her Aunt in a town called Beldingsville, in Vermont.
Her Aunt reluctantly takes her in, out of duty to her late sister, who had passed away.

Pollyanna’s philosophy of life centers on something she calls “The Glad Game.” She looks for something to be glad about in every situation, no matter how dark it may be. Her presence in the small town begins to change attitudes of the people who live there, and improves their lives.

While I didn’t read the book, the synopsis was enough to keep my interest in the premise of the story. I chose a sketch from my scrapbook and proceeded to go ahead and work on this painting.

One of the things I did differently, was to do my main drawing on Brown Kraft paper. Some of this was inspired by a teacher I knew who worked this way. The other thing was a different color approach, working my painting dark to light and building up on its layers.This painting came together rather quiet and peacefully. It was such a departure from what I usually do, and I was really happy with it.

My main concern was really about capturing a feeling more than concept. I thought about what a person such as Pollyanna might be like, her energy and how she radiated to me. How she could light up a room and make heads turn everywhere she went. All I could really do was imagine how this person might be like.

In all honesty, I can’t say that I really know anyone who was truly like Pollyanna. I imagine though, in life, we do sometimes need to find the Pollyanna in all of us.
Victor Ramirez

*THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ*© All written articles and visual images are the copyright and creation of Victor H. Ramirez-vichramirez2015, and not affiliated with rhometechdesign.com

DAYDREAM-The Book

It’s has been a long time coming.

I am very happy to announce the release of my new Softcover book,
DAYDREAM- THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ.

Daydream-The Art of Victor Ramirez is a full 8X8 color photo book which profiles Ten acrylic paintings from the Daydream series.

These works include CALM, FISHTANK, DECISIONS, THIRD EYE,
PARADISE VIEW, RED MOOD, THE SUBCONSCIOUS FOREST, MUSE, MORPHEUS CALLING, and DAYDREAM.

ALL BOOKS ARE PRINTED IN CANADA.

All paintings appear for the first time presented in this one volume.

DAYDREAM is available for pre-order on sale at ETSY.

THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ

#ArtofVictorRamirez #DaydreamBook #Daydream
#VictorRamirez

Victor Ramirez

*THE ART OF VICTOR RAMIREZ*© All written articles and visual images are the copyright and creation of Victor H. Ramirez-vichramirez2015, and not affiliated with rhometechdesign.com