Originally Posted Thursday, January 23, 2014

I'm going to quit it, I swear.  But damn, this is good, I think, a replica of an old pinup picture for a cheese magazine.  It has it all.  It says everything.  Surely I can't top this one.  Why try?  It is time to move on to inanimate objects.  I am sprouting a store bought onion right now.  It's shape is fascinating.  You'll see.  People are bringing me down.  The vegetables never do.  They are so positive.  You can count on them.  They never come with a head or heart full of trouble.  They never cancel at the last minute.  They are steady.  Me and old Ed Weston.  Nudes and inanimate things.  We are geniuses, he and I.  You'll see. 

In yesterday's comments, Lisa says that I'm an artist, that I can be moody.  She probably read this (link).  A study in Sweden shows that writers are 50% more likely to commit suicide than the rest of the population.  The rate of suicide with visual artists are not as high.  It is this writing that is maiming me.  I'm thinking too much, apparently.  I may be one who takes in "too much information," who doesn't have a filter to tune it down.  I've written before about this.  My non-artist friends comment all the time.  "You think too much," they say.  "You're too analytical."  I think they are a bit like Adam, simply naming the objects that they see. 

"Chair, carpet, wall, ceiling, airplane. . . . " 

The study reifies what I have been thinking.  It explains a lot. 

In truth, though, I have few friends who aren't totally bat shit crazy.  They should have included people who read literature or spend money on art in the study.  They would have been higher on the misery scale, I'll bet, too. 

My advice to Q is to quit the blog and quit buying cameras.  That way lies madness.  Settle down, boy, and quit thinking all those thoughts.  Quit looking at all those things.  You can do it.  Be like Adam.  The Prelapsarian type.  Sober and happy. 

Let me put it to you it to you this way--where has all this art and literature gotten you thus far?  I know it is difficult to give up this path, but I know you can do it.  Become an A.A. founder--Arts Anonymous. 

Me?  I shall contemplate the beauty of vegetables and other natural things. 

"Onion, squash, carrot, potato. . . ."