Painting again after a long time. The muses sing.

Things I am thinking about:

Castles
Adventures
Sandbox Worlds
Game Programming
M:TG Card Selling
Roguelikes
Cantor Art Museum
Structure from Motion => Ogre
Coding in C#
Faculty Ghetto Walking
Warcraft w/ Erc & Kejia
Painting

Things I am doing:

Compilers
Coding in Emacs
HCI BS
Machine Vision Competition
COM Programming
Kitchen/Room Cleaning
Job hunting

Current mood:

gdb run dcc
< samples/bad13.decaf

Don’t know where it’s going to go at the end of the year, but right now it’s gracing my dining room. As far as room decor is concerned, ratty movie posters are out. Classy oil paintings are in.

I suppose I will auction it off. If any rich alumni want to sponsor my year at Stanford (Masters in CS) in return for a lovely oil painting that would look stunning in the entryway of your mansion on the 17-mile drive, shoot me an email.

I was supposed to paint quite a bit this summer, but for some reason it’s harder to do at home than at school. This is ironic because I actually have less time to paint at school. I think all the soul-draining techie classes I take at school provide a constant source of inspiration to do something individualist and creative. In fact, at Stanford I typically pull more all-nighters painting than working on papers or CS classwork. I take some amount of pride in this.

I’ven’t finished any paintings yet this summer. The picture above of my current project I took 2 weeks ago. I’ve worked on it a bit since then, but it’s still got some bare areas. Finishing it has been a little frustrating since all the interesting/good/hard parts of the painting I did in one night at school (basically all of Clark besides his shirt).

I might suspend the completion of my triptych {Superman, Feynman, Spaceman} in favor of doing a painting in color for a change, before I forget how to do those.

Which isn’t exactly an encouraging thought, given the mountain of stuff I need to do between now and then. I started knocking things off today, though. This morning I took the French SOPI, a silly oral proficiency exam given on a computer. I hate computerized tests, give me good old fashion pencil and paper any day. In addition, I had my final critique for Painting III today; despite the sad state of my triptych, “Superman. Feynman. Spaceman.” it seems as though I am going to get an A. I’m actually planning on mailing Superman home so I can finish him this summer. Even though finals are yet to start in earnest, I’ve already begun compiling a list of things I want to do this summer.

At this point I’m ready to settle for accomplishing any five of these line items.

…
There go the loves that wither,
The old loves with wearier wings;
And all dead years draw thither,
And all disastrous things;
Dead dreams of days forsaken,
Blind buds that snows have shaken,
Wild leaves that winds have taken,
Red strays of ruined springs.
…
From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.

[Algernon Charles Swinburne 1837-1909, The Garden of Proserpine]

Something about deadweak made me recall this. My final critique for Painting III is tomorrow. Number of paintings finished this quarter: 1. Number I plan to finish tonight: 1. The triptych is going to have wait until next year it seems. Sadness. Also what’s the deal with finals week anyways?

More or less finished. I need to do another coat of black across the background to get an even level of glossiness, and touch up a thing or two, but that’s it. It’s hanging in my room and it’s beautiful. I especially like how the eyes and left hand came out.

You can see a larger photo here.

“There are two types of genius. Ordinary geniuses do great things, but they leave you room to believe that you could do the same if only you worked hard enough. Then there are magicians, and you can have no idea how they do it. Feynman was a magician.”

~ Hans Bethe

Finished my ee108b program in an hour today. That’s starting, with no idea what the assignment was about, reading the docs, coding, debugging, and submitting perfect working code. Actually there was no debugging, it worked perfectly the first time. From this I conclude one of:

1. EE classes aren’t so hard after all.

2. This EE class is severely dumbed down for us CS majors.

So enough of this assembly crap. I’m going painting.

So today I’m about 33% finished my triptych for Painting III, “Superman. Feynman. Spaceman.” It’s not a triptych necessarily in the strictest sense, but I really like the word “triptych”. The basic premise is that Superman, Feynman, and Spaceman (probably Buzz Aldrin, though I’ven’t decided yet) presents three heroes who are heroic in three different ways. Each painting is going to be 36″ x 24″, and when complete will be displayed across an entire wall.

Feynman needs a few more finishing touches, but at this point is basically done. I was working from a photograph of the physicist lecturing at Caltech. The entire painting in black and white and the effect is pretty dramatic. Actually, it’s incredible. I have no idea where this painting came from; I have a difficult time believing that I painting it. Needless to say, I’ve very pleased with the results.

I’ve resolved to do Superman next. I think I might do him in color, but I’m not entirely sure. I’m also having trouble selecting which source image to use. I’m basically deciding between two:

I really like the atmosphere of the former, which I think I could accentuate to good effect. But the second is definitely more dramatic, and more quintessential Superman. I’ll probably play around with both of them in PaintShop before deciding.

The God Who Loves You by Carl Dennis

It must be troubling for the god who loves you To ponder how much happier you'd be today Had you been able to glimpse your many futures. It must be painful for him to watch you on Friday evenings Driving home from the office, content with your week-- Three fine houses sold to deserving families-- Knowing as he does exactly what would have happened Had you gone to your second choice for college, Knowing the roommate you'd have been allotted Whose ardent opinions on painting and music Would have kindled in you a lifelong passion. A life thirty points above the life you're living On any scale of satisfaction. And every point A thorn in the side of the god who loves you. You don't want that, a large-souled man like you Who tries to withhold from your wife the day's disappointments So she can save her empathy for the children. And would you want this god to compare your wife With the woman you were destined to meet on the other campus? It hurts you to think of him ranking the conversation You'd have enjoyed over there higher in insight Than the conversation you're used to. And think how this loving god would feel Knowing that the man next in line for your wife Would have pleased her more than you ever will Even on your best days, when you really try. Can you sleep at night believing a god like that Is pacing his cloudy bedroom, harassed by alternatives You're spared by ignorance? The difference between what is And what could have been will remain alive for him Even after you cease existing, after you catch a chill Running out in the snow for the morning paper, Losing eleven years that the god who loves you Will feel compelled to imagine scene by scene Unless you come to the rescue by imagining him No wiser than you are, no god at all, only a friend No closer than the actual friend you made at college, The one you haven't written in months. Sit down tonight And write him about the life you can talk about With a claim to authority, the life you've witnessed, Which for all you know is the life you've chosen.

On the second campus, painting.