New Views of Mount Fuji ...Final For Now (or Red Eye) Fuji

The "Red Eye" is a kind of flight embarked on in the evening and ending in the small hours of the morning. The traveler generally arrives fatigued... eyes bloodshot and ringed with red.

Nearly eleven years ago, during a figurative "Dark Night"... I began a journey in Los Angeles that hatched my "Fuji Series". 

I have produced a couple of hundred "Fujis" including assemblage, paintings and drawings, concurrent to other artistic pursuits. The series has travelled well, lending itself to quick explorations, which began at my friend Marianne's kitchen table in West Hollywood. I kept things rolling after I moved back to Maine and I have been posting some of the work from the series every week on this blog for well over a year, along with pertinent quotes or a prose vignette of my own composition.

Now "Comes the Dawn" and however pleasant my life and work, I have grown fatigued ...or more accurately I am seeking a new challenge. I wish to explore another direction. Fuji thinks I'm pushing it ...and I agree. A respite of undetermined length is in order. That said, I will add to the series from time to time and will be producing a dedicated group of prints, along with a book.

This blog will be undergoing a face lift over the next week... and I will continue to post new work along with details of production methods and thought process. All in all ...big changes are in the offing.

Thank you to all who have supported, commented on and encouraged my "New Views of Mount Fuji". I appreciate your kindness more than I can say.

Red Eye Fuji
4 x 6"
Acrylic on Paper
Another Great Photo By Jay York

New Views of Mount Fuji... Franklin Fuji

"When you're finished changing, you're finished." Benjamin Franklin

This is one of the first "Fujis" from 2006. 
I was not entirely sure where I was going with the series. 
It remains an atypical Fuji.

Franklin Fuji or Fuji Enwreathed with a Key
5 x 7"
Acrylic on Canvas with Oil Glaze
Mounted on Wood
with Key

Photo by Jay York

New Views of Mount Fuji... 90 Fahrenheit Fuji

Well... it's a hot one in Maine today, but it has been hotter... on this day in 1901, the thermometer topped out at 96 degrees... in 1911 it was whopping 103 on July 4th. The coldest July temperature on record was 40 degrees back in 1965. Last weekend was sweater weather, chilly... the temperature hovering between 55 and 60 degrees.

The locals say... "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." 

Then there's my personal favorite... "Maine has two seasons, Winter and the 4th Of July." 

90 Fahrenheit Fuji
Digital Media

New Views of Mount Fuji... Moving Forward Fuji

Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward.

They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.    Goethe

Moving Forward Fuji
Digital Media

New Views of Mount Fuji... Fashion Fuji

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. 

Fashion is in the sky, in the street.

Fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. Coco Chanel

Fashion Fuji
Digital Media

                                                       

New Views of Mount Fuji... A Horseshoe or Lucky Fuji

Horseshoes are symbols of good luck. There are number of theories as to why this is so... I like the explanation that since they are fashioned from iron, they will attract like metals and will therefore attract luck as well. Some things are so simple.

Here is where it gets complicated: there are also theories on how to hang a horseshoe to attract the maximum amount of good fortune. 

Some say keep the opening at the top, this way your good luck is prevented from falling out. Others insist that the horseshoe should be hung upside down... this placement insures that good luck will tumble from the opening and scatter all around you.

I like to hedge my bets and prefer that a horseshoe be hung upside down, a position which I feel guarantees that it will certainly attract and accumulate good luck. However, the horseshoe must be spun right side up every now and again... so as not to tempt fate.

Horseshoe or Lucky Fuji
5 x 4"
Prismacolor on Paper
Photo by Jay York

New Views of Mount Fuji... "We Shall Not Forget" Fuji

Memorial Day was once known as Decoration Day and dates from the Civil War. On May 5th,1868 General John Logan declared that the 30th of May would be set aside to honor and decorate the graves of those who had fallen in battle.

We now observe Memorial Day on the last Monday of May.

The custom of wearing a Red Poppy began with Moina Belle Michael, who was inspired by the poem "We Shall Not Sleep" better known as "In Flanders Fields", written in 1915 by a Canadian doctor, John McRae... while he was serving in World War I. 

In 1918 Moina wrote her poem "We Shall Not Forget", her response to "We Shall Not Sleep". She pledged always to wear the Red Poppy in remembrance of those lost.

...And now the torch and poppy red

We wear in honor of our dead 

Fear not that ye have died for naught

We'll teach the lesson that ye wrought in Flanders Fields...

New Views of Mount Fuji... A Ribbon Aloft (If You Let Them) Fuji

Your hopes, dreams and aspirations are legitimate. 

They are trying to take you airborne... 

Above the clouds, above the storms 

If you only let them.

William James

A Ribbon Aloft Fuji
4 x 12 x 3/4"
Oil on Wood 
Photo by Jay York

New Views of Mount Fuji ...Fuji and a Big Idea

Thomas Edison once said "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." 

He knew what he was talking about. Edison had performed approximately 10,000 trials before he came up with a workable light bulb. He changed the world.

Fuji and a Big Idea
Graphite on Paper

New Views of Mount Fuji... Full Effect (Wabi Sabi) Fuji

Wabi Sabi is like the reverse side of brocade

all of the threads are there 

but not the subtlety of color or design. 

                                                              Kakuzo Okakura

Sayonara Prince ...A Fuji for His Royal Badness

I could not let the passing of Prince go by without fashioning some sort of tribute. What an extraordinary soul. 

The Fuji is an original drawing which I placed into Photoshop and pasted over a set of diagonals... for me diagonal lines have come to represent the barriers between the known and the unknown. I painted clouds over the result digitally with my little mouse. The Purple Rain needs no explanation.

Sayonara and Rest in Heavenly Peace.

    A Fuji for His Royal Badness

New Views of Mount Fuji... Pine Fresh Fuji

Be obscure clearly. 

E. B. White

A Pine Fresh Fuji
9 x 12 "
Acrylic on Wood Panel
Photo by Jay York

New Views of Mount Fuji... Flame Fuji

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light. Albert Schweitzer

Flame Fuji
Ink On Paper

New Views of Mount Fuji... Irrepressible (Ricky Nelson) Fuji

From 1952 until 1966 the Nelson family came into the living rooms of American homes via their extraordinarily successful television show "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet". They played themselves; Ozzie along with his wife Harriet, and their sons Ricky and David.  

Ricky was a talented musician and as a young teenager began to perform with his band at the end of each episode. He was a staple on the radio, having produced a number of well crafted and memorable recordings. His was one of those lives front loaded with good fortune. After the show was cancelled he struggled to find success. He passed away at the age of 45 in a plane crash on New Year's Eve, in 1984.

As a boy he was introduced to viewers as "The Irrepressible Ricky". 

Irrepressible (Ricky Nelson) Fuji
Casein on Wood Panel 11 x 22"

         

New Views of Mount Fuji... Fuji with a Blue and Giant Genie

Genies escape their bottles after a thousand years if undiscovered. Once a genie escapes, it will cause great mischief, only returning to its bottle after granting three wishes. There are three wishes that the genie will not grant... 
the death of another, immortality and infinite wishes. 

If I met a real, bona fide genie where would I begin? 
Aesop said "We would often be sorry if our wishes were gratified." 
There's the possibility of life turning into one long "Good News, Bad News" joke... 

It might be best to let matters take their own course.


 I might just be tempted to hand off the bonanza to a braver soul.

Fuji with a Blue and Giant Genie 

4 x 6" Acrylic on Canvas Panel 

Photo by Jay York

New Views of Mount Fuji ...Red Top Fuji

"We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust." Rumi

New Views of Mount Fuji ...Paper and Panel Fuji

Just to see what there would be to see... nothing more, nothing less.
Have a very Happy New Year.

Paper and Panel Fuji
9 x 12"
Prismacolor on Paper

The Fuji Series... Fuji Appears in a Stand of Trees

I painted "Fuji Appears in a Stand of Trees" in Missouri during a blizzard. Once upon a time I was traveling in my pick up truck across the country from California to Maine to begin a job in the middle of February. I was following an enormous snowstorm and had avoided difficulty for the most part; but one day the storm switched track and sometime before noon I was finding it difficult to keep driving. 

Finally, I saw a hotel and pulled off the highway, not without trepidation... I was on a very tight budget, and this was something of an upscale establishment. Inside, the desk clerk gave me a quote on a room which was well beyond my means. 

I thanked him and said that I would have to look somewhere else. He said that there was nothing else nearby and "Ma'am, I would not like to think of you going out there in this weather, we will be happy to accommodate you." There I stayed until the storm had passed, billed far below what I might have paid elsewhere.

I finished three small paintings during my stay... this little homage to Magritte, my Acorn Fuji and Masked Fuji.

There is a significant amount of weather driven hardship that the people of Missouri are facing during this holiday season and the memory of the desk clerk's kindness is very much with me today.  

Fuji Appears in a Stand of Trees

Acrylic on Paper

6 x 9"     Photo by Jay York

Fuji Friday...Paper Tiger Fuji

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward."   Amelia Earhart

Paper Tiger Fuji   4 x 6"
Prismacolor on Paper
Photo by Jay York

Fuji Friday...Three Cupcake Fujis

I admit that I have been surprised by the resurgence of the cupcake. However, I have not viewed it with the sort of alarm evidenced by Mr. Joe Queenan, who wrote the following regarding about the humble confection in the Wall Street Journal:

"The cupcake, to me, symbolizes compromise and acquiescence, a retreat from American greatness. The scaled-down cupcake--miniscule, inconsequential, silly--is a Carter-era bagatelle. It is frou-frou. It lacks muscle, sinew, cojones."

So there.

Three Cupcake Fujis

2 x 6"
Acrylic on Wood