Painting Frenzy
If you haven’t been to my site in a while, if you come back you will notice that I am painting again. It is a sign that my emotional health is good, in balance, and that I am happy. I am inspired by new relationships and new friendships, intellectual stimulation, the new positive energy that has come back into my life and that I am exuding - I feel like I am “Living Out Loud” again. I am finally seeing the fruits of my labor - the “pain with a purpose” I had been told about - and things are starting to go well in my world. Stay tuned for what comes next!
Photos from St. Alban’s Sanitorium
The photos from my March trip to St. Alban’s Sanitorium in Radford, VA have been put on the 2024 page of the website:
Photos from the Ruins of President’s Park
The photos from my October trip to Williamsburg are now on the site in the Photography Gallery, 2023.
President’s Park was a ten-acre sculpture park and associated indoor museum formerly located in Williamsburg, Virginia in the United States. It contained 18-to-20-foot (5.5 to 6.1 m) high busts of the presidents of the United States from George Washington to George W. Bush.
The statues were sculpted by Houston artist David Adickes, who was inspired as he drove past Mount Rushmore when returning from a trip to Canada. The park was opened in March 2004 by local visitor attraction entrepreneur Everette H. "Haley" Newman III, who had been slowly taking delivery of the busts since 2000.
The park had financial troubles and was closed on September 30, 2010. Creditors put the park up for auction (not including the busts) on September 28, 2012, after a foreclosure auction originally scheduled for April 26, 2012 was cancelled without explanation. By7 January 10, 2013, the busts had been moved to private storage at a nearby local farm in Croaker, Virginia by Howard Hankins. In 2017, National Geographic showcased a video in which Mr Hankins expresses a hope to rehabilitate the statues for a park in the future.
Overall, I’d say I was a little disappointed but still glad that I went. The heads were all crammed together so you couldn’t get shots of the front of each one. Plus, there were lots of people so I had to wait patiently for them to get out of the scene so I could take a photo. The grounds were muddy, but fortunately we were warned so I had on mud boots. Nevertheless, I got some good shots.
Photos from Cresson Prison
I have finished adding the photos from my July 2021 trip to Cresson Prison to the 2021 Photography gallery.
Yellow Dog Mining Village
Photos from my Auguust trip to the abandoned Yellow Dog Mining Village are now in the 2023 Photography Gallery.
Decorative/”God” Boxes For Sale
The first decorative/”God" Box is offered for sale in the Store.
Poetry Book Available for Sale
I put together a book of my poetry featuring writing from the 1980s to the present. It is available for $20. From the introduction:
I chose Abraxas as the title for my book in reference to the book Demian by Hermann Hesse. In that book, Abraxas is referred to as a god that is both good and evil. All human beings have some of both in us. One usually overcomes the other, and which one wins the battle depends on a person's true mentality. My poems discuss the states of both hope and despair.
Some of my favorite poets are e. e. cummings, Jim Morrison, Charles Bukowski, Henry Rollins, June Jordan, and Mary Oliver. You can see their influence in my words. My love of poetry began when I was 18 and read Jim Morrison’s The Lords and the New Creatures, which was followed by Wilderness. After seeing the movie Hannah and Her Sisters by Woody Allen, I fell in love with what was to become my all-time favorite poem, “Somewhere I have never traveled, gladly beyond” by e.e. cummings.
I have been greatly influenced by the work of Bukowski. People either love or hate his poetry. I can relate to the grittiness and his unapologetic way of getting down in the dirt. Life isn't pretty sometimes.
I am most motivated to write by emotional pain. I have a Dark Passenger who is always with me. My Dark Passenger is my mental illness. My writings can lean to the dark side, but writing about my pain helps decrease its power. The more I fear it and try to avoid it, it grows stronger. And then I become more vulnerable to it.
Whether you like my work or not, I hope that it makes you think, and perhaps gives you some insight into mental illness, as most people are touched by it from someone they know.
I sign my poems “NoExit.cjh.[year]” as a nod to my friend Todd Scovill, a brilliant writer who went by the street name “Exit” and died of a drug overdose in 2008.
Photography Added to Website
Happy Summer, everyone! I have added some of my photography from recent years to the website under the “Photography Gallery” tab. Two trips will be added by the end of this year; for now, there is just a description of the locations.
Book of Poetry Coming Soon!
I am working on a compilation of poetry and prose that I have written over the years. It will be offered for sale in the coming weeks. The title is “Abraxas”. I chose Abraxas as the title because it represents a being that is both good and evil. We all have some of both in us. One usually overcomes the other, and which one wins the battle depends on a person's true mentality.
Website Launch!
Welcome to my website! My vision for creating this site was to offer affordable abstract paintings for sale so that more people could have the option to buy original art that may not otherwise be able to afford it. I decided on the cjh.studio domain so that I would have the option to sell my photography and a book of my poetry at some point if I so choose. The book of poetry will be available this Spring; paintings will be added as I complete them. My goal was to start the site with 50 paintings; I ended up creating more than twice that. My immediate goal is to raise money to move to the Richmond area to pursue art opportunities there.
Commissions are always available at no extra cost - my price structure is based on size. You only buy the final product if you are completely satisfied with it.
I also offer private instruction. More information on that to follow.
Thank you for your interest in my art. Enjoy!
cjh.