Religion has been on my mind again lately… This has been an area of struggle for me for some time now but this latest bout has been brought on partly due to enrolling the kids into a public school (in most of western Canada there are public and separate/Catholic school systems.) It has me wondering if I am denying my kids of a spiritual awareness of the so-called ‘bigger picture’ and/or moral bedrock.
I’m not completely sure what degree of my understanding of ‘right and wrong’ was fostered through religion and/or Catholic schooling. And if some of my experiences in Tennessee were any barometer for what a religious upbringing is capable of doing to a person; then I’m glad I missed the batshit crazy bus to rapture town.
In fact, the last discussion I’ve had with my children in regards to religion was explaining why there was a marked grave conspicuously just outside of the cemetery grounds in a little farm town in rural Saskatchewan (my Grandparents and 2 of my Uncles are buried there.) And why people would isolate, exclude and punish someone like that - in the name of religion. (They even went so far as to bury her North/South instead of the standard East/West… Sheesh!)
I don’t want to focus on the negative, though there is plenty to be found. On one hand, the clichéd “Stand for something or fall for anything” comes to mind - and I do worry that my waffling on this subject will be what’s eventually passed down.
In the meantime, I do try to set a good example, keep an open dialogue and encourage them to weed through the agendas and BS and discover their own beliefs. And if they do go down that road, I just hope they’ll find a path free of Kool-Aid and rattlesnakes!
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On the work front: I finished the bike parts in time to enjoy the long weekend and am trying to get a couple personal projects worked on now. The Chief skull may not be reinventing the wheel - but it gave me a chance to try a different approach. I started with pencil, inked in the darkest parts, airbrushed in the colors and shading, then scraped and erased my highlights. It actually is going pretty smoothly so far and I’m pretty pleased with the process and looking forward to applying it to my next project.
I’ve also been taking stock of all the paintings and such that I have on hand. It seems to be a bit of a shame that they are still all wrapped up and packed aside from my summer shows. So I am talking to some people to see if they’d be interested in displaying them for me. It’s pretty humbling asking people if they would be interested in showing my work… But I’d rather people were seeing them than let them continue to collect dust where they are now.
Thank you for reading!!! Hope you’ve had a good week.
Rod
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