Sunday, February 23, 2014

Billy Cone: 40th Trip To Paris

Billy Cone: 40th Trip To Paris: Dear Readers, I am about to embark on another epic "voyage" to the land pregnant with savory and tasty. Yes, this will be my 40...

40th Trip To Paris

Dear Readers,

I am about to embark on another epic "voyage" to the land pregnant with savory and tasty.
Yes, this will be my 40th time to touch down on the runways of Charles De Gaulle, and
I am armed with my camera, some clothes and a journal.  So many have said, "Billy, why
don't you take groups to France?"  And the more I think about it the more I talk myself out
of it.  Paris is about being and feeling free.  I need that for my art.  To be encumbered with
folks needing constant attention for this and that would definitely not be my idea of a trip
to Paris.  It would be like hell, a ball and chain.  I need to be able to whip my camera up to
my face and release the shutter at a moments notice.  Viewing shop windows in Paris is a
sport.  Seeing is everything almost, because tasting can be sublime.  So I think I will go it
"alone" this time as all the other times.  It will be glorious.  It will be spontaneous.  It won't
be free, however.  I may feel free but there will be a bill to pay believe me.  Along with
being the #1 tourist destination on the planet, Paris is one of the most expensive.  So be
prepared with lot's of plastic and not American Express cause the French don't like thoes
high percentages that Amex charges.  Visa or Mastercard s' il vous plait!!!

Best,

Billy Cone

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Billy Cone: BLUE SURF CAFE, Wilmington, North Carolina

Billy Cone: BLUE SURF CAFE, Wilmington, North Carolina: Greetings from the South! Here is a restaurant idea for everyone who loves down right good food. The BLUE SURF CAFE just turned me on th...

BLUE SURF CAFE, Wilmington, North Carolina

Greetings from the South!

Here is a restaurant idea for everyone who loves down right good food.

The BLUE SURF CAFE just turned me on through my senses.  For lunch
I had a Braised Beef Brisket with Chimichurri, sauteed red onion, Siracha
Mayo and a delectable cheese melted inside whole wheat toast.  The meat
was tender and fell apart nicely with each bite.  It came with just made
potato salad that doesn't just go back to the kitchen to be thrown away.
This is the freshest and tastiest potato salad I ever had.  And I'm from the South.
This copious lunch began with a starter of sliced cucumbers marinated in lemon
and siracha with just the right amount of spicy heat.  What a meal!

And there's so many other good sandwiches, salads, even burgers.  BLUE
serves breakfast and dinner.  I can't wait!  And get this, for the chocoholics
like me, BLUE creates about seven varieties of Hot Chocolate, including
Nutella, Guinness, Caramel, and Mexican.  I love this happenstance
inspiration to try something new.  It paid off today!!!

Tell 'em Billy sent you...

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Billy Cone: Photographs

Billy Cone: Photographs: Ansel Adams once said, "A photograph is usually looked at--seldom into."  Isn't that the truth? How often we just glance and ...

Photographs

Ansel Adams once said, "A photograph is usually looked at--seldom into."  Isn't that the truth?
How often we just glance and go on.  We censer our inner seeker for more by skipping on to
the next thing or frame.  Even films put so much into a single frame moment, but who actually
is looking "into" that image to catch the art of it?

When I look at my own work I often see new nuances and sub-subjects that I missed before.
These give a photograph more meaning or less depending on what it is that reveals itself on
the paper.  Try looking at a photograph for longer than a movie frame.  Allow yourself to
be curious.  Why did the photographer take that particular rectangle or square and make it
the "subject" for all to see?  Wonder.  Sit with it.  And if you don't get it that is okay.  It's not
always about "getting it."  But looking into an image is much more rewarding than looking
at it.

Take the Effiel Tower for example, arguably the most photographed subject on the planet besides
Marylin Monroe.  Next time you see it be curious.  What is around it?  What angle was it taken from?
What kind of person may have taken the photo?  How does the weather affect the photo? Is it digital?  Is it film?  Is it worth a closer look?  Become a seer of images and not just a glancer.  What is it that you never saw when looking at the most photographed object in the world?  And this is only one example.  There are infinite more.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Billy Cone: Happy Balance

Billy Cone: Happy Balance: So I am an artist/photographer, and I love to paint.  I have had little training.  Some may think this is my disadvantage and why my work d...

Happy Balance

So I am an artist/photographer, and I love to paint.  I have had little training.  Some may think
this is my disadvantage and why my work doesn't look like everyone else's.  My friend Beth
came over to paint for the first time today.  We realized that there needs to be a happy balance
between being trained in art and discovering your uniqueness in art making.  Beth was on her
own today with all the materials to create a painting with no training at all, just a love for art and
sculpting clay.  Well, Beth learned to sculpte her own painting.  She took to the palette knives
with excellent results.  She caked on different acrylic colors and then subtracted them with her
knives.  If she had been taught to paint today by a teacher she would never have learned to sculpte
a painting.  In fact, name a teacher that knows how to do this technique.  I can't.

I too have learned to paint in my own way.  I cherish to nuggets of discovery when I just let it all
hang out and try something "not printed in the bulletin."  When you are free to create amazing
things can happen.  I am open to this teacher.  I can see a painting and get good ideas from it.
Then I can do it my own way, or I can take the sum of all I have experienced and put it on the
page or canvas.  Beth was open to the nuggets she got today.  I look forward to seeing more of
her "sculpted paintings" in the future.

Sincerely,

Billy Cone