Mandala-pattern 22 by Jason Arcand

Comedy Soda #2

Deep in the heart of the A To The Z industries, Arthur Zed sits down in his executive bean bag chair. A chair which sounds like it is farting.
"Too flatulent for how much it cost," he thinks to himself.
Pulling his chair up to his executive bean bag desk, he goes through the day's mail. Each envelope he opens with his fingers. Each time he fears this will be the envelope containing anthrax. He could use a letter opener. Well...he could if didn't have the soft flaccid bean bag drawer inside the equally soft and flaccid bean bag desk.
Wedged between the thick catalog detailing computer equipment he will never buy and pizzas he will never eat. Especially the Super Carnivore topped with only the finest Vegans and Vegetarians. You know like Moby and Jonathan Swift. Arthur Zed's face illuminates as he opens the envelope and retrieves the video cassette inside.
"Finally, my plans are coming twogether."

Comedy Soda is copyright 2008 Little'en and Big'en

Mandalla-pattern 21 by Jason Arcand

Comedy Soda #1

"You're georgeous."

What is Comedy Soda?

Comedy Soda is a venue for my humorous prose. Suzanne and David Mattocks will be pitching in every now and then.

Now for the top secret origin of Comedy Soda...
We need to travel through the mists of time to a simpler more restless period...1998. Dave and I decide to take a road trip north.

Earlier that year, I was trying to return home after watching Fluffer play at the New World Music center in Tinley Park, Illinois. A blistering 100 degree day that was. So I'm driving, and I use the term loosely because I am bat-fuck lost, when I see a movie theatre in my rear view mirror. I filed the information for later, because I needed to get home.

Dave and I were looking for another journey of adventure to take and I suggested we go up to this movie theatre. He agreeded. An hour or so later we are preparing to enter Bremen Theatre. After walking the derelict brick hallway to the movie theater, we find we can only make The Big Liebowski. Yeah, I know...you could do a lot worse. We loved the movie. Driving home in great spirits, we are cracking jokes like mad. Goofing off at the Rte. 57 reststop, south of Monee, I said wouldn't be great if you could bottle this goofy buzz and sillyness we were feeling. And from there grew Comedy Soda. A story about a soda pop that played comedy skits in your mind when you drank it.

Jason

Mandala-pattern 4

“As I was creating the various mandala-patterns, I found a lot of dead space in the corners of the canvas. A circular style design will not fill up a square canvas. I decided to create a background of horizontal lines. I placed them at decreasing intervals to give the impression of the lines fading into the distance.”

-Jason Arcand

The Rabbit and Hawk painting

“This painting was done to show the interconnectivity of predator and prey. I like how the Rabbit Spirit is trying to shield the rabbit.”

-Jason Arcand

Mandala-pattern 3

“This one was originally called Mandala of the Hive because of the repeating hexagon used to make the pattern. Mandala-pattern 3 has always reminded me of a crystaline latice. ”

-Jason Arcand

Mandala-pattern 2

“The process of making one of the mandala-patterns is rather hit or miss. I pick a shape, usually based apon whatever is going through my mind at the time. Then I replicate it until it achieves a density that causes my eyes to waver. Number two used to be duo-tone, but I increased the number of colors. The duo-tone seemed too simplistic.”

-Jason Arcand

The Cardinal Mask

“I had a dream there was two cardinals building a nest over the door of the gym at Indian Oaks Academy. This would have been 2005. The next day I went into work and a cardinal flew at me as I walked to the door of the gym. Ever since I see cardinals everywhere I go. Not a bad traveling fellow as far as I am concerned. This painting is my favorite of the Spirit Masks series.”

-Jason Arcand

Mandala-pattern 1

“I became fascinated by optical illusions as a child. We can blame it on a book called The Wizard of Op. Then in high school I discovered the Op Art movement. Utterly fascinating. A flat static picture undulates with life and movement. Then after high school I discovered mandalas and cave drawings. Here was that same vitality again. It was then I discovered that patterns were the key. A repeating pattern alters perception. As for Mandala-pattern 1, it was originally called Mandala of the Twelve Hoops. The Twelve Hoops referring to the ring of twelve circles that forms the repeating pattern and the twelve months of the year.”

-Jason Arcand

The Rabbit Mask painting

“I was born in the year of the rabbit. My mother was also born in the year of the rabbit. An interesting bit of trivia. As for the painting, I achieve the thick textured look by putting the paint directly on the canvas. Squeezed straight from the tube onto the canvas. So if their is any shading or highlight to be put in, I have to put all the necessary colors next to each other. It does require a bit more preparation, but the painting part is more fun. More visceral. If it looked like cake frosting then I knew I was applying it correctly.”

-Jason Arcand

The Hawk Mask painting

”I think this spirit nails the essence of the hawk for me. Firstly, the mask is a perfect abstraction of the hawk’s facial features. The sharp point reminds of the hawk’s razor-sharp beak. The eyes are represented because of the hawk’s excellent vision. Secondly, the undulating neck emerging from the mask give the impression of spread wings. Most of the hawks I have seen have been in flight. Coasting around and around across the country sky. Lastly, the colors in the background remind one of sunrise or sunset. The coming sun connects with the hawk being a solar animal. I would only change the hawk’s pose. A hawk is much more dynamic from the side or angle.”

-Jason Arcand

The Crow Mask painting

“In this painting I used a different color for the contour lines of the spirit. I like to experiment with my art. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. The red was a better conveyor of spiritual power, especially paired with the white. As for the crow, I really liked how it turned out. I am always happy when I get another chance to use ultramarine blue, as I did in the feathers. The crow reminds me of the crows I fed when I worked at Indian Oaks Academy. Just a really cool animal.”

-Jason Arcand

The Squirrel Mask

“I once had a dream where I was a squirrel. Ever since I have taken notice of this industrious creature. The more I learn about them the more I am impressed. In this painting I have a green background instead of the black starscape used in the Bear Mask and Wolf Mask painting. I wanted to see if a different color could suggest the other-worldly aspect of the spirit behind the animal. I think it did not, so I went back to the deep ultramarine blue background. I do really like the flow and lines in this painting though.”
-Jason Arcand

The Wolf Mask

“The wolf is one of the most marvelous creatures on this planet. In sixth grade I read an article on the wolves of Isle Royale. I then managed to convince my family to take the summer vacation to Isle Royale. I have been thinking of the wolf ever since.” -Jason Arcand

The Bear Mask

“This painting is oil on stretched canvas. The oil paint was applied thickly to create the grooved brush textured effect. The mask is an abstraction of a cave bear skull. As for the bear, I have always felt a kinship with the ursine. Maybe it is from being tall, wide shouldered, and cursed with a near constant five o’clock shadow. ” -Jason Arcand

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh
Published by Oni Press

Momence Junior High had two places for students to wait before school began. You could wait in the gym or in the library. The gym was divided with fifth and sixth graders on one side and seventh and eight graders on the other. The library was for if you had homework to do. I don't know why, but I found the gym overwhelming. It was fine at first, but as school progressed the mass of people and noise began to unnerve me. My heart would race and I'd become uncertain. My anxiety grew as my social difficulties grew with my peers. Like many a nerd before me I retreated to the library.
The library turned out to be pretty cool. Since I was in their everyday, I grew to know the librarian. Mrs. White was the nicest person I ever encountered during my years of education. She treated me with a kindness that still softens my heart. I even got a job in the library. Simple stuff really. Deliver film projectors and televisions from the store room to the proper classroom. I loved that job. Felt like I could do something right.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com

C'mon and bring the Illinoise by Stufjan Stevens

C'mon and bring the Illinoise by Stufjan Stevens
Growing up I clung to an idea. "Since I was not born in my hometown, I am not limited by it." It seems silly now, but it was very important to me at the time. Momence was not an inspiring place growing up. One of my elementary field trips was to the hog processing plant. Yes...a hog plant. I felt out of place. The down slump the town was going through seemed to drag everyone with it. The town was dying, or so it seemed to my over dramatic youthful self.
Older and wiser, I now see being born in Kankakee county does not curse one to be small town. My mantra was a way of dealing with the pain from an awkward adolescence. I was teased by my class mates. I did not fit in. It hurt. Hurt a lot. Focusing on my outsider birth place allowed me to deal with being an outsider at my school.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com

Meet The Robinsons

Meet The Robinsons
Watched at the AMC Cantera 30 in Warrenville, IL on 4-14-07

A story is like a landscape. We wind our way through peaks and valleys and stop in the locales along the way. We try to enjoy the trip for its own sake but we don't. Unconsciously the viewer compares and contrasts where he or she is with where they have been.
-Jason Arcand
www.littleenandbigen.com