Future doctor, former filmmaker, and meditating mindful man Matt Dyer joins Painting Pictures.  He and I discuss finding oneself, meditation, and the health benefits of citrus fruits.

Click here to download or stream the episode: http://gaberobertsart.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2014-03-22_citrus_peeling_with_matt_dyer.mp3

Or visit the Painting Pictures page on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/painting-pictures-gabriel/id846291943

You can post questions for Matt in the comments section below, or email gaberobertsart@gmail.com

Welcome to April everyone!  I took a trip to the southern portion of the great state of California and got to spend a sweet little bit of time in the “five cities” area.  One of those five cities is definitely Pismo Beach, and another is most certainly Arroyo Grande.  Beyond that, things get a little murky.  The important thing is that this land is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful and how I haven’t been here more often yet I simply can’t say.  The hills are like majestic green friendly furry monsters rising out of the fields and the air is fresh and there are streams and swimming holes and oak trees and beaches that combine the best of northern and southern california into magical sparkling warm fresh peaceful pockets of paradise.

Here’s one of the many pictures I took:

Sunrise over the something-or-other hills above the five cities.  Get a load of that oak tree!!!  These babies were sparkling in the morning light and holding down the hilltop like kings.

The colors in the middle are from earlier in my trip from the side of a stucco building in Santa Monica.

I hope this wallpaper brings some new life to your computer’s desktop and maybe your workday.  Click one of the following links to download: 2880×1800, 2560×1600, 1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900, 1280×800

Gee I hope you have a swell month!

I am so very excited to announce the launch of my podcast called “Painting Pictures with Gabriel Roberts”. This is my new baby and I hope you’ll take a listen. Here I will be speaking out loud about everything that I’m feeling inside, and connecting with
like-minded open-hearted people across the world.

While painting is very much open for discussion, this podcast is focused on “universal juice”—that sweet stuff that is hard to describe but makes us feel alive.

My goal is to give you an hour of aural pleasure to look forward to every week—an audio adventure that is consistently weird, funny, and honest.

As of this writing the feed has two episodes: a short introduction and a full-length piece. Together, they should provide a good preview of what’s in store.

Here’s a link to the podcast page, where you can access the RSS feed and subscribe via iTunes, or stream episodes directly through your browser: gaberobertsart.com/podcast

Please contact me with any questions or comments at: gaberobertsart@gmail.com

Thanks!

2014 is Marching along!!! Last month I had a magical Saturday on a friend’s rooftop in North Beach, soaking up the sounds and sights of San Francisco and making a painting. This picture, looking up Union Street, is the view I painted:

Click one of the following links to download the March 2014 background for your desktop:
2880×1800, 2560×1600, 1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900, 1280×800

Wishing you all a month full of life, and if you see them please enjoy the flowers!

Today I saw something on twitter about “apps for productivity”. Actually it was a book about apps for productivity—you know, a guide to help you get the most out of your apps that help you get the most out of your workday. It had a really nice retro-chic cover and I’m sure a lovely, intuitive, well-branded website to go with it.

The idea of an app for productivity strikes me as gross and smells like that feeling I used to get sitting in the office with my two computer screens in front of me, my mind churning, clicking about, opening spreadsheets, considering my career, my company’s trajectory, feeling into the internet and the thousands of people online all developing their brand or whatever, getting juiced and drinking coffee and feeling, briefly, like I was really getting something done. I remember, too how I felt at 4pm with an hour or two to go in the office, my body tired and my mind fried and wishing like hell I could go home, knowing that I’d squeezed from my self every last bit of creative juice and I wasn’t going to get a darn thing done for the rest of the day.

Today I sat and listened to a mockingbird and I noticed that the mockingbird was singing to the neighbor’s trees that had throughout the day been harshly cut back by chainsaws even though all their new branches had already begun to bud. The mockingbird was singing to the tree earnestly and with utter dedication, and he wasn’t concerned about keeping track of what he was doing or whether or not he was noticed. He was moving from branch to branch, landing on the sawed-off stubs of the tree and telling the tree that it still was beautiful to him and that everything was going to be OK.
Continue reading

In yesterday’s Superbowl, Coca-Cola aired an ad with multicultural people singing “America the Beautiful” in a number of different languages. In response, a few rednecks tweeted racist things about how here in America we speak English.

Today, multiple major news sources are rattling off stories on the “controversial” ad that is inspiring “Racist Twitter Backlash”, while caring, sensible folks are jumping at the opportunity to prove they aren’t racist and decry these asinine comments.

It’s a brilliant marketing ploy by Coke. By stirring up a little good old boy patriotic fervor and setting off a barrage of articles and tweets and Facebook posts, they get the words “Coca Cola” to echo all across the internet, meanwhile snuggling down into that juicy “middle-left” section of the “American Political Spectrum” where almost everybody who still believes they are part of an “American Political System” resides.

All of which effectively distracts us from the real problem with this advertisement: Coca Cola using things that aren’t theirs, like America, American people, and the “American Spirit”, to sell their product.

CocaCola does not give a SHIT about “America”, much less people of color. Since when did my patriotism have anything to do with Coke? Since when did “America the Beautiful”, the American flag, and images of people achieving the “American Dream” become fair game for you to use to sell your death drink to children? Did this happen when Coke stopped sucking up all the ground water in rural India and selling back the toxic sludge their plants produce as bogus fertilizer to local farmers? Or when Coke stopped raping and murdering union activists in Guatemala? Or maybe when not a single one of the things listed on this Wikipedia page turned out to be true?

A little left vs. right social media battle is all we need to forget about the fact that what remains of our sentimental attachment to the idea of America is being squeezed into dollars for a multinational corporation that systematically exploits, pollutes, and depletes planet earth and its people.

Hello my dear friends, and happy February! Happy year of the horse! This month’s background features a photo from a beach near Smith River, CA—a little town about 10 miles south of the Oregon border. The coastline up there is dramatic, alive, fresh and powerful. I soaked up as much as I could, and hopefully this pic can bring a little of that energy to your desktop.

Click one of the following links to download the February 2014 wallpaper: 2880×1800, 2560×1600, 1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900, 1280×800.

You got it! Welcome to 2014! Enjoy it!

This photo is from the cemetery at the top of Oakland’s Piedmont Ave.  I went back for the first time since I’d moved away in July, and boy is it purdy.  I was blown away by the colors and vibrancy of Oakland, the sloping streets and always seeing hills in the distance.  A very visually exciting place, and from this cemetery you can see out over the entire bay.

Click here to download the January 2014 background in various sizes:
2880×1800, 2560×1600, 1920×1200, 1680×1050, 1440×900, 1280×800

Wishing you all a very happy new year!  Congrats on making it to 2014!  It’s going to be a good one.

“She Was a Phantom of Delight”

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment’s ornament;
Here eyes as stars of Twilight fair;
Like Twilight’s, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;
A dancing Shape, an Image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.

I saw her upon nearer view,
A Spirit, yet a Woman too!
Her household motions light and free,
And steps of virgin-liberty;
A countenance in which did meet
Sweet records, promises as sweet;
A Creature not too bright or good
For human nature’s daily food;
For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.

Continue reading

DEE SEM BURR!!!! It’s here. The last month of the year. 2013 you went by so fast! I’m hoping for lots of painting this month, and maybe some knitting, and hopefully lots of reading by the fire. There’s this annoying “Spare the Air” campaign here in Sacramento that prohibits burning when the air quality reaches a certain level of bad. What a drag! We have central heat but boy there’s nothing quite like a little fire burning in the fireplace to warm one’s soul and make the 5pm darkness appealing. Tomorrow we get to burn, which actually is today so I could right now walk out and start a little fire, but I’m so tired from staring at the computer for hours making this background and so sore from playing flag football two days ago that I think instead I’ll just crawl into bed. I might not even brush my teeth. Or maybe I just won’t floss. I heard somewhere that cavities have almost nothing to do with flossing or brushing and everything to do with the nutrients in your diet. If this is true I want all of those late-night moments back where I pried myself out of bed and groggily, unhappily, marched myself to the bathroom to care for my precious little teeth. Maybe it built character?

Ok here’s this month’s background:

Continue reading