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Videos

I have some updates to share with you.  I have added a new page to the website where you can find a link to videos which I am now making.  I have decided to begin recording myself making art in order to share my process and hopefully provide entertaining content for you.  If you are like me, you may enjoy watching people make art because it is an enigmatic and exciting process where humans dance with chaos and order, form and color.  Bob Ross is one of my greatest influences and inspired me so much growing up and I admit I am definitely taking a little bit from his playbook in deciding to make art videos.

This is a new process for me because I do not have any experience with recording or editing videos.  It has been a lot of fun so far experimenting with this new medium and content creation process.  I already recognize that every video I learn new things and figure out ways to improve my videos.  I know that video editing and also recording in general are arts in and of themselves.  I am always trying to learn new useful things. The way I see it, every time I make a painting and record it, I have made two pieces of art in one.  I get excited that every time I make a painting, I can also make a video. I want to share the process of art creation with you in order to entertain and inspire but also to simply record my experiences.

“Philosophy has a way of creeping its way into everything I do. “

I have plans for many different types of future content as well.  For now, I have been experimenting with creating time-lapse videos and I am very much enjoying this.  It feels like a simple but powerful start. But in the amorphous future, I hope to have videos where I talk about different topics related to art and creating in general.  There is a lot of territory to cover.  There is also the possibility of interviews and other different content like this.  I want to talk to other artists about all things art. Philosophy has a way of creeping its way into everything I do.

I am hoping that providing free video content will create new avenues for connecting with people over art and creativity.  I have decided to use the Rumble platform over Youtube because of the censorship occurring on that platform.  Maybe this is divisive because the state of the world has everyone at each other’s throats these days and I realize that we are all used to Youtube and that the new and unfamiliar can sometimes be off putting.  I am always willing to walk down a new path and go against the grain.  But I feel as though Rumble is a platform which can only grow from where it’s at due to its commitment to providing a censorship free environment, while Youtube is a behemoth which has reached its apex and is stifling people.  Youtube used to be the grassroots alternative to the hegemony, but now it has become the very thing which it replaced. This is my opinion, you may disagree.

Something about me is that I will always support platforms and technologies which bring power and freedom back into the hands of normal people.  All of the programs I use to make my content are open source free software.  This means that these programs are not proprietary software from a large tech company where the source code is hidden and potentially abusive to its users and their freedoms.  I use Gimp over Photoshop, OBS software to record and stream, Openshot video editor to edit my videos, and the Rumble platform to publish them.  Using Rumble is just more consistent with my preference of seeking out tools with more personal freedom.

With all that being said, please check out the videos and subscribe to my Rumble channel in order to be updated when I release new video content.  I am going to do this regularly because I am always making artwork.  Thank you for supporting me in this new project.  There are many future developments planned in the pipeline.  Every day I am working hard to push my artwork and creative projects forward!

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Website Updates

A couple of updates:

  1. I showed my work at a local art faire in Ogden this past weekend called the Ogden Bizarre Bazaar. This was a powerful learning experience and it is the first time I have shown my work in public since moving to Utah. It felt good to once again open up and present my artwork to people. It is something which I have missed doing and I’m excite to share more. Art is such an important part of my being, but it took me a year to regain enough stability after such intense life changes to make it a true priority again. This past year was one of the most challenging of my life on so many dimensions, especially emotionally. Throughout all the trials and tribulations I’ve experienced during this era of my life, I’ve never given up and have always striven to continue moving forward out of love and respect for myself. I’ve worked hard to forge new paths for myself and I’ve overcome a lot to be where I am now and I feel like I am in a place of powerful growth moving into the new year. I am both grateful and proud.
  2. I have been putting a lot of work into updating the website. I have made some additions and updates to the items available in the store, and I have plans to add even more items at varying price ranges in the near future. I have added an ‘Influences’ page to the site. This page is dedicated to the people who have influenced my art in a profound way. Some of them are people in my life, others are artists. musicians or philosophers who have in some way inspired or informed the ways in which I do art. Clicking the links of each influence will send you to somewhere interesting related to each of these people.
  3. I have added a ‘Works’ page to the site. This page will be a gallery archive of my artwork from each year. I hope to update it as I move forward and eventually also add works from previous years of my life to flesh out the archive more fully. Thanks for visiting the site and checking out what is going on.

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New Store Items!

Hurray!

I finally have built my website to a place where I feel both comfortable and proud to share it! I am not a web developer and every time I build a website it is a challenge but I also learn more and more about the process. I am so excited to add items to my new store and have a consistent medium to display my work to other people, separate from social media platforms and under my own control. I am in the process of adding multiple paintings which I created during the beginning of 2021.

I cannot begin to express the gratitude and delight which I have in my heart to be in a creative flow state again. This past winter was a very difficult period for me. I made one of the biggest decisions of my life, uprooted myself from everyone I’ve ever known and loved as well as my successful acupuncture business in Philadelphia, and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.

I chose to do this for so many reasons, both cosmic and terrestrial. Sometimes synchronicity strikes my intuition so hard that I cannot help but get swept away by the river. This kind of thinking defies logic or sense, and challenges us to trust in ourselves as well as maybe even something greater than ourselves. I didn’t have a plan or a way to support myself, all I had was a feeling in my heart and signs from the universe telling me it was the right move.

A lot has happened since then which has been a struggle, but I am convinced that I am exactly where I need to be in the world right now as things continue to align and pieces come together. Creating a website for my art has been a goal which I have been meaning to accomplish for years but it has never been realized because of procrastination and distractions. I feel as though I have finally reached a place in my life where procrastination is no longer an acceptable activity. Every time we put something off for even a moment, it has profound exponential rippling effects in the physical world. The same is also true when we come through for others and for ourselves. I am blessed to finally be able to move myself forward in this regard and very confident that this year will be one of tremendous growth for me in all areas of my life. I have future plans to add more kinds of items besides paintings such as apparel to my store, as well as different types of art products at various price points. Thank you for your interest and taking the time to visit and read this post.

With appreciation and gratitude, Michael Keane

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Website Launched!

Welcome to my website.

This is my new art website which I am creating to share and sell my artwork. However, a website can be so much more than just a store. I also intend to post my personal writings (creative or otherwise) and blog about many different things here. Really, this is a new medium for me to do anything which inspires or interests me. Out of a desire and necessity to share and connect, this website offers me one possible way to do this. When I look back on the moments of my life where people shared their thoughts about art and creativity with me, it really had an influential effect. There was a time when art was a completely unknown thing to me. I don’t consider myself an expert by any means, but more of a lifelong learner. Still, I have developed my own relationship with the creative process and have my own experiences to share. Taking a little time and caring really goes a long way in forging genuine deeper connections. I always try to be an honest, real and authentic person and wear my heart on my sleeve, even when it requires vulnerability. I hope something I share might interest or influence someone the way certain things have influenced me. If even one person gets something out of it then I feel like it will have been worth my time. Thanks for stopping by and reading, check back soon for future updates.

(Picture Above: Hierophanant, 2018, by Michael Keane)