The Rat Race

Thumbing through a magazine recently, I came across the phrase 'the rat race'.  The synapses fired: Bingo!  Got out my scissors and cut it out of the magazine.  I had been casting about for a theme for a new painting, a semi-abstract, nighttime, cityscape collage.  I wanted the painting to mean something, or say something, or ......... something.  Something more than just random pieces of stuff glued to canvas - plus a mess of paint, of course.  Rat race equals city in my mind because my corporate years were spent in large city office buildings - and airplanes, rental cars and hotels.

The Rat Race

Acrylic Collage on Canvas

18" x 24"

20 pieces of paper, mostly single words, are glued to the canvas.  Several are easily discernible, even in the small photo, above.  It's a 'come hither' thing, though: the closer you get, the more words you see.  The Dilbert cartoon in the lower right is the bait. 

I'm finally getting into semi-abstract mode but it's a struggle.  Gotta keep mentally slapping myself upside the head and pushing myself away from the details.  I'm not alone in this struggle: "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child."  Pablo Picasso

BTW, ever read the definition of synapse?  Didn't think so.  Okay, gonna put you in the know, big time.  Warning: reading this on a full stomach is likely to cause indigestion and nausea, in addition to the common side effects of vertigo and disorientation.  Here you go:

Synapse:  a region where nerve impulses are transmitted and received, encompassing the axon 
terminal of a neuron that releases neurotransmitters in response to an impulse, an 
extremely small gap across which the neurotransmitters travel, and the adjacent 
membrane of an axon, dendrite, or muscle or gland cell with the appropriate receptor
 molecules for picking up the neurotransmitters.