On Summit

I've been dreading this. My 2014 resolutions were made pretty explicitly and pretty publicly in this January blog post . Since then, they've been in the back of my mind, mostly in that, "Oh yeah...I should do that..." sort of way. Some I've acted on, some I haven't. So, since I'm a bullet-point kind of guy, and this is the season for making lists and checking them twice, let's look back and see how well (or poorly) I did with my 2014 resolutions: Read 52 Books: Done. This will happen. I've read 51 books so far and will certainly read one more before 12/31. For a full account of my 2014 reading, check out my GoodReads page: https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/1095620 (As a side note, I should mentioned that I'd also resolved that at least half the books I read in 2014 would be by authors who are women. I ended up reading 27).  Paint 52 Paintings: Not done. Not even close. I completed 15 paintings in 2014. I'll do better in 201...

My wife and I have been putting together a modest collection of original art over the last few years. In this case "modest" means that we buy within our means and usually stick to smaller works, often by local artists. In the process of building our collection we've maintained a "wish list" of artists whose work we appreciate and would like one day to own. Paul Emory has been one such artist. So, it was our good fortune that we managed the winning bid for his painting "Tonya" at a recent Ohio Art League fundraiser. If you're not familiar with Paul Emory's work...well...honestly it's hard to talk about. I say that because the words that one might be inclined to use (words like weird, naive, creepy, and childlike) can make his paintings sound...well...unattractive. Similarly, the works themselves present something of an acquired taste. The first encounter with them can be jarring. In his narrative paintings , haunting, stylized figures ...

Anyone who's lived in the University District more than a couple years knows well the seasonal patterns of the migrating students who reside there. Football season brings wandering bands of scarlet and grey clad bros sporting traditional Natty Light crowns. Winter break sees a period of relative calm, punctuated by the backyard pyrotechnics and dumpster fires that signal the start of a New Year. Summer sees the great exodus as students return to their ancestral homes. And the end of summer? That's moving season; the time when leases expire and the annual game of musical apartments begins. A major part of this seasonal change involves an effort to "travel light"  by jettisoning anything non-essential to the move. That usually means filling the campus area alleys with mattresses, TVs, chairs, couches, chests of drawers, and just about anything else that's either too heavy or too unfit to move. To many, this accumulation of trash is nothing more tha...

It occurred to me recently that I don't make it very easy for people to shop for my paintings. I don't have a gallery. I don't have an Etsy page. I don't have a Saatchi Art page. I don't have an AbsoluteArts page. I don't have a web site that shows available works, terms, prices, or any of the other rudimentary elements that comprise most free-market transactions. I should probably fix that at some point. In the meantime, here's a blog post that will hopefully answer a few of the most common questions regarding "how to buy Jeff's paintings". Where can I see Jeff's paintings? Jeff maintains a Pinterest page that features many of his completed paintings. That's probably the best place to look. He doesn't post every completed painting on Pinterest, but he posts a lot of them. Some have already sold, but many are still available. How much do Jeff's paintings cost? Size is probably the biggest determining fa...

I've been invited to show some paintings at CS Gallery this month. It's actually a group show put on in cooperation with Columbus Underground and featuring a number of their "Local Artist Spotlight" participants and/or "Best of 2013" artists. The line-up includes: Adam Brouillette Michael Bush Amy Neiwirth Robert Patricy Jeff Regensburger I'll be submitting five new paintings to the show, including these two:   Landscape (F2, Late Evening) Portrait (F2 at 750 Yards) The exhibition runs July 18th - July 30th, 2014. The opening reception is Friday July 18th from 6:00 - 9:00 PM. CS Gallery is located at 66 Parsons Ave, Columbus, OH 43215

I've done a fair amount of traveling; more than some, less than others. I like travel. I like seeing new places and experiencing new things.I don't necessarily set up lesson plans or assign myself homework, but the fact is I do travel with the idea that I'll learn something along the way. It's the Rick Steve's philosophy that travel should be about broadening horizons and gaining new perspectives. Carrickfergus And while I hope that all my travels have taught me something, this most recent trip to Ireland found me learning much more than I ever have before. I'd like to think that's because I'm getting better at learning, but the truth is it's probably because I knew precious little about Ireland to begin with (I was, as they say, the emptiest of empty vessels). As I told my wife, I think I learned more about Ireland in the 25 minutes we spent in the National Gallery Gift Shop than I did in my entire life before then (In all fairness, they had...

Is it too late to make these into some kind of promo for Record Store Day? Maybe next year. In any event, props to The Christopher Rendition , Call the Midwife , and The Girls for supporting vinyl and all those who peddle it.

I occassionally find myself having to explain to people what censorship is. So, for easy reference I've compiled a number of definitions from authoritative sources. Please feel free to link and share as needed: Oxford World Encyclopedia (Oxford University Press) Censorship: System whereby a government-appointed body or official claims the right to protect the public interest by influencing the release of any item of mass communication. The World of Criminal Justice (Facts on File) Censorship occurs when a government, business, or individual suppresses speech, writing, art, or any other form of communication. The New Oxford Companion to Law (Oxford University Press) Censorship commonly refers to the determination by a public official that certain material is unsuitable for publication or performance on grounds such as morality, religion, politics, or national security. The material may be banned outright or its circulation restricted to those thought less suscep...

Yes, Bruce Springsteen has found his way into consecutive blog posts. Coincidentally this is another "Johnny come lately" tale from my life as a middling music fan. I say "Johnny come lately" because the fan culture I grew up in (New Wave -> Punk -> College -> Alternative -> Indie -> Whatevs) placed an extremely high value on discovery; on being the first to discover a band, on knowing about a band before your friends and peers did, on seeing a band before "they got big". This "will to discovery" is summed up perfectly in the (usually) condescending and (always) pedantic observation that "Their early stuff was better" (See Also, "They were better with the original line-up", "They were better before they signed to a major" "They were better two years ago at [insert name of small venue here]). None of this should be too surprising. Information is power after all, and people will wield it accordin...

THE PARTY I'm late to the party. Again. Two parties, actually. HOW LATE? A couple decades when it comes to the feminist critique of Bruce Springsteen. That may have peeked in 1992 with the publication of Pamela Moss's Where Is the "Promised Land"?: Class and Gender in Bruce Springsteen's Rock Lyrics . And Lydia Loveless? Late again, this time by a few years. While my tastemaker friends (who are legion) were enthusiastically extolling the virtues of 2011's Indestructible Machine , I was still in the throws of a prolonged summer crush involving Kelly Clarkson's pop masterpiece All I Ever Wanted (which I'd been listening to more or less on infinite repeat for two years). It wasn't until last fall that I waded into what is arguably the shallow end of the Lydia Loveless pool. I was at Lost Weekend Records , having recommitted to the idea of "supporting the scene" by purchasing local music from a local store. Truth be told, I don'...

So I touched on some 2014 resolutions when I wrote this post . Well, I got to thinking that a list of resolutions deserved their own post. I also thought they should be bulleted, checklist-style, for easy referencing. Then, upon further reflection, I thought of a few more things I'd like to add. So without further adieu, here's my complete and reformatted 2014 Resolution list: Read 52 Books Paint 52 Paintings Exercise Every Day Eat More Fruits and Vegetables Write at Least Eight Reviews for Columbus Underground Keep Up With My Social Medias Record With Jim Diamond in Detroit Take a Continuing Education Class at CCAD Fix My Scooter Rake Leaves Get a New Car Paint the Living Room Dining Room, Stairwell and Hallway Enroll in a Krav Maga Self-Defense Class Establish a Primary Care Physician Get All Those Horrid Tests Men My Age Get Listen to More (New) Music Buy More Local Music Take My Lovely Wife Out More Talk My Lovely Wife Into a Trip To Ireland Barring...

I don't know if anyone else was keeping track (besides me), but you might recall at the start of 2013 I challenged myself to read 52 books and paint 52 paintings in 2013. Well, here's how that worked out: The Good News The good news is I read exactly 52 books in 2013! A full accounting of thos books can be found here: Jeff's 2013 Reading Challenge Recap.   As I reflect on the year's reading I'm struck by the fact that I didn't really read a single OMG THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!! book. Don't get me wrong, I read a lot of books that I really liked ( The Rage , The Shining Girls , Colin Fischer , The Dog Stars , and Flora & Ulysses were among the standouts). I just don't think I read anything that was a real game changer. I'm struck too by how few really popular adult fiction titles I read last year. Popular young adult fiction was pretty well represented ( The Hunger Games ,...