Live It Up

by Steve Chastain on November 23, 2011

My friend Ben Brough is an inspiration to me. I’ve known Ben for over ten years and watched him develop as an artist and his legend just continues to grow.

You can see his influence here and this might be a pure knock-off, but if so it’s a very poor one. I found a sketch in my office after we moved. I ‘m sure it’s something I drew after seeing some of Ben’s work. This painting is based on that sketch.

It started with a nature scene of the beach, waves and sky. Then I just decided we needed a group photo. My “happy skull” dudes didn’t want to miss the party and of course hang out with some babes at the beach. Live it up while you can boys!

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Frown Upside Down

by Steve Chastain on November 16, 2011

I had a long piece of leftover wood that looked perfect for a painting. I painted it white, then black, then a mixture of white and black. No clue what to do with it at all… until today.

Lately as I doodle, I’ve been sketching skulls. Cartoon skulls mostly and I always had them smiling.

The phrase popped into my head today… “Turn a frown upside down”.

So there you have it.

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Content

November 9, 2011

I was looking for some pictures of Buddha statues and drawings and came across one I wanted to paint. This Buddha looks very content which is a very important goal for me. Part of contentment is enjoying the process. That’s my goal for my art as well as my life. This painting also has several [...]

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MetaLady

October 21, 2011

This one took several weeks. I used several colors, over and over just trying to get the right feel. If I didn’t like something, I’d completely paint over her and then wash it away and a new image seemed to emerge. I’m trying to just enjoy the process now, and not get caught up in [...]

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Life is Amazing

September 2, 2011

The spiritual journey is not about heaven and finally getting to a place that’s really swell. In fact, that way of looking at things is what keeps us miserable.  ~ Pema Chodron Think about your life and how it ebbs and flows. We’ve all been touched by the dramatic, the amazing, the painful and the [...]

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Chastain’s Wager

September 1, 2011

Someone replied to my comment on Pascal’s Wager (see my previous post) and here’s what they had to say: With regard to points one and three, no, that’s simply not correct. Read up on Pascal and what he meant, and more importantly, how he lived. He would literally place bets with people. He would challenge [...]

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Pascal’s Roll of the Dice

August 30, 2011

Tony Jones shared a very honest post on his blog today regarding why he is not an atheist. He writes: I have a lot of doubts about God, even about the existence of God.  I am blessed, and cursed, with a highly rationalistic faith.  I’ve written here before about my doubts, and I even expressed [...]

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Stupid Idiot Losers – Oh My!

August 9, 2011

Who doesn’t enjoy being told they are delusional, uneducated and a terrible disappointment to their loved ones. That’s what happened to me this week via Facebook. As usual it was followed with compliments of what a good man I am, wishing me well and bestowing God’s blessings on me. For some reason, those “positives” did [...]

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Feedback

June 8, 2011

Sharing your thoughts, beliefs, opinions and part of your life in a public forum has its good and bad moments. Sometimes what you share resonates with people and sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, people usually have one of three reactions: They give you positive feedback. They give you negative feedback. They ignore you. Positive feedback [...]

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Stuff

May 5, 2011

Before starting to pack for my upcoming move, I made some simple decisions that I hoped would help me. The first was to start way earlier than I normally would. The second was to commit to not moving everything I currently have in my possession. Accomplishing this second goal is a challenging one for me. [...]

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