C.B. Murphy's Blog

/

Have you ever looked back at all the jobs you’ve had and thought about how each one left a mark that shaped and defined you?

In this collection of thirty-three self-deprecating vignettes à la David Sedaris, Book of Jobs is a humorous exploration of one man’s journey through the world of work. Originally written as an enlightening and entertaining commentary for his sons, the author begins with his early aspirations of entering the priesthood, to pursuing such eclectic gigs as underground filmmaker, nude model, prison art teacher, and more. The candid escapades and reflections are brought further to life by the author’s illustrations, which have the loose flair of The New Yorker magazine cartoons.

While lighthearted in tone, Murphy doesn’t shy away from the dark side of employment: bad bosses, inappropriate skill sets, dead ends, and fantasy jobs that don’t pan out. Whether you are at the end of your own long line of jobs or just beginning to wonder where you fit into the world of work, Murphy’s perspective could bring a breath of fresh air and a chuckle as you grab that next cup of coffee and head into the fray.

It’s a bit hard to find on Amazon

(don’t get me started). If put this URL

into a browser you can find it.

shorturl.at/irvAP

Or Search on Amazon using

“book of jobs by c. b. murphy”

I’m looking for AMAZON REVIEWERS!

I need a certain minimum before I can promote it.

Reviews on other sites is cool, too. Like Barnes & Noble.

*(aka Charles Murphy, aka Charley Murphy)

4770621f188e11e58e9aac15b5ac57a8

IMG_0967.TRIM

The messages of  plants (to themselves, to us) are  mysterious yet produce the bounty we embrace as “Nature.” As in ; “I  like nature!” Leave aside for a moment the whole “cute eats cute” phenomenon of nature (predator/prey, life/death) and we effectively have a symbol (let’s say a tree) that figures prominently in the human psyche and in human art dating from the earliest caves. When I made a series  of  this white-on-black (vinyl) paintings, at first the center remained empty. Like an empty stage, it called out to be filled  with something–a performance, anything.

How did the QR symbol arrive in that space? It’s hard to say exactly. I think the drama of it’s black-and-white design, plus it’s omnipresence in advertising (and now menus, etc.) linked them. Was QR a form of nature? Yes, in that it exists, it was created by humans and in the sense that everything (however much it is called artificial)  is made by materials of Earth, by creatures of Earth (ie. us).

So the painting “trapped” it’s first QR.

The messages of  plants (to themselves, to us) are  mysterious yet produce the bounty we embrace as “Nature.” As in ; “I  like nature!” Leave aside for a moment the whole “cute eats cute” phenomenon of nature (predator/prey, life/death) and we effectively have a symbol (let’s say a tree) that figures prominently in the human psyche and in human art dating from the earliest caves. When I made a series  of  this white-on-black (vinyl) paintings, at first the center remained empty. Like an empty stage, it called out to be filled  with something–a performance, anything.

How did the QR symbol arrive in that space? It’s hard to say exactly. I think the drama of it’s black-and-white design, plus it’s omnipresence in advertising (and now menus, etc.) linked them. Was QR a form of nature? Yes, in that it exists, it was created by humans and in the sense that everything (however much it is called artificial)  is made by materials of Earth, by creatures of Earth (ie. us).

So the painting “trapped” it’s first QR.

I had been painting on non-stretched canvas for some time before I started working on black backgrounds. I liked the black backgrounds but I wanted them more black. I tried vinyl paint. Didn’t work. I got the idea to paint on vinyl (commercial, in rolls) and experimented for while as to how it would take the painting style I was doing. This involved brush, but also applying paint and using a combination of spritzed water and air gun to move it in naturalistic ways.

The high gloss finish of the vinyl prevented the paint from settling as it would on the textured surface of canvas. My process is to accept and move on, see what happens next.

It was “easy” to paint by brush on vinyl, in some ways easier than textured canvas with “grabs” the paint into the crevasses as it moves along. But what was I do paint? My “fall back” (default) is to paint what I always paint when I doodle (as I have been doing for decades). This is roughly “roots and branches” intertwining, sometimes in game-like patterns and other times randomly. Another “fall back” position is to make proscenium arc curtains like one would see in an old-fashioned theater or movie house. Red velvet curtains tied with a rope. But not that. Just “roots and branches” in the shape of that which is almost identical to two trees (denuded of leaves with see-through soil to see the roots), one stand on each horizontal edge. This created an empty black space surrounded by (or presented by) the white-on-black vegetal “frame.”