St. Patrick’s Day at UD

Get it

What’s good on Netflix?

So tonight, I decided to take the night off and watch something on Netflix.  I hate instant view because it’s all garbage (mostly TV shows now too).  I had this great idea for a website: a site that rifles through all of the crap on Netflix instant view and finds the good stuff.  Turns out it already exists.  So I looked around and found a movie that looked interesting enough–a light comedy that is cerebral.  So I ordered some Chinese food (I had been dying for some fried rice!) and started the movie.  It was called “Slacker.”  It’s a 1991 cult comedy movie set in Austin, TX.  It is a series of short vignettes of what it’s like to be a 20-something in Austin.  It was well worth the watch!  I enjoyed it quite a bit because it was entertaining and cerebral.  It wasn’t overly serious or entirely base; it was more of a mix between high and low.  There was a lot going on subtly, and the vignettes held together with a series of common themes.  So the next time you’re on Netflix Instant view and you’ve nothing to watch check out “Slacker.”  Chinese food always sounds like it will be a good idea.

SGA Update

Dear friends,

Please offer up prayers for a special intention regarding the future of St. Gregory’s Academy.

A group of alumni and friends of SGA has made a proposal to the Fraternity.

Please contact me if you would like to read the letter.

The time for prayers is now.  Let us storm heaven.  In all things let His will be done.

In Christ,

Peter

Bl. Nicolas Steno

I’m in the mood for sharing.

Google is commemorating Steno today, a 17th Century scientist convert who became a bishop.

I found this quote on Wikipedia.

“Fair is what we see, Fairer what we have perceived, Fairest what is still in veil.”

nicolas steno

 

 

Name Change

Hey Y’all,

My brother John and I have made a small, but significant, change to my professional website: a name change.  It is now called

www.peterblochart.com

Here you can

  • View Recent and Past Work
  • Purchase Work — Unless Otherwise noted all artwork is for sale
  • Commission a piece
  • Drop me a line, leave a comment, or send me your ideas

Sempre,

Peter

So happy Christmas, I love ya baby!

To all of my dearest friends, I would like to extend to you the warmest and happiest Christmas.

I have seen myself through another Christmas holiday.  Each year I have some reflections about this particular holiday because it is of significance for me, and for you, and for our culture at large.  Perhaps Fr. Scalia (son of Antonin) said it best in his midnight mass homily this year: that the Christmas holy day is a chance for us to be converted and become as little children just as Christ became a little child.  Each year is a battle against the cynicism and jadedness of age, every year is a fight to keep fresh the joy in this season.  How does one win the fight?

For now, let me say that the fight becomes easier when you fight together alongside your family.  The fight is easier when your mind is clear and you are open to Christ–you must let him in (do not be like the inn without any room).  It is no coincidence that there are so many admonishments in the Gospels surrounding Christmas to “fear not.”  We must be courageous in this fight and fear nothing–never retreat, always advance.  Beauty must also be present in your celebrations; beautiful liturgy, beautiful sacramentals, beautiful decorations, beautiful Christmas trees and cards, beautiful food and dining in order to help in the fight to return to that childhood joy and wonderment about Christmas.  I have also discovered that this season also requires a good amount of sleep, but not too much.  We must also be ready in the nightwatches, as the shepherds were ready in the fields of Bethlehem.  I believe that the fight is won in the nightwatches, the hours of sleep, the fight is won; whether you are awake or asleep, that is the time the fight is won.  On the eve of Christmas: in the night the fight is won.

So, happy Christmas, and don’t forget to celebrate it for at least twelve days, and then you may celebrate my birthday, which is the arrival of the ancient eastern philosophers to the stable at Bethlehem and their epiphany that Christ is the one true God.

With you now and in hope,

Peter Bloch

Bastien Lepage - L'annonciation aux Bergers - 1875 oil on canvas

New Artwork

Hi Y’all,

Here’s the latest studies and sketches that I’ve been working on this semester.  All of it is just sketches and things for class or just to keep the skills sharp.  This first one is a painting that I did as a “final.”  I try to give myself finals each semester that I teach painting.  I am allowed an hour and a half to complete a still life painting in acrylic.  This one is on a 11×14 canvas board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been working on other paintings as well this quarter with the 9th graders.  Here’s one of a teacup that we painted.  We were exploring the effects of warm and cool colors on light and form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also been trying to keep up with portraiture this semester too.  These are of students (they are unfinished two hour demonstration drawings).

Finally, I did attempt to make a drawing of Socrates and the Platonic Solids.  It is as of yet unfinished.

I did one commissioned drawing this semester for a friend, and it is a Christmas present, so I can’t say anything about it, but after Christmas, I will put it up for you all to see.

With love and devotion,

Peter

www.peterblochart.com

Pro Adultery Website Endorses Newt Gingrich

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/12/19/392178/adultery-dating-website-endorses-gingrich/

My how the times have changed…

Patience Is A Virtue

I really hope that the Pequod comes this week.

I’m starting to pre-judge in my anticipation.

-PB