Josh

@josh.aguayo.ca

I'm an artist living in Calgary. (He/Him) Author of 'Cybernetic Mages': A cyberpunk/fantasy adventure novel about depression, drugs and fighting mega-corporations. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/CyberneticM

I wanted to try painting with CMYK and I tested out this "Alkyd Butter" I got from Kama Pigments for the texture. It worked great, but I didn't read the 'alkyd' part. 😅 It makes paint dry much faster so it only really makes sense to use it in the base layer or wet on wet. #art #oilpainting

"Winterhome"

40x30, Oil over Alkyd on Cotton Canvas.

Oil painting of a misty mountain landscape with snow-capped jagged peaks, a prominent dark summit emitting smoke under a blue cloudy sky, and a green valley in the foreground.

Big fan of these guys. When I had to drive for work they were my default radio station. Varied programming, interesting local hosts and artists, and diverse topics of discussion from gaming to housing policy. Instead of, you know, they same top 10 US songs on loop you hear on corporate radio...

CJSW 90.9FM@cjsw.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Funding Drive is here, and our crew has found themselves in a bit of a pickle! CJSW's week long radiothon runs OCT 17-24 to raise money for the station's operations. Tune in to 90.9FM and help support independent radio. Visit CJSW.COM/DONATE or call (403) 220-5000!

Are you guys dressing up for the rapture or nah? Like do you get one of those ethereal white robes on the way up or do I need to pick something for the rest of eternity?

Really interesting paper on *How people use ChatGPT*. Turns out the use-cases that you hear the most buzz about: Images, fiction, 'creative ideation', coding... are some of its least common uses. This is the paper by OpenAI, and Ars Technica has a great breakdown too! www.nber.org/system/files...

Screen capture of a table: A breakdown of use cases pulled from OpenAI's recent paper on 'How people use ChatGPT'. Of note, Fiction writing is 1.6% of cases, image generation is 4.2%.

It is as if the drama around these specific topics were a guerrilla marketing scheme meant to over-hype products so that venture capital investors will put down more money.

Remember: There is nothing natural or inevitable about extreme inequality; it’s the result of an economic system that values wealth and power over human dignity and justice. It doesn't have to be this way.

This is a miniature my mom sent me. I painted it. The original is from the 18th Century, a Mary that is winged and dancing, symbol of the City of Quito: *La Inmaculada de Legarda* I'll tell you about the symbolism in the alt text. #art #miniature #painting

A small polychromatic sculpture of the Virgen de Quito positioned on a work surface surrounded by art supplies. The figure depicts a winged Virgin Mary with large spread wings, wearing blue and red robes, standing atop a crescent moon base. Beneath her feet lies a defeated serpent or demon figure with chains. The Virgin has a serene facial expression and wears a radiating crown or halo. The sculpture shows signs of paint application or restoration work, with visible color variations and textures throughout the piece.

This representation exemplifies the religious syncretism of colonial Ecuador, where indigenous Andean cosmology merged with Spanish Catholic theology. The prominent wings reference both the apocalyptic woman of Revelation 12 and the Andean condor, which serves as a celestial messenger connecting earthly and divine realms. 

The defeated serpent beneath represents the biblical triumph over evil while potentially incorporating indigenous concepts of Pachamama and the Incan underworld. 

The crescent moon base symbolizes Marian purity within Catholic tradition while acknowledging the central role of lunar cycles in pre-Columbian Andean agricultural and religious practices. 

The blue and red garments follow traditional Marian color symbolism while echoing pre-Columbian textile traditions. 

This iconography emerged from the Quito School of colonial art, where indigenous and mestizo craftsmen developed techniques allowing subtle incorporation of native symbolic systems within Catholic imagery, creating devotional art that functioned as a bridge between spiritual traditions.

I forgot I bought salmon last time I went shopping and I have nothing else. So I've been eating salmon every other day this week, and I think I finally got the timing down for a great fluffy yet crispy salmon.

Bild

A study from life. This little cutting lost all its leaves at some point: I put it in dirt too soon and too suddenly. But I managed to nurse it back to health! I thought painting it would be fun and a good apology. 'Cutting', A4, Oil on Oak Wood #art #oilpainting

A realistic oil painting depicts a glass jar of water sitting on a dark surface against a soft, light blue-gray background. Three green leaves that join to form a single stem, a cutting, emerge from the jar, their forms slightly drooping. 

The jar is rendered with transparent and reflective qualities, showing subtle highlights and distortions from the water inside. The leaves display gentle shading and vein details, while the entire composition is calm and minimalistic, with visible brushstrokes and a soft, diffused light.

Guide: So in these columns here at the Art Commons building they used a special type of limestone. If you look closely, there are fossils in it! Me: I'm sorry what? Guide: Fossils. Me: What do you— There are Fossils in it! I think it's so weird. It's my first time seeing fossils outside a museum.

There are fossils in the wall.Bild

This is a monochrome self-portrait. Red was the last color of the set. I was trying to use them all since this set was water-mixable and I didn't want to mix it with the rest of my regular paints. 'Cyclothymia', 8x10in, oil on canvas on wood #art #oilpainting

An oil painting portrait of a person with short, tousled hair wearing large, dark sunglasses and a dark jacket over a high-collared shirt. 

The entire painting is executed in shades of red, with the background, face, and clothing all blending together through expressive, textured brushstrokes. 

The sunglasses and hair are rendered in deeper, almost blackish reds, while the face is lighter but still predominantly red. The figure’s features are suggested more than precisely defined, giving the painting a bold, stylized, and somewhat abstract quality. 

The brushwork is loose and energetic, especially in the hair and clothing, while the background is a flat, solid red.