Behind the Scenes.

Things I do:

I teach.
I've been teaching consistently since 2001. At first I taught 3 classes a semester, then I went down to 2, then 1 or 2 depending on budget cuts and enrollment. Not to whine, but I was making a round-trip trek of 140 miles to teach a couple of classes at a college I really liked, and the distance and traffic got to be a bit much. Once in the rain it took me 4 hours to get there. I had planned ahead and was only an hour late. My students were still there. All of them, even the ne'er-do-wells. Pretty amazing. I had a really bad car wreck on the way home one day and decided I couldn't take the commute any more.

I paint.
Not much to say about this that I probably haven't already said, and yet, I'm sure there's stuff I've never said about painting. That's why I like painting. There's still so much to say.

I make stuff.
Not really hobbies, but it stems from when I was a kid making crafts with my mom. Decoupage was huge. Purses, plaques, etc. You name. we shellacked it. My dad had asthma, so eventually the fumes got to be too much and we stopped. I knit. I do wood burning, aka pyrography, and leather-tooling. Every so often I am motivated to sew something. Furniture rehabbing- some people take in stray dogs, I pick up chairs I see on the street. Sometimes desk and tables, but always chairs, benches and stools. Occasionally I am reminded of my DIY roots and I make an effort to market my crafts and cultural wares independently. I finally opened up an Etsy account last night. It's not under my name. I wanted it to be separate from my studio practice. It's not up and running yet, but if you think of a really dry but functional name, you could probably find my page. When I get finished pimping it, I'll post it.

I apply myself.
I like to keep things in motion. I apply for at least one grant every year. I think I'm on my 3rd year applying for The California Community Foundation Grant. It's there. I apply.

I also apply for public arts projects when I can envision my art fitting in with the proposal. Being an abstract artist and a non-designer makes this a little more challenging, but I still apply. A lot of grants want to know how your art will engage a diverse community. I think my art engages a diverse community, but I'll hand it to representational art for getting the point across in less time and more directly. Still, I apply because I believe that abstract art can communicate.

I brainstorm.
I do this a lot. Probably too much. In Chicago, an artist friend pulled me into a easy money gig. We sat in a high-rise building in Chicago and thought of product names for a couple of hours. I like to think. I took Latin. I like inventing things. I do this in my studio, but no one pays me and I don't have a view of Lake Michigan.

I'm not sure the relevance of today's post. I'm angsting about money. CAA is in a month and my heart's not into applying for teaching jobs all over the country. I'm getting ready to go to a workshop on how to generate a strong application for Los Angeles Civic Arts Program. Last time I attended a grant app workshop, I learned absolutely nothing new, but since public art is something I'd like to consider, I'm opening to the possibility it will contain useful information as opposed to tips on how to write an artist statement or how to shoot your work. At which point I will make the little motion of a gun to my head if the workshop leaders deem that relevant information worth driving downtown for. When I get back, I'll work on my cv and make an effort to look for teaching jobs all over the country, just so I can get depressed and wallow in self-pity. I'll upload stuff to etsy, finish a couple of apps and commit to working on a drawing/painting and reading another chapter of The Gift before before bed.

Lost was a little lame last night The whole, Flash! We're in the future, Flash! We're in the past, Flash! We're in the future, Flash! We're in the past, got old pretty quickly.