Welcome to Procrastination Station.

The Guzzi is resting in the studio while it has open starter surgery.

Today's To-Do list:
Summer syllabus.
Reconcile bank statements.
√ Thank you note for studio visit yesterday
√ Thank you email to STBX for reconciling joint banking.
√ Run
File paperwork
Correspondence
Clear kitchen table of misc. art supplies and stuff
Make new journals
Depo check to bank
Bookkeeping
Pay cell phone bill
√ Reluctantly turn down Figure Drawing class because (a) I don't do figure and (b) 160 miles round trip was a few miles over the limit of what I consider to be a reasonable commute. I don't know, maybe I'm spoiled. If it were for a painting class I'd consider it.

Not on list, but accomplished nonetheless:
√ Weed front yard and remove every single dandelion weed by hand. I lost count. 25-30? More? Embarrassing.
√ Watch Moto Guzzi guru remove my starter.

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I love running and am so happy to be doing it injury free again. I'm still at 2-mile runs and my average pace looks to be about 11:30+, but I'm consistent and I'm injury-free so far.

My motorcycle is parked in the studio for the time being. The starter, I am inclined to think, is totally dead. I'm fairly confident it's not the battery, as I replaced my battery not too long ago & today we put it on a charger and it looked to be fine. Moto Guzzis are fantastic but mechanics are scarce. Vespa dealers supposedly will service them now that they've been bought by Piaggio but still. It's been a constant shuffle the last few years trying to find a steady, competent and local mechanic. Thanks to a friend and facebook, I met another Moto Guzzi owner who offered to take a look at my starter and swap it out on his bike as a way to troubleshoot. Motorcycle owners are amazing people. The guy lives on the other side of the world practically. (Okay, I'm exaggerating, but it's LA; people don't cross zip codes unless it's important.)

So meanwhile the bike is in my studio to protect some exposed parts from outside dust and such, and I'm happy to be a Moto Guzzi owner again. I do hope it's the starter. Just got word that it's NOT the starter. Back to the drawing board. sigh.

My studio visit yesterday was with the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale. I like studio visits. This one was a little different. They refer to it as an interview, but it felt more like a presentation. The visit was scheduled for 1.5 hours, but I think we held it at about an hour. I showed a few works from The Tornado Face Drawings, some watercolors, a couple of large paintings and a few of the new small paintings. I caught myself saying "NO" a little too emphatically when one of the curators asked if the small paintings were "studies" for the larger works. It's a valid question I guess. Sure, I'll spend infinitesimal amounts of time and detail working on a study. Not. Later, when I was talking about my process, I slid in an apology for perhaps answering a bit abruptly when she asked if they were studies. I politely went on to say that I never do studies and have no idea how the work is going to look while I'm working. I won't know anything for a couple of months.

But studies! Hrmph. It's not the first time someone suggested that my smaller paintings were studies. When I was working on my, "It's the Best I Can Do Today Paintings" a couple of years ago, some people suggested they were studies. I believe I said, "NO...they are not."

Studies. What a concept.