Two images from this weekend's marathon painting session.

1) I had forgotten how obsessive I can get with watercolor and gouache.

Untitled, watercolor and gouache on paper

Untitled, watercolor and gouache on paper

2) It occurred to me that in a nutshell, my paintings are simply the result of troubleshooting and damage control.

(The images are slightly cropped because my scanner is slightly smaller than my slightly paper.)

Marathon watercolor session coming to a close.

I've learned a couple of things.
1) I love painting. Ok, I already knew that
2) Watercolor painting is incredibly meditative for me. Alright, I knew that, too.
3) I get grumpy if the paperwork side of things keeps from getting in the studio. Well, duh, I knew that one too.

So what did I learn then, you may be asking.

1) I function best when I paint and stay off the computer. On Saturday, I primarily relied on my smartypants phone for what sparse communication I chose to partake in. I worked about 11-12 hours, for real, painting. I took a break to rake some leaves, play catch with the dog, and buy some watercolor paper. Later I took another break to ply myself with food around dinner time. It was great, and even a bit exhausting in a good way. An honest day's work.

2) I also have to realize I can't cram all my office work into some circle of hell from which I'll never escape. I was trying so hard to do what some people call, "Eating the frog first." You know, doing the thing you hate first. Right. Well, that worked for about 5 or 6 days until I found myself going stark mad.

The sudden watercolor surge is due to SMMOA's annual benefit, which I have again had the pleasure of being invited to participate. For some reason I do watercolors for this. Since I began painting small for the real work, I inadvertently dropped my watercolor practice. The watercolors used to be what I did in between the large works. Being that the pace and scale of all the work is now small, (for the time being) there's been no in between. I can't explain it any better than that.

I got hooked on hot press board a few years back, but this weekend bought a couple of those ridiculously expensive Arches watercolor blocks, one hot press, and another, rough. Personally, I don't think they're as nice as the single Imperial sheets of Arches, but they're okay, and since they're blocks, no stretching. They're much better than okay, but I'm such the connoisseur. I haven't worked on rough in a loooong time and almost returned the block unopened, but decided to give it a go. My scale is 9" x 12" and 7" x 10". I'm wondering if I will work back up to large scale watercolor this year. I feel like 2011 will be a works on paper year. I also need, like desperately need, some new watercolors. I'm cheap. Remember those cereal boxes you could eat out of-the single serving ones? You gutted them down the middle and then splayed them open. 95% of my watercolors and gouache are so old and yet, so unused, that I've had to cut them open and use them as watercolor cakes. I also stockpiled some nice ass brushes back in the Golden State and have a serious brush crush on a couple of my new old brushes. Kolinsky Sable Pointed Rounds, the ultimate driving machine. As a student I don't think I would have noticed the precise difference in spring, tip, or belly among quality brushes, but now, OMG, I am so sensitive to the feel of a really good brush. When I first started doing watercolor, I was using decent, but by no means the best, brushes. I know this because I still have some of them. My name is taped on them. Why? Because I once had a conniption fit when I saw my ex using them for oil painting without even asking me, stating that I was doing video, so I didn't need them anymore. I promptly labeled all my brushes after that incident. I can't even imagine what I would have done had a Kolinsky sable been violated. It was downhill after that, as you might imagine. I will share my toothbrush, before I share my good watercolor brushes. The other brushes aren't so sacred, but the watercolor brush obsession...I can't explain. It just is. Call it nerd bling.

Um, wow, can you tell I'm kind of excited to be working with watercolor again?

I dunno, seemed like a good thing to post this morning.

Random thoughts for the day:

According to the IP addresses, it seems rather odd that someone who googled zeb wright and found my blog would also be interested in visiting my website. several times.

My dog makes me laugh.

The snow is beautiful.

I dislike the cold.

I still have a dead rodent in my bathtub drain. Okay, no, it was not a dead rodent, just the usual gunk. I'm not traumatized anymore.

Getting ready to work on watercolors for the first time in forever.

I've been oddly happy the last 24 hours over super simplistic things- like fresh snow, birds, an email from a stranger that made me laugh out loud this morning, my dog doing funny things like handing me a dishtowel that I did not know had fallen on the floor, and maybe some other stuff that in reality I am clueless about. how I should feel. I dont know why these things have made me smile, but they have.

I've lost 2 items I'd like to find. One is an old photograph I found in a stack around here a few years ago. It's precious, and I scanned it for safe keeping, but it's not quite the same as the original. It's totally sentimental and I may have thrown away the original this summer for that very reason. The second item is a piece of cardboard that says, "Careful, I'm fragile." I have carted this piece of cardboard around with me for years. Oddly enough, it relates to the photograph, though not directly. It's from a Frito-Lay packaging box. It usually lives in my studio, thumb tacked to the wall, but with all the moving this summer, who knows. Both of these items are from long ago. Of all the items to throw away, these were so sentimental that it would have been a conscious act of rebellion to toss them, and therefore, it is possible in a low mood, I might have done just that. I may have thought I shouldn't be fragile anymore. I may have thought I shouldn't be nostalgic over an old photograph anymore. The images are burned into my memory, but I want the physical object, even though in both cases, the object is just a representation of a feeling. I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for these items last night. Not a total waste of time, as I also threw away a bunch of stuff that was just plain trash.

I'm going to eat cake now, and then scan some more of M.Thackston Addie, vis., miniature paintings.

omfg

THE GOOD, in no particular order:
The paperwork scenario seems manageable at this point and I wired the office for sound. My alter ego sold another painting from the sales blog and I'm legit in Nashville with my business license. The residency is a go, but no keys as of yet. I'm finally up to running 5K, and although I didn't beat my PR today, I braved the frigging cold and ran. My best pace to date has been 9:34 and I'm excited about that. I think I can do a little better once it gets warmer. Depending on the layers, the route, and my mood, I'm averaging about 10:15. I also trolled through some really old pics this weekend. High school, college days. A couple pics were downright endearing. Ah, youth. Maybe one day I'll post. I both hate and love when I discover an old slide for a work I no longer have and consequently would have forgotten about until I saw the slide. But since I don't have a slide scanner, I can't post it either. From the same era, I came across this one. It's my undergraduate studio, I think it was my last semester when I was cramming Painting II and Painting III together. Yes, I painted on the backs of canvases. 1983.

THE BAD
The accounting has consumed me and I haven't painted since I last posted a painting. I despise the cold and am stymied that I ever have lived in a land where the temp drops below 40 and white stuff falls out of the sky. Having a home studio makes this even more difficult, as I don't want to leave when it's wet, cold, or dreary, and why, yes, this is a problem. I'm trying to figure out the studio situation- home studio vs, residency studio. I'm thinking about having the residency be a works on paper studio, but I may swap that out and have the residency be an all out painting studio while the home studio focuses on works on paper. It's hard to say. Since I never leave the house. We may never know.

The UGLY
Warning: not for the faint of heart.

So...like after taking a nice hot bath, I'm puttering around on this cold winter day and notice that my bathtub is taking much longer to drain than usual. Granted, I've been aware that it hasn't been draining properly, but at $95 an hour, I was holding out on calling a plumber to snake it. So...I place my hand over the drain and don't feel any sucking draining action. So...I pull out the drain stopper and there's this mongo mass of hairfur wrapped around it. As I make out nose and ears, and presumably, eyeball sockets, I shriek. Yes, gentle reader, a decomposing mouse was entwined in my bathtub drain stopper, the very bathtub drain at the foot of the bathtub I had just bathed in. My hand missed touching it by a mere inch or two. I shrieked again, called the plumber, and took a shower in the other bathroom. Grossed out is an understatement.

I couldn't bring myself to photograph it, mainly because every time I looked at it, I screamed.

Repeat after me:
I am not traumatized by what lurks in my pipes.
I am not traumatized by what lurks in my pipes.
I am not traumatized by what lurks in my pipes.
I am not traumatized by what lurks in my pipes.
bullshit.

Flashback to the 90's

What I'm currently stuck on. I anticipate I'll be running, painting and officing to this all year. I get like this sometimes. A few cd's tend to latch on to me and never leave.

paperworpocalypse

It's a stretch, but humor me. I have to be prepared early this year. Next time I leave the house, I'm coming home with a month's supply of potato chips. I've made the office pretty cozy, but tomorrow's session will be decadent. Pillows, TV, incense, candles, and bowls of snack food scattered strategically. Plus every hour I'll give myself a gold star just for staying locked in the office.

~

Yeah, well, that's not how it panned out. I had a vision last night: replicate an antique chair entirely out of kraft paper and tape. I tossed and turned while scheming how my chair would turn out. The clock radio is set to the WRVU 91.9 which was fine the last week of the holidays, cause they chilled, but now it's punk, and punk is not the cool way to gradually wake up at 6am, especially on tiny crappy clock radio speakers. I hit snooze and try to sleep. I hit snooze and try to sleep. I hit snooze and try to sleep. Finally I wake up and have to get out of bed. I'm kind of grumpy because punk is not the cool way to gradually wake up at 6am, especially on tiny crappy clock radio speakers. I've overslept by 45 minutes.

I drink coffee, check email, and go for a run. Amazingly, I completed my run and even did decent with my pace. I come back, take the dog for a romp, watch him pee on his leash, and start making my paper and tape chair. It's hard. I'm doing a Rococo thing. I don't know why I'm doing it. I imagine it will look pretty whack if I finish it. I snack when I'm nervous, so I snack. I bought potato chips last night and took them to a friend's studio. I ate chips constantly for 3 hours as a reward for yesterday's paperwork session. I also bought a bag for today, but I'm holding out for evening.

Later I notice the dog got into the office where I'm doing my paperwork. How do I notice? One, the child gate is ajar. Two, the vet's business card is half-chewed. Nothing else touched. Kind of creepy, because now I suspect he can read.

I've also learned my lesson. Reveal nothing unless it's in writing. Not disappointed just yet, but not exactly packing the studio up yet either.

One down,

Motel Parking Lot

As promised, this is the year I will consciously integrate a signature onto the front of all my work. My real signature is illegible and would be a calligraphic feat to stroke onto a painting. This is the one I use to sign all my paintings. Some people place a lot of emphasis on a signature on the front of a painting or want to over analyze it. It felt awkward to claim a space of canvas like this. Con: I find it distracting. Pro: I like the distraction.

My work has shifted. This shift makes me uncomfortable, but I would be more uncomfortable if I tried to make work like I did last year, or the year before, or the year before. I try though, as seen in the feeble and half-hearted attempt to place 3 yellowish-orange rays in the corner.

New Year, day one, resolutions.

Whew. Rough one. Funny, because I thought 2009 was a doozy.
I've been going over some resolutions. After thumbing through the society pages, I've decided that just once in my lifetime, I'd like to wear a taffeta ball gown and possibly some mascara to a fancy event supporting a good cause. I'd like to do this before my neck starts wrinkling. My hair will look really good. Someone will snap my picture and it will be flattering. In lieu of that happening, I'd like to support as many local art events as I can this year. I vow to wear mascara or eyeliner and conceal my dark under eye circles before leaving the house. I  will make the best art I can make this year. I will not limit myself or make art that I think I should make; I will simply make the art. I won't get confounded if I start making a representational painting and it turns abstract or vice versa. During office hours, I will efficiently market and promote my art.  I will be open to change. I will not make fun of good design. I will teach the dog that although his name has a nice ring to it and makes his ears perk up, the purpose of his name is to pay attention to the command I give following his name, and to carry out that command with precision timing. I will go to Miami for the art fair next year. I will stay in touch with people and make more phone calls. I will be a more outgoing artist and polish my social skills. I will run at least 12 miles every week. I will finish the wallpaper room or paint over it, but one way or another, I will deem it finished. I will paint somewhat larger again. I will take more risks this year. I will attach the dvd player to the television and order Netflix. I will not bitch about the cold or rain. I will complete at least 3 of my mad scientist projects. The wallpaper room will count as one. Oh, and one more...I've decided to sign all 2011 paintings on the front. 


More to come. 


Today was a good day, well-rounded. Highlights: made cornbread, black-eyed peas and collard greens; ran 3.1 miles and averaged a 9:34 mi pace;  worked on 3 paintings in the studio without getting stuck too much on what the paintings were about; laundry. 

The digital bandwagon.

superhardcoreworkweekcomingup

...which means one of two things: nervous energy posting, or complete abstinence.