Feeling down, so I thought I'd post a work in progress before it morphed intProbalbynoto something else

"Seance," 2010

Really not much to say. Thought briefly about starting up another blog documenting the slow demise of people and animals I love, but it seemed way too morose.

I made some headway in the studio. I'm at the point where I want to throw everything out and start fresh on the other side, but that seems like an unnecessary waste. I also have realized I am a compulsive maker of things. I cannot stop painting even when I'm trying to pack up. I'm ditching a few pieces of studio furniture- carts and shelving I can replace on the other side. Why I am I calling Nashville, "the other side?" I don't know.

My boy is still not eating much- at all. Oh, he ate some of my left-over oatmeal and even a few leafs of lettuce from my lunch, but dry dog food, pfft. I broke down and bought a can of food and mixed it with his dry food. He ate most of it after spitting out the dried kibble. He cannot jump in the car or on the bed anymore without assistance. I'm sad. I love that guy. The vet couldn't find anything radically wrong in his blood work a few weeks ago. Maybe I said that already. I keep hoping it's just the chaos of the house sale and all the packing. I don't feel any lumps on him. My mom is also in a state of decline. I call twice a day and every time I call she tells me in a weak, but agitated voice, "I'm okay, I'm okay. I just want to sleep." That's our conversation. I try and ask her if she's been sitting up or how therapy was and it angers her. They put her on oxygen the other day. I don't know if that was temporary or not.

Here are the questions I was asked to address in my upcoming studio visit:

Can you discuss the evolution of your painting?  Is it possible to have a few of your earlier works out for the group to see?

Discuss your approach to abstraction. How do you place yourself in relation to earlier abstract painters. Which artists to you admire, and do you think they have influenced your work?

Discuss your interest in the 19^th century British critic John Ruskin.

Talk about the new body of small paintings. Is there a narrative element to the work? How do they convey passage of time and of memory? How do you explain the choice of deserted swimming pools and decaying floral still lives as your choice of themes?

Christopher Knight Los Angeles Times, May 16, 2008 described your paintings as a “visual feast of color, technique.” Can you show us the range of your approaches  to applying paint – scuffing, smearing, brushing, pouring, shading and drawing? Are you technical decisions spontaneous, calculated or a combination of the two?

I'll post my response later. I'm tired now.