Lollygagging for a day.

I spent the day lollygagging and shooting the breeze. Most of it was pleasant, though there was one unsettling occurrence. That’s the best word I can come up with for now. Nothing tragic or seriously disturbing, just odd. Not quite square peg in a round hole kind of odd, but odd enough that I’m still obsessing on how odd and I still don’t know what to make of it. Art World politics and decorum are not my strong suit, and possibly because of this, I try to be peripheral. I know it must sound strange to want to be marginal in a place where everyone is hoping to stand out and be #1, but when all is said and done, I’d rather be content with what I’ve done, rather than worrying about what other people thought or what kind of mark I should have been making. Not very playerish of me to fes that. I have no idea what it would be like NOT to have art be such a major part or THE focus of my life, (Well actually I do, there was a period where martinis and manhattans were a major focus, but I digress.) and yet, on occasion, I've been able to have meaningful conversations with a few select people about something other than art.

I so need a vacation. [refrain]

Yesterday was the last day of the semester. Yay! Tough 6 weeks, but they pulled through. I still have to calculate grades, hence today’s agenda of lollygagging. I did however spend time answering a former student’s email and was quite touched by the fact that he had sought out my response to a project he did for a design class he just completed. I won’t go into detail, but apparently he had caught quite a bit of flack from some “left-brain engineers” as he politely put it, about his choices, both conceptually and aesthetically, and he wanted to know my opinion. He sent me a jpeg, outlined the project and told me his rationale for what he did. I was happy to reply.

Usually I wait until the end of the semester to show images of my work. This semester, I did not offer that up at all. It seemed like a lost cause. I had a student this semester who told me she couldn’t see the still life because she had gotten tired and decided to draw slumped over with her head propped up on her elbow. A vortex of apathy, I tell you.

I so need a vacation. [refrain]

I have an appointment with the divorce lawyer next week. I cannot believe how long I’ve dragged this out due to mere procrastination. I have let moss grow on that part of my life. Change must be the answer.

I so need a vacation. [refrain]

Oh and I hate to spoil this, but if you’re hooked on "The Wire" and have not finished the series, turn away now.

Omar is dead. I thought I would be way more crushed when it happened. Of course I knew it was coming, and there was even a moment of foreshadowing that made it obvious how it would play out, but still, I imagined I’d feel the same way I did when Wild Bill got offed in Deadwood. I swore I wouldn’t continue watching the series. I did of course. And even when they show Omar in a body bag in the morgue, I had a moment of suspended disbelief in hopes his eyes would open and he'd wake up, only to realize it was “The Wire” after all, not “Lost” or “3o Days of Night.”

I so need a vacation. [refrain]

Learn from my mistake

If you've followed me with some fair amount of consistency, you would know that shipping and packing is for some reason a Herculean task for me, a huge mental block, and some sort of hellish punishment I get for choosing to be a painter.
I honestly cannot tell you why it looms so big in my mind and why the very thought of it causes me so much anxiety, but it does.

I bid out a commission and because I've only worked with this company once before and because last time the works was modular and could fit easily in the car and because last time I dropped it off to the LA office, and because they did not tell me this time specifically where it was going, it did not occur to me to include shipping and packing in my bid for what it would cost to do a 54" x 54" painting. And when I did realize this, a few days after I was awarded the project, I figured it would just cost a truck rental fee to deliver it from my studio to the LA office and so I politely mentioned this, expecting hoping to be reimbursed.

Turns out I was expected to include in my bid the cost of shipping and packing the work across the country to their other office and dear reader- to arrange this myself. I must be the only artist who is terrified of crating and transporting artwork. Indeed, I've chronicled just about every experience.

I've looked through my contract and yes, there is a little clause stating for commission work the cost of shipping will be considered in the bid and to please TRY to include shipping costs at that point in time. Not to slough off responsibility but last time when I made note of the shipping costs in my bid, I was told I could drop it off to the LA office. Hence, my lack of concern.

I feel certain it will all work out without anyone losing too much money, Turns out I have a 62" x 62" strongbox in storage. It arrived damaged, which is why I still have it, but in order to save $400 on the crate alone, you can bet I'm going to patch it. For chrissakes, I'll use bondo if need be, and if worst comes to worst, I'll roll it up in a tube and they can restretch it there. I don't think the company was too happy when I asked about covering shipping & packing costs after the fact. I didn't quite get the "You'll never work in this town again" treatment, but it wasn't all, "Oh don't worry, this happens all the time."

I actually like doing commission work, and will explain why later, but since it's not something I do all the time, I tend to forget all the finer points of bidding a project.
Time to carve out a bid sheet.

Damn, I can be a simpleton.
Okay second rule for my manifesto:
I will not make paintings larger than 22” x 28” unless it is necessary.

I'm wondering how long before I break that one. I received another phone inquiry about the work this morning. It's downright freaky. Why now? Why within a 3-week time span? Not complaining at all. Good Lord, if everything were to come through, I might be able to relax for a split second. Anyway, the gentleman was interested in the BIG paintings. Which is all good, but some are here, some are at KE Gallery, some are a a friend's art school where I will be teaching a workshop, one is on loan and and most are in a storage facility about 2 miles away.



View Where My Available Paintings Are: in a larger map

So, in a brilliant move, I called the man who framed out my sliding glass door 5 years ago and he's going to do a bid for building a a painting/storage rack in my studio. Would mean a smaller work space, but at least the family would be united again and it would be easier for studio visits.

Today is a two-post day. Post #1

I am always amazed at the generous responses I receive from my work. Occasionally it's from a guy, but more often than not, it's from younger women artists. I'll assume that everyone and their mother gets kudos for their work, and I'm the only one who's constantly caught off guard, but for me there's something significant in making abstract work that connects to other people, because it's not the outward stuff I talk about that people connect with and it's not the artist statement or the fumbled talks- it's the inner stuff that resonates. That's the crazy part- the stuff that's on the canvas still manages to convey, long after I've left the scene. I received a link this morning to a blog post about my work and it made me feel good about being a painter and doing what I do. Which in turn made me want to keep the goodness cycle going, so I went to the Hammer show to soak up some more paintings.