Whateverness and Other Revelations of Revolution.

Well, I'm slowly shaking off yesterday's oddness. The cause of my discomfort was that I quite suddenly and unexpectedly got the feeling I was being fed excuses about something and that if one excuse was solved, there would be another one in its place. And for better or for worse, obviously worse, it reminded me of my marriage and how at a certain point, there was always going to be some problem that was not fixable: No use working on X, because there would always be Y. If we addressed Y, then there was X. So now that I've identified that unhealthy and slightly, albeit not entirely, irrational connection, I can pretty much dump it in the 'whatever' file and move along. Which is quite funny, because as I was thinking that, someone on FB had posted a link to this video by Liam Lynch which has made me laugh all day. Okay, maybe not ALL day, but it was a good laugh. How did this guy escape my radar?



I'm in the process of pulling some paintings from storage and placing them back in my studio. One, it's just easier to have them here for studio visits. Two, in a perfect world, I could give up my storage space, but three, sadly we still have stuff in a larger storage space and among some of my worldly possessions that I cart from city to city, is an antique Jenny Lind spindle bed frame that belonged to a great aunt or grandmother and I have no room for it at home. It's a tad quaint and unsexy as hell, though it's a four-poster bed, which gives it some sex appeal, I suppose. It would make a nice guest bed. Problem is, I don't have a Victorian era guest room. Or do I? hmmm. [Lightbulb]

Okay, suddenly, it just occurred to me that I could rent out the spare bedroom as a guest room type bed and breakfast thing to maybe other art people types. I'm in Culver City, walking or at least bicycling distance to downtown CC. It's centrally located on the west side. Several restaurants are one block away and the YMCA is one block away. I'm going to seriously look into the legalities of this.

Other news. A smaller, not smallest painting did sell. That's good news. And as soon as I log off, I'm going to begin a day job project, except that it's almost night. I just need to get started.

Jolly good.

Trivia: my grandmother's (Father's side) maiden name was Jolly. Annie Lee Jolly. And of course, Annie Lee was pronounced, Annilee. Nice name, Jolly.



Today was a good day. I love studio visits, but I can see why artists have separate viewing rooms built specifically for viewing the work. The taking down works in progress, pulling out works for show, cleaning up and rearranging the furniture so that peeps can get an unobstructed view is time-consuming. This is not new news. It's old news. The studio is essentially down for a day because I'm usually too lazy to go in and strike the set and get back to the mess right away. Like right now, I could be painting, but instead have decided to write about what a dreadful chore it is to show work to people who love art. I am SO being sarcastic. Of course, it's NOT a chore and I love it. I'm just telling you how lazy I can be after I clean up the joint. (Okay, so maybe I'm more antsy to work than I let on- after my official guests had left, I pulled out those 3 small paintings in the foreground of the picture above to show KE some works in progress.)

To backtrack, Kristi had set up a studio visit with a couple interested in some of the larger paintings. My friend, Jason, was kind enough to let us view a painting on loan in his office on the 14th floor of the Condé Nast building. Afterward, we caravanned over to my impeccably organized studio and I showed them a few other paintings. After everyone left, I took ole Fuzzy Face for a walk, fixed us both some dinner and told Fang we were the most boring couple on Earth. Creative and smart, but boring.

Drawing takes time.

My students did, for the most part, a kick-ass job on their value project. I'll be grading mid-term portfolios Monday and Tuesday, but by end of class yesterday, their approximately 7 to 8-hour drawing of a sphere, a cone, a box and some metal thing, under dramatic lighting looked very good. I used to be of the belief that anyone's drawing will look spectacular after 8 hours. I have discovered this is not true, but that's okay, an 8-hour drawing is still admirable no matter how awkward it is. The student above works quickly and had an excellent drawing by the end of the first day, yet she managed to put another 3 hours in on the second day. It shows.

It's a see-saw, but I am optimistic again.

Spring semester grades in √
Summer syllabus completed, almost √
New paintings, signed and titled, almost √
Divorce paperwork completed, almost √

Another painter came over for a studio visit today. Next week I shall go visit her studio. It's definitely good, nay necessary, for me to get out and meet up with other artists right now. I'm been a hermit lately, even more so than usual. Bobbie makes the 4th person I've shown the new work to. So far, 4 out of 4 people are digging them. I should let my guests speak more, but I get so excited about the new works that I have to tell the backstory about how I arrived at them and then tell another backstory for why etc. For the time being, it's been good practice to talk about the work. The BIG studio visit is a week from Saturday. I'll be entertaining 25 collectors for approximately 30 minutes. My major concern is that my front lawn is dead and the back yard is barely holding on. The place needs some landscape love. I'll grab some cheap plants at Home Depot to brighten up the place. I'm self-conscious about these things. I should also finish titling the pieces and nail my spiel. Possibly a tad more important, yes?

But back to today's studio visit. I came away feeling hopeful and optimistic. In addition to talking specifically about the work, we also chatted about the business side of things and the day job side of things. If you recall, I've been laid off after the summer. I said I was brainstorming and basically cobbling an income together and instead of receiving the awkward stare of pity I usually get when I say that, I got a positive reaction and an excellent idea for proposing some workshops I could teach. I'm so on it. I also got some other business advice regarding the paintings, and I made a pledge to myself and to my visitor that I will take that advice as well. I've had some really sorry-ass advice thrown my way over the years, so sometimes I'm skeptical, but not anymore. Majority rues.

I'm also going to experiment with having an Open Studio on Saturdays this summer. My community coffee break never really took off, so we'll try this. I don't advertise and my marketing strategies are zilch. That might be one of my problems. The other might be the self-effacing humor I tend to use.

I'm one block away from a small business district on the west side Culver City, as opposed to the east side which is where all the galleries are, and have decided to take advantage of people who park on my block while shopping at Allied Train Store and Samy's camera. But, the real motivation for opening the studio one day a week was that when we bought the house several years ago, I found a blank, homemade and weathered wooden sign cast aside in the garage. Seriously, I'm like that; a sign needs a purpose. I almost used it as it, but since I'm not selling jam, potholders or rabbits, just yet, I gessoed it and will be painting a more appropriate signage denoting an open studio. The open studio will be a mix of things- mainly an opportunity to sell some older work and drawings, but possibly a chance to work on the craft side of things and see what happens there. I got into wood burning aka pyrography back in the early 90's and a few years ago I picked up leather tooling. When I said "open," I mean open. I'm still in the brainstorming phase, but am hoping to stage the first one this Saturday. Another potential cog in my cobbled empire.

I am posting now becuase I will be too tired later.

I managed to practice yoga this morning for the first time in a loooong time. I am always surprised by how unbendable I become when I stop practicing yoga. I also forget why I stop practicing cause I always feel so good afterward. Always. It would make sense then, to continue my yoga practice uninterrupted.

The studio. Yep. I was there today, but nary a brushstroke did I make. I'm dropping a few smaller paintings off to the gallery tomorrow and decided NOT to rush the other 3 that I think I'm finished with, because I may not be finished with them after all. They need sitting time in the studio. I need to stare. On the way to the gallery, I'm stopping by to do a studio visit with another artist.

I had an impromptu coffee with a consultant friend as I was writing this. She was in the neighborhood. Call me a philistine, but as a producer of art, I am so utterly fascinated by the collector of art side of things- the serious collector side of things, the hardcore, that's-equivalent-to-my-entire-mortgage kind of collector. We discuss this kind of stuff and I secretly think that maybe I should spend more time educating myself as a collector. A few weeks ago when the economy hit the first bottom and WAMU was up for grabs, I thought seriously about cashing it all in on one major painting. I didn't, but that gives you an idea of what kind of collector I'd be. Or not. Maybe it just gives you an idea of how disillusioned I am with traditional investments, such as real estate, 401K's and my FDIC insured savings account. It should come as no surprise that "Masterpiece" was one of my favorite games as a child. Maybe there's an art world version of The Sims version out there. If not, there should be.

I also like the idea of dressing up, coiffing my hair and wearing sexy pumps.

As a reminder, next Tuesday is the studio coffee break at 2 PM PST. Unfortunately, I will not be wearing sexy pumps or coiffed hair in the studio. Maybe one day, but not next Tuesday.

Community Outreach Report.

Yesterday I downloaded Skype and from 2-3pm PST, covertly implemented my Tuesday afternoon coffee break with anyone who wanted to participate.

Steven LaRose, who suggested video conferencing via Skype, was my first caller, albeit earlier in the day when I was still setting up, but I'm still counting it. Another woman I know, who is not an artists and who knew nothing of my project, just happen to call during the posted hours and I was able to suggest some resources for her. I'm counting that too. An artist in LA commented that it was a good idea and wanted to know my address.

So, all in all, I think I'm off to a good start. I'll be posting the event on Facebook, seeing as that seems to be the place to reach the most people instantaneously.

For now, I'm committing to being here on Tuesdays, but I may open it up more for the video conferencing thing now that I have that in place.

Currently, a couple of paintings are drying out in the sunshine and I'm going to begin another. I keep hoping to find out that I received a grant I applied for, but when I wait like this, it usually means I didn't get it. I tend to get grants when I forget that I applied for them, which means that I should probably start applying for some more....

My Attempt at Community Outreach.

I am a painter. I work in a studio by myself. In a perfect world, I would have a fancier, bigger, studio like I did in Chicago. My present studio is my drywalled garage and I have a patio. My studio is rather small considering the kind of painter I am, so I like to think that what doesn't kill me will make me stronger. If I had a larger studio, I'm pretty sure I'd never want to venture out and I suspect I'd rule the world cause my paintings would be so fantastic from all the daylight and unlimited white space surrounding me. I long for the day when I can have a comfy painter's couch and huge windows in my studio again. I see it. I do.

But I digress. My point is that being a painter who enjoys working alone, I have to make an effort to be social and have meaningful dialogues with others. I thought the patio might be a good place to start. And I thought that since I take a coffee break at 2pm every day, I would open up my studio one day a week, for anyone who wants to stop by and join me for coffee between 2 and 3 pm. In reality, I only take about 15 minutes for my coffee break, but I'm thinking an hour might be more reasonable for someone to stop by for coffee.

This is my idea of community outreach: conversation and coffee. It's art project within a studio practice. I'm instigating it tomorrow. For the time being I'm calling it, Tuesdays at 2 on Tuller. A bit droll, but it contains the necessary info. Not sure if the idea will take, but I figure I'd give it a shot. And who knows, perhaps vegan cupcakes will be served in the future.

AND, since I am no Luddite, if the real world coffee thing is slow to take, I will be open for IM chatting during that hour as well. I have to work out the details, but I'm thinking I might have found a way to make Facebook accountable.

(Feel free to forward this artists, and others interested in art in the LA/Culver City area.) Interested parties may email me and I will post a map.

I will report back.

car talk

Yesterday I was in a car, for most of the day it seemed. I'm in Los Angeles, so this would be considered normal for many people, but not me. I didn't even leave the boundaries of Culver City and yet because I had to cart stuff here and there, I couldn't bike or walk. No wonder people drive Bentleys.

Oh and I'm giving mobile blogging a go while I'm in the studio, just for kicks and because it's forced brevity. So if a post is choppy and brief like the one below, chances are I phoned it in.

Stuff:

Why these things take me so long, I do not know. I finally finished 2 apps. They're sitting next to me waiting to be mailed. Since I am on a roll, it would behoove me to burn a couple more disks, handcraft another impeccable cover letter and knock out my as-yet-determined quota for keeping things flowing.

But that is not the case. The Culver City Artwalk is today and I feel obligated to leave my compound and look at other people's art for a change. Still, I may shoot for getting one more app out the door on the way to the Artwalk, but probably not because it's time for my afternoon espresso now.

Never get your bangs trimmed the day before an event

Famous last words: "I want them really short. They grew out so fast."

[sigh]

****

Well, my intentions today were to work on the laptop and compose some eloquent letters to folks I'd really like to see the show. And I would have, except that one of the nicest people in LA called to see if I was available to have lunch in Culver City. Then I two-wheeled it over to Venice to visit another one of the nicest people in LA, who honored my request to trim my bangs a tad too short.

Then there was grocery shopping, a dog food run, getting the details for pet sitting a neighbor's dog this weekend, and the disappointment of realizing the dress I won on ebay, was not REALLY a vintage Lilly Pulitzer dress after all. I mean, it's still a vintage frock, but I thought I had found an near-exact replacement for my summer painting outfit, which happens to be a well-washed and worn Lilly dress from the 90's. Instead I received a knock-off, but for 10 bucks I can still paint in it. Still, I had my heart set on finding an exact match.

And of course, later tonight is LOST.