I spent most of the day having a ménage à trois with Apple and AT&T. Sadly, I'm still not satisfied.

I've been having a voicemail issue with my cell phone, which I might add, I use as a business phone. I'm so not down with receiving voicemail 24 hours after the fact, but kept postponing the dreaded techsupportphonecalltimesuck. I'm not going to punish myself by looking at my calendar to see if the first time I noticed a delayed voicemail was 28 days ago, because if it had been, I could have walked into an Apple store and walked out with a new or refurbished iPhone, if indeed, the problem was the phone. AT&T is saying it's not on their end, but Apple is suggesting it could be the SIM card. Nonetheless, here I am 27 days after my warranty has expired and so I am troubleshooting EVERYTHING with the nice Apple kid outside of Dallas who at one point told me to "right click" something and I was like, "What? Did you just tell me to right-click?"
1) I've been using a Wacom tablet and pen for about 12 years and 2) I know that's dark side talk.

At this point, it seems like I'm getting voicemail within 10-25 minutes, which, while not exactly bomb squad worthy, is better than 24 hours and acceptable until I have replenished my patience for the next level of troubleshooting.

And yes, I was supposed to be painting today. Before the techsupportphonecalltimesuck, I grabbed some more paintings from storage and had a studio visit with a friend who is trying to turn a friend of hers onto my work. I say "try." I'm not sure my work would fit above her fireplace. I'm not being snarky, but people who have measurements in mind kind of freak me out anyway. I'm aware not everyone has my any port in a storm hanging mentality.

It will be a late night. This week was kind of chopped up with appointments anyway, so I knew it wouldn't be ideal, but next week, I only have one studio visit/breakfast scheduled and unless something outlandishly fantastic comes my way, I'm implementing bankers hours until this project gets done.

27 days past warranty. I loathe planned obsolescence.

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.