So, if you think I had issues with packing and shipping, you should catch me with packing and moving.

1. I went to a meeting with some biker friends.
2. Made two trips to the storage unit.
3. Organized the storage unit.
4. Laundry.
5. Did part one of a repair on a vintage purse my aunt made, and that my mom paid good money for someone to sew together but they did a half-ass job and I felt bad because it was the best they could do and so after a few years, I finally got around to redoing it myself today. And no it wasn't on the todo list, but I was packing away purses, so it was now or never. It's a great purse. I'll post it when I finish the repair. Unbelievably I have no black thread.
6. Studio. Stacking 'em up and knocking 'em down. De-canvased 3 stretchers today and said goodbye to 3 less than stellar works.
7. In the process of killing an 11" x 14" painting I keep thinking is done, but is annoying me.
8. Thinking about stretching a 54" x 43" canvas and making a new larger painting for the show at the Brand library in May. 
9. I was really inspired by a friend's painting on raw canvas, gorgeous buildup of layers and layers and layers, so I started an 8" x 10" painting on raw canvas with lots of thin layers. It's covered with a solid sheet of thick acrylic now. Not feeling the thinness and lightness of being, I guess.
10. X'd out a few areas on another painting and brought it inside. I can't wait to paint in a studio with natural light. 
11. Finally called my mom a 7pm to see if she remembered my birthday. She said she had been trying to call me all day and that the operator told her my number had been disconnected. I think she forgot to dial the area code. I wasn't very good at hiding my sadness. She asked me what was wrong and I just told her I was tired.
12. Took an iPhone pic of #11. 

And now it's Monday....

I delivered a truckload of boxes to storage. I counted 8-10 boxes of books so far. I still have about 2 bookcases to go. I had more but I'm donating about 3 boxes of books to Goodwill. It just occurred to me that I am very comfortable around books. When I was a kid, my mom was working on her Phd. and also taught at Peabody College and Peabody Demonstration School in Nashville. Conveniently I also attended Peabody from nursery school through 3rd grade. Sometimes mom would stash me in the library on campus if she still had a class to teach after I got out of class. 

Then I scanned the house for detritus. first and second sweep, you know.

Then the studio to work on killing the same painting that did not die yesterday. Maybe I need to step away for a bit. 

Then back to house to finish up this post. 

Oh, and I have chosen to scan a bunch of loose papers with random but pertinent information, instead of painstakingly copying down the info by hand. So that's next. 

Surprise! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY ADDISON!!!!

I used to love birthdays. I still do. My only real gripe this year is that I have to pack and move stuff to storage, and so will not be able to fritter away the day. I'm sure I will go in the studio, but I HAVE to cart stuff off to storage. HAVE TO. Other than that I have no real plans. Yesterday I took the motorcycle out to Eagle Rock to pick up a painting from a show that came down. On the ride, I was kind of gloating to myself about being able to ride my bike to pick up a piece of artwork. Beautiful day in LA. Warm, sunny. Maybe I will sneak in a ride up the coast today. Along with everyone else in Southern California. Maybe not. Maybe I will paint outside. According to a chart I found on the internet, I am 8 in dog years. Fang is around 74 in human years.

Last night I dashed over to see Brit Tolliver's work at Kinkead and ran into a bunch of Tennessee ex-pats. Such a great group of folks.

I'm going to start a large painting. Just one.

To make a long story short-

I finally found my car keys in a box of Valerian-Mint tea.

Moving and packing is not my friend.

Update: the wall painting day two. Fin.

image: 20" x 16"

oh yeah.

Writing on the wall. Once you read the post, you'll groan at how cliché my post title was.

I don't know why I am compelled to upload work in progress, but I am. I worked on the above painting for a little bit today. Maybe I will work on it again tomorrow, but it was more like an experiment to see how I would handle the physical act of painting directly on the wall, along with with how I would make a painting without any preconceived notions to start with whatsoever. I guess this falls in to a Rules painting. (I will explain what I mean by that later, as well as my rules.)

I knew I would eventually do some wall paintings and when I came across Josh Smith's project at Deitch, something stuck in my head. I've decided to couple the idea of site specific painting with my desire to do "live" painting. The lack of the object, the efficiency of the mark, the expediency of the task at hand, the no-safety net approach to painting- all of these things make painting on the wall perfect for me right now. I'm still working on the small paintings on linen with the o k a y, but not great show title which needs revamping, but live wall painting feels like a meaty deviation. If all goes well, I plan on showing these (those) at the Brand Library and Art Center in May. Any other takers out there?

In other freaky scary news, we signed on the dotted line with a real estate broker today. 180 days or less until I fall out of the homeowning class. [Sigh.] Letting go, letting go.

Whew.

Hard work selling stuff for a $1. I don't know what brings out the pissy in me, but when you've reduced a practically brand new $70 Michael Stars dress to a $1 and gently used linens to $1 and someone still wants 50¢ off, it's like, NO, that's $2. Two Dollars. Then they walk away because they didn't get it for $1.50.

Matt and I killed the last hour playing Parcheesi. I won. Twice. I enjoy Abstract strategy games.

Today I'm back on the computer wrapping up an application, accounting, and prep work for upcoming group show. After the yard sale ended, I tackled the studio angling for a more efficient use of space. See Abstract strategy games above. It's really all the same, you know. It kills me, but I'm putting that great find of the wooden cubbies on craigslist. A nine foot piece of furniture is just too large unless I were to have a huge loft. It eats up an entire wall. I may wait until the very last minute just in case, but I removed it from the studio already.

Decided on a real estate broker. Let that fun begin.

Decided that my amazing show title was just o k a y, not great. I sort of suspected this. Theoretically it was a great title, but I had that feeling it was too easy, too pat. I spent quite a bit of time reading a 1947 unabridged dictionary yesterday.

LA Freeway System Sucks Life Out of Local Artist.

The 10 is a heinous freeway. I had a meeting in Glendale this morning. It took a little over an hour to get there. Amazingly, I calculated my timing within 5 minutes of accuracy. This minor miscalculation is amazing because Google Maps said it would take me 30 minutes. Or 90 minutes in traffic. Either way it's a total crapshoot. Afterward, I had to run another art-related errand and I'm now back in Culver City waiting to interview real estate agent #2. I teach tonight. By 9:30 this evening, I will have logged 78 miles and approximately 3.5 hours in the car today. Grueling.

Mostly Crap, But You Never Know, aka The YARD SALE, aka I'm attempting to be a Minimalist.

I have a picture of when I said goodbye to Nashville and moved up to Chicago. It was taken by my aunt in their driveway as I left town. I have on my paint jeans, a nice knit hat, and a sweater of my dad's. My Chevy Cavalier is packed with art supplies and the bare necessities. My worldly possessions fit into a rooftop cargo box from U-Haul.

I've got a ways to go before packing it up and moving it out, but we're interviewing real estate agents this week. The goal is to do all the minor things to make it look nice and have the house on the market in one month. Most of the furniture and STUFF will have to go into storage, so I might as well be ruthless now. We liked the broker we interviewed today. He thought the house had a good vibe, like a Venice bungalow. Curb appeal.

The studio will be in full swing until the last minute. I am getting rid of some stuff in the studio, like the Gamblin box of powdered gesso you make from scratch. NOT seeing that in my future anytime soon. I guess I had a moment where I thought about doing egg tempera, which I did, mind you, but not for long. Probably around the same 3 seconds I thought about mining my own pigments from the earth's core. If someone wants it, let me know. $18 value. I'll trade for some Abstract Expressionist stamps. For real.

Anyway, it's a crazy house over here. After Sunday, I'll see how much of a minimalist I am. I remember reading about a woman who kept her possessions to something insane like 10 or 20 objects. You know, like- couch, pillow, bed, sheet, dress, bowl, spork, shoes, key etc. I will try.

I'm pleased to report I am still a demi-god in the studio according to a couple of works in progress. The dangerous thing is that I'm not finished with these pieces, so it could be a wash, but the important thing is that all kidding and ego-maniacal thinking aside, I'm excited and engaged with the current paintings. I'd like to say, I wish the rest of my life was so pleasurable and exciting, but that would seem counterproductive to the current work, now wouldn't it. Yes, why yes it would. Welcome to one of life's little puzzles.

The good news is that I left the studio last night feeling like a genius.

The bad news is that I haven't walked in there today, so not sure whether that was a good call or not.

I spent most of the day sorting through books and stuff, weeding things out for this weekend's yard sale. I am also this close to completing an online application. This close.

I'm also swearing off marriage ever again. Perhaps that last sentence was TMI. Whatever. Someone asked me if I had any birthday wishes. I replied, "a personal assistant and a time machine."

Today's mood: overcast.

Such a beautiful day. I felt guilty for not riding, but not really.

My dad passed away when I was in my 20's. I wasn't much for taking heed back then, but I do remember one piece of his advice. He told me to work hard 6 days a week and always rest on Sunday.

Ok. I snuck in the studio for a bit, but obviously someone was making sure I didn't stay for long.

And where are my manners?

In all my sulking about studio space, I forgot to mention that fellow artist and blogger, Nancy Baker, aka Rebel Belle, who is in town for Mery Lynn McCorkle's exhibition at Jancar, and Mery Lynn stopped by the studio yesterday for a brief visit and a peek at my new work. It was nice to visit with both of them. It's crazy how small and overlapping the art world is. I probably talked way too much about the work. I get kind of obsessive talky sometimes.