SUNY Buffalo

I'm giving an artist lecture at SUNY Buffalo Monday evening at 6:30pm. Feel free to drop in if you are in the vicinity.

A Thanksgiving Story

Thanksgiving was delicious.

It's always fun to hang out.

Now, go away.

The End.

Winter Reprieve

We had a winter reprieve this Sunday. Perfect for two more Delaware Trail Challenge hikes (only two more left!) These photos are from Holts Landing State Park. It was great to be outside. I've been frantically trying to finish my Christmas knitting. I'm also preparing for a lecture at SUNY Buffalo the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Inspiration

Snow...and signs of life

Splurge

Yesterday, partly to bribe myself into taking my latest part time job and partly because I've been wanting to make this drawing for a while, I bought a set of Prismacolor pencils. And because I REALLY don't want this new part time job I bought the biggest set they have. Oh yeah, and the special Prismacolor sharpener. So now I'm financially obligated. Who knows, maybe I'll even like it. The job that is. I already love the pencils. I've been making grid based work for a few years, concurrent to my other work. In a lot of ways it's much more similar to the knitting process than the painting process, methodical and repetitive. Under normal circumstances I'm a generalist. Specific details are easy for me to leave out so the grid process helps me to connect to a very deliberate recognition of detail. In the studio I'm finishing up the graphite fireworks drawing and now...in the works...a drawing made out of my new colored pencils.

Yesterday afternoon I called on my neighbor and sharpened 71 (I missed 1) pencils while we sat and chatted. It took the entire hour and a half. (Just a warning if you find yourself following suit...put down the pencils when talking about upsetting subjects. I sharpened one of my pencils down and entire inch without realizing it!!!)

Contact Sports

Every year around birthday time I get myself in over my head. Cupcakes do it to me every time-way too much work. These, in case you can't tell, are magnifying glasses. It was a murder mystery party. The kit only came with 6 characters so I had to invent 8 more. (Yes we were crazy enough to invite fourteen 12 year old girls to our rather small apartment.) While I was at it (and since I had to retype all of the books anyway) I changed all of the characters to female (except the dead guy) and eliminated as much of the adultery as possible (so as to offend as few parents as possible). That was a lot of work. The perfectionist in me really wanted to make the little books perfect but time ran out. In fact I finished these cup cakes only 5 min before the guests arrived. But every year I learn something new.

Who knew make-up was a contact sport?

A Thousand Words

In the Studio, November

Material Color

We went to see the "Material Color" exhibition at the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey today. It was a very fun show, something that really needs to be seen in person to appreciate the depth of the paint. But...second best is a look at Joanne Mattera's blog.

Fluctuate

In the final book of Doris Lessing’s Children of Violence series several of the characters suffer from mental illness. Or at least that’s what they and the society around them believe. It turns out that they are not so much mentally ill as developing abilities they will need to live in a completely altered environment. So after the nuclear incident the “mentally ill” are actually the best prepared for survival.

I think about this frequently. As I sit here to write about it I realize I cannot articulate what I mean. But somehow this experience equates to art and artmaking. Somehow there is always a period where (where what… the artmaking process is mentally ill???) and the question: “Is the artmaking mentally ill or merely preparing to be a part of something I don’t yet understand?” weighs heavily on my mind. But I like the idea that it is all about a future experience because that means I can trust myself. That means that I can follow impulses I don’t quite understand because the meaning will be revealed later. I hope.

Vultures at Conowingo Dam

Obama!!!

Obama Obama Obama Obama Obama!!!!

Land of the Free

Good Morning