Equinox

September 22, 2008

I had a great weekend in and out of the studio. I feel like I finally got some momentum going on the paintings. The weekend also turned out to be a busy social time for me as well.

Three of the four big canvases are coming along nicely. The fourth is still waiting for the big push. Actually, it’s waiting for any push at all at the moment. I’m really partial to this particular image so I’ve been holding off doing anything major until I’m more in the painting groove. I don’t want to screw anything up. Dogs have made a comeback in the imagery. I have to schedule a time with my pal J to get some reference of Jack the wonder dog. The two series of four 18 x 24” canvases are still in the beginning stages. Right now I’m calling one series “Air” and the other “Banco” for lack of a better titles. I’ve encountered some drying issues with one of the background colors that I’ve yet to work out.

Early Friday evening we got a call that a couple of our good friends were in town. We were invited to dinner at G’s home and had a wonderful time catching up with Malaquias and Leslie Montoya. Malaquias had an opening for his “Globalization & War: The Aftermath,” exhibit in DeKalb, IL.

Saturday morning M and gang came by my studio to have a quick look at what was going on there. Although I’m not usually keen on the idea it was nice to have them see the works in progress. Leslie seemed surprised that I was working on more than one painting at a time. As I explained that it was the best way I had to deal with drying times I remembered that Malaquias works mainly in acrylic so he doesn’t encounter that problem much. They all had encouraging words before making their way to the airport. The rest of the day was spent painting and planning.

Saturday night L and I made our way to D’s house warming party. D was celebrating his new home and artworks with a small group of close friends. My Earth Dragon (coffin) suite of prints is among the Meso/Latino art pieces he has displayed. The guests had many positive compliments on the prints and I even made one possible sale (fingers crossed).

Most of Sunday was spent at the studio except for a lunchtime break to wrestle with the boys. All in all a pretty good weekend.

Recycled

Working from the past to the present:

August 21st, 2008
I'm being torn in two directions at the moment. Should I make work or should I work on the space where I can make work? Decisions, decisions.

Something I started more than 4 years ago and have yet to finish is calling me. I’m converting my old two stall garage into an art studio. Getting the press put a fire under me to finally buckle down and finish the conversion. Over the years the building has been rewired and the roof has been redone but I always stall out due to time or cash constraints. I've spent the last few days patching concrete and securing doors. Two days ago I bought the insulation needed to help keep the cold and damp out. I wouldn’t want the press and all my stuff getting damp, rusty, and moldy.

The thing is I still have the December show hanging out there calling for new work as well. Where's that cloning machine?






August 26th, 2008
Took a break from working on the garage last night. Took the boys to see a movie instead. I'm burning out on being covered in sweat, sawdust, insulation, dodging mud wasps and losing my rock and roll hearing to loud saws and hammering.

The place is looking very nice though. I’m using recycled materials wherever I can. I’m using some 4’x 10’ x 1/2” ply to serve as my wall cover. I’m using this for two reasons: 1) because it was free, salvaged from a gallery at work and 2) because it will allow me to nail anywhere on the wall instead of having to look for a stud every time I need to hang a heavy thing. I’m thinking about punching some holes in the north exterior walls to allow for some more windows and an exhaust fan. An electric heater is going to have to be dug up somewhere to help heat the place since I don’t have a gas line out to the garage.

I can't wait to finish getting all the wall boards up and painting everything a nice light color to brighten up the place.

It's coming along...

September 2nd, 2008
Saturday: another studio wall done, fort building, sweating, Samurai Jack, scanning, reading ...
Sunday: travel, familia, Oberon, campfire, smores, millions or stars...
Monday: giant spider, breakfast with parents, meeting cousin I haven't seen in 30+ years, missing water, picking peaches, driving...
Tuesday: back at it...


September 5th, 2008
I’ve left the garage/studio project hanging for a few days as I try to get my head back into working on some art.
Now, where was I?