Stormy Weather

We had some unbelievable thunder storms today. One minute the sky was all sunny and blue and the next minute the wind was blowing and it was looking like it was 8pm. It rained and hailed really really hard for about 20 minutes and then stopped got sunny and then started up again a few hours later. It was really pretty cool. I love bad weather - it kind of reminds you that you aren't really in charge. I also start to think about people who don't have anywhere to go in a storm like that - that makes me a bit sad.

So I am working on this commission and like a fool I told him I could deliver it tomorrow. I just needed to put a deadline on it or it wouldn't get done. So I brought it to my art teacher for critique and well - let's just say neither of us was really happy with it. So I came home and have been reworking it. I think I'm going to pack it in for the night and go to bed. That was I can get up really early and make use of the morning light. Right now the only light I have is artificial and color is never right in that light.

I'm really stressed about this commission. I'm am completely grateful for the opportunity and of course can use the cash but the pressure of creating something along the lines of "can you do something like this?" is too much. Blah!

Anyway, I'm off to bed (wicked early). Have a good night everyone.

**Oh yeah - Maine was freaking amazing and I've spent the last three days wondering why I ever moved out of that state.

Where is the art?

I've noticed that my last few posts have had nothing to do with art. When you are an artist you go through super creative periods (or as my teacher Kim likes to call them "prolific") or extremely dry spells. In keeping with my general temperament it's pretty much all or nothing with me. I'm either working steadily and creating tons of stuff (some good - some bad) or my stuff is packed away and hasn't been touched in weeks. Saddly that is the case right now. I'm in my last week of school for the semester. My project on Theories of Personality is due next Friday by midnight. I have a pretty good handle on the project it is just between that and work it leaves me completely creatively depleted. I have noticed that this always in the last month of the semester so I'm not worried that I"ll never paint again - I just wish I could find a balance to be able to do all three things simultaneously and have none of them suffer.

I probably should be freaking out a little more because I have a show at the Foxboro Library in January. Which means having everything done before Christmas because that week in between Christmas and New Years is often kind of a "lost week" for me. A lot of my work is smallish now so I need to create kind of a lot to take up the space. I probably need at least 120 pieces if I continue to work within the same size. Right now I have about 30 - 35 pieces (as you can see in the watercolor rack to the left) - so it's time to get my ass in gear.

Crap just seeing those numbers in front of me realize that it's time to get a move on. I do however have some oils that I'm going to rework and hopefully I'll have time to create a few new ones. I haven't worked in oil in so long it feels like a bit of a foreign medium to me. I have one huge oil that hangs in my living room that I will bring to the show and hopefully sell, it's pretty big and will take up one whole panel. You can't tell from the photo but the piece is about 5 1/2 feet long by 4 feet high. Sorry about the glare, it's because of the copper paint.

I have two weeks off in between the semester ending on Friday August 31st and starting up again on Sunday September 16th. Instead of rushing around and trying to do a million things I should just sit back and relax - go to my art class that I have been missing and just get the creative side of my brain engaged again.

OK now I am going for a walk and then I have to pick up my mom from the airport and then get down to some personality theory.

Commissions & Bob Dyan

I have a friend named Nancy who absolutely HATES Bob Dylan. It never fails; I think of her everytime I hear him. She does this hysterical impression of him - all nasaly and stuff. It's pretty damn funny. Now me and the other hand- I LOVE Bob. I love his music - his lyrics - his arrangements - his musicianship -all of it. The way he can tell you a story in 4-6 minutes (for the most part). I love it. Add to that the fact that The Band (at that time The Ravens) was his backing band when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival and you just have literal musical genius. My absolute love and devotion for Robbie Robertson is for another day.

I'm sitting in my condo tonight working on a commission - well its kind of a commission. A family member (who I love dearly) has asked me to paint them something to fit in a certain space in their kitchen. I'm happy to do it, it's just nerve racking. They see something you did and they like it so they want something just like it...but a little different. I've started playing with watercolors and for lack of a better subject I did a few abstract florals. This family member saw one I gave to my mom and loved it. I gave them one and now they want another. Its a strange shape kind of short height wise and long. Doesn't make it easy. Luckily I work pretty fast and I'm going to do a couple and let her pick. And if she doesn't like any of them? I'll just hang them in my show in January and go from there.

My art teacher told me that my florals tend to look like Emil Nolde. I couldn't think of a better compliment.

Night!

Some of my work

Here are some of the paintings from the library show.

Art

I'm a painter. It still feels funny after all this time to say that. I paint mostly abstract although I have delved into a few realistic watercolors lately. I'm freaking my art teacher out by doing that and I mean that in a good way. I love doing abstract work. It's emotional-challenging and most of all (most of the time) fun. I get a lot of people who want to look at my work and try to make it into something. That's totally ok with me for some reason abstract makes them uncomfortable and they need to put a label on it. Thats their deal and there is nothing I can do about that.

I had a show last July. It was amazing. I hung about 40-50 pieces of work and sold almost half of them. The money financed my trip to California. I was shocked. Shocked at what sold and frankly shocked that any sold at all. I was soooo happy! I'm having another show in January of 08. Seems like a long way away right? Well it isn't. Before I know it it'll be December 30th or so and I'll be up all night painting edges and figuring out how to hang little watercolors like this one.

I love to paint and do it for me. It soothes my soul and sometimes we all need a little soothing.