I love having a studio. It's the most splendid thing.
Had the most Terrible pathetic day spend moaning and groveling on my living room floor.
Tried to pick a fight w/God in the Hot Tub.
It wasn't working. The hot tub that is.
It wasn't hot, kinda luke warm.
It was like sitting in an enormous puddle of pee.
Which is actually the perfect metaphor for my day.
I stayed in the hot tub a long time actually considering how unhot it was and how many bugs and feathers and unidenitified floated objects (UFOs) were floating about.
Each time the little grey feather with the ant and the string stuck to it floated by I internally tipped my hat, "And a good day to you as well sir."
Fell a bit behind on my blogging. my apologies to anyone who actually follows this thing: i love you.
But i did finish the painting. this is the same canvas that stared at me blankly as i stared back in terror just last week...or was it the week before... anyhow, it's done now, finished last tuesday. painted the edges on wednesday and installed hanging hooks and wire on the back for the show on friday.
I painted the edges with a mess of grays but i painted the bottom edge fluorescent pink. it reminds me of those fancy heels with the bright red flash of paint on the bottoms. i've always wanted a pair of shoes like that.
Finishing a painting can be really great. until you wake up the next day and you realize you have nothing to work on. and you have to start all over again. on thursday, i didn't go to the studio. thursday was the worst day i've lived through in a long time.
Friday was the open studios night at the harwood. which was fun and exhausting and lovely and full of people. i put my best game face on (which means lots of lip stick, fake lashes, and hairspray) and i tried to talk to as many people as possible. and smile. i really enjoy big extroverty people gatherings like that for a small chunk of time. but i always leave wondering if i said something weird or uncomfortable to anyone, always sure i did but unsure of what it was. this often causes me to lie in bed and wince repeatedly as I try to fall asleep.
my favorite moment was when one of my pre-schoolers (from the job i recently quit!) showed up with her family. i talked to them for a long time, i bent down several times to talk to and hug the little girl, giving her cake and juice. she's one of my favorite pre-schoolers ever, she's an amazing artist and i'm completely obsessed with her drawings. i was so excited that she was there in my studio seeing all my paintings.
After about 20 or 30 minutes in my studio her parents said goodbye and they started heading out. I leaned down and gave the little girl a big hug and told her how happy I was that she had come to see me in my art studio. She looked at me, squinting hard, and finally said "Are you Ms. Juliet?"
That's right folks. Seeing teachers outside of school can be confusing for little ones. All that time she had no idea why this strange woman was hugging her and being so nice to her...LOL!
Afterwards, I was supposed to meet up with some of the harwood's other artists at a nearby pub, a meet up I helped organize. (gulp) But I blew it off to hang out with a woman who's an amazing jewelry artist and one of the overall coolest people I've ever known. We sat in her backyard and talk next to the fire until about 1 in the morning. At which point she invited me in to see her taxidermy collection.
The last 3 days I feel I've fallen off the bandwagon, the horse, the metaphorical thing which moves speedily in the direction one hopes to go. I've not painted, played, danced, sang, or made anything. I've crawled around my apartment leaving only to make appearances at a few obligations around town. I've begun my plotting of my next painting. I sometimes feel like I'm writing a horse backwards. I'm going to my studio first thing tomorrow. I'm hoping I can climb back on.
