The Good, The Bad and the Worser

(Pictures of house plants are provided to give us something living and green to focus on. I haven't killed them yet, which is one of the good things! A selection of begonia, dracaena and succulents).
The observant among you will notice that I am typing this at 3:45 a.m. (Well, I started my post then and am continuing at a more civilized hour). I couldn't sleep because of all the roiling 'round that my brain was doing.

The good? I have a one person show at a (community) college art gallery... YAAAAAYYY!! It all happened spontaneously and serendipitously because of an other artist's erratic behavior and sudden departure to points west. (It's actually sort of interesting that this other artist- an in demand young man!- disappeared to Southern California on a whim and left the curator with no show to hang.) So because I am a professional (I'm laughing here) and I have a ton of hang-ready work AND the curator loved my pieces... I have a show. I'll keep you posted as to the opening date and artist's talk.
I also have another REALLY GOOD art related event coming my way that is partially under wraps until February 1st. But let's just say I'm EXTREMELY pleased and excited!!

And that's a good thing as other aspects of my existence suck, big time. My job? The one that I've had for 12 years and really like (at times)? Probably won't be long before I'm seriously unemployed. Our hours have been cut (nothing personal- it's across the board), and apparently there is a hemorrhage of money and plenty of bad luck (unfortunately typical of the antiques/auction world). It's a changing market and there are other options for people to divest themselves of treasures and merchandise. But we also suffer from sinking morale (with nothing being done to boost it!) and increasingly peculiar conditions. * It does keep me up at night!
The worser and worser is: Do I really want to look for another job? What on earth am I prepared to do? I'd prefer to bury my head in the sand and deny the possibility of having to look for a different mode of economic support. I've certainly always had a fraught relationship with gainful employment! And I am silly/deluded/impractical and delirious enough to still hold out hope that "someone" will "discover" me and buy all my back inventory of artwork and catapult me into financial freedom. Are we all laughing now? I guess we need a good laugh as it's fuckin' freezing outside and we have a long way to go until spring.

*I am suspicious that "they" are surreptitiously trying to get us to quit. There is a major game of "uncle" going on; a brinksmanship battle to see just how far they can push us.Talk about stressful.

A Trip to Hell- and (Fortunately!) Back

Saturday was the last day for my one person show in NYC and therefore the final day we needed to make our way into "The City" to sit the show and "meet n greet n grip n grin". The weather was predicted to be cool but with no precipitation in sight. That was heartening because, as I have reported, each Saturday past presented some variation on sleet/snow/fog/heavy rain. Driving home from the train station was challenging.
So off we went to the train station. We arrived in the famous twenty acre parking lot early (good driving conditions, low traffic) and we began the long walk to the actual station.
A woman immediately flagged us and asked whether we had a shovel as her Prius was frozen into a snow bank. We didn't but offered to try and push her out but it was apparent that real digging was needed. Her niece was on the way with a snow shovel. (Word to the wise: Triple AAA doesn't offer snow help; who knew!)
We continued on our way and were flagged down by another woman who said the trains were not running south of the station because of power outages on the line due to Wednesday's snow event. We were faced with a choice: take a bus- provided free by Metro North- to Golden's Bridge (about 20 minutes south) or drive. Timing was important as the drive could potentially be accomplished and the train met without loosing time.
We jumped back into the truck, Bob put it in reverse and VVVVVViiiiiZZZZZZZZ!! The truck spun on the packed snow and ice and refused to move. We tried everything: a blanket under the rear tires, a large sheet of plywood under the tires, a helpful fellow NYC-bound commuter who actually volunteered to try and push the truck. Nothing worked. I thought- for one insane second- of asking Bob if he had his camera handy to take a few pictures*... but NO! Neither one of us was in the mood for pictures or levity and I wondered how we had been magically transported back to some gulag in Siberia. What about my brilliant art world debut?!??! We needed to get to NYC!
Finally,  Bob began whaling away at the ice with the truck jack and I used a claw hammer thing and the stuck Prius woman's niece arrived and lent us a snow shovel and a bag of kitty litter. We were cold and wet and pretty miserable... but the truck sailed backwards and we were free.
I guess we can thank the god's on high that we hadn't decided to simply jump on the bus because we would have arrived back at the dark and colder parking lot late at night to discover a stuck truck. We drove to the end of the parking lot closer to the station- where the pavement was clear and there was no chance of getting stuck- and decided the best option was to be bused to Golden's Bridge for the next train service. We were assured there would be a bus meeting every returning train. The metro employees were very helpful and accommodating and apologetic. What else could possibly go wrong?
How about a very weird bus trip? The bus was warm as we waited to depart, but I was troubled when I thought I overheard the bus driver asking directions to the train station. No, I thought, I must be wrong. They must have GPS. But the bus driver embarked on a circuitous and bizarre back roads ride to the next station. Even that seemed sort of understandable as maybe that was the fastest way to Brewster?  When the driver got on the highway, I sighed a deep breath of relief... until he got off the highway too soon and despite staring straight at a sign with an arrow clearly pointing left to our destination, he turned right. I was not alone (there were at least fifty people on that bus) in groaning. Turning the bus around, we somehow staggered into the train station and boarded the train. We were now really late and it seemed like a particularly idiotic episode of the twilight zone.
I will not continue to bore you with the fact that we then sat and waited for another fifteen minutes for another (probably lost) bus to arrive and make the connection. Yes, we made it to NYC and of course there was more construction on the downtown local subway so we had to get off and walk further to the gallery. Really? At that point, I was thoroughly through with public transportation!
Fortunately, despite extreme lateness and circumstances very beyond our control, the truncated day went well, and people- significant people!- showed up. I tried my best to seem unflappable and as if live was just great and things had gone oh-so-smoothly. I think I was successful?
And we took my show down. And we made the train (and bus) back to the truck- which started up and moved just fine on dry pavement.
There were at least 75 times on Saturday that I felt like throwing up my hands and saying, "Really? Why is this so fucking hard?" Is the universe trying to... what? Test me? Kill me? But I will recommend that artists are made of sterner stuff. We persist!

* The above picture is of a miniature metal truck stuck in snow on the top of the horse barn. Symbolic but not as painful as the actual full-size stuck F 150!

The Three Pillows of Wisdom

You may well remember my "Small Golden Pillow of the Resistance". It languished at Open Studios, despite my pricing it attractively. Several months after Open Studios, an astute collector (and friend- Hello Antony!) inquired as to whether it was still available. He was smart enough to snatch it up.
Then he approached me with the tantalizing question as to whether I ever do commissions. Of course I do! So he requested that I do two more pillows... one that reads "Bite Me".

And one that reads "Eat Me". As you see in the photos, "Bite Me" is complete and really a lovely thing to behold. "Eat Me" is still in process... I worked really carefully and consciously to make all the colors harmonize and to make the "fonts" that the words are written in different, yet complimentary. I think I was successful.

I actually wanted to photograph this and post it here to see if "Eat Me" read as clearly, or whether it requires tweaking and clarification. It looks pretty good although it's harder to see that the back ground fabric (under the gold) is really a very pale pink and it will be cut jaggedly to echo the star burst pattern. And then it's being mounted on a medium brown (kind of (milk) chocolate-y) pillow. But Bob just looked at it- unprovoked- and exclaimed that it was perfectly easy to read. That made me feel more confident, although I am still debating a narrow border of dark brown (bitter-sweet chocolate) beads around the interior of "Eat Me". Maybe not; maybe it's just gilding the lily!
I am very happy with how they're turning out. Sometimes someone else's idea is a good jumping off point. I have just completed 12 large scale pieces for my show in NYC and these pillows are a cosy way to sidle back into new studio preoccupations.

How Boring! The Weather

A mysterious morning! Looking back at the house on a murky morning.... maybe this picture is from even longer ago than I think. Possibly from the fall? I couldn't find a foggy picture, even though we've experienced several very foggy mornings.

And Sunday morning... (at least this picture is recent!) when we had that sudden and ridiculous snowfall. And then today it was almost 80 degrees outside. And tomorrow is going to rain/snow/sleet and be 32. Could the weather please make up it's mind?!?
No wonder everyone got sick this winter. It's hard to acclimate and even know how to dress appropriately. I shed all along my walk this morning and the poor horse that I was supposed to ride today was sweating under minor exertion because she's still wearing her winter coat. Crazy.
I think this is a sort of place-holder blog. I'm still not entirely recovered from my episode of the flu and I haven't felt super-creative. Also, I think I'm a bit exhausted due to my show in NYC. Big energy expenditures when there's little reserve!
Bear with me. Maybe I'll unearth another silly picture or two...

See? That's Bob modeling the (yes!) waders that a friend bequeathed to him. The do fit perfectly and I guess he can wear them when he dredges the pond or takes up eel fishing. Maybe the eels will be running next week if the weather holds.

Where Have I Been?!?!?!?

I apologize to my fans, friends, family and followers! I have been so tied up and busy, getting ready for my show in NYC (and working and marching against The Orange Menace and experiencing the vagaries of life like fighting off a cold) that I haven't posted in over a week! Yikes! I try and keep up with myself and report back on all the weird and wonderful happenings here at the BauHaus Chicken Coop...
Anyway, not for the first time, Tilda Swinton is making a surprise guest appearance. Sort of like the  squishy package of taco sauce that followed us on a trip across country (don't ask!) Tilda is an inexplicable feature in our life.

Thought I was kidding, right? I think our strange obsession with all things Tilda started simply because Bob and I agreed that she's just plain strange. You will recall that she showed up taped to a milk carton a couple of years ago and now regularly pops up in unexpected situations. For a while, she was stalking Bob- hence the Xmas greeting. This particular incarnation- with the super elongated neck and decidedly alien presentation- has kept us busy for over a month now.*

Oh well; I guess it's good clean fun and a pleasant distraction from all those other pressing issues... like getting ready for my show!
Auuuuugggh! I am down to the hardest part of show preparation: doing outreach and press releases and all the stuff that really matters. I'm utterly confident in the work itself; it looks great! But the bringing together of all the details involved in marketing is intense. I don't want to do this show and just have a big fizzle. I am fortunate that the gallery is actually commercial, a business and not a non-profit (which are great but they don't typically worry too much about whether anything sells or not!) which means they're doing a lot of this for me- like getting the pieces photographed professionally. But what I need is some one like Tilda's publicity person to get my name out there front and center. Tilda help me!

*And just as Tilda vanished and Bob informed me that she was "resting up", I discovered her mounted on a glass vase shaped like a head in a cupboard downstairs. So she's still active!

Really Big Show

I'm excited getting ready for my really big show! I've been sewing and twisting and shaping and stuffing... my fingers are cracked and bleeding (I'll spare you any documentation of that!) and I am my own sweat shop. Some one should complain to management!
But it's all coming together; I have a February 9th opening and I'm just finishing up details on backings and hangers. I sure hope at least a few people come to my show (I'm pretty sure they will...)
But secretly? I could use a little less "raw material". Everyday, this administration (we know who I'm talking about) lets loose with another spurt of bizarre of profane invective. Shithole countries indeed! Bob and I would be packing up the Dog and Pony Show and moving to... Norway? except that I have a really big show approaching and hell! We need to stay and fight the good fight! Art as activism!
By the way, the name of my show is "Complicity Loves Company". I thought that was catchy but also it's true. And I can think of more than a few complicit individuals that should be going down in flames soon enough. A friend just sent us "Fire and Fury" so I know what we'll be digging into later today. As one pundit remarked, "If one tenth of this book is true, we're in trouble". And let's face it: we've already heard many of these stories before.
BUT we can thank our lucky charms that the weather broke as my studio is once again inhabitable. the sub-zero temperatures had me cowering in the living room, wearing a hat and gloves while stitching away like a modern day Betsy Ross. With temperatures in the 40's, 50's and today (maybe?) almost 60 (!!!), it's foggy and balmy and I can complete my masterpieces. You should see the one that's up on my wall, awaiting the finishing dingle berries! OMG!! (This is a tease to get you to look at my next posting). Stay tuned...

It's Show Time!

Yes, it's time for another edition of Bob and Rita play Famous Artist and have a show! This time, we're actually showing together with a very good painter named Megan Marden. Years back (which no one but Bob and I will remember), we vowed NOT to show with each other for a variety of reasons I won't go into here. But time passes and opportunities arise... The show looks great but there are some obstacles to presenting work in an alternative space. Like there's no heat and it may be chilly and possibly rain/snow shower. But artists are made of sterner stuff and the show must go on! There is no art on the walls and my studio is empty so I chose to insert the above photo; art courtesy of Robin the Good.
(I think Robin shows great promise as a sculptor (she takes after Bob) although her work tends towards manipulation of the ready made, as opposed to carving or welding. She carefully "painted" the end of her gnawed rawhide chew with a liberal application of teething puppy blood. I was perplexed when I almost stepped on the above treasure. I thought the light in the room had a rosy glow, until I discovered that Robin was nursing an incoming molar. Kind of gross, but that's life!)

(That's my newest book, in artist's proof form! I'm still tweaking assembly and some details, but it's getting there. Isn't it about time? This monster took months.)
So the update is as follows: no snow or rain for our opening (Yay!) but freezing temperatures and an inscrutable location made for a sort of arctic goose chase evening. Brave souls, our art viewing friends! Some wandered through the depths of the Danbury industrial wilderness, searching for signs and landmarks. Others faced down pneumonia and everyone dressed for polar exploration (a re-visitation of down parkas and fur-like hats and woolly scarves). The show really was well received and Bob and I (and we certainly hope Megan) came away feeling numb (feet) but satisfied.
The success of our opening- and a big thank-you again to all of our intrepid friends!- coupled with the excellent news that Bob sold an interesting garden object (the moss table) yesterday makes for a really pleasing day after glow.

Bureacratic Joy and Sculpture Shows All In One

Yup! The truck's legal as we paid a most inspiring visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles on Wednesday. It wasn't as awful as we'd been told: I heard tell of four hour waits and I always dread the document forgotten at home hell. Don't get me wrong- as we approached the DMV, we could see (despite torrential downpouring) cars circling like so many metallic sharks as there were simply not enough parking spaces to be had. I exited the car, telling Bob optimistically to park it where and when he could and I ran for the door. Only to find that the line inside snaked all the way out to the entry way and the next poor suckers to join us on line were actually waiting outside. We inched forward where a woman came along and issued numbers- mine was D694. I thought, "My life is over. I will be here for the next ten years. I'll never see Bob or my dog or pony ever again". I almost left as I am somewhat claustrophobic and not necessarily the biggest fan of masses of humanity compressed check by jowl. But I figured we'd just have to do this all over again...
About an hour later, I was joined by Bob. We managed to find a seat and waited and waited and waited. I think it was myself who had suggested that we wouldn't need those magazines or books we had debated bringing. Thank God Bob and I always have things to talk about-
Like his wonderful show at ColoColo Gallery. The show looks amazing as it is a large high-ceilinged space with an interesting arrangement of three semi-rooms off of the main gallery, allowing for large spaces and more intimate ones. The woman who Bob is showing with had pleasing and colorful abstract paintings that complemented Bob's austere palette perfectly. Bob has received a really great review in a New Bedford newspaper and hopefully this will draw in masses of the art viewing masses. (Who ever they are. I shall explore my theory of who consumes art in another posting...) So all in all a true triumph!

(Autumn color outside our office window. Red truck, golden yellow foliage. Fall is here!) And as you can tell from the fact that I am posting this blog entry, our number was finally called, we successfully registered the truck and are back home. The Bernie Sanders sticker has been affixed to a clean bumper and we're ready for the next art event. Bring it on!

Sculpture There, Not Here

There is much excitement here as we get ready to go there to Bob's show in New Bedford. It's always nice to be able to have a show and trot your work out for public scrutiny and accolades. Not to mention that it's festive and celebratory and there's much back-slapping and toasting of art well made. And when it's at a commercial gallery where the very real possibility of a sale exists, all the better! We are "cautiously optimistic" (who isn't?) that good things will manifest...
Our friends Don and Elizabeth are putting us up in New Bedford as well as throwing a party for Bob. We're truly looking forward to this congratulatory mini-vacation. It is strange to realize that I haven't seen the show yet, as I didn't accompany Bob to help in set up. That fell to our friend Joe who acted as sculpture chauffeur. Thanks all around to everyone who helped Bob in his ascension to art world fame! It was two years in the making; two years that flew by.

And here's a confused Jules the Dog, surveying the now quite empty yard. I think he's wondering where Bob's sculpture has gone as he likes to pee on it and now has to look further a-field. It is very odd to look out the kitchen window and view the lack of sculpture. And to think that many people live like this! Shocking! Of course, that can be remedied by visiting ColoColo Gallery in new Bedford and purchasing one or more sculptures. Never have an empty yard again!