And While We're On the Subject...

To avoid confusion, I point out that this post is NOT about Corona Virus (COVID 19). It is an attempt to discuss a work-related matter, in a semi-light hearted way as I know we all need to laugh. The picture above is of our compost pile. I am making the point that our compost pile is a more savory place to consider eating than the lunch room where I work. (*1)
And because I was discussing my place of employment and disease, I thought this would be a good time to discuss issues of hygiene and nutrition- both of which are in short supply at work.
How I haven't gotten food poisoning at work is truly a mystery; someone has because one of my co-workers spends inordinate amounts of time in the men's room (conveniently located right next to the lunch room). Typically, there are several mice in residence evidenced by the small poop offerings to be found in the drawer containing such essentials as plastic wrap and aluminum foil. We learned early on to go without. Traps are set, but there's always more rodents.
The silverware drawer is exempt from poop but holds utensils that need both inspection AND washing before use. A fellow employee thinks a quick cold water rinse suffices to clean forks and spoons. Ditto for dishes.
Then there is the toaster oven that has attempted to burn the building down on occasion, partially due to one (former) member of management who liked to place food items in the toaster oven- set on "broil", too close to the heating elements and then leave the room. Billows of smoke and badly blackened food signaled "lunch was ready". The microwave is a better bet (despite being coated with three years worth of micro-on sludge) but it can't be used while the toaster or coffee maker is plugged in or the fuses blow.
Many of my co-workers are tired of hearing me bemoan the danger of microwaving food in plastic but they persist in doing it anyway. (I guess the microwaves do kill the bacteria in mouse poop adorning the plastic wrap but we've all heard of the carcinogenic problems with plastic and microwaves.) I keep expecting co-workers to show up sporting elaborate tumors spontaneously generated by a Chernobyl-like convergence of microwave and plastic. Don't get me started on the imbibing of "sugar-free" sodas...
My bosses surly corgi used to hold fort beneath the table and consume whatever snacks and scraps that people dropped. Ginger used to also leave remarkably gigantic poops under the lunch table;her way of saying "thanks", but she has since gone to doggie heaven and food scraps stay on the floor.
And then there's the food itself: many of my co-workers are nutritionally challenged, consuming nothing but pizza and questionable portions of greasy take-out chicken but these people are young and still feel invincible. Ah youth!

The people I worry about are the ones I avoid eating with. One individual has horrified me with obscene "edible creations" lovingly constructed before my cringing eyeballs. How about wonder bread, slathered with peanut butter... and mayonnaise? Quick way to lose one's appetite! And deep fried everything... sometimes carted back from fairs and street festivals. I can't even describe some of the other items I've seen him place in his mouth. Another person whom I avoid at lunch time brings food from home, but it's usually some gigantic blob of undercooked meat in a plastic baggie that sits festering on the counter for hours (although the refrigerator is a few feet away). I can't even consider the bacteria multiplying mere inches from my innocent apple. Oh and I need I mention that I'm the only person at work who seriously consumes fruit? And vegetables?
We have a joke at work among my healthier eating co-workers, that no matter how awful or old something is- like Halloween candy months after the fact or stale cake from a party attended elsewhere (*2)- if you put it on the kitchen table, it will be gone (eaten!!) within minutes. Like piranha they are! This is the appropriate time to mention that for my birthday one year they purchased an ice cream cake for me, but then left it on the lunchroom table. We were really busy so it wasn't until much later- on a July afternoon- that we went to the lunchroom and were confronted with an ice cream soup mess. I guess it's the thought that counts!
Understandably, when the weather is warm I prefer to dine out doors, where we actually have a picnic table. But I am thinking I'm (sorta) lucky as due to uncertainties surrounding COVID 19, I don't have to go to work for the foreseeable future.(*3) Stay healthy! You are what you eat!


(*1) But I am happy to report that the co-worker in question was told to stay at home until next week so I feel vindicated. Also, I hope she realizes how lucky she is as they are apparently considering stopping flights to Washington State and elsewhere...
(*2) Or how about a months old gingerbread house? Brought in by a "thoughtful" co-worker? Left over from Xmas but delivered to us in February? I think that one was so beyond the pale that it wound up in the garbage can!
(*3) Because I actually enjoy certain aspects of work! Really! It can be amusing... just not the eating part.
(*4) The amaryllis is blooming on our kitchen table. It is here to remind us of beauty and things other than COVID 19. Amen.

Where Have I Been?!??!??

Above, giant amaryllis  in full spectacular 3 foot tall bloom! The bulb was big last year, but after summering outdoors and living inside, it's totally out performing itself! Amazing!! (Thanks Bob Santin for an remarkable specimen!!)
I apologize to my dedicated followers: I have been a bad blogger. But... I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
I had hit one of those occasional junctures in one's life, when you realize that you have probably over-committed and everything is due at once and even the things out of your direct control are clamoring for your immediate attention.
Work (like actual salt mines hi ho hi ho kind of work- as opposed to WORK as in life's-calling-studio work) has been appallingly busy what with auctions coming helter skelter one after the other. Typically, I can easily rearrange my schedule but the last two weeks has been raucous and
un-rearrangable. (And how I haven't succumbed to a bad cold, the flu, hell, CoVid 19!! is beyond me. Every person I work with has been snuffling and hacking and in general sounding like death. Our general manager actually left early.)
And then I got it into my head to apply for a really large grant- that I will not get (and that's just reality, not me being "negative!) but I suppose I feel like WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I'm on  a roll because I did get the State of Connecticut grant (in case you forgot) and strike while the iron is hot and all that. But it was another deadline, complete with me having to set up budgets and images and about thirty assorted not-very-art-oriented question and references. More corporate than sensitive artist! But they dangle that big, big money...

AND we had to celebrate Mardi Gras, which sort of snuck up on us, but thank god they had King Cakes at our local Shop Rite!! (Pictured here, slathered in multi-colored festive icing and sugar!) and watch primaries.
And that's not even mentioning having to pick up work for one show, while dropping off work for another show AND finishing a piece that I have to drop off today before going to an opening this afternoon. No wonder I'm tired! (And wearing two different socks; I was too harried and impatient to search for a match.)
Oh right; we're also off to NYC tomorrow because I'm on a panel discussion at Artist's Talk on Art series. We'll be discussing how artist activists (like me!) fight against The Orange Menace. It should be enlightening and fun but I also feel honored to be part of this panel. We are all doing what we can... but most important is to motivate people to vote! VOTE! VOTE!!!

Finally on an altogether sillier note, the cold weather provokes a static electrical occurrence on the top of Robin the Good's head. A small cluster of hairs (seen here enhanced) persists in standing up. It looks totally adorable, but very silly! I'm not sure if she sees the humor in this, or whether she's even aware that her hair is doing this, but I had to share it anyway! (Don't tell Robin, but she looks like on of those kids in the Young Rascals. No! I mean Spanky and Our Gang; why did I think "Young Rascals"?!?!?)

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.

Work Related

Just look at the cool dragon I scored at work! A nice perk has always been the ability to purchase (generally reasonably) interesting stuff. We joke at work that you have to be a "stuff person" to work at an auction house... otherwise it will overload your circuits and you'll go crazy. There is a lot of stuff in the world. The other truth of an auction house is that if you wait long enough, the same thing (or something very similar!) will come along. It's down right weird when we have an auction and get several identical objects consigned by different people. Last year we had the same Lalique vase twice in one sale and just last month, we had two nearly identical wooden swans from different estates. (How many of us have large wooden swans hanging around?!)
As many of you know, I have liked my job. I hope to be able to continue to do so but there are strange things afoot. Despite The Orange Menace constantly crowing about how swell the economy is doing, the auction that I work at seems to be floundering a bit. I understand that the auction world is changing and people are getting smarter about selling their own things on Ebay and Craig's List, and there are thirty million online auctions now...
Here's some really lovely fabric that I got- for a song. Even if I only used it as a backing for an art piece, it would still be a steal; there's over a yard and it's wide.

Anyway, I'm having my hours whittled and it doesn't make me happy. (And just in time for the holidays and the darkest, most brutish time of the year!!) Let's hope things pick up in the near future.

And here's "Steve". I pulled him out of the dumpster behind the auction. It is truly a source for strange things, and No, I did not name him "Steve"*. Look at the back of his neck:

See? I guess my point is how enriched my material world has been while working at the auction. Not only do I get to collect unusual and various things, I get to handle- and photograph- all sorts of delightful and museum-worthy items. I have developed a real appreciation for stuff I'll never own (nor particularly want to): like silverware and Chinese vases and ugly settees. They're all fun to absorb for a few minutes and then they go on their way.
Additionally, I feel entirely too jaded and exhausted to think of looking for another job. I have job-related baggage and little or no desire to have to become a perky and accommodating job applicant at this stage of my life! This has been a good, three-day-a-week job for an artist like me... don't make me start over now!!!!

*Steve is still living in my office at work. I have a prodigious collection of flotsam and ephemera that embellishes my work room, including a large drawing of Lenin and primitive Band-Aid art... and bugs! And teeth! And odd pictures of people grasping cats by their necks!

Busy... Just Friggin' Busy

Doesn't this look just like a lunar lander? It's actually a very cool little sculpture that our artist friend Bob Parker made for Bob and I as a house warming present several years ago. Somehow, he took a light bulb and painted it- after it was busted I guess! It's on nails as legs and typically resides on the mantle. However,  Bob was making bread one morning and the way his fingers had raked the flour on the counter made it look all textural and like moon dust. Anyway, I'm inserting this picture because it was funny and I've really had absolutely no time to do anything... except work
And that's work as in job where we've been super busy getting ready for another very large auction (and still down to one photographer and a woman who typically works in the office who's been pressed into duty taking pictures. She's doing a swell job, but protests that she doesn't enjoy it).
And more saliently, getting ready for two (major, we hope!) shows is fun but exhausting and really is taking every minute I have. I still keep marveling that people actually do things like go shopping or on field trips! Me? I have forgotten how to do anything except put nose to grind stone in the studio. But let's face it! I now have a wonderful studio to spend my time in!
Bob and I are finally going in to Bushwick- a part of New York neither one of us knows. It's a section of Brooklyn that's become full of artists and is very trendy and I'm certainly glad to be showing there. But as luck would have it, it's supposed to rain (no!) but at least it's not 100 degrees like last week when I had poison ivy on an epic level. Let's share the photo I put up on Facebook, to general gasps of dismay and revulsion.

That wasn't even the poison ivy at it's worst! I looked like a leper. It spread to my other (left) hand and I had a few gratuitous bumps on my leg and beyond. Not fun! But except for general atrocious scabiness, I'm sort of over it...
This really is a far flung blog posting, subject wise! Not too much to report except to restate how busy I've been. I'd love to be finishing up planting some things in the garden, or musing over my next project, but I'm in the middle of TWO projects and on deadlines. Enough of that rant... I'll keep you posted.