Venice (Again): For Art Lovers Only!

 

Truly, there is art everywhere in Venice; it does the hearts of us artists good to know that hundreds of thousands of people travel from all over the world to see art. Sometimes, we feel like we labor in a gigantic vacuum...

Like the above sculpture, and the  one below. These works weren't even part of the official Venice Biennale. They were installed in a small park along The Grand Canal. And there were several of these shady little oases along our walk out to the Biennale. I liked this piece because it was a sleek, blue horse. 

The Biennale itself is pretty hard to describe. It's like a world's fair, but devoted entirely to art. It's set in a huge park and there are permanent pavilions- like a slew of them(!) all in different architectural styles- strewn all over a vast parkland. It was great to have a cover of trees as it was sooooo hot when we were there. (The city of Venice is mostly stone and hard surfaces. It was delightful to have grass and gravel under foot instead of relentless stone!) So in each building, one or two countries have an artist featured. The theme of this year's Biennale was "Foreigners Everywhere" and featured work by artists who have been displaced or marginalized. Some pretty crazy work!! Jeffery Gibson, a gay Native American artist, was chosen to represent The United States. His work really resonated with me as he uses beads (an incredible amount!!) and lots of text to spell out thought-provoking phrases. Here are a couple of (not great) pictures which do not do justice to his amazing work:

Or:

But there was so much variety! And you can only marvel at the resilience and detirmination of some of these artists! Like the image below. An artist originally from Korea is making beautiful and elaborate kimonos... but in Sweden! How different these two countries are! And to try and reconcile these differences in you work...

They were embroidered in lovely mythological ocean images. And in a huge bamboo scaffolding forest! It was pretty spectacular! And you keep staggering from one pavillion to the next... (consuming vast quantities of water along the way. It was HOT!!!)

This may not look like much but somehow, it was very powerful. It was in front of the German pavillion. Grim! (So much of the work was the experience of being there. Very hard to put into words the sensation some of this work inspired.)

And then there were installations like the above: Just lovely colorful, playful environments with electronic music in the background and a kind of jouyous chaos. Quite the variety and contrast.

Some of the best paviliions on offer were the absolute hardest to describe and impossible to photgraph. These works were all from Day 1 at the Biennale. We returned for Day 2 and spent most of at at the second location at a space called The Arsenale where they used to construct big boats. But we went back to the first location as we had missed a few country's offerings. Like the Swiss pavillion!! Oh where to even begin: there was a video on display- on the ceiling that was like being inside a kaliedoscope- tracing all kinds of nefarious doings by the uber rich and big agra and global hegemony. But it was beautiful and swirling and crazeeeeee!!! Oh! my eyes! Oh! my brain!!! Bob and I still can't look at art after our return home...

Here Comes Winter!

 

It's about time, isn't it?!? I'm not winter's biggest fan, but we're well into the second third of January and... what? No sub-zero temperatures, no snow (or hardly any) as the above picture suggests. We've had a miserable amount of chilly, dreary days. And rain! (In case you hadn't noticed.)

It was just Monday that we had snow and most of it had melted by this morning. Today's promised rain/snow/sleet "event" (with high winds!) was largely a no-show (no-snow?) Yes, we now have a 1/2 inch of white stuff that will disappear later tonight- when the temperature rises to the 50's.

Here's one of Bob's sculptures, enjoying the winter weather. You will notice the grass is actually turning greener. Okay so my mixed feelings run like this: I'm glad for mild weather as I have an opening for my show on Friday and it's supposed to be pretty nice: sunny and in the upper 30's. But another side of me is scared that we're so far along the Climate Change curve that we're at a point of no return. (*1) January should be cold, dark, snowy and yes! Miserable! It shouldn't be masquerading as late February or March.

So... can we (ironically) cross our fingers and toes that nasty weather finally finds us? It's a mixed hope whatever comes our way...

(*1) And don't get me started on the fact that the so-called Dooms Day Clock is closer to midnight than ever before.

The End is Here!!

 

Well, the end of the year, not to be too melodramatic! And good-bye 2021!!

Sorry but maybe it IS the end of civilization as we have known it. I attempted to buy Bob a new TV for Christmas. Here's our old TV: 

Probably a lovely set in it's day but it's got a gigantic back that sticks out a good 18" and it doesn't have a very large picture area. It's old! And the modem that we require to allow the TV to "talk" to the dvd player needs a firm whack every few minutes to keep it running. (*1) We decided we needed a new TV.

 So I purchased what looked to me to be a huge step up; like 32" (diagonal) screen. And in all fairness, I'd done a ton of research and determined the brand and approximate size but was utterly intimidated and bowled over by all the enormous screens on view at the store. I felt like I'd crawled out from under a rock. I quickly selected my 32" set and fled the store.

I presented it to Bob on Christmas and we were both excited at the prospect of watching TV while lying in bed and feeling all luxurious and up-to-date. But somehow, I had misgivings when we brought the TV upstairs. It looked less huge; in fact, I thought it looked small. We debated for a while and finally agreed. We'd go one size up.

(Another consideration is this lovely sculpture that resides on top of the TV cabinet. The cabinet needs to accommodate TV and sculpture. Then we to arrived at wall mounting the TV and put the sculpture on another surface...)

So we went to the store- for us a still unusual excursion as COVID has kept us close to home and away from "the public"- and return the new but too small TV. We scouted the rear of the big box store, found the bigger TVs and instead of the 40", I see Bob's eyes go wide and he says, "That's the perfect size!" pointing at a 43" model. So we truly did graduate from old set to 32" all the way up to 43". (*2) The punchline is that they had two of these behemoths in stock, but the boxes were water damaged and we didn't want to take a chance on a defective TV and another return trip. I finally ordered the 43" on-line.

So we're awaiting delivery of the new member of our household. I alluded to the end being near and part of me is afraid of the novelty of a giant screen. Will it become so seductive as to reduce the time we spend reading? Will we become "like everyone else", glued to a huge screen and watching endless hours of mindless dreck? I fear for our future! Oh well, welcome to 2022!

(*1) We tried to purchase a new modem-thing and were laughed out of BestBuy and WalMart. How's that for humiliation?!? 

(*2) And yes, there are far gigantic-er tVs out there. 65", 75"... we'd have to get a bigger wall to make space for these "home theaters". And neither one of us wants our lives dominated by a TV that big!

 

Already Waiting for Spring

 

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for spring.The days have been getting shorter and darker, I'm still in a state of continual re-adjustment to the time change and suddenly it's cold. But tell that to the above primroses. These flowers are usually a tell-tale sign that spring has arrived; these crazy plants seem to bloom all year long. It's November, it's 23 degrees over night and they're like, "Perfect weather!" The kicker is that they came from Stop and Shop or Shop Rite- yes, I guess the variety is Super Market Mix. I buy them (marked down, of course!) in February so as to have color in the house and then plant them outdoors when spring finally arrives. Originally I thought we'd get a season's flowers and then they'd die but boy did I get a tremendous surprise when they came back, year after year. Truly perennial! 

I've got quite a few of them now. Last year, they were blooming in the snow so go figure: they must be some new mutant variety dreamed up in some horticulturist's perverse lab. But they're pretty and cheap so you gotta love them!

Okay but the main reason for my post is that I finally planted all the bulbs I bought:

As I've said before, bulbs are great; if you plant them and if they don't come up, no big deal! No one knows you wasted your time and money on them... not like some fancy-pants, over-priced perennial that looks swell at the nursery but immediately withers and dies when installed in your garden. So I planned on obtaining some bulbs. I have a spot where I plant tulips every year and then yank them to plant annuals. (Most tulips being not-too-perennial but soooooo lovely!) While bob and I were in Vermont recently, switching out his remarkable sculptures, I requested that we visit the Bennington Home Depot to see if they had marked down bulbs. Yes they did! And good colors! So for 50% off, I got Pink Impression and a beautiful mix called "Pride" (purples and pinks and reds). Also a bag of deep blue hyacinths for the Blue Garden.

I didn't stop there, however. Enthused by my luck and lured by the sales from nurseries that filled up my email in-box, I ordered petite miniature daffodils (Jack Sprite and Tete-a-Tete) and aliums (Bulgaricum and Christophii) and more tulips! Just you wait 'til next spring! Our gardens are going to be jumping! (*1)

(*1) I was fortunate that I encountered several warm sunny days to stagger around our vast estate, pushing a wheel barrow full of assorted bulbs, looking for spots to tuck them all in. It wouldn't have been fun had it been as cold as it was this morning!

To Catch a Thief

 

Yes, Robin is casting her eyes heavenward as if to proclaim her innocence. This dog is responsible for most unseemly heist!

Yesterday, we socially-distance visited with our friends Roberta and Hanneke. In preparation for their visit, I made chocolate eclairs... a three part endeavor that does require time, patience and quite a few bowls. Robin- who does enjoy helping me in the kitchen- was very interested in the whole process. 

They did smell good and I had to set them up high to cool in order to avoid unnecessary temptations to a certain overly active canine nose. Robin didn't want to leave the kitchen.

I then made the filling and stored it in the refrigerator as I don't like to make the shells soggy. (I like to fill the pastry as close to consumption time as possible.) But after the pastry had cooled, I carefully slit along one side and removed some of the extra filaments of dough that remain soft. I offered those to Robin who was confirmed in her expectations of how good they tasted. She scarfed that down!

Our friends came and we had a lovely time, touring the garden and admiring Bob's sculptures and then sitting down to iced coffee and those splendid eclairs, now filled and iced with chocolate. We happily wolfed them down. As I had made a bumper crop of eclairs, we had plenty left and I suggested that Roberta take three of them home for her and her partner (hello Phillip!) to have later. We secured two in paper plates together by clips to protect them on their way to Roberta's house. Roberta set them on the picnic table.

 

In the ensuing excitement of Hanneke deciding to purchase (yay!!) one of Bob's scholar rock sculptures (a wise choice) and us all gathering around to beam at the sculpture, I unthinkingly turned my back on Robin (typically called "the Good") and the eclairs resting on the table.

The next thing I see is Robin hunkered down on the lawn, devouring what I thought was probably one of her bones... until a light bulb erupted over my head and I realized that Robin has succeeded in sneaking the eclairs off the table, spilling two onto the ground while she assaulted the third. She was rushing back to snatch the other two off the grass, but I intercepted her.

It was pretty funny but also worrisome as chocolate is poisonous to dogs, not to mention she had inhaled a large dollop of cream filling and puff pastry- very rich stuff for a dog's belly! I was concerned that she'd awaken us at 3:30 am with a stomach ache and the need to go outside and evacuate, but fortunately, she was fine.

We all had a good laugh over Robin's criminality, but I had to go into the house and restuff and frost three more eclairs for Roberta, leaving us only two. We kept an eagle eye on these!

Hanneke had thoughtfully brought us a "host/hostess" gift of some cookies and a bar of dog shampoo (apparently useful on horses, too). I briefly considered washing Robin's mouth out with the soap- only kidding! Here's another shot of the thief. Doesn't she look non-plussed?!!??

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red 'n Shiny: Part 2

Hey! there's our truck! Also shiny and red... but not so new as that spiffy lawn mower. This is the BAD part of the story. (Although the truck is shinier than usual because Bob carefully hand washed it before our trip.)
Bob needed to go to Vermont to install two sculptures; one at the North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show (or NBOSS google it) and another at the Bennington Museum. Despite COVID 19 throwing monkey wrenches into travel plans (like not being able to stay at the motel we typically stay at due to our hailing from a "restricted" part of Connecticut), we decided to go up for the day. Just an efficient whirlwind tour up Route 7, drop the sculptures, maybe eat some lunch and motor home. There are people we like to spend time with in Vermont and other attractions we like to visit (like MassMoca) but many are closed and humans are socially distancing. So it was going to be a no-frills sculpture install.
I drove us up as Bob is The Maestro and I wanted him relaxed and fresh for moving his sculptures. The truck ran like a top and deposited us in front of the North Bennington railroad station, where Bob's entry into last year's show was placed. Bob dismantled his (old) sculpture, unloaded his new sculpture and was going to move the truck across the street... when it wouldn't start. No noise, no nuthin'- just silence. While attempting to maintain a semblance of rationality (and inside screaming, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!! How can this be happening?!?!?!"), Bob called AAA and tried to read off a 15 digit number and explain what was up with our truck while a huge freight train rumbled past (great timing! Lots of railway crossing clanging and that long lonesome wail of the train's whistle). I meanwhile jiggled some wires and Hey presto! The truck turned over and we drove it across the street to the new location for Bob's new sculpture. (*2)
At this point, we were still awaiting AAA. Bob had the sculpture to install and our friend Andy (another sculptor from Connecticut, also in the show) arrived and between him and Joe (the curator of the show and a big fan of Bob's) they made quick work of setting up Bob's piece. I bought lunch somehow hoping that refueling us would magically cure the truck, or at least temporarily lift our flagging spirits.
AAA arrived and pronounced our starter a non-starter but managed to pop the clutch and get the truck started after Andy and Bob pushed the truck with the AAA guy driving (*1). The AAA man helpfully told us, "Don't turn it off. Just keep it running." I'm thinking, "Let's just get in the truck and fucking drive home..." but Bob had yet to load the old sculpture and install the one at the museum. I for one was not having a good day.
But we did eat lunch and Andy and Joe graciously suggested that THEY would take Bob's sculpture to the Museum and install it (apparently that show was on a hill in a field behind the museum. There was no way we were going to drive up there, risk stalling the truck and have to call AAA to some outlandish hillside pasture location). So good friends to the rescue! Three cheers for fellow sculptors!
I told Bob that I'd drive home, thinking that my nerves were so bloody frayed that at least driving would focus me and maybe I wouldn't completely melt down.
Long story short is that we made it. We didn't stop for anything (luckily, we needed neither gas nor a bathroom break) but I didn't breathe easy until we turned into our driveway. The truck is now at the garage for repairs. Guess what? The truck started on the first try this morning so it's probably not the starter, but a wire or connection. Hahahahaaha!
And if you're squeamish, skip the picture below, because it's not just lawn mowers and trucks that are red and shiny. How about my festering flesh?

Yuck! I look like the village leper but I guess it serves me right for "playing" in the poison ivy. You know me: live dangerously. (It actually looks worse than it feels.)


(*1) I myself became expert at doing this when I drove Triumphs and MGs all those years ago. This is one of the many beauties of standard shift vehicles.
(*2) The further irony here is that Bob had taken the ruck to be serviced the day before. He had had an oil change and an "all points check". Battery good, truck seemed fine and ready to go, so this wasn't some kind-of-expected "oh we should have maintained it better" episode.

Red 'n Shiny: Part 1

Look what we bought! For all kinds of reasons... primarily because our old mower was having "issues". Like not mowing well (at all!!) and being so bloody hard to push I thought I'd kill myself mowing the lawn and I actually am one of the very few remaining people who admits to LIKE mowing the lawn.(*1) So a new mower it is!
But the way we paid for the mower was another story. I would have happily used my/our bank debit card as that way it's paid for, no bill arrives in the mail and that's that. But earlier in the week, I had received a surly missive from Chase Bank stating that my credit limit was being lowered because I didn't use the card. (Which made no sense at all and I worried my credit would be "dinged".) After several wasted hours of attempting to call them ("Due to COVID 19, our call centers are staffed at lower levels..") and "visit the website" which only circled me around and around with nothing resembling what I need to know at all) I vowed to visit in person our local branch. I called to get the hours of operation and was apprised of the intelligence that due to COVID 19, this branch was only open for safe deposit boxes. I was losing it at this point and was ready to cancel the card (which would have "dinged" my credit...) but I actually reached a representative on yet another phone call. He basically informed me that because I had called, my credit limit would not be lowered (*2) and that I should USE THE CARD. Hence purchasing the mower with the Visa...
Anyway, the mower is a swell addition to our arsenal of power tools. We're keeping the old mower to do rough stuff like run over rocks and mow the horse field. We haven't had to use it yet as we had just mowed the lawn (based on Bob's Moon Calendar so as to inhibit new growth) but I'm actually anticipating a glorious, effortless experience. This new has many bells and whistles: it's self propelled and has an electric starter (no more chord pulling!) and bags and mulches and will probably sing us to sleep, too.

(*1) I realize there are all kinds of (almost) political and moral reasons for despising lawns nowadays. The main one is that so many people use lawn chemicals to attain that perfect greensward, and often the lawn is a bizarre mono-crop and unhealthy to begin with. We will never apply evil chemistry to our lawn, which remains a lovely and durable carpet of clover, dandelions, various plantains, knuckleheads, and other denizens of the so-called broad leaf weeds so reviled by turf purists. But I also remain entirely in the camp that asserts nothing sets up a garden bed better than a lovely green lawn.
(*2) These are the things that drive me crazeee. (Quoting Big Audio Dynamite (*3)). So my credit score- if lowered- could be re-raised but I'd have to under go a new credit check and that would "ding" my credit. And we all know that the credit card company is hoping that we'll use their card, carry a balance and wrack up those charming fees that make them money.
(*3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy44Fm-CS04&t=50s

Quarantine Day ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Between Quarantine in general and the dark, cold, rainy days in particular, I'd just as soon crawl back into bed. Or stay in bed once it reaches something called "morning". I need sun! And flowers! And... trips to nurseries and garden centers!!!!!
I remarked to Bob that I'm sort of a junkie. I started itching and scratching and twitching and generally behaving in unpleasant and unattractive ways because I (and I'm assuming many others) am experiencing a spring in which I can't do one of my very favorite things: go to nurseries.
So I called around. Many garden centers/nurseries are open- but only if you pre-buy and pick up at curbside. This really cannot work in the horticultural arena. I need to look at and mentally combine combinations and colors. Also, I need to pick out my own plants; how can anyone else know which
specimen I think is best suited to my purposes?
I did locate one garden center in the next town over that said as long as you wore a mask and practiced social distancing, you could wander around and get your fix. Needless to say I was in my car and barrelling towards nirvana in a matter of minutes...

And here's Bob (and one of his new sculptures) proudly displaying his mighty row of garlic. He's done a fine job of organizing and weeding and mulching the vegetable garden. Bob is also displaying a more stoic approach to the cold wet weather and seems more inclined to spend time outside. Just yesterday, I got all excited and gathered tools and tarps only to find that the clouds had rolled back in and the sun had retreated. I retired to my studio.

Here's a shot of the lettuce row. The cover protects the tiny seedlings against too much rain, sun or even spatter after a quick rain shower. Bob is going to transplant the seedlings soon; I can't wait for those first tender little shoots! One of Spring's great pleasures!

Here's another view of the seedlings. It's so important in this time of death and uncertainty and lack of leadership and tragedy to have a hopeful outcome to look forward to. Great organic things to eat! Not having to run to the store for picked over produce! Yay!
This is why I'm craving warm, sunny weather: I need that time outdoors to move plants around and remake and remodel garden beds that have become chaotic and weedy. Just to dig in the dirt. Even our perpetually sunny dog Robin the Good has been melancholy and not sure she really wants to go out. (Lots of standing at the door but not moving when the door opens. Sigh.) My mission today is to cheer her- and me!- up.

Enjoy It While Ye May!

I'm milking this dying bouquet because soon enough, the only flowers available will be the ones in my fertile imagination. Fall is here and it's blustery and we lost all our tender annuals- with the freaky exception of a particularly intrepid corner of zinnias! Actually, I've got quite an assortment of potted plants temporarily residing in my studio so we won't be entirely without greenery this winter. Now, where to put all those plants in the living room...
I'm also posting a picture here of an interesting visitor that Bob and I had late last week:

Look at that thing! He was BIG- way bigger than the photo suggests. This large insect was scaling one of Bob's sculptures and we couldn't help but notice him. He was carefully feeling his way up the steel... Here's his other side:

(I'm saying "he" but maybe it's a girl. I'm not sure how we tell.) Anyway, he/she was was oblivious to my efforts to document him/her.  We're guessing it's a type of cricket. Impressive and eerie.
But speaking of insects/bugs/pests/varmints/vermin and official lice...
Holy cow! Impeachment! Talk about draining swamps and all things pestilence! I can't look the news away and maybe the changing seasons becomes an advanced metaphor for changing directions in a seriously misguided administration. I could go on for days (and believe me, I'd rather discuss insects!) but did anyone really think that Rudy Giuliani (who DOES look like Nosferatu...) was a good guy? Please: the best thing that could have happened in this amazingly action packed week was that "two associates" of Giuliani's were arrested. More arrests to come. I'm on the edge of my seat and looking forward to designer handcuffs!

Work in Progress

(I am not a happy woman as I type this as some fucking glitch of editing deleted my entire post and I am attempting to type this all again and recapture my witty and effervescent tone!!)
Ahem! I was writing that I have actually had time- in between the seasonal hysteria of gardening for myself and a friend and working and delivering a piece of Bob's sculpture to Vermont- to begin a new piece. Maybe gardening is slowing down a bit as most things have been planted and it's a matter of tweaking and weeding and fertilizing. My studio calls!
I hope the picture above gives some idea of my direction. The piece is about five feet wide and the back ground fabric is this great swirly, opulent yet sleazy pattern; over the top! (As is typical, I bought that fabric because I liked it and didn't have a clue as to what I'd use it on. When I started to design this piece, the fabric was shouting at me to use it.)
Here's a detail:

Fabulous, isn't it? Baroque twirly crenelations with leopard inlays- who thinks this stuff up? The top third of that picture is the fabric I'll use for the medallion area, where my text will go. It's this sort of spongey lacey gold and silver concoction; it's all so sweet it makes your teeth hurt. The text is going to be that aqua shiny fabric seen laying on top in the top picture. The sales woman at the fabric store said, "Oh! That's so pretty! What are you making?" "Trouble!" I responded. They always ask; I think they are required to. As previously mentioned, one store I go to greets me with, "It's the WTF lady!" I guess that's better than being called the "Star Fucker" after another notorious creation of mine.)
So I could be coy and not tell you what the text on this piece is going to say. But seeing as how I'm still experimenting with what the text is actually going to look like it may take a while, so I'll just go ahead and print it.
It started with my repeatedly hearing the word "kleptocracy". Here's Wikipedia's definition:

Kleptocracy is a government with corrupt leaders that use their power to exploit the people and natural resources of their own territory in order to extend their personal wealth and political powers.

(Obviously comes from the same root as "kleptomania". Let's face it, we now most certainly live in a kleptocracy!) Anyway, it had a certain ring to it and I played with "kultural kleptocracy" and a few other variants but I wasn't entirely convinced. And then it came to me- as my ideas often do!- while on my morning walk: "Uh-oh! Kleptocracy!" That was perfect. Sorta silly yet punchy and there's a hint of a warning in the "uh-oh".* I'm not sure when I'll get into my studio next for a extended work on the piece session, but you can be sure I'm exploring fonts and typefaces in my dreams!

* That phrase comes pulled up from the deepest dank depths of my childhood mind hole. See if you remember it. Bob got the reference right away and I was delighted.

A Successful Big Mess*

Hoo boy! You can tell we've been busy because the house is a mess and look at the deplorable state of my (home) studio! I was working so hard to get ready for City Wide Open Studios that I wasn't putting things away and was simply tossing fabric and stuffings and trimmings in heaps and piles.
The happy ending to the above disaster is that I sold a bunch of those "WTF" sculptures (yeah, yeah, they're pillows...) and tee shirts and patches. I was... SUCCESSFUL!!
And people came looking for me, which was no easy feat as the building that Open Studios was in this year was a vacant labyrinthian corporate office building with three floors of rabbit run cubicles. I assure you that absolutely no one saw all the artists... over 230 of them. I sprinted away from my space a few times to quickly scope out a few friends and recommended artists, but I missed 85% of what was on display. That's the one downfall to showing and not being a visitor.
But when people found me, they exclaimed, "Oh! You're the WTF woman!" Word traveled. It was gratifying, after poking holes in digits and wearing my poor fingers to the bone, to have so many people enjoying my work. All who came and spent time commiserated with me about the sorry state of affairs... and they spread the word of WTF by buying (and wearing in some cases) my work. I even got special orders- one for an Xmas gift. How thoughtful!

I am exhausted today, as I know everyone else is, too. We were there for three days and had to take our work down and clean up the space the last night. Bob had also showed two sculptures so by the time everything was loaded and transported back home, we were seriously tired. And that's in addition to all the energy expended after three days of talking to visitors and explaining the work and the process. We're hoarse!
At work today, I was less than my usual energetic self, but I carried on and photographed a million statutes of Little Red Riding Hood (don't ask!) and a few Hermes scarves and some bad art and a couple of weird modern lamps. And I made it home. But now I'm going to bed. This is how tired I am: Bob and I were watching last night's Last Night with John Oliver on the computer and I admitted to Bob that while staring at John Oliver discussing Attorneys General, I thought, "After this, we'll have to watch John Oliver". So I confess that my brain has shut down and I'm going to bed.

* And I had a funny title for this posting (while at work) but promptly forgot it once I sat down to right** this. That how tired I am!

**Yes, I actually spelled "write" as "right". Now I know I was tired!!!

History Repeats Itself (Maybe)

It's a long story why I couldn't take a new picture so you'll suffer along with an OLD picture while I tell my story- a story involving parallel universes and time travel and yes, history (possibly) repeating itself(although the image is pertinent.)
I am hard at work constructing things that look like pillows, but are actually sculptures. (Yes, they can be used as pillows and if you come to City Wide Open Studios in New Haven on the last weekend of the month, you'll be informed of all the many uses...) These (admittedly soft) sculptures all bear the now iconic WTF motif. I am making a brilliant pile of these sculptures so as to function as an irresistible heap of jewel-toned eye candy. We'll see how well this works. I have warned Bob that we will no doubt become the permanent custodians of many "sculptures" and lucky friends and family members know what they will be getting for Xmas this year.
Which leads to my historic sad-sack pillow story. When I was 14 or 15 years old, I made a quilted pillow in an art class. As my mother (aka Mommy) was a seamstress, we had boxes and boxes of fabric remnants in our attic and I thought to fashion several more pillows from these scraps. A bit later, I thought to be enterprising, and I produced a slew of these laboriously hand made quilted pillows to try and sell at our local fair. My sister Beatrice and her partner John made stained glass objects and we decided to share a table. Beatrice and John cleaned up: they sold tons of their lovely stained glass pieces and bought a large color television with their profits. Guess how much I made? How about nada? I didn't even sell one (at a bargain $20 each!!!!). People looked at them and complimented me but couldn't even pony up a lousy $20 to help a kid see that her hard work and gumption paid off.  *1. Great lesson learned! WTF!!!!

And this story gets even worse as I further attempted to find an outlet for all that entrepreneurial energy and talent. I had Mommy drive me to a store in Guilford that had specialty items and one of a kind hand made niceties and I presented my pillows to the owner. This man dismissively commented that "they had pillows for sale made by blind people".*2. Well, that put the kabosh on my early efforts to "follow my bliss"; so much for "do what you love and the money will follow". Hahahaha.
So here we are, almost 48 years later, and I have a sudden sense of deja vu all over again. Didn't I already go that pillow route? Am I being set up by fate? That's where I come to the time travel part. I want to go back in time and help that young artist (ME!) rewrite her her-story and sell ALL the pillows- now "sculptures" (as art is obviously more expensive). I want a parallel universe to provide an entirely different outcome: I want success and to be rewarded for all my sweat-shop emulating, bloody finger-tip inducing, third world mimicking hard (American!) labor to pay off. Please, please just let me sell even one...*3.

*1. And here's another peculiar detail... I still have most of the pillows. No kidding! Our living room chairs sport many fine example of my childish sewing efforts. I guess they wore well... and were worth the measly $20 price!

*2. I admit the irony of me having damaged my left eye so that I now have limited sight and probably could get away with marketing my work as "having been made by blind people".

*3. The weirdest thing is that even if I bring all of the sculptures and tee shirts (yes! I'm doing tee shirts, too!) home with me, it can be said of me "she persisted". Let's face it: artists just don't give up and admit defeat easily.

See You in Hell!

Flaming day lilies to accompany the incredibly hot weather we endured this week! The flowers didn't seem to mind; possibly because I ran around watering and checking up on everyone. How hot was it? Do I have to remind you? The heat index- a new-ish gauge of climate changes real life effect on us all- was over 100 all week. Everyday was a 3 tee shirt day.

The containers look really good (if I do say so myself...) despite needing waterings several times a day. The lawn is a tad crispy in spots but can also be attributed to the massive amounts of trees/logs/sawdust that continues to occupy our time and energy.
And piles? Anyone want to see our piles? It's been so hot that there was a recess taken from all that dragging and stacking and piling...

Bob and I have taken turns hauling this pile from one area to another. We have lacked the energy or impetus to remove it entirely and take it out to the woods.

You see what we're up against! More piles; they will be with us for a long time. No wonder we're getting out of town for the weekend. Actually, it has more to do with Bob having a sculpture to install in North Bennington (VT) at an outdoor sculpture show. Here's a link:
www.nbossvt.org
We had fun last year and it will be good to get away. A friend (thanks Joe!) is staying with Lil' Robin the Good. I think she knows something is up and she is not impressed!

* The title of this blog was originally going to refer to both the protracted heat wave and the resignation of the evil Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA. (Don't make me gag!) But as I stated writing this entry, I realized I wanted to spend as little time as possible discussing evil motherfuckers like Scott Pruitt. Suffice it to say, there is a particularly hot 'n' steamy ring of Hell for him to occupy and there won't be any second hand mattresses or special moisturizers to make his stay in hell easier!

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!

Road Trip

Where else but in rural Connecticut would you see a roadside Buddha? I have been meaning to shoot a picture of this for some time now but keep forgetting to bring the camera. This is in the town of Morris where we almost bought a house. (I think you remember that particular fiasco...) But Friday on my way home from work, the gods were with me and I had my camera and the Buddha smiled on me.
We went to New Bedford for the weekend so that Bob could talk to a gallerist who will be showing his work come September. I have very high hopes for Bob's show; not only his work dynamite but the gallery is really nice and the dealer has plans.

Here's a Buddha assistant. There's two of these figures to the left and right of the big colorful Buddha. There's other interesting winged figures in the back, closer to the temple itself. The color of this place is absolutely spectacular in full sunlight!
We visited with our friends Don and Elizabeth who are charming hosts/hostesses and showed us a nice time. We went to three art openings on Saturday night and saw lots of people that we haven't seen in ages. It was a hectic day and a half in New Bedford. But it's good to be home even if it's crazy hot and I have hell day at work tomorrow when I have to hang seven hundred and fifty thousand pictures. Maybe the Buddha can send an assistant or two!

Noisy Night and Various Blessings

(Seeing as it's nearly impossible to take pictures of sounds or noise, the photos here are going to be drawn from other inspirations. Personally? I don't like blogs that lack pictures! However, last night, I went to use the bathroom and happened to see a few of Bob's recent sculptures, illuminated by the downstairs hall light. It was atmospheric enough to stand in for an illustration of "sounds".)
In any event, last night at The Bauhaus Chicken Coop was spectacularly noisy. As Bob and I donned our sleeping caps and settled down for a early summer's night nap every possible thing that could make noise made noise.
I don't remember what was first, but there was an odd persistent sound somewhere between video game electronic music and herds of ruminating hoofed animals. We kept going to the open windows, attempting to isolate just what was making that sound. No luck. But it soon mixed with tree frogs, birds and the occasional giant airplane transversing our yard, directly over the sky light. Also heard were endless drones of motocycles or cars and trucks from the nearby highway. Then there was the persistent yapping of various neighborhood dogs as well as the sharp and protracted complaints of what sounded like at least ten coyotes, near and far. And suddenly there was a tremendous BOOOM!!! from what must have been a gun shot, probably fired at the coyotes. And next- inexplicably- the rapid explosions of fireworks. And it's not even the fourth of July. So much for the sound effect portion of this posting...

(Eerie, no? So it was 2:00 when I went out to take these photos, but unlike the night before, it was utterly silent! But you have to look closely to see Bob's sculpture...)

And, yes, I received several blessings recently. Maybe it stems from my new-found appreciation of a pope who actually seems to have a heart and a mind. (Gotta like a pope that not only states that human life is causing climate change, and also remarks about income disparity and our wasteful consumer culture. You go, pope!) In any event, last week I had just wheeled a hefty barrow full of horse manure around to the compost pile when I spied a car in the driveway. I approached, thinking it was probably some of Bob's customers for his garden metal work. But as I got nearer, I saw a thick book in the hand of the lady who had alighted from the car. She said, "I'd like to invite you to a study group that I'm certain you'll find interesting." I responded, "I don't think you really want to talk to me or invite me to your group. I'm an artist and a heathen." Without missing a beat, she asked, "And how long have you been a heathen?" That was pretty funny! But she threw some sort of all purpose blessing at me as she got into the escape vehicle.
And a a week or so earlier, while in Brooklyn, Bob and i passed by an open air worship service of some sort. Hell, we were looking for art but we received a free blessing from a young woman trying to drag us into prayer. And of course, I walk by the house of the retired nuns up the road and they're always dispensing blessings to me and Jules the Dog. For being a heathen artist, I seem to be awash in blessings!