A Tease and a Discussion of Art Making

This is where I have been spending what feels like nearly every waking minute (that I'm not at job/work.) I have been a very dedicated studio artist, doing what seems like a year's worth of collage and art making compressed into three or four months. But this book project is almost done and it gives me a moment to reflect on the process...
It is very interesting to see the difference in my own working habits when they're linked to a specific show, and a funding source. Typically, I do a bunch of pieces and I have total control. If I get bored or an idea runs into a wall and I no longer am compelled by it, I can abandon it or put it down temporarily. In a case like this one, where I have actually received working money up front, I am expected/required to provide a finished project. Very different!
I am fortunate that the ideas I've been exploring have come fast and furious and my interest has been sustained because I'd be in deep shit if I hadn't wanted to complete the project. I am assuming this does indeed happen. I can imagine having "the well run dry" half way into something, and thinking, "What a waste of time! How on earth am I going to finish this mess!" Like I say, I'm lucky that hasn't happened, but I will allow that I am tired of working so exclusively on one piece and I am very glad to be almost done.

So here's the book, Better Guns and Gardens, spread out over my auxiliary table. That's a tease, alright as I don't think you can see too much at this small a scale except that, yes, it does exist! All I have left to do is finish editing one "article" and finish up my "outro" (what I like to call my conclusion, being the opposite of an "intro"). Parts of it are pretty funny and I'm assuming parts of it aren't, because it's hard to be consistently funny. But lord knows I tried and in general, I am very happy with it. I have a roughly mocked up edition that I keep jiggling; I need to get the order of the pages just right. But the end is nigh!
Again, the freedom afforded me if I do work simply to please myself is great but as I make a lot of work, I don't often get to exhibit/show all of what I do. Much of it lingers in squalid oblivion in a drawer of my flat file and only gets viewed by the occasional fortunate friend. Even the grants I have received in the past didn't stipulate a particular body of work or "themed exercise"; this has been different.
I'm not attempting to draw hard conclusions here about whether one experience is "better" than the other. Really, I'm just reflecting on two different modes of working. I think, ultimately, I'd love to be able to be in my studio full time and not have to interrupt my studio work with the necessity of making a living. I've been luckier than some artists. I can honestly say I've made part of my income form my art! And I can't wait until I get installment #2 from this project so that I can buy Bob and I a new computer...
And oh boy! I have another project for the show in NYC to finish. Guess I know what I'll be doing until January!

'Round the House

I may be (too) busy with art deadlines and am neglecting household arts (like cleaning or painting baseboards) but Bob has been busy making nice with the fireplace. Look at that! We now have a respectable replacement for the hole that was variously covered with plastic, plywood, insulation boards, a flat file cabinet and simple exposed 2x4's and wood siding. But then Bob made good on his promise to finish off the fireplace with cement and he even made feet for the boards that were chopped off at half mast:

Very Temple of Dendar, indeed! And it came in handy as we had friends for our Tuesday Night Pizza occurrence and we actually had the first fire of the season. (Oh say it isn't so! First day of Fall next week...)
We do (obviously) have several other things to attend to like the sundry dry wall holes that occupy the living room and beyond:

Holes? Did some one say holes? Here's a delightful closeup:

Look at the depth, the complexity of that hole. It was hidden behind the sheet rock that I had up when I used that wall for drawing on. I could spend too much brain space wondering how it got there in the first place!
On a cheerier note, we really do have a dining table, completed by the same old hodge podge chairs and the addition of Mid-century modern ones from Bob's mother's house.

And say! what's that displayed on the dining table? No, not the attractive zinnias in outrageous colors, compliments of the cut flower garden but that book, cutting a rakish diagonal? Yes, that's a mock-up of my almost completed book, "Better Guns and Gardens". hate to say it, but I'll be glad when it's done! I've devoted so much time and energy that I'm beat!! But the end is in sight! I will have a life again...

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.

Welcome to Gallerie Kenmore

Perhaps you have not heard of Gallerie Kenmore? Perhaps you had no idea that Bob and I have been running a high end gallery? Well, then it is about time that you made the acquaintance of... Gallerie Kenmore!
Our gallery was started, how shall we say? On a whim. A fancy; in a sly mood on a sultry day, Bob and I turned to one another and with  truly wicked glints in our respective eyes and proclaimed: "Gallerie Kenmore! It is a new beginning!" (Whew! What a sentence! Purple prose indeed). We saw a need and
filled it.
Any artist knows that there are far fewer galleries than artists; artists are a dime a dozen. But galleries? If they opened a new one every ten seconds for the next one hundred years, there would still not be enough galleries for all the artists desirous of showing.
But don't get me wrong; Gallerie Kenmore has been from its inception, an extremely exclusive enterprise. We are so exclusive that we don't even have a phone number. Don't try and call us- just don't. Web site? Never! And our address is privileged to be offered to the few who really need to know. If we wish to connect with you, we will. Otherwise, please do not waste your time. Or ours.

Here is a close up of the current show. A photograph by the one and only Richmond Jones. It is a magnificent picture, worthy of display at our gallery. And below is a photo of Bob and I, making a guest appearance at gallery Kenmore. We do drop by to ensure that things are humming along smoothly, but do not try to pin us down as to our hours. Heavens. We never know from one moment to the next where we will be... perhaps Basel? Perhaps Miami? I grow weary keeping it all straight. This is what comes of accepting the mantle of "International Art Dealers". It is a glamorous life, yes, but exhausting.

So, I have allowed you a glimpse into the sanctified realm of the elite art world. I shall keep you posted as to the roster of international art stars that will grace the walls of Gallerie Kenmore. There is a rumor circulating that the illustrious Lena shall be shown at Gallerie Kenmore. I will say no more! Stay tuned!

Bridges to No Where

Next year is already chock-a-block with interesting possible projects and plans. Like our two bridges that cross the stream at the bottom of our property. At present, they are "constructed" of two aluminum ladders with planks on them; serviceable, yes, but hardly interesting or (dare I use the word?) artistic.
They could be so cool! Bob and I are toying with various ideas like rock pilings and then metal understructure with cement covering it... or maybe wood. Don't know but it'll be fun!

This is the second location, a bit further upstream. Actually, they aren't really bridges to nowhere (unless some one wants to fund us!) They do a lovely job of delivering us from one shore to the next. At this time of year, the stream is so low that we could probably safely walk across from rock to rock, that that certainly wouldn't be stylish!

Here's a closer view of the second bridge. isn't that Lobelia next to the bridge lovely? There are loads of wild flower varieties growing nearby! It's a wonderful environment. And will only be lovelier still if we commit to another idea that's hatching...

What's this?!!? A new batch of busted plates! I just started saving more plates because Bob and I had a great idea to make another walkway of mosaic- but on the other side of the stream! It would be narrow and sort of informal and windy and lead from one bridge to the next. Wouldn't that be cool!?!?!? We could cover the whole world in mosaic! WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWhhhhheeeeeeeee!!!!!

A Truly Peculiar World- Road Trip Edition

I remembered to bring my camera along to document... Gas Station TV?? Who thinks these (post)modern things up? And where have I been? The gas station on the way to the highway entrance I use when traveling to my mother's house is conveniently located, but features the above inanity. It's as if we can't stand quietly or entertain ourselves for the five minutes it takes to fill up. No, we have to be assaulted with ads for Snickers and Chevy and inane "Gas Station TV jocks" who blather at us. And obviously. we're a captive audience. At least if there were something good on. (Strangely, I caught possibly the one useful moment; they were offering a weather map. The light was terrible- reflecting off the screen and several of my shots of other Gas Station TV offerings didn't show up.) Additionally annoying is that the TV screen takes up all the space and the input buttons for payment options are positively hidden. Very, very annoying!

And here's another annoying thing: people who drive Audis. I swear, and I know I've mentioned this before, if a person is tail-gaiting you and swerving all over the road while on their cell phones, they're driving an Audi. Or if they speed up to hit you and your dog (hi Jules!) on your morning rambles, guess what they're driving? Yup. An Audi. They are positively the worst drivers going and they must feel that superior German engineering makes up for atrocious driving habits.
In any event, the above Juniper is soooooooooooooo cool and Bob and I passed it on our way to Mommy's house. We decided to snap a photo of it on the way back by. So I slow down and Bob hands me the camera- all ready to go and I start to photograph that lovely "sky needle" and the douche bag behind me starts honking and riding up our rear end. I'll give you one guess as to what he's driving. Somehow I did get a pretty good shot, through a dirty windshield and all. The pink house in the back ground is pretty fun, too.
Hey! Guess what I want for my next birthday? (And no, it's not an Audi!)

Leprosy and Sundries

Well, I may not have Ebola but I have developed a lovely collection of poison ivy buboes. (Technically not buboes; turns out that refers specifically to lymph inflammation in the armpit or groin... as in bubonic plague. But you get the idea.) Therefore I have disgusting poison ivy blisters, the above cluster is on my left knee. So with that as a reference point, I submit the following:

• Aside from the above bumbles, we seem to be pretty healthy.
• Mommy's still "with us"; meaning she hasn't departed yet. You get the point.
• Bob and I have been alternately very busy socially and wishing to be hermetic. We both have shows that are a lot closer (time-wise) than it would seem. Bob's show is in September 2015 in New Bedford at the ColoColo Gallery. His work looks terrific. Maybe I'll have him do a "guest post".
• I have the show at Artspace in conjunction with Yale this coming November. The book I'm working on- Better Guns and Gardens- is coming along nicely. A steady stream of images and puns and silliness. Who knew guns could cause such weird art ideas?
• I have a show in (YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYY!!) Brooklyn in January, tentatively entitled, "Pay to Play". It will be at Odetta Gallery and Ellen Hackl Fagan, artist, friend and now gallerist- is doing things right. I think she's onto something. Lots of research about what works and how to approach showing art in an effective way. Wish me luck! (I'll be showing with two other artists).
• The Dog and Pony are fine. Still fussy, but that just comes with being spoiled. 
• I really wanted to use bulleted lists, probably from working on Better Guns and Gardens. (Get it? "Bulleted Lists"?)
• That pesky Tilda Swinton keeps popping up at our house!
  

I don't actually remember why Tilda Swinton became such an issue at our house, Possibly simply because she's a bit weird. I mean, look at her. And does she look like she's ever eaten a cup cake in her life? So she wound up in the cupcake box, admiring (gasp!) all that FROSTING! And it's blue!! I really like that particular strain of frosting, as my sister's and family in general well know. I was denied frosting for my birthday so I vowed to score a cake or cupcakes resplendent in decadent mounds of sugary bliss. Boy are they good!!
Okay, not the smartest posting but I'm tired. I took almost 700 photos of weird porcelain monkeys (some with light fixtures in their heads), endless dish services (and it was all I could do to stop from smashing the plates so as to add them to our walkway), and endless stiff little Staffordshire people and their dogs and sheep. All in a days work!
Signing off...