Equine Update

This is weird! i thought I had published this days ago! But it was in my drafts folder...

My horse doing yoga! It is pretty incredible that an animal the size of Maggie can simply lift her hind leg up, swing it around and scratch her ear (like she's doing in the photo). And with a hoof! You'd think they'd accidentally kick themselves in the face, or give themselves black eyes.
Here's another odd Maggie thing- she dreams. I mean, I figure that most animals do, as they sleep and do most everything else we do, so why not dream. But I've never SEEN a horse dream (like the dog; twitching and yelping) until last week. And horses don't actually sleep that much.
Bob and I were going to the store so I walked out into the pasture to make sure Maggie was secured. (Sometimes she's out in her temporary pastures.) Anyway, she was lying down but her chin was resting on the ground. And then her lips started to move and sort of bite at the ground. And here ears started to swivel all around and independently of each other. I thought, "Either she's asleep and dreaming or she's dying." So I stood there, where she could see my plainly if she woke up or came back from the dead and waited. This peculiar REM state continued for a few minutes. I was really starting to worry when her eyes opened, she looked at me like, "Oh hello!" and then she rolled vigorously around on her back and finally hoisted herself up and shook herself off. She looked very relaxed and well rested. But it was weird.
Hey, what I don't know about horses could fill several very long blog postings and it wouldn't be that interesting. Suffice it to say that between my admitting to giant blank spots in equine knowledge and residual fears about evil horsey activity*, thanks to Crispin (whom I hope is now residing in a can of dog food) I decided that what this middle aged equestrienne needed was some remedial lessons. And it's doing me a world of good! It's crazy as so many people say things like, "Why do you need lessons? Don't you already know how to ride?" But as my sage sister Beatrice observed, it's like dance and you can always learn something new. And it's been at least six or seven years since I had lessons.
So I have been riding a much larger, stouter horse than Maggie (Hannah by name, a red Hanoverian/Morgan cross) and consequently, my upper/inner thighs are killing me. I feel like I've been drawn and quartered, and I'm walking like a cowboy. This is also an interesting fact to point out to cynics who insist that riding must be good exercise for the horse, implying that the rider does nothing but sit there. Ha! Let me be the first to assure those skeptics that riding is incredibly physical. Your weight is one of your "aids" while riding; subtle shifts in balance tell the horse where to go. Not to mention posture and the alignment of shoulders and legs are constantly in use. But it is giving me new confidence and a happier attitude.I rode Maggie this afternoon as it didn't rain after all, and enjoyed myself immensely.

Not the most flattering picture of Maggie, but it shows her skepticism. I think she likes me, but secretly thinks I'm a wimp. I am. But I do like my little Magster!

* like bucking and spooking and bolting. All kinds of horsey fun!

Odd Sightings

Is it only me? Or do other people constantly come across such weird stuff? The above picture is in the hollow of a large tree on the side of the road where I walk with Jules every morning. I happened to have my camera with me as I was photographing the stupid garbage (like sofas and building materials) that nasty people dump on the dirt road and I remembered that there was this mini installation in the tree. Fortunately, it was still there, left by aliens, or small children (pretty much the same thing). But what are the chances that I'm standing contemplating the universe as my dog pees, and I look to the left and there they are. Sort of like the "fuck tree". Anyone remember that?
Anyway, I come home and have to realize that maybe that isn't such an odd vision, as Bob left okra in candlesticks on the mantle and maybe that's kind of strange, too.

I agree that they look like candles (and had become too large to eat). And here's another one, while we're at it:

That's a radish straight from the garden, that must have grown around some other root or a rock. It resembles Zippy the Pinhead's girl friend posing for Edward Weston or something! I guess vegetables have a sense of humor, too.

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!!!!!