Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Pining For The Fjords / Scarcity
One month from today I will be leaving for Northern Europe. This means that I have a lot of things to take care of between now and then. Therefore, I will be spending less and less time both here and around the corner. Though it doesn't have to, this blog can remain idle. Do not feel obliged to post. However, you are all free to post to your heart's desire, if that is your wish. I intend to take a good camera and my notebook with me so that, while there, I can do my best to turn NextWordCorner into a 'travelblog', at least in part. I make no promises, however, since I cannot be sure of the quality or dependability of the technology to which I will have access.
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7 comments:
WM,
Sorry to hear your granddaughter is not feeling well. I hope it doesn't amount to much.
Also, I had been meaning to ask you about the mural. Unless I missed it, you haven't mentioned it in a while. I trust you will keep us abreast of its development.
PMT...Thank you...it was actually our daughter and I think it it was more just fatigue( I told you I am a worry wort)...having a very active and inquisitive 14 mo. old can wear one out...I think she just needed some extra sleep, which Bill was able to give her today...a 4 hr nap. She is going with me tomorrow to the mural meeting as she will helping me with parts of it. She is an amazing faux artist.
I am working forward on the mural project. We have a meeting tomorrow with a full color, to scale panel which I was finishing up today. This will give us a starting place. It is very different from what I have done in the past...all the colors are muted and toned down but I have still created a receding vista of hills. Apparently we are also up for the possibility of a night sky on the ceiling of the theatre...and at least 2 other projects. I thank you for your interest and I will definitely keep you updated. The main building that will house the mural is still a ways from being finished, so I will probably be starting around the time you leave for your fabulous trip...another subject.
I am very excited about the possibility of seeing through your eyes the things that fascinate you and that you find interesting...your tastes are, to say the least, ecclectic, and it should be very interesting to say the least. I know what it is like to have to get organized for a long trip. The first big trip I took to the UK, in which I was going to be driving everywhere, took a year in the planning and we were very busy the last month or so. We will miss you posting as frequently, but it is entirely understandable...I am so excited for you. The best I can plan on this year is a visit with my friend in D.C....but then there are the Smithsonian Museums and I am currently a member...but OMG...Northern Europe...places I would love to see. So, I am looking forward to "seeing" it through you. Perhaps when you are back home you could create a link to an online photo album...( you know...use the power of the email)
I think we can manage to amuse ourselves while you are away and with luck, we will also have some occasional great visuals to spur us on. CA and I will definitely stay busy...if WH would just keep exercising those thumbs of his we can keep up a good discussion.
Also...on the mural project...I will be be documenting it as we work through it...I definitely have moments of minor panic when I wonder, if at 60 I am just a teensy bit nuts to be doing this. But, I have never been one to not walk through an open door...and down the rabbit hole.
Must go put together some dinner as the wine in my glass has receded. Might be back later with some thought on whatever.
Yo WH...I'm really hoping they Hang'em High...someone in an interview the other day said they may not be able to nail Bush because he was mostly clueless and just signed whatever shite was put in front of him...is stupidity a defense????
Oh...and CA...I am SO impressed with the Harley Davidison connection...I was kind of going with the Proud Mary concept...workin' for the man every night and day...WOW...you are sooooo immpressive...time to go bang my head on the table for awhile.
Back later...WM
I am in trouble now...at least craft-wise. I know I said I wasn't going to take more than one temari ball class, but they are so intricate and beautiful...and unless, like the instructor have been doing it for 30 years, they don't take up much room. Before I knew it, my friend and I had signed up for another class next month. I will take a photo of my first attempt as soon as I am finished. In my own defense (excuse), our chorus will be through in a few weeks until the fall and our art class is over until the fall too. So a new hobby won't take away from anything else. I have to admit that I am one of those "I know a little bit about a lot of things, but master of none." dabblers.
WM, It sounds like you might be doing the Michelangelo ceiling thing next. You'll have to tell us what that will entail if it comes to pass.
Please take some photos of your mural in progress, maybe your scale panel?? I am really curious to see what you have in mind.
PMT, I am envious of your upcoming trip. As a combo Russian-Swede, I love the northern countries. I haven't been to Russia yet, but would love to go. I know my paternal grandfather was born in Kiev and that there are still some rather distant relatives there. As you know, I am pretty familiar with much of Sweden.
Whenever I have traveled in southern Europe, the locals have always pegged me as an American, but I blend right in, in the Scandinavian countries. That has been inconvenient when somebody has come up to me and starts speaking in Danish or Norwegian.
Since you will be cruising, you most probably will have access to the internet. I know we all will be interested in your comments and photos of what you see.
WH, I understand that sheep shearing is a money losing endeavor and that it costs more to cut it and sell it than you actually get for the wool. Do you have a good market for your fleece?
Moving forward...a bit of housekeeping...
WH...took your advice and cancelled the Amazon order for What Are People For and switched it to one of their used booksellers in OR...will be here in a day or so...mucho cheaper!
CA...sorry for being so brain dead...Your new Avatar is obvioulsy a new piece of pastel work. I kept looking at it and thinking what a lovely photo...most likely from Italy or South of France...I went and tried to get a better look and Wow...I am hoping that you will keep working even though your classes have stopped for now...terrific work and I'm so sorry not to have sussed it sooner. :oP
Just an update...really great meeting today on the mural and I think that with Jessie's help we are closer to a solution. It is very much leaning more abstract and faux work which is seriously fine by me...we are still doing the ceiling( a huge area), but in much more simple form. In each meeting, so far, we have simplified...this is good for my brain as I tend to get very detailed with things and I like it when I am pushed different directions and have to look at things differently.
CA...I think I will wait until the newest panel is complete and take a photo of them together so you can see the changes...It also looks like we will at least be adding in the ceiling for the theatre room...this is more in Jess's line of work, but they saw some photos of her work and were quite impressed. So...a good day and we are still at least a month out.
Another random comment on a more basic part of making art...or more correctly, getting ready to paint. I just had to lay out a new palette and I realized that it is a very sensual experience and one that I quite enjoy. Some colors are always standards for me but I have to make decision between various blues, or reds or greens and puple shades that I think will work best for what I want to do. The actual laying out of the paints is what is fun. Thick, pure colors oozing out of the tubes onto the palette as I visualize what they will become. I guess I have always enjoyed the ritual of the getting ready as much as the actual painting itself...it probably explains why I can rarely buy any kind of paints or pastels or colored pencils without wanting all the colors...which then need to be sorted and stored by color...most pleasing visually. I find that I am often the same about fruits, but also, and more especially, vegetables...the play of one color off another...I know, I'm just a bit strange...if I was a much better artist I could probably better explain this quirkiness...
CA...also, can't wait to see a photo of the Temari ball...how incredibly interesting. I can certainly understand why you would want to learn more about it.
PMT...just wanted you to know that I thought the info you pulled up on Doug Peterson was interesting...you were apparently very close...just off a degree or so to linking up friendships...it wouldn't have been surprising as the world is, ultimately, a small place...that would have been so cool...I don't know if I ever mentioned that my father grew in Sidney Montana...up until college, when he was dreafted and then his folks moved to the San Jose CA area, and he graduated from SJSU on the G.I.Bill...see very small world.
Taking off for now to try and get dinner started a bit earlier...we have been eating on Eurpoean schedule for the last few weeks...
Cheers and all...WM
Tootin' own horn time...just won first place in a juried show...small cash prize. WOOT! Will be attending gallery opening tonight...free wine and food...again...Woo Hoo! :o)
WM,
CONGRATULATIONS on your win at the show. A little extra cash never hurts, eh?
PMT...Thanks...it was quite a bit of fun...they made a presentation and everything. I also got a chance to talk with a lot of people and realized that maybe I am being just a bit isolated. I found a guy who does some really interesting semi-abstract figure work and am considering talking to him about working one on one with him, if he takes private students and if I can afford him...his name is Michael Azgour...website www.azgour.com that includes a link to the gallery he shows in...I would very much be interested in what you think of his work...I am looking for a way to expand my horizons...keep learning and growing and I like his approach...I used to do figure work and was thinking if nothing else, the Pacific Art league has drop in Figure studios where you pay as you go.
Years ago, when I was just out of college, a group of us got together and rented a loft and hired models...I kind of miss that and need to try something new.
There are 2 more big juried shows coming up in the next few months and I think I am going to stick my neck out for rejection and go for it...one is juried by a curator of the San Jose Museum of Art...I think I have been living inside my own head for too long...time to spread my wings a bit.
I hope things are moving along for your trip...it is just so exciting! I think that part of the fun of a trip is in the planning and expectations of all the great things you are going to see. Really...I'm terribly envious...finances don't allow me to go to Europe right now. I am hoping this mural project opens some doors so I can at least get back to Paris in the near future.
I am checking in periodically, but WH seems to have disappeared...you hear that WH?...talk us in to reading all these books and articles then take a powder...!
Am looking forward to hear how CA art show went...its always good to get your work out there.
PMT have a good and productive rest of your weekend.
Cheers and all...WM
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