Now and then I dig out an old sketchbook- I have saved these pages, and reference images, for such a moment, which comes rarely. I don’t know why, but it seems to take enormous moving of planets to get me out of my rut and seated at a table with the materials for a small sketch like this.
“To cultivate that fearlessness, watching PP set up the stage, while we continued to play–that obnoxious command of canvas, string, and poles! To know what I want, and push every living thing aside! to get it. But not to be a total Ahole.”
That was my dream for 2011. Has anything changed?
copied from an unattributed online image in Pilot G-2 pen, acrylic white pen, watercolor
This should be my art blog! Aren’t the concerns much the same, for music or art? The need for fearlessness, the necessity of going vigorously after what you want?
Perhaps less chatting and more posting of process. A watercolor bouquet of three of five sunflowers Art brought me after Rick’s death, with the original sketch. 
Well, how long has it been since I posted ANYTHING here? A very long time. Here is some recent stuff I have done.
A sketch of the moon, white and black Prismacolor pencils and white gel pen on 7×7″ sketchbook paper–January 12, 2018. Updated Feb 11, after removing a little too much snow up top.
Drove the van up the coast to see the Steve’s birthday eclipse. Starting with dinner at the Samoa Cookhouse, and camping at Emerald Forest, we broke 80K on the odometer in Bandon, Oregon, just short of 500 miles out. Up the dunes and Florence to my sister’s house, Totality from her traffic-free back patio in Willamina, Oregon. Up to Hammond to visit my cousin, then started back on 8/24, camping down the coast and home to a rat invasion on August 31.
Art has a fondness for buying me cakes, particularly after I told him about Birthday Month, which begins a month before your birthday and ends a month after your birthday. For me, this means cakes can appear anytime from approximately April 4 to June 4. I am sorry I didn’t get a photograph of the first Possum cake, which had a rather hideous large gray rat-looking creature made of frosting. Delicious, nonetheless.
From then on, just lettering. Also, the 13th Anniversary of the Polka Cowboys at the same venue.
For Art’s 73rd birthday I made a large sheet cake and with the help of a hand-drawn chart laid out the candles, with a gardenia in the center. It took four people to light the candles, and Art, Missy and Ed blew them out before I could get a photograph, or burn the building down.
May 20, 2015–random birthday cake
October 23, 2015, my return from Seattle
June 5, 2015- last call
May 31, 2017–cakemeister
Jan 26, 2017
5.15.17
He reprimands abruptly. It’s familiar territory.
He assumes it’s a Stupid Relationship. He’s been here before, see.
He knows what to do and how to feel. After all, nothing this good can be real. It’s all in the future unless
You stop and see what is in the Now.
Don’t let anyone know what you’re thinking.
Follow protocol, even if you start sinking.
She’s not sure how to keep this treasure. She has one eye on the weather
The other on the prize, and simple pleasure.
Keep it simple, Stupid. It’s all in the future unless
We do this together
and stay in the here and now.
You were right. You were absolutely right. That is my crime.
Sonora-Colorado, LAMiller, date unknown– a photo of a painting i did some years ago, a confluence of desert plants that don’t share territory, and the ever-present phainopepla. Some paint, some ink, some pastels, big paper. I gave it to my friend Jean sometime before she went to the great beyond.
April 2017–I packed for the cold, wet rain, but this morning it is fresh, clear and sunny, about 60 degrees by the backyard thermometer. Extra leggings, socks, fleece, down jacket for the cold overnight. The first day we hiked the East side of the Pinnacles, where the campground is, site #65. Two caves, scary piles of huge boulders (earthquake zone) and waterfalls! I brought chili fixins, mostly made. I cooked it up on S’s stove and Art did his tortilla magic on his camp stove.
In the morning I got hurried out of my not-yet-awake complacency. Our hiking companion was packed and ready to go when I was just up and making coffee; knocked my bag and bed-roll over spilling Art’s raisin bran to the ground. Then, instead of sitting with my coffee and cereal and having a civilized morning repast, I rushed to pack up the stove and pot and spilled half the coffee on the table and bench. No real harm done–while Art packed up the tent I wandered off to decompress by the creek. Bonus, vanilla cappuccinos at the Supermercado in Hollister.
Discoveries: S. does not drink coffee; 1/2 the little jar is plenty for an overnight trip; the green and yellow percolator works great; S. smokes cigarets. Art does not want help with the tent. S rushes ahead, Art likes to wander and dawdle. I am somewhere in between. I love sitting in the car reading and writing, somewhat sad to Arrive anywhere.
I had a lens malfunction on Steve’s Canon–it is a signature, it is what I do. I switched out the batteries to see if it would reset–my iPhone battery is dead because I used it for light in the caves, as my flashlight was left in the tent–so no photographs today. The West entrance, perfect hiking weather and high puffy clouds.
What an amazing place! Pinnacles! So happy I came, so happy I brought so many comforts and necessaries. I don’t think we felt a drop of rain after we got into the park.
The trees are oxygenating, the sky is clear, the air cool. Everything is Green, with tiny flowers, and several species of TINY butterflies—a black and white! a checkerspot or fritillary, an off-white but similar to a blue. Not skippers, but that small.
Soledad, mucho comida, 3 PM and homeward.
Wonderful spring wildflower trip in the Westfalia with Art, and art supplies.
A quick delightful spurt of journaling with pens, watercolors and lovely sketch paper quickly gave way to incessant journaling. I spent a lot of time coloring and painting highlights and entries, but really, non-verbal art-making is just elusive. The Year To Clear What Is Holding You Back has not resulted in very much being revealed as I had hoped– but I am still 45 or so days away from the end, or re-start.
Here are some scribblings from Mid-August.
I signed up for three online watercolor and acrylic painting courses, and was following a couple of art blogs that inspired these three images, executed from the safety and warmth of my custom-made semi-loft bed. In November I began a new journal which I have lost somehow, and in the missing journal there are some pages of color mixing, using a split palette of warm and cool primaries. This is very fun and has refreshed my excitement about using color–Pantone 15-0343 Greenery is the color for 2017.
I play in three different bands a minimum of three days a week, one of which is on the Mondays I used to reserve for painting and drawing. Also, I am on facebook pissing away two or three hours a day, and had spent a lot of what could be creative time shopping for jewelry on Etsy. I am pretty much sated with that now. Also there are still six gardening jobs that get me out of the house a few days here and there for creative and exercise purposes. Also, I have plans to engage with my friend and neighbor Jean W. for some arting and tea.
The studio on Howe Street has issues that hold me back from utilizing it: barking dogs, bad air, no insulation (too hot/cold) 2-hour parking restriction, interruptions from the homeowner, who is a dear friend and likes to chat, and for now, the immobility of the rolling door over the cracked and lifting concrete floor that makes it nearly impossible to get in and out. The fact that it is within walking distance somehow doesn’t register. I have begun clearing there, and brought in some electrical cords and tools that will focus me more on things I cannot do at home. With the new year and returning light I will be going there at least on Fridays, after my weekly trip to my Oakland job.
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