Working, Working - New Work

I've been cranking it up in the studio trying to get work completed for a photo shoot date next Monday. Here are two new pieces in the Running Stitch series - one of which is done and the other that just needs a bit of color tweaking. (Note that you can click to enlarge the images.)

Tic Tac Nature, encaustic with book parts and other elements on panel, 24"x24", 2010

Tic Tac Nature side view

Tic Tac Nature closeup

This first piece is the one that's finished. After making several in this series, I have now decided that while I may compose and edit elements as I assemble, the final cogitative review where I pull together the color is one of the most important parts. It's like making any painting - you need that time in the armchair looking at what you've done and trying to sneak up on it so you can see what's really there. (Every time I think about that, I think about my painting teacher, Rob Moore, at MassArt who said that seeing what was really there instead of what you think is there was the hardest part of painting.)

Not a Day Goes By, encaustic with book parts and other elements on panel, 24"x24", 2010

Not a Day Goes By, side view 

Not a Day Goes By, closeup

This second piece has gone through an abbreviated review after assembly and paint application, but the color still needs to be brought together. I don't feel that it's all that it could be yet so I'll have to sit with it for a while, see it out of the corner of my eye from across the room, and generally study it while appearing not to be looking so that I can tell what's really happening and get it to come to life for me.

So other than tweaking Not a Day Goes By and reworking one of my earlier pieces in the series that I think could be made stronger, I'm about finished with the work I want to get done before Monday. I'm having 10 pieces photographed - a good number, I think. Ill be using the photos to apply for grants and to post on my new website.


How Strong Is The Connection?
Beginning Tuesday night and continuing throughout last night, I was having trouble with my internet cable connection. At first I thought it was because of the election and so many people being online, but when it continued on Wednesday morning, I suspected something was wrong. I could not connect with my gmail account. I went to one of my day jobs that morning and connected to gmail just fine on their computer so I knew it had to be me. Last night I tried resetting my cable connection several times. Each time I did, I could connect for five or ten minutes and then it shut me off again.

So last night I couldn't follow my usual pattern of taking a look at Facebook before going to bed. Neither could I check out blogs, look things up or write a blog post. I was disconnected and it was a very lonely feeling. Here I was, late at night, working at one of my home jobs on the computer, and I was shut off from that whole wide world out there. It was a surprising feeling of isolation. Who knew I would feel it so strongly?


Election Recap
Yes, I'm disappointed at the losses by Democrats, but here in the Northeast, the results were not as strongly negative as elsewhere in the country. Luckily we are one of the last bastions of Liberalism and a Democratic stronghold, so we re-elected Governor Deval Patrick in Massachusetts and voted in a full Democratic slate for other offices and the state legislature. New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont all elected Democratic governors and Rhode Island voted in an Independent. Maine came close to voting in an Independent governor as well.

I'm in a wait and see mode for what will happen next, but it's like going to the movies and closing your eyes when you hear the scary music. I don't want to see what's next because I'm afraid of the monster mess that I can hear slouching toward Washington.

And on a lighter note, per New York Magazine's Daily Intel, four dead people were elected to public office on Tuesday. Apparently no one noticed they were six feet under even though they were on the ballot. They'll probably do a better job than some of the live ones just voted in. (Me, cynical? Nevah!)