fig. 1
A pile of new mats for old prints.
fig. 2
A pile of old mat bits for new prints. This are what I do 86.3% of my drawings on. {see also doughnut holes}
fig. 3
{invisible in this photo} These mats are for prints that will be in my upcoming show this Friday at Chesterfield Arts from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 444 Chesterfield Center in Chesterfield, Mo.
Just finishing up as Kieran picks me up from work. It's for a Day of the Dead themed show at Cranky Yellow on Cinco de Mayo. Yeah, so Cinco de Mayo doesn't have much to do with dead people, but here in America, it just involves lots of drinking, which can potentially lead to death. I guess.
Kieran takes me out to dinner every so often. I never have any money on me to contribute to the tip, so this is what I give the servers. Don't worry, they still get tipped well. This is just a bonus. I remember how much I used to get a kick out of fun notes on receipts when I waited tables, so I'm trying to pay it forward. Guido's has really delicious tutto mare, fyi.
...because the paper's big and the drawing's unplanned.
I've spent a lot of time lately reexamining my approach in art. The past year has focused on developing a style and a voice, but now I really want to work on my point of view, I suppose. I'm finally feeling more like a fine artist than anything else (although the project that must be done by the end of the week and whose incomplete status is punishable by removal of my precious Squid, who is a cat, not a cephalopod, would seem to prove otherwise), so now I'm working on taking advantage of this new-found comfort in my work to decide what it is I want to say. (And if you can follow that sentence, I promise to send you a cookie.)
Part of that process is not rushing to finish things anymore. I'm taking my time with some experimental embroideries. I'm also focusing on not censoring myself, which has always been a problem. For instance, I got the sudden urge to make a Christmas card a week or so ago, and I went ahead and did it. That might not seem like much, but it's a big step for me. You can see the mustachioed season's greeter below:
Basically, I'm just taking all pressure off myself to perform. If I want to take three months to create a simple embroidery of a radio-beast, then, by gum, I'm gonna do it. I'm hoping to rectify my absence here with this new "Work in Progress" category to show off the messiness of my studio and the randomness of my brain.
P.S.: I didn't get into PNCA, which I'm beginning to think was more of a blessing than anything else. I'm turning my career focus towards teaching little kiddos instead and am working on becoming a substitute teacher to get my feet wet. I'm pretty nervous about that, but I figure that if I can handle being a sub, which is arguably the most terrifying experience one can have with 20 eight-year-olds, I can teach grade school art classes with ease.
