Getting ready for Open Studio

I'm in the middle of the seasonal race to clean up my studio for the big open studio event. With over 150 other artists opening their studios, it's a huge event. Also it's free, free parking, open to dogs, children, and used to be free booze – so we get large crowds.You can't imagine just how messy and hazardous most studios get. The Point Office is always after us to keep them clean and uncluttered and fireproof, which is good. Many of the artists are there late at night carrying boxes in and out of the building. I take boxes of unfinished paintings home, some of the artists store stuff in theirs cars for the weekend.

This year I have too much of my new series for the amount of walls. Can I hang from the ceiling? On the ceiling? But I guess it's not about quantity.

A friend advised me that my studio at the event always looks too much like a gallery. She advises to be like another artist who has paintings from floor to ceiling and in piles; lots of work; and says "she looks more eager to sell." So yesterday, I managed to precariously lean way over on the ladder and hang some small paintings way up near the ceiling. Looks cluttered. I'll take them down if I can get up there again.

In all my time painting, I have only thrown out one piece and that's because I thought it might be radioactive. I have destroyed many works by painting over them – what I call a "sacrifice" – my private, pagan offering. If the piece being sacrificed was quite good, it lends good energy to the new painting. When these paintings go to someone's collection, I know how much is under the surface and it feels like a multiple sale. 

We are asked to donate a piece of art for the auction. That causes me to go through a lot of older work hunting for something that is great but that I can give away. I get a lot of stuff out which needs work, or framing, or matting. Then I run out of time and shove it all back into the cupboards again. Once I choose a piece, it  simultaneously loses its value and goes up in value – which makes it hard to price.

20th and Rhode Island, 12"x16", plein air

I chose a really nice, little plein air landscape this year. It's a view of a steep hill. I was in an emotionally crisis when I painted it, but sat in the car on the corner all day painting for two days. The edge of the hill is a bit furry. I tried repeatedly to sharpen it but it kept going furry. Maybe it's the horror I was feeling right there on the canvas. And some idiot moved the car. (It's not their fault but still...) As a finished work, it an old-timey 1930s naive quality. I already regret giving it away, but maybe someone will love it as I do.

Going through all the old pieces I can't believe I still have so many. I love them all and I love their flaws. They record the feelings I had throughout my life and each one has a story.

People say "They're like your children, ha, ha, ha." They are the stories of my life – more like my autobiography. It's hard to think of an autobiography where each paragraph is being sent to a different home, forever.

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I bought a new (refurbished) camera to make videos but also shoot stills of my work. So far the camera has turned out to be so complicated and I can't figure out how to get a good focus on the stills. It's taking nice large images but not as sharp as I want. I have read all the directions many times and watched tutorials on youtube. I made my third test yesterday. Close to getting a focus on the smaller works. The big paintings have to go to a professional to shoot.

Anyhow, here is a bad photo of this large new painting, a still life of a pile of stuff with fake fur, animal print and feathers. Needs a title.

What should I call this one?

painting with friends

Painting on Mt. Tam with friends: Maeve Croghan and Chloe, Dominique Caron and Mikaela. I am wearing 2 hats, very geeky. This is one of our favorite spots. It is really glorious up there. Nice view of a round earth especially on such a clear day. Nice view of Farralon Islands.

Not really my favorite sort of view--too beautiful!-- but tried oil paints as a way to energize myself. Made it a bit greener than it was for some reason. Rubbed most of the paint off. I think it has a fatal flaw...the trees are right in the center. Maybe I will add more trees.

Will go back for nice view of Mt. Diablo. I am painting Mt. Diablo from all directions and this is a nice vantage point.

sacramento river delta

Here I am painting alongside the Sacramento River -- (squinting) , holding my dirty hand up because I was painting in oils and it was covered wth paint.

This weekend I dropped a painting off to another juried show and then went to Sacramento to pick up a painting from a gallery (it bounced back via Fed Ex). The guys in the gallery were 'taking the piss' out of me for coming from San Francisco. Not sure why exactly.

I drove back along the river road looking for spots to paint. What a marvelous drive! The river--quite big--at times gets much larger. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the river and the bay. I want to visit the bay model again to study where I have been.

Near Sacramento I passed many new suburbs that were right alongside the river under the levee. You can scramble up the side and see bicyclists, dog walkers, runners and such going back and forth. Along with beautiful views. I can see what all the fuss is about. Schwartzenegger was worried about the safety of our water system and flooding in the event of an earthquake. I also passed many many foreclosure signs in these areas.

Once on route 160 I didn't see many places to pull over though there were some cars parked alongside--probably fishermen. Somewhere around Walnut Grove I took a side road that had a sign to some island. It didn't seem private; I followed a truck and some cars to get in there. The road on top of this levee was smaller and had very little traffic. The people in the house next to me said it was ok.

I painted in oil because it seems like a good idea in the heat. The painting came out sort of fuzzy. I had my usual brushes but couldn't get as detailed as with acrylics. But on the other hand I was definitely not overworking it and the colors are easier to grey out and make naturalistic.

About an hour into the painting a lady came by in an SUV and told me to move. It was her private land. She said I couldn't park on the road anyhow. I asked for 15 minutes which she granted. It seemed strange because usually people are so nice to me when I am painting. She apparently owns an island and has all these renters. Driving back to Route 160, I had a more careful look at the pavement ahead and could see that they had had some trouble with it. There were cracks and slumps and it went to one lane at one point. But on the other hand, it didn't look much different than the road I had been driving on for the last hour.

Now I get it that one should not park on levees. I did not realize this. I saw no signs. I guess it's a problem with the shoulder but it also seems odd that you can drive on them in the first place. In England's fen country the roads are beside and below the canals. Growing up in a New York suburb we didn't even know there were rivers. Now they have rivers and flooding, (We also had Canadian geese migrating twice a year. Now they are year-round residents.)

There were quite a few marvelous draw bridges along the way which I'd like to paint. Closer to home was an awesome view of Mt. Diablo from Rio Vista. The river there was enormous, really huge and powerful-looking, and I saw large signs saying "Notice" next to the pulloff areas. I couldn't read the small text. Where these no parking signs? There were lots of cars next to them.

Before I got to Antioch I suddenly had to go over this very high and very Disney'esque two-lane bridge and almost had a panic attack. I felt dizzy and disoriented by the walls on either side of my car. It was very narrow and very high (300 feet? 500 feet? thousands?). I had someone on my tail or otherwise I'd be going like 20 miles an hour. I was having flashbacks to bad experiences at Splash mountain and Great America rollercoasters. I will avoid that one in the future if at all possible.

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After I posted this I was lying in bed realizing that only crazy city people park on levees. I almost got up and took the blog down. We know potential employers find one's blog. Who will ever hire me if they read this? I who caused a crack in the levee and that the river will burst out and flood the house next to it and the orchard and cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands in the housing developments. Maybe there would be a cascade effect all the way down to Antioch and the stupid bridge would fall down. They would look for me and find my blog and charge me with 6 billion dollars of flood damage. And worse, I would never be able to live with conscience. All because a stupid New Yorker parked on the levee. They would pass new laws that no one is allowed to drive on the levee and construct a big fence around it for national security reasons.