I’m getting closer to getting back to work. I mean, I am sorta back to work. Or, I’m back to work, but I’m not working on my show.

Instead, I’ve been getting a tiny panel prepped for a group show I’ll be part of next May. It opens a couple of weeks after my show does, and it’s being curated and organized by Mat Gleason of Coagula Curatorial fame.

The panel is only 9 x 6 inches. Mat sent like a hundred artists these panels so they could paint something about their all-time favorite books. It will probably look great hanging together, all those panels in vertical format hanging together, like a bunch of paperbacks on the wall.

My choice, which was hard to hone in on, is Wait Until Spring, Bandini by John Fante. I came very close to doing Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. It would have probably been a little more interesting as a painting, now that I think of it. But, it’s not too late either. I would just have to scrap my drawing for the Fante book because it is nearly ready to transfer. Hmmm. Now that I type this, I wonder.

I won’t be working for two straight months, starting when? I don’t know exactly. But I put together a layout of my show in Photoshop in order to figure out how many more paintings I need to finish by April, factoring in those two months. I hate that I work so slowly. I can only get one oil painting done every three weeks or so. I’m not sure I will be able to make my goal to fill that room, but I think I’m still going to try my best. I considered postponing or requesting the small room, but I don’t want to do either of those things.

Here is the little layout for the 625 square foot room, which has three 25-foot walls and a wall with an entry. That wall has nine feet on both sides of it.

If I display four pieces per side, that’s seven more paintings I need to complete. That just might be doable, even though the math comes out to be 5.3 paintings. Four of the pieces I plan to do will be in watercolor and gouache. I can probably do those faster, especially because two of those are pretty small (12 x 16 inches). If I can’t make my goal, we’ll just spread what I have around the space the best we can. I’m gonna try not to worry about it.

Concurrently, I’ve been selecting the work I will submit to the Guggenheim, which will be requested in November. That will need to be ready to go because November is probably one of the two months I need to stay in bed and take it easy. Why do I need to do that?

The procedure I did last week was to determine the treatment plan for my brain aneurysm, and it’s going to require brain surgery. Monday, I have to call the neurosurgeon’s office so we can start the authorization process, and then schedule it. I’d like to get it done asap. The more time I have to anticipate it, the worse it will be weighing on my mind.

I wanted to talk about something else, but I can’t remember it now. Oh well.