Late Wednesday evening, we got home from the hospital around 1:30 AM. I couldn’t eat anything the night before (nothing after midnight), so I went more than 24 hours without eating or drinking, which was tough! No coffee, no snack, no water. I had a severe headache and was moody most of the day.

As soon as I woke up from the surgery, I was in extreme pain. Luckily, the nurses gave me some real good narcotics to help me out, but they seemed to wear off too quickly. Now I’m taking some pain pills every 4-5 hours, and looking forward to each dose!

Apparently, most of the surgeon’s handiwork was done with a robot. I was asleep, so I obviously don’t remember, but I do hate robots. I don’t trust them! But I guess it worked. I’m really not 100% sure since the pain hasn’t really subsided yet. I am probably out of the woods, though.

In the days before, I tried to do as much schoolwork as possible. My teachers knew about the surgery, so they gave me a couple of sick days, which was super nice. But I still did my best to catch up on the course timelines. I did pretty well, I think. I just missed one “live” class.

I’ve also been working on art stuff. I’m awaiting the wood shapes to arrive next week. Hannah is helping me build the backings, and then I can start priming and painting them. I think these will be pretty easy, but I’m not sure since they may require a lot of outlining.

The other project I’ve been working on is the newest (major) artist’s book: Miami 1975. It took me days to create the mock-up/dummy book because it has a few fold-out pages and small signatures. I had to arrange the order, sketch which images to create, and write the story. The story comes from an older short story I’d written for my memoir but never used. I had to shorten it significantly and reword it. Now it works for the book.

Then, I decided on the edition number and book size, the paper types, the exact layouts, and the covers. I had to price and order all the materials, which are all on their way now. That all seemed like the hard part, but creating the paintings and drawings will be pretty time-consuming—makes me wish I’d started on this a long time ago. What stopped me was the financial cost and deciding on the covers and bindings, but I’m using the sales I made at my last show for this project. I’ll probably have to recoup two copies before it pays for itself, and I no longer have a stable book dealer, which took away my main source of income. I should be sending out BOAs (book on approval) at least to institutions that have collected my past editions. If I were smart, I’d be doing that. Also, I have many copies of a few different editions on hold at a gallery in Brooklyn, and they haven’t sold any. I don’t know if they are hooked into the artists’ book market. So far, it doesn’t seem so, but it’s better than having them sit around here.

I decided to do a hardcover with an exposed binding, which I have not done before. I did an exposed binding technique on my last book, Medicine Dan, but it was a softcover, or at least not quite a hardcover.

This time, it’s much more complicated, but I think I can do it despite the challenge. The edition will be seven books only, but I may make an HC (Hors d’Commerce) proof or a BAT (Bon à Tirer). BATs typically have more value, so I’ll probably make that one. It’s separate from the numbered edition, and the Hors d’Commerce is usually handled too much to my liking. I’ve made some of those in the past, and they somehow wind up missing, which is utterly disappointing; a waste of hard work and a major disrespect. This has happened in the galleries where they’ve been shown—stolen or lost! And I’ve never been compensated.

I’m also considering making a lino print in it. Though that’s also time-consuming, at least I wouldn’t have to draw it eight times, and it would give the book more variety.

Making artist’s books is costly. Losing the most valuable one in the bunch really hurts. My first major bookwork, 1-SELF, had three different proofs: the commerce, a BAT, and 10 Artist’s Proofs. The HC was lost at George Billis Gallery in 2005. I still have the other two, but the BAT has a few ink markings in white spaces. Nothing major, but it’s always bothered me.

I looked into getting hot stamping for the cover of Miami 1975, as I did with All Done But None (only colored), but it’s too costly, and I can’t do it myself. I sent those out when I made them. This time, I want to have the whole edition stay in the studio. No outsourcing. So, I came up with a transfer solution. I ordered those the other day and hope they’ll work the way I’ve envisioned.

Here is a very simple mock-up of the cover of Miami 1975:

I have no idea how long this book will take, but I’d like to have it done by January. I’d also like to publish my book for new artists by then, too. That one needs a cover design and editing. I have a lot to do, and these are just a couple of the projects I’m working on at once. What Remains has also begun: I got a good video camera, and I’ve been working on the wall of clock drawings. And I’m also learning how to work the camcorder.

And fortunately, I gained my first mentee! I’ll be working with him once a month. He’s a very talented photographer with a ton of potential. I can keep y’all updated, with his permission, of course.

As for school, I decided to make a big change. I’ll be majoring in Art History rather than sociology, which changes things further, like where I’m doing my bachelor’s degree. Since it will be done online, I didn’t have too many (good) choices. I mean, there are really cheap options at online colleges, but none I’d ever even heard of before. They also don’t rate anywhere in the ballpark of excellent schools, so I’m going to apply to ASU. The only other great school with an excellent online program is the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, but that is a very expensive private school. I wanted to stay in California, but it’s going to have to be Arizona, a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. Their program rates exceptionally high, though—and I will be able to afford it with financial aid and scholarships. I recently got a small scholarship, by the way!

My previous choice to major in sociology was motivated by helping people who have had cult and religious trauma, but that would require me to get a Master’s in social work. That would take a few thousand hours of internships, and it’s a pretty specialized field—not easy to find good work that pays decently. Meanwhile, having a bachelor’s in Art History and a Master’s in Museum Studies opens more doors for me in managing collections, curating, teaching, and more. And it’s all very “art”-related, keeping my interest high the entire time.

One other change is my language requirement. Sadly, ASL doesn’t count for ASU’s program, so I am taking Italian. It will also help when I get into CUNY’s Museum Studies program, since there’s a lot of scholarly art text I’ll need to read. I already know basic Italian, so I hope it won’t be too overwhelming.

Okay, I’ll stop typing now. I didn’t mean to go on so long (again), but I can’t help it sometimes. Thanks for letting me bore the poop out of you! Ha ha.