It’s been two or three days since I’ve been waking up around 3:30 am. I guess I have a lot on my mind.

I found out that my pre-op appointment is next Monday morning. They said I’d be scheduled for the surgery about a week afterward. Now everything seems all too soon, but I said I wanted to get it over with quickly. So, there ya go.

I’ve been a bit stressed beyond that to at least get most of the paintings started, or rather, get them drawn onto the surfaces. We’ll see. I have other balls of fire I’ve been juggling. I haven’t said anything because I’m waiting to get confirmations and permissions, but I may have to jet to LA to pick up some of my art for something that may or may not happen. See how vague that is?

I have a number of pieces at Craig Krull that I may need to retrieve, unframe, and deliver elsewhere, but I won’t know if that will even happen for another week yet. It could be as long as a week, or less. I don’t know.

Meanwhile, that being totally unknown, I recently received an offer to exhibit in the project room of a gallery I’ve been in communication with for over two years. We’ve emailed back and forth on occasion over that time. But the offer is to exhibit next month! Essentially, I have to decline this offer due to the upcoming surgery. However, if I end up having to pick up the art in LA next week, I might as well pick up a few other pieces to make that show happen. I don’t have to be at the reception for this show or anything, and the gallery offered to come pick up the work from my studio. But that only works if I am going to LA. Why? Because they want to exhibit the Joshua Tree series, half of which is located at Craig’s.

I would love to provide them with my answer today, but only once I have addressed the first “problem,” which is far from an actual problem at all. Two opportunities are better than one, or none, right? I think either way, I’ll get another opportunity to show at this gallery. I mean, I hope.

Explaining all of this to the gallery owner feels daunting, as if it would likely come across messy. I don’t want to blow my chances of working with them. But I have to face up to it and communicate. I’m better at writing than speaking on the phone, but she asked me to call her. I’m going to have to use my crummy, shaky voice and just do it.

I’m still in the process of preparing all the sketches to be transferred to their surfaces. I’m on the last one now, and it will be ready today. I’m also hoping to finish painting the little book cover panel as well (the John Fante book for Mat Gleason‘s show).

I think the first sketch I’ll be transferring is this one, which does not have a title yet:

Like I’ve said a bunch of times before, it takes me forever to complete a painting, and the transfer of the original sketch is one of the many reasons why.

I begin with a small sketch, usually on an 8.5 x 11-inch piece of printer paper (or several pieces). I don’t use anything fancy for the original sketches. Once it’s the way I like it, I scan it, blow it up to the desired size in Photoshop, and then print them out in 8.25 x 10.75-inch pieces.

Most of the edges of the papers need to be cut off so no white space overlaps when I start piecing them together. Then, I weave them together over a light box and tape them with Scotch until I have one big print.

After that, I turn the thing over, put each area over the light box, and scribble over all the lines using very soft graphite. This is how I transfer my sketches. I use a hard pencil (H4) to draw over the lines on the printed side. And then, it magically appears on the panel, paper, or canvas. Viola!

Now, wait. You’re probably wondering why I don’t just use big sheets of carbon paper, right? Well, I hate carbon paper for several reasons. It leaves a significant amount of carbon residue all over after transfer, and it doesn’t exactly erase easily, if at all. It also needs to be pieced together because they come in long, thin sheets. You’d think it would all be on one long roll since it comes in a Saran Wrap-type box, but no. The sheets are pre-cut. They’re about 24 inches long and Saran-wrap box wide. Not really big enough to work with most of my surfaces, so I need to tape those together, too. Conclusion? Pain in the ass!

So, when I say I’m on the last sketch (that one of my mom on her wedding day), I’m almost done scribbling the “carbon” side. I can start transferring some tomorrow. I’d like to get them all transferred before my pre-op appointment, but we’ll see.

These two drawings are for the small watercolors (also no titles), and they are ready to transfer, but I’m going to do all the water media last. I figure those will be easier for me once I’ve recovered.

I really like how the former drawing turned out because it makes me laugh, especially how I made my dad look. It still looks like him when he was younger, yet it’s a ridiculous caricature. I never know exactly how I will wind up making these pieces look wacky, but that one has a head start.

The one with the sunflowers (Frisbee Cake) is making me feel a bit stumped. I’ve usually ripped open my clothing to expose the surgery scar, but I don’t really want to do that on this one. I kinda want the lion sweater to stay white and intact. I may just “melt” my face or something.

Well, I have to get back to work, which includes a lot of administrative tasks, which I can discuss another time.