Shoulding, Not Shoulding

paneltalk

I haven’t written a blog post in a little while now, but it’s not that I’ve been really all that busy. Well, maybe that’s not true. I have been busy. Sheez, I’m always busy. It just seems like I should have time to sit down and write in the blog.

I don’t know why it “seems” like I “should” have time. That’s actually silly. I don’t even know why I said that. I just don’t give myself any breaks I guess, and that’s really what I “should” be doing. Stop “shoulding” on myself, really.

So, I’ll write about what’s been up. I bet once I do that, maybe I’ll plainly see why I haven’t had any time to write a post or return all my emails. Or maybe I won’t talk about that at all. I don’t know. Let’s see what happens.

Well, I just put out a recent newsletter. I sent it just last night. Those things take me a long time to compile. I don’t just whip them up ya know. The secret behind them is that I take my time with them. I spend anywhere from a few days to a week on putting them together, depending. Sometimes I think about what it would be like if I had to put one of those out every month! Of course, they would be a lot shorter in that case, but I still can’t imagine it. I would never have the time to do it. It takes too long. I do things too slowly. I paint slow, I walk slow, I read slow. Maybe I type fast. That’s about all I do fast.

In the newsletter I announced how I just got a recent review in the latest issue of Art LTD Magazine. It’s not online yet (as of today) but I’m sure it will be soon. It’s in the print edition so you should buy it because  it’s a great magazine. I have a subscription myself. It was written by Simone Kussatz, Los Angeles art writer from Germany. I wasn’t surprised to read that she had a degree in psychology after I read the article since she mentions some stuff about my rather messed up childhood, but that could be because of all of the written stuff about me that’s already out there that maybe she had to work with – I hope it wasn’t apparent in the work itself. It’s a really good article though and I am thrilled about it. Good writing!

I have to say, since I’m writing down some of my thoughts here, I didn’t exactly have any expectations for my exhibition. I did however had a little hope that my work was a little more present. I don’t know if that came across or not. Maybe I have to ask around a little about that.

So, last week I sat on a panel with moderator Edward Goldman from KCRW’s “Art Talk,” Shula Nazarian of Shulamit Gallery, and Rabbi Sharon Brous from IKAR to do a discussion at the gallery about Exodus. It was an invite only event for about 25 people and it went pretty well. I actually didn’t do all that much talking (thank God), and when I did, I was slightly verklempt.

We talked about the show of course, but more so about the concept of the Exodus as a metaphor or an important story in everyone’s life. It was a lively conversation about life changes and moving, art and renewal. I liked it and I met lots of interesting new people.

I haven’t really been painting much lately. I had been working on a small watercolor portrait there for a few weeks. I can’t post it because it is for someone who donated to my Kickstarter campaign from last year and it’s a surprise. I don’t want him seeing it on my blog. I want him to see it in real life for the first time and I haven’t sent it to him yet.

But I’ve also been working on this kind of “therapy” painting that I pulled out of storage. I am just kind of dabbling with it here and there, not really “working” on it. I turned it upside down and have been working on it that way for the last several weeks because I kind of disliked it right side up. But I think it will wind up right side up in the end. I wanted to abstract it as much as I could, so upside down has been helping me look at it with better eyes.

Here it is upside down, the way I have been working on it:

perpsusd

And this is the way it will probably wind up: right side up.

perpsrsu

The working title for it is Perps, short for Perpetrators. Like I said, it is a therapy piece so I don’t know if it belongs with any other paintings I’ve really done lately. It’s both new and old for me, if that makes sense.

What I really have been wanting to do is larger watercolors, about 24 x 30 inches or so. Once I get back in the mood to work, that’s what I will be focusing on. I just need a few basic supplies that I don’t have yet, like a couple bigger watercolor brushes and a couple more ceramic palette bowls and trays.

I also have been working on putting together a catalog for my friend, artist Rochelle Botello for her upcoming show, Dog Days in San Diego. Here is what the cover looks like:

rbcover

So that’s really all for now. Sorry to end so abruptly, but until next time.

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