Hard Times Killin' Floor Blues

Talk about a song stuck in yer head-the title to this blog is the song that has followed me around for all too long-it's from the soundtrack to the "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" (by Chris Thomas who covers Skip James, who is described as a man who might be singing and playing this tune to a warm Mississippi night on an old wooden porch at least 75 years ago...)

It IS a beautiful song, but, jeez, I'm sorta thinking it might be adding to my "downtrending" mood the past few days. The spectre of the holidays is hovering around my head and what with sad memories I have of Christmas/Thanksgiving past(s), this whole time might be a tough one.

It doesn't help that my parents might be seeing their last holiday in the house. Those last few words do not come easily and, yep, I can feel their weight...

Where's that damned dog when I need her?

I sure do miss my Rhonda now.

This one is called "Deaf and Dumb." There's something about it that I really like that goes over and beyond my usual work-I guess that it holds more mystery than the usual...

Hard(ened) times

I just glanced at the amount of posts that I'd made in the past couple of years. Comparing it with this year's tally, it sure looks like I've been slacking. Of course, I have my excuses-they're somewhere around here....

Well, I tried a rescue dog and she just did not work out for reasons I just don't want to go into here. As I wrote a friend just this morning, I'd sure like a dog right now. Following that thought was "A dog sure would be the most impractical thing I could have right now (well, that is, next to a leased BMW, that is)."

I'll sit on the fence for a while on this one and wait for the dog to come to me. Many offers have been made and I'm sure my friends think me picky (which is very true), but I'm gonna wait for the dog to find me.

My painting has been somewhat constipated lately-there is this feeling when it is working, when the flow is good and unrestricted (mind you, this has little to do with the end product). My sculpture feels as if it's somewhat canned. The fact that the studio is unheated (that's by choice and dictated by my pocketbook) has not helped my creative "flow". I spent most of the day yesterday in the studio and I felt things start to free up, just as I was about ready to call it a day.

There is something to this aging thing-I now have a true drop off point and I call it that becuase it is so dramatic-you know it when it is reached.

My writing has been going pretty well-like everything else I'm trying to do, there has been no concentration but only fits and starts. This is the way I like to work, but I'm having trouble dividing up time lately...another item to work on.

I'll do the Ann Arbor show again next year (they invited me back) and give it another shot. I'll apply once more to JazzFest and I want to try another little show in Michigan. The gallery scene is dead-I feel badly for all of the galleries that show my work-they have that rent thing to deal with constantly and no way of encouraging sales...

I'm having a studio show and sale on December 4th (please tell yer friends and neighbors)-we'll give this thing a shot once again (the first one was terrific)-if nothing else, it's a good excuse to rearrange the studio. A great studio sweep and cleaning is coming sometime soon-I can feel it-When the mood hits, I'm gonna be chucking out and moving stuff like crazy-you know, turning over the new leaf, shaking the dust off (literally)...but for right now, I'll be at AVAM one weekend and the following weekend is my sale...busy, busy.

This one is a favorite of mine. It's called "In the Wall"-or some such thing-I know I (already)gave it a title, but I write from home and can't readily access my work...when I get to the shop later, I'll have one of those "duh" moments when I see the original title. No matter-it's mine and you can't have it!

ps. Writing a short story about a big expressionist painting globbed with paint and some other stuff...