Fever Dream part 16

 A decent day today- 70 degrees, partly sunny, and probably better than tomorrow, which is expected to be a nor'easter with lots of rain and wind.  Therefore, another good Studio day.  I left as soon as my parents got home from their morning activity, got up there by a little before 2 pm.  Saw Nichole's car in the lot and went directly to her basement office from the parking lot.  Had to wait while she spoke to someone else, but then got to talk to her about the two questions I've had for a few weeks- had she spoken to Mary, my former student who was looking to start a print program there in the building, and what happened with Judiyth, a friend of hers who might be able to provide some professional help to me in my condition, but hadn't been in touch for a two weeks, nor anyone from her agency either.  Short answer, she hadn't spoken to anyone recently, but agreed she probably should, and planned to do so.  With that bit of business settled, I could go back up the stairs to the parking lot, then back in the main door to the first floor (which allowed be to put a tag on my hook), and ultimately back down to the basement to my Studio.  Lot of cars in the lot, and a lot of tags on hooks, but didn't see many people there on the 1st floor.

In my Studio I had a bit of work to do first.  Molly had been there, and it seemed she had gotten the job of making product for the Halloween event scheduled for the building this weekend.  They have a Trunk or Treat thing scheduled there- which is an event where various volunteers have candy available for kids, who visit each person (by their car, supply in the trunk I guess) and get candy that way, instead of the traditional door to door thing that I grew up doing.  My mother's theory was that this started with Hurricane Sandy, which took out power (and thus street lights) and left a lot of wires down throughout the region for much of October that year, making the trick-or-treat thing harder to do.  Now, it's a way for houses and kids to avoid Covid.   I knew from e-mails that one thing participants would get is a tote bag they could color, an activity as well as a useful tool.  It turns out that Molly was making the tote bags, or I should say decorating them.  It was a nice decoration, though, a black and white silkscreen print of a haunted scene, complete with a haunted house, full moon, skull, headstones, a contorted tree (dead or at least without leaves, as happens this time of year). and a giant rat, plus the words "trunk or treat 2021" and "jersey shore arts center". She printed this on off white canvas tote bags, and white t-shirts, part of the event I assume.  Pretty much every horizontal surface in our space was covered with them, including my inking table and my chair, so I had to excavate those to give myself a place to work and put my stuff.  The only space in the room not so covered was part of one of her tables, so that's where it went. 

For music I chose my single disc version of Live at Raji's  from The Dream Syndicate, which I wrote about on this blog back in April 2020 if anyone is interested to hear about it.  It does have a song called, "Halloween", so I guess it was appropriate. It's also a favorite disc, which is why I had a copy of it in my Studio stash.

I'm getting close to the end of my latest block, which is a reason I wanted to work on it.  The fact that we are expecting some bad weather in the coming days was a good reason to do it today, as well as I probably needed to pick up some milk on the way home.  (as is said, there's something about a coming storm that makes everyone get in the mood for French Toast, because everyone goes to the store and buys milk, eggs, and bread)  Knowing I was going today, I had done some block drawing in the morning, working on those hanging hoses, resolving the circular clothing rack, and making some decisions about other small areas.  Up at the Studio, I made those changes by cutting to the clothing rack and the small areas, then moved to something new- the brick wall and the hand holding the keys.  I didn't cut the keys today, or the Jefferies Tube behind it or the hanging hoses, so those items will wait for my next visit, but that may be last time for new cutting.  This thing is just about finished.

As I was locking off and turning out lights in the basement, suddenly Molly arrived, who I haven't seen in the Studio in maybe a year.  So we had a brief chat.  I told her I really liked the design she had created for the bags and shirts, and I did, too. It's a very complicated composition, but an excellent use of black and white.  (she appreciated my comment, as I am known as a big user of black and white in prints) I also pointed out the bank of florescent lights that was out, and told her that if Nichole was still in, I'd let her know about it.  She said she was there today to finish the job for Nichole, so I left her the room, stopped by the office for what I planned, then headed home.