I am not on the boardwalk today

  

This is definitely not a day to be on the boardwalk.  Yes, I am currently working on a print in my boardwalk series and need more references, though I am hoping to get them all via photos I have or can find on the internet.  And I do have ideas left over from years ago for at least 3 others, for all of which I already gathered some references.  Still don't know if I am going to do them, as I don't necessarily have the wood, and definitely don't have the wood filler (which I spread first on the luaun to eliminate the grain) or the sandpaper to make the surface smoother, or all the watercolors I use to have when I made most of them (though the sand paper and watercolors can still be purchased).  On the other hand, if I like the way the current piece turns out I may try more.  Nothing I need to decide today.

Two reasons not to be on the boardwalk today.  One is the weather, which is predicted to be rainy today, and we have had enough rain today to believe that.  But also because today is Memorial Day (or Decoration Day to the older crowd) which is the unofficial start to the summer season, and a good day to avoid any place that would attract a crowd.  The towns around here started filling up last week, when the weather was much nicer, so on Wednesday it was getting hard to get around on the roads around here.  

I have written on this blog in past years about some of my connections to this day, whether it be blues music (Howlin' Wolf's "Decoration Day Blues" was on one of the earliest blues albums I owned, which let to a lot more record/tape/disc purchases, my radio shows, and the Robert Johnson series I am currently working on and exhibiting and selling), life in Carbondale, IL (which is among the towns that claim to have invented to holiday, and have a case for joining that extensive list), teaching (have had a lot of students in the military- their past and present), or my own artwork.  So no need to write about it again, though you should be able to find it if you want to know more.  Meanwhile, in the coming days I do expect to get back to my current piece, set on Asbury Park's boardwalk (the above photo shows a piece of it) in the coming days, hope to have the block drawn by the end of June, and the whole print finished sometime over the summer.  At that point maybe I'll be ready to take another trip to the boardwalk.