Boardwalk Rides part 9

 As expected, over the long weekend I did a little drawing on the current block.  All of this was in the left panel.  I made a few changes to the center of the airplane ride, based on the photo I have.  Of course, my photo is a side view, and the drawing is more a top view, so this is already a compromise, but it will have to do.  I also added three figures in the background- two in the center car (as we see it) of the Ferris wheel, and one child in the giant fish rotating ride.  The couple in the Ferris wheel is partly based on the newspaper photo I have, but significantly changed around, while the other figure is completely made up.  Those changes can be seen in the photo below:

My plans for today all involved the right panel.  After a bit of time looking at the block at home, I decided to add another horse to my carousel, sort of on the inside track.  Only part of it is visible, as most of the horse is hidden behind a larger one on the outside track.  Then I added a standing figure, someone who seems to be taking a photo of a child on a carousel horse, standing outside the fence around the ride.  So far I have her in long pants (probably jeans) and heeled shoes, unlike anyone else in the diptych.  I'm not sure if I am completely satisfied yet- may need to do something with the head.  However, it will serve as a place holder until I come up with something better.   For a while I was also playing around with a cranking system located on the ceiling of the carousel, something that would make the horses go up and down (seen on a recent Twilight Zone episode), but I couldn't figure it out, and so just erased everything and put things back as they were.  A photo of today's work can be seen here:

There was one thing I was considering changing, and that's a small piece of a distant roller coaster in the deep background.  That is because I saw a piece of a new story today that seemed to be about someone who died on a roller coaster.  However, for now I have decided to keep it.  It's a small piece of one, in the distant background, and roller coasters are a feature of every boardwalk amusement park I have ever seen.  (Following Hurricane Sandy, there was a frequently reproduced photo of a roller coaster partly under water, and parts rising from the ocean flood waters.)  It is so small and distant, that I imagine most viewers are not even going to know what it is.

For music today I brought something that I haven't brought to the Studio for a few years, the Nanci Griffith duet cover album, Other Voices, Other Rooms.  The long story of how I came to own this album can be found on this blog back in December of 2021.  I stayed for a few minutes after the disc ended, then packed up and went home.

Boardwalk Rides part 8

 Got up to the building in the late morning and saw the walls on the first floor full of art.  Not a surprise really, as I knew that last night was the opening reception for the Instructor/Student show they got going on right now.  I said hello to Jeanne (who was there) and went to my space.

Today the plan was to continue with adding figures to my latest boardwalk block, and today that meant the airplane ride in the lower corner of the left panel.  I knew I had a reference on an old print, and it must be on my blog, but I couldn't remember the name of the print, which makes a search difficult.  It was a piece that combined various insect poisons from the shed out back (left over from my hardware store owning grandfather, now turned over the county) and some kids from my old Candyland game board, circa 1960.  So I plugged the word "poison" into the search and found the print.  Still didn't have a title for it, and I never seem to have put it in the blog, but I had what I wanted- a sketch of a running girl.  Made a copy in my sketchbook.

Up at the Studio I got out my pencils and started adding figures.  At first I was going to have the girl climbing into the airplane ride, but I didn't like the look of what I had, so I ended up with her putting both hands on the ride (new compared to my original drawing of her) and both legs mostly behind the plane.  Then I put a little boy in the cockpit of the plane in the foreground.  I had some more time, so I threw in a standing adult holding a camera, facing toward the airplane ride.  This also occupied a section of boardwalk where I had nothing anyway, so it's good.  It does mean I am now likely to add the photographing mother to the carousel ride in the right panel, but that will wait for another day.  Results of today's drawing can be seen below:

I don't know if these are final versions or not.  If nothing else, they are placeholders for what I have planned.  I decided to bring the block home with me again, in case I want to do more over the long weekend.  I probably will.  On my way out I saw most of the new show.  I'll check it out more next time, but so far I am not much impressed.  I didn't expect to be by a student show.  

Back home I had a plan to find that print title.   On my computer I have a document of every show I've ever been in- show title in italics, gallery location (city), and exhibited work(s) by title, all underlined and in parentheses.  I already knew the name of the original show and the year, so it was easy to find the print title: "Pest Free and Carefree."  Almost 200 group shows, including the one next week.  It's getting to be a long document.

For music today I had brought an old favorite from my rock/pop book, the Giant Songs album from Giant Sand.  (what's more appropriate for a boardwalk block than a band that is named for sand)  It's a home burned copy of a compilation album, sort of a best of about the band, which was always Howe Gelb and whoever he got to play with him whenever he was ready to put out a new album. You can read some about it back in July of 2019.  Definitely good music to make art to.

Boardwalk Rides part 7

 As expected, over the weekend I looked at my source photos on the computer and did a little sketching on my block.  I borrowed elements from two different photos, but did manage to fill that one undrawn area in the left panel, between the Ferris wheel and the carousel.  In the foreground I put in a rotating ride (appears to be giant fish) and the top of another rotating ride, and behind that part of a roller coaster and the fence that protects and supports it, plus some bits of distant buildings.  The results can be seen below:

With that out of the way, I have now finished the basic drawing of the whole boardwalk block.  No doubt I will have to go back and refine some things, but the layout is done, so it's time to move on to the next phase, and that is starting to put in the people.  Boardwalk ride areas always have a lot of people- kids riding the ride, and adults trying to keep them under some kind of control.  For today that meant roughing in some figures over the already drawn rides and games, and then a mix of erasing old elements and drawing new elements in those spaces.  But that's why I start in pencil for most prints.

The first thing I did on the block today was add the two figures playing the fishing game.  This was a boy playing the game, boosted up so he could reach it, and his mother(?) holding him up.  Drew the child first, then the adult.  So far so good.  I left the one visible foot of the woman alone for now.  Maybe it will be a sneaker, or maybe a heel.  I will check some reference photos and see what is more common on the boardwalk.  Results of this change can be seen below:

I also added some figures riding horses on the carousel- one in the foreground, one with his back to us, and one across the carousel in the distance.  These were all based on gesture sketches I did from that episode of Homicide a few weeks back.  For now it's three boys, like on the show, though I changed the winter clothes to summer clothes for my purposes.  Colors of clothing and hairstyles will help differentiate the riders, as colors will be used to differentiate the horses.  I do plan to add a mother with a camera to this ride, but I haven't decided yet which panel she will be in.   That will wait for another day.  Results of these changes can be seen here:

After documenting today's changes, I put the block away.  I had other business to deal with.  First was checking my supply of paper.  I may do an order of art supplies soon, and it would be nice to know what I have and what I need.  Right now paper is divided over three separate shipment boxes, and I wanted to know what I actually have.  Turns out I have an ample supply of Rives Lightweight (good because I use that a lot), five sheets of the Okawara that I use for boardwalk prints (enough to last me for the immediate future, but I may get a few more) and nothing useable of the Rives Heavyweight (definitely get some of that).  Task #2 was to see which of Mary Lane's blocks I still had.  Sent her an email to the last address I had for her several weeks ago and got no response.  The email wasn't sent back as undeliverable, so the box may still be active, but no response.  I may try calling next.  Meanwhile, I have two of her blocks (and now noted which ones they are) in my Studio, left from when I printed them more than two years ago.  My last task was to look for small works.  I got an email from Steve Borzotta over the weekend, asking me if I want to put anything in the tiny gallery on the second floor.  The problem is that the little box only holds small works, and I have done nothing that small in a long time.  I might be able to edit down pieces of larger prints eventually, but I don't have anything now.

For music today I took one from my rock/pop book, my home burned copy of Tom Waits's Beautiful Maladies, which is a compilation of greatest hits from his Island Records years, and is the music he is best know for.  I wrote about this album back in February of 2020, but haven't listened to it in the Studio for while, so it was a good one to bring today.  When it ended, I was about ready to go.

On my way out of the building, I ran into Steve, so I was able to tell him in person that I don't currently have anything that will fit in the mini-gallery right now.  Saved me the trouble of emailing him later.

A.I.

 I guess it was inevitable that I would have something to say about A.I. at some point.  It's been in the news a lot lately, with meetings happening, inventors and the President speaking out about it, and a subject on numerous television shows.  In my case, I can also throw in a lifetime of reading and watching science fiction (which has also dealt with variations of this many times), plus my current use of woodcut, one of the most primitive art forms there is.  Right now Molly is even making it the subject of new t-shirts.  So how do I feel about artificial intelligence, or A.I. as it is mostly called?

Obviously I am not a fan.  I don't know anyone who is, but then I don't personally know anyone in the field.  I have seen many examples of art made by artificial intelligence- a concept is given to a computer along with a style, and the program can create art to order.  This art can be printed out by a color printer.  But it will look like something that came out of a computer printer.  It won't look like a relief print, or have the texture of a canvas.  So that's something in my favor.  If you want to learn how to carve wood to create a woodcut, you have to come to someone like me, and people have traveled far across the state to take one of my classes.  Or you could go to Evil Prints in St Louis and learn woodcut from Tom Huck (who was my student once).  Or any of the other few who do it, I suppose.  The upcoming Outlaw Printmakers show has a few relief printers who I know personally- myself, Tom, Bill Fick, and Sean Star Wars.  All of us make use of a process that hasn't changed much in the past 500 years, yet none of us make art that looks like that of the others.  

Could A.I. be used to make a relief print?  Perhaps.  A program can design a composition.  A laser cutter could be used by a computer to create a relief.  I don't think there is yet a computer device that can roll ink onto that relief, but perhaps one could be designed, if not now then in the future.  And if an ink rolling device can be created, so could something to print it onto paper.  But that doesn't get you a genuine relief print by one of the above artists.  I have an organic brain, and so do all the previously mentioned artists.  And everything is filtered through the brain.  I may consciously adjust parts of a block drawing (to fix perspective, as an example) but I have no idea where the concepts come from.  I get an idea, and make a print.  I will sometimes consult references to improve my depiction of a particular item, but the idea may be beyond my control.  Probably the same goes for any other artist.

Certainly A.I. is cheaper, and that is one reason so many fear it- trained skilled workers to be replaced by machines that can do things faster and cheaper, and without the messiness of involving a person in the process.  If you want something inexpensive and quick that kind of looks like a relief print, A.I. can get you that right now, and in time, maybe something better.  If you want something created by an actual artist, you'll have to come to one of us.  Pick the one you like.  Art is already a pretty crazy business- expecting people to pay good money for some design I put on paper.  But that is what I do, and right now a machine can't do exactly what I do, so I will keep doing it.

That Outlaw Printmakers show should be pretty cool.

Boardwalk Rides part 6

Got to the Studio in the late morning, and decided to take care of some office business before I got to work.  Almost as soon as I walked in Jeanne was talking, apologizing for not getting back to me sooner.  I had no idea what she was talking about, but we soon established that she meant my email regarding teaching a woodcut class.  She's been very busy, and it's not going to happen this fall.  This was not a surprise to me (I check the class listings now and then), but the fact that she was reacting to this email now was strange as I sent it in mid-August.  She again apologized for being busy.  But what I really wanted to talk about today was the upcoming Holiday Market and sale.  I could do an open studio for this, but I'm not sure that I will.  I find that a lot of the shoppers at these things only go to the vendors on the 1st floor and don't make it to the basement.  Jeanne said it was up to me whether I wanted to do something that day or not, but that they would direct people to the basement if I told them my Studio would be open.  She said she would ask Bobby if he was planning anything (he's good at getting people to show up and come downstairs), and I plan to ask Molly if she wants to.

And with all that settled, I got to work.  My plan for today was to work on the Ferris wheel, making some adjustments to what was already there.  This I did, moving around some of the radial struts to more logical places and angles, adding a new circular ring to the wheel, making some adjustments to the seats on the ride, making everything thicker, putting in the base/support system, and changing the hedges near the base.  I don't know if it's done yet, but it is better.  Results of this can be seen below:

I still had some time left of what I planned to spend, so I moved over to the prizes in the game booth in the right panel.  I copied one row of stuffed animals directly from a newspaper photo, but decided the other prizes should match ones used in an earlier game boardwalk print.  I don't have that print there in the Studio right now, but I did have the block, so I dug that out.  For now I have also a row of black cats (Romeo) and some of Molly's paramecium.  I also made a few minor changes to the various parts of the carousel.  Some of this can be seen in the photo below:

I decided to bring the block home with me.  Partly this is because it will be several days before I am back up to the Studio again, and I may want to work on this before then.  And partly it's because what is left to draw in is based on photos I have on my computer, and it may be easier to draw from those than to draw it first in a sketchbook then bring it to the Studio to draw it from that.

For music today I decided to go to my briefcase full of cassettes.  I think I started buying cassettes back in my grade school days (perhaps influenced by my fellow Boy Scouts) and continued buying them in high school and early college.  More convenient than vinyl records, compact discs hadn't been invented yet, and factory installed radios in cars all came with a cassette deck.  In Carbondale I had a portable CD boom box in my apartment (and my collection of discs on the shelf), but it was my ancient GE radio/cassette box in my studio at the Glove Factory, and that meant tapes.  Listened often as I worked cutting wood.  Later back in New Jersey, I had a cassette deck in my component stereo, which I mostly used to record radio broadcasts.  Still later, I got a disc burner, and put a lot of my vinyl and cassettes (including some of those radio broadcasts) onto discs.  But now compact discs are out of fashion (not sold in stores, disc drives are no longer standard on laptops or in cars, and ignored by the people who broke into the Studio to steal stuff several years ago) and most of my collection of them is still in storage, but I have all those I had in the Studio, plus a box full that I brought home, so I have some music to listen to at home and as I work.

So what I brought with me today was a label produced tape of Deguello by ZZ Top, and a home recorded tape of George Thorogood and the Destroyers and their Live album.  (the latter I later got on disc, but this copy on tape came from another source)  What the two albums have in common is a mix of hard rock and blues, and both include many covers of old songs.  Fans of both bands may know these were covers; I certainly do as I have the originals in many cases.  

Boardwalk Rides part 5

 My original plan was to stop at the bank on my way up to the Studio, but then I saw that they had finally started the process of tearing up the sidewalk on Main Street, something that was supposed to happen last week, and the usual driveway to the bank was not available.  Didn't need to be done today, so I guess I'll do that another time.  On to the Studio.

After thinking about it a lot, I decided to go ahead and eliminate that foreground biplane in my ride in the corner.  I still wasn't satisfied with it, and a quick practice sketch in a sketchbook showed that the proper direction was something I could do.  So first I erased that whole foreground plane.  Then I drew in a new one facing the proper direction.  Part cut off, like the original drawing, but this time it was the other half cut off.  Definitely an improvement over the original plane I had there.  So then I went and turned around the better plane, using the old biplane wings to locate the new wings, and copying the tail at the other end. Then I erased everything else and redrew the fuselage in between.  The tail wasn't far enough back, so I drew that again back about an inch, and put in a longer fuselage.   At that point I decided to do new lifting arms and a new rotating piece in what would be the center of the ride.  More logical for the new planes, and better in general.  I also went ahead and fixed bits of the fence and roughed in some boards for the boardwalk.  I'm much happier with this new version for a number of reasons.

Had some time left so I decided to do more work on the Ferris wheel in the upper part of the left panel.  Before it had been very loosely roughed in, and now what I have is a little more precise.  However, much more may change with this before it is done, so tune in.  Results of today's drawings can be seen below:

So far it seems to be coming together.  There's a long way to go with this one, but it's gradually getting there.  Next time, more work on the Ferris wheel.

For music today I had an old favorite from my rock/pop book, a home burned disc with all of an early (and probably out of print) album from Southern Culture on the Skids, Too Much Pork for Just One Fork, and the rest of the disc filled with some songs from the Chickasaw Mudd Puppies, a disc I best blogged about back in November of 2019 for those who want more details.  When that disc ended, I documented the day's work, cleaned up, and was on my way.

Boardwalk Rides part 4

 I planned to go the Studio today, and likely to work on the latest boardwalk print. I didn't know where I was at with the carousel, but I thought I was nearly done with that, and I should think about moving on to another area of the block.  So last night I spent a little time doing pencil sketches from a photo I took of an airplane ride on a boardwalk, one of those things with fiberglass items that spin in a circle and kids love.  I knew that the photo I have is nowhere near the angle of my plan for it in the rough sketch, but I figured that copying the plane from the photos I had would help me understand the object better, and I could rely on my art training to do the actual block drawing.

Did it work?  Halfway I guess.  My photo of the airplane ride shows the biplanes at roughly eye level and facing left, or traveling clockwise, and from the outside.  My block sketch shows the view across the ride, with the planes seen from the inside.  On the block I had just rough rectilinear box shapes at the ends of arms, so the idea was to draw the airplanes in the box forms.  Got the first one done, in the back, pretty quickly.  The one in the front was much tougher.  Not drawing the object itself, but the perspective didn't quite seem to match the other one.  For what it's worth, the more I drew the second one, the better it got.  Below is what it looked like when I stopped:

I don't think this is done yet, but now I am not sure if I should continue.  I might be able to fix the front plane if I keep working on it, but I don't know if that is the whole answer.  I realized later that the way drew in both planes would have it backwards in the final print.  That wouldn't match the actual ride.  On the other hand, it will match the direction of the carousel horses in my block drawing, and that would give me a correct circuit in the final print for that ride.  So this leaves me with the choice of either trying to fix the one front airplane (which would technically be the wrong direction), or to redraw both planes to have them face the right way, which would be away from the viewer (the right direction, but require drawing two airplanes).  Something to think about.

For music today I had something that had been sent to me by my friend Doug and was in my jazz/blues disc book.   It's a compilation just labeled "Mod Jazz", which he later told me was just copied from a disc he had.  I don't know that I would call this disc (blogged about back in December of 2021) jazz, but it does make good music to work to.

A New Show

Found out from two sources that my work has arrived at the gallery in Maryland.  In the late afternoon I checked the tracking on my package, and it said the box was signed for at the front desk in the early afternoon.  Then I saw an email from the gallery director in the early evening that she had received the work and everything survived the trip down there.  So my box was a success in its main job- getting the art to the show intact.

Don't know much beyond that yet.  I will post the details when things get closer.  I do know that it is almost a month before the show opens, and that it will be up for about a month.  I don't think that there is anything more for me to do at this point, but if they need more information or anything, I'm happy to provide it.  

 

An Old Show

 I was reading the paper this morning and saw something very familiar.  There on the front page of the Asbury Park Press was a story about the Ocean County Artists Guild.  The non-profit organization occupies an old Victorian mansion in Island Heights, and I know the place well, as I have been there a few times before.  In 2009 I had a show there, with one of my contributions being selected for the exhibition postcard. But even before that, I had done a demo/workshop there, back in 2008.  It's probably what led to the show, which was an invitational.  I have done a lot of these demo/workshop things over the years in a bunch of different places.  Generally it's some slides of my work, a bunch of actual prints, and a demonstration of cutting and printing.  I guess I qualify as a regional artist, or perhaps I just have a reputation for doing these kind of things and doing them well.

The article was about the place in general, but also the problems they have in maintaining it.  The large Victorian mansion was a gift, but it takes about $150,000 annually to keep it up, when you include property taxes and building maintenance.  Most of the work in running it is volunteer, including cutting the grass, though they do have to pay for some professional services occasionally.  They do have a large membership, and that with money raised from exhibitions and classes, pays the bills.  

I am not a member, and have no plans to join.  If I want to join a non-profit arts group, there are many that are closer to home, and located in my home county.  And having exhibited there before, I don't need to go back there and do it again.  However,  I do encourage them to continue to exist.  I think the world needs non-profit arts groups, which generally provide a chance to exhibit work for those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to do so, and occasionally bring in a genuine working artist to show what is possible. I have certainly taken advantage of such things myself.

Bakery part 8

 I haven't worked on this print for more than a month, due to various circumstances beyond my control.  A big chunk of that was devoted to building a box for a surprise show.  That box and all its framed matted art has been shipped, and I was told that all my info had arrived there via email.  There have also been issues with my car and my mother, but that's not stopping me today.  I suppose I could also work on the boardwalk print, but this proof has been sitting in my rack a while, and my practice color piece at home near where I sit, so today I am going to deal with that.

Upon arrival (had to take the stairs as the elevator was being used to move a couch) I noticed that Molly had been in since the last time I was there.   No notices taped to either door. We had gotten a mass email from the building supervisor last week, since my last time there, saying that a guy from the town mercantile office had been in the building taping overdue notices to doors.  This led to a flurry of other emails from various tenants, either with questions about this, or doubts to the legitimacy of the whole thing.  Where does this leave me?  Talk to Molly, so I did that on Saturday, walking to a place I know she would be in the Squan.  Molly said she actually talked to the guy and told him she was cool.  The guy eventually left.  So I don't know if he came back and left something on our door that Molly got during her last appearance, or if we won't be hearing from him again.  I'll contact her later and try to find out.

I cleared my table and got to work coloring.  I had brought with me my practice color proof, and got the better proof from my rack.  Mostly I used already mixed colors, though I did have to make some more sky blue from white and cerulean.  Results can be seen below:

I stand by this new one being better than the practice proof, but in coloring it I realized there are still some issues.  These are issues with the block, so I think I will print it one more time, after further cutting.  This may require paper I don't have, so I may need to order some more.  Another day.

For music today I had a home burned collection of music from the early records from the Gin Blossoms.  (that disc was blogged about back in December of 2022 if you want to know more about it) Long ago I had a friend who was a huge fan of the band, back to when we were dj's at Montclair State and the group only had a small label album, which is why I heard of them in the early days and know a bit about them.  My other link to the band is that I once went to a show at the place led to the end of the band.  That was the BoatHouse, a warehouse converted to a rock club in Hampton Roads (VA), and I saw a great show there once of Living Colour before they were playing stadiums.  From what I have read, the Gin Blossoms also played a show there when they were up and coming, but it did not go well, and got them some bad press.  And this may have led to band member Doug Hopkins going back to drinking, to the extent that their new major label forced him out of the group.  He had been a member long enough to play on several songs on their upcoming major label release, which after relentless touring and some key videos became a huge hit, but Hopkins was gone (just like Pete Best), and later committed suicide.  From what my friend told me, the band wasn't playing any of his songs (and he was a principal song writer), I don't know if after his dismissal or his death, and this was a problem because these were the songs the band was best known for.  Eventually the band started playing his songs again, but they never had as many big hits without him.  Members have come and gone, and a version of the band is still out there, but they don't have a major label now.  

Boardwalk Rides part 3

 There's nothing more I can do about the Outlaw show until the gallery sends me something, so I guess it's now back to work on art.  I do like exhibiting, but making art is even better.

I have two pieces in progress right now, but decided to work on the boardwalk rides piece today.  Most of that is because I spent part of last night copying images from an episode of "Homicide: Life on the Street" that I had saved to DVR, but didn't want to keep.  I knew from having seen it before that the episode involved the kidnapping of a small child from a carousel, and I wanted to get more sketches of carousels, horses, and humans to scale before I wiped it out.  I brought those sketches with me today, as well as the various newspaper photos I had collected.

I pulled out this latest block for the first time in weeks.  I had started sketching the carousel already, but it was only partly complete, and what was there need work, so this had to get done.  I fixed a few horses and added some others.  I also did work on the carousel itself, based on a combination of the previous sketches, and the new ones from last night.  I also made some changes to the fence around it, some of what was already drawn, and I added some needed sections.  I may go back in and clean up a few things, but I think this area is mostly done.  No figures yet, but I think I will add those to the whole print when everything else is done.  Right now it's hard to tell where one horse ends and another begins, but I think color will help distinguish these when the time comes.  Where I left off today can be seen below:

Probably next time I move on to another part of the print, perhaps the ride in the lower left panel.  That depends on me sketching that first.

For music today I started with a favorite from the rock/pop book, a home burned collection of songs from three early albums from the Flat Duo Jets.  Those whole albums were on my disc shelf, and are now in storage, but this disc made it to the Studio, so I have it now.  Blogged about back in January of 2020 for those who want the details.  A lot of the early songs shut off, but after a while the disc was fine.  When that ended, I went with another rock/pop favorite, a copy of Kicking The Toybox by Twang Bang.  In this case both discs I have are copies, but one is in storage and one went to the Studio.  Details about this can be found in December of 2021.  Whole thing played with no problems.

Exhibition Update

 I have taken my part of the upcoming exhibition at Pyramid Atlantic as far as I can go right now.  My box is finished, except for the final sealing, and I can't do that yet.  All the prints to go to that show are now mounted, framed, and labeled with both my information and the names of each work.  Bubble wrap is all cut to size.  All frames are wired, but those were on already, as I am using previously used frames.  I submitted all the information about each piece to the gallery director, except images, which my computer won't allow me to do right now.  However, those new large file images have been posted to a blog, and a link to that page sent to the gallery director, so I have to hope that's enough.  That submission also includes an artist bio, so they have that now as well.

The main thing that remains for me is to calibrate all the wires to the same height relative to the frames (I created a tool for that) and seal up the box.   Then take it to a place to ship.  (we are under orders not to ship anything yet, probably until after we are sent a loan agreement)  After that it's in the hands of the shipping company, and then the gallery, for the duration of the show, which goes until mid-November I hear.  Right now I am well ahead of all the deadlines.  

So maybe tomorrow I get to go back to working on art.  I look forward to that.

The Day Has Come Around Again

 Today is September 11th, but more importantly, today is the 25th Anniversary of the original September 11, the day that the towers came down.  Not that anything different happened today.  We had the usual- all television (at least here in the New York City area; I can't speak for the rest of the country) pre-empted for the memorial service, pairs of people reading the names of all the victims (sometimes poorly) in alphabetical order, the ringing of a bell to mark the exact times that towers were hit or fell, interspersed with shots of memorials.  I watched for a while, then found something else to do.

One thing I heard recently is that a significant number of Americans weren't even born yet when the Twin Towers came down, maybe a third, if I remember correctly.  That makes sense I guess.  It has been 25 years since the original destruction, time for a lot of people to be born.  And no doubt there were some very young children alive in 2001 that didn't know about it.  After all, I was alive for several years of the Vietnam war, and didn't really know anything about it until refugees started arriving in my town.  However I was much older when September 11th happened, and I won't forget that.  

Part of that may be because I was actually in one of the towers, going up to the top level observation deck with relatives from out of town, and leaning against that window.  Part of it may be because there was nothing else on television for at least a week, and I had plenty of time to see all those images.  And part of it may be because I made art about it, as seen below:

I've posted this image before on the blog, but not in recent years.  When it first started, I didn't know anything about it- it started as just another Tuesday, and I had a vacation group home to get ready for another group.  Of course that group decided not to come.  Lots of time to record images to my VCR (no digital then- just magnetic tape) and prepare for the artwork that would follow.  Heard the first radio reports as I was driving around doing errands.  One plane hitting one tower didn't seem that strange, as the Empire State Building has been hit by planes before.  A second plane hitting the second tower was more significant.  Something was going on and I knew I better get home and put on a television.  

My art is about my day, some of which was normal, and much of which was not, and of the latter, this was all experienced through television.  (No family in the towers and lost no one that day.)  Some images were off the air the next day, but they were etched on my mind and would be part of my print.  Now it's just old news, and not a print I exhibit anymore.  

The Old Frame Shop is Open for Business

 My shipping box is pretty much done now (plastic sealing tape went on most places yesterday). so today I turned to the process of framing the work.   First step in that process was to get a piece of mat board from the supply I keep in the basement.  I have some in the Studio, but I don't know if there is enough there, so better to be safe than sorry and bring a piece with me.  Once I got up there, the next step was to take out the prints I expect to frame and put in the show and measure them.  The two already in frames are slightly different dimensions, so I thought it best to check these out and write down the measurements.  All were 11" x 14", two horizontal, and one vertical.  

I cleared off my table and got out my homemade mat cutting machine.  Essentially it's a double flat board with a mounting for a big metal straightedge, and a wooden strip that holds the mat in place, held down with a C-clamp at one end (also holds it all to the table) and a squeeze clamp at the other.  Windows to be removed are drawn onto the back of each piece in pencil, and a hand held bevel cutter slides along the straightedge to cut it.  It works every time and can handle any size I have ever tried to cut.  

As expected, I had one good piece of mat board in the Studio. and one that was a bit blemished, and no amount of eraser work could fix it.  I set that aside and got the one I had left in my car.  It had a Pearl sticker on it, and that chain went out of business a long time ago, so I have had this one in my supply for a while.  One little problem- the top side was not the same shade of bright white I had used for all the others.  However, the back side was, so I found a section that had nothing printed on it and used that.  Problem solved.  

I started by cutting out the full size (frame size) pieces, then marking the back sides with pencil lines for the size window I wanted to cut, then used my bevel cutter to make perfect windows.  A photo of this set up is shown below:

I brought the window mats and the prints home to be framed, along with my roll of linen tape.   I can do that step at on a table at home.  Then all I have to do is print out labels to put on the back, place them in my shipping box, seal it up, and take it to the place to ship out.  Before then, I need to contact the gallery and let them know all the information about everything, but I have all that now.

I always put on music while I work, and today it was a loose disc from my rock/pop book, a home burned collection of the music of Matthew Sweet.  (blogged about back in June of 2020 if you want to know more)  Sweet probably should have been a bigger star- a very good instrumentalist and vocalist- but I don't think he ever had the look of a rock star, and in the age of videos and talk show appearances, that probably matters.

One More Day in the Box

 Over the weekend I was thinking about my shipping box and what I would have to do to finish it.  I have spent so much time on it over the past few weeks that I have the whole thing firmly in my head.  So not surprisingly, I had a good idea what I planned to do upon arrival in the building this morning.  And what I planned is pretty much what I did.

I knew I had to add a top flap to my box, and imagined how I would make it and what I would make it from.  And I followed that plan.  As the glue dried (weighted down with my heaviest clamp), I was placing pieces of wet paper tape in every seam I could find.  When I finished, it all looked exactly like what I expected.  A photo of it is shown below:

Meanwhile, while the glue was drying, I had a quick photo session on my white tack wall.  In about a week and a half, all my information is due down at Pyramid Atlantic for this Outlaw show, so I have started on all that.  For example, last week I used my blog to find all the years of completion for the prints I am sending.  Over the weekend, I updated an artist statement to reflect this current show.  Today I was taking large images of most of the prints for this show.  (had one already)  I just set my camera to the largest file size (for the purposes of this blog I usually go with small format photos) and took photos of all the other prints up on my wall.  Back home I edited all of them and stuck them on my desktop.   A photo of this process is shown below:

I decided to bring the box home for the next step, which will be to put on the address labels, mark all the cut lines to open it, and to put on all the clear sealing tape.  All that can be done at home.  The box probably weighs as much as the art, if not more, but it's worth it.  It is very important that these works make it safely to their destination, and I expect they will.  This is a lesson I learned a long time ago from the movie, Joe Verses the Volcano, in which the protagonist decides to invest in four large handmade steamer trunks for his journey and they save his life on a number of occasions.  As the salesman told him, when traveling, all you have to depend on is your luggage.  And when shipping artwork, all you have to depend on is your box.

For music today I decided to honor Cassandra Wilson (who died this past week at age 70) by playing her album New Moon Daughter, a copy of which I have in my jazz/blues disc book.  The album is more jazz than blues (it was on Bluenote after all), but one song was clearly blues, which turned out to be a Son House song, and the internet tells me that an extended version (which I don't have) has a Robert Johnson song, "32-20 Blues."  I don't have her version on the song, but I did a print of it as part of my series, which can be seen below:

If you want to know more about the album, check the blog back in January of 2022.   When that disc ended I pulled another disc from my jazz/blues book, and another female singer, this time Ella Fitzgerald and excerpts from the collection, Oh, Lady Be Good!, standards done with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, and blogged about back in August of 2021.