Ms Pollock?

Not quite. But I am pleased that I got to throw some paint around. My fingers are blue, pink, purple, grey, and glue is peeling like a bad sunburn. Aaah, satisfaction!

I've been thinking about art all day. It started with a mention of an SNL skit where John Lovitz plays Picasso, then I made a funny sketch, then I wondered what the true definition of Dadaism is, on and on. I've had a vision of paint- certain colors and technique stuck in my head for a few days that I want to try. That's what I thought I'd do when I got home, but got distracted, then we went to Mom & Dad's, then dinner, then we voted, then it was bedtime. WTF?!? I had to throw some paint around. I took to my in-process ballet collage and added another layer of paint, glue, and fabric for texture. You can't see much of the fabric in the photo- it's white tulle (think tutu) and the light goes right through it. It will be a killer background texture, though. In the photo is just looks like a big mess!! Well, ok- it is. This is only the 3rd of many layers to come, so most of this will be covered in the finished product. I worked on my mess and my fingers are weird colors- looks like I brutally murdered a smurf- I can go to bed ahppy now.

i don't want to play this game anymore. i want to play something else

We did the 45 miles (short) ride of the Harvest Century yesterday. It was a beautiful ride, though challenging. It's the longest ride I've done since last year's full century. It was tough, but I did ok. My legs are fine, but my back & shoulders need a masseuse in a bad way. We went to bed early- I was asleep before 10 and had the alarm set for 6:30, and still got up after 7. And I could have slept more.

I'd rather be at home playing artist than being unproductive and sleepy in my grey cube. My productivity numbers for today are gonna suck. Like they did last week. I have so much art stuff to do at home...

A couple of my co-workers saw my paintings on Oregon Art Beat Thursday night. It was nice to be recognized by folks who don't know that I have this other career budding:-)

WOOHOO!

The Oregon Artbeat episode on DYI aired tonight. They were shooting at Crafty Wonderland in April when I was there. I made sure to flag the camera crew over to my table- I'm such a huge fan of the show and one of the biggest goals of my artistic career is to have a feature spot on it. Thankfully they didn't show the interview because I was a flaming dork, but they did show a quick but nice close up pan of my paintings, with by business cards in front- my name easily readable!!! YES!!! It's 2 or 3 seconds, max, so I'm not counting this as my goal. But, damn!!! My paintings and name were front and center full screen!! At another point, there's a lady buying earrings from the artist next to me, and I'm in the background, working on a painting. Ha! http://www.opb.org/programs/artbeat/videos/view/200-Crafting

Yesterday I finished my Cycle collage. I attached two bike tires around it as a frame. I'm satisfied with it. It's the biggest one I've done- 30x40. It was awkward to handle, so I think I'll keep the rest of them smaller. The ballet piece is half the size at 20x30, and seems really small. Big enough to have fun with, though. I think my ideals are 24x36 or 24x30.

Tonight I framed my 1220 collage. I scored some cool old picture molding from The Rebuilding Center (I love that place) when CJ was here. It's biege and turquoise paint is old and chipping- a perfect color and style match for the piece. I mitred the pieces & attatched them in such a way as to give depth to it, rather than a true frame; I nailed it front to back (wall to viewer) rather than outside to inside. This gives the clean feeling of being framed, but it also gives the appearance that I used a 1 1/2 inch cradled gallery style canvas rather than the cheaper 3/8 or 5/8 inch student canvas that it truly is. I have to say I'm really stoked at how sharp it looks :-D

The Launch Pad Gallery show opening party was Friday. It's an open call show, so the pieces range from laughable to Wow- this artist could have a solo show at Laura Russo. This time there was less that I appreciated. The Love show in February had a higher average quality, in my opinion. I was pleased to hear Jim say that he thought my piece was one of the best ones there- I take his objective opinion seriously. A couple of my co-workers came as well, and they liked it as well. I trust them to not BS me and say they loved it if they didn't. I really don't care if it sells or not- I'm just happy to have my first assemblage in a gallery:-) It's all about the eyeballs.

Dionne- web designer extraordinaire- made my site live today. There are still many little things to tweak and fix, but apriloconnor.com is ready to be seen! I'm really pleased- I love what he's done with it :-)

WET

It's officially fall- the rains are here. And that means it takes three times as long for glue and paint to dry. :-( Thursday evening I decided to start my collage on ballet, and squirted some paint over the canvas with dance steps in mind. None of this will show, but it gives a base of texture. It's now Saturday morning and it's STILL not dry. I even put a hair drier on high to it for an hour yesterday- just to take the wet shine off the surface. bah! We're being dumped on by the tail end of a typhoon (at least it's warm) and the humidity is in the 80-90% range. And no sun. Just a week ago it was in the 90's and dry. I worked outside in the sun, and paint dried like magic. *sigh* I may have to invest in a couple of fans and/or space heaters. Large quantities of paint and glue drying is the reason a collage takes so long to do- I can't touch it for days! If I had a big ol' studio in a garage, I could work on more than one at a time. Right now my cycle piece is standing against the wall waiting for some white spray and few extra widgets to be glued... but the paint on ballet needs to stay level until it dries. In the winter I can put small pieces near the heat vents and blast them dry. That's not an option for a 2x3 foot canvas when it's comfortably 60+ degrees outside.