A Big Old Week Goes By...

As you've all heard, we did in fact get a real blizzard last weekend. 24 inches in the front yard as of Sunday evening. Despite Sylvia's protestations (she was still at work), I headed out into the storm for my weekly walk to the Plough. I needed the adventure. No cars, people shoveling... Just snow, sometimes blowing into whiteout conditions. I was wearing that warm wooly hat that Sylvia had given me and got quite a few comments on it during my trek. I arrived to be the only customer for the first hour or so... nice, that. Unfortunately, I didn't have a crossword, as the paper hadn't been delivered. More people out on my return trip... for some reason a big snowstorm makes people happy and friendly. They'll look you in the eye, smile, say. "Hi"... things that don't happen on a normal kind of day.
The workweek for me was postponed for a day... I caught up on some paperwork and in the afternoon walked to the Plough again, this time with Sylvia's blessing. The snow had been cleared much better in Somerville than in Cambridge. On my return Syl showed me a newspaper clipping that Michael had sent from England, of the snow here in Somerville. That was pretty cool.
Tuesday I set Paul up on a small painting job and then drove down to Providence, RI to hang 35 or so pictures. I'd parked right outside of the tallest building in the city (29 floors), I'd asked security if I'd be all right there and the two guys looked at each other, shrugged and said, "Well, you won't get towed". Good enough for me at the time. When I got done there was a big orange sticker on my drivers door window, announcing that I'd been a bad boy, that they'd jotted down my plate number and that if I did it again, it would be noted on my permanent record (and I'd be towed).
Wednesday it snowed again... another 8 inches. I was doing a few art deliveries... picking up a big (5'x4') photograph mounted on aluminum in Newton and a 4'x4' painting in Belmont. Both to be delivered to galleries on Newbury St. in Boston. While getting out of the van in Belmont, trying to wrestle out the tape and packing material... I dropped my keys into the snow bank. 20 minutes of panicked searching finally found them.
Thursday and Friday were relatively uneventful as I worked with Paul on the painting job.
Satuday, Syl and I went out to Chinatown for dimsum, then over to the ICA (read her description of it).
Sunday... a LONG walk to the Plough... having to detour to the other side of Cambridge to collect a check.
So... there's that week... sorry to make such a task of this blog. Yes, I'm working on getting more pictures on here.

And I Thought We Were Cold Before...

The last couple of mornings we've started out the day at around 1F or -17C... and heated up to 12F or -11C. Now we're getting blizzard warnings with an estimate of 18 to 24 inches of snow. Sylvia came home from work around 4:00, hopped in bed for a few winks and has to go back at 8:00... I guess people have called in sick (more likely scared of getting trapped there). It's just past 6:00 now and the roads look fairly clear... I hope that she doesn't have any trouble returning. And I'd rather have her snowed in someplace than driving.
Today I went out to Framingham to install 60 some odd paintings (including a few of my own) at a computer training center. A simple task, really, only taking about 5 hours. When Syl gets back in action we'll try to post a few installation shots.
Come morning, we'll see if I can make the weekly walk over to the Plough. There may be a few good snow scenes to post, as well. About time I got more pictures on here...

A Few Things Happening Here...

Let's see.... we're freezing our butts off to start with... never got above 12F today, that's -11.1C for you metric people.
I must have really sold those 8 paintings, as I've received a check and will be installing them, along with 50 or so others on Saturday. Pretty good, I'd say... the money's already fallen in the hole... but the hole is not quite so deep and it's nice to have the work on someones wall.
The calls that are coming in are all for art delivery, installation and presentation... precious little painting/decorating work. One small job we'll start on Thursday.
Got a collaborative collage back from Greenfield the other day... I thought that this stage of it was good enough to make copies of... I've done that, but will continue to work on the piece. Working on some other projects... I'm not happy with what I've made for Edz Dylan birthday, it needs a little more attention. Gotta get something together for the Field Study Report... a list of our Mail Art blogs is my idea.
Anyway, stay warm and busy...

"Whatever Meredyth Wants"...

This past week I spent a couple of days delivering artwork to Gallery NAGA, where Meredyth had been invited to be guest curator of a group show. I think that Arthur, the gallery director, came up with the title, "Whatever Meredyth Wants". Most of what I delivered was normal paintings and sculpture, but one bit was a nine foot pole with a three foot diameter base for a sculpture. The sculpture that goes on this base was created by a Japanese sculptor, Niho... who contacted me the night before the piece needed to be delivered. It consists of round units cast in translucent red resin that remind me of the bases and other parts of chess men. The units have a center hole and stack up along the pole making a totem like structure. The color and translucency have the look of raspberry Jello... though they're rigid and heavy. I would have loved to have seen them put it together. As I was delivering it, I asked her, "Why do young women always make such big, heavy things?" Which was probably sexist. That night she e-mailed to say that David, the installer, suggested that she work with feathers, next time... so she seemed to have a sense of humor about it.
Anyway, most of the rest of the week I painted with Stephen. Nothing special, there. All the while I had to keep fielding calls about the job that I'd passed off to Lowell and Paul. They were doing fine and in control, but the client kept wanting to talk to me.
Last night, Friday.... after finishing up with Stephen, I had a simple installation to do... one ten foot long painting. Arrived at the job (some dreadfull McMansion) with the painting that I'd picked up earlier in the day. Rang the bell... nothing. The art consultant arrived and she hit the bell... still nothing. As we waited in her car the client finally came up and rapped on the window. He'd been there all along but thought that his wife was home and taking care of us. Got the piece on the wall... assisted with the presentation of another piece. Clock is ticking... the opening for the Meredyth show... Finally, I'm released... traffic is miserable all the way home. I arrive and Syl says we'll never make it as there's only fourty-five minutes left for the opening. I change in a flash (after a small tantrum) and off we go... traffic cleared up, we were into a nearby parking space in ten minutes. Still a big crowd with many good friend artists and various other clients. We both agreed it was worth the extra effort.

Ah, It's the New Year and the Parties Over...

I guess we got through the holidays. Back to work, today.
Yesterday, my usual walk over to the Plough... made up for not being out on New Years Eve by buying most of the room a round. Can't really afford that, but some may remember and reciprocate later on.
Today, I started Lowell and Paul on an odd job, trying to scrup out some water stains in natural wood rafters in a loft space. They were also going to paint the sprinkler pipes silver. They were into it and I wasn't, which is why I consigned the job to them. After a few errands I went to Stephen's job and painted for a few hours. My cell phone wasn't working, so off to a phone store to try and sort it out. The mall that I ended up at had about 5 places. I thought it was the battery, but nobody had the proper one. One guy told me that it was a crappy phone and I'd be better off buying a new one than investing in a battery. Did some research, but left without buying a new one. Came home and plugged the old one in and it seems to have taken the charge. I'll muddle along with this if it keeps working. Tomorrow is all art delivery... so I'll need it.
Slowly getting some mail art out. I've always been slow at it, but it seems to get worse.