New Year, eh???

So a new year rolls around...
so far, nothing new.
It appears that I've made it through the "holidays"
and we're back in order.
Syl had to work through the big ones, Christmas and New Years Day,
so we had to navigate around that.
I got a summons from my sister to be up at the family place for Christmas...
"might be our last with Dad and we should be there".
She was right.
Now we've got significant snow... over a foot.
Me?... I walked over to the Plough this morning.
Same old, same old.
A nice, wintry ramble.

One of Those Days

Of course, this has been busy times...
the usual wrestling with life.
Painting our wretched little bathroom after water damage from above.
Once we'd taken it apart we realised that we really didn't want to
reinstall the old medicine cabinet and bought a new one.
Things like that.

As always a stop in at the Plough at the end of the day...
Trust me! It supports my sanity. Good, creative banter with good friends.

Today was a rough one, though.
The van wouldn't start. (I know that I go on about my vehicles, but they are essential to my livelihood)
Got it towed around the corner and Syl generously offered me the use of her car for the job I was doing.
When I got to the framers to pick up there was a 65"x78" (160.5 cm x 190.8cm) painting
that I hadn't remembered. Wasn't going to fit in her car! Wouldn't have fit in my van !!!
So I rented a van... and luckily got the art consultant to pay for it.
The installation was somewhat difficult. The walls were a chocolate brown with a very high gloss.
It was like trying to make a mark on glass with a pencil. I acqired some painters tape and was able
to plot the marks on that. It all went well, just a little more than it should have been.

In the mean time, I'd accidentally double booked tomorrow and had to get that sorted.
Happily, it wasn't a BIG problem.
They didn't get to working on my van today, so I've kept the rental overnight.
This is for a corporate presentation and I'll be glad that I have it...
(already got this other art consultant to cover the cost).

Hell, I'm just trying to make a meager living, here.

The Day After Thanksgiving

So... Sylvia and I went over to Mickey and Martin's place yesterday for a Thanksgiving dinner.
Good food, good friends... no particular drama, so nothing really to report.
The turkey had recieved some breast implants but on taking it out of the oven
one was rejected. Was a bit crispy, this turkey.
A nice evening... only a small amount of broken glass.
The children behaved better than we're used to.
And today...
Sent an old cutting board to Christine Tarantino... just stamped her address on it.
Started painting a few pieces for the Visual Aids thing.
Tomorrow we'll go visit my Dad, who is not doing well.

Maybe some more info tomorrow.

Prodded On Once Again

Ah yes, neglecting the blog...

Pretty much the same old... (except that it NEVER is)

So, a couple of weeks ago had to go pick up artwork in Great Barrington... about 140 miles away.
Simple trip out, the gallery person gave me lunch and a bit more money than I'd asked for (both good),
Was on the way back... congratulating myself on a smooth trip when I got a flat tire! I was on the MassPike with the big rigs flying by at 70 mph... no way I was going to hang my arse out on the highway to change a tire. I called AAA and found that they can't service the Pike, but they got in touch with the state police and they sent a truck. They had me back on the road shortly and I was able to deliver the artwork to the Boston gallery on time.

Otherwise it's local deliveries and installations and a couple of painting projects.
One of the painting jobs was the better part of two floors at Mickey's house...
had to work around her husband and two girls, all home with the flu.
(Oh yeah, Mickey and I won $150 in the lottery a couple of weeks ago.)

This weekend is supposedly the 40th anniversary of the Plough's opening...
lot's of music acts. Dunno how much of that I can take. I'm sure there will be
a pile of oldtimers stopping in. I'm guessing a madhouse...

I completed a painting for the Newton Art Center benefit (at the last minute, of course).

Ok, Ok

So... casting around the other day, I came upon Christine Tarantino's Open Fluxus page, where she mentioned that Allison Knowles was giving a lecture at Radcliffe in Harvard Square. A few messages back and forth and I learned that Reed Altimus was planning to attend as well. So we all met up yesterday afternoon, Christine, her partner Doug, Reed and myself. We were a bit early and Reed and I spent some time catching up and I got to know Christine a bit. Allison started with a slide lecture about Fluxus... not really anything that I wasn't already aware of... then went into a few performances. Radcliffe girls all singing a different song at the same time... Radcliffe girls all reading from different newspapers in different languages with Allison conducting the volume (sometimes for all and sometimes for just a few). I thoroughly enjoyed it and was glad that I'd found Christine's announcement of the event. Afterwards there was a reception where Reed approached Allison to get her to sign a vintage chapbook of her scores (she was surprised to see this). I went to get Allison a glass of wine and found myself shaking trying to bring it to her (what was that about???). From there, I escorted our small crowd down to the Plough and Stars, where we had another beverage before everyone headed home. There were pictures of us all on Christine's Open Fluxus page by 10:30 (not bad, considering they had a 2 hour drive.
Take a look...

By Popular Demand...

Yes, Michael... I've over extended the week.
Unfortunately, there's nothing very significant to impart.
Today, for instance...
A rain day (we've been working on this exterior)... I'd made arrangements to
start painting Mickey's Living/Dining room area. She's messed up her knees
and was going to get them X-rayed... so I was on hold for the morning.
Did a drawing in anticipation for a painting that I need to deliver to Newton Art Center in a month,
primed the panel a couple of times... doing laundry all along.
Actually sent post to a stranger who had sent me a packet of stuff !!!
Got the call from Mickey around 1:00... too late to get started on anything.
Did some errands and ended up at the Plough (imagine that).
An higher level of banter than usual.
Otherwise, in the past week...
I installed an exhibitin at Clark Gallery, in Lincoln.
Drove artwork up to Manchester, NH.
Rearranged artwork in a woman's hallway.
Assisted with a residential art presentation.
Installed a big, heavy ceramic wall piece.
All while working on this exterior painting job and making sure the guys had what they needed.
Sundays were at the Plough, as usual.

A Sunday Afternoon

A walk over to Cambridge... cloudy, but the temperature was good and the sky tried to spit at me a few times.
Mickey arrived about the same time I did and we set up camp at our end of the bar... (this is the Plough and Stars, for those not following closely)
We then proceeded to lose money on scratch tickets, before wading into the crossword. Not a bad job of that, a bit clumsy here and there, but we got done only cheating once (the other times we peeked was only for confirmation). Tales over and over again about the evening before... seems like there were lot's of drunks about (I'd gone home early). The music came on at 5:00, I stayed for the first set, then cabbed it home as it was finally raining. A pleasant, but not spectacular afternoon.