Great Success

With some last minute scrambling, the First Friday opening of Call and Response went much better than I had expected. The Canvas was packed from the 4:30 opening until the 7:30 change over to the live show from local band One Aisle Over. Many great conversations with local artists, writers, and art appreciators were had, and many of the piece sold and have continued to sell at a steady clip. We even had the last minute addition of a live guitarist for background music, who offered their services the day before the show opened. I didn't catch his name, though...

It was great fun and a great encouragement to have such a wonderful response to my first real airing of my work in public. I immediately began to brew all sorts of other plans for shows and projects to produce, now that I have successfully gotten myself over the first big bump in the road.

Pictures will come soon, I promise. In all the excitement and sleep deprivation, I failed to bring my camera to capture shots of the visitors, or an close ups of the show. Donna grabbed a few on the Canvas' camera, but we have just not retrieved them yet.

Right. Now to get cracking on new projects! Things to watch out for: short story collection by yours truly, and some hand made graphic short stories, both of which (hopefully) will be available for sale at the Public Market during Thanksgiving weekend. I am splitting a booth with Donna, Misty, Josh, and Olga, all makers of fine and various bits of wonder. Donna and I are also discussing doing a assemblage/collage show sometime next year.

Right. Quit distracting me.

Rough Drafts for October Exhibit

Below are some rough drafts of my contributions to the October show Donna and I are doing at the Canvas. We decided to a back and forth exchange, where I would write some really short stories/images/poems/etc. and she would then illustrate them, and she would produce drawings that I would then write about. Most of these are new, except Currents, which is an excerpt from Dancers. I'll probably put some more of these up as I amass ones that I like, and you can expect a big update with photos and such when the show goes up in October.

Snowbirds

The Snowbirds are perhaps one of the more peculiar of migratory species. Though they persevere through much of their adolescent phase, it is often not until the middle to elderly phase of their lifespan that are able to sustain prolonged flight from the colder regions to warmer climes. Perhaps even more peculiar than this delayed migratory phase, is the complete lack of vital necessity to their travels. Perfectly capable of forging for sustenance and shelter in the cold winter months, and often long past their reproductive stage, they never the less expend vast sums of their resources in order to spend a few months in warmer weather.

Bonfire

The air is sweet with wood smoke and filled with the pops of burning pine and chatter of the scattered circle of friends sipping from plastic cups. Someone strums their guitar to the steady beat of the waves on the beach.

Folk Fest

Drinks and drinkers slosh through the packed bar, feet stamp out a frenzied joy on the crowded dancefloor, as the bluegrass band churns through chorus after verse after chorus. The air is hot and humid and celebratory, stark contrast to the cold drizzly April night outside.

Cabin Fever

Symptoms may include: dizziness, claustrophobia, sense of purposelessness, drowsiness, insomnia, acts/states of dementia, listlessness, aggressive mood swings, poor choice making. Treatment: Certain pharmaceuticals are available both over the counter and by prescription to relieve or suppress symptoms. The disease seems to go into remission upon the patients’ removal from the outbreak location, but tends to flair up again shortly after their return. There is no known cure for this disease.

One More for the Road

The night is cold again, but the warm hands of whiskey pushes you forward. The fine icy rain cuts through your thin jacket, but the lacy fingers of cigarette smoke beckon you on. You tip in and out of the bars along the main street, trying to find that last one for the road. And the warm hands of whiskey pushes you forward, and the lacey fingers of cigarette smoke beckon you on.

Currents

They swirled and spun alone before the band, ease and muscle memory stepping into their places. Communication broke down to the pressure of eyes and the trailing of hands on flesh; messages were tapped out across the telegraph wires of skin. Bodies became waves, steps and spins became thoughtlessly dynamic; they rode their own currents.

No Dreams

No Dreams

Last night
I had no dreams.
No fine figment fingers
Followed my spine,
Only pillow-soft embraces.
No Dali escapades,
No fevered Bosch inventions
Punctured my blank black sleep.

Entry #3: Small Sacrifices

Here's a rough draft of a poem that I have been working on. I got the idea after I sliced the tip of my thumb off while fixing potatoes, and called it a sacrifice for breakfast. This is the only bit that I am satisfied with so far -


Small Sacrifices

A small boy
stood up on a
bench in the park
and toppled down
face first in the path
the pebbles splitting
the forehead, opening
the third eye, anointing
the sidewalk with blood.
Since my infancy, I have spread
small sacrifices across the surfaces of the world.

But is it Art? #2.1 He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss) - final sketches and finished piece

Here's the last few sketches for the newsprint man and woman, and the final and framed piece. The show goes up tomorrow at the Silverbow.

But is it Art? #2: He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)

He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss) Sketches + approx. 1/2 of finished piece

Here are some sketches and what I have completed so far of "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)", my piece for the AWARE at the Silverbow in April. Stay tuned.

But is it Art? #1: Creation Story

"Creation Story" Watercolor & Ink * Me with "Creation Story" @ the Canvas

Just a quick post about my piece in the March PULSE show at the Canvas here in Juneau. Now it's time to go work on another piece called "He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" for AWARE's April show at the Silverbow. I'll post pics of that piece when there's something to show.