Poetry Vs. Candy...what's in your room?

When I went to refill the Starbursts candy in my fake coconut bowl, I found THIS...
...Piece of paper taped just underneath the mermaid. As it turns out, its a poem from the poet "Brash". He goes throughout ArtoMatic and tapes up poetry as a reaction to the artwork he sees. He was inspired enough to pen (er, type and printout) this little sonnet about my painting "Screening At The Organ Grinders Local". I have reproduced the text from a bad cameraphone shot...in order to approximate the effort it takes to read the thing when its 3 inches from the floor!So I leave the interpretation up to you all... I am not entirely certain that my work is not somehow being dissed in this poem...I also like the way it almost rhymes...

From high art we go to the low art...I met with Trixie last Friday to talk about her can (pun intended) As it turns out, she wants to do all sorts of things that the current can can't. But eventually, I was able to come away from the meeting solely with the responsibility of designing and painting the label. And the best part is, she wants it to be a French sardine can!

The next most eventful, er, event was Vern's Birthday party. It was a low key affair, one where we all huddled around the 20th century hearth and watched Lawrence Whelk...as well as the making of the Seattle worlds fair, the making of the Enchanted Tiki Room, and finally in the small hours, we watched music videos that Vern had personally cataloged from 1989! It was a blast from the past...it really is surprising to think that MC Hammer videos were made 20 years ago! (as was the Dead Milkmen's video, Punk Rock Girl...)

Other semi noteworthy moments this last week were, getting contractors over to my house to get estimates on new windows and a bathroom remodel. And I got a new catalytic converter from my new favorite Kustom car shop KELLEY'S

I am going to give you BTT readers a sneak peek at some of the stuff I have been working on in preparation for WPAC's 9x10 show (as well as Hukilau and Art in Heat)....I have been playing with the idea of making submarine paintings for years, but I never wanted them to be dramatic things, or serious critiques of war etc. So I have been using the monkeys as a stand in for the sailors. This is a preliminary sketch of what I hope will turn into a series:

"Sea Monkeys" Sketch
Pencil on Paper, Photoshop

I am approaching the last two weeks for the corcoran, so this segment will not be part of the weekly entry...so get your academic kicks while you can! 14 paintings class was all about the Washington color school. Steven didn't even have a project written out. I think he is so excited about the Washington Color School events around town, and what they represent for contemporary Washington painters, like him, that he has devoted the rest of the semester to discussing what their impact was, and continues to be. So, this weeks painting was an attempt to make a "contemporary Washington color school" painting...

"Washington Color School Painting", 14 paintings...

In Academic Portrait painting I blocked in the color over last weeks drawing. I cant help being a fast painter, so I will probably spend next week painting over the whole thing again... Natasha sometimes has a hard time expressing (or perhaps I have a hard time comprehending) what is wrong with my painting...but I am definitely improving through her instruction, however I think by the classes end, I will have learned about 5 good lessons about portrait painting...For certain, I will never look at a Sargent painting the same way again.

Academic Portrait painting
Third Model, Second Session