Loveseat Photos and More Velvet

Thanks to everyone for making the first appearance of the Reverend Loveseat, at Dr. Sketchy's such a success. L'il Dutch and Sugar Ann Spice were just fantastic, and there was a pretty good turnout of sketchers...if you have any good photos (or scans of particularly good sketches) send them along and I will post them here!

The good Reverend preachin' from the good book of bad jokes

This photo says it all...it was a very good night!

Hopefully we can talk the Palace of Wonders into doing another Dr. Sketchy's in February...we were even reviewed...

Just after posting the previous post I went to see the Jerry Springer Opera at Studio. It was some of the best theater I have seen Studio do. In fact, the guy who plays the "warm up guy" role (and another role, but I wouldn't want to spoil it for you) is top of the list for my nominations for a Helen Hayes Award...(if I could vote)

On a personal note, my Mother was in town for a recertification class (something epidemiologists need to do from time to time, I guess) and we got a chance to check out the bonsai gardens at the National Arboretum...

Mom and lots of really old, tiny trees

I can also report that progress has been made on Forum. Well, carpentry at least...

Funny...Forum carpentry progress. Lycus' house and Senex's house

And that the Planet Arlington World Playground backdrops are also in full swing (I should have final shots next week)

World Playground drop progress (Stage Right panel shown)
"World" is on its side because the shop ceiling is 11' tall, and the panel is 12' tall...

And Lastly, I have made a few more velvet paintings on the road to the Arts on Belmont art fair...

Robot 0010
Acrylic on Black Velvet, 8"x10"

Tiki Mug 1
Acrylic on Black Velvet, 8"x10"

Tiki 1
Acrylic on Black Velvet, 8"x10"

I'm having a really good time exploring black velvet as a painting surface. (let me just say again that it is very hard to get an idea of what these paintings look like "in the flesh" from these photos...my mother, a woman not given to hyperbole, described them as "lush") It really seems to combine all of the things I love about painting, and it has held my interest very well in the past week or so. Four paintings into this project and I am learning all sorts of neat tricks and getting a good feel for where I will want to go...I had a painting teacher, the late, great Al Loving who once said to me that "...the great thing about Art is that it asks you a question, once you try to answer that question it just leads you to other questions..." That is how I am feeling about these paintings. I am looking forward to going a bit larger, and perhaps less quickly once the art fairs are over...

REV. LOVESEAT PREMIERE PERFORMANCE THIS SUNDAY!!!!

I hope you all are as excited as I am for this Sunday's Dr. Sketchy's...It promises to be a really great show...L'il Dutch is going to be debuting new material, and Sugar Ann Spice has a got a surprise or two in store as well...I hope that the Rev. Loveseat catches the spirit for this late night Sunday service....

In other news, this week saw the annual Yard Sale...a huge success and even quite profitable for some involved...start saving up your stuff to sell next year! (I'm talking to you, silver Christmas caribou)

I've stapled down and started to prime the Planet Arlington World Playground drops (remember those?) and will have lots of progress photos next time.

The other major development this week was of a more painterly nature. Ever have one of those painting moments where you made something and you think you have a whole new avenue open up? Well I had one of those moments this week. I have been agonizing over producing enough artwork for the Arts on Belmont in Adams Morgan (September 14th) (and I am also participating in the Barracks Row Oktoberfest the following week...September 27th) and I have had a hard time coming up with a reasonable game plan for producing enough work to fill the tent. Out of the blue, this little painting popped up:

VELVET ROBOT 0001
Acrylic on Velvet, 8"x10"

What makes him so great is something that you wont be able to find on your computer screen...the background "clouds" were created using a stencil process, but using really thick blue metallic paint. The juxtaposition of this shiny (and hard to photograph) thick surface texture and the matte, light sucking darkness of the velvet really appeals to me. The fact that I have been painting really large velvet paintings all summer has really prepared me for this sort of painting, and the goopy stencil process is a great stand-in for my cut paper process that I love so dearly...Anyway, what I have planned is a whole slew of this sort of work over the next month which has got me really inspired and excited (lately I have had too much going on to be either of those things...)

Lastly, I am going to see Studio's production of Jerry Springer: the Opera tonight...I'll send along a full report for all of you poor souls that don't have $45 a ticket to shell out...(it will be much cheaper when Landless does it, I promise)