A bit hectic lately. I have a lot to do in the next few days. And then I go away. This seems to be the pattern. Every time I schedule a trip, my life here intensifies. I need to pack up some paintings to send to Switzerland by Wednesday. She’s having a Vernissage December 1 and is very eager to get some new work from me. But before I can send anything, I must go to Truro on Tuesday to pick up it up. Some of the paintings are here in my studio. I wrapped them up today. I also need to get some work back from the gallery in Annapolis Royal and include that in the shipment. So It’s going to take a bit of coordinating.
I think I will be very happy to get on the plane on Thursday. This trip is pleasure. I’m going to Cleveland to visit my sister. Tamar and family are coming too. They are bringing my sister’s son who lives in New York. Her other son lives in Cleveland with his wife and three children. It will be a big family Thanksgiving. A welcome change from the next few days.
Right now, this morning, I've started (finally, after much thought and preparation) a painting composed of five 5' x 1' panels. The size, and idea, were given to me last summer by my Independent Studies student. (Her's was horizontal; mine is vertical, of course.) I'm making each panel a completely distinctly different color from the others. It's looking good. For most of my creative life, I’ve been giving each painting a solid field, one color. This is quite a change. I can see more areas of solid color blocks (in contrast to, or laid into, a solid field of another color) coming into all my work lately.
The other paintings I’ve been working on are 46” x 46” and a lot of smaller ones, 20” x 20” and smaller. I'm planning on sending them to Switzerland soon, along with some 30" x 30" that are in the Truro show. (I pick those up on the 21st and am looking forward to another walk in Victoria Park with Lila when there.) Switzerland seems to like the bright, primary colors. That's fine with me. I like all colors now, but especially the bright ones.
I've also been doing a few very dark ones, ultramarine purple or indigo. It's very satisfying for me. I would feel stifled if I couldn’t do a full spectrum of colors. Light, bright, dark, and everything in between. I'd love to do more all indigo and purples (and probably will) and maybe exhibit them all together, all the “dark” ones. Sometimes I think I would like to have a show of all red paintings. That would be interesting.
I’m hoping to get some good photographs taken soon. My studio shots are so lousy. But here’s one of the five panel piece (in progress, just the very beginning stage) anyway:
Well, I didn’t get to see Marie Antoinette after all. I must have read the wrong paper, last week’s. If there is one thing about Nova Scotia I could complain of, it’s that movies don’t stay around long here. Unless it’s a Terminator or Santa Claus. I had wanted to see Shortbus but by the time I could arrange to go, it was gone. Here for one week only. So maybe I can see it in NY during the holidays.
What I saw was Borat. It was okay. Had a few very good moments. It was mostly over the top. Politically incorrect. And lots of caca jokes. I’ve read that to be prejudiced is to be a fool so the anti-Semitic jokes by a Jew were supposed to be extremely funny. But being a Jew who grew up in a mildly anti-Semitic community, it didn’t feel funny. And, as I’ve said before, I’m not a fan of slapstick. So I’m not a big fan of Borat.
Lila and I took a walk at Lewis Lake today. It was unusually warm and sunny. It hardly felt like the middle of November. The road there is closed off to cars from Labor Day until Memorial Day. It’s doggie heaven! Lila is very good on walks. She rarely goes more than twenty meters away from me and always comes when I call her, even if she is in the middle of playing with another dog. I’m very lucky to have her.
Now she is tired and will stay home while I go to a movie. Marie Antoinette. (I don’t think she would enjoy a movie unless I gave her lots of popcorn, and Porties don’t do well with corn!) Thursday I went to see The Queen. I found it a bit unsettling. The interweaving of digital clips of real events into the dramatized story was sometimes confusing and sometimes rude. Couldn’t they wait until the Queen is dead! I like a good documentary but this was something in between fiction and fact. And there are plenty of good fiction stories that need to be told. I hope this one tonight is more enjoyable.
Today is Lila’s first birthday. One year old, imagine that! A very full year, indeed. To celebrate, we went for a long walk in Point Pleasant Park. We go there often now, at least a couple of times a week. I’m beginning to know my way around. I used to take Katie there but that was before Hurricane Juan and there were still lots of trees. It is so different now, I have to relearn the paths.
We had a lovely walk today. It was warm and sunny and lots of dogs for Lila to play with. Towards the end of our walk we met a boxer who had similar unstoppable energy and the two of them cavorted for the rest of the walk.
Then I took her to MetroDogWash. She had her nails clipped and I bathed her and trimmed her hair. She was delightfully good. So afterwards I bought her a few new squeaky toys and some of her favorite foods.
When I came out of the store after buying the toys, a woman and her two young girls were smiling as I was chatting to Lila, telling her to move from my seat to hers because she really cannot drive even if she wanted to. She doesn't have a license yet. (She likes to sit behind the wheel when I leave her in the car alone.) They had admired her when they first parked next to me, said she looked so cute and dignified sitting at the wheel. I, of course, told them it was her birthday and I had just bought her some new toys. The mom asked if I had baked her a cake. Actually I had. In the morning I had made her some cookies—oats, squash and canola oil—yum!. She said she often makes cakes for her daughters' stuffed animals, lets the girls pick the trimmings. And they have a very nice party. It's all about the memories, she said. Making good memories.
Still, it’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year!
A few days ago when I was out with Lila on the road, we passed a (very) young man walking home from the school bus. He asked me if I was Leya Evelyn. I said yes. He then said he heard I had some great paintings in my studio. I asked him if he painted or drew. He said only a little, doodles, he really couldn’t draw, he said. I told him if he can write his name he could draw. Really! he said, drawing his name in the air. So that’s drawing, he dreamily mumbled.
I have a new career: street teacher. That would be a good gig!