Is This Normal?

Lately I've been feeling like I am a front runner in the Slacker of the Year Competition for 2007. I just do not feel like I am working on my art enough. What it really comes down to is that I just don't feel much like working on my art, at all. I hardly am at the studio. I don't really have much going on.

I've been working on the Bottle Cap Tree, yes, but maybe for like 6 hours a week. Last week, for instance, the only day I went to the studio was on Friday and I was there for about a half day. I put two more branches on the tree. Then Eric and I set it up in the courtyard of the building and we took some digital images. Wooo! Hold me back - I am such a work-a-holic. (Um, in case you couldn't tell, I was Being Sarcastic).

Here's the last incarnation of the tree, by the way.


So, it's not like I'm totally avoiding the studio, letting cobwebs develop there, or anything. Yet I feel like I use any excuse to "work" at home and not go there. Like today. I woke up with a vicious case of poison oak on my right eye. Not the first time that's happened. Totally uncomfortable and I could barely open my eye. Sucks.

I realize that's a pretty good reason to not go work at the studio. But I went to the doctor and got a prescription and my eye is actually less swollen then earlier. I can do stuff. Heck, I'm sitting here typing away at my blog right now. So why not go over and work for the afternoon?

Well, you know, it's raining out, like Really Hard. And I never feel motivated when the weather is crappy. How I got any work done last spring in Mendocino is a mystery. I just don't want to leave the warmth of my little office here.

See, I've got loads of reasons why today is not a good day to go the studio. What is wrong with me? Do I really want to make this art thing happen? Because I won't get anywhere if I don't actually Make Art.

I am really hoping this is just some phase I am in. That this is all a normal part of the creative process. That every artist has their Ups and Downs, Ebbs and Flows. Because if this keeps up much longer I may have to start Justifying How I Spend My Time. Yikes!

Movie Non-Recommendation of the Day: Be Cool.

Now, I really liked Get Shorty. And Eric had never seen it. And neither of us had seen Be Cool. So, we thought: How Fun. We could have mini movie marathon. So we watched Get Shorty and then Be Cool. Man, what a let down. Be Cool SUCKS! Don't rent it. Hopefully it's not too late. I realize this isn't exactly timely since the movie came out in 2005.

Images - Tour of California 2007

Sunday, February 18 - San Francisco
Prologue - Time Trials - Ferry Building to Coit Tower

At the start.


Ooh, it's George Hincapie of Team Discovery Channel!


A fast flat along the Embarcadero...


...then it's up to Coit Tower.






Monday, February 19 - Pt. Reyes Station
Stage One - San Francisco to Santa Rosa

Waiting for the riders at the finish of the first sprint.


Here come the sprinters...


...and the rest.



Exclamation of the Day: What a great weekend for a bike ride!

Images - Bottle Cap Tree, Phase One

Took advantage of a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon and ended up with these photos. Nice to see the "tree" in an appropriate environment (i.e. not cramped inside my little studio). This was fun.

Sunny Afternoon Tip of the Day: Drink a beer - save a bottlecap.

Bottle Caps, Oh My

You know, when I counted all my caps recently (metal and plastic) and came up with a grand total of more than 5,100, I thought, Wow - that is a Lot of caps. But it's not really. I mean as far as square-footage goes. If I was to cover the entire Bottle Cap Tree with caps I would probably need three times that. But thankfully, that is not my plan - to cover every surface area. Just most of it, though. So, needless to say, I Need Way More Caps.

I have sent my plea out to friends and family far and wide. Hopefully, I will get a good haul. But it does take time. I mean, take my own contributions. First of all, I don't drink soda -or "pop" as I like to call it, which is funny because I am a native Californian and we never say "pop" but then I think that's why I like to use that term. Anyway, if I drink a pop it's usually like once or twice a month. Fortunately what I do like to drink (Izze and Fizzy Lizzy are faves) generally comes in glass bottles with cool metal caps. But still, not a lot of caps from that.

Now, I do like to drink beer. But when the weather is foul, like it is in winter, I tend to prefer wine so less beer drinking happens this time of year. And now I am drinking even less beer than usual because I fasted last week and my body just doesn't really want beer right now, or other alcohol for that matter. I am all cleaned out and toxin-less. So the cap collecting container is sadly lacking these days. I've got to step it up!

But it will get there. I have faith. I have had to stop making any more bottle cap flowers (see image below) because I need to get my caps reserve up. Hear that friends and family - I need your caps. The tree is kind of on hold right now because of that. But the trunk and branches are pretty much all done. (I am taking some photos this weekend). And that was going to be the tricky part. I just have a few more things to do and then it will be ready to be attached to the steel plate base. And then the fun can begin. When I start to apply the caps to the exterior surface. Yippee!


But enough about all that. Right now I am focusing on getting my Progression Structure #8 ready to ship to South Dakota. I went up to Mendocino last Saturday to weld steel flat bar to the bottom of the sculpture (as requested). Boy, that was fun - despite the rain. We really had to improvise to get the sculpture in a spot where it was protected by the rain but was easy to unload and load into the truck. I was only there for a few hours. Got what I needed to get done and was outta there. Which was too bad because it was nice to be back on the coast and I would have loved to have spent more time there but it was just such a yucky day. That's okay, I am going back in May anyway.

While I was there, though, I realized just how much I wish I had a good studio set-up where I could work with metal all the time. I do love welding. I'd make steel sculptures all the time if I could. Ah, Someday. I will make it happen. For now, I just do the best I can. It's been fun attempting to work in metal in my little studio at Smith Ranch Studios. And figuring out how to put things together using only cold fastening. That takes creativity. It's soooo much easier just to weld two pieces of metal together. Boom! Done! Not so easy trying to get a bolt into a tricky spot. But I am making it work. It's even been pretty fun working that way.

So, back to the Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk stuff. I got the steel strips welded to the bottom of the sculpture and painted them flat black like they asked and now I am spraying the whole thing with a Rustoleum clear coat because they didn't want it just plain ol' rusty - it could leak rust down onto the pedestal it will be on. Alright, that's cool. I can understand that. Still kind of a pain though but actually it's making the rust finish look pretty good.

Then, lastly, I gotta crate the whole thing for shipment. Now that's been the one thing that's been bugging me. Not just because the wood for the crate will cost me a few dollars (see, it's been great because so far I haven't had to spend any money on this whole thing - shipping is paid for, hotel in Sioux Falls is covered, I even bought our plane tickets out there with frequent flier miles!). What's really been the problem is I have never built a crate before, I don't really know how. Eric and I have figured out a plan. I hope it works. Wish I felt more comfortable doing this.

Ahh, I know it'll come together, though. Always does. And I've got plenty of time before it ships out (first of April). So I should just Relax. But when do I ever do that?! I am just so looking forward to when it's ready to go and the shipping company comes and picks it up. Then I can chill. And Chill I Will. We leave right after for two weeks in Mexico. Woo-hoo! Renting a house in Sayulita (north of Puerto Vallerta). Just gonna hang at the beach, body surf, snorkel, work on my tan and rest. I'm even thinking about trying my hand at deep sea fishing. See if I can catch me a Marlin! Not that that is the best fish to eat but for the sport, ya know. We'll see if I get motivated enough to book a trip.

All in all, I am feeling like maybe I should be more busy right now. I just don't have a heck of a lot going on. I've gotten back into reading "Turbulent Mirror". It's only been three years since I started that book. But I got a little side-tracked with my Permutations body of work and all. That was just from reading the first half of the book. Imagine what may come if I actually finish it!

Spam Philosophy of the Day: Let (the) dance party begin.

I am so ready, Baby!

Where To Begin

Jeez, is it really February 7th? What happened to January? What have I been doing? It's been over a month since the First of the Year, since I got myself back into my studio. And I will tell you, getting back into a consistent routine has been...challenging.

But I am getting there. This week is the first week I've really felt a clarity about what I am doing, where I am going. Well, as clear as I am capable, which is usually pretty darn murky.

So, let's see.....I am now down to working just two days a week outside of the studio, at the winery. That leaves me Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for Art. I like to take weekends off. You know, spend time with the hubby and the pooch. So, three days, that's not bad.

Goodness it was, and still is, hard to get back into working on my art again. For one thing, I had to really overhaul the studio just to make it a place I could work in. See, for the month of December it was more like an art storage unit. Anyway, I took care of that but Then What? I had vague ideas of projects but didn't know where to begin.

It probably doesn't help that I have been distracted by some minutiae related to getting Progression Structure #8 out to South Dakota in April. It's just little things that I have to take care of but still, it's time away from new projects. But all of that is starting to come together and it's a load off of my mind.

Then I had this idea about going to Burning Man this year and I spent a lot of time dwelling on a really complicated project, way too complicated for someone who has never been before. And I was trying to organize a group of people and well, it just started to get Really Hard and Really Overwhelming. So, I scaled way back on all of that.

And now I am much more focused. I plan to go to Burning Man (though I have no idea who I am going with yet) and I am going to bring a sculpture with me. I am right now in the process of making "Bottle Cap Tree". That is, a tree made entirely out of recycled materials and covered in bottle caps. Yes, I finally have a solid idea for the caps! It's been really, really fun so far. I've been making the basic tree structure out of recycled duct and other metal and I have been making bottle cap "flowers". I have all kinds of really cool recycled materials to work with, courtesy of the management at my studio so the cost has been pretty low.

I am in the process of applying for a Burning Man grant, too. So, that's been eating up a bunch of my time while I get the proposal together. My budget is small but still there are some notable expenses, mostly related to the transportation of the sculpture there and back. It is Highly Unlikely I will get any amount of funding. For one thing, they do not completely fund any project and also generally do not give grants to first-time "burners" like myself. But I was encouraged to apply anyway, so we'll see. It's cool if nothing comes of it though, I've got the funds thanks to my job at the winery.

I recently did a metal bottle cap tally - I've got over 4100. But I think I'm going to need closer to 5000 just to cover the bottom half of the tree trunk. I do, however, have tons of plastic caps. I don't know how many, though; I've never counted. But it's got to be close to 2000. So, that will help with the branches and such. It's a fun work-in-process. I love working this way, without much of plan, just using materials on hand, making it up as I go along. It's challenging and then when I solve a particular problem it's very rewarding. Today for instance I managed to put together two pieces that at first seemed impossible but I just kept tackling it until it finally worked. I was so happy. And it's a good thing too because it's something that makes the top of the tree much more secure then it was previously.

So, I'm working hard and I've got a weekly routine. I think things are getting back to normal for me. It's good to have some consistency. Something I really felt like I was lacking during the month of January. I was just really slow getting "back into it" for some reason.

Well, I guess that's all to report for now. I think I'll go "veg out" a bit, it was a pretty busy work day.

Vow of the Day: More regular blog posts.