I thought I would take this opportunity of school being closed today to share some things. This is a painting I finished recently for a friend. An xmas gift. Belated xmas gift. Perhaps the start of a new series? We shall see…

And, of course, how could I resist sharing a snow picture? Wow, this was before it even stopped. We had some crazy thundersnow that night too. It woke me up at 5am it was so loud. I have to say I quite enjoyed myself this weekend. Got in some sledding, some hot toddies, long walks, hanging out with friends, and watched a lot of people use their feet instead of their wheels.

On a recent trip to Austin I saw the work of artist Teresita Fernandez at the Blanton Museum of Art. The image above is from a room that featured work that was made entirely with graphite. The structure in the foreground was built of graphite (not really sure how) and the work in the background was small bits of graphite that were stuck to the wall and there were soft traces of smudgy marks (either from graphite dust falling over time or drawn, not sure which) on the wall. It was difficult not too touch. I think what amazed me most about her work was that each piece took a relatively simple idea or material or form but then the scale or light or placement of the viewer around them (sometimes all three) transformed them into individual little worlds or landscapes where I felt like I was the only person that existed in each of them.

I suppose the holidays are officially over even though classes haven’t started yet. To get myself in gear, I forced myself to paint today. These are the results. They’re very derivative of a lot of my other work recently (but how could they not be, I made them, right?) but I guess they aren’t so bad. It’s difficult getting back into it after a 3 week (or so) hiatus. However, I have to remember to cram as much time into making work before school does start back even if I don’t feel like it… wah.

Wow. This movie is… well… I hate to say it… but… perfect? Maybe? Perhaps? I can think of nothing critical to say, anyway. How could you possibly not want to see the stealthy teenage fox sneaking around in such a lovely homemade bandit hat as pictured above? Just go see it. Now. As fast as your legs will get you to The Charles, or your local theatre wherever you may be.

I took a road trip with my friend Missy this weekend to Philadelphia. Thanks for asking me to join you and suggesting some great destinations, Missy! Every time I go to Philadelphia I have a great time and see super-duper (I used the thesaurus to get that word because I didn’t want to use great again and my brain wouldn’t come up with anything interesting - thanks thesaurus!) things and convince myself I want to move there. Are there any out Philadelphians out there? Is it as awesome as the awesomeness I am projecting onto it?

Part 1: Jason Hackenwerth Show
Missy introduced me to this artist (which I believe is what inspired her idea for this trip in the first place). We saw his large scale balloon sculptures at a gallery whose name I can’t remember but was an amazing restored warehouse style space and was in the same neighborhood as the restaurant we went to below. The fingery parts of the uninflated ends reminded me a lot of some of my more obsessive amoeba-like drawings.

Part 2: Lunch at Johnny Brenda’s
We met a friend of Missy’s for lunch here, thanks to her friend’s wonderful suggestion. At my insistence we began the foodfest with a whiskey donut. Delicious! And very whiskey-ish. I couldn’t help but be reminded of my grandmother’s super soaked rum balls that I love now but was disgusted by as a kid. Also at my insistence we sat at the dark table with pulsating lights (pictured above with the beloved donut). I proceeded to order ham and cheese grits which was covered in sunny side up eggs. Also very yummy! I finished it all off with some wonderful local beer - they had a lot of choices on tap. It looks like this place has it all: good food (both savory and sweet), good drink, interesting decor, and apparently live music as I see from their website.

Part 3: Eastern State Penitentiary
I have always wanted to go here but for one reason or another all my trips to Philadelphia have not allowed the time to squeeze it in. Until now. If you have not been there, it is worth checking it out! We happened to pick the perfect kind of day to go (dreary, overcast, and chilly) and the sun was setting toward the end which added to the creepy factor of the place. The detritus, textures, and gloomy atmosphere forced me to have to restrain myself from taking a photo every time I took a step. Artist installations appear here and there in some of the cells. I wouldn’t suggest going there if you are expecting something amazing installation wise. While some of the pieces were great (again that great, but too lazy for thesaurus this time), you aren’t going to run into one every time you turn a corner and a lot of the technologically dependent ones weren’t working. Oh, and if you decide to go, you have the pleasure of a walking recorded audio tour with Steve Buscemi to look forward to.

We had a few other interesting adventures but I think you’ve heard enough and those are some of my particularly favorite highlights.

Lots of traveling last weekend! A perfect time for it too. The leaves were beautiful. I drove up to see Ben and while there, we went to Boston for our anniversary dinner (because there aren’t too many - any, really - options out in the middle of nowhere CT) and to NYC for a day of gallerying in Chelsea.

Dinner was amazing. And I have two new favorite artists now. The first is Marina Zurkow (video from the show I saw above, taken from her site). We stumbled upon a great group media exhibit (Jim Campbell among them) where we saw her work. Make sure you take a look at her site! She is making quite a broad range of both visual and conceptual pieces. She is awesome!

My second new favorite is Thordis Adalsteinsdottir (I had to check that about ten times to get the spelling right), a painter from Iceland. The image above I took from her site, though not one I saw in the show. None of the images I could find even come close to doing her work justice, unfortunately. Her color changes are subtle and the detail in her imagery is very entertaining. I love the large mural she has posted on her site.

Lots of other good stuff too… enough to keep me inspired at least for a little while.

I saw the William Eggleston show at the Corcoran today. It was great and I caught it just in time before it comes down this weekend. I felt oddly nostalgic (oddly because I have a strange split feeling when it comes to feeling very southern and not southern at all) upon seeing some of the southern landscapes, particularly the Plains series which were taken right around the time I would have been moving to GA as a child.

I decided to sit down and have a cup of coffee before driving back to Baltimore. I saw red velvet cupcakes at the counter and couldn’t resist. Which is unfortunate. Because it was truly disgusting. I feel like you have to try really hard to make a cupcake that is that gross. I ate half the cake part which was at least somewhat edible, though still not enjoyable. After one taste of the frosting, though, I couldn’t even think about eating any more of it. At least the coffee was not bad.

I had a strange experience on the drive home as I was happily driving and listening to music on this beautiful sunny day when all of a sudden I became aware that the interstate was swarming with sports cars. But all a similar type of sports car - what I think of as maybe a Trans Am. That to me means low to the ground, American made, and (maybe?) not made any more. (I’m not a car person so don’t criticize and laugh at me too much on my lack of knowledge in this area.) There were about 20 of them and I felt like I suddenly had been transported into some weird race where I was definitely not supposed to be.

Tonight I see 9!

Why can’t I have an iPhone?! Oh yeah… I can’t afford it. And I don’t want AT&T. But, man, I would love to have a Friends With You app that lets a FWY character greet me on my phone every day. If you have an iPhone, go and get it. And tell me how wonderful it is.

This is what I labored on this labor day.