More art stuff...

There has been lots of art stuff going on for me since the 1st. It feels like old times, like back in college with deadlines and a need for lots of productivity. A few years after Lu, well, about 3 or so, I tried to get back to art. It was hard because I felt so restrained. In my mind I keep worrying about my subject matter. I guess it is not hard to figure out. I was going back to a goal I had at one time. I mentioned Vargas. I had purchased a book about him in college. He talked a little about his technique. He used a combination of watercolor and pastels. He would sketch her, lay down a base of water color, and lightly fill in the rest with chalk pastels. I wanted to do some work in this manner. I had done 2 in college, but wanted to continue. I was not doing a pin-up girl or nudes, but just portraits. I did a few rock starts of the time, David Bowie and Terri Nunn (who is from the band “Berlin”). So, in 1988 I just choose some portraits and began doing them. They sucked. So, I moved on to something else. I had bought 2 drawing pads in college made for pastels and colored pencils. High quality paper that was colored different shades. I had not used it much, so I got out the Prisms (my expensive, very high quality colored pencils) and did some portraits. Those came out very good, but, still, to me they looked restricted. Maybe it is just me because I know that my heart was not totally in it. Anyway, I stopped. The juice just would not flow. I have had a chance for others to look at those drawings from then. They get good reviews. I can see where it was just pure talent and not anything from the heart. That is nice to know, but not enough for me. I tried here and there after, but my heart was not in it. Before Lu, I did lots of art all the time. Then, it was like someone kicked me in the nads and I puked it all out. So, when I went back to college, I was in my last year, 1998/1999. I had some room for classes and I thought about getting a second BA in art. I did not need much, so I thought I would do it and then move on to a Master’s. (right now, I need 4 classes to get my BA) Lu and all of that was not in my mind when I registered for the classes. I wrote that story, “Witch Hunt in Wyoming” in a writing class about 3 years prior and thought that maybe I had worked through it. When the classes started, I was rusty. But, I found my river of creativity, yet, I was still restrained. The water was still dammed, although draining. The water has began to flow more freely as time went by, with each new piece. In the last 2 years, I have done some more art. The river is flowing, but not a rage like before.

So, in the past few weeks I have been preparing for my exhibition. I have some old stuff and some new to put in it. I found those pieces from 1988. One I am redoing, well, is nearly redone.

Last night, the waters raged.