fire it up

Do you remember watching the episode of Seinfeld where Elaine called her boyfriend, Puddy, who was sitting on the couch in his apartment when she called. She asked him, "Whatch'a doin'?" Puddy repiled, "Nothing." "Nothing?" inquired Elaine. "You mean nothing? You're just sitting there, staring?" "That's right." deadpanned Puddy.

I can relate. Working on a painting or a series of paintings is preceded by seemingly dull stretches of nothing. Creative strikes don't happen without calms before the storm and I enjoy those times.

I'm not in the middle of nothing right now, but today's weather lends itself to wanting to do that. Gray and cool, fall is just around the corner. This time of year is great for me. Cooler weather always gives me extra drive to work. The last two weeks have been overly distracting. All good distractions, mind you. But I'm happy to move into the autumnal season, it gets my blood pumping. In my current series of work, number four of six is almost finished. It's looking really good and I should be done with it by next week. Here's a detail of number four below.

Here's a short quick video of me working on #4.

So, the Mexican orphanage trip is off.

The organizer of the trip emailed everyone to inform that, due to lack of resources, he finds it necessary to cancel this year's trip. I am bummed. I'd still like to finish the ideas I had for this project, just in case a similar opportunity comes up down the road. I like the idea of teaching kids to paint their own portraits. I think it would have an interesting impact on how they see themselves.



I got a haircut a few weeks ago, paid $22, including tip. I'm paying more these days for a cut and I leave the shop with less of myself. I suppose there's a hair disposal fee included in there somewhere, sort of like having your oil changed. I've realized that I function better with my hair longer. After the cut, I found myself bumping into walls and mistaking my dog for a large box of smoked salmon. My desire to paint was also weakened. Fear not, my hair is beginning to regain it's length and the curl is returning. This week was very productive, despite Delilah's temptations.




Have a good weekend, and Godspeed, John Glenn,

Dave