i crawl on my belly like a reptile…. i sometimes wonder what people would think if they could see me at work on my stuff– when i work on my sculpture, of course, i sometimes drool– at least, if my concentration is sharp enough. but this week of painting has been intense, and i have sudden flashes of reality– me standing above myself looking down– at this creature who is making odd sounds and mumbling incoherently, barking, whining and growling like some cerberus released from the pit.i open my mouth to hear a variety of sounds, mostly whistling, shrieking on occasion, popping my lips to the rhythm of some long forgotten drum track, imitations of actors from old movies, channeling anything and everything like a hammy medium high on a whole box of pot brownies– what was that stuff, and can i get any more? then suddenly the pass of paint i am putting down is over and i collapse onto a chair, a perfect puppet laid low by cut strings. i’m still mumbling though, and what i am saying comes as a complete surprise to me, the listener. shades of “fear and loathing in las vegas”…anyhow, this last pic is not quite a current one, it is just the most current one i have put through my photo editor– there are more in the camera, but i just got a burst of energy telling me to write while the poker is hot, to mix a few metaphors. like i said, it was an intense day of painting, and i think i shall have a little more time tomorrow morning to paint as well, but will have to pick up tanks for an afternoon checkout dive with some clients– then it looks as if i may well have a full week of diving to do, so i shall get a little rest before howling and snorting sounds issue from my windows again…. see you then

i’m listening to some live queen this afternoon, and suddenly realised that, after finishing up painting for the day, i still had a little jam left in the old brain cells, meaning i could jot a few lines down here. i still have to walk over to the casa de cambio and exchange a few dollars here, paying for the more mundane matters of living, and so most likely i shall begin today and finish another, but here goes–

damn!! but it rained for days there, and i was trapped inside my house like some two-legged rat. it dumped til the streets ran like rabid rivers and then it dumped some more, accompanied at times by thunder like a large truck rolling down stone stairs. i couldn’t take my usual walkabout in the mornings and so got somewhat cabin crazy, but it did give me impetus to work on my painting and other projects. i finished up another drumfish pendant, as they just keep selling, and then also made another ring, set with 5 nice diamonds– a special order.

but all the time i kept working on the painting, moving it along– all the tonal progressions becoming obvious, one after the other, and i felt myself to be truly in the zoneyou can see how much improved it was from the first pic at the top of the page, but this one i took just this afternoon, so it is current. my being “in the zone” took a good hit the past couple of days, as i was having trouble getting the colors right inside the blossoms of the flowers, but today it became just a snap– turned out the color i was fumbling around for was the one i thought it was all along, but would just never trust to be the right one. this is typical of me at times, but thank goodness i figured out my psychosis and had the cure. this brings the painting to the end of what i call phase two, meaning it is really just the canvas i plan on painting the actual painting onto– it’s been a lot of work, but i am happy with the results. i was thinking that the flower petals were pretty much done, but i deluded myself on that– there is a lot to be done, it just has to be done lightly, like holly go-!! really what i want to do is to introduce the depth into the piece– right now it is functioning on maybe two depths, according to the basic blocking colors, but i want there to be countless depths in some places, and new ones to discover.

meanwhile, the clouds left and the sun came out and the spider ran up the water spout or whatever– suddenly we are back to humidity and stickiness and some of the largest mosquitoes i have ever seen down here (not as enormous as the ones up in northern alberta, of course)– at least these ones aren’t carriers of dengue fever.

now we have this venezuelan sailing vessel in town, complete with cadet crew, who are enjoying leave on the island. seem like nice people– i was impressed and happy that the ship is coed– all these young people learning the ins and outs of command and working together– it must be somewhat of a wonder when it is out there with the sails filled with wind. life without a net too, as i have heard that it bears no propeller to use when the wind is not in the right quarter. the locals have been enjoying the free tours of the ship, and if i wasn’t messing so much with this painting i might go as well.

golly, i guess that is all. time for me to head on over to the casa de cambio, so i guess i might just as well publish this thing and leave– til the next time!!

been trying to come up with a snappy title for this new blog, but nothing much has really come to mind– “what a long strange trip it’s been” was already taken, and anything else sounded hokey or overly dramatic. SO– instead, you get this little preamble.

thing is, i wanted so much to write, and there were a great number of things to write about, however my site just refused to publish to my facebook account, and so outside of a small number of people who actually looked for it, my blog wasn’t getting read. it took some doing, but it turned out that all the recent changes in FB had cancelled some form of a “ticket” to my site, and i had to call in the artillery. my ace wizard jo lynn finally pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat, and now things seem to be functioning just fine again– i hope!! this is the first official blog since things were put to right, so we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

“twas bryllyg, and ye slythy toves
did gyre and gymble in ye wabe”

was another possible title– in february, my sharkbaiter people came through town, and we went to the north and did a wonderful dive with the eagle rays, while this line from “jabberwocky” ran through my head– it really seemed to describe their motions in the water. of course, that was before we went there again, only to experience some hellacious downcurrents, but ’nuff said about that one!!

i also thought “aspen grove” might make a good title, as it was well underway for the last blog, but things got intense indeed with it, this tightrope line i walk while doing my work, wobbling back and forth between ecstasy and full crash dive depression– “aspen grove” seems pretty mellow, and so does the painting i suppose, but still my site was refusing to publish, and i put that title away as well. my good friends tina and brian flew me up to their home town to bring them the canvas, where it is now ensconsed in their marvelous condo– they all treated me like a king up there, and i thank you here for that– you too, manny and sharon!! the painting looks wonderful on that wall.

now i am busy on my new painting, “flowers”– that’s just a working title, i can scarce believe that it will end up being called that, as it is pretty mundane and unimaginative. here you have the bare bones sketch, many hours that took me, my lack of facility in drawing forcing me to be patient and just keep on keeping on.

now it is looking like this– further along, not quite ugly, not quite anything as of yet– BUT!!– i do have a good feeling about it, even in this moment– i feel like these tiny flowers will turn into something magical, the background multi-levelled and deep, textural and daubed with light. stick around, there will be more sometime soon