Drudgery

Reading Despair by Vladimir Nabokov as per recommendation by a friend. I love his storytelling prowess and poetic descriptions. Sometimes I'll read a line and I have to stop and simply let the words sink in before reading it a few more times, because of the sheer beauty of its formulation.
I have also come upon almost finishing the latest painting I am excited to be painting. Balancing out this excitement is the portrait of the labrador that seems to elude me, the owner continues to be dissatisfied with it and I am at a loss. I've requested another visit to reshoot some photos or else to be provided with a better photo of the dog.
Today I planted about thirty iris bulbs which were once attached to eachother, growing off of an original rhizome who-knows-how long ago. I had dug up the convoluted mass of roots and separated them by slicing through them with quick chops of my shovel. Last year I planted about 100 lily bulbs only to be disappointed in having nothing push its way through the mulch this year where I had planted them. As I was planting the iris rhizomes today, I came upon one of these little lily bulbs and it was sprouting. Maybe they just need a couple of years to establish before blooming again. I like to imagine, years into the future, an abundance of orange lilies and purple irises rising out of our flower beds next to the sidewalk. By then, we'll have probably moved out of the state being the gypsies we are.

My article about Jouvelt has proven to upset many artists and gallerists in Lawrence, KS. Some of the complaints are valid, but most of them are angry insults that attack my ability as a writer and an artist as well as personal attacks on my character and immature name-calling. I find it ridiculous how I never once specifically called one person small minded, but the people who have this characteristic are implicating themselves. Maybe I have too much to be busy with to really mind these criticisms, but they don't bother me too much. I think the only statement that has bothered me is one that claims I did no research and calls the article one-sided. To combat this, I am in the planning stages of a second article which will enlist a voice from the other spectrum of the perspective. I only hope I can find one that is actually a viable source of information and not just full of hurt feelings for this or that reason.  I still stand on my statements in the article, that Jouvelt's publicity stunt was a great success cannot be argued. This type of effort separates the leaders from the herd of sheep.


The artworld is uber competetive and can become a cut-throat game if people don't cooperate. Art and artists thrive off of communication and cooperation. Cliques kill art. Lawrence, KS journalists could take this idea of the dangerous ruts that artists are susceptible to and artist etiquette and anti-etiquette, and start an artist ideas forum, bringing much needed attention to the Lawrence art scene.

So, what am I doing wrong with this dog? I'm trying to piece the painting together from these photographs. The owner says the head is wrong. Maybe somebody else wouldn't mind painting this painting in my stead? I'll bake you apple pie!