They're Not All Wonderful
Yet another of these things:



I was thinking of John Ashcroft singing (eagles soaring, etc.), leaving pools of blood and fluids behind. I wasn't happy doing this, but I made it colorful anyway, tho it started out with dark lines. Edited a few things out in photoshop I may keep in a different version. Didn't really know what I was doing until it was done.

Ah, me.
- posted by Cynthia @ 12:53 PM | | | Link |

 
I Can't Watch
I can't look at him, I can't listen to his voice.

It makes me physically ill.



At dentist earlier today, have spent rest of afternoon crying and moaning about the upcoming expensive stuff he wants to do to me, even though I've been good and flossed and brushed like crazy. Not fair. Not fair. (also, no dental insurance, which is the really bad part).

Still around 90 degrees, still with that appalling sun, the huge red eye frying everything. People downtown were skulking from shadow to shadow.

And figured out what the huge Millenium Park "Bean" looks like in its covered-up state: a Trojan Horse. At some point hundreds of smaller beans will burst forth and set themselves up as art in parks throughout the city.

Time to check again to see whether he's done...
- posted by Cynthia @ 7:26 PM | | | Link |

 
Hoo Boy
... is it hot out.

Have been working on the little colored pencil drawings today and misc. other home-tasks. Not too humid right now. The air-conditioner is keeping the place bearable, if you don't move around too much.

They have reduced the house in the back to piles of rubble, mostly brick and cinderblock, and have begun hauling it away. I really feel for the workers in this heat, but they seem to be taking breaks fairly regularly, though I don't know where they can find any shade (since they cut all the trees at the property lines down...).



Here's what it looked like in happier days:



My lawn is almost completely brown, and I can't find my hose. I think it walked away, along with the sprinkler attached to it. Shit happens.

Listless. Should go to beach or something, but too hot. Watched a bunch of DVDs over the weekend -- Center Stage was great (the dancing, that is. The story was pretty trite). One more to go, then back to the library, the lovely air-conditioned library. May camp out permanently.
- posted by Cynthia @ 4:32 PM | | | Link |

 
Another Little Drawing
This is from the other day.



Good afternoon, friends. The Taste of Chicago is on and only one shooting to report so far. Violence is what happens when you combine 95 plus degree weather plus humidity plus a million people all eating steaming plates of ribs and corn and cheesecake and drinking beer and children are wailing and the competing bands at different venues are pounding your skull into the ground.

Been there, wanted to do that. I can't believe I'm going into the thick of it on Tuesday when I have a dentist's appointment. Needless to say, I won't be driving.

Not quite as hot today (so far) and still no rain. A lot of the trees around here have just given up and have started dropping their leaves as though it's fall. (I don't have a tree picture for you, unfortunately, though I may come back later with a cartoon tree. I don't know why I've started doing this stuff.).

That's it for now. The formatting mess wore me out yesterday -- Wi-Fi was acting up, probably because all the chewing machines tearing down the little house behind me had walkie-talkies and cell phones and microwaves and what-not. So went to library -- tradeoff is wonderful Wi-Fi and airconditioning vs uncomfortable chairs and no provision for sprawling on a couch and eating potato chips loudly.

So, there you have it.
- posted by Cynthia @ 12:36 PM | | | Link |

 
Formatting Weirdness -- UPDATE
Earlier today I wrote:

For some reason, all the posts on the blog have started showing up way, way down under the end of the side bar stuff. I apologize for the ugliness and have put in a bug report to Blogger. Does anyone out there know WTF is going on or experienced this too, or figured out how to fix it? I don't relish switching to a newer template, but it probably wouldn't be the end of the world if I was forced to.

Please email me if you have ideas or reply in comments (to help the world). It started with the post yesterday.

UPDATE: Found a workaround for the problem at Blogger Forum, and apparently it's working! Thanks everyone for emailed suggestions, and to Corey for identification of the problem. Stuck the solution in comments (on the off chance that putting it in the post will do something odd).
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:45 AM | | | Link |

 
A Good Dog
Rest in peace, Molly.



Lost battle with car.

Here she is relaxing (possibly with a piece of deer between her paws) at my sister's house downstate. She was a very good outside dog with a deep voice and utter and complete loyalty. She was getting old, though, and the car was going too fast.

Good evening, friends. Printed literally from 9 to 5 today and did decent work. It's all in the car (of course). Am exhausted. Tomorrow.
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:26 PM | | | Link |

 
Welcome to the Ownership Society
... where they own you:

Supreme Court Rules Cities May Seize Homes

WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth often is at war with individual property rights.

This isn't eminent domain, folks. This isn't building a road, or a city hospital, or a municipal facility. This is for private development and enrichment of the Republican classes. It makes me sick. Any time they want, they can decide that your little block of houses would be better off with a mega-condo development on it, promised with tax abatement and loosened zoning, and midnite-city-council-meeting approved backroom deals to campaign contributors, etc. etc. using substandard materials, etc. etc. all in the name of jobs and tax base.

Good midday, folks. Back from printing, but forgot to grab a copy of the little print for you to see.

Also, we are not surprised that Line Drive Art Gallery is no more. There are plans for it to move nomadically, much like Gallery 60035 in Highland Park, around Chicago, starting with a show in August at Lake Point Tower near Navy Pier. Name to be changed (most likely) to Lucid Artist Cooperative. Check back for more details.
- posted by Cynthia @ 12:19 PM | | | Link |

 
Give Us This Day
... our daily tree:



I realize I've been bad about drawing something real every day. Drew this while sitting in the park waiting for my litho stone to process.

Stone did ok with the xerox transfer of the "wish you were here" drawing on it. I had darkened it so it would make a better xox, so the result is a little grainier and more emphatic. It was an experiment. Will bring home tomorrow, perhaps. The idea was to be able to run off a mess of them and then (since they have oil-based ink) do water color washes to my heart's content over them. We'll see.

Then will do a few more, then go nuts with it all.
- posted by Cynthia @ 5:19 PM | | | Link |

 
Wish You Were Here #1
Via the magic of colored pencil and watercolor on a digi print:



This is the first day of camp when there are too many activities and everything is too bright.*

Good afternoon, folks. I have a pile of these and am working on others. Not sure I like the pink wash in the center, so may take it out. With luck will have a litho version tomorrow.

I am told the destruction of the little house behind me will happen tomorrow as well. They put up more fencing today.

Still no rain. This is getting serious.


*Full disclosure: I have never been to camp
- posted by Cynthia @ 4:48 PM | | | Link |

 
Over Here We Get Bridezilla
.... and all their worn-out nannies.

Is this the next "Dancing With the Stars?" Oh, please, say yes!

Welcome to Star Portraits

In each programme a well-known personality has their portrait painted by three professional artists, each of whom will be doing their best to capture the essence of the celebrity sitter using their own particular style. Rolf Harris is our guide through the painting process, explaining the various techniques and sharing the highs and lows with the artist. Finally all three finished portraits are revealed - but which one will the celebrity choose to keep.

Apparently (according to the site) the first series of Star Portraits with Rolf Harris "was watched by 5 million viewers each week. The highest ever ratings for an arts programme." Higher even than the nun program?

Good morning, folks. And happy first day of summer, though it didn't rain again, did it?

Will try to be more artsy today (and less fartsy), and maybe post something new.
- posted by Cynthia @ 8:17 AM | | | Link |

 
Rose Fever
Along with the rest of the Chicago Metro area went with visiting friend to the Chicago Botanic Gardens (which are not actually in Chicago) yesterday for lunch and a stroll.

Since we are now at the height of the rose season, I and hundreds of dads dripping with photographic equipment and tripods snapped thousands of portraits of these endlessly patient flowers.

For example:



Here's a shy one:



Finally, a burst of blossoms, rather like at the end of a fireworks display:



My friend went all Hollywood and directed me how to shoot a photograph. "Why do you keep standing in the sun and just pointing straight ahead?" she asked. "Dunno," is what I answered. "I can always fix it it photoshop, right?"

I can barely operate a camera, is the real answer, and I just thank god they've come up with cameras that don't have film now. I could never remember to get it developed, or whether the film rattling around at the bottom of my purse was fresh film or exposed film, or I'd let it sit on the seat of the car until everything turned yellowish green, or I'd stick it in the camera and it wouldn't advance, etc. etc. I understand this is frustrating to watch for someone who actually knows what they're doing.

Have been working on my little "Wish You Were Here" postcards. Will scan in a few tonight, if you're good.
- posted by Cynthia @ 6:30 PM | | | Link |

 
Happy Father's Day
... which to many of you means lying around on the couch watching golf while people bring you snacks and beverages.

There is no day to celebrate the sad and unmated, is there? A friend bitchily points out in a completely unnecessary way that my dear, every day is designed for you.

Anyway, good morning, friends of the fatherly persuasion. I will be having visitors later so must clean and hide evidence of sloth in the oven and under the sink. Need to do this now but will be back later while I wait for them to arrive.
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:17 AM | | | Link |

 
Reading the Future
It is now about 8 am EDT....

HOLD FOR RELEASE 10:06 A.m. EDT 'Nothing Less Than Victory' Over Terrorists in Iraq, Bush Says on Radio - from TBO.com

Just liked the headline. Everything in the article is written in the past tense too.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Saturday that pulling out of Iraq now is not an option, rejecting calls by some lawmakers and polls indicating many Americans are growing weary of the war.
"The terrorists and insurgents are trying to get us to retreat. Their goal is to get us to leave before Iraqis have had a chance to show the region what a government that is elected and truly accountable to its citizens can do for its people," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Blah, blah, blah. The guy's delusional.
- posted by Cynthia @ 6:59 AM | | | Link |

 
Kerry's Fall
This is about the only sane account of what actually took place at the Kerry Skarbakka photo session I can find, until perhaps Brian Ulrich, who had planned to be there to document it, reports back:

Being a fall guy all day long: Relax, it's only art

He began practicing in his back yard, first falling off a tree or a fence. Later, he moved to a porch, then threw himself down a hill repeatedly. He had others take pictures of him, which became the basis for an installation in the MCA's 12x12 new artists display in late 2002.

Over the next several years, Skarbakka experimented with different locales and objects. He broke a rib falling from atop an 8-foot ladder while using a poorly constructed harness. He traveled to Sarajevo and Eastern Europe, falling in places where war was still fresh. On Tuesday, he brought his performance back to the MCA, where crowds swelled on the front steps each time Skarbakka was hoisted by cables, then lowered at varying speeds while cameramen snapped photos from all angles.

Some in the crowd thought it brilliant. Others barely cared. Either way it was, for many, a rare opportunity to see art being made.

Update: Brian reports in here. I originally wrote about it here.
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:05 PM | | | Link |

 
Distribution of Largesse, Part MMXXXiii (sub a, 1b)
The other day:

Vice President Cheney said yesterday that the administration has no plans to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as some prominent Democrats have recommended, but other Republicans said that reports of mistreatment of prisoners there have made the prison a growing global liability.

Today:

Halliburton Subsidiary Gets $30 Million to Build New Guantanamo Prison

The total contract could be worth up to $500 million through 2010, the Pentagon said. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, in Norfolk, Va., is the contracting agency.

Hmmmmmm......

Those poor guys are never getting out of there.
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:03 PM | | | Link |

 
Axis of Evil Revisited
This is a must-read.

NEWSgrist: Secret Service Chills anti-Bush Art -- again!

The agents started out with “easy” questions, like my name, address, what I did at my job, etc. Then they started asking if I’ve ever been under psychiatric or psychological care or counseling. They asked me to sign a medical release form so they could contact local hospitals and health care providers and confirm my answers. They asked if I belonged to any organizations.

(via Karen at fluidthought)

I first wrote about the original Axis of Evil show in Chicago here.
- posted by Cynthia @ 11:35 AM | | | Link |

 
Peregrine Falcon Friday
According to the Roundtable, the Evanston Public Library has set up a live web cam to show the progress of 2 Peregrine Falcon chicks nesting in their roof. Here it is:

FalconCam

At 10:54 am today:



Back later. Must paint or something.
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:51 AM | | | Link |

 
Singing Printmakers
... or one, at least. In the mailbag is a note from Deborah Maris Lader, mother of both the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative and the band, Sons of the Never Wrong, who will be at

Schuba's
this Friday, June 17th, 7:30pm -- the early show!
tix: $10 advance via schubas.com and $12 at the door.
3159 N. Southport Chicago, IL at the corner of Belmont and Southport...
www.schubas.com or call (773)525-2508

Members of the CPC had a show recently at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston that I wrote about here.

In related printmaking news, I got the drawing below transfered to stone, which is now etched and gummed and resting in the rack. Will open and print tomorrow. Wasn't sure what strength acid to use and may have overdone it. But was transferred via xerox, so I can always try again.

It's really a perfect candidate for a plain etching on copper or zinc, but I don't have any copper, which is the only material they currently allow in Evanston.

Am hungry. Temperature has dropped to just above 60 degrees, so am much more cheerful. Still no rain to speak of. This is a nutty spring/summer so far.
- posted by Cynthia @ 3:45 PM | | | Link |

 
Blessed Quiet
... for the last five minutes. Can think a little, so am typing this now.

The gnawing machines started around 7 am, 3 feet from my head, and the renovators next door were removing tile from a bathroom as well. Clink. Clink. Clink. Clink. Must rethink how to live through this.

Good morning, coffee drinkers. I look at the clock and can't imagine what I've been up to all this time, except staring at the wall hoping all the noise will go away.

Will go print later. Am trying to come up with a postcard series that relates to this drawing I ended up calling "La Plage," since it had a beachy quality, and I seem to be using a lot of French words lately for some reason.



I always say I don't draw, and then I find that I do rather a lot of it.

Here's one in progress. Thru the magic of printmaking it will shortly be transformed.


- posted by Cynthia @ 9:39 AM | | | Link |

 
The Day After
I'm afraid I've had to alter my description on the side. Went searching this morning for news to comment on in my normal, witty way, but could find none.

That more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers have now died in Viet Nam Iraq, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, is, of course, meaningless on this great Day After.
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:03 AM | | | Link |

 
Calmer
And have put the shotgun back in the closet.

For now.

The trees on the property line have gone, 2 big elms, one smaller one. The site fence goes up on Wednesday. I've been told the week they shore up the site for underground parking will be the week I will wish I was in hell, so may take off then.

My driveway has been raked over with fresh dirt, burying the gravel.

I sat and looked at drawings and at the wall and tried to ignore the sound of trees crying (sorry, just had to stick that in. actually was the sound of the saws and chewing machines).

Wish I were drunk.
- posted by Cynthia @ 5:19 PM | | | Link |

 
Sitting with Shotgun Across Lap
Not really, but am home right now, guarding the property from the developers who have been using my yard and driveway to dispose of vegetation so I can't get into my garage. Grumble, grumble. Don't want to sound like an old meanie, but I'm very aware that these condos will probably go for more than 300,000 each and I'm the slum, and they probably wish I'd go away.

I was right about the delay. Developer #1 pulled out and Developer #2 bought up everything, property, licenses, plans, etc. They are going ahead (according to the guy I just spoke with) and don't plan on leaving a big hole in the ground after absconding to Costa Rica.

So am illegally parked, checking to see whether enough has been moved to get in the driveway, and glad I came home, sorta.

Up, sleepless, early, hot, whiny. These are the technorati keywords of the day. Art is not one of them. Went up to Elawa Farm, and checked out all the other not-by-Lake-Michigan locations, but it was horrendously hot inland and no shade except for where I sat and painted last time. I am very sensitive (am part Vampire, I've been told) to sun -- welts and hives and pus and itching -- bad for someone who likes to paint outdoors.

So am back and grouchy and unfulfilled.
- posted by Cynthia @ 11:54 AM | | | Link |

 
Speaking of Things Falling From the Sky
Kerry Skarbakka is planning to fling himself out of the Museum of Contemporary Art here in Chicago and photograph it all, according to The Reader. All day, this Tuesday, June 14, 11:30 to 5:30. There is nothing at the MCA site that indicates this, however, though perhaps if I waited around for the damn page to load I'd find out something. Big article. I remember him from the Evanston Biennial (2002). He was still in school and seemed shocked at getting so much attention.

And speaking of photography, the excellent Brian Ulrich has a blog, Notifbutwhen #2. He is prowling around with a camera, folks, going to shows, talking about art and everything. Keep going, Brian! Don't stop!

Finally, speaking of Chicago bloggists, where are you, Dan from Iconoduel?
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:29 PM | | | Link |

 
Joe Sola at EAC
Weirdly, the essay accompanying the current exhibit at the Evanston Art Center, "Things Fall From the Sky" (May 29-July 10) doesn't mention Joe Sola's short video, "Studio Visit," on the second floor, at all, so I'm not sure whether it's even part of the official show. Was it added on at the last minute? It's a mystery.

The video is a loop of one or two gallery/curator-types visiting the artist's studio, looking at projected work. They talk art crap for a short time (the audio is maddeningly bad, on purpose I'm certain, only emphasizing a few phrases here and there, like "ever since 9/11", or "Spielberg"). Joe then says something like, "let me just, uh," and walks off camera for a second. We assume he's off to find a book or drawing or something. He then races across the room and plunges head first out a window, leaving the visitors (and first-time viewer) utterly stunned. We (the viewers) see the fall on the other side in cinematic detail, and the awkwardness of the visitors. Are they supposed to be cool? Is it real? And then he does it again.

The scenario is played out 4 or 5 times (I think) with different visitors, enough times for it to settle into the familiar repetition of a bad joke. The description on the handout says it's a 3 minute loop, but I think it's a misprint, or else Joe has figured out how to compress time.

I loved this piece, and you all know I'm not a big video person (though I find I've written about it quite a lot on these pages. hmmmm....)

Still need to get over there and look more closely at the other artists' work. And it's Amy Jean Porter's "Birds of North Africa Speak French and English Both at Once" that I liked so much. I got the names mixed up. Janice Kerbel, however, has created an extraordinarily detailed reality here.
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:36 AM | | | Link |

 
No Horses Today
... but how about a raptor?



Also from Elawa Farm where I painted last week. He was not, I repeat not, fighting with this artist for meat.

Good midday, friends. Warm and humid, but cloudy, so it isn't too bad (she says from her air-conditioned living room). Just returned from first trip to fill up the "new" fridge. And it is a new one. I don't think I've ever been able to keep ice cream in a non-runny state before. And cold ice tea! Wow! And no funny smell!

Have to draw now, or something.
- posted by Cynthia @ 11:56 AM | | | Link |

 
Nancy Drew Goes Exploring
It may look like the old mill where Nancy and Bess and George find an old diary with a secret map leading to an adventure suitable for children (see below). But when this Nancy went exploring she started to understand what CSI is really all about.

A nice old couple used to live in this house until they were more or less forced out by the "developer" who bought it and then tried to buy up all the surrounding property, so that a mega mall or a sulfuric acid factory or maybe a 50 story condo project could be built after they tore everything down (all our nice 100 year old houses).

I know the old folks didn't leave this behind, the first thing I saw on my journey inside:



Or this:



Or even this:



I have more. Some gang stuff, but mostly just bizarre phrases and drawings. Very very creepy.

You can't imagine the stench. Like a pit of death, where the bodies are still moist with putrefaction and urine. I am tempted to call the police and ask them to check things out, though I believe city inspectors do a walk thru before demolition. Whatever had been there is now dead. Very.

And black and lightless. I realized I was exploring by the light of the camera flash. Not good. And alone, with no Bess and George, or even useless Ned.

So came home to post these, lest we start romanticizing (as we started to do in comments) about what an abandoned building looks like.

What really bothers me about this is that all this was happening 15 feet from my house, with a school around the corner, and I was oblivious to it.

I have to wash my shoes now, because they smell like whatever I was walking on. And then I have to take a shower.
- posted by Cynthia @ 7:45 PM | | | Link |

 
Destruction Update
OK, so I decide not to go directly from printing to painting in a park somewhere, so I drive right home.

OK, so I find a big truck parked across my driveway, unloading demolition fencing. One guy is measuring my yard. I make them move the truck and drive into my garage and leap out. The crew chief comes over, scratching his head, pointing at the address.

It seems they thought my house was the one to be demolished.

Good thing I didn't hang around and do another couple of prints.

Back in a bit. More on the show at EAC.
- posted by Cynthia @ 5:17 PM | | | Link |

 
Driven Out
They are gutting and rehabbing the house next to me, and I just got a notice from the demolition company that they will be destroying the little building behind me and putting up 8 condos. Probably 8 ugly condos plus an ugly driveway. Here's the little building with grassy field and hopping bunnies as it looks now:



I will try to document the demolition. With luck the developer won't go toes up in the middle of it all, leaving a huge gaping hole that fills with seepage and rainwater, breeding mosquitoes that carry West Nile, etc., as seems to happen fairly often.

Good morning, friends. Off to print shortly, and will be back later to post more on this, my virtual refrigerator.
- posted by Cynthia @ 8:22 AM | | | Link |

 
You Go, Girlfriend!
Democratic Party Chairman Defends His Remarks About GOP

While even prominent Democrats in recent days have distanced themselves from some of his comments, the outspoken Dean, appearing on NBC"s "Today" show, said criticism of him is meant by Republicans to divert attention from the country's problems and make him the issue instead.

Guess no pretty white bride has been abducted this week or is having sex with her students while her husband is getting it on with hookers who are soon to star in a mini-series.

This is why I can't watch the "news" on TV any more, not even a glance at the Today Show in the morning. I love Howard Dean. I am loving him more and more, and the mealy-mouth, want-to-have-it-both-ways types out sicken me.

On a more pleasant note, I NOW HAVE ICE.

Have been bathing my darling with Mr Clean all morning and she (or perhaps he) is sparkling clean and purring gently, leaving a kitchen floor filled with muck and sticky bits. I am resting now in front of the air conditioner. These things always happen when cleaning up means rivers of sweat running down your face as you slip and fall into a pile of what may have been lettuce 1000 years ago. Let's not talk about it.

I need to do some art.
- posted by Cynthia @ 1:34 PM | | | Link |

 
Of Course I Am a Fool
... to repair a 15 plus year old refrigerator for not much less than the cost of a new one, but the refrigerator is now fixed and draining all over the kitchen floor (must monitor the drain pan carefully), evidence of my slothful ways.

Icy deposits had built up so that the blower gave out which caused the defrost unit to fail, is all. Luckily I keep mostly ice, fish sticks, beer, cheese, and now, with the arrival of the toaster, bread in there. The beer and cheese will keep overnight, and the bread is now, as they say, toast.

After paying for it all I don't have enough left this month to fill it up, however. Here's hoping for a really good sale on yogurt!

So, perhaps this is the perfect time to remind you all that all of my artwork is for sale. And if you order anything thru the Amazon links at the side (I HIGHLY recommend anything by Terry Pratchett -- I am working my way through the full oeuvre), I get a tiny commission. Go on, do it. You know you want it.
- posted by Cynthia @ 4:29 PM | | | Link |

 
20 Minutes To Go
Status: Refrigerator guy not yet here....

Still waiting.
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:39 PM | | | Link |

 
Mid-Wait Report
The refrigerator guy is supposed to be here between 10 and 1pm, so I guess this qualifies as a midterm report.

Status: Not here yet.

Up early tidying the place a bit. A fact: you always clean before a repair person arrives, even if you don't for friends and family. They might gossip to other repair people, you know, and talk about what's in your dead refrigerator and the horror that is your kitchen floor.

Status: Not here yet.

Which means I must point to this announcement by General Motors wherein they announce that they're cutting 25,000 jobs by 2008.

NOT ALL IN 2008! screams the GOP. Let's do a close textual analysis of this announcement (we have time):

WILMINGTON, Del. - General Motors Corp. plans to eliminate 25,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States by 2008 and close plants as part of a strategy to revive North American business at the world's largest automaker, its chairman said on Tuesday.

Speaking to shareholders at GM's 97th annual shareholder meeting in Delaware, Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said the capacity and job cuts should generate annual savings of roughly $2.5 billion [ed. should just about cover Wagoner's compensation package, tho perhaps not his golden parachute should he become one of the fallen]. GM now employs 111,000 hourly workers in the United States.

Interruption: refrigerator guy calls, says he's running late, will be here between 1 pm and 3:00 pm. So we're now about midway thru the second wait period.

Ok. What else do we have to discuss? Article reveals an astonishing fact: "He noted that health-care expenses add $1,500 to the cost of each GM vehicle."

Those damn fleshbots!

Let's say it takes a team of 10 to make a vehicle, so that's $150 each. Let's say they make one a day. (I have no idea how long it takes to make a car). Let's say that's 200 vehicles a year (they have holidays and vacations, after all). So that puts each person's health package at 150 times 200 equals $30,000 per year. Hmmm.... exactly how much do these workers get paid? And what insurance company are they using? Have they ever heard of group rates?

Something strange here....

Will post this now.
- posted by Cynthia @ 11:21 AM | | | Link |

 
Art That Moves: Gallery 60035
60035 is the zip code for Highland Park, Illinois, and also the name of a new gallery (or galleries, if you prefer, as will be made clear in a minute). This is a cooperative venture between a group of artists and the City of Highland Park Downtown Central Business District Property Owners Association. The organization lets the group have prime spaces that are (ahem) temporarily without paying customers to show artwork. The artist group pays utilities, and does whatever decorating they want to do, and that's it. When the space gets rented, they are apparently guaranteed a different space. And so begins their nomadic life.

Currently, they are at 653 Central Avenue (right on the main drag) and 1946 First Street (around the corner, north of Central). The Central Ave. location has smaller works (and also IMHO nicer works, in general), and looks more like a small gallery or fine arts/crafts/jewelry store. The other is (I think) a former too-brightly lit Kinkos with some prefab partitioning breaking up the space.

As a co-op venture of a group of unjuried artists, the work is of mixed interest, though some pieces are stellar. In particular, Julia Katz's large kinda-diptych of a guy relaxing is really good (at the First St. location):



At the Central Ave. location I particularly liked Peta Kaplan's 8 x 10 inch interiors she sells for $195 each.



They have a yummy thick paint surface, highly finished. She is particularly good at capturing the casual, lived-in character of a room (yes, she does commissions).

When I was there on Sunday, Sharon Rosenzweig was on the sidewalk painting little portraits of little people on a big canvas.



She has lithographs (Yes!) at the First Avenue location and smaller landscapes and back-yard scapes in dark and snowy tones at the location on Central.

This is a new venture that people leapt into quickly and joyfully, taking advantage of the situation without, perhaps, a whole bunch of planning. I've been told that by the fall or early next year they'll have a better handle on what's what, a procedure for adding artists and shows, etc. etc.

So I can add two more galleries (ummmm.... better check the website.... maybe more) to the link list at the side. If Line Drive Gallery ever gets a web site, I'll add them to the list too.
- posted by Cynthia @ 1:01 PM | | | Link |

 
Which Democrats?
Democrats Say Dean's Rhetoric Goes Too Far

WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats Joseph Biden and John Edwards are criticizing party chairman Howard Dean, saying his rhetorical attacks on Republicans have gone too far.

Dean has said Republicans never made an honest living in their lives and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay ought to go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence. DeLay has not been accused of any crime.

Oh, brother. Those Democrats. Campaigning to the right already.

Doesn't anyone understand what exaggeration is all about? Hyperbole? Kinda like when the Republicans say Democrats are all traitors and unpatriotic tax and spend types.

As far as I'm concerned, Dean doesn't go far enough. I don't want a lap dog at the DNC helm. I want a scrappy fighter like Dean who says what most of us think.

So just shut the fuck up, guys. If you got a problem, take it up with Dean privately. This is what Rove has been dreaming of. It makes him wet.
- posted by Cynthia @ 3:27 PM | | | Link |

 
Lost Horizon
... lost due to oil glare, that is.



But you get the pastelly idea. Perhaps will shoot it from a different angle and reload. I found it very hard to keep the landscape way down in the plane since it kept trying to creep up and overwhelm. Did another sketch (with a broken down building and hillside) that just looks sad right now, and gray, and ridiculous in the relentless face of 21st century art. Will try to kick it out of circa 1854.

That's about it for now.
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:16 AM | | | Link |

 
Why Bolton Is Wrong for U.N. Part xxx.234 (a, b1, c(2) sub para. 6)
If only it were about unlawful firing! Read the whole thing, and you'll see that the headline writers are oblivious to the rest of the article:


Bolton Said to Orchestrate Unlawful Firing

A former Bolton deputy says the U.S. undersecretary of state felt Jose Bustani "had to go," particularly because the Brazilian was trying to send chemical weapons inspectors to Baghdad. That might have helped defuse the crisis over alleged Iraqi weapons and undermined a U.S. rationale for war.

Bustani, who says he got a "menacing" phone call from Bolton at one point, was removed by a vote of just one-third of member nations at an unusual special session of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), at which the United States cited alleged mismanagement in calling for his ouster.

Good afternoon, friends. I was going to comment on how lovely it was today, but then suddenly a thunderstorm has swept thru. I had been alternately gessoing and surfing, so had to rescue all my panels from the side yard before continuing with this gem.

I know I've been promising you a tree a day, but spreading the Bolton story is more important right now.
- posted by Cynthia @ 1:53 PM | | | Link |

 
I Promised You Horses
So horses you shall have.










Have to do stuff now, but back again. Need to look more closely at the new show at the Evanston Art Center, "Things Fall From the Sky." Raced thru it the other day and thought it really good. In particular, liked the Angelina Gualdoni paintings, and the Janice Kerbel (I think was the artist) bird paintings. Opening is this Sunday 1-5, according to the web site.

UPDATE: Trib has something about plowing day here. A photographer showed up long after the team had gone, and took pix of my friend painting. Not that she's a horse or anything...
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:56 AM | | | Link |

 
Hell Freezes Over in London
Turner Prize shock: painter among nominees

LONDON (AFP) - As per usual, there was a shock among the nominees announced for the Turner Prize, Britain's most prestigious art award -- this time a conventional artist.

The Turner Prize is reknowned for favouring controversial conceptual works, but Gillian Carnegie was first person to make the shortlist in five years who exclusively uses paint.

Hmmmm.... does she eat it, or smear it on her body, or on her surgically implanted third breast?

Apparently not.

Good afternoon, nearly evening, my friends. Out painting with a friend since this morning at one of the forest preserves I hunted down over the past week. If Gillian Carnegie can be shortlisted for the Turner, I have a good shot at the Whitney this time. Yes I do.

Was working on the lowering-of-the-horizon I spoke of earlier, lightening the world into pastel humid milkiness, and learning the vocabulary of this particular landscape.

But I resisted painting the horses and peasants. Say what, you ask?

The volunteers needed to plow a field, so the Wagner Farm (the last farm in Cook County, now preserved in amber as part of the Glenview Park District) offered their team of Belgian draft horses. Word apparently got out, and people came to see the team in action.

Needless to say, I was all over them with my camera. Yes, I was one of those obnoxious horse-girls, though not as irritating as my sister, who used to attach rope to me and try to make me her pony (I was much younger at the time).

Today's trees are still in the car, and the horses too. It is spitting rain. I will post the snaps a bit later.
- posted by Cynthia @ 5:48 PM | | | Link |

 
Evening Fake Trees
Here's the litho I spoke of earlier. All I need is a day-glo sky and a howling coyote and a black light and some righteous weed and it's high school all over again.



Actually, I kinda like it, and hope I didn't screw up the stone too much. Got to talking and didn't keep the stone wet while I was printing so it may have filled in a bit. Put a good etch on it and closed it. With luck will get in to print again this week.

Thinking of doing 2 versions of it, one with the big circle thing in the sky representing the sun, the other the moon, altering only color, and maybe color of paper. If the stone holds up can have some big fun with it (until I get tired of it, of course).
- posted by Cynthia @ 7:21 PM | | | Link |

 
Morning Tree
... or, rather, trees:



More of my notebook wanderings, I'm afraid. Off to print a litho landscape now. No idea what it will come out like since I made it up from my head. All I can remember (from when I drew it yesterday) is that it has a big moon in it (or maybe it was a sun) and I think I put other round objects in the sky. I was insane yesterday, is the only explanation.
- posted by Cynthia @ 9:22 AM | | | Link |