Blogging on Blogspot

I have tweaked the site a bit. Working this site is a clumsy experience.
The dashboard should be user friendly, but it is not as friendly as lj. The blogger community here is hard to find. Links time out after leading one down many, many links trying to get something accomplished. I am jumping all over the place trying to publish this damn thing. Trying to connect all of the dots. One part of this site wants more personal info. The link doesn't work. Well, technically it starts to work, but pings out flat. Ugh. Channel? Create a channel to track my stuff. Then it's all gobbledy gook. It should just be straight forward pop-up window, after all, google has all of the source material. I will have to come back another day. For now, something is up.

My brilliant idea of the day, as I am trying like mad to get myself out there in the electronic world:

There should be something on the web that is like a business card where one can give all of their personal electronic blab (no, not your ss#, your mother's maiden name) i mean the farflung electronic blips. i don't know about you, but my business card has all kinds of crap that I print out on an as needed basis with a variety of these: my email, my studio address, my cell phone, my photobucket address, my lj account, my home address, my gallery website, my youtube address, my banana's number. I know that homepages and webpages can contain all of these things. The universal search engines do not pick up and link all of these details. Some sort of electronic info card, in a data base somewhere, with the pertinent detail links; would go a long, long, way to help folk connect, find the peeps they want to find.

If I was really brilliant and had the know how I would make a site on the web for just this purpose. Maybe I will make a blog for just such a thing and include a websearch tool.

hmmm...

If you take this idea and get there before me and make a truck load of money with this idea, all I ask is that you at least consider me with a healthy gratuity.

well, maybe i will get there before you.

haskell st

here's another short shot.
the truck's driver's side upper ball jointsbroke yesterday. they were just replaced in september. ugh. david will take care of this on monday.

since i can't get to the studio, i make my art with whatever is at hand.

rainbow over rocky neck

david and i have been collaborating on videos. he composes the music, and in this case, the video. i am the video 'assit' on this one. i should be credited as the expert on this one, and as the expert i say: spell check, spell check, spell check.

i like the music.

egg glue

what i did today.

Today is my birthday and the moon is 19 days old. on the day of my birth, it was a 22 day old moon. 2 + 2 is 4. a cardinal number. the four square. a compass point with true north. east, west, north, south, all in one. a cross road figure. a blues singer with a guitar case supposedly sold his soul to the devil at the crossroad. and once upon a time i read that those with no souls in condition to ascend to heaven were buried nameless at the crossroad. turn the four square forty five degrees and it is the spokes of the wheel, the roman army coming to town, the jackboots trampeling the fields of Poland, the sanskrit wheel of fortune, the wheel of change, a captain's wheel. the captain of this ship needs to decide which way the wind blows, then chart an appropriate course.

Redundant to my journal entry 11/20/2007

i've been going to the studio on a regular, irregular basis, trying to determine when i might be able to work. the studio doesn't feel right. i need to move a lot of stuff and get rid of some more. the work tables are cluttered, these are the first things to clear. some personal items need to come here. what will i do with the sewing machine? it works. in it's console it is heavy. out of the console it is getting gritty. the console is now covered in paint. a decision for another day.

my fingers are itching and the deltoid is aching. the arm needs to stretch. the electricity needs to flow. i need to work. on what? no great ideas.

just start somewhere.

caught an odd glimpse of myself in a crowded mirror. grabbed a canvas, a tube of indian red, a little thinner, a good brush and began. it is an oil drawing in red paint. a bit lyrical. finished it yesterday afternoon. maybe i will just go through my supply of canvas and just use up the tube of red doing these drawings in paint.

kasha asked me about my painting yesterday. my reply: well, i am going to the studio. i have no great ideas, nothing earth shaking to tell the world.

i'm just staying in shape. drawing is a start. one thing will lead to the next. this is the way i usually slip back in to the winter studio work, my most productive time.

a small show for january at the bookstore. will need to strap up the paintings.fred has offered me some wall space for the holidays. will check this out.

today i go to marblehead to pick up the prints of Mait. darryl will stretch them for me.very good. finished on time. larry returns from St. Barth's on the 20th. yes. it will feel like a bonus deposit to my account because i kept forgetting there are funds out there for me. very good.

the art supply will close for good on Saturday. Darryl told me to go in on friday morning and see if there is stuff that i want. then he will sell off everything else. he will continue to stretch canvas for a few of us, cut some mats, strap up our work, from his home. 32 years in business, and no more art supply on the cape. now we will have to go Beverly for our supplies.ChrisLee DarRand was Ben Epstein's paint and color shop when i was a kid. the brushes, inks and colors were magic. the nib boxes all neatly arranged with bright shiny nibs. darryl will give these boxes to me. i rarely do pen and ink, but who knows. maybe the wooden boxes with little compartments and hinged glass covers will be a magic inspiration. a way to honor this journey of a life in art.

other people's shoes "Steve Madden" copyright '07 debbie clarke

A very quick oil study of some shoes worn by somebody else. It's not easy getting the heels to sit on the plane. The tension between the surface and the ground excites me, as well as, the speed of the stroke.

Another blade

my kingdom for a sharp blade.

Ebony Pencil

zen and the art of ebony pencil sharpening.

feetish

these shoes aren't made for walking. these shoes are made for drawing!

Our art retailer is going out of business

The last holdout art retailer on Cape Ann will close its doors at the end of the year. ChrisLee DarRand has been in business for 32 years satisfying all the artist desires for color, brushes, paper, pen, pencil, eraser, canvas, stretchers, glue, gilder's supplies, nibs, solvents, oils, how to, clay, brayers, linoleum wood blocks, markers, gold leaf, silver leaf, aluminum leaf...OH, NO! Where will I go for my gold leaf? 10 miles to Beverly for 15" stretchers, but I only need 2! It's going to cost me more in gas, than the price of the stretchers. What more do I need? nothing. What do I want? everything. What can my checkbook afford? doublecheck. What glittery thing will I find for my nest?