So I washed the dishes, did all the laundry, cleaned the whole house, stretched three canvases, and had a nice personal visit with some great folks in one of my new tribes on tribe.net. They live up near the Colorado border but were down here in Truchas to pick up some fruit trees for their place, so they stopped by to say "Welcome to New Mexico!" There's a nursery just up our road with the finest fruit trees in the entire state. Peaches, cherries, yum! So when hubby returns we'll make a trip up to visit them in their town that was "picked up from someplace in Texas and dropped into New Mexico."--Oh no! Here I go again, making plans without consulting my husband ;-) 

And now, it is most definitely beer-thirty. 

I took the two "in progress" Oakland paintings (the full-size ones, not the sketches) outside today, propped them up backwards against the adobe and soaked the back of the linens with boiling water, then left them in the sun to dry. These linens have sagged and sagged and sagged, and I have re-stretched, and re-stretched, and soaked, and every thing else under the sun to get them to remain taut. After all that they seemed fine but the move here undid all my good work. Puzzling, since humidity is generally the thing that makes them sag and there is certainly very little of that here! They seemed to tighten up pretty well after my efforts today--and if they're still snug by tomorrow then I'll dig in and finish the paintings. If not, well then I'm done with them and they'll join the rolled up "paintings for reference" out in the garage and that'll be the end of the Oakland series. (you might imagine that painting Oakland is not the first thing on my mind just now).

But! I have three brand-new canvases stretched today and I'm rarin' to go! (Technical note: canvas is not nearly as fussy as linen, but linen is so much nicer a surface to paint on....that's why I TRY to put up with all the frustrations. Canvas is also incredibly cheaper. So you probably won't hear too much more ranting about the linen, once the situation with these two is resolved --whichever way the table tips.)

It's sunset time now but nothing is happening. Generally, something interesting, or unusual, or downright spectacular happens almost every evening but tonight is like someone forgot to plug the cord in. It's getting darker with no fanfare whatsoever.

My tasks remaining for this evening (before I put Banditas! back in the DVD player) are to cover over all the paintings displayed on the walls (the gallery) with plastic drop cloths to protect them from the gessoing and painting going on on the floor (the studio).  Architectural distinctions become vague. Functions blur. It's two, two, actually 3 rooms in one. It's also my office. 

Slainte! 

May the road always rise to meet you and may the wind always be at your back.