A good tired
Posted on Jan 31, 2007
It finally looks as if someone is moving. My husband is an
artist as well and we live in a live/work in Dogtown (West Oakland—generally
known as the hood but currently becoming rapidly gentrified. Condos going up
everywhere). We've got about 1300 square feet and it is divided into two areas.
The larger of the two, of course, is the studio.
Out there we've managed to cram: 5 studio easels, 2 drafting
tables, 6 steel shelf units 2 levels high, a flat work table—3' x 7', 2
painting shipping crates (about 20" deep x 5' x 5'. These suckers are
heavy! Takes 2 people to move them. The work bench with belt sander, scroll
saw, circular saws, chain saw, etc. The table saw. Some of my husband's chairs
(see his art chairs at his website: www.leonardopieterse.com).
A slight aside here: Also in the studio is the 1977 Yamaha XS650
motorcycle dear husband is putting back together. He's refurbished every single
little part. It's bright and shiny. I'm kinda hoping I get to ride it when he's
finished—it's a spot smarter than my Suzuki GS500E. He brought home from the
classroom (he just retired from teaching art in public school) a 1975 Norton
Commando 850. But what he really rides is the Harley Sportster. (He really wanted me to fit the
motorcycle stuff in ;-)
Back to the studio: I paint mostly large—40" x 60"
or so and work on 3 to 4 canvases at a time. My husband's preferred canvas size
is 4' x 6'. Plus we've got 2 Ikea
'easy' chairs out there. They are supposed to be for us—to sit back and
contemplate our work and plot out the next move. The cats have taken them over,
Miscevil in the one and Mr. Wizard in the other. So we mostly sit on the
stools.
It's a wonder we can move out there let alone work, but we
manage. All this background so you are able to share our feeling of accomplishment
when I say we now have three-quarters
of the studio packed and ready to go! About another full day (spread over 2 as
we must go out for packing supplies & errands) and we can move on to the
rest of the house.
The rest of the house. A cake walk! Please, please, powers
that be, do not let me regret those words.
3 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
My web site
Posted on Jan 31, 2007
For all you art lovers out there, here's my website:
3 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
MobiTV exhibition
Posted on Jan 31, 2007
This exhibition comes down as originally scheduled! What a relief. Those ten paintings will be on the truck as we roll out.
Leonardo is fairly stressed about all this packing--but the studio is the biggest and most complicated thing to pack. We are well into it--a good choice to begin there. I allowed us three weeks to pack the entire place and it's now looking like we'll be finished much sooner than that. Of course my painting bench will be one of the very last last things to be packed ;-)
1 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
Where the heck?
Posted on Jan 30, 2007
It just occurred to me that my profile says I'm from Truchas, New Mexico. In truth, I/we almost am/are. That is where we are moving TO. I hadn't anticipated such interest in my little recap beyond my homies, but since Trishtown is #56 out of the top 100 hot blogs (!!!)--someone's reading! Here's a little background for my shoutpost compadres.
My husband and I actually live in the San Francisco Bay Area (20+ years) and are packing up to move to Truchas, New Mexico, a one-stop sign town. Oh, yeah, big change. In answer to the most frequently asked question, "Yes, we [think we] know what we are doing." We are well aware we'll have to grocery shop by the week cause we'll have to drive into town (40+ miles away).
That's why I'm blogging the whole thing. Many of our friends think we're totally off the hook (at the same time they're putting their reservations in for a visit!)
So we are headed Back East to move Out West.
0 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
First "official" packing day
Posted on Jan 30, 2007
It started off with breakfast at Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, one of my favorite places--but on the weekends it's terminally hip and you can't get a good seat or service, and you're in a huge line waiting for that substandard experience. Tuesday mornings at Rudy's, however, are glorious. Seat yourself. Get plenty of attention. Finish the newspaper. Saunter out. Life is good.
A trip to goodwill to drop off some stuff. A quick check in at North Face, REI, and Marmot Mountain Works to check out winter coats. I'm sorry, I don't care what is in fashion, I will freeze to death before I will wear a pink or lavender winter coat. Especially one with little birdies embroidered on the sleeve. Came home, went on-line, found a -15 degree F. parka fit for Cross-country skiing (which I will most definitely be doing) in the highly respectable (and sensible for the season) color of black. It's on it's way. The Greenland Jacket from North Face. Reviews give me reason to believe I'll be very happy with it. Plus, it's got an iPod pocket.
Oh, the packing. Yes, we packed. And we are still packing. But you see, now we are on our own schedule. It matters not that we begin at 1pm and finish up around 9. And beer-thirty is any darn time we say it is.
0 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
No New Cancer!
Posted on Jan 29, 2007
In other great news! Leonardo's family has suffered from much cancer. He's lost his Mom, Dad, two sisters to various cancers. Meg, one of our favorites, is a cancer survivor. On our recent visit we had news that she may have had lung cancer. After a surgery it turns out that she, a colon cancer survivor, has only a fungus--not lung cancer! Antibiotics should take care of it! And her older sister had a scare, breast cancer--but it turns out she is OK too!
I began painting the cooling towers---some sort of idea on my part if you address the problem in art, like shamanism sort of...reality will follow your thought. And like Joseph Cornell, who really believed his little boxes affected reality...I do believe sometimes the art I make affects reality. And sometimes it does--I know many persons who I've made art for tell me their lives have changed.
I do believe that we create our own reality. Ah! The Joseph Campbell quote that is painted on a wall in my house:
FOLLOW YOUR BLISS AND DON'T BE AFRAID AND DOORS WILL OPEN. Doors will open where you didn't know they would be.
And you know what? It's true. It's absolutely, completely true.
Trust yourself, Trust your intuition.
And you will do well.
1 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
3-day through LA
Posted on Jan 29, 2007
Just arrived home from our whirlwind 3-day family, business, social, business trip through Southern California.
Got a late start due to "Shorty" (my husband's vehicle) breaking down on his way to the cat-food store the morning of our departure. Had to have it towed home, again. This makes, what, the seventh time this year? We are seriously considering trading Shorty in for a VW Camping Van. Hear that, Shorty? Yeah, you.
Drove in to Sis's drive with Gram's desk just as the cloud broke. We were soaked but after a Turkish towel rub-down the desk was no worse for the wear. Sue and I poured over the Peruvian Highland yarn that had just arrived a day or two earlier and decided to trade in the smoky blue for pumpkin spice--I've consigned her to crochet a few wool afghans with southwest design/colors for Ghost Pony Gallery. After we reviewed her initial choices (she'd substituted one color already) I noticed that her current choices resulted in a red, white, and blue afghan. While I really have nothing against our flag (except for the fact it's plastered everywhere and I think it deserves more respect than that) I just don't think that color combination screams "Southwest!" We agreed Pumpkin Spice was more what we were looking for.
Then on to a bedroom community near LA where close friends of ours have welcomed Baby Jane into their robust and active family. She's adorable. I held her and she didn't even cry. At least not at first. But you must remember, the last time I held a baby I was only 20 and it was my half sister Lorri. She's now 31 with five kids of her own. Scary huh. (You notice I didn't say which part.)
From there we mapquested to our next destination. It completely did not match the verbal directions. I tried Google. Ohmigod, so exact, it filled in tiny details the person living there forgot. So we made our way up to Calabasas, in the Santa Monica Hills to pick up my artwork that has been langushing around two or three LA s for upwards of a year. I say langushing because I've been informed it actually did not receive the exposure I was promised. All's well that ends well I say, and it's safely home and is just the right size for display in GPG.
That said, husband, cats, and I are enjoying a glass of wine (OK, the cats got catnip, we don't allow them to drink) and are putting our feet up this evening in anticipation of the coming week's errands and packing activities.
0 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
I'm not crazy after all...
Posted on Jan 26, 2007
The date the MobiTV exhibition was supposed to come down IS the 9th. They changed it and didn't let anyone know. We'll see how this plays out. People are "checking into things."
In other art news I'll be picking up my work from the Santa Monica gallery this weekend. The pastels are a good size to show in Ghost Pony Gallery--the adobe, as adobes are, is quite small. I have a new appreciation for the quandry of gallery owners in Santa Fe & environs who liked my work but found it too large for their walls. It really is an issue. While I like the smaller work I do it always feels as if I'm really only making a study for a larger, "real" painting.
It's my last day here at work and it's a bit surreal. The parent company recently announced a Chapter 11 and the future of our own company is uncertain. In the latest announcement this morning the parent announced it was "shocked" that we had MLKjr. day as a holiday and that they would not be giving us President's day off after all. Hmmmm, perhaps an auspicious day for an exit. But not before lunch with my collegues and an afternoon, uh, beverage.
0 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
The countdown begins
Posted on Jan 24, 2007
Just two more working days to go. On Saturday we load up Grammie's old desk in the truck and take it down to my sister Sue. When we return sometime Monday we'll be in high gear! Leonardo will take a trailer down with the four motorcycles first, and we're looking to have the truck ready to roll by the 15th or so. By the end of the first week we'll have a clearer picture of our actual timeline.
Alas, there is the sticky little problem of taking down the paintings down from the MobiTV exhibition. Months ago I jotted down the show dates: Nov. 11th through February 9th. Perfect. Somewhere along the line the ending date got changed to the 23rd. ?? Now...if I cannot take them down early that means a trip back up just for them...at three days and two motel rooms each way, not to mention gas, I'm really hoping we can work something out.
0 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
Trishtown's debut
Posted on Jan 24, 2007
I chose Shoutpost for this blog because it sounded like something one would find "back west."
So here it is--this is where you can keep up with the further adventures of Trish and Leonardo as they throw all caution to the wind and embark on a journey to live the artist's life in the wild and wooly west. Bookmark it, visit often, and don't forget that we like to hear from YOU too!
0 Comments |
Link to This | Back to top
Created with ShoutPost
