Art Attack Continues - dig the work!

Butterfly taken at the Academy of Sciences.

 The next three are digitally manipulated acrylic paintings on canvas.

The Fruits of Summer, ehrm, ok the Fish of Summer!

My work on Red Bubble

Hit the VIEW NOW button to go to Red Bubble!

Third Essay: Release the Orange!

 Using the ideas of the New York School like anti-narrative and alt-narrative, juxtaposition, simple present tense and continuous present (I drop in, I go, the days go / Goldberg is starting a painting, I am thinking of a color), and parataxis (the only conjunctive word used is “and”, it shows up four times in the second stanza and only once in the last one) the poet Frank O’Hara explains why he isn’t a painter.

 “Why I Am Not a Painter” is an anti-narrative poem, it is uncompromisingly narrative and tells a story about a poet and a painter who come together at about the same time as each of them are in the middle of their creative progression. Although the poem looks like a spontaneous narrative of two creative processes happening simultaneously, it is actually calculated because the creation of Sardines and Oranges didn’t happen at the same time: Oranges: 12 Pastorals was written in 1949 ⁽¹⁾ when O’Hara was still an undergraduate at Harvard and SARDINES was painted in 1955. ⁽²⁾ So it is safe to state that O’Hara did not actually visit Goldberg while he was in the middle of creating SARDINES. It is interesting to point out that this poem or anecdote is a retelling of another anecdote depicting that the medium is one of the differences between the painter and the poet. A century ago in Paris, the painter Degas had lamented that his poems weren't any good though his ideas were wonderful, and the poet Mallarme responded, "But my dear Degas, poems are made of words, not ideas." ⁽³⁾

There are also hints of “alt-narrative”, as described by Professor Al Filreis, as Frank O”Hara utilizes the I do this and I do that (I drink; we drink), and although juxtaposition does exist by the author placing the creative process of painting and poetry close together there is a clear connection, which is the creative process itself.

Meta poem is evident here because O’hara states “Pretty soon it is a whole page of words, not lines…” he is describing the use of parataxis in his composition of ORANGES, he has written a whole page of words that one can assume the placing together of sentences, clauses, or phrases without the use of conjunctive words.

The poem says O’Hara is a poet and not a painter because he finds the medium of painting a bit limiting. Both the painting and the poem begin with different words as inspiration. Goldberg ultimately removes the word SARDINES as the main focal point of his painting because it was “too much” and fills his canvas with abstract images in yellows, oranges, blues, browns, reds and black. O’Hara states that he wrote a line about orange after he thought of the color, but that line then morphed into a whole page of words, then into another. Unlike Goldberg, O’Hara doesn’t feel like his multiple pages filled with words are “too much” so he keeps writing and is ultimately left with ORANGES: 12 PASTORALS; which is written in prose and O’Hara playfully exclaims, “I am a real poet”.

O’Hara enjoys playing with language and is happy to take what could have been a simple poem about the color orange to the length of a dozen poems; he points out to the reader in the final stanza that though the poem is indeed called oranges he makes no mention of the word. Goldberg kept the word SARDINES in his finished work, kept it within the four sides of the canvas, whereas O’Hara finds no restriction in the writing of words, of pages, of a dozen poems; they could go on and become volumes because, like Mallarme pointed out, poems are made up of words.

(1)  The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara, University of California Press, Donald Allen, ed. ISBN-10: 0520201663. 586 pages.

(2)  Smithsonian American Art Museum, http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=40531

(3)  David Lehman, http://www.bestamericanpoetry.com/pages/lehman.html

I Wait for the Day

The Gothic Crow lands in October and I expect the bay to shimmer in the sun and the bridges to hold hands with the lands they intersect.
I thank the authors of this auspicious circumstance
I thank the dimpled Fae that made this materialize
Covered in magic, I wait for the day

She Brought Them to Her

Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine surrounded her with words

The Flowers of Evil, Drunken Mornings and Sentences, Puppets and the Sea Shells

Slim shadow was shepherd in all the while keeping a steady beat as the pages of plays yet unwritten sparked in the universal brain

Dali flew in on the wings of a crow named Raymond, hand on head 30 second baptism

Janis dangled from a pearl earring, a sorrowful treasure, a lonely gypsy kissed by boas


Jim with all of his friends that died, forever immortalized as Providence keeps vigil

Robert, the boy who loved Michelangelo, snaps his fingers and a masterpiece is made. Blink an eye and the artistic world turns over


She brought them to her, her pull inevitable, unmistakable...spark!


Paths crossed planned by a higher hand, working magic with the chess pieces below the clouds


That hand now plans my meeting and I will ride the trade winds that will bring me closer to my homecoming with the Gothic crow

Invisalign me!

See the butterfly teeth? They may be a thing of the past!

 Back from the consult with Dr. Young, here are the bullet points as I remember them:

• Can go straight to Invisalign
• 20 months is the target time
• No extractions, if things progress nicely. if they don't there may need to be extractions in the future. Let's hope that doesn't happen and that things progress nicely
• My flared teeth can be slimmed down
• I'll need some shaping/shaving for the gum gaps
• I need a new set of x-rays which can be done in LHts
• I need to get Cadent Scan a C Dental. Need to figure out which office is better for this, transportation wise and based on Yelp reviews
• I will call Yvette to schedule these for me
• Dr. Young's office will finance at 0% - hell yes
• With 2k down payment I can pay about $158 a month for 20 months
• My teeth are a size 12 vs a size 10 jaw
• My jaw will continue to shrink
• The procedure route will push my teeth to the side making room for my front teeth to come back into line, same with the lower
• Clear braces and Invisalign are the same price
• I was told I had pretty teeth by one of the tech girls, hell I 'll take it!

Taking the plunge

 Consultation is set up for Wednesday and like I told TH, the biggest hangup is the cash. Well, ni modo, if I want this to happen I have to pay. I'm hoping I only have to get my front teeth fixed I don't care about the bottom teeth at all, I know that will probably make the dentista enojado or molesto but it's my mouth, my money and my decision. I also want the Damon system, I also don't want to be in braces for more than 2.5 years, I also don't care about my overbite, so if the good Doc can work will all of this and not give me any pinche attitude I may be happy. Ay, so conditional, right? I know!
The event(s) that pushed me into the pool were the realization that people don't want to take new risks even if it's good for them. I recommended the SS books to 2 co-workers. They both bought the books with the intention of following my lead and achieving some terrific weight loss, but I feel that they haven't gone beyond that and they probably won't. One of them has the book in her car, unopened. The other claims to have read it but she is also doing w watchers and I'm not sure she'll be able to commit to one or the other, this is a case of biting off too much and I predict (with the hopes of being wrong) that she will tire of the 3 techniques she is taking on: SS, WW and working out. The working out needs to be for life, I truly hope she understands that and if she decides to follow ww, may she learn the strategies she needs for life. Let me fill you in on a secret: SS is easier and teaches you the tricks of nutrition por vida!
Seeing them flounder with the idea of beginning a weight loss program made me take a look at my own floundering with the idea of braces. So, I decided that the time was now and booked the consultation. If all of my questions are answered and I feel that the doc fully understands what I want, then I will proceed. It's good to know I have other options like:  http://www.imageorthodontics.com/, 3412 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94118, Phone: 415-752-0654 and http://bellasmile.com/mainDF.html I'm writing these down here so I don't forget. These 2 do indeed use the Damon System and image ortho has terrific reviews on Yelp (so does Lee and Young), I need to read up on bellasmile. So that's it, it took some nudging to take the first step and I'm happy I did it.
Grateful for: My bravery in this endeavor. Having lunch with Serene. Having socks and sneakers at work. Having the sun out and shining. Having time to balance my check book. Receiving a thank you email from Aussie Alisha. Almost done with art class.

Changes are Coming!

Yeah, screw it I'm getting braces. No more cringing at my photos, no more trying to pose in the best possible way so that my teeth don't look too jacked up. It'll be spendy but I deserve it, I hope I can have them without any tooth extractions or more oral surgery. NO MORE SURGERY!! I've a consultation with Dr. Glen Young for next Wednesday (the 23) to see what we can do with these pearly whites! Wish me luck!

Lunch, swim outlet, sleeepy...

Salad bought at The View, not bad at all

Didn't go to lunch with Serene today, it rained and I'm a bit paranoid about what I put in my mouth since there really hasn't been any working out after last Monday. So it was a salad purchased at The View and the reading accompaniment was courtesy of the mini library that has sprouted here at work, Ask the Dust by John Fante. A story of a tortured, self-absorbed, self-loathing writer living in a run down apartment building in Los Angeles circa 1933. I was surprised to learn that a movie was made from this book with Salma Hayek as Camilla and Colin Farrell as Arturo Bandini (!) and Irishman playing an Italian American? Weird. I wonder if Colin pulls it off. Meh, I really don't have any interest in renting the movie. The book was a fast read, finished it in less than 24 hours but full of distasteful, suspicious, mean and dysfunctional characters, ick! I feel like I need to read a Wayne Dyer book just about now, you know, to balance things out!

C'mon order, get here tomorrow! Please!

Waiting for a package from SwimOutlet, I shouldn't have waited this long I know, if I don't get the items by tomorrow I'll be a sad little spud. Wah. I will get over it though, and it's no big deal, just need to keep somersizing and plan another trip where swimwear is involved.

The current color on my toe nails

Still recovering from the wine with D and S? Not sure but boy am I tired and sleepy. I need to go home and re-do the roots for the trip. It has to be tonight or tomorrow, I'm shooting for tonight. Oh, and I did get my pedicure, the color is one I had used before, ready? Live from New York, it's OPI clever these cosmetics namers, eh?

Lunch today, lunch tomorrow, pedicures and...

Delicioso!

Oh! Ate my salad before I took a picture of it, well it was basically the same one you saw in the prior blog post. What? You didn't commit that to memory? How dare you? Since I'm such a cool kid I'll describe it for you: arugula, mixed greens, spinach, red onion, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and balsamic vinegar. It was good but the last bites were mainly arugula and balsamic so a bit on the tangy, pucker up side of things. Earlier I had my usual breakfast consisting of toast and tea, then a snack around 10 or 10:30, today I snacked on red grapes that I THOUGHT were seedless only they weren't - ack! It's crazy to think taking seeds out of your mouth is a huge effort but we get used to all modern conveniences, don't we? In this case SEEDLESS grapes! Health benefits from red grapes: Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can support your body in fighting off infections and illnesses. It is also beneficial in maintaining healthy skin and promoting skin cell turnover. Calcium increases bone density and helps to keep bones and joints strong. Vitamin A increases collagen in the body and increases red blood cell production. Vitamin A also contains beta carotene, which promotes healthy eyes and night vision. Fiber leads to a healthy digestive tract and increases volume in bowel movements. Resveratrol has been associated with a reduced risk for certain cancers and heart disease.

I'm eating lunch with the lovely Serene tomorrow, my only request is to go somewhere where they serve salads, I'm all about the salads, they're all about me! I think I'll go send her an email right now about this. Ok, email sent.

These are not my feet, but I do like the color they used

Pedicure. Must have one before Saturday morning because by that point if the pedi hasn't happened it won't sooo the question is do I go before lunch today - my official lunch, the one where I actually leave the building as opposed to the one where I just eat food at my desk - or do I go after work? I think it may depend on whether my prescription is ready for pick up. So the Rx will be ready at 1:30 which means pedi after work, this actually works out well, saves gas (since the salon is on the way home) and I don't have to rush home to cook because the crock pot took care of that last night!! Sure smelled good this morning, yummmmm!

We may indeed take a check in bag to Oahu, I mean we still haven't packed the electronics, cables, charges, flat iron, Swiss army knives, etc. So either we will or R will talk me down from the cliff's edge and the $25 check in bag fee!

The Final Week Before Oahu, First Linocut and Tom Waits

I'll try to post pictures in order of the blog post title but I have a hell of a time figuring out how the photos fall into blogger, ack, especially with this "new look". So last one is first and vice-versa. Right, ok so counting the days until we head off to Oahu, there's 6 you know, counting today and counting Saturday May 5th when we venture to AT&T Park so see our Gigantes beat the Brewers. Trying not to sabotage all my hard work at the gym and in the kitchen with unhealthy eats. So far so good, but that means only 1 beer (if that) at the ballpark.

Homemade salad for lunch accompanied by Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book. Enjoying it all very much, especially the sunflower seeds and bell peppers, NOM! I have to truly watch what I eat this week as working out will be compromised for 3 days. I go to lunch with Serene on Thursday so the thing I have to secure is that there will be salads on the menu.

This is a shot of my first linocut, it is FAAAR from perfect as I'm having a devil of a time getting the white lines clean and crisp; just not a carver, you know? There is a different version at the studio that I will post if it's still there when I get back from vacation, which I'm sure it will be. I have the monoprint I did and I LOVE it, not so much anyone else but I really don't care. It pleases me to no end and I will more likely than not, frame it!

Charli and I had a texting marathon last night regarding Tom Waits. Turns out Tom's wife, Kathleen, is Charli's client and so their phone number and home address are known to her. KC has already put in a very urgent request to Charli about jamming with Tom. I hope we're invited!!

There is an issue with the paper in the suite and I tell you it never ends. People state that they buy their own paper and thus refuse or are very hesitant to contribute paper for “community use.” So today I had to sort of put my foot down and send one person back to their PI for paper. It can’t swing both ways for these people, they can’t buy their own paper and then turn around and use the pool paper. It’s ridiculous that I have to monitor paper usage but until the chief puts his foot down and let’s everyone know that buying paper for specific projects is over and done with, I’ll have to be the paper natzi. I tell ya, it is so annoying. I don’t think the chief is going to do anything soon he’s sick and being pulled in a dozen different directions, ever since I read about the diagnosis it’s been a bit freaky. Freaky too with J’s diagnosis, which I never read and never asked C about it, wonder when that’s going to hit the proverbial fan. Oh, please let us get funded so everyone can exhale and just relax a bit.

Ain't posted nothin'

...and it's fine. It's not about lack of time this time, I think it's closer to an evasive motivation. At any rate it really doesn't matter because I always go back to Marty's lyric of "time is imaginary". That's my cop out. Deal.
Here's another gorgeous picture of one of the most gorgeous places on earth, a place that I ask the universe to grant to me and R as our retirement home. I'm asking, universe, can you hear me?
Starting to do the Spanish thing at Kilbey's site again, not sure how long that will last. We've passed the midpoint in art class, I've done intaglio etching, aquatint, chine collier, roll up, learned about soft and hard ground, different papers, etc...next on the block is linocut, we're not using wood, which is a good thing, rather a softer material which name escapes me. The technique is very similar to making a rubber stamp; I've the image already copied onto the plate and I bought the linocut set yesterday for $14, Detwiler says it's worth it, we'll see. The class has been fun, but intaglio etching is just not my cuppa art and although I've had a great time and learned more than I've wanted to know about this technique at the end of term I will say good-bye to the world of etching plates, mono inks and massive print making presses. I've given away two of my sweepia prints and plan to make more.

Sweepia, 2012

ALOHA!!!!!!

Made it to the Big Island this year, seriously, what is not to love? Stories of the adventure will make their way onto this page in the next couple of days, but right now, thanks to some funky food Serene and I had for lunch I must dash to the loo. Oooh!

Common Cold Conclusion

I fell, fell into the gooey vat of too much snot armed only with an almost never ending supply of tissues (now with aloe!), sugar free throat drops, maximum strength, fast-max dextromethrophan HBr - cough suppressant and packets of that fizzy medicine potion that would surely give Professor Snape a case of cauldron envy. My body is under severe medication and thinking about the next round of dosing makes my innards churn and protest. So much so, that I dare not feed it anything too solid, a piece of bread here, a strawberry and raspberry smoothie there, maybe some of that decadent ginger cake the husband made. Mmmmm...cake...yeah, still say that. The first symptoms manifested as feelings of dizziness and chills, it was around 3am so I didn't get out of bed to counter attack, I know, total blow it! I went to work and made it through the entire day not feeling too badly and consumed about 4 packets of wondrous Emergen-C. Unfortunatley, the virus, bug, common cold, evil green slimy microbe had already taken hold and 10 pm called for something stronger than pumped up kool-aid, so I popped some nighttime nyquil and went to bed. Next day I felt as if I had the mumps or fought a pretty decent round in my sleep! My jaw was sore and my head felt full of everything except what it's supposed to be filled with (wildly creative ideas, the solution to global warming, the soft kitty song), the chills weren't letting go and my body thought that sweating simultaneously would make me feel really pretty so it went with that. Boy, work was going to be fun! I lasted 5 hours, after that I carefully drove home, took a shower, put on my PJs and got into bed. The next 4 days were spent either asleep under many blankets or wrapped up in my snuggie on the couch. The moments of consciousness were filled with alternating between the cough syrup and the hot fizzy flu potion both which were only used to facilitate sleep as I've concluded this time (and many times before) that the ONLY cure for the common cold is sleep. Get it however you can and as often as you can, otherwise you're doomed to stay in that gooey vat of too much snot much longer than you and your poor body has to. Bottom line: call in sick and get some sleep!

Head in a fog

Yes, quite literally! Yesterday the fog bank did a nose dive into my neighborhood and this is the P.O.V from my steering wheel. It cleared up once I passed Presidio so that was fine. I didn't want to have to drive to work next people who would probably be losing their minds over the nearly zero visibility. Today? Sunny, baby, sunny.

Whole lot of Crazy Going on!

Got an email out of the blue from someone who is absolutely bonkers. I had put some distance between us about a month ago because everything was pointing towards a friendship that was very toxic and unfulfilling. The red flags went up so I stepped back. Let me say this, however, I did offer to help this person move into a new place but was ignored, so at that point I assumed we had said our last good-byes without really saying anything and I was o.k. with that. I knew I was going to have to remove myself from this friendship and better it go quietly into the ether than have a dragged out, finger pointing, name calling confrontation...or so I thought. Today, after about 30 days of silence, the crazy came crashing down in an email and wow, did it solidify my decision to step back. Step back? I'm locking the doors and shutting the curtains, lights are out and nobody is home!
Background to the present, abridged because otherwise we'd be here for days!
Ok - Ahi te va en inglés: I have known this woman for a very long time but we were never close until this year. She was having problems at home (with her boyfriend of 17 years) so I tried to help her. At the same time she was flirting with a guy from Los Angeles (E) that she met on Facebook and she told me she wanted to sleep with him. She is 38 years old and she began acting like a crazy 16 year old! One day she would tell me that she spent all day, in bed, crying over E (whom she had NEVER met in person or spoken to) and that she felt like she was losing her mind. The next day she would tell me that she was only kidding and that I shouldn't take it too seriously!! WHAT?? When one of my friends is hurting I try to help, I try to give them good advice, I fight for them. When she would tell me that E would insult her and put her down I would respond with "unfriend him", "you don't need a man that puts you down, you need a man that flatters you and is kind to you". Pero NO, aparentemente le encanta ser abusada! En fin, I got tired of trying to make her see how toxic E is so I told her NOT to talk to me about him anymore. Bueno. She was in the middle of moving from her house that she had bought with her ex-boyfriend (D) to an apartment and I told her to let me know if she needed help moving, she never answered me. A few days later I asked her when I could come and see her new place and she said that she hadn't moved in yet. Nothing followed for weeks and weeks. Then yesterday I get her crazy email that said: "You really think this was all worth never speaking with a friend again? Seriously? I never did anything wrong to you, don't even answer this because you walked out on me when I most needed a friend."
Claro que le contesté, pero su recoleccion sobre los hechos esta muy equivocada. There were about 5 emails that went back and forth, finally she said that she was having sex with E now and that was what she needed, that he is the best therapy for her! LOCA!! I just answered with "Whatever makes you happy." I thought that was the end of it but she sent me another accusatory text last night and there are 2 emails in my yahoo account that I haven't opened. I think she really has some mental issues, I know she's not eating well, she doesn't have a job, she's super paranoid…so she has all this time to focus on this and disrupt my life. He tomado precauciones en contra suya, ya he consultado con mis brujitas y tenemos un plan. I just want her to leave me alone!

Space Flowers at Trader Joe's

Apparently a seedling found it's way from the farthest reaches of the universe and took root on Masonic Avenue. Beautiful spacy looking flower, enjoy!

Bloomin' Haight

During one of the breaks from the San Francisco Ghost Hunter Society's lecture, I took a walk up to Haight Street, and on the way to a very cool store called Reincarnation I ran into a beautiful container garden on the sidewalk. This is a shot of one of the vibrant flowers adorning the neighborhood. Flower Power indeed!