R. S. Bohn's 'Loom'

Morning reading: R. S. Bohn's 'Loom'. New to her work and blog and enjoying both immensely.

Dispatches

Phil McCray says very kind things about my work. If you don't read Phil's blog, you should. This is a good place to start.

From the notebooks:

Once the edge of the known world
Now a storefront for rent
Faded sign from another time:
Radios Repaired, Dispatches Sent...

What Are The Odds

It's a small thing, really. We're in Borders, in Ithaca, at the newsstand. La Petit Chou thumbing disinterestedly through remarkably samish glossy artsmagazines, me I'm reading up on New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal bands and mentally crossing off those I already know need to work on their chops some. No names mind you, sure I'm a metalhead but no unkind. And then I see this pencil on the floor. It's black and about half-used up, and looks something like the water-soluble Aquarelles I used to like. But when I pick it up, it's a promo pencil from a long-closed Elmira frame shop where La Petit Chou worked fifteen years ago or so. A small thing, but it makes you wonder. How many of these are still around, and why here where we'd find it, etc. Nowhere much to go with all that- Makes you take notice, but of what exactly? Does provide though a fine satisfying opportunity to say, just like Judi Dench at the end of that Vin Diesel movie, Now what are the odds of that.

New to the links list: Ithaca artist Christi Sobel's blog The Tree With The Lights In It. We've admired Christi's work for awhile, and her blog is a good one too.

Pics from the 2009 West End Gallery picnic up on my fb, more on La Petit Chou's.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn
Ink, Graphite, Charcoal; 5 5/16" x 2 5/16"
2004

Looking for unframed work for the show at WEG, I found a few other things I'd forgotten. Time and distance bring new perspective- Not always kind, but usually instructive. And sometimes, there are pleasant surprises, too.

Elsewhere, things are going swimmingly at Lara Pawson's new blog, Museum of Doubt. And yes, that's a Markie, and I'm honored.

New to the links list is G. C. Myers' blog Redtree Times. RT is very Gary: Thoughtful, engaging, encouraging, generous with reflection and insight into his approach to artmaking and the life of a working artist. Good stuff.

Good stuff too at Gloom Cupboard #69: New poems by Justin Hyde, Emily Smith, Alishya Almeida, Mignon Ariel King, and my drawing-and-text Lost Dream.