bassline

The Watch


Roundabout

These are a couple of shots I took while walking around the city yesterday. It was my Saturday off and I needed to get out of the apartment. E wanted to do some straightening up around her desk and work areas and I needed to take advantage of having one of my two Saturdays off a month, so I decided to see some art and take some photos.

Despite being the fourth in a line of gray, cloudy days, it was pretty warm, probably in the upper 60s. Of course, I wore one too many layers, thin ones, but a little too much, anyway. Nevertheless, I had a good day. Managed to get a few good photos and saw some art that I liked. That's a post for tomorrow because I'm too tired now to deal with anything else right now.

Skyline Grey

I took this on the way back into center city from an afternoon of looking at art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art with painter friend, Douglas Witmer. It's been cloudy and raining off and on (more "on" than "off") for the past three days or more. Needless to say, I'm over it and it's just the beginning of the real fall weather. I'll take a cold day with sunlight than several with just clouds any day.

Self (10.29.09): sans glasses

I've been in the mood to take more self portraits lately, if you haven't noticed. Hey, I'm my own best model: I can take a shot whenever and I don't have any fees attached for my time. I took this yesterday just after arriving at the studio. The bag in my right hand held one of the most delicious veggie burritos I've ever had. I devoured it right after taking this and a few other shots that didn't make the cut. They were the ones where I had my glasses on. The reflections bouncing off of the lenses were impossible to deal with, so off they went. 

 

The Workspace project, by Joseph O. Holmes, is an “ongoing attempt to examine the quasi-private spaces people carve out of their public work lives.”

This is a really great project to check out. It has always been interesting to me to see the semi-public displays of workspaces in places like restaurants, repair shops and other venues.

The Anthropologie store at 18th and Walnut Streets here in Philly has this great, bright orange art installation that flows around the lower part of the building and seemingly into its facade. It really brings a nice punch of color and movement to a usually restrained corner in center city. If this were my piece, I would have titled it, Orange Flow, or something like that. I might still use that title for one of my own works one of these days...

Long Shadows: bike


Long Shadows: Broad and Chestnut Sts.

I had to wait for the plumber to get here this morning. That was fine since I didn't have to be anywhere in a hurry. I didn't want to go out anyway with the continuous rain going on for most of the day. The plumber showed up this afternoon to fix our toilet which would make a horrendous noise when near the end of the tank filling up. It would make this loud rumbling noise that reverberated through the building. It typically sounded like someone was using a jackhammer on the walls. It turns out that the ball and valve mechanism in the tank needed to be replaced.

( where are the...keys? )

The spring rains are the presents that keep on giving and giving and giving. It has been almost a full week of non-stop rain and cold temperatures, but that's the nature April, a month that's big on living up to it's nature, at least according to the old saying, "April showers.... Before those May flowers come the blossoming of trees all over the place. We're fortunate enough to have some Cherry Blossoms (sakura, in Japanese) in Fairmount Park.

Last Friday, I was supposed to work on my piece in the gallery, but chose not to go in because there was too much going on then. A lot of artwork was being moved out of the gallery and there was just chaos, so Bridgette asked if I would consider not going in that afternoon to avoid the craziness. I didn't think twice about it and told her that it was no problem. I needed a day away from it anyway. I'd reached that, "What the f%&k am I doing?" stage where I'm not sure how to proceed forward. This happens at some point with a lot of my projects. I needed the break and took it.

I took advantage of the fairly mild, if cloudy, weather and rode out to Kelly Drive to take some photos of the Cherry Blossoms along the Schuylkill River. Here are some of the results:

In Bloom

In Bloom (grove)


In Bloom (bridge)

( +4 )

2.12.09 7:11am


2.12.09 7:15am

Been up since sometime after 6am. Couldn't sleep well at all last night. Now I'm sufficiently tired, but need to get some things done, like getting some new cat litter and heading up to the studio to work. I need to take a few paintings to be photographed and after that its back to the studio to continue painting. I'm settling into a good continual working pattern now. I have just over a month to have all of the works completed.

I've begun to take second a look at finished pieces to see if they need more done to them. I worked on two yesterday that needed a little tweaking. It's important to me at this point that I make sure the paintings and works on paper are as strong as they can be before I let them out into the world. One thing I don't do is obsess over 'perfection'; my way of painting is pretty intuitive to begin with and I try to not mess with the fresh feeling of a piece once I get it where I want it...or where it wants to be.

The next week should be interesting because I'm using up vacation time before I lose it. I could have just kept working and gotten paid for the time, but I feel that I need the time in the studio right now more than anything. Not that I can't use the money, but this is the better choice for me.

A small sampling of what I saw yesterday while walking to work:


Snow Fairy
The coolest snow fairy you never made. Seen on Carpenter Street near 8th Street.


Snow fairy closeup. Note the colorful mixed media approach to defining the features.


Winter Path
We finally got a real snowfall for the first time this winter.


Crossing Washington
9th and Washington Avenue, nexus of the Italian Market-Philadelphia

(all photos ©tim mcfarlane)

I hope everyone has had a great holiday or day off. Mine was very good with late-morning sleeping, exchanging presents with E, cooking and later, tons of laughter and good food with friends. Now, we're off to Ikea to use the gift card my boss was so good to give as a present. There are a couple of cabinets that we want to buy to store our dishes and dry foods in. We also have to get Sydney and Banjo scratching posts so they stop trying to use the chairs and tables.

I have a bunch of photos from the past couple of weeks to share of our cats (yes, again...) and of a family of tabbies that we've been feeding from our second floor kitchen window (we don't have access to the back yard). I'll post some shots once we're back.

I've kept studio journals/sketchbooks for a long time. I don't always write things in the same one; this one I keep in the studio and jot down thoughts about what I'm working on and how I'm feeling about where the work is at the time. There are others that are more like repositories of quick sketches for paintings or drawings I might want to pursue, along with materials lists, quick reminders about what needs to be done and when, etc...

( writing and doing )

There's something sad and surreal about old (and some forgotten) cemeteries surrounded by the parking lots of big box stores.

(originally posted on C-Monster.net)

339/366: just about there

Goofing around with an old Stanley Handyman ruler that belonged to my father. It unfolds semi accordian-style and reaches a length of 72 inches. I can't take full credit for this idea. E was sitting nearby watching me play around with it. I'd done a few others and was stuck when she came over, grabbed the ruler out of my hand and plopped it on my head, like so.

No. 96

( she tried, but I beat her to the punch )

335/366: amid the red

The home improvement tasks went off without a hitch yesterday. Hanging out with the new curtains we hung over the open closet in our bedroom. There were old, crappy wooden sliding doors on the closet when we moved in. One of them wasn't even on the track, so we took them down and came up with putting up the curtains instead. We even got a couple of things done that weren't originally on the list. It feels good to get back on track with making this place more of 'ours'.


Oh, and here's some Fishbone for ya from a concert in 1993. The song is 'Swim'.

333//366 (alternate): high keyed

Yesterday was a busy one. I had to get up to the studio, pick up three new paintings and deliver them to the gallery for the upcoming Winter Group Show. While there, I also talked with Bridgette about what I'm planning for my upcoming solo show taking place next April. I'm excited about it because its going to be a different show than what I've done in the past. There will be new paintings and works on paper, along with a different component that will add another layer to my work that I haven't explored before. I'm not saying anything about that last part because details are being worked out and its going to be a surprise.

( home stuff )

333/366: Goya Maria!

Goya Maria biscuits are a big favorite snack of mine. I didn't eat them until E bought some one day and I've been hooked ever since.