In my studio

The next two weeks are among the busiest of the year. With this time comes Thanksgiving...which is a good thing because it causes me to reflect on all the positive things in my life amid the total reckless bursts of energy required to endure.



My friend Ellen Yaghjian took this photo of me, sitting in my studio wrapping rusted nails with variegated yarns. It was last Friday night. I was dressed for an art party at Wim Roef's if ART Gallery. It was his first business anniversary. I spent hours reflecting on my own business experiences...which stretches back to 1982. Since then, I've only spent three month drawing a pay check from a business I didn't own. Except for three and a half years (Jan. 1986 through July 1990), my work/businesses have been the sole income for our family.

Later in the evening I went to celebrate Wim's first year selling art...not mine...he doesn't take me or my artwork seriously. Part of the evening was totally surreal. Perhaps that is why Ellen insisted upon taking this photo. She said the image was "perfectly me". I'm not sure yet what she meant...but I wanted to post it...remember it...think about it. Plus, I rather do like the odd assortment ideas captured...me dressed up working in a messy environment of my own making.

Going to the Ballet on the Moped

Alex as Jeffrey Day

Every year Alex looks forward to Columbia City Ballet's Halloween production. Most year's this is Dracula: Ballet with a Bite. Dracula is a special ballet in our household. It is the show that really inspired Mathias to dance. This is not a fact he is thrilled about...but it's true. In fact, his very first ballet lesson was a private class with Count Dracula himself. At the time, Artistic Director William Starrett was dancing this part.

Alex and I don't generally look forward to the dancing, however. In truth, there's not that much "classical" ballet in this show. There's lots of Gothic touches, very little costuming, stroup lights and smoke effects, fake blood spurring across the stage, and an energtic, sexy 80s club inspired score by Thomas Semanski who unfortunately died earlier this year. Actually, there was better actual DANCING in Dracula than in last week's Columbia Classical Ballet's Snow White (which I might write about later).



Alex and I go to enjoy the campy fun and for Alex to enter the annual Halloween costume contest. Last year he went as MySpace. (Image and entry are found by clicking here.)
He won second place, tickets to Nutcracker. This year, Alex outdid himself. He went as our local art critic, Jeffrey Day.



Jeffrey isn't exactly the most popular person in our small arts community. He has a reputation for being overly negative. He doesn't review ballet though. The judges, however, have strong theater ties. Jeffrey does review theater. Larry Hembree, Robin Gottlieb and Dewey Scott-Wiley awarded him another second place...and they didn't even kick him! This time, the prize was a season membership...now, Steve has to attend the future productions with us! (He stayed at home watching Ohio State beat up on Penn State....rah! rah! rah!)

I went to the ballet on the back of Alex's moped...door to door service...waving Jeffrey's face at all the passing traffic (video is in the post above).

To conclude this entry: JEFFREY....YOU KNOW ALEX AND I REALLY LOVE YOU!

Cheap White Wine

As promised, here's a photo of the nice dinner Steve made to go with the bottle of "Cheap White Wine" brought home from the west coast. We eat dinner on the living room coffee table on nights when Dancing With the Stars is broadcast. Steve is addicted. I tease him about the entire show being "rigged".

By the way, Steve is thrilled with the comments he's received!

Steve's beach video

This is one of Steve's three video clips from Ruby Beach on the Olympic peninsula. Please note, he trips over his own feet during the filming which gives an excellent view of the gorgeous stones on the beach...only one of which he brought home to me!

Steve's trip to the Washington and Oregon coastline

(Above: One of a few "artsy" photos taken by Steve!)

This post is being written in order to share Steve's western trip. He's really very supportive of all my blogging activities and now wants his time in the limelight! I told him to take as many photos as humanly possible....in order to get at least a few half decent ones. He took over 200. Here's what is left after laughing hilariously, deleting most, and using dozens of PhotoShop filters.



Last spring Steve won the "big prize" at the CMFA (Columbia Music Festival Association) annual fundraiser, Pub Night. It's a round trip airline ticket to anywhere in the continental United States! He was thrilled. We had all sorts of plans for the ticket; but, in the end, Steve decided to simply go as far as he could...Seattle, Washington. He left last Thursday morning and returned on Monday. He had a blast. He went to Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge on the Olympic peninsula. He also went to Cape Disappointment; the Hoh Rainforest; Fort Canby; Seaside, Oregon; saw Oregon Ballet Theater on Saturday night, and went into downtown Seattle on Sunday. In Seattle he went to the public markets and to the art museum.

Steve brought back a single bottle of white wine...in his suitcase due to the strict airline regulations that forbid more than 3 oz. of liquids in carry-on baggage. It was called "Cheap White Wine". We drank it last night. Soon, I'll post a picture of that too. He brought back a bottle of local beer too...he drank that for lunch yesterday. He also brought back some gourmet chocolates. We are still enjoying these.

After all our travels, we are now trying to get some SERIOUS WORK done...alas, we are not independently wealthy...just love to travel.


(Above: Another "artsy" photo!)






(Above: Early Dale Chihully artglass)


(Above: Steve knew to put something in this photo in order to establish scale. Most people place a quarter. I like the reading glasses even better!)


(Above: Rocks! All I asked for from the Pacific Ocean was some rocks. With such a vast assortment, Steve brought back only one...about the size of a quarter. He said there were signs, however, thanking people for leaving the rocks on the beach.)






(Above: Steve said he took this photo because other people were taking pictures of it! No wonder; it looks great!)












(Above: Another "artsy" photograph...I'm actually quite proud of how many GOOD pictures Steve did take!)

Ballet reviews!

I posted my impressions of both "Strictly Dancing" and Edward II on my other blog. So, I won't write about this again.

Click here for "Strictly Dancing".

Click here for Edward II. Please note, this is the only ballet I've ever heard of carrying warnings due to its "mature subject matter". Some have called it an X-rated ballet...Mathias was cast as the "X". It was wonderful!