8:30 pm: MUST WATCH:
8:43 am: last night we were invited to dinner at the home of a crestone couple who have been good friends for years. also invited were another couple, also friends for years, who are photographers and book publishers. they live in crestone half the year and in a remote location on a glacial lake in patagonia the other half.
the food, as laways at our friends bill & judy's home, was excellent. the main course, was alaskan salmon, cooked to perfection on bill's outdoor grill; crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked to medium rare. after dinner, bill broke out 5 or 6 of his favorite liqueurs and 2 bottles of single malt. normally, i don't drink alcohol except for my 1 beer with dinner every night. so i don't know what possessed me to drink 3 shot glasses of liqueur and one of single malt scotch. i woke up this morning feeling pretty out of it. since parade 50 is at a very sensitive point in it's development, i decided to skip painting today and put my attention on getting ahead of the game with my proofing of the actionlab curriculum.
i've been thinking more and more about reflections and how attracted i am to them. as i said yesterday, they might actually play a key role in the next round of abstract paintings i make, after my november show of parade paintings in houston.
i'm revisiting vermeer; arguably the greatest master who painted reflections. i think i'm correct in assuming that what excited him about painting reflections is similar to what it is that gets me turned on; namely that they provide material for painters like me who are in love with the beauty of "abstract" mark making but require a point of reference in the "real" world; a mirror; a window; a shiny floor; a body of water. a reflection takes the seeming solidity of an object and breaks it up...... you might say liquifies it. edges blur, forms meld and bend. but they still read as reflections, not simply abstract shapes.
when you look at yourself in a clean, clear good quality mirror you pretty much see what you would in a photograph. but if the mirror is cracked or dirty or of poor quality, or the lighting peculiar, you will probably see a more or less distorted image, but one that can still be read as "you."
2:01 pm: completed proofing on 2 chapters & taking a little break. on thursday our friends suzanne & kent arrived, as they do every thursday during the summer months from austin, colorado; about a 3 hour drive.. we were on our way to alamosa for the summer camp event, but nonetheless stopped & got fresh corn & half a box of colorado peaches. just about now is when the peaches are at their peak; sweet yet still firm, juicy & totally scrumptious! same with the corn; it's just the best. so mikela & i just now each had a peach. it's unusual for me to be here in the house at this time of day. by now she would have taken a break, but we're supporting each other in getting more done. time for another break.
assembling THE CHAIR
detail from a bosch painting
we bought a comfortable chair last month from ikea in denver, which has been sitting all this time it's huge box, which says ektorp jennylund; apparently the name given to this chair by those perverse swedes. . sounds like the title of a hieronymus bosch painting. so we were concerned, when we opened the box, something like this might come flying out! we managed to unbox it (where were you chris, harwood, brian & bob?) and get it into our guest room, officially known as the tv room, with it's big flat screen.
we had thought we were missing the legs, but lo, discovered them hidden under the seat cushion, neatly packaged as only ikea manages to do. so now we'll go down & i'll install the legs & put on the fabric cover we bought. and, after years of utter deprivation; sitting in a crappy folding chair to eat while watching tv, i will....i hope... be able to sit comfortably and watch sense8!
