Charliegrrl gives Connie Danger a tattoo. Joseph Roberts in the background. This conceptual performance project is called The Yellow Leaf and speaks to the commiditization of what cannot be owned.

How cool was this? It’s just been nonstop, even since the marathon. I feel like my head is going to explode. Yesterday there was a TED conference in Seattle at the Benaroya. I only found out at the last minute, but I felt I had to be there and I was right. The circular connections to speakers I had met and their friends I had met in other venues was nothing short of miraculous. A couple from the marathon auction who loved the cellist painting was there. We reconnected. And my brain in over-drive. And a fabulous woman, a speaking coach to very high profile people, whom I had lunch with, offered to give a speaking seminar to artists through CoCA.

Dave Bowling, Guernica, was model #1 at 10 AM

But the marathon. ... I painted 5 portraits of 5 amazing and wonderful people.
And afterward...boy! was my butt sore! And my arms and wrists and hands and hips. Each painting was 200 squats. But so were my smile muscles tired and sore.

Kira was model #2 at 1 PM. She was so sweet! She conked right out.

Additionally I created 5 residual portraits.

Wonderful Deb Caletti was model #3 at 4 PM.
After that I cleaned up, put away my paints because of the first Thursday crowds and my performance pieces. The flash mob was a bust, not enough people, not working within the frame of the camera, and doing goofy things, not understanding that a focused body moving in slow motion in and of itself is interesting. That last was my fault for allowing too much artistic freedom., not enough direction. I was afraid I would lose them altogether so I rolled the dice. It’s the right idea and the wrong execution. And I would like to try again, next time with a dance troupe and more experienced videographers. That means funding. I’ll get there. One step at a time.

The tattoo piece was a huge success at the marathon and generated a lot of buzz. Charliegrrl from Hidden Hand tattoo and Connie Danger. Charlie designed a tattoo from my art, a lotus signifying rebirth, underwater with blood. Connie agreed to receive a tattoo, she didn’t know what she was getting or where it was going, making her the raw canvas. Then we auctioned off the ink. CoCA’s mission, which according to the president, Ray C. Freeman, III, as quoted in my recent 3QuarksDaily article, A Non-ordinary Painting Trajectory, "CoCA has long rejected the traditional model in which we would maintain a stable of artists in a gallery setting. We question definitions, roles, and by extension, the idea of what makes something art. Contemporary art is exploratory, experimental. CoCA is not here to enforce the status quo, but to expand the very field of inquiry, to find new not only new art and artists, but new art forms, and to find it in new places."

The theme was to unite the arts.

After the crowds died down, The Delicious Ed Skoog #4 sat for his portrait. I could paint Ed 100 times and never grow tired of painting him.

I ran into a problem in the middle of painting Ed. I hadn’t eaten. My blood sugar levels started to plummet around 10 PM. Paul, one of the board members ran out and got some food for me and others who had missed dinner. 

Replenished, I completed Ed’s portrait to my satisfaction. At 1 AM #5 Mannfried Funk came and posed and played cello for us all until about 3:30, getting us over that awful hump time. Although, my camera card was full and I couldn’t take any more photos.

It was a crazy, wacky 38 hours and I did not have much time to connect with other artists, although there were a few occasions. People I liked a great deal.

The big thing I need now are the photos and video of the conceptual art.

When it was over I packed up and took almost everything back to my studio. The easel had to wait for the professional movers and Saturday. And when I was done unloading in my studio, I went to Banya5. That’s were I met one of the TED speakers, who is friends with a man that came to my book signing and lives across the street from the old E.B.B.C. And around we go!