I feel like I’m getting a little warmed up now. The face is working better. Although I could be happier with it, I see I’m getting back into the rhythm. I have to tell you, Thomas, my model, and I laughed and laughed when we were done. This one really cracked me up. I really love the fingers of the left hand peeking out from under the chair where he’s holding the cigarette. And the expression of exhalation of smoke, the force with which it leaves his lips and the frustrated anger-fear-exasperation in his face with the tense jaw and eyes.

I love the body language in the legs and feet, that’s really working well for me. As well, the miter saw table that Joe Reilly’s guys made for me, that shoots out to the right in light grays, tans and whites, I think that works well too. I chose to make the table under the saw almost black and it pops the action well. The blue of the Makita saw is a little alarming, but the black on the table keeps in in balance. I have to show you this, this should make you laugh. This is a picture of Thomas posing for posterity. I keep records. He couldn’t keep it in. He was busting up! He got me going and I was too!

Look at him biting his tongue trying not to laugh. He was great. He did a wicked smart thing. I needed him to have a tourniquet, so he used his belt! How brilliant was that!? We did the pose with the arm up, stump up, and the arm down, hand down.

Other than that, there’s always the blood, and this blood is particularly spectacular. It has nice spray coming from his stump. And I like the gray pallor of his dismembered hand.

It’s good to love what you do. All this helped by a studio visit yesterday that was very encouraging. Someone who gets art, came for a studio visit and really got mine. That put me on cloud nine. The indelible visual mark on my memory was watching her come in and almost getting to a full greeting before she whipped around to take in the art. I should have left her alone at that point but I couldn’t shut up, I was so excited to see the ignition. She said they have a lot of velocity. I thought that was a great word for them.

After a bit of a tough week, that felt quite encouraging...and that tank of gas may need to keep me going for a little while. Like when Tilly Strauss and Michael Gellatly came to my NY studio and it was the same thing. And that experience still boosts me up.

Anyway, tomorrow is First Thursday. I’ll have time to clean up a bit in the morning and get the bamboo mat back out. But no new art up, unless I leave this painting up, and I might. Forgetting and Remembering is on the wall in the gallery space and cant be moved right now and I’m not ready for it to be seen. I could roll the portable in front of it with Miter Saw Accident up.

Also, big thanks to Barbera Noonan today!