Bascomb's Regrets

No particular inspiration: when I see an 'excavator' (as Eli identified it immediately), I always take a mental picture. Something about a big, powerful, diesel-driven piece of machinery all dressed up in happy yellow / orange / green...

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Why is it that, in all the years I've heard Car Talk on the radio, I've never heard anyone take a cellphone out to the car and have the car make the real noise?

While we're at it, why is it that mail clients don't recognize when you are replying to yourself? Probably 30% of emails I write are follow-ons to emails I've already written (because I've remembered something else I wanted to say)--from a formatting perspective they are replies, but the To: field should be the same as the To: field of the email you're replying to.

George HW Bush and Aretha Franklin hat exchange following the ceremony.

49% of Americans hearing Barack Obama speak for the first time.

Rick Warren's encoded message: 'hingepoint': WTF?

Special Guest Appearance by Peter Sellers as Dr. Strangelove

Elizabeth Alexander: "Somebody ... is ... reading ....   ..... a ... very ... boring ... poem ..."

Joseph Lowery actually trying to plow a field with a tractor that began life as a tank before it was beaten into a tractor: there's a reason tractors don't have treads!

So, what were your New Year's Resolutions?

I'm enjoying mine: the new studio space is working well. And I'm not sure whether it's the segregation of living / working space, or the lack of distractions, or the aesthetic of the other artists wearing off on me--but something is clicking. I kept to my New Year's Resolution, and made something of an attempt to push it through on New Year's Day (although I was on a plan for New Year's, so I had to settle for January 2nd).

Here's the space:

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On January 2nd, I concentrated on getting some canvas covered, and ended up with three micro-paintings that I hated. So, on to the macro. I was satisfied with these. But I also started working on a cityscape, whose progress is traced below. I was working on this one today, when I remembered that I had to paint the bottom of the canvas (some people paint the sides of the canvas, because it's cheaper to paint the sides than to frame the canvas for show). I rotated it 180 degrees and when I looked at it, I had vertigo. That was a good feeling.

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Baker is a popular cat on Facebook. I mean popular. And I mean cat. So Baker is always intrigued by the ads that read, "Tired of Waxing?" You see, Baker is only 4, but he indicated in his profile that he was born in 1987, because he didn't want his frrriends to know that he was too young to drink. So we won the $5K and now we're off to get Baker's first laser hair removal treatment. Here's the 'Before' picture:

Picture 11

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Piece from Jim Rohal, who is a regular at Friday morning sittings. This is one of his 'graphite masses'--made of quasi-random building up and erasing: the final product (as well as the process) reminds me more of sculpting than of sketching. Here's more from Jim.

A few weeks ago Dean and I planned to paint / sketch the view of Pier 38. I showed up over an hour late, and his work day had already begun. So, enthralled by Barge Patricia and yoga-for-the-homeless, I hunkered down in the wet shadow of Pier 40 on a floating dock. Five hours, one trip to the paint store, and one barbecue later, I was finished. (In spite of the funky perspective, marine traffic and the VERTIGO I got from the moving platform, I was satisfied enough to 'go public' with it. It's hanging on the wall at LabZero, the office on the far left of the panting.)

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Because of the odd size, this one looks best on flickr. More paintings here.