We gotta make love just one last time in the shower.....

UPDATE:
Chipping away was not so bad, but it left this white film on the torso. Too large to fit in a sink, and my tub is one of those big jacuzzi things. It's not comfortable to lean over the tiled platform around it. I speak from experience on that. I figured I would deal with it after I took my bath, then thought WHY NOT? If someone had come into my bathroom this morning, they would have found me hunkered down in the shower over this life size armless and legless man, soaping him up and rinsing him. After drying him off (the whole process had a certain amount of kink to it) back into the studio, plastic wrap, and a layer of plaster tape. He is now basking (drying) in the afterglow.

I love my life.

Baby did a bad bad thing...

New torso in progress. Only problem, Miss I Am In A Hurry yesterday morning did not put the plastic wrap on the form first. I used a new goo mixture, which has now dried and is totally un-removable. I get to spend the morning chipping it off. Brings to mind the term "hard as a rock" ( NO, not THAT connotation..don't be a guttermind).

My first idea was to put the whole thing in the tub, and soak it off. Then I thought about how I was going to explain to Mister What Were You Thinking how I clogged up the plumbing. Then I figured I would haul it outside, and turn the hose on it. Big glitch..the outside water is turned off. New and final plan, to spread out old sheets in the living room and just go at it. Space in the studio is limited, and is already a disaster. This is gonna make a big mess.

The good thing about today is that Miss Ei and I are spending the afternoon dealing with hoof trims and new shoes for the horses. Equine podiatry. Horses who are absolutely filthy from the rain and the mud. So she and I are going to the barn, rolling in the hay, and getting dirty. (guttermind)

I am going back to bed for awhile. After I get a morning dose of Mister Isaak. Goddess, DON'T I WISH......

You ever love someone so much you thought your little heart was gonna break in two?
I didn't think so.
You ever tried with all your heart and soul to get you lover back to you?
I wanna hope so.
You ever pray with all your heart and soul just to watch her walk away?

Takin care of business...

A day of work. A power lunch, contract negotiations. Terms and conditions. Considerations given. All those things required to make life work the way you want it to. Or at least something to fall back on if it doesn't.

So off comes the artist hat today, along with the riding helmet. Instead, I shall wear my crown. Queen of the Contracts. Goddess knows I have written enough of them...in a previous life I had a real estate brokerage. Pimping houses.

New torso forms arrived yesterday. If my business doesn't exhaust me to the point where I need to spend the afternoon napping, I will start on my next body piece...male...shoulders, back and ass...maybe a nice barbed wire tattoo across his shoulders. Rather symbolic of my work today.

If you ever get annoyed
Look at me I'm self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day

BTO

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I finally mustered up the courage to go a bit techno-geek and update the looks of the blog. Which was quite a feat in itself, seeing as how I am a total computer dunce. But now I can add links.

The only bad thing about this is that I have to trek down to the basement, and go thru my collection of old vinyl. Time to re-acquaint with Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Mr. Bowie gets the credit today.

If my week goes as planned, which it never does, art will have to take a back seat to real life stuff. My accountant is screaming for tax info. The house is a clutter bomb. I have not sat at the piano or picked up a guitar in weeks. And the studio needs a break.

Wham bam thank you ma'am.....

The Snow Queen

You're a cushion uncrumpled
You're a bed that's unruffled
The finest bone china,
Bone china around

And I believe that the snow queen
Lives somewhere in the hills
She's got the world on a string
Like white wine when it's chilled

Arms are spread like icicles
Upon a frosted cake
The snow queen reigns
Behind the cold black gates

Your talents are tested
They're polished and they're shaped
Your talents are wasted
On men of no taste

Words in my head today courtesy of Bernie Taupin

You got me on my knees...

Layla.

There seems to be a pattern developing in the naming of these girls. Subjects of admiration, devotion and heartbreak from old rock lyrics. Works for me.

This piece was a fabrication of too many techniques, mistakes and general disappointments to list. It took forever. But I am happy with her.

Misha.....this one is for you, love.

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming...

Damn. Almost 37 years ago, and I still break down. I wonder if John Filo had any idea of the effect his photograph would have.

Must have been the funk on your tummy

That damn man gave me his tummy bug. And I don't have time for it today. I have some mojo to work on someone this morning. I am supposed to ride this afternoon. I want to do something with the torso in progress that cracked while drying. And all I can seem to do is lay on the couch listening to The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys. And Dear Mister Fantasy. This may not be so bad after all.

Not feelin too good myself.

Hey, I put some new shoes on....

....and suddenly everything is right.

No art today. I have other things to do. And I don't need an excuse, cos I'm wearing my brand new shoes.

Paolo Nutini. Check this guy out. Good tunes.

I asked of her name, and in a dark brown voice she said....

Lola.

Since I don't have some big clay stretching pasta machine or a kiln ( I am VERY jealous, Tammy) I did this with papier-mache. The process produced some lessons, which will, I hope, be evident in the next piece in the series. I suppose this woman will truly be a sum of her parts.

For you, I would tattoo me
With lines crossing into a hand,
And a heart that would never bleed.
The twilight and the horse
Drawn on my arm
Standing for an addiction,
Pray we go unharmed.

I credit the Indigo Girls for music to inspire the muse this morning. And for some self truths revealed.

Mister Mojo Risin

Work in progress. A mess in the studio involving lots of gooey stuff. The kind of project that requires drying time before the next step. With any luck, it should be ready to make its debut here by early next week. So back I go, to work a bit more mojo on this thing.

Speaking of mojo, I can only hope that when I cross thru the veil, Mister Morrison, along with Hendrix, Joplin, and Lennon, will be there to party with. I plan on sleeping post mortem with all of them. Will I be a lucky little lady in the city of lights? Or just another lost angel.... city of night?

Good times, bad times...

You know I've had my share.

But the last 24 hours have been INCREDIBLY good times. Valentine's Day was never one of my favorite holidays. But sitting at the dinner table last nite, between my two gorgeous men, may have changed my way of thinking about that. One of them who knows me well enough to know that roses and candy are not my idea of a good gift. I loathe the smell of roses, and I certainly don't need any candy. And the other one, who knew just what effect a black skeleton leaf would have on me. I hope they appreciated the gifts they received in return. There is a certain joy in the giving.........

Lunch today with a somewhat new, yet somehow old friend reminded me that my circle is indeed expanding...and I like that. It was very comfortable. Thank you sweetie, and you can nest in my roost anytime you like.

Enough of the hearts and flowers sentiment here. Back to my real life, where not all things are as they seem. Cept for the whips and chains...THOSE are VERY real.

You're as cold as ice

This morning, Mother Earth and Father Sky provide the artwork.

Soul shine......better than sunshine

Another one of my Taos pieces. I should do another workshop there. Woman artists, at this very cool place (used to be owned by Dennis Hopper) for a week of creating. This morning, I went back to the warmth of New Mexico.

Let your soul shine, babies...cause it's damn sure better than rain.

I am sinking in this silence

No art today, no ranting, no nothing.

Some things are just so damn good words are not adequate.

Rock and roll never forgets

So you're a little bit older and a lot less bolder
Than you used to be
So you used to shake em down
But now you stop and think about your dignity
So now sweet sixteens turned thirty-one (yeah,right)
You get to feelin weary when the work days done
All you got to do is get up and into your kicks
If you're in a fix
Come back baby
Rock and roll never forgets

Courtesy of Mister Seeger. 'Nuff said.

Then the Piper will lead us to reason

I had to create today. Maybe I just wanted the comfort and security that the old shirt I paint in gives me. This is another one of my tissue paper deals...with a bit of paint over it. It's based on another piece I did a few years ago, and gave away. I think I should have kept it, I like the first one better. Maybe it will come back to me someday. I like it when things I thought were long gone come back to me. Or maybe all of my thoughts are misgiven.

Don't you know that you are a shooting star...

This is as good place to vent as any. Over a month ago, I ordered a custom pair of riding pants. They got the color right, and the little suede star on the butt, but when I got them, it was obvious they made them for someone who wore a child's size. Which would not be me. So I re-ordered them, and this time, they got the size right, but there was no star. And I really wanted that star. I called them this morning, and told them I would be returning pair #2. Their fault. When I pay that much for something custom, I expect it to be perfect, and just as I ordered it. Now, ONE WOULD THINK that the owner of the company, whom I spoke with, might say...We are SO SORRY, and if you can live with the fact that there is no star on your butt, keep the pants at no cost. BUT NO. So they have lost a good customer. A customer who, after singing the praises of said pants at the barn, would have surely sent them some referral business. A customer who, however, is NOT going to give them a third chance. I am surprised I gave them the second one.

I really wanted that star on my butt.

My baby's got a secret...

Some people keep their skeletons in a closet. I keep mine in the bath tub.

You're the one who
Asked for this
Next time think before you wish

Promises made...

I wanted to ride today, but it's too cold. I wanted to paint today, but my muse is not cooperating. I hoped to get my office in some sort of organized state, instead of the paper work bomb scene that it is. I made a promise to someone last nite, and it seems to be the only thing that my little brain can think of today.

I tried to love you for years upon years
But you refuse to take me for real
It's time you saw what I want you to see
That I'd still love you if you just love me

Can you imagine being the woman that Eric wrote those lyrics for? Lucky bitch.

Wild horses couldn't drag me away

This is Boo. Registered name..... A Beauty Investment. And normally, she is. But today, a combination of a full moon and the fact that she is just coming out of heat made her anything but beautiful. K, who is my surrogate rider, and in charge of making sure Miss Boo is cool, calm, and collected when I get on her, hit the ground hard. You would have thought that mare was a bucking rodeo bronco. Then she charged back to the barn like a race horse. There was no stopping her until she ran herself into a fence. Gratefully, K was not hurt. Thankfully, neither was Boo. Luckily, I was not the one on her back. So we are now charting her cycles, in attempt to NOT have these events coincide in the future. I thought my days of concern over such things were over. Guess not.

A day in the life

It's been an interesting 24 hours. Tammy graced me with her presence for lunch yesterday, and we talked about addictions, afflictions, and ambitions. Check this chicky out...she does some incredible work. www.tammyvitale.com

Last night, a man whom I had not thought of in years brought back memories I was not even aware that I had. Frightfully familiar. Revelations.

My art entry for the day. I did this at a workshop in Taos a few years ago. The teacher asked us to do something with tissue paper. Not a medium I usually work in. But I like the colors and textures.

I need to get on the horses today. And sort out the little imps tap dancing in my head.

The needle and the damage done

I think a person, including their body, should be a work in progress. I consider my body as a canvas, and I paint and pierce it. And like some of my art, at times, I re-paint and re-pierce and change things until I am more satisfied with the results. This is an example of such. A surgical removal of a tattoo, and a cover-up of another. My only regret is that I did not keep the skin they cut off. I would have preserved and framed it. But the doctor wanted it. I wonder why.