Convalescent.

I haven’t yet mentioned the horrific unfolding of the Libby Mystery Wound saga, most of which transpired while I was away in Europe. Basically, our dear roommate and fiercest feline compadre Libby acquired some manner of odd skin lesion/wound/crater which festered and blossomed to heinous, pus-filled proportions. Our vet hypothesized that this may be the result of a brown recluse spider bite, but I tend to disbelieve this theory; that spider must have been the size of my head to be able to leave a wound that enormous; even after the worst was over, after my return to the States when her wound was “healing”, she still had a seeping hole in her side that you could drive a truck through. It was, hands down, the most disgusting putrefaction of flesh I have ever to witness, surely along the lines of Civil War injuries. Gangrenous hideousness. Given the level of horror, I will refrain from posting a photo here; and please, don’t worry, she’s definitely healing up nicely (though not prettily). Though she does look cute in her little collar, designed to keep her from that perennial evil of picking (or, in her case, licking) her scab. Behold, Her Fanciness:

Marché aux Puces, Raleigh version.

John and I wandered up to the NC Flea Market yesterday, for a walk and a peek at the wares.

As always, there was some cool stuff, some gross stuff, and some funny stuff. So, in no particular order, some stuff...

I believe chocolate is always worth fighting for.

Crosstown traffic! Circa 1950something.Can someone tell me why, oh why, that children’s toys are sometimes so creepy looking? I find these specimens terrifying:Let’s hop on the nostalgia wagon: lunchboxes from the ‘70s. Yessss!! Considering that I had both the Bionic Woman doll and Charlie’s Angels dolls, it’s rather surprising that I had neither of these series’ lunchboxes. Apparently it’s never too late, though...

Looouvre.

By the way, here are a couple of the sketches I did while in the Louvre. I wish I could say I was good about capturing the info about whose sculpture, exactly, I was drawing from. But sometimes I’d forget to do that before settling into a sketch, and then at the end of the evening I was being shooed out by the security guards before having an opportunity to write down the info. These are both busts, obviously, and they’re French, 18th century I think, the first one is by Caffieri but the second remains a mystery. Which only means that I have to go back to Paris to find out. Heh heh heh yesssssss.

Back at the 311.

It was good to be back in the studio today. I’ve got to change out some of the work in there, though:

On the art front:

Haven't had much time to work on my own stuff, unfortunately, since I've been back home in NC - plus I have some portrait commission work to attend to before I can fully immerse in my own painty projects.

However, I did have the opportunity to see some great stuff while away... in addition to the 59 million trips we made to the Louvre, that is. I made a pilgrimage to a Paris-based gallery which is an off-shoot of a Danish gallery which I loved dearly, but which closed its Paris gallery in 2007. Anyway, so I went to the newly christened (as of this past fall, I believe) Galerie Susan Nielsen, conveniently located behind the Musée Picasso in the 3rd arrondissement. They were showing the French artist Patrick Cornillet, which was nice to see not only because his work was breathtakingly beautiful in an oddly bleak way, but also because it means that the Susan Nielsen place is branching out from the largely Scandinavian-only artists roster of Birthe Laursen’s gallery. Yeah!

Also refreshing on the art front was the Oisin Gallery in Dublin, which overall has a really great roster of contemporary artists, predominantly Irish and UK but definitely international. It was a shame that I didn’t get to see any works in person by my favorite artist that they represent, a French painter named Erwann Tirilly, but they had some good work on display from Stephen Forbes and Thomas Halloran, among other artists. Plus I made off with about 97 million brochures from past shows. Heh heh heh.

This painting by French artist Erwann Tirilly, image from Oisin Gallery's website. Image info: Kit III (20" x 20") oil on canvas

And as for here on the home front, I'm happy to report that one of my studiomates down at 311 West Martin Street Galleries and Studios, Shaun Richards, will be exhibiting in the month of June at Flanders Art Gallery. He has some great new pieces prepared, I had a chance to see some in-progress. I'll post the exact info once I have the details...

Does it get more Southern than this?

I am back in the South for sure... check out this gigantic, enormous honking magnolia flower from a tree in Nash Square, downtown Raleigh, diagonally across from my studio. All I need to complete this experience is a big ole mint julep:

Progress.

My message to Emmy must have gotten through: this morning she waited until 5:30am to poke me in the face. Things are improving.