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Sabbatical Activity No. Umpty-Ump is, of course, making art. I’ve been doing art almost every day, which is a major accomplishment.
A lot of what I’ve been working on is nothing I want to show yet: more explorations of the Tower of Babel and several themes that cluster around it. I’m working on one right now that uses the names of God in several dozen languages, and I think I’m likely to keep exploring that direction for a few pages of the sketchbook.
I’m annoyed at myself right now because I’ve had the below piece ready to submit to the Tiny Show (at Studio Gallery, early November to late December) for weeks, and was holding off only until I finished another piece that fit the dimensions, thinking I’d send them at the same time. But I finished that piece and didn’t like it–I don’t think I can make it work at this scale–and so I finally photographed this, frame and all, and submitted it.
Except that the deadline was not the 25th, like I had in my head, but the 20th. How old was I when I learned that I could not trust the dates I held in my head? About 12. Oh well. My chances of its being accepted were slim anyway; they didn’t want the ginkgo piece, citing too much similarity to other things they had already accepted for the show, and to my eye, anyway, the two pieces have a lot in common. But I really like them both, and that makes me happy.
I would like to show my art, but as every artist knows, it’s a whole other job to submit it, and takes a lot of time and effort that I’d rather put into half a dozen other things, including making art. I will renew my lapsed membership in a local art network and keep an eye out for opportunities, though. I love Elizabeth Gilbert’s practice of responding to rejections by immediately sending the piece right back out (just read about this in Big Magic, which I read for class), but for that you need to have a list of potential galleries.
I also have an idea for a mural in my neighborhood, on a wall that really wants something. I feel like I shouldn’t describe it here because the theme is directly related to the business in the building, and I haven’t talked to the owner yet. That’s the biggest “if” to actually making it happen; both the owner of the business and the owner of the building have to want it (I’m pretty sure they aren’t the same person). Once I’ve sketched a few ideas to my more-or-less satisfaction, I’ll take them and some other paintings that show what I can do, and go talk to the business owner.
So, back to drawing.
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Water is endlessly fascinating to paint as well as to watch.
I think this is done.
Another pastel. One day I opened the door from our kitchen here in Oaxaca, saw this light, and knew I had to try to draw it.
Pastels are tailor-made for one of my challenges, which is to refrain from too much detail and trust that broader strokes, well placed, will convey what is there. I went looking for oil pastels in pencil form (not for this piece, but for another one) and discovered that they do exist but that I’d have to have them shipped to me, which is slow and expensive. Just as well, as they’d be my attempt to do an end run around this limitation of the medium, and thus miss out on its promise as well. (I will buy them when I get home, though. They’re right for some projects.)
I keep thinking this piece isn’t quite done, but I’ve put it on our art wall, a declaration of “done enough.” Call it “patio with orange bucket.”
I made a thing! I’m learning how oil pastels work. They seemed like the right medium for this saturated color and light, seen in the Don Cenobio Hotel in the town of Mitla.
Sermons in Stones 
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