Diary of a Residency, Day 32, March 19, 2009

A long day. I’m not even going to show any pictures. I really worked the first big canvas (Golden Canyon Revisited) and thought it was finished, until Jer showed up and pointed out a flaw that Must Be Fixed. And it isn’t clear exactly what will fix it. So tomorrow, instead of concentrating solely on Canvas two (Near and Far might be its title, but I might just call it the Amargosa Playa), I will have to try the fixes to Canvas 1. I was hoping for an  nap tomorrow afternoon, but I see that cramming for the full day will be the  Event du Jour.

I broke the toilet top at the Red Barn, just before Jer pointed  out the serious problem with Golden Canyon Revisted. This (both, actually) made me say words that made the mice in the Barn blush and the tarantulas flee. I saw them going. Once, in Laramie Wyoming, we owned a house with an old toilet in the basement that continually overflowed. You stopped it by grabbing the lid off the top and yanking up the bulb to prevent more water from entering the bowl. Jer broke that top, and because it was a wierd and unique (apparently) make, we never could find a replacement. Of course, we had no money at all and so couldn’t buy a new one — I don’t think that occurred to us. So today, I could tell Jer that we were even — he broke the toilet in Laramie and I broke the one in Rhyolite.

Gentleman that he is, he opined that without the lid, the toilet was less aesthetic but more functional. Strangers would have no questions about how, exactly, one used the facility.

And so, on this 31st day of the residency, I’m reporting in. Worked on two big 5″ x 5″ canvases today and finished neither. Set up the fan, commented to visitors on the humidity (the Humidity!), and worked hard, trying to achieve my vacation, which is what I’m thinking is going to happen next week. I’m thinking about it hard this evening.

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