Sunday Jan 22: [0 hrs]
Monday Jan 23: [2hrs] Making armatures to show for the following critique.
Tuesday Jan 24: [3hrs] Printing off images and posting them in my studio so I can focus on them.
Excerpts of (un-edited) stream of consciousness writing for the docks:
We built things
boats and such
more than that
we built family and memories
Dead fish floating at the ramp
bones and glass
and boats
the time Joey locked the keys in the aerostar
trailer half way in the water
The marina was full of assholes
can't use the phone, can't use the bathroom
a three year old and an eight year old
one crying the other yelling at their honest mistake
Dad had to walk us to a pub it was called the silly goose inn
it sat on the gravel beside the water beds and cat tails
by this time it was evening
and too late to fish
and too late to fish
the worms all died in the heat of the car
suffocating, smelled of dirt
Beautiful panfish
iridescence in their scales
and the blood they draw with their sharp backfins
Fermi II in the distance, right over the docked vessels
The sun is a protector, like a father here
The kids that jump from the overpass into the water
are safe because of him
The rocks below never crack a skull
The currents never cease to fool navigation
The lilies and weeds never open to show the water below
he protects all of the inhabitants here
Rickety old boards of wood and life
I am a child here
I know lake Erie because
I grew up here like
the fishflies that covered the entire parking lot that year
the truck crunched with the weight of the boat
and I sat in the back seat
Uncle Gene and Dad smelled like sweat, beer, cigarettes
and it was the only time I was ever there at night
Swans
usually seen alone
find their other halves
they sit in the open spaces
and watch everyone that passes
It is a lot deeper than you'd expect
God forbid I ever fall in
From what I'm writing, I think I associate this place with my father.
This is all memory. Trying to pull out details to illustrate.
Not yet about when I go there alone though.
[.5 hr] Argo Lake
Not yet about when I go there alone though.
[.5 hr] Argo Lake
Wednesday Jan 25: [1 hr] Sketching details I remember about the docks, not just the landmarks.
Thursday Jan 26: [5 hrs]
Looked at pacing techniques in Lisa Olson's artist books that Stephanie let me borrow. I tried to take some of the writing I did along with photos of the docks to create short booklets. They are pretty awful but I just wanted to see how I could pace the feeling over 4 spreads.
Friday Jan 27: [0hrs] at workLooked at pacing techniques in Lisa Olson's artist books that Stephanie let me borrow. I tried to take some of the writing I did along with photos of the docks to create short booklets. They are pretty awful but I just wanted to see how I could pace the feeling over 4 spreads.
What I discovered
Focusing on one location at the moment is the best way to approach my "artist's block". Especially since this allows me to have more developed work for the postcard photo in February. It feels good to make physical things, even if they seem to be exercises right now. It's another way of thinking at the moment instead of in my head or just limiting myself to sketching. I need to get a handle on poetry pacing, and the construction as a whole piece.
What to do next
Make, surround myself with examples and options from things that I make that don't work.
