Spring, 2020
We are living in some crazy times, right?
I was already a shut-in, but this is ridiculous. I don't particularly have an official "response to Covid-19" but I'd like to think that we are here, all alone together. It makes for a sort of community alliance in some ways.
I hate to admit it, but I've been symptomatic sans the fever part. However, since there's no testing nearby, I'd like to think it's just been a bad flu. I'm not prone to fevers anyway because I already take the same medication they've been using to treat the virus, which is an anti-malaria drug. I'll survive with Nyquil and sleep though. I really think I'll be fine. [Bites off nails.]
I Can't Go Outside—What Season isThis?
If you didn't notice, I skipped the winter newsletter. Not on purpose or anything. I just got caught up with other things. I have a feeling you either forgave me or you didn't care. In any case, I hope you had a decent holiday and happy 2020, etc., etc., all that good stuff, and that there. It's been weird and scary. That's for sure.
In the autumn issue, I spoke about writing a whole novel in thirty days during (NaNoWriMo) National Novel Writing Month and guess how that went? Well, it scrambled my brains and stressed me the hell out! I don't know how people do it, but they do. I had to put the novel aside for a couple of months. Instead, I worked on my book of short stories, which I'm almost certain will be called Sad, but (Mostly) True. I'm working on putting about twenty pieces together for it, depending on how they turn out.
In the interim, one of my short stories (my first) got published in the Santa Ana River Review, a publication out of the University of California Riverside. Maybe Magic Things appeared in the Winter 2020 issue as a nonfiction story. It was adapted from my memoir, but I personally wouldn't call it nonfiction. It just reads like it.
I must say, spring in the high desert is incredibly stunning. Everything is blooming bright and the birds around here are completely out of control. Wrens seem to be singing Mozart's fifth and the bunnies hop around like ping-pong balls. And since we had a ton of rain and snow up here, the landscape is extra-green. Blades of grass are poking up from the dirt, purple flowers are bursting out from paddle cactus (Prickly Pears), and yellow wildflowers pepper the weeds. It makes me want to get back to painting desert landscapes again, but we'll see. I might change my mind on that.
I seem to change my mind about what subjects to address frequently. This is an issue with being a professional artist at times. You have to go through a lot of experimenting doing one-offs before something starts to resonate with you. You can be in your head with your ideas until donkeys jump over the moon, but until you get into the artmaking, you won't know if a whole series of work will come out of it. For me, it has to keep my interest and pique a desire to explore the subject further. I can't force it.
Above is a new one called, "Sprout." (Mixed media on canvas, 24 x 24 inches.) I actually started it eons ago, but only finished it recently. Will more like this one come along? Probably, but not right away. I'm interested in tying up loose ends, like finishing a watercolor I started many moons ago.
After that, I'm rather interested in working with paper grocery bags in a similar way I did this piece in 2015: She Carries Me Home (Mixed media on paper grocery bags, approx. 44 x 54 inches).
I made this piece for the Jerusalem Biennial. I was in an exhibit there, entitled, 7,567 Mi.--> (the exact mileage between Los Angeles and Jerusalem). I used found ephemera from Jerusalem, much of it from the streets, plus rocks from the shore, matchbooks, advertisements, a Coke can, etc. and then painted the red graphic "Wailing Wall" composition on top of some poems written by Yehuda Amichai (in English) and a Hannah Senesh poem (in Hebrew). I didn't love how it turned out at the time, but now I kinda like it.
Writer, Painter, Which is it?
I've been writing more than I've been painting, and since I've been ill, I'm resting more than I ever have in my life. I used to do nothing else but work my ass off. I don't know what's happened to me, but at least I feel far less anxiety than I used to, sans catching a virus that could kill everyone I love, or me.
Even though I've been fine-tuning the short stories, I did eventually get back to the novel, Queer as Mud after getting my bearings. I'm about 20,000 words into it now but it's still pretty raw. I may keep it that way. I also wonder if I have a shot at publishing it with Random House, Harper-Collins, Penguin Books, or some big fat company like that. I can dream while I do all this resting, can't I?
Remember that Sale?
So I'm extending that 25% Off Everything Sale until further notice. On my site, if you click on "price," take 25% off what pops up. Then send me an email at carol@esart.com so we can make arrangements. Because the Coronavirus has basically screwed everyone out of a job and all artists from a place to display their work, I ask you to please consider making a purchase.
If you don't buy my work, help any artist. At the moment, Craig Krull Gallery is having a sale and fundraiser for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. All the artist's work is on super sale, plus 25% of the proceeds go toward helping people in need. The gallery will be placing new work on Instagram, as well as on their site each week for the next several weeks. You can purchase the artwork easily on their website.
Meanwhile, I've also been posting artwork nearly every day on Instagram. Starting today, I'm only going to post work that's for sale, be it old or new. So a wide range of artwork might be popping up out of the blue in the days ahead. And remember, I will take payments. I'm very trusting.
So?
That's about it for now. I hope everyone at home is getting in some quality time with their loved ones. Might as well.
Don’t forget to go to my website: esart.com. Hours of fun.
Yours very truly,
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