These are the art books that were left out of my art books are love post on Valentine’s Day. They were spread all about the studio and when collected made quite a pile. I thought I should include them, seeing as these are the books most currently referenced, they are probably the most important. The difficult to read titles are Ray Johnson’s “Correspondence” and Shirin Neshat’s catalog from one of the most amazing art exhibitions I have ever experienced. It was in Edinburgh’s fabulous Fruitmarket Gallery and it literally choked me up. That doesn’t happen often, especially at modern art shows. The rest of the studio book collection is in this previously mentioned post

Denny Crane claims that the secret to life and success is to pull a rabbit out of your hat. I’ve decided that since everything around me seems to be reversed (as in upside down and backwards) that the secret to health and happiness is to follow the rabbit down the hole and through the looking glass. You don’t necessarily have to take the rabbit out of the hat first. I usually forget that part and it always works out just fine.

C.P. McDill and I just finished completely gutting my workspace and the creative process along with it. The “crow’s nest” that we use for a studio is the attic of our tiny cottage. It has a low ceiling of only 6′ at the highest point. The previous owner had installed a drop ceiling and glued down wall to wall carpet which made it seem even more cramped and office like. We ripped out the drop ceiling, liberated the wooden rafters, exposed and sanded down the lovely hidden wood floorboards. C.P. installed full spectrum lighting and painted the walls and ceiling a warm brilliant white. The difference is amazing. It’s so bright and warm as well as feeling much larger than it actually is. Then we created a more open floor plan with two work tables, one for wet media and the other for textiles and paper.