the search for routine

hsu Originally uploaded by dressform.

above from a joyce hsu installation at the bedford gallery cute, girly art - but good. weird mechanical things that don't really work lots of color - bordering on too cute, but it's pushing that envelope on purpose and so i like it.

this sunday in the new york times kimmelman did a piece on chris ofili's work (think of the "sensations" show in brooklyn a few years back - he did the piece with elephant dung that caused oh so much controversy - sigh). although he was kind about the art the article really was about routine - how ofili did this series of african women on a day to day basis. got me to thinking.... how important is the routine in studio practice? i mean we all have it in some way shape or form. do we make little sacrifices? promises (i will do the dishes when i get home)? click our heels 3 times or pray to the art gods that things will go well (light incense, drink tea, check the mail and then GO!). are we like sports guys who if our luck turns sour we change the routine in hopes of recapturing the magic? i think particularly since i am attempting to deny myself the studio until i can get the proposals/paperwork thing together (closer closer! tonight i researched molecular structures of pollutants..... yes, this is how i spend my "leisure" time) i am really thinking about how i will RETURN to my lovely studio.... things waiting, eagerly to be changed and altered. what was my routine? will i change it? does the routine free you because it warms you up, gets you started (not fun to walk into a perfectly clean space w/ no ideas)..... the routine as muse, collaborator and friend.... hmmmm (see my brain goes into overdrive when i'm not making)

i went to visit my MFA pal james at djerassi today. it was so beautiful there... rolling hills, one lane highway, ocean meets the sky. he was doing really really great things in his studio. it was fun to talk art surrounded by his work (more on the series he sent images of before ) plus some really goofy (in a great way) sculptures.... skateboard wheels out of wax stacked on top of one another.... in luscious green.... and we decided we are going to trade! hoorah! love trades (don't worry countess, yours will come first - and it is getting somewhere! i have snuck some work in on your piece since it's at home)

few updates: my students have recovered from my "bad cop" routine. nicely. not a single F on the quiz this time PHEW! i am continuing to be brutally honest and will hope that they hold up their end of the bargain. tonka has been doing OK. a big round of steroids and he's practically good as new. i am holding my breath to see what transpires but am refusing to treat him w/ kid gloves. he is a dog. if he ends up needing surgery that's how it shall be.... at least he is not in agony at the moment and is happily beggin for any morsel of human food like normal....

i will end on that note.....