Gathering at the Tombstones

Photography by Photo444

Party Time

I took a few shots early on as people started arriving for our opening…and then had to put my camera down to eliminate bodily harm in the mayhem. A few people picked it up towards the end and took some of me and my fat cheeks. I wish I had more to show you just how many beautiful people came to see and enjoy the Studio. We had such a great time. Everyone…

Anuvue signage

Blue Girl Gaze

Gatekeeper

And so it begins…

I have sat in this room both literally and figuratively until I can see it finished in my mind. I sit in total quiet and stare until it materializes right in front of my eyes. I have made tweaks here and there by mere inches, changed drawings over and over and traded older ideas for new ones with all the tradesmen that have a part to play in the building. I only get one first impression so it has to count…and it has to stick in the visitor’s mind.

Yesterday, my talented Carpenter Tim and I sat on the floor and made paper patterns. It allowed me to see the exact position and sizes in relationship to the floor space and walls. It also allowed my Electrician George to see where the lighting would need to be placed. Tonight I watched as 2 x 4’s, ladders, drywall and paint were all carried up. Tomorrow, I will be present and accounted for at 6:30 am for the delivery of my new sliding glass doors. Less windows, more walls.

With each check I write, each time I pull my credit card out, my stomach muscles tighten and clench. I no longer sleep at night, what with this worry or that thing I might forget… unless I get up to write it down. Both my Family and Friends have a blind faith in me that I will make this happen and it will be good. I feel tremendous pressure (actual terror on occasion) to not let anyone down, including myself. But each time I meet a new Artist and see that light that come into their eyes and hear the excitement in their voices, I feel something that words cannot express. It’s something I lost a while back, something I’ve been searching desperately to re-gain. If Anuvue doesn’t kill me before I get it open, I will have one heck of a write off this year…and be a very excited, very busy, women…with a dream that came to life.

Frozen in NYC

 One from NY Kathy 😉

2 Good-byes

I went to my last Santa Monica Art show. It cost 8 dollars to park and 30 more for 2 people to get inside. I like to think myself progressive and open minded when it comes to art, artists and people in general. I love modern, experimental and performance art as well as all the previous masters, old and new. My home is filled with an array of eclectic pieces that I have both purchased and been gifted. So, upon arrival, when I was faced with a black canvas that looked very much like someone had chewed up Reynold’s wrap and spit it out onto the canvas… which I knew probably wasn’t the case, unless the artist had very good teeth indeed… I moved on with great anticipation.

I saw a really large bed mattress, painted entirely in high gloss baby blue, hanging from a wall with excess paint dripping under and below. I have an intense dislike for baby blue as it is…having had to endure my first home and it’s wall to wall baby blue carpet for a year because I could not afford to change it. To be faced with this was more than I could bare…even though I did marvel at the folks not smirking as they studied it… and I moved on.

I turned corner after corner, trying hard to hold my breath so I wouldn’t utter anything inappropriate….like “utter crap” or “Do they think us fools“. I listened to the “informed” and the “intellectuals“. I observed the scarfed, the hatted, the caped, the outright pompous and bejeweled. I saw phony after phonier trying to look the part of ” Artist” or “Artist Rep“and I won’t even go into what I saw in the ladies room as a woman prepared her “Costume“. I wasn’t even aware there was “A Look“…But what I didn’t see was alot of talent…real exciting new talent!

I watched the gallery owners and reps sitting in chairs, each assembled in their booths, all mindless of the people who had paid to see what was new. They sat madly clicking away on their Macs…God, I wished I’d had my 5D with me. There was so much material I was breathless.

Then I finally came upon something wonderful. It was new and fresh and fantastic. I stood looking at the canvas intensely. I watched out of the corner of my eye as I stood, waiting to be approached, the rep…sitting…doing nothing but holding her cell phone. After minutes, I walked over “to her“. I asked if she was the artist. “No” She told me…”she was the gallery owner” “The artist is_____”, then nothing more. I waited. I then asked about the medium and was given a short, specific answer…then nothing more. I waited. Then I asked if he was local…”No, German” was the reply. I waited. Nothing more. I looked at her and shook my head. I should have said “If you rep someone and you actually paid to get into this place, you probably should actually TALK about the work and the artist you are representing because I may be not be dressed as a Banker, or an Artist or a Movie Star ( I didn’t get the memo), but I may just be a future client“. But no, I shook my head and walked away. I felt a great dis-service towards the artist. I felt his talent deserved better…much better.

As I turned the corner, it was straight in front of me…the one “work of art” that finally made me lose it. It appeared to be a rather poor interpretation of Beethoven (or possibly Ben Franklin without glasses) sitting in a most unfortunate garden. I envisioned a brush being handled between toes (after I saw the artist). I can’t actually be sure because I couldn’t see the length of the toes but…I’m fairly certain…

I had to hold my hand over my face to cover up the loudest cackle…while quickly exiting…

While driving away from Santa Monica to head home, I passed a little old surf shop. I got out and shot this. I think the owner of the shop probably spray painted it himself, right on his own wall. I think it was the best piece I saw all day. It made me actual “feel” something. I connected with it instantly. I probably should have told him he had a definite future.

A New View

I met my new landlord, Alex, Friday and signed a one year lease for Anuvue (pronounced A-NEW-VIEW) or a new way to see. I came prepared with altered photos to show him my ideas (the before and the after) and he agreed to every idea my brain could conjure up. Either I took him by surprise (he couldn’t get out of the booth we sat in) or he is, as my first impression told me, a very easy going guy. When I first walked in to meet him, I put on my best “adult face”…but when I saw that I towered over him by probably seven inches… How could I not grin my crooked grin? Anyway, I can never hide my “inner child” for long…so he met the real me…and we liked each other immediately.

It’s amazing to think that something I’ve been thinking about (for more than 15 years) is only a few months away from reality. A long time ago I read about a women named Mabel Dodge Luhan. She was a wealthy socialite who married an Indian Artist named Tony and together they started a gathering place for artists of their time period. Those people included Georgia O’Keeffe (the Painter), Ansel Adams (the Photographer) and DJ Lawrence (the Writer) just to name a few. This was in Taos, New Mexico in the 20’s and it was a place I went and saw for myself many, many years ago. I stayed in the same room as Ansel Adams and I used the bathroom in which DH Lawrence had tried out his Artistic talents…and painted the windows. I could definitely feel a certain spirit as I walked through the home and the many pathways. Old Mabel’s Adobe still stands the test of time and has been renovated and restored to it’s original majesty. Artists and Writers still gather there (from all over) for workshops and fellowship. After I read about her life, I began to dream of my own “Luhan West”…a place for people of like minds to gather. A place to share art, poetry, photography…whatever creative outlet they chose. A place to commune, show their work and hopefully sell some too. I’m starting out small (as I’m am not rich) but I have big dreams.

I met a woman recently from Turkey who owns a tiny little Gallery and makes the most inventive couture clothing. I won’t give away her secret just yet, as I plan to have her join in. She told me of her friend (a talented artist in her own right) and said this friend had recently taken some of her work to a Gallery in Los Angeles. She said she tried to give the owner her card and that the owner took the card between the tips of his thumb and pointer finger (as if to not soil his hand) and dropped it into the waste can…without word…right in front of her. I have a perfect vision of that and I ask myself…”what gives someone the right to squash another’s dreams” and my answer is always the same…”Absolutely nothing”! And that’s my opinion of what is currently out there because I have seen and heard this story over and over.

The current tenants of the future Anuvue Studio are two really nice guys. One did some really spectacular things to the interiors as far as flooring and moldings. He is moving on to consolidate 2 businesses into a larger area. The other is his longtime friend and his CPA (and now mine). I told him I didn’t know if I would ever make any money but at least I would find happiness (and maybe a tax write off) doing something I loved. He looked me straight in the eye and said…”Heather…the people that are not certain of success….are not counting on it to survive…but are fulfilling a lifetime dream with something they love and care about…are sometimes the most successful of all”. He made me smile at that…We will be a good match.

Flight

Words are heavy like rocks…they weigh you down. If birds could talk, they wouldn’t be able to fly…