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Tuesday, January 27th

My "sunny" valentine

Well, I decided to use an award's ticket that was about to expire, to visit my dad and sisters in Dallas. My dad kept bragging about the 70 and even 80 degree weather they'd been having and I was actually afraid that I'd be way too hot. I packed all summer clothes and..."The National Weather Service has issued an Ice Storm Warning for most of North Texas"...yeah, it has been super cold and either raining or sleeting (however you call that) for the past several days that I've been here. It's probably been colder here than in Juneau.

"Scientists Fear Volcano Could Bury Anchorage in Ash: ANCHORAGE, Alaska — It's been nearly 20 years since Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupted, but that time of tranquility might end.

Recent seismic activity could be a prelude to an eruption, "perhaps within hours to days," said geologists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory."

This disrupts air travel throughout the state. This will be the 4th time I've had travel plans altered due to an eruption: Mount Redoubt (nearly 20 years ago!), Mount Spur, Mount Augustine, and now potentially Redoubt AGAIN. Damn, I know I choose to live in Alaska but really? FOUR volcanic eruptions while traveling is a lot, especially since I don't travel that much.

Still, I'm having an AMAZING time with my family. We've been having a lot of Wii bowling tournaments, going to movies, talking, having family dinners etc. We even had a belated Christmas gathering with a big meal, gifts, and the whole nine yards. It feels great being with family, even though I miss my honey terribly.

He is (hopefully) working on setting up my new painting studio while I'm away. We've been reorganizing the house in preparation for our new family member (Noah) in June and I haven't had a place to paint for nearly a month now. I feel very displaced but that should be ending soon.

Once I'm back in the saddle and painting again, I plan to start posting more images of my work, photographs, and etc. so, even though the "Alaskan Artist Blog" is going through a slow phase, stay tuned...

Elise on 01.27.09 @ 08:18 PM AK [link]

Tuesday, January 13th

Not Again!

So, another avalanche has once again cut off Juneau's hydro-power. This is the second time in less than a year that this "once in a 100 years event" has gone down (literally). Also, we recently received 53 inches of snow in less than 2 weeks and now that all the storm drains are full of snow and ice we're getting lots of rain hence flooding and general bad moods all around.

I should mention that this is Armageddon Week on the History Channel...wheeeee!

And last night I watched "Last Days on Earth" about the top ways life on Earth could end
(I should start a pool, come on, send me your top pick!) but here's the ones that the History Channel came up with:

Gamma Rays from Outer Space
Black Holes
Super volcano eruption (like Yellowstone which is over due!)
Asteroid collision
Artificial Intelligence (i.e. killer robots)
Global pandemic (had me browsing gas masks on the Internets)
Nuclear war
Climate Change was their number 1 possibility (though I happen to believe some life could escape climate change, while a black whole could reduce everything to a singularity, which wins in my book)

Still, climate change is real, and very scary. A man explained that the term "global warming" wasn't being used anymore because what's happening doesn't necessarily make temperatures climb everywhere, it just creates scary and unpredictable changes in the climate.

hmmm

I had fun going to a History Channel forum, and reading all of the "leftist media plot" scientific experts talking about the climate change hoax. One man said he was a geologist and he and all of his other scientist buddies all knew that climate change was a hoax. Is that so?

Well, I for one am a believer.

And speaking of idiots posting idiocy in forums...have any of you ever read the comments section after stories in the Juneau Empire? To read them you'd think Juneau was full of an aggressive illiteratati; I read the comments some times for the entertainment value, mostly they make me ashamed at the portrait these same 10 jerks are painting of Juneau, which is (imo) one of the most stunning and magical places to live on the planet (climate change and all).

Anyway, tell me how you think life on earth will end!

Elise on 01.13.09 @ 05:47 PM AK [link]

Tuesday, January 6th

North to Alaska (Alaska's 50th)

This morning's On Point (on NPR) is all about Alaska. Sat. was the anniversary of our 50th year of statehood. It's strange to know people (who aren't that old) who clearly remember living here before Alaska was a state.

Anyway, during one of the breaks in the program, they played the song "North to Alaska" and I felt such an emotional rush I started crying. I have intense feelings about this state. Right now, it looks incredibly, almost freakishly beautiful here. We've had lots of light fluffy snow lately and it was sunny today so everything just glittered unbelievably.

In other news, I've decided to take all the paintings from my show at the city museum that didn't sell, off of their stretcher bars. They are frames I built myself, "gallery wrapped" so they are a couple inches thick and take up way too much room to store. Instead of rolling the paintings (which in my experience ruins them) I'm going to stack them one on top of each other, laid out flat.

I'm going to donate the stretcher bars to the university's art department, as I'm sure students could stretch more canvas on them easily.

Last night a few of the panel paintings I had tried to store in a precarious manner, slid down behind some other items making an uncomfortable sounding scrumth noise. I'm afraid to check on the damage.

Ah well, all of my paintings have been photographed, so even if the physical items themselves get banged up a bit here and there, the photos will be OK. By the way, fear not, I would NEVER sell a damaged painting!!!!

Elise on 01.06.09 @ 05:53 PM AK [link]

Monday, January 5th

Sold a painting, sold a painting, sold a paaaaaaaiiiiinnnnnting (to the tune of oh my darlin)

Well, I've received A LOT of emails lately from people wanting (but unable) to buy paintings and it was touching but also weird. I felt a little like maybe people felt sorry for me or something. Not that I'd turn down a pity purchase, (cuz I wouldn't)...in fact, I did actually sell one painting, which is AWESOME!

I'm still in super-charged PURGE mode. I've been giving away some really nice stuff, a very expensive easel, a large box full of various acrylic paints (I finally gave up the fantasy that I would ever switch away from oils)...I've also given away lots of primed canvas, panels, etc.

I find that just storing all of my unsold paintings is difficult. I was moving everything from the small storage room that is to become our new bedroom, to our old bedroom which is to become my new studio. I noticed that several of my older paintings have been damaged either by the way they were stored or the way I've had to move them around so much. It makes me sad. I hope (with Aaron's help) to make some large canvas storage bins for my new studio when he gets back to town.

Also, as I've been moving these old paintings to and fro, I've noticed that I've held on to some really bad paintings (ones I've never even posted online "in progress" because they're so terrible) and yet, I can't seem to throw them out. Many of them have too much texture to try and paint over...and the designs are fundamentally flawed so there's no real way to ever "fix" them. Still, I guess I suffer from the same fantasy that most artists have, that one day long after my death, my work (even the crap bits) will be treasured and written about by art scholars.

har har...

HEY! It could happen!

Anyway, I guess I'll hang on to most of it for now. We just REALLY need the space. So, I've pulled my least favorite paintings aside for the bin just in case I can't make room for them.

Oh, that reminds me, remember back when I wrote about the drama queen artist "Rah" who threatened to destroy his paintings at the gallery's opening if they didn't sell? (and then Rah himself commented on my post because I guess I kind of *was* making fun of him...ooops)

Yah, that was awesome!

Elise on 01.05.09 @ 04:23 PM AK [link]

Log Archives

Entries

My "sunny" valentine

Not Again!

North to Alaska (Alaska's 50th)

Sold a painting, sold a painting, sold a paaaaaaaiiiiinnnnnting (to the tune of oh my darlin)