April 21, ‘11

Today as an Artist was spent working on an idea using very porous paper, working on an idea for a painting in mind – of the tree limbs with the red buds outside my front window.  The results didn’t please me but I had a good time getting those results.

Not a very pretty day here, today.  Cold and gray with occasional spells of heavy mist, almost rain, but not quite.  A good afternoon to take a nap except that I had to be at the KAA to hand out awards.  I was out the door by 2, hoping that I’d have a smooth trip and get there a little before 3.  I wanted to see my sister and do some schmoozing before the award ceremony.

I had a great ride to Kent.  There’s something about the mists today that is very beautiful and makes everything appear beautiful in it.  Forsythia is beginning to blossom and there was much of it to see.  My heart saying thank you thank you thank you all the way to Kent, just from forsythia.  I was playing Stevie Ray Vaughn and Albert King on the iPod, had it cranked, got into the spirit of Road Trip....

It’s been interesting to me to see the process of getting ready for a show at the gallery and how much we owe to dedicated volunteers.  I’m glad for the time I spent learning how the machine works and for the time I spent talking to new people.

The woman who does most of the work is a workhorse, very organized and efficient.  She taught school for 40 years, 2nd Graders which may help explain her efficiency and her enormous patience.  

Today was party-time & everyone was dressed a little more festively than we were last week when we were working.  I had 2 interesting and fun conversations before I went into the main gallery to see if my sister was there.  She was, and I surprised her.  She was talking to 2 other women, one who I met last week, and it turned out that she had been a painting partner of my sister so we networked and had a great time.  My sister and I had a great laugh over the hour phone call she and my mother had last night trying to teach my mother how to turn off the computer.  I said better your computer buddy than mine and god bless you.

I had really interesting conversation with the woman who’s the president and workhorse of the organization.  We got to talking about Vermont and I told about my 2 years there – it was the best of times, it was the worst of times....  Turns out she’s from St Albans.  She, her husband, another guy and I had a great conversation about Vermont, living in Vermont etc etc.  I told them a little about my Montgomery Center days and we had such a good time talking that we didn’t notice that it was after 3 and we were intending to make the presentation of the awards.  It wasn’t terribly formal and my handing out the presentations was completely ceremonial, but it was friendly and fun and I felt happy to be there and also happy that my chairmanship was over.   

I enjoyed that I’d talked about Vermont in such a conversational manner.  And that we knew so many places in common.  The President is originally from Vermont and for the 1st time in the years I’ve been seeing her at the KAA, she smiled, her eyes brightened and I found myself liking her, finding her interesting.  Her husband, as well.  

Three paintings I saw last week in the judging and this week on the walls inspired me.  Two of the paintings were by the same person, were quite large and done completely in charcoal – very powerful images, monumental, had great depth....  The other was an acrylic of hills and a bit of a lake, such as we see often around here except the colors could have been stained glass.  

The food; I forgot there would be food and I was glad, because I had brunch at 10:30, an English muffin with peanut butter, and by 2:30 - 3, I was hungry.  It was great; tasty things to dip into incredibly good guacamole, chocolate chip cookies to die for, quesadillas with guacamole made with a lot of fresh cilantro, chips and a fresh made salsa that was absolutely wonderful and fresh and superbly seasoned.  I like that the chef didn’t spare the garlic or cilantro.  The best thing was the wraps; Salmon strips, cucumber chunks and some kind of spicy sauce in 1" rounds.  

After I got back, I dressed for the gym, grabbed my shopping bag and went for groceries and then the gym.  Before the grocery store, I stopped by the convenience store for chocolate milk and drank about half a quart before I went shopping.  After shopping, I spent an hour at the gym.  The chocolate milk kept me fortified and hydrated; I had a great workout & am sure that from the mental exercise and then the physical, I’m going to sleep well tonight.