Woke this morning, went to Saline Beach. I think that will be my designated favorite beach. It’s close, secluded and really amazing. There were about 9 people spread out on the entire beach and there was lot’s of nudity. Nearest to me was a mom and her son, she topless reading book, there was a couple with matching, straw, sun hats who were entirely nude, minus the hats. They went in the water holding hands and were glued to each other the entire time they were in the water. I wasn’t about to go buff, but I did manage to take off my swim shorts once I got in the water, which was basically pointless because the water is so clear that people can see your whole body from the beach. It was fun being nude. When I got home from the beach I remembered that Maya told me she would often swim in the pool nude when she was here alone for a week before I got here, so that inspired me and I soon found myself floating around the pool, free of shorts and then I even lounged around the deck for a while to completely erase any tan lines I had acquired since I got here.
Before going to the beach, I woke and went out to the deck and started taking the sheets and towels off the line that the maid had hung there yesterday. I was really happy to have started the day with a task. The laundry smelled really nice and I enjoyed folding it into one, large tower that I placed on a chair. After I’d figured I’d had enough sun up by the pool, I came down and saw the pile of folded, crisp, clean, white sheets and all I wanted to do was take one and wear it instead of getting ‘dressed’. What I really wanted to do was take one and cut a whole for my head, two for my arms and get some string and make a custom belt. This seemed like the perfect fashion for my first solo day here in the house. It would be light, airy and keep me clean from paint once I started working. I even fancied decorating it a bit with a magic marker, perhaps doing a drawing on it or something...maybe even cut some slits at the bottom to make some fringe. Funny the things you allow yourself to do when you are completely alone, like creating one of kind out-fits. It reminds me a bit of what happened to Jack Nicholson in The Shining, except he was in the snow and I’m in the sun. I may work on the sheet-dress another day while I’m here, but for today I went with a more traditionally masculine look and ended up putting on some boxer shorts and a white tee-shirt and left the beautifully folded sheets alone. At least for today. Apparently I’m over my self consciousness of writing a personal blog since I’m sharing my wishes to delve into my feminine side by creating billowy, dress like, alternative fashions.
It was probably a good thing I didn’t get too creative with my look today because, as it turns out, the house ended up having a few visitors. Two guys knocked on the door and walked in around noon and told me they were here with the water. I think all of the homes here have to order water and have it delivered into big tanks underneath the house. They pulled up in what looked like a large oil truck but instead of oil it was water. They took a long hose and brought it up from the truck, through the house, all the way to the back deck, where they picked up a trap door in the floor and placed the other end of the hose. They had to come back six times with the truck to fill the house!
While the house was being filled with water, two French speaking guys came up the back path and appeared out of nowhere, both were carrying chain saws. They told me they came to cut down some branches and prune some things. So, the yard was getting a trim and the house was being watered. That’s when I took off for the beach.In the afternoon I went to the ‘downtown’ area, Gustavia, which is where the gallery is. I stopped by to see Martina and I took this picture of her with the dog that lives next door to the gallery. His name is Cookie - and like cookies - the treats that are bitten by people, Cookie the dog, instead, likes to bite into people, constantly......see here:
They really hired the right person when they hired Martina for the job of director of this residency. She’s so sweet, kind and accommodating. She holds it all together here. I think at some point she and I are going to go snorkeling, which I’m a little (a lot) nervous about, but I don’t want to pass up that opportunity either. The water is so clear and beautiful here.
The rest of the day consisted of me trying to figure out what would be the best work schedule for art making. It seems like the very early morning for a couple hours will work, and then again in the evening. The day time hours are completely useless to be working here. Now I understand why the businesses on the island close down in the afternoon for a couple hours. There are too many nice beaches lobbying for ones attention, and it’s too hot to be working. It’s the same in New York, I find it impossible to do anything creative or constructive in the afternoon from around 2:30 till around 5:30, which isn’t to say I don’t try, believe me I do, but the best work is done in the night time or the morning. This blog is turning out to be quite time consuming, and I’m enjoying it, so that’s something else I have to fit into my days here.
The other thing is this, being on this sunny, beautiful island, I think my mind is slowly turning to mush. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. There’s just a completely different set of stimulations here than what I’m used to in the busy city. For instance, here, I can find myself watching a bird for about ten minutes, checking to see where it’s flying off to next, listening to what kind of sound it makes, or I can wander around taking pictures of plants in the yard or staring out at the view off the porch, and before I notice, poof, two hours are gone. By contrast, in the city, I get work done, and there are always emails to tend to, or news to read on the internet. In the city it’s back and forth between distraction and work, and here that back and forth seems to be muted. When I say my mind is turning to mush, by mush I might just mean, relaxed. Which is something my boyfriend will be happy to read and my therapist will be proud of. For crying out loud, the first thing I thought to do when I got back from the beach today was to TAKE A NAP. I don’t take naps in my normal life in New York, especially in the day time, but apparently here it’s completely fine by me to just lay down and snooze for a bit after a hectic visit to the beach, soaking up some sun and splashing about, nude no less, in the crystal clear water. Now I understand why people smoke pot and listen to reggae in such sunny climes. Well, I’m not that relaxed. Reggae will never appeal to me, mush or no mush.
So, this evening I started working. I set up a table, opened a box of supplies that I sent a head of time to the island, plugged in a big lamp and started painting paper black, which is one of the first things I do to start. I had to tape down the papers so they didn’t blow away. Even though I’ve hardly done any work, I feel better now that I’ve started. I’m here for less than a month and it’s a little weird to get my bearings and start working. I have a routine in my studio back in the city, as everyone does, and to be off on another planet in the Caribbean for 29 days will take some getting used to. I think one would really have to be here for a couple months or more to get into a groove. Salon 94 shipped some finished pieces a head of time for my show at the end of my residency, which is good. They sent some drawings/paintings on paper and some Polaroids. They are all already framed. I have three small/medium size canvases to work on while I’m here that I want to have done for the show as well. The show will be on one of the last days that I’m here at the end of the month.
Does one come to a place like this, a new place, new surroundings, an artist residency, away from the norm in hopes to be inspired? Or is it just quiet time away to continue what you would normally be doing back at your usual studio and surroundings? I don’t know if I’m inspired by my surroundings here. Plus, I’ve surrendered to the island living - mushification of my brain, so even if I were inspired, I don’t that I would notice it. Don’t get me wrong, It’s beautiful here, and I love having the time away, and I have no doubt I’ll make something that I like while I’m here, but I’m treating this experience more like a break away from my usual studio practice and schedule. In New York, I wake up early, take the subway with Jonathan and we go to work together, he gets off on 53rd Street on the east side and I continue one stop off Manhattan to Long Island City to work in my studio, which I typically do until about 6 or 7 or 8 at night. I clock in a lot of hours there. So, this is nice to be away from that for a spell. Time is different here and I am glad to be experiencing that. I’m also grateful. I was invited here by Marc Jancou a collector and curator whom I’ve met a few times, both through my gallery in London, HOTEL, and through Salon 94 in New York. He and Fergus McCaffrey are the creators of the residency. I look forward to meeting Fergus as we’ve never met. My friend Nancy called me tonight from Chicago and we were talking about this notion of being inspired and she pointed out that the inspiration may not be overt and apparent but I’m always inspired by my immediate surroundings, as everyone is. So, we shall see what kind of work I actually come up with here. Having said all that, as I was painting my paper black tonight, I was thinking about color and I thought, gosh, it would be really great to do a YELLOW painting while I’m here because I’m actually inspired by these tiny little lemons that fall off a tree somewhere in the yard. They are small, just big enough to slice open and place in a beer or two (which I haven’t done yet, I don’t have the heart to slice them) see here:
I’ve tried several times to work yellow into paintings. Yellow is real hard. It’s always straight up YELLOW no matter how hard you try to integrate it with other colors and shapes. I used to use a color a lot that was sort of lime-green, but that was a long time ago. Anyway, maybe yellow will be my inspiration here and I’ll finally be able to pull off a yellow painting, which may not have happened if I wasn’t here. Of course I didn’t ship any yellow paint, I only sent the colors I use, and those are: Mars Black, Titanium White, Van Dyke Brown, Burnt Sienna, Gray, and a tan/fleshy color named, “Titan Buff”, which is such a great name for that color. It’s very gay. Maybe I could have Jonathan Fedex me some yellow’s and I can call the painting, “Fedex Yellow”, I think that would be a good title. Oh, and by the way, all my paints exploded on the flight over here. Not a big deal, still useable, but it’s a mess, check it out:
So, that’s it for today. I’m tired and I’ve got mosquitos to swat. As I end today’s blog, the song on my radio is that great song, “Bittersweet Symphony” by the Verve.
It reminds me of Princess Diana’s death because I think that song was big around that time. I was living in San Francisco then, the most beautiful city in the United States. Whatever happened to The Verve? That song was so great and I remember the video being real simple and good. The song before that was, “Manic Monday” by the Bangles. I think Prince wrote that song, it reminds me of high school. I’ll write again tomorrow. Below are some other pictures from today.
here’s a little movie from this evening around sunset:
