Loose ends

Hi, kids. I've been feeling a little sorry that my blogging has been so brief and so infrequent these last few months. Now that we're rolling across the semester's finish line, I'm hoping there will be more time and mental space to update you all about my doings and thinkings, as this thing here functions as a meditative tool for me as well. 

(Sidenote: I have started keeping a studio journal that is just about what I'm thinking in studio-- it's a means of picking up where I left off since I often have several days in a row away from studio nowadays. I tell myself it's not another offshoot of my narcissism but a useful tool. And so far it actually is. Wait till you see the giant head painting. It's coming right along.)

A few things from earlier posts that never got wrapped up: 

1. The professor job search is over for this year. I sent out 30 applications and got one interview, in MICHIGAN. Yuck. I mean, no offense to Michigan, but as far as I can tell, that's a cold and bleak winter landscape, and the economy there is slowly imploding, so, not a great time to move there. Anyway it's a moot point because they hired someone else. 

Word on the street is that everyplace has a hiring freeze, so there's nothing out there and I shouldn't take it personally. I'm not taking it personally. I am well qualified for these jobs and I think my applications were strong. There's a lot of competition right now, and most people seem to take three years after grad school to get out of the adjunct racket and be made into honest women or men by some lucky institution. 

The thing is, though, I am really questioning my commitment to teaching right now. There are things I really like about it, and then there are other things that are demoralizing and suck away from me energy that I would prefer to use in the studio. I didn't set out to be a teacher, I set out to be a painter. 

I find myself in a position now where I like my supplementary job, working for Suzi the Collector Lady, much more than I like teaching. She is pleasant to be around, the work is interesting but not difficult, she pays me well, and the work environment is actually quite lovely. Last week I got to work for a day at their second home on the Chesapeake. Here is a picture of the view: 

I bet that beats the view from your office. 

(I really enjoyed picturing my little grandpa on a sailboat on the Chesapeake all that day. He loved sailing and always wanted to live there. He and my grandma moved to Charlotte to help raise my brother and me when my parents split up, with the idea that they would stay a few years and then move up there. They stayed more than twenty-five years, the rest of their lives.)

Anyway, as an experiment, I am taking a step away from teaching right now. Well, as of next week, when I finish final crits and the semester is really over. I am not teaching during the summer, and I am expanding my hours with Suzi. We'll see in the fall whether I want to go back. 

However, I do plan to keep my class at MICA for as long as they'll have me. That class is much more enjoyable than my CC classes, and also keeps my hand in teaching so that if I want to try again for professor jobs in a little while, it's not out of the question.

Regardless of what I'm doing, my main goal is to make enough money to survive working part time, and to spend the rest of the time in the studio. I feel like this year has been a good year for experimenting and trying different media, and now there is a new body of work about to come through. It's an exciting time, I just need to show up, and show up every day. 

2. That lady I mentioned back in November did finally buy my painting, after stringing me along for four months. She turned out to be very nice, and I'm glad she wasn't just being a sadist.

3. I did have strep, that time the strep test came back negative. Turns out there are lots of kinds of strep, and a strep test only tests for strep A. In case you were wondering.

This has been kind of a rotten semester. I am so glad it's over. 

And now, my favorite time of year, a time when all the trees of Baltimore lose their fucking minds and riot in the streets. A time when my normally not-especially-girly constitution becomes obsessed with flowering trees and the display of breasts and legs. Springtime!

Springtime photo essay GO: 

Nick and I went down to DC to check out the cherry blossom festival, and it was nice but it was COLD that day, and windy, and we were about three days past the peak of the blooms so they were starting to fall apart. So we took these pictures: 

OH YEAH and Alana came to visit with her kids and husband Joey, and we had a nice time but I didn't take any pictures. She took some, though, which are posted over at her blog. 

And that brings us pretty much up to date. Moving into summer, I hope to have more grand adventures and to keep you posted as they unfold. 

Wishing grand adventures to you, as well.