Eve Wood wrote a wonderful review of my show Rock and Refuge for Artillery Magazine, which was made Pick of the Week!

Last Saturday night was a packed house at Craig Krull Gallery in Santa Monica. There were four artists showing after all, so we brought in a lot of people, but Craig said it was unusually crowded even so. I hardly had a break to breathe. Seriously. I was in one conversation after the next and it was non-stop. I didn’t even have time to take any pictures at all, so I don’t have any to show you. I should be getting a few from the gallery (I hope) and maybe I can post them on the blog here so you don’t think I’m just talking out of my ass or trying to bamboozle you. But there were hundreds of people, I swear!

I was very happy with how the show looked. Lots of nice breathing room around each piece, but not too much, and everything seemed to make sense.

Oh, did I mention that someone made a video of my show here? It’s a very nice critique of the paintings and you can see the whole layout of the show to boot. I’ve been asked to do an interview with this guy too. I just have to respond to him to let him know I’m interested. Shy, but interested.

So, I’ve been kind of antsy about getting back to work already. I thought about taking a break, and I am. I mean, I’m not in “work mode” or anything, but I have been wanting to paint, so I sketched out something to do for a 24 x 30 inch gessoboard I have here. Just something quick, and I want to try to paint it looser than usual (I always say that and then I never do it!) and see what happens.

I’ve been working on my book a bit too. That, and seeing a few friends while trying to get over this flu. In the book I’ve been writing about the band days, which hasn’t been too hard. Not as hard as I thought. Not nearly as hard as writing about my childhood or anything. But I thought it would be difficult. So far, it’s been okay. I hope it will be healing actually. I haven’t been into music since I left my band, sadly. I won’t tell you how long it’s been, but it’s been way too many years for that to be the case.

I’m going to be getting together with the lead singer of that band in a couple weeks so she might help me with remembering some of the club names and cities we toured. Hopefully that it will spark a few more memories for me. When I first left the band, I didn’t talk to the band members for many years. It was a bitter ending, but now I talk to most of them. It’s still a little weird though. It’s kind of like having war buddies. Very hard to explain unless you’ve been in a band with people – then you know what I’m talking about. It’s a little bit like being married, only more intense. Especially if you’ve been on the road with them. I think everyone takes turns losing their minds.

Anyway, tomorrow is the big Bergamot Station Holiday Party. I don’t know if I am going to be there or not yet. I am planning on it, but I am still under the weather and if the actual weather is bad, I think I may not make the trek. If I do, I’ll be sure to take pictures this time. I’ll definitely be there for my artist’s talk on the 9th of January though. I have to go to that.

Here’s one picture of me and artist Rochelle Botello at my show though. It was taken by artist Marion Lane.