On Vashon Island

I just listened to the movie Julie and Julia with my mom tonight. She watched it and drank red wine, I was turned away from the screen, painting but sat on the floor, right next to the couch, working and every now and again saying "wait, what just happened?" Anyways I though I should blog, 'cause that's what the woman in the movie did. She began cooking and found a sense of self and purpose and blogged about her cooking adventures with Julia Childs book every day. So I thought, gee I can do that, I mean not cook, but you, write stuff.

I'm working on this painting right now, I have three figures down, all of them are super different from one another, it's like a they all exist in separate realities. One is so Alice Neel it's not even funny, it just came out like that. I'm going to sleep on it in a minute here and see what happens tomorrow. There is one figure that's particularly good that of course came out in like one second, but she doesnt have a body, just a head and and a really long Maddonna ponytail, theres not much space for a body, I mean no space, hum, she's the best though.

My mom and I went to a film screening tonight called "After the Storm". It was so fantastic and super funny. It was here on Vashon Island at a randoms house, full on random Vashon hippie, artists, teachers, musicians, filmmakers, etc. One woman didn't want to drink out of a plastic cup. I ate like a million grapes and laughed so loud at parts in the film that no one else laughed at. It was about this group of Broadway type New York fags who hold auditions in New Orleans for kids to put on their own version of "Once on This Island" at a community center in New Orleans that they get up and running again, as it was never re-opened after Katrina.

The kids were so fantastic, the NYC peeps were hilarious to me working with the kids and it just felt SO GOOD to see these super queer teens being held in a space that was safe. It was their world- Drama! They where fry to sing and dance and act and be so overflowing with themselves and their talent. It was really special and beautiful. Being a teen is horrible, to have any type of creative outlet is priceless. I connected so strongly with the footage of them in rehearsals, just working their asses off, giving it everything they got. I think this is why I became a workaholic, I just threw myself into painting and drawing and making. It was important to work hard at it, and took me into me.