Sticky Fingers

Today, all I did was glue. Glue tiny little glass beads to an un-primed canvas. Tiny little beads that did not want to stick to the canvas. They got stuck to my fingers, my face, my forearms...Needless to say I have a more profound respect for anyone who works with tiny particles of - anything. I tried gluing some really sparkly colorful beads to this ring pattern I had drawn. It took me 30 minutes to just get them down on 1/6 of the ring. My piece needs to hung on either Monday or Tuesday. If it's Tuesday, I'll be very happy because there are few things I'd like to do. If it's Monday, then the piece needs to be resolved enough so that I don't feel totally embarrassed by it at the opening on Wednesday. I am so glad I decided to do something of this nature, though, no matter what the end result. Maybe I'm trying to be too craftsy, but there is a certain amount of satisfaction I feel towards the piece. Some things going through my head while I'm working -

"Why not just paint the thing?"
"Why aren't you taking the time to make some straight forward prints"
"What am I going to eat tonight?"
"Is that hot guy going to be by the subway stop again?"
"Why the hell isn't this sticking?!"
"Did my irises open?"

There's a whole lot more that was going on in me mind. It's interesting what you think about when you are silently working alongside someone. Adrianna is the master printer here. She's fabulous and doesn't speak a lot of English. So between that and my less than minimal Spanish, there isn't a whole lot of talking. We tend to communicate through brief sentences or body language. Alvaro works administatively in the office. He met me at the bus station and pretty much takes care of all our questions. He is totally charming and quite silly. He is always joking with us. He's very up on current events and we have political discussions during lunch intermixed with questions about what we've seen since we arrived. Alas, I haven't seen a lot because I've had a lot to work on for my piece. I set myself up for some seriously learning. I not only sewed the mask type pieces for my work, I made up the pattern for them as well. All the times I watched my mom sewing, SOMETHING had to have rub off! I can't wait to show her. She'll probably say "What's that?', then,'That's different' - her way of saying I don't like it. Before I left, mom said she wanted something for a wall she was redecorating. She wanted something pretty. I said I'd could make her something pretty. She replied 'Then why don't you?'. I guess my work has been a little too sexy or angsty to put up in the house. I told her I'd make her something pretty while at the residency......what can I make that's pretty.....FUCK!

I just glued a punching bag head to the wrong body.