When I laid down the gold on the panels I didn’t gild the edges, so they remained a very bright red from the undercoat. The red looks fabulous as it sneaks a peek out from beneath the gold where there are faults or cracks, but the edges were really too strong, so I painted them, then touched up the black birds that I painted yesterday. I have almost all of the panels completed now, but have yet to retouch the edges of five larger pieces and to paint the acacia tree from which the birds will emerge. It’s going to be a good piece of work when it’s complete, and I’m happy with the way its going. If the panels ever dry completely I’ll be able to install the piece next week in Chris’s home. I’ll post pictures later.
I think I mentioned the dream of the Indian lady who laughed when I asked her to open the doorway in a dark alleyway, and said that she would, but I was in the way. She showed up again a couple of times since then in my dreams, once when she was standing in a place resembling a parking lot, and called out to me “meditate, now!”, and again when I was meditating and searching for her, when her face appeared on a sculpture that appeared to me. The sculpture is a tall work made of three high structures that rise up fifteen feet or so, with three painted panels at the top, angled so that people on a balcony can see them. The first face, on the left side, is the Indian lady with her eyes closed, meditating. In the second she has her eyes open and is awake, and the third portrait shows her with her eyes closed but her third eye, in the centre of her forehead has opened.Â
In order to make the piece I will need to shape some birch wood into curves, then make them stable with some rods. The panels will be fairly easy to make, simply boxed in mitred birch planks which will hold the legs in place. I’ve sketched the piece, but I don’t have my camera here, so I’ll post a picture of the drawing later.
I’m meeting Mitchell Thomas this afternoon in Santa Barbara to visit the venue for a new piece of theatre he’s directing. He asked if I would like to design the objects and lighting that the actors will use during the performance. I don’t enjoy doing regular theatre design much, but I love to work with experimental performance, which this piece will be. I did a show with Mitch before, called “Reckless”, and we had a great time, so I’m really optimistic that this will be equally fun to do, and result in some good work.
      
