Write or Do?

It's March! The Show is in three weeks and a few days! Panic time...what am I doing? At least last night I got some ideas for the t-shirt design, which is a big part of what I must get done. No big reveal though. I was looking for an icon to use, something from the poster, something from the performance, something cute that I haven't used before, something that will speak to the theme...overwhelming. At least the poster solves the lettering issue for me these days. Thanks, Jacque!

Vintage shirt 

As a person who loves type and hand-lettering, I always want to do something original, but it gets harder and harder as I get farther from the world of graphic arts. One reason I get obsessed with the props is that I get to make them by hand, in the old fashioned Xerox art mode, doing collage or kitsch or whatever I want. I'm in charge. I don't have to think about sales, or inventory, or the many limits of making things for retail sales.

That's the key to Jell-O Art for me: it isn't for sale. Of course with the t-shirts I do sell them so I do have to think about all those things, which is probably where the panic comes from and why I often leave that part for the last minute. This year I committed to buying the shirts really early for other reasons and now I really have to make it happen so that investment pays off. Last year I lost money...usually I break even, which is fine, but it would be nice to do something people love so they will pony up the $10 and I can make a good donation to the gallery too. So a little pressure. No Shirley Temple to work with this year.

But I think I have a handle on that, and a few of the props are either made or quite clear in my visual memory so they will be easy to finish up. The Tacky Food is pretty easy: I get out a box of candy molds and mix up some edible Jell-O and spend a good amount of the last couple of days making little Jigglers. They get eaten. Last year I tried the complex injected technique you can find all over the internet but this year I won't do anything fancy. I do have to clean my entire kitchen and refrigerator, but that needs to be done anyway.

The Radar Angels, lots of individual depictions of the various people.

Costumes, check. Some sewing and accessories, a couple of run-throughs to see if there is time for changes and if there are too many details to be practical. But the Jell-O! What am I doing?

I really have no idea. I guess clearing my list of other things does help. I mailed my taxes yesterday and that was a relief. I studied up on Australian birds for my trip. I looked at the Italian CDs and the stack of books and despaired a little, but there is still some time. Jell-O happens in March but the trip is not until April.
After the opening of Market. Saturday Market! How will I be ready for that! Country Fair! Deadlines and details!

It's not really a panic. I'm just trying to write a lively blog after writing a dull one in divinetension.blogspot.com. I'm hoping some ideas will come to me about my sculpture. I could make it about the odyssey of collaboration, how difficult that is for me. Dull. I could comment on the odyssey of life. Too broad. I could find some new technique...after 27 years I'm not sure that is true. I could default to dried and make something spectacular. Tempting. Like a big giant....goddess! Cruise ship! Island!

One of the Radar Angels...I don't remember who.

No, no and no. Ideas to reject are a start I guess. I don't want another giant thing to try to wedge into my project room, which is already full of big Jell-O pieces. I think I should go jiggly. That means getting a concept and then unpacking the boxes of molds and things I have collected, making a new mess. I suppose that is inevitable. Not today though. We meet tonight and I have to practice my kazoo.

Keep thinking! Brilliance and inspiration don't come easily. Sometimes the incubation period is happening inside while you are doing other things. I'll just do other things then. Hope your piece is forming in your creative recesses. Enjoy the ride. Three more weeks and a few days and it will all be over but the posting on Facebook.