Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Untitled 209


Pastel on UArt, approx. 5.5" x 5.5".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].

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Those of you who have a blog, do you ever look at the Traffic Sources/Keyword Search part of your stats on blogger? It's hysterical. You can see all the different ways people accidentally end up on your blog. Some of them are completely mystifying. Yesterday people did Google searches for angry indian woman face and don't kiss me and ended up on my blog.

I had an incredibly unpleasant weekend and am very glad it's over. 
I don't think Fennec was concerned...
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I adore his napping positions.

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Block prints for saris, India.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Untitled 208 (Scrambled Eggs)


Pastel on UArt, approx. 6" x 6".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].
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In India.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Monday, January 23, 2012

Untitled 207


Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 6".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].

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Sleepy skinny Rumi.


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In India.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Untitled 206


Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 5.5".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].
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Rumi update: the reason for his weight loss is still a mystery. Poor skinny little guy. The ultrasound showed nothing out of the ordinary (and he now sports a shaved pink tummy), though it ruled out quite a few possibilities. I'm currently waiting for results from an additional blood test, to see if he has a rare condition called pancreatic insufficiency. We're running out of hypotheses...

The vet also suggested doing a dewormer on Rumi just in case, and since I have to do the process with Rumi, I figured I might as well do the same dewormer with Fennec, since Fennec has had mysterious abdominal ailments (bloating, diarrhea) pretty much since we got him. The deworming is meds mixed with their food three days in a row, then wait two weeks, then another three days in a row. And yes, they both were dewormed before, but apparently it can be a good thing to do several times.



Fennec and Gadjo share a nap kind of afternoon.



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Me update: the divorce stuff is difficult and I can't really say anything about it here because The Husband sometimes reads my blog.

Still looking for a place to live avec animolecules, and a place to do art. Sigh. A lot of work/time put into the search so far, and it's still fruitless.
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In Bihar, India.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Untitled 205


Pastel on UArt, approx. 3" x 9".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].
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 Does this look comfortable?

 Or this?

Rumi update: His bloodwork showed that it's not a thyroid problem, not a blood sugar problem, not a heart problem (the three top guesses, previously) but that for some unknown reason(s), he has inflammation in his intestines and/or pancreas and he is not able to absorb his food/nutrients properly, so he is hungry all the time, eats, but keeps losing weight. Why would this have started just a few months ago? I have no idea. He is having an ultrasound of his innards tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get some info from that. 

You know what's sad? He's not allowed to eat anything after 10 tonight, all the way 'till the ultrasound's finished late tomorrow afternoon. And he's hungry all the time! Poor baby.

Good luck to the ultrasound people to to keep him from wiggling during the whole procedure. Rumi is a perpetual motion machine. Maybe they tranquilize kitties for ultrasounds? It seems they would have to.
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In India.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Friday, January 13, 2012

Untitled 204


Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 6".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].
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Took Rumi in today for a re-weigh. Sure enough, he had lost more weight, about another half pound. You can see his little hipbones. :(  So they took blood. I should hear about his blood test results on Monday or Tuesday.
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In India.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Untitled 203


Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 6".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].
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He just kills me with his nonchalant, lazy, trusting, furry orange self. Just kills me.




I'll be taking Rumi back to the vet to reweigh him this Friday, about a week early. He just looks so thin. I arranged with the vet that if indeed he has lost more weight, then they can take blood right then and save an additional trip. 

Not that Rumi would mind an extra trip, of course. He loves going traveling and meeting people.
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In Bihar, India. I looked up and there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of dragonflies circling around above me. Creepy.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Untitled 202


Pastel on UArt, approx. 4" x 5".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].
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Still looking for a place to live and do art. Dealing with a lot of insomnia and increased frequency of migraines.

Also now dealing with a yucky recurring plumbing problem in the house which the other day decided to reappear with a vengeance. Can no longer use the downstairs toilet at all, and it's a tricky and nasty business to take a shower (because it doesn't want to drain, and because water and gross stuff comes up from underground too). Lately I'm showering by balancing on a small pile of bricks I placed in the shower stall (which puts your head too high for the water coming out, so then you're balanced on bricks under your feet, while practicing mild contortionism trying to bend your head down below the water spout...).



Of all the kitty combinations witnessed around here, this pair is by far the most common. They are truly inseparable best friends.

I'm still worried about Rumi. It's getting close to the time (another week or two, I believe) to bring him back to the vet to reweigh him. He looks to me like he may have lost even more weight. Maybe he'll have held steady, which would of course be preferable to continuing to lose. But from the looks of him, I'd say he probably hasn't gained any weight. After reweighing him, if he has lost more weight, then I think the next step is blood tests. My best guess would be hyperthyroid, but it seems to be kind of unheard of in a young cat.

Gadjo's FHS has been noticeable but not out of control--it seems to happen maybe a couple of times a day, but each episode is fairly brief.


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In India.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Friday, January 6, 2012

Untitled 201


Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 6".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].
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In India.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Untitled 200


Pastel on UArt, approx. 3" x 5".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me at: jalapfaff [at] jalapfaff [dot com].
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Still can't find a place to live or do art. Still looking. I have probably a few more weeks to look.
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I took down my art show at Ozo Cafe East last night. No sales, unfortunately. Someone even scribbled something hurtful (on one of my business cards/price signs under one of my paintings) about my work not being worth anything. Lovely, huh? 

No sales at Trident Cafe yet so far either. The other day I went there to hang out (not because my work is there right now, but because it's my favorite cafe in Boulder) and it felt strange to be surrounded by my own works. It felt weirdly familiar, as if I were still at home, or in my own studio, where I am always surrounded by the same works. As I sat there, I worried I might overhear patrons talking derogatorily (I'm sensitive, yes) about my art on the walls. I needn't have worried--sadly, in two hours, I didn't see a single person out of perhaps 100 people even glance at the art on the walls. Sigh.

In my experience at least, it is hard to sell art. Especially abstract art. (Although Open Studios has been successful for me. I'm guessing that's because many people that go to Open Studios are going with the intent of actually buying something for their homes, and also many of them decide ahead of time to go see, e.g., only abstract artists during those two weekends in October.)

In museums, in cafes, in shows, I have often overheard attendees deriding abstract art, laughing about how their "four-year-old kid could do that;" "why would I pay money for just scribbles and blobs of color;" "I could do that myself without even trying;" etc. (They're partly right--kid art can be fantastic, thanks to the combination of lack of self-criticism, absence of self-consciousness, spontaneity, purity of intention, lack of preconceptions, etc. See Loriann Signori's utterly delightful recent post about teaching kids!)

It's hard to hear those things--whether heard about my own work or overheard in front of a Twombly at MOMA--though it seems to be a common sentiment. I've had people even at my Open Studios see my realism work and exclaim that they can't believe I'd wanted to stop doing that and instead do what I am doing (and passionate about) now.

I always wish, when I overhear these types of comments, I were able to take those people right at that moment, sit them at a table with some art supplies, and say, "Fine, go for it, let's see if you can indeed produce a simple abstract painting that's interesting, compelling, emotional, lovely, exciting, 'without even trying.'"

It's hard to stay true to what one cares most about, art-wise. I myself have had plenty of times when I wondered if I were going down the wrong artistic path. I suppose in terms of selling art, I have. Other than on a million-dollar (Rothko, Diebenkorn, de Kooning, Frank Stella, Joan Mitchell, Frankenthaler, Brice Marden, Josef Albers, etc.) scale in the investment art world--other than on that scale of famousness, well, realism and even semi-abstract always outsell abstract by a huge margin (i.e., in local shows, non-famous-NY-artists shows). 

I've found it's often even hard to get an abstract work juried into a show. One of my art teachers at the classical art school told me she thinks it's because many people, including some other artists and art jurors, don't understand how they're "supposed to" react to, or judge, or "understand" abstract art. And so out of fear of seeming ignorant, they simply reject it automatically and move on to art they're more comfortable with. For me (as long as something is competently executed in terms of, say, materials), it's just a pure matter of instinctual response to any given abstract painting. I might love it, hate it, or just shrug out of boredom. I think many people think they are supposed to "figure out" what an abstract painting "means." They think there is some kind of hidden message and they're worried they'll be exposed as not intelligent if they don't "get" it. There may be some abstract paintings like that out there, but frankly, I think those paintings are a minority. Mostly I want to just assure people that any reaction they have is appropriate. Gut reactions are the best reactions. You don't want to think about it. (In my perhaps crazy opinion, the best abstract paintings are the ones that stop your conscious thoughts. You should emerge from viewing them feeling slightly dazed in a pleasant way, as the chatter of your left brain was finally silenced even if just for a few moments.)

It is true that sometimes abstract paintings can be better appreciated by learning about the context [social, technique, materials, etc.] in which they were created--but I maintain the perhaps radical opinion that what matters is just your own gut reaction to a piece. Does it fascinate/repel/surprise/compel/bore you? How long do you spend staring at it? How much of that time spent staring at it is just feeling, as opposed to thinking analytically about how and why the artist made it?

The way I finally figured out what I really wanted to do in art (for the moment--this of course can and will naturally morph!) was by asking myself two questions: 1) when I'm in a museum or a show or looking at art books, what am I most drawn to and feel most excited about looking at? and 2) if I knew I only had a year to live, would I choose to paint realism or abstract? ...and suddenly the answer is perfectly clear to me. I don't know why gazing upon, say, two blocks of color in a rectangle should give me goosebumps, but when it is well done, it simply does.
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I love my skeptical Moji. He'd tell those art critics a thing or two.

 From the archives: baby Gadjo!

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In Hyderabad, India.


More art on my website: jalapfaff.com