October 27, 2002
I’m onto something wonderful (12:23 p.m.). I have been experimenting with wild washes and underpainting for some time but I feel like I haven’t quite pushed it far enough. So today I got the inspiration to try it on cold press board (I was cleaning and found a dirty board lying around and cut it in half, put a monochromatic wash of yellow ochre on one and a wash of raw sienna on the other. I fought the urge to keep going (adding more paint, or trying to “make it into something”) and let them dry as is. The yellow ochre one was quite harsh and had heavy transitions, but I let it go (it was difficult!). I went over to the house and had lunch, fiddled around, took a nap, came back out (it’s raining) and reversed the order, using a yellow ochre over the raw sienna and a new coat of raw sienna over the yellow ochre one. Then I dabbed the pooling paint with a wet paper towel and the transitions blended and the results are spectacular! Quite raw and “found” looking, with the aged patina of an old photograph (my goal all along). Now to work it to the next level. I’d like to create a scene on these but leave a significant portion showing through, so that the entire field looks like it has been in storage for 125 years. Very exciting.

Went into town with Kathy about three. Washes really running on Scottsdale Road. Heavy traffic all the way in. Stopped at Target and while K. shopped I went over to Starbucks and got a hot chocolate ($2.35 cash), picked her up and then we went down to Costco for groceries, etc. ($38 house account), while she was shopping I got gas ($15.92, gas is $1.31 a gal.) house debit), then we went across on the 101 and met Deena at Rock Bottom in Desert Ridge for lunch. One of the cooks recognized Deena (he used to work with her at another place) and comped the entire meal (we tipped our waiter $15 and the cook $15 cash). Kathy left her purse in Deena’s car so we had to drive all the way over to Ice Breaker’s to pick that up, then waded across town to make deposit at Desert Credit Union.

Got home around four. Power out. No electricity, couldn't cook, go online, call anyone. Had to read on the patio (Oh, the horror! The horror!).

Friday night we watched a riveting documentary on Sundance Channel called “Is Anybody Listening?” It’s about a band from Michigan called NC-17. They moved to LA, and were going to make it big, and of course, haven’t. They have doggedly pursued “the big time” for 12 years; they won on Star Search, won on MTV’s Basement Tapes, still no deal, no money. Their girlfriends and wives are all fed up with them. They looked very crushed and defeated. When is it time to give it up and admit failure, grow up and get a real job? Needless to say, this theme struck a nerve in our house! Ha. I totally related to the guys having been in many rock bands myself for too many years to count, and my media career is not that different, It’s a tough one. Kathy feels quite burned out by the feast and famine nature of my so-called career, and I must say she is a saint to have put up with all of my “promises,” for 23 years. Ouch!

"It is the follow through that makes the great difference between
ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop."
—Charles F. Kettering