I got a chance to see these two shows, both at Bergamot Station. Sarah Perry, Caught From Below, sculptures that are compelling, mysterious and very finely done. This one, "Twister" appears to be made from tiny bones. At Hunsaker/Schlesinger until October 28.


And Works On Paper, at Patrick Painter, includes a Jim Shaw that I could take home, but I couldn't, already sold. It was ink on paper, large, of an egg shape hovering near the top with energetic lines swirling. It was gorgeous. Works On Paper runs through October 14th.

Upcoming Event-In Which I Am Participating-Which Begins At 10 AM

On Sunday, October 22nd, from 10 am until 4 pm, the Art Museum Council of LACMA is holding an outdoor art event: Wet Paint. Artists will set up and work outdoors at Roxbury Park in Beverly Hills and completed artwork will be sold at the end of the day.

Drawing Pencils

I'm very sad. I just learned that my favorite drawing pencil, the blackwing 602, is no longer being made. Apparently production stopped years ago, in 2001. I had plenty of pencils then, too many in fact, so I was blissfully unaware. I realized this morning that all my pencils were getting to the short and stubby side so I decided it might be time to put in an order and couldn't figure out why there weren't any readily available. A quick web search turned up this and this.

I've reluctantly placed an order for the next best thing.

But that's not my job...

Today I took my dog to the vet. He had to get his teeth cleaned and also had a small cyst growing on his tail to be removed. At 5:30 pm he was ready for me to take him home. Unfortunately it wasn't until I got home that I noticed he still had a bandage on his leg. At first I thought it was just an ID tag but on closer inspection realized that they left the IV tubes in his leg! I went to get the phone to call them fast, because they close at 6pm. Before I could get them on the line my dog had pulled the "caps" off of the IV tubes, so blood started just running out. It turned out that the veterinary office was already closed and I had to call an emergency number all the while holding his leg trying to put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. At last I got someone on the phone and they told me to go ahead and pull the tubes out and apply cotton and the bleeding would stop. So there I was with scissors trying to cut the bandage off, which was difficult, because it kept bleeding all over and was very slippery and my dog was quickly losing the desire to cooperate. I finally got the bandage off so I could remove the tubes and sure enough it stopped bleeding. Something tells me I won't be going back to that vet anytime soon!

Strange Encounter

Late last night I was walking through my house, barefoot, in the dark, and as I went through the living room I stepped on something weird. I felt something brush rapidly along the inner edge of my heel and it made a quick staccato series of motions. I thought to myself that it would be my luck to step on a scorpion. I turned on the light to see what it was, fully expecting to see a twig, or a leaf, or something that rode in on one of the cats and there it was a scorpion sitting right there on the living room floor. It was huge! Well, at least two, maybe three, inches long. I quickly got a glass and trapped the scorpion under the glass and went looking for a piece of cardboard to slide under the scorpion so I could carry it outside. When I found one and slid it underneath the scorpion it was furious and attacked the glass over and over with amazing speed. I carried it outside and lifted the glass and stepped back. The scorpion just sat there on the card watching me with loathing. I went back inside. This experience makes at least six times I've encountered scorpions in this house. I've got to remember to wear shoes.

It's a Katherine Adventure

This came by way of my sister.

Go to this site & enter your name in the box, or any word you'd like put into a slogon, & hit the Sloganize button. www.thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi

A New Word (For Me)

I learned a new word today-tenebrous. It means dark and gloomy, or obscure and hard to understand. I can think of many times that this word might have come in handy in the past.