Sixty Eight years ago … my mom went into labor on Mother’s Day. I was born the following morning ( the 12th ) and she always referred to me as her first Mother’s Day gift. Today is my birthday … eternally grateful to this woman for bringing me into this world. It’s been a wild ride … luckily there was a very strict “no return” policy in place … so she had to keep me 🤣💜🥰
#maybirthday #taurus #mothersdayspecial
These beauties took their time and waited to bloom upon my return from Italy. These amaryllis are from last year’s bulbs, so I wasn’t sure if they would bloom again this year, or if they would just give me leaves. In any event … they have opened in all their glory to welcome me home. Another harbinger of spring that has been slow coming and cold. 💜
#amaryllis #spring #springwillbealittlelatethisyear
The artist Robert Henri once wrote: “The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state that makes art inevitable.”
For the past few weeks, I have been fortunate to be in that state of grace … where the creative energy is overflowing and the artwork pours forth with little or no effort. Where the physical act of “making“ is akin to “holding hands with God”, as the artist/photographer Robert Mapplethorpe once said.
My stay here in San Gimignano has touched and moved me on so many levels … physically, mentally, emotionally and of course, creatively. I am so grateful to the people who have helped me get here over the years ( you know who you are ). Equally grateful to Michael Dowling for holding space for me to “come home” every year.
Ten years ago … my ghosts brought me to San Gimignano. My angels have sustained me here. 💜🙏🏼🎨🇮🇹☕️🥂
#artistretreat #sangimignano #italy
Some cyanotypes from San Gimignano. This trip has been very productive for me and also a little exhausting. The work has been flowing effortlessly and I’m not used to it feeling so easy. Usually I have to gently prod and manipulate the work into existence. No complaints though … the views are gorgeous, the food is amazing, and the prosecco is plentiful. I seem to thrive here … 😎🇮🇹🌞☕️👏🏻🎨
#cyanotypeprint #sunprint #lifeofgayartist #sangimignanoitaly
I am back in San Gimignano, Italy, for my 7th artist retreat in ten years. Here in San Gimignano … I am surrounded and inspired by the beautiful Tuscan landscape, the quirkiness of the medieval walled in city, and the serenity and peace within the monastery walls, where I stay and create from a place of silence.
Over the years, I have come here in all my messy humaneness. Sometimes broken … sometimes flourishing , … sometimes just getting by, by the seat of my pants. And then … something always happens while I’m here. While I’m creating and making and exploring and discovering … I’m also healing.
As I begin my day … I will leave you with this poem by the Irish poet John O’Donohue, that Michael, our retreat facilitator, shared with us this morning at breakfast.
“For the Artist at the start of Day”
“May morning be astir with the harvest of night;
Your mind quickening to the eros of a new question,
Your eyes seduced by some unintended glimpse
That cut right through the surface to a source.
May this be a morning of innocent beginning,
When the gift within you slips clear
Of the sticky web of the personal
With its hurt and its hauntings,
And fixed fortress corners,
A Morning when you become a pure vessel
For what wants to ascend from silence,
May your imagination know
The grace of perfect danger,
To reach beyond imitation,
And the wheel of repetition,
Deep into the call of all
The unfinished and unsolved
Until the veil of the unknown yields
And something original begins
To stir toward your senses
And grow stronger in your heart
In order to come to birth
In a clean line of form,
That claims from time
A rhythm not yet heard,
That calls space to
A different shape.
May it be its own force field
And dwell uniquely
Between the heart and the light
To surprise the hungry eye
By how deftly it fits
About its secret loss.”
Let the healing begin … 💜🎨🇮🇹☕️
I am the spring the holy ground
I am the seed of mystery
The thorn the veil the face of grace
The brazen image the thief of sleep
The ambassador of dreams
The prince of peace
I am the sword the wound the stain
Scorned transfigured child of Cain …
“Easter” by Patti Smith
Drawing by Mel Odom
Write a letter to someone who’s died and wait for their answer in your dreams. Replace words with visual material … sketches, doodles, photos, ephemera. Make lists … real or imagined. Create from a place of silence. Do not worry about working chronologically … bounce around in your book. Treat your visual journals as though they were compost heaps. Just put it all in there … to be unearthed at a future date. It will be there for you when you need inspiration … an idea for new work … a line for a poem … the dialogue for a character in your soon to be realized novel. And … the most important piece of advise … remember to remove the glue stick from your pockets before you do the laundry !! Bob Siegelman, my art guru, once gifted me a blank journal. I had been bitching and complaining about not having a studio or enough time to create art. On the inside of the journal he inscribed “ Always carry a journal with you and when you cannot be in the studio, the studio will be with you. “
Thank you to all the folks who showed up this past weekend for my workshop “Keeping an Artist Journal from the Queer Perspective “. A wonderfully diverse group of people with open hearts, open minds, creative energy, and a sense of humor. (Yes … they did indeed … laugh at all my jokes. )
Much thanks and gratitude to the folks at DATMA for sponsoring the event. Likewise to the Marion Art Center for hosting the workshop. And finally … thank you to Lindsay Mis, for reaching out to an old friend and gently pushing me forward !! 💜🌈🎨📸📚✂️🖍️
Photos 📸 by me, DATMA, and the Marion Art Center.
Took this photo in Dublin back in 2024. HAPPY ST. PATRICK’s Day to all who celebrate !! ( Basically everyone on my mom’s side of the family 🤣) 💜👏🏻🌈☘️🍻
#dublin #stpatricksday
This Saturday, 3/14 … I will be teaching a workshop at the Marion Art Center @marionartcenter … entitled “Keeping an Artist Journal from the Queer Perspective”. Many years ago, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a writing workshop with the poet/ novelist Erica Jong ( “Fear of Flying”), where she encouraged the participants to always carry a journal with them … to record observations, words, conversations. After the workshop … I approached Jong and told her that I always wanted to keep a journal but wasn’t a writer. “What do you do ? “ she asked, and I replied that I was an artist. “Perfect … make your journal a visual one ! Replace words with images … photos, sketches, ephemera.” It took me a few years, but by the mid 90’s, I was well on my way to making this a daily/ weekly practice. My “visual journals “ ( 30+ at this point ) are a combination of sketchbook, scrapbook, and diary … documenting my life as a LGBTQIA+ artist. Keep scrolling to the left …I have enclosed the workshop information here. You don’t have to be a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to take this workshop … although you should be an ally … with an open heart and mind. A good sense of humor helps too !! 💜👏🏻🎨📚📒
#artistjournal #artistsketchbooks #collage #cutandpaste #lifeofgayartist
First full weekend back from Florida … dinner on Friday night with Bob, Steven, and Mark over in the South End at Metropolis, after SOWA’s First Friday. On Saturday … went to Jerry Russo’s opening “Inside the Artist Studio: Exploring the Creative Life” at the Brickbottom Gallery. Ran into so many artist friends I haven’t seen in awhile … most notably the lovely Michael Costello, who drew and painted me eight years ago. It seems like yesterday … hard to believe it’s been this long. Was also deeply moved to see Jerry’s portrait of Elsa Dorfman on the “ In Memorium “ wall. Elsa is wearing a bright red dress … one created for her by my dear friend Patsy Curran. Both woman gone now and deeply missed. ( BTW … the show is really wonderful and worth the trip over to see !! )
After the opening … went over to The Lexington on 1st Street to have dinner with Carrie and Diane, Society of Arts and Crafts ( SA+C) alum from back in the day … when buying handmade and small business actually mattered. It’s been a year since we all got together and we were lamenting how quickly time seems to rush by lately.
I am back in the area for another few weeks and then hopefully … God willing … off to Italy for April ( unless of course Trump and Netanyahu manage to get us all blown into oblivion between now and then). Hit me up and let’s grab a coffee or some lunch and we can bitch and complain about how everything is collapsing around us … including time. 💜🎨☕️📸👏🏻
#brickbottomgallery #jerryrussophotography #sowafirstfridays #artfilledweekend
Sunrise at 6:58am … “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning … “. An overcast and foggy day here … but nothing compared to what’s going on up north. My poor friends … thinking of all of you and this impending blizzard !! Please be safe all … my prayers only reach so far !! Also … a blue cyanotype print on yellow paper. Sending a little warmth and art your way !! 💜🌞📸☕️
#sunrise #daytonabeachshores #redskyinthemorningsailorstakewarning #cyanotypeprint
