When I woke up this morning I had plans to meet my dear friend Betty for dinner. She is an art historian and dear friend who is exceptionally witty and I was looking forward to getting together with this stylish woman. After dinner we would attend an exhibition across the street, a fund raiser for a another dear friend, and art writer, Genie Davis. I have a small mixed media drawing in the exhibit.
After a number of years, the art world becomes smaller and everyone is part of an art tribe. We are all connected now in a new way through social media. It is exciting, heartfelt, joyful, sad, frustrating, contemplative and more. It is like being on a roller coaster that never stops. Friendships are forged but it is an “on the edge of your seat experience”. For this special exhibit at The Loft At Liz’s, it was to benefit Lyme Disease and help Genie’s daughter and grandson. My work was already at the gallery and I had planned to drive out rather than my usual metro. I am the metro queen, It is my main source of transportation. I started sketching on the metro some time back and this has allowed me to let go of the perfect drawing. Hard to draw perfectly when your butt is sitting in place on a moving train. OK, I am rambling. Back to this morning. Fires were blazing due to high winds. Freeways were closed and a ring of smoke was present in the air. Dinner and exhibition plans were canceled.
I decided after much urging from my art colleague, Leonard Greco, to begin a blog. I let go of my painting for today and spent all my time signing up for this site. Slowly but surely I am getting the hang of it. I left text messages for Leonard and he patiently replied to each one. I also have been navigating the site, taking my time. I have dyslexia and sometimes the words move around without my permission. I breath slowly with persistence and patience as my two best friends. For any of you that have this, there is a trick I have learned. Take your time! Put a piece of paper under each line. Can’t help you with inverted numbers but as long as you are not writing longhand, don’t sweat it. I sometimes, well… most times invert 7, 4 and 3. I no longer beat myself up over it. Over the last five years I have managed quite well, even reading excerpts aloud around others. I am great at speaking publicly but never use notes. I practice the basic format at home and then wing it and leave a lot of room for listening to the audience and responding to their needs. Sitting here, working on the site is a different day than I had planned but now you and I are connected and hey, so I didn’t get to work on my painting today but I got to meet you!
Jodi Bonassi: Art Creatures and Other Madness 