I had to start with this. Earlier this week Jerry and I ran across many many vans in parking garage decorated like this. Reminded me of our trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee. Groovy and bizarre all in the same breath…Just like Gatlinburg. I highly recommend that if you have not seen 1) Christmas lights in February ( I don’t think they actually ever take them down), 2) semi automatic machine guns for sale on every corner, 3) Pancake houses everywhere, 4) Wedding Chapels on every block, and 5) lots of Jesus Loves You signs in one place that you take a peek at this place. Add in the fun of your standard Ripley’s Believe it or Not museums, the ability to have yourself photographed while “Riding a Bull” (like the kind in one of the John Travolta movies from the 70′s), and general tourist funkiness you will truly be WOWED if you go to Gatlinburg for a visit. Funny thing though, once you go…things like this just keep popping up.
I decided I need a little R&R this weekend so Jerry, Susan, Chris and I went to Gene’s for burgers and then Jill and Mathew met up with us to go see the Pirates of the Caribbean. Very fun. Friday night was spent at the folks doing computer problems in exchange for dinner and that lasted until about 10PM so nothing was done Friday or Saturday. I did start reading She-Hulk on Saturday and actually liked it better than the X-men which I am having a hard time getting through. Sunday was a fairly productive day in the studio. I spent from noon to 7:30 working on Lady Madonna. I was able to 1) paint the base and the finger board using oil paints, 2) put together 34 slides with copper foil and burnish them (this doesn’t sound like much but it really is), 3) do the math to figure out how many slides I need, and 4) cut out 150 pieces of music for the slides.
The math for the microscope slides/hair (So I don’t lose it and have to do it again):
Total # of Slides per strand of hair (completed 2 pieces of glass 1 piece of sheet music) = 12
Total # of strands of hair installed on head = 21
Total # of slides (completed) required for the piece = 252
This means I need 504 individual slides. They come in packages of 72 per box and I will need 8 boxes to be safe and not run short (I KNOW this is extra and that if everything went perfect I would only need seven).
Base & Fingerboard before Paint
Base and Fingerboard After Black Oil Paint
The Shop Dog (A.K.A. Little Dog)
All my hard work for the day
