A Bit o' April

Well, just well, Pilgrim. Here we are.

No real reason to post today excepting to do so. Let's see what's in my diminishing brain.

Been painting. It seems a harmless thing to do, which things to do are in rare attendance these days of absurdist dark comedy. Here's my latest, painted from a photo I took several years ago in a neighborhood alley. 

"lonely chair" -- scott gardner merrick

You can always see the collection at scottmerrick.me. If there is a method in my madness it's to create interesting things. I see a great number of paintings posted online. OMG, we've got the Instagerm, the BookOfTheFace, all that other Social and Media stuff, and one doesn't know where to turn sometimes, so one avoids all of them. Back in freakin' 1990-something, I posted (I think on MySpace, hehehe) a short video where I approached our front door over on Cantrell Avenue, opened the door, and labeled it something like "Come On Into the Merricks". My wife went a little berzerk and if I recollect correctly I took it down; but yeah, that's me. 

So I'm not doing that again, though I am proud of our front entrance, even though I got a Metro Codes citation for my long grass, a result of choosing to participate in our local iteration of "No Mow Month." See more here, but let it be known that I called codes, had a cordial chat with the head of the Codes Division overseeing private residence maintenance and learned that our fair City "does not support" that Cumberland River Compact program. Interesting. At any rate I used my weed trimmer to cut everything back, including my red clover. I overseeded front and back two years ago--it was displaying beautiful rolling waves of large and tall petals. Why did I cave so quickly? Well, the $50 a day fine beginning in a few days was certainly a motivator. I still have my yard sign, though, and I promised the authorities I'd be keeping it all presentable. It was, to be honest, looking a little shabby. 

I still have my back yard meadow experiment, though I cut back the grass gone to seed back there. I may mow that just to help define what will be a lush home garden. If half of what I planted a couple weeks ago comes up and blossoms, it will be all that! I will post pics on Instagram and here...

So that's a bit o' news. As always, ever hopefully, more later.

Art Classes, Charles, and Painting

 Okey dokey. It's almost the end of September and I'm pretty good. (Cue the John Prine song).

I want to celebrate the patron's party opening for my painting master Charles Brindley's show at the exclusive private Montgomery Bell Academy this past weekend. I'm so missing his classes, even though with my cushy studio setup and fairly regular painting I'm making progress. Here's my latest finished "lakescape" from my 2nd home in a boat on Marrowbone Lake (don't I wish! What fun it would be to have a docked houseboat there, but it's a Tennessee Managed Fishing Lake, no docks, just rental boats and your own if you have the gear--no gas motors), from a photo I took in early fall of 2023. I'll also share an abstract that I finished this past week. More details at scottmerrick.me.

"morning marrowbone"

"that very moment"

All that said, I'm missing seeing him once a week for a full day of open studio, he having lost his lease at Scarritt-Bennett Center, right across from the school where I taught for 14 years, USN. It's a long story but suffice it to say his scores of students are disappointed in that property's handling of the situation. He's been there for over 10 years, y'all. 

Anyway, we've all been looking for locations for class locations, and I gather from our discussions that Charles may be sneaking up on one. Fingers crossed.

The opening was wonderful. There were probably 200 people attending, maybe more, and I got to see many of my fellow students, all of us pretty much in the "older" category, all them creative and filled with life and curiosity and a drive to make. Love all of them. We didn't stay long, but the show runs through March 2, though it's "appointment only" entry. I'll sure as hell make an appointment and go back. There are also a bunch of events that I will be attending. I have an iphone snap I took to share with my pal Rocky that details them. Hope to see some friends and you, if you can make any of them and are interested in the painterly arts. I don't believe rsvp is required for those, but if you read the fine print you'll see that you need an appointment to view the exhibit. I HIGHLY suggest you do so. 

That's all for this morning. Rocky just texted me to join him for breakfast at Mama D's in Ashland City and I have to get out of my jammies and into the car. Darn it and yay, I say. Be well.