i have just spent 40 precious minutes trying to download pictures of the studio and the work created there yesterday...it is not going to happen this morning. but i promise it will. because it has been nothing short of life-changing. and i know it's all new and swervy and cool, and i know that if i had a full time studio and could spend 11-teen hours a day in it, it would resemble a cell block rather than a slice of heaven plunked down here for me. i get that. (liar) but for these three days...oh my god. yesterday i arrived at 5:30am, got the door open to the building (no small feat - jiggle the key, turn this thing.) and there was a loud alarm going off, the handle on my heavy hamper-ish thingie with all my heavy stuff broke, and i had 2 flights of stairs to lug all this up because the freight elevator was waaay to creepy. and after heaving and horsing the stuff up there, and stuffing my lungs back inside my chest cavity, and wiping the sweat from , well, most of my body, it was 80-degrees in the room ...and you know what? i was grateful for every second of all of that. every second. and i sat there in that dark building (of which i have pictures stuck somewhere) and cried. tears of immeasurable gratitude and tears of thankfulness, and the kind of tears that come when there is a big thing percolating in you and it's still tissue paper thin and needs a moment to conjure itself to form, and the brain tells the eyes to turn on the faucet so you'll stay put just a few minutes more. and think. and feel. and breathe. and become just a teensy bit bigger than you were a moment before. just like that. in a soft, quiet flash. better, changed. and i know this all sounds melodramatic - i mean, it's a big empty room is all, right? but it took this big, empty room to fill my big, empty room - the space where art should have front & center...the space where i, once again claim art as my Self. the day was unusual....50-degree weather had people out in shorts and shirtsleeves...the sun was brilliant. all this added to the fantastical nature of it. today - 27 and snow and 40+ mph winds. gotta love syracuse! okay - i'm off to the studio....i only have 3 days and don't want to spend it in front of this box, no matter how much i love you. i'll try for pictures again ...later!