Pleasure, pressure... pain

Things have slowed down a bit now on the artistic front, so I'm finding the need to push myself a little harder to keep projects coming. I have done a bunch of kind of crafty stuff recently, working quite a bit with stuff I would otherwise discard (i.e.: wooden President Brie containers, empty spraycans, stuff I find at the town dump when I bring my compost there, etc.). This work is of course rather enjoyable to do from a process perspective; I do love process; but they leave me feeling a little less fulfilled than something like a 4'x6' painting might.

I had an awesome night of freestyling with what I consider to a "best of" compilation of Burlington emcees down at the 1/2 Lounge the other night. Hosted by DJ Kanga and my man Backwoods (Heileg), with appearances by Rajnii, Habit, Adrift, Question the MC, Polyrhythms, and several others,(Notably absent was Humble) this was definitely a high point of my creative month thus far. Good vibes were definitely flowing and I felt on top of my game as far as bringing positive and intricate freestyles without falling off.

The night before last was highlighted with a trip to the infamous "barn," essentially an enormous garage that some friends and I utilize as a painting studio, and a long evening of new painting. Shape and I got things rolling pretty early with some great critical conversations and strong coffee and Transplante made a slightly late appearance but brought the thunder artistically, resulting in all 3 of us getting some new paintings started. It felt really good to start something new again and I felt the influence of recent work informing the way that I have been working. Expect to see some photos of this stuff soon...

Oh yeah, the pressure and pain part. I am never one to dwell too much, but I am definitely feeling some pretty significant physical ailments at the moment, lower back, left knee, right hand... whatever. I'm not really bitching. I guess I mostly mention it because it feels relevant and furthermore because whenever I notice some physical pain I tend to get focused quickly on doing what I need to do to get rid of it, so I am thinking it's time for some more excercise.

Ya know, I dug around a bit for something more to share with y'all this morning, but honestly nothing is moving me. I've seen a couple of pretty cool videos lately, but so have you. I guess that's it for now. Get out there and make some art... I know I will. Oh yeah... something I saw...