Lazy Bones Studio Upon Request

Lazy Bones Studio

In our latest Black Ivory Podcast, I reminisce about the painting hut I built in the woods before I came out as a public artist, and promised @jompiy that I would post about it soon. I have more pictures and video of the time period, but they’re buried deep in Throop archive. I used the hut it all year round, and in the winter, would go out at night after dinner, carrying my paints and light the Aladdin Kerosene lamps. No one knew I was a painter at the time. From my book Making Friends With Wild Dogs: Reflections on Stuckism For Its 25th Anniversary

It’s 2006. We’ve moved to the country with 8 acres of private land beside 5,000 acres of farms and forest butting up against a Great Lake Ontario. Near total isolation. No friends. No enemies. I build a 12 x 12' cabin in the woods. After dinner on the coldest nights I take my paints and a kerosene lamp out to the cabin and work in the weak light. I have a little propane heater at my feet and shadows flickering on the wall. I paint on nights that I am off from work. I am a homemaker, restaurant cook, painter, writer in that order of importance. Rose has become the bread winner. Income from restaurant work is supplemental. My favorite subjects to paint are copies of my five-year old daughter’s drawings. Such innocent and mysterious creations. I am still a copycat student of expression. We tap maple trees in February. It’s March, 2008. I apply to a local juried art exhibition and get accep…

Some paintings from the hut, paper and canvas, all acrylic:

Rose and daughter in the kitchen while cleaning the lamp wicks.