First Day

My Studio.

First I have to say that as soon as I arrived here I had the most intense deja vu ever. I was pretty sure that I was back at ny first days of college. Um, but older and with bifocals this time. Thankfully it has subsided now but I have to say it was pretty freaky!

Ok. The drive went very smoothly (I heart mapquest) and although my car was acting suspiciously, the back end was significantly lower than the front end and I was convinced that it would collapse onto the back wheels, I made it here without incident.

When I got here a girl named Arista showed me where my room is, and then my studio, which is beautiful and big and freshly painted. I unloaded my things and then met up with Arista and about a dozen other residents and she took us on a tour. I think we all felt a bit awkward and no one talked to each other much, we were all just trying to get our bearings I suppose. However. this is where the deja vu kicked in-I was pretty sure that I had known some of the younger women from my college days, they seemed so familiar (the hair, the clothing, even the patchouli) but of course they were just babies then. Sigh. Anyway, it felt funny to be on the other side this time around, when really I still feel like one of them. Not sure if that makes sense.

I settled into my room and then went to the reception at the dining hall, where I stood around feeling like an idiot. I have gotten so used to people wanting to meet me at my openings and initiating the conversation, that I have seemingly lost my ability to just go up to someone I don't know and start talking. Actually I have never been all that great at that, but it was much easier when I a. drank alcohol, which I don't do anymore, and b. when I used to socialize more, which I also don't do anymore. Well except when it revolves around me. Heh.

At dinner I had the pleasure of sitting next to David Grozinsky. I was told by two people Steven LaRose and Tom Butter, a former teacher of mine at art school and who is frequently a visiting artist here) to find him, he works here, and I did find him at the salad bar. I had no trouble calling out to him that I know people that he knows (guess I just need a mission) and he was especially tickled to find out that I (sort of) know Steven. He invited me to sit next to him at dinner and we chatted a bit. Then I spoke to some of the other people at the table and everyone was very nice, of course. I look forward to getting to know everyone, there is such an interesting variety of residents here!

After dinner I puttered around in my studio and unpacked a few things and now I am off to bed. Tomorrow morning there is a meeting for the painters and I am totally excited about the figure drawing session in the afternoon!

So there you have it. A really big day in Tracyland. I will post in a few days, hopefully with some updates on new works.