Poppy Z. Brite's Blog, page 24
December 14, 2012
Page Impotence
It's Page Impotence, is what it is. Even when I think of something I want to write about, I hit "Post to journal" and see that intimidatingly white blank page and just shrivel, complete with sad trombone sound effects. It started with fiction, progressed to nonfiction, and has now even spread to blogging. But I'll try to forge ahead and not let it win completely.
My own words just look and sound so STUPID to me these days. Making pictures feels so much better.
Anyway, yesterday was a bit of a banner day. First thing in the morning, I came out to my dad as trans. I'd been worried about this, because we're a lot alike but he's also pretty conservative; however, in the couple of months since I'd seen him, things have gotten to the physical point where anyone who knows me is going to notice that something's up. So when he invited me to lunch, I texted back, "I'd love to, but you should know that I look pretty different (male) these days. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." His awesome response: "Your persona is up to you. I need a Casamento's fix." So we had a fabulous lunch at Casamento's, and he promised to look through his old jackets to see if any would fit me, and thus a milestone became a much smaller deal than I feared it would be.
Later on, at the supermarket, another shopper called me "sir." Since she was warning me away from her express lane because she had a shitload of coupons, she probably wondered why I gave her that huge smile and said "Thank you!"
My own words just look and sound so STUPID to me these days. Making pictures feels so much better.
Anyway, yesterday was a bit of a banner day. First thing in the morning, I came out to my dad as trans. I'd been worried about this, because we're a lot alike but he's also pretty conservative; however, in the couple of months since I'd seen him, things have gotten to the physical point where anyone who knows me is going to notice that something's up. So when he invited me to lunch, I texted back, "I'd love to, but you should know that I look pretty different (male) these days. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." His awesome response: "Your persona is up to you. I need a Casamento's fix." So we had a fabulous lunch at Casamento's, and he promised to look through his old jackets to see if any would fit me, and thus a milestone became a much smaller deal than I feared it would be.
Later on, at the supermarket, another shopper called me "sir." Since she was warning me away from her express lane because she had a shitload of coupons, she probably wondered why I gave her that huge smile and said "Thank you!"
December 13, 2012
Rara Avis
This is an older piece (done this past summer, I think).
December 9, 2012
Holiday Sale
I've just knocked $25 off the Buy It Now price of every original painting in my eBay store, and you can still make offers, too. Click to see what's available:
"Golden Boy" now $50 OBO
"The Darkness and Light Between Us" now $100 OBO
"Shirley Jackson" now $100 OBO
"A Matter of Trust" now $100 OBO
"Bridge and Tunnel Crowd" now $100 OBO
"In The Storm" now $75 OBO
"Buried Alive" now $75 OBO
"Golden Boy" now $50 OBO
"The Darkness and Light Between Us" now $100 OBO
"Shirley Jackson" now $100 OBO
"A Matter of Trust" now $100 OBO
"Bridge and Tunnel Crowd" now $100 OBO
"In The Storm" now $75 OBO
"Buried Alive" now $75 OBO
Golden Boy
"Golden Boy," acrylic on canvas, 11" x 14", $75 or best offer
Very little brushwork on this one -- mostly palette knife and stylus, tools/techniques I've been using a lot lately.
Jewelry Auctions Ending
There are some nice holiday gifts among my auctions ending this afternoon (yeah, it's early to list them, but given that I'm still awake right now, I probably won't be when they're closer to ending):
Vintage jet choker with rhinestone ball pendant
Child's/small woman's 14-karat gold and amethyst ring
Unusual white abalone shell choker
Please don't let this lovely choker go for only $5 (the current bid)!
Vintage jet choker with rhinestone ball pendant
Child's/small woman's 14-karat gold and amethyst ring
Unusual white abalone shell choker
Please don't let this lovely choker go for only $5 (the current bid)!
December 8, 2012
The Darkness and Light Between Us
"The Darkness and Light Between Us," acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20", $125 or best offer. The first in a loose series of erotic male nudes I've been working on.
December 7, 2012
Two More from the New York Series
"Bridge And Tunnel Crowd," acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20", $125 or best offer
"Pier Beacon, NYC," acrylic and pastel chalk on canvas, 12" x 12", $100 or best offer
[SOLD! If interested in commissioning a piece, please contact me at funkyegret (at) yahoo (dot) com.]
December 6, 2012
These Are The Things That Are Happening
I keep promising myself I'm going to make a real update instead of just flogging art and jewelry. Where have my words gone? Any time I try to do more than scrawl a few lines of text on a painting, I get all tongue- and finger-tied.
Thanks to help from some very kind souls, and also due to working our asses off the last couple of weeks, we were able to pay the rent. Here's my basic situation: I own a house that's too big and expensive for me, and on which the mortgage is underwater due to my having bought it in 2007, during the post-Katrina real estate bubble. My mother owns a house across the street that's paid off, which I helped pay for in more prosperous days. Grey rents a smaller house/studio next door to mine, which is where I mostly live these days. I haven't been able to pay my house note in several months, and I'm planning to let the bank foreclose on it, distribute my belongings and cats between my mother's house and the rental, and just live as a renter/bum for a while. It's not ideal, but it's the best solution I can see at the moment. Even that will require hard work, which is fine, and constant scrounging unless something changes, which isn't. We are searching for a way of life that's sustainable, but which we can also enjoy living.
Transition-related things have gone much faster since I switched from testosterone gel to (way cheaper) injectable T. In a female body, I was sometimes thin and sometimes plump, but always small-framed. Over the last few months my upper body has broadened out to the point where I put on a jacket I hadn't worn since last winter and found that it no longer fit me across the back and shoulders. I feel solider (Grey has taken to calling me his little fireplug), more substantial, and a LOT stronger. Legs also. In between these two regions I do seem to be sprouting a little 45-year-old-man-gut, which I guess I ought to do something about, but one thing poverty has taught me is that it's damn hard to eat healthily on the cheap.
Also, noticeable facial hair and (especially over the last two weeks) a lot less "ma'am"-ing.
I think I just used up my allotment of words for the moment. Oh, wait, I did mean to say that I really like getting comments and questions on the paintings. Several people have regretted not being able to bid, but I appreciate the comments nearly as much.
Thanks to help from some very kind souls, and also due to working our asses off the last couple of weeks, we were able to pay the rent. Here's my basic situation: I own a house that's too big and expensive for me, and on which the mortgage is underwater due to my having bought it in 2007, during the post-Katrina real estate bubble. My mother owns a house across the street that's paid off, which I helped pay for in more prosperous days. Grey rents a smaller house/studio next door to mine, which is where I mostly live these days. I haven't been able to pay my house note in several months, and I'm planning to let the bank foreclose on it, distribute my belongings and cats between my mother's house and the rental, and just live as a renter/bum for a while. It's not ideal, but it's the best solution I can see at the moment. Even that will require hard work, which is fine, and constant scrounging unless something changes, which isn't. We are searching for a way of life that's sustainable, but which we can also enjoy living.
Transition-related things have gone much faster since I switched from testosterone gel to (way cheaper) injectable T. In a female body, I was sometimes thin and sometimes plump, but always small-framed. Over the last few months my upper body has broadened out to the point where I put on a jacket I hadn't worn since last winter and found that it no longer fit me across the back and shoulders. I feel solider (Grey has taken to calling me his little fireplug), more substantial, and a LOT stronger. Legs also. In between these two regions I do seem to be sprouting a little 45-year-old-man-gut, which I guess I ought to do something about, but one thing poverty has taught me is that it's damn hard to eat healthily on the cheap.
Also, noticeable facial hair and (especially over the last two weeks) a lot less "ma'am"-ing.
I think I just used up my allotment of words for the moment. Oh, wait, I did mean to say that I really like getting comments and questions on the paintings. Several people have regretted not being able to bid, but I appreciate the comments nearly as much.
December 5, 2012
Shirley Jackson
"Shirley Jackson," acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20", $125 or best offer
Because Grey was born the same day, year, and approximate time that Shirley Jackson died, I have half-convinced myself that he is her reincarnation, and thus I've been on a Shirley Jackson kick lately. So I painted this portrait.
