Xtreme Cold

I wore the new hairpiece out last night and it worked really well. Like other pieces I've tried in the past I had expected it to come loose halfway through the night but I was lucky this time and it stayed in place. Here is me with it still in when I got back home at 2am (and Optimated):

Nice smirk.
It's fairly seamless and I think it's a good length, too. Any longer would sort of scream FAKE, although I still think it would be fun to have a really long hairpiece.

Well, it's 3°F (-16°C) here in Chicago today and I'm holed up inside painting. I've been silk screening a white cooling tower for the past hour, layer after layer, trying to get the paint really thick so it's completely opaque. I'll probably do some more electric mixer experiments, too.

I might go for a walk. There's a European market a couple miles from me and I want to try to make it over there. *Try* is the key word in that sentence. I'm actually wondering how far I will get before I break down and either turn back or hail a cab. Should be interesting to find out. Last night was cold - breathing through my mouth was like licking an icicle. It's hard to believe that today it's 20° colder still.

Experiments

I did some more experimenting with paint this afternoon. I like the way this one came out:

I used high-gloss grey enamel and matte white latex paint. I love the way the enamel flowed and dripped. I will have to invest in some good quality paper soon. The Kraft paper I'm using is garbage, and these experiments are coming out really nice. It's a shame they're on such poor paper.

I also finished this cooling tower piece today. The orange sky/background has a coat of resin on it which makes it extremely smooth and shiny - that's why you can see the faint reflection of me and my tripod taking this photograph:

The white cooling tower and splatter are matte.

I went out for a new drop cloth around 3:30pm and didn't come back home until 6. The cold wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, so I went for a long walk. I got the drop cloth and a great shade of blue "oops" paint at Home Depot on Halstead and then wandered up to Lincoln. On the way I checked in on my gramophone at the repair shop and the guys toldme it'll be ready in a week. I also walked all the way to the Paulina Market only to find that they had closed fifteen minutes prior. SO UNFAIR.

When I got back home I gesso-ed over an old painting and laid down some thick glazes, first a purple glaze, and then a blue glaze. It'll take a day or two to dry, so I have some time to plan my next steps. And relax. And warm up. Oh! And put my laundry in the dryer...