I have really needed to burrow down deep in my rabbit hole lately to focus. I needed to spend the whole day submerged in my rabbit hole inside the glory that is color therapy by painting on some of these freshly gessoed panels I prepped last week. It was the best choice because there’s a lot going on in the world lately. Especially today with our government.

So today’s studio update is another look into past art I've made that was thankfully upstairs hanging on the wall unlike the rest of my artwork that perished in the 2018 flood. This piece was made in 2003 and I was just getting acquainted with using smooth single panels (with no "cradles") as opposed to the textured canvas panels I had been working on that just was too much texture for me. I sort of remember that I was going for a creepy vibe. A creepy 2D puppet show if you will!

Please enjoy and thank you for stopping by today! Keep safe and well everyone.

Title: You Don't Laugh Like You Used To
Year: 2003
Media: Acrylic Paint and Collage on Wood Panel
Total Dimension: 8-3/4" x 6-3/4”

Today’s Carolaoke tune is a Sweet Jelly original that I don’t think a lot of people have heard before. I’ve provided the original scratch track that Aaron and I put together in his basement way back in 2003 to hear where/how it started out. I really wanted this to be on the “Jelly Happens” album but we all voted on that matter and it didn’t make it. So why not take that frown and turn it upside down with a “Sweet Jelly Scratch Track Remake” 18 years later! The time is now. This is the way.

The song I chose to remake today from the Sweet Jelly vault is “Keeping It To Myself”. In that same vault there are other songs entitled “Avoiding Confrontation” and “Pretending All The Time” so you can probably see where all this is going. I made the current scratch track using my voice, Garageband and my trusty rusty PSR-195 Yamaha keyboard. This is a scratch track; a rough sketch for professionals who know how to make and record music properly. In no way am I imagining that this is anything *but* a scratch track.

Below, I’ve included the lyrics to this tune for those of you that are into that sort of thing. This was tough, but great therapy engrossing myself inside this tune. Though Sweet Jelly disbanded amicably, it’s a multi-emotional-dimension for me to revisit. I miss making music with those dudes. We had a lot of fun! And there are a lot of songs in that vault that (sadly) remain unheard. Why not change that.

Please enjoy this bit of old with a bit of new!

Sweet Jelly Original "Keeping It To Myself" scratch track 2003

"Keeping It To Myself" 2021 Remake

Keeping It To Myself
Sweet Jelly 2003
Music: A.Johnson
Lyrics: C.Kroll

Verse 1:
You’re just running away
That’s what you always say
But I don’t see it that way-ay
I’m just keeping it to myself!
Feels like I’m saying a lot
Turns out that I’m not
Is that what’s got you so hot?
I’m just keeping it to myself!

Chorus: 1
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to my self-elf-el-elf!

Verse 2:
I watch it all from these eyes
My pair of two little spies
They see all the white lies
But I’m keeping that to myself!
I love to see you get mad
Losing all that you had
And deep down I’m glad
BUT I’m keeping that to myself!

Chorus: 2
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to my self-elf-el-elf!

Verse 3:
Communication’s the key
But how much more do you need?
And why can’t you see-eee
That I’m keeping it to myself!
Someday the anger will show
I’ll be pissed and you’ll know
But for now I’ll just go-o-oh!
And keep it to myself!

Chorus: 3
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to myself!
Keeping it to my self-elf-el-elf!

I have some things to talk about today. One of those things is my tendency towards A.D.D. I’ve mentioned the saying “jack of all trades master of none” theory that really irritates me, yet, the need to jump around from music to art and within those two categories, the many different things you can do inside both of them has always been there. But at the same time I hate that about myself too. I’m learning that I need to stop fighting this scattered process of mine, give into it, and just see what happens.

On that note, today, Studio Closeup #24 is an example of “keeping creativity fresh”. That’s what I’m replacing the “jack of all trades” inner dialogue bullshit with. If I don’t, that’s when self sabotage shows up.

So this week, I’ve been all over the board. I decided to revisit some watercolors that I started awhile back, I’m prepping new panels for The Museum Series, and I’ve been back to building dioramas. I’ve had to burrow deep into the rabbit hole lately to regroup, refocus and center myself while the current (ongoing, never ending) shit-storm blows through.

Please keep safe and well out there.

Today I decided to cover the amazing P!nk and got lost in all the harmonies and extra vocals (there were more in this song than I had originally thought) but I thoroughly enjoyed being in the world of music today and that I don't take lightly. I didn't once come out to check on the news and even though I felt guilty about that fact, it was blissful without that terrible chatter cluttering up my soul. Please enjoy my scratch track cover of P!nk's "Please Don't Leave Me." I guess I'll check in with the world. I hope I'm not disappointed. Or horrified.

Studio Closeup #23 is part of The Museum Series and centers around the old Racine Unified School District’s reading curriculum I was a part of in the 1970s. I’ve included some photos of the original reading material that I’ve been able to hunt down and procure thanks to the internet. I keep (hoard) some of the copies that I’ve been able to hunt down for reference copies only, but some have to be sacrificed to the art gods to make dioramas. I could make copies of the things I perform surgery on, but it would lack the authentic feel I obsess over.

There will be four dioramas total and one still from an old 1970’s filmstrip inside this piece. The filmstrip still is not from the book series proper; it’s from a National Geographic Filmstrip series from the late 1970’s. I mention this because there apparently WAS a filmstrip series that went with these books that I saw pictured in one of the teacher’s manuals that I’d give anything to hunt down and see in person. I check all my haunts every morning for this unicorn but so far no luck. I’ll keep trying though because you never know (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this quest before.) Instead, I’ve included a photo of the photo of what that filmstrip collection looked like in all its color coded glory.

The top and bottom borders of this piece I’ve made green instead of my typical linen white to emulate the bright green cover of the reading book that always stayed in my mind. That shade of green for the borders of the piece was also the color of my bedroom growing up. I had dark green carpet to go with that spring green color which was always a nice perk when playing with my Breyer model horses because I just saw my floor as one big green pasture for all of them.

Please enjoy and thank you for stopping by!

Title: The Museum Series - Jill and Lad (Pocketful of Sunshine)
Year: 2020
Media: Acrylic Paint, Paper Diorama, Filmstrip, Wood Panel
Total Dimension: 11” x 14”