Thursday morning, leave the painting alone to start preparing for the Geneseo show. This is good timing, because I am at an impasse on the Virgin Mary figure: too many things that I want to put in there, needs to be pared down conceptually (hate it so much I am not showing it to you.... will likely erase the entire figure upon my return), and nothing is better for working out art ideas than taking a long road trip by yourself. Sometimes I run out of memo space on my phone during road trips because I get so many ideas. So, got all the dress forms out of storage,
hosed them off, took inventory of the dresses to see if we might need a pearl sewn back on, a spot taken out, etc.

The Defense Mechanism Coat is on the operating table:
after 5 years of perfect performance, the seams are beginning to pull a bit (I have been told no one else notices them, but I do), so I have to firm everything up. I have to reinforce where the lining is attached to the coat, doing an invisible seam with an upholstery needle and thread. After Geneseo, it will go to Chelsea Galleria in Miami, for a show that will be up during Art Basel, then will head to Kansas City, MO, for the Surface Design Conference during summer of 2007... it is a pain in the neck to move around and work on, so I am spending most of the day tightening and reinforcing anything that might EVER need to be tightened. This is the first time I have touched it up since I made it: it was created on a flat table, and there was no way of knowing where the stress points might be without hanging it, and it hangs in a slightly different way every time because of its weight. This piece is always carried around on this old comforter, like a dead body, so no one gets hurt. It was born on that comforter: I couldn't have dinner parties for 3 months because it was occupying my dining room table... It gets lowered into a coffin-like crate for transporting, and there is a precise ritual for hanging it, to avoid injury to any of the parties involved. 150 lbs of dead, soft weight, covered with roofing nails.

Tomorrow, I must hit the thrift stores for a wedding dress, as I do not like the one I have used in the past: it is too short in stature next to the tall groom, bordering on comical.