Ended the workday in a strangely serene good mood today, so thought I'd check in and say hi.

On one hand, regret that no art's been finished lately, but on the other, have just been Photoshopping my brains out, so have felt duly productive, while having fun with the challenges.

Got about six different pieces in the pipe (including a new one started last night), but none of them quite dazzle me yet, hence the restraint.

But my buddy Thad's good for me. He looks at something in process like But The Door Was Open... and says, "Wow!," and reminds me that what no longer surprises me will still quite surprise you. Am hopeful to maybe finish it for Friday night. (It's been in progress off-and-on for ages, but finally had a mental breakthrough on it just lately, that helped me see some magic in it that makes me a lot more excited about it.)

One thing to always keep in mind about my (lack of / slowness in) output is that I really prefer to finish everything for big print before sharing it here. Door Was Open, for instance, would be a lot easier to finish for the web, but the print detail is vexing me a bit.

Funny thing from a couple of months ago. For years now, my research has been in pursuit of extraordinary crisp detail, and in my mind, it's always been in pursuit of a scrupulous professional standard, like we'd see in a glossy magazine. But in an airport a while back, I was looking at a Vogue and realized just how fuzzy and indistinct so much glossy photography amounts to.

Had set a bar higher for myself than anyone else would. Gee, imagine that, haha.

Anyway, one big reason to finish it for Friday night is because I've got a different priority in mind for the long four-day weekend (that won't amount to any new art to show you), so I'd kinda like to get something new post first.

I get "unrelaxed" when it's been too long. Though have been happily researching away, mostly, unusually satisfied just to spin my wheels in it.

My recent challenge has been that I have several bang-up methods for making an image look more wow, but it's tricky to make them all play nice with each other.

Always spending idle time at work stewing like all hell over this stuff. Can't imagine the look on my face, surely the intensity shows.

My research has become the central drama of my life, it delivers my highs, lows, hopes, dreams, fears, and oh! those red herrings. Feels risky to my sanity sometimes, to be so obsessed, but it feels like such a productive obsession.

Though, granted, it'll be a lot more productive if I can get a new computer later this year. The current arrangement has definitely become a massive bottleneck. But it should pan out eventually.

(For those that don't know, I juggle half-a-gig-and-upward PSD's on a 300mHz 1996 Power Macintosh. Honestly? The main drag is opening them and saving them, so I'm not complaining too much. But it'll be nice to get a box that will run CS2 instead of just 7. I do own CS2, but can only run it on the tiny iBook.)

Anyway, it's been beautiful here, beyond belief. Gorgeous clouds in the afternoon skies, amidst the most lovely temperate June ever in my adult life. I normally hate summer, but wouldn't if it always felt like this.

It feels like a bit of heaven, and late this morning it even looked like it. The afternoon clouds in this region are truly special, I noticed as soon as I moved here five years ago, and they still amaze me on a regular basis.

So money's always a bitch, and big daunting changes lurk over the horizon, and there's some nasty bureacratic paperwork looming over me, and DAMN IT if I still haven't quite got my edges coming together like I want them to...

But after a hard day of just racking my brain, it ended with such a sweet sense of serenity, that I thought I'd say high, and try to share it with you.

Sorry if I'm a little AWOL around here, but it feels right to be selfish, and productive to play.