Journally Kind of Entry, Grenada, War, Painting

Things are going pretty good here, I saw a few of my friends from Iowa last night, and got to hand out with Laur in the city. The show I helped install at Postmasters went off without a hitch, and looked super.

I guess having seen my friends from school made me a little nostalgic, and I started thinking about the four months I lived in Grenada after I got back from being in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

People who come back from war have problems adjusting back to normal life, and I was not any different. I had a lot of symptoms of PTSD, but they have faded over time. Initially I could not fall asleep at night, because I felt that someone should be on guard duty. So my sleeping habits were pretty crazy, and then later in Iowa when I lived by myself in a studio apartment while I was finishing my masters degree I would stay awake for three days at a time, until I finally went to the VA hospital and the doctors there gave me some good sleeping pills.

My coin collecting has died down a little, because I am trying to be less frivolous with my spending, and making art is expensive. When I go to Pearl Paint I can spend between 10 and 150 dollars. So I have been cutting back on the coins, and books too. But I am planning on buying at least three books soon, one on Luc Tuymans, one on Giorgio Morandi, and if I can find a good book on Corot I would like one on him also.

I am getting back into image making in a way that I have not really been since undergrad, I am feeling strongly about it, and I am making better drawings and paintings. I have started to figure out that I need to work in a marathon session to start a painting or drawing, and then I can come back to it in smaller work sessions, but the first one should be at least 8 hours.

Think I may go get a sandwich, and then clean up the backyard a little, and then I am going to paint.