Feels like I haven’t worked on anything new for months. It’s only been a couple weeks but I don’t have any firm concept of time. I overcompensate by being early everywhere, but, really, only right now ever feels real.

During last week’s trip east, talk got to the cupboard in my folks’ basement. It’s filled with maps and notes from decades of trips taken and not taken. My father and K agreed that planning for and anticipating travel, then reviewing and recalling it after is better the actual thing itself. I don’t understand any of that. But I always just wanna stay home.

The couple weeks before this trip I’d decided not to start anything new so as not to be frustrated by having to pause while I’m away. Intentionally not working on things is pretty damn frustrating but I got through it and, just as we were about to head back to Chicago, I got a green light I’d been waiting for.

Stan texted me with dates for a show we’d been discussing over the past few months. He’s been trying to sell his building, so all plans were up in the air. He’d hoped to be done with this a year ago but with the berserker wreaking havoc with the economy, real-estate enthusiasts are uncommonly skittish. He may have to hold onto the place a few more years. Having art shows in the frameshop showroom will hopefully not scare off would-be buyers.

The following Monday I hit Unique looking for small frames. Unfortunately, a middle-aged couple have gotten there before me. For ten minutes I stare daggers through their backs as they methodically pick through every available frame multiple times, their cart nearly tipping over with some fifty they’d already selected. The woman finally turns her head and innocently inquires whether I want access to the shelf. Having scored only scraps, I pedal up to the other Unique up on the Northwest Side. By the end of the day I have about ten new old frames.

The show will be a continuation of what was up in the display cases at the Rainbo in August. Sumi ink, graphite, and ballpoint illustrations from Moby Dick, Babbitt, The Marvel Universe, The Suicide’s Grave, The Sound and the Fury, and Winesburg, Ohio.

More details as they become available. It’s just good to be doing something again.