Jeffrey Baumgartner - Chicago Actor and Artist
  • Home
  • Homes and Structures
  • Plein Air & Urban Landscape
  • Landscapes & Marine/Water
  • Figurative
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Actor Photos

“The very essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it.” – Carl Rogers

5/31/2012

1 Comment

 
Day 23 – Thursday

I have bid all farewell. Again. Off to Mesa Cultural Center to drop off a resume. It is an impressive complex. The Shakespeare company does not keep an office here so I will send it through the mail. Off I go. Land in Scottsdale, find Trailside Gallery and it is very cool. Most exclusively Southwestern art and artists.

Walk around a corner and I hear an artist talking about a client wanting another one of these "stagecoach” paintings, ugh. As I continue around the corner, I see a guy sitting spread eagle on the floor trying to get something off the painting. “Looks like lint. And I thought Lint was a Sunday in April,” he says. Funny, though no one in the gallery really laughs. “I don’t know, maybe a knife.”

There is a very distinguished, white-haired gentleman – most probably the owner - standing near him watching. The artist now has out a huge pocket knife and is going at it trying to dislodge what seems to be lint from the framed painting, approximately 36 x72" in size. Big. Beautiful painting. By now I am close, though pretending to look at paintings on the opposite wall. I say, “wow, you let just anyone in here, with a knife, to check out the artwork?”  Now the people in the gallery laugh. The owner says, “not everyone, but as it’s his work, I figure it is in good hands.” I nod, “so I presumed.”

He then conveys to me, professionally, “let me know if you have questions.” I ask about a couple of artists that I have met, see if he knows them, or even represents them. It leads to my being a painter, traveling and painting. Ah, there’s the trigger. Artists don’t buy paintings (which, of course, is not true), but I am dismissed, with a smile "Enjoy the gallery," he says and turns on his heels. Actually, he will be very generous in spirit and service in a few minutes, handing me brochures etc.

Okay, so a quick walk around Scottsdale, a call in to my mother so suggest that I am off to Jerome and Sedona and here we go. Onto Scottsdale Avenue, heading to Hwy 101. I will be in Jerome in two hours or so. Waiting for the lights to change I note that my engine temp gauge is heading for HOT. Shit. Very anxious. Waiting for one stop light, then another, the red gauge heads for danger zone. I spy a service place, Brake Masters, pull in.

Long story short, could be thermostat, could be hoses. Let’s fix the thermostat. Two hours. Guys takes it for a spin, sees the gauge climb again to danger, though not as quickly. Another hour. I get an estimate for new belts etc, could work on it tomorrow, and over $1,000. Double Shit.  No Can Do. Plus I think these guys are winging it.

Get Diann on the phone, she finds a Kia dealership on Scottsdale Avenue, I make the call, set up appointment for 7am; surely the Kia guys will know the vehicle better, after all, well... it is a KIA. I exit the Brakes Experts and suggest that I have a friend in Mesa (keep this up, and soon I won’t have ANY friends left in Mesa, ugh) who will look at it and as he is a mechanic might be able to fix it. It's a good story. They actually are happy for me. So, $100 down, new thermostat. And I head for Mesa with flashers on.  Did I mention, temperatures are exceeding 105 degrees today.

Cathy yet again extends her courtesy and suggests I continue to be welcome to stay at the house though she might have a date tonight. I really have over-stayed the welcome and want to get this done, so I can get out of their hair. Date falls through, we go to dinner, this will be my treat, no questions, no arguments. Finish dinner, Cathy begins singing to a song playing in the restaurant (it isn’t busy), guy hears her and comes to the table to buy a round of drinks, so impressed is he with her singing. I just want a shot of tequila. (I lie, I want many several shots of tequila, but one will suffice nicely, thank-you-very-much).

He joins us, brings a bottle of what turns about to be a surprisingly awesome Kentucky bourbon that apparently a friend just delivered to him at the restaurant, the friend has left. The bottle sports a sassy little red velvet jacket; I suspect in Kentucky, they might call this a Bourbon Condom, but I could be wrong. It is good, tastes expensive, we have a “finger” second-helping and the bottle then is whisked from the table out of reach. Cathy and our new friend trade business cards. End of evening. Tomorrow: Take Three for Jerome.

1 Comment
Colin
6/2/2012 08:21:58 am

Isn't the Mesa Arts Center an amazing complex...? It took my breath away when I got the tour.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Jeffrey Baumgartner

    A professional actor for over twenty-five years, Jeffrey is an accomplished oil painter based in Chicago.  In 2008, he established  JB ArtWorks studio gallery. 

    Archives

    January 2014
    June 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012

    Categories

    All
    Destination: Maine 2012
    Travel Painting

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.