Phantasmal collages

Howdy!

Long time no update. What happened is that I got a new job that starts in August. I had to do some running around to complete paperwork, etc. I'll go into more detail later.

I just found these collages that I did over Memorial Day weekend. My friend Gioia was running a collage workshop that weekend at Kubla Con, a gaming convention in Burlingame. It was my 3rd gaming convention, and I had the most fun this time. (A word about Gioia and me: unwittingly we both fell in love with men who are HUGE gamers. It was not planned. Growing up, I had friends who were into D&D and tried to get me involved, but it didn't really hold my interest.) So Eric and Gioia have been going to game cons for a few years and they convinced us to give it a try. My main motivation is really, getting to hang out with Gioia for a weekend.

Alex and I also take Aldrin along, so everybody has a buddy ;) But the first time we went, Gioia and Eric ended up not being able to go, so Alex signed me up for a bunch of RPG's. I have a hard time getting really into these, because I am very shy. I don't like to speak up and I lack the sincerity to really *get* into the characters. And we did an all nighter which was run by an extremely insensitive GM who went 4-5 hours over schedule. When the games are already 10 hours long, this is a hardship. I almost vowed never to do it again.

The next year was much better though. The only drawback was not getting a room in the hotel that the con was in and having to run back and forth to our hotel. That was Dundracon in February in San Ramon. It was freezing.

This last one (Kubla) was the best yet. The hotel in Burlingame was much better, it was more spread out and there was more to see and do. And we had a room so it was easier to rest. I did sign up and play in two RPG's, which is about my limit. But Gioia got me addicted to Settlers of Catan, so I enjoyed playing that in groups in pick-up games. I haven't won yet.

I really like the way these collages came out. My studio work has been really stale, so it was nice to see the "magic" happen off site, as it were. I've started a new series in clay, but it's not doing it for me yet. I'm doing clay replicas of old staplers. I haven't found my footing.

It's funny, while writing about the gaming, I was thinking about how seriously people get into it. Lots of emotions and imagination go into it. I often feel bemused. When I lose a game, I usually feel "no biggee". However, the failure to capture how I feel about staplers is getting me down. Funny old world.