“I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with a bunch of blank paper.”
-- Steve Martin

I'VE GOT TO WEAR SHADES + JANUARY 15, 2010

I would like to begin with saying LONG TIME NO SEE and how grateful I am to have been able to take part in E.A.S.T. and I adored meeting so many fabulous people. It was a strange and amazing experience and I do hope to be living & working in the same place next year and definitely taking part in the 2010 tour. It made me remember why I came to Austin and why I have stayed so long.
I met handsome neighbors and a cool couple that used to live in my space. And without a doubt, the woman who acted out a turkey attacking her was BAR NONE my most favorite part of both weekends. Many thanks all around.

Perhaps we can all get together for another show outside of E.A.S.T. here at the house??...

It has been dreary here in Austin. We saw snow once or twice, but mostly its been all about the fog and the greyness of everything. I wake up in the morning and usually see a beheaded downtown skyline.
This kind of weather makes me mopey. I have thoughts about sleep in the afternoons. I seem to move in slow motion and hate to exercise.

I played nursey to my mother after surgery in Dallas, spending the week of Christmas on her medication schedule; returned to Austin and got engaged to my bf of many years and have had since a long and lazy holiday with vacation spilling over into this very week. We have been lovey & languid. The days have all run together and I am happy that I woke up in a brand new year with the nightmare of the holidays behind me.
I hope that you enjoyed your time with friends, family, & friends that are family.

Yesterday was my first real day back at work, going through stacks of mail and old notes and lists; Christmas cards, overdue bills, fifteen magazines, sixteen catalogs, lists of possible presents & projects, maybe seven hundred e-mails.
I had forgotten that there comes a point every afternoon (around 4-ish) where the light is so bright upstairs that I cannot work any longer. It is so nice to be back.

I promised to touch on several topics for several people and I do want to make sure that I get to that here. Do not hesitate to contact me if I have blanked out on something important that we talked about, something that I promised to research for you.
Additionally, if you took photographs in the loft or wrote about me somewhere, please send those photos or links my way. I am a horrendous photographer and your pics simply MUST be better than anything I can take and I always appreciate another perspective on what I do. E-mail me here.

My townhouse here in the Saltillo Lofts got quite a bit of attention and I am such a fan of living/working here, if you hadn't happened to hear me gush about it-- the awesome design, green living with low electric bills. Hailey Johnson Architects, who completed the complex in 2006, can be reached here. According to their site the Saltillo Lofts design is a model for sustainable, economical, and desirable multifamily urban housing.
I also learned that this is the site of an old gas station, so how about that.
I believe that all of the units are indeed sold, but know that several of them rent out quite often.

The natural light is simply amazing in these spaces. Cisco's is a block and a half in one way and Liberty is equally far in another direction. I can walk to galleries and fabulous restaurants through crazy character-driven neighborhoods. Have I said how much I enjoy my home???
I do miss a backyard but I cannot think of anything else. And I keep faith for a train.

The first weekend's visitors weren't privy to these original Colonial images and I do want to add them in here. As I told many of you, these were the images of early wealthy American settlers, who would perhaps pose in costumes and align themselves with objects that were not in fact theirs. Hysterical & historical nouveau riche.

click to view larger image

I of course used these digitally acquired source images for my series, only after I fed & re-fed them through a computer. They are the works of John Singleton Copley and Gilbert Stuart, who famously painted George Washington, ie the dollar bill portrait.

I was given life suggestions by many of you who visited. I will take all that I can get. Unless they are really bad suggestions. I was told to watch 'Cougar Town' and it was shocking. I get the willies just saying the name. It sounds like a town I want to drive around. I was told that it was the funniest thing on television. And then that 30 minutes was gone forever, never to be returned. Courtney Cox was only ever awesome in that Bruce Springsteen video.

Two cool chicks told me that I simply had to go to Marfa, which had been a pre-recession goal for me, but the rave reviews will have me figure out how to make it reality this next year. Is the best time to go New Year's??? I feel like I have heard that and if that's that case, then I blew it again... Perhaps let me know what you know.

Two other cool chicks told me about the Ann Richards School in South Austin and so I took a tour and it blew my mind. I got to watch girls make short films, in another room girls were designing with CAD software. Its an unbelievable thing that they are doing over there. Read all about it here.
(I am the product/victim of all-girls schooling and cannot even begin to explain how sheltered, & nurtured & beautifully educated I was in that environment. And I was naughty and difficult and incorrigible really.)
I say RIGHT ON to high end education for those who want it and work their tails off for it.

Some works did get more attention than others during the studio tour. Perhaps one of your favorites is above or below? I hope that you will remember that I am able to reproduce anything to size, beginning at $1/sq in. You can read about my commission process and see some past work here.

I have finally gotten my head on straight-ish again and am happily planning a show in my home for perhaps a weekend in May. (Is this a good idea??? Will anyone show up??? Is there anything that you especially want to see???) I am desperately trying to collect enough big, fabulous surfaces to paint and I hopefully will have enough work to fill the main floor. Perhaps we can eat & drink, chat about art, Austin, what have you. Perhaps you can invite me to come see your work, tell me where your interests lie.

I agreed to include the pizza dough recipe that I used for flatbreads during E.A.S.T, which is super easy and can be used a dozen ways. I topped my pizzas with combinations of garlic, good pepperoni, roasted sweet potatoes, caramelized onions, oven roasted tomatoes, fresh herbs, ricotta, parmesan & mozzarella.

Thin Pizza Dough Recipe
yield: 4 flatbreads

4c all-purpose flour, separated
2 pkg dry yeast
1.5 c warm water
olive oil
2.5 tsp salt

Combine 2 cups of the flour and the yeast in a large bowl. Blend water, 3 tablespoons oil, and salt; heat to lukewarm.
Add flour/yeast mixture and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Turn onto floured surface and knead until smooth, adding in the other two cups of flour. Place in greased bowl and turn once to grease entire surface. Cover; let rise until doubled, about one hour. Punch down and let rest 10 minutes. Shape into four balls and roll out accordingly. Place doug in pizza pans and prick dough with a fork. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Top pizzas as you wish and return to oven for 10 minutes or until toppings are bubbly and crust has browned.

I promised a gentleman the names of some great galleries in Dallas. Craighead Green Gallery is the greatest greatest and a personal favorite. Barry Whistler Gallery, Dunn and Brown Contemporary. Fabulous stuff.

Its also time to make resolutions and I wonder if it is the stress of the holidays that make us all fall so badly off track, eating like pigs, putting on crazy carb weight, every day a reason for a cocktail, sleeping more.
This year I hope to brush up on my Castilian Spanish, as my favorite cousin has had a little Eurobaby and I have not been to Spain in a decade now. Actually MORE than a whole decade(!), so perhaps a trip there this year is another thing that simply must be done. I must also read more, run more, bitch less, make more money. And go to Marfa. It's a promise.

As a dear friend told me recently, it feels as though anything could happen. She has just closed on an amazing condo and has snagged a fabulous forward moving job with divine smart people. Healthy, happy, smart; new home, new job, and aligned with lovely folks.
The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades is all that I can say to that.

Wikipedia, who is almost my closest friend, told me that the artist forever receiving royalty checks for this song is Timbuk 3, who created said masterpiece in 1989, when I was eleven years old. This means that for 20 years now my mind has quickly referenced this song upon hearing good news or seeing someone wearing sunglasses inside.
Its just the way I feel about all of the good to come. Like we should all have shades on.

I wish you all well. Thank you for coming by my home, meeting me, and all of your good wishes & criticism. Send me comments if you wish, I promise to respond to all.

happy happy,



1601 E 5th St. no 202
Austin TX 78702
www.annegenung.com
annegenung@gmail.com
512.964.6627

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SAD MORNING WITH SO MUCH TO CONSIDER + NOVEMBER 22, 2009

My stepsister died this morning at 6am and it has been so sad for days now, all of us just waiting for her body to give out. Brooke had suffered from a rare illness her entire life & so many of her years had been about hospitals. I only met her once but the ripple affects all of us. My poor father that has previously experienced the loss of both of his parents and brother to illness now has to be a good stoic husband to a mother that will have to bury her 30-year old child. And the rest of us are left with nothing to say about it except that its horrendous and offensive and frightening. I wouldn't have wished this life on anyone and this death, wasted away in a hospital, underweight and on a ventilator. There's really nothing else to say.

I am infinitely lucky happy well looked after and healthy as all hell.

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E.A.S.T. & REAL LOVE FOR AUSTIN + NOVEMBER 16, 2009

I made it through my very first weekend of E.A.S.T. and I met a ton of awesome people and thought that we had a really nice turnout even though we had some complaints about sign placement and it being a bit difficult to see from the street. I will do my best to increase signage for next weekend. And to not drink so many beers or bum any cigarettes at all. I had forgotten how good/terrible/deadly they are.

Making pizzas seemed to be a big hit, but being sleepy the first tour day was not awesome at all. Overall it was a really fun time. Bizarre to have people in your home with your bed and all of your things, but an interesting, exciting & fun way to meet the craziest and most random people in town. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. I am excited to see how everything works out next weekend and I plan to make multiple chair pieces & finish up a bunch of existing work. I hope to also tighten up annegenung.com as it is an absolute abomination.

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WINDOW COVERINGS, SOMEWHAT READY FOR E.A.S.T. + NOVEMBER 13, 2009

These window coverings were of course completed before today but I have been spending quite a bit of energy worrying about HMcC and hanging as much work as possible throughout the whole house.

Slade seems happy with them and I think that he has gotten the privacy that he wanted. So for the price of tissue paper and gel medium you can cover windows. Classier than foil. Not classier than curtains. But curtains would get wet in the shower. Duh.

This is the top floor of our townhome, which is filled with various portraits and my workspace.

The stairway to the top floor. Various works by myself as well as old classmates, friends, found objects.

The living room, which is primarily hung with color studies in all ranges of completion.

Works with a stuffed turkey at the landing to the living room & kitchen. Large colonials in the stairway and framed images at our entrance.

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CMA'S & HOMELESS McCRAZYFACE + NOVEMBER 11, 2009

The CMA's are on national television annually and I apparently complained the whole way through last year as well. Appalling. So so bad bad. I made it thirteen whole minutes with my mouth hanging open.
Every single person in that audience has tacky furniture in their home. Every single one. And George Strait's wife stole some poor little girl's prom dress. And Hootie won an award. Total 'Twilight Zone'.

And then there's been the drama with Homeless McCrazyface. This is my tale...

Homeless McCrazyface is a homeless man with a crazy face.
He sometimes lives in the park across the street from us, washing his laundry in the water fountain as he did the first time we met, one crazy morning perhaps three months ago now.

McCrazyface told me not to touch his shit and I laughed and let him know that I needed none of it and that apparently made him mad. He let me know that he hated my white ass and he hated my dog and that made me mad. As he screamed & ranted I picked up dog poop, encouraged Cash Money to wee and motioned to Slade to get himself downstairs ASAPWW, which translates loosely to As Soon As Possible With Weapons.

McCrazyface continued his mccraziness in front of Slade and another one of the labs (I hate you m-er f-er's too!!) and Slade threatens ultraviolence to no avail, I say 'hey bro its early morning and you're screaming like a crazy person...'
(I ain't your brother, I hate whitey, whitey, whitey, blah blah blah, I have a crazy face and I am so mad about it... I'm so crazy & loose on the streets so I can just scream at you and your dogs because that's what I enjoy doing oh whitey, whitey, whitey, f-you and I hate your guts...)

We went inside and called the police, which is a drag all by itself. And I am sure that my cellphone number lights up some sort of comment system, alerting them to the fact that I am a complainer.

We saw him another time which I don't believe merited a call to the police, but the last time that I saw him he scared me to death & threatened me, my safety & my life and now I hate McCrazyface more than he could ever hate whitey.
In fact I challenge Homeless McCrazyface to a hate-off.

Early on the morning of I believe October 29th (the police have the records) I went outside with Mason Jar and I panned the street, the park, the yards and crossed the street to an empty spot. I had seen a hooded black man farther up the block, closer to Cisco's than to us, which I believed gave us enough time and distance to not bother him and allowed us to cross the street without crossing him directly.

Mason and I resumed our activities and maybe a solid minute later when I bent over to pick up dog poop I could see his feet maybe a yard behind me and I heard him say in a grisly voice 'I motherfucking hate you' and I thought oh my god this crazy crackhead is going to kill me 20 yards from my front door.

He went off on me like only a crazy crackhead could. Disorganized arguments with very little substance and then he began to tell me that he was going to 'fuck me up,' that he was going 'to motherfucking kill me.' And at this point I got really really angry. I got so angry that Slade would have already left the room angry. ANGRY!!

I called the police again which is completely useless and no fun . I researched homeless people and Austin and found a million resources for the insanely huge & ballsy homeless population. Let it be known that there are no resources for people that have been threatened or verbally assaulted by homeless people. It is additionally very very difficult to get a protective order against a homeless person.

I resent having to do research about weapons. I will resent a city that ignores huge, flaming problems when I or someone else will have to hurt this obviously sick man. He will not get a chance to hit me first & he shouldn't.

So, hey McCrazyface, if you're on the computer at the public library, I am waiting for you.

I should add here that that is NOT an image of McCrazyface but it does a very good job for storytelling purposes. The photo on the left is of the homeless in Austin. I know that because I lifted it from the Chronicle.