minutiae

music music and more music

ludmilla — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:42:17 GMT

almost immediately upon returning from the premier of erling's mass in st gallen, switzerland, he started rehearsals for his next opera, Mordake. and i started working 12 hour days at my studio to keep up with the 3 large jobs i am juggling. so we've been a bit too busy and distracted to spread the word about what a stunning success the swiss concert was. the cathedral of st gall (pictured above) is --- well it's baroque-coco to the teeth, and has more natural reverb than can be dampened by the nearly 500 people who attended the concert. the recording of the mass "Missa Beati Notkeri Balbuli Sancti Galli Monachi" has been in heavy rotation in my studio. you can listen to / download mp3s of it here: http://erlingwold.com/works.html#mass congratulations, maestro!

filling up the bank

ludmilla — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:29:30 GMT

Vienna Unteres Belvedere: Goldenes Zimmer designed circa 1720 by architect Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt for Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736) decorative artist: unknown --- one of the reasons i travel is to be inspired by the work of others, and be reminded of what i can do rather than just what i have to do; it renews my interest in my chosen career. i am also making a photographic "ornament bank" for reference. not sure how to use it. it will wind up either as an on-line digital source or possibly i will publish a book. at any rate, i need to see places like this once in a while and ask- why does no one ask me to make a room like this? because i can do it, just so you know. and what's more, i want to, and i know why it matters.

miss july

ludmilla — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 08:00:55 GMT

i'm "artist of the month" at the " learn to faux" site - a fairly new internet community for decorative artists and students wishing to learn painting technique. they put up a nice profile for me here http://www.learntofaux.com/artist_of_the_month_rutter.php i'm actually pretty flattered by this.

stone vs ice

ludmilla — Wed, 30 May 2007 08:29:18 GMT

the only difference is how long it takes for the wind to wear you down.

diego's big close-up

ludmilla — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:19:02 GMT

this weekend's cover of the SF Chronicle "96 hours" features a big picture of "diego" a giant mural of a blue and gold macaw parrot i painted for the 'new spot' restaurant, at 20th and 3rd. check out the favorable review of their food, and another shot of the mural here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/05/24/NSGH6PUR4P1.DTL&o=0

vintage laundry

ludmilla — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:42:25 GMT

on top of my normal nutso workload, for the last 3 months i've been up to my eyeballs in that lovely spring ritual known as the san francisco decorator showcase. this year for some insane reason i fell in love with a gigantic laundry room in the freezing damp basement of a spectacular 1927 mansion that has been passively preserved in near original condition. i needed this gig like a hole in the head, but the room clearly needed me, to save it, to show people the elegant simplicity of doing things by hand. 4 nights a week for the entire month of may, i have to go up there and schmooze at a series of private cocktail parties hosted by real estate and finance firms. we're basically there to entertain their clients, but their clients happen to be my market. in past showcases it became known that i was not capable of being nice to these people for more than about 38 minutes (other designers timed how long it would take me to walk away muttering) breaking my previous record, and only mid-month, i am now down to 29 minutes! more all about what i did to this this space on my new bona fide blog here: http://www.lynnerutter.com/2007/05/vintage-laundry.html and to all of you who came to my rescue after i shamelessly asked for help - thank you!

you can wear the clothes

ludmilla — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:31:44 GMT

but that doesn't make you a real man. .

the feast of st nicolas

ludmilla — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 02:25:21 GMT

st nik is the main homeboy and he's got a krampus posse comin' to your town yo. "santa claus" as we call him in the u.s., aka st. nicolas of myra, like most saints in the old religion, has his own feast day: december 6. but the best part of st nicolas day for me is krampus! the horned shaggy companions of the bishop who beat the bad kids with sticks while nik rewards the good ones with little gifts and candy. a few years ago erling and i were in salzburg on st nicolas day, and quite by accident got to check out more middle austrian krampus action than you could shake a stick at. they wear these huge iron bells on their backs. and when the kids hear those bells they start running - either to or from....

lemmings

ludmilla — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 00:12:26 GMT

waiting in line pre-dawn to be the first to get a deal on a flat panel tv or whatever at best buy. you people make me kind of sick.

which one of you trollops called me?

ludmilla — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 08:44:04 GMT

and left a racy voice mail on sunday october 24 at 9:24 pm? i love that i have so many bent friends that i can't tell which one of you ho's left that message!

on newsstands now

ludmilla — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:02:09 GMT

Better Homes and Gardens - special interest publication "Beautiful Baths" if you are into high-end bath remodel porn, or just want to see my name spelled correctly, check out pages 84-91.

spidra interviews ludmilla

ludmilla — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 03:21:32 GMT

1 - What accomplishment of yours makes you most proud? i look back at two or three of my better paintings and i have to pat myself on the back for taking on the greatest fear of my adult life, and that was the fear of investing myself as an artist in my "day job" of decorative painting. keeping those things separate was how i defended myself from the criticism of "fine" artists who say what i do for a living doesn't count as art. but somewhere along the line i realized i could not be really good at what i do if i didn't put some of myself into it, and once i started doing that, the work improved, more challenging commissions appeared as if by magic... and now i really enjoy it, and i show up for it. i demand the best from myself, and i demand payment for it, and anyone who says it isn't real "art" can kiss my ass. 2 - What's your favorite part of your body and why? my breasts. i used to hate them, because they were really lopsided and i was entirely too self-conscious about it. every day it was an issue that made me hate my whole body, as i had to pad one side, or fiddle with some frankenbra that i made myself by cutting apart two different sized bras. then a few years ago, i had to get a lump removed from the larger breast, and i went to a great surgeon who offered to take out not only the scary intruder but some of the extra boobage. there was no cancer, knock wood, and i get dressed every day without even thinking about it, knowing i dodged a bullet, and i kind of enjoy having my cleavage land more or less in the center. they really do look pretty good, like the ones in renaissance paintings, and i have noticed, they seem to have some kind of hypnotic power over about 30% of the population. 3 - What do you know now that you would have loved to tell the 15 year old version of yourself? stop looking to fit in or be accepted by those average folk - seek out extraordinary people and experiences and start showing up as the fabulous oddball you obviously are meant to be. stand up straight, be as tall as possible, and don't settle for anything less than totally impressive. do not marry the first pretty boy you meet. move to another country. 4 - Who's your favorite artist and why? i admire the painter vermeer for his modern style, even if his technique is a bit precious. i love the environmental sculptor andy goldsworthy for how he works with what he sees lying about, with a patience i can't begin to fathom; mel brooks, cervantes, beethoven... how to pick just one? basically my favorite artist is anyone who pushes to makes something exceptional, overcoming all obstacles, including their own entropy or fear, to make some beauty and share it with the world, instead of settling for something merely passable. 5 - Why do you stalk Trouble? it all started with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZoxltdyA4U this is an excerpt from the production of erling wold's opera "queer" in which trauma flinstone played the lead - a serious dramatic role. he was riveting. i didn't know at the time trauma was a famous drag queen. i didn't know erling then, either. but years later after erling and i got together, there she was at this party: brazen, fabulous, resplendent in a blue sequin gown and red wig that high, and my inner drag hag lit up like a magnesium bulb - i was immediately overcome by envy and lust. at that moment my mission became clear. i must get closer, make him love me, and borrow that dress... interview guidelines: - if you want to be interviewed, just ask. - i get to pick the 5 questions ((cue diabolical laugh)) - you update your blog with the answers to the questions. - include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post, and keep spreading the mirth and merriment throughout the series of tubes!

am i still it?

ludmilla — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 07:52:32 GMT

tagged by spidra, and kathleen, and a few others, damn you, damn you all to hell. 8 things about ludmilla that you might already know if you'd been paying close attention 1 (a) in every job i have ever had, i was promoted to some kind of managerial position within 6 weeks; (b) i have been fired from every job i have ever had; (c) i have been self-employed for 15 years 2. sometimes i am absolutely convinced i was born into the wrong era and i do not belong in this time. 3. my band opened for the red hot chili peppers and what is this? at the berkeley square in 1983. in the very same week i sung (in the choir) the brahms requiem in grace cathedral. 4. i type in lowercase most of the time because i broke my right pinkie in about 6 years ago, and developed a habit of avoiding the shift key. 5. my real name, "lynne" was given me to avoid giving me the family name of "lenore" which was my great-grandmother's name, my great-aunt's name, and is my mother's name, and then became my kid sister's name. lynne is the welsh form of lenore. 6. the nickname "ludmilla" was acquired while traveling in prague, after the patron saint of bohemia. it is the only real nickname i have ever had. 7. december 21, 1988, i missed my intended cheap standby flight leaving from london because i had been up partying all night with some friends who had spontaneously decided to get married the day before. i took another cheap standby flight about an hour later. but 270 other people weren't so lucky. this may be one of the reasons i am often late. 8. without color and beauty and music in my life i would die. it's just that simple. i am not going to tag anyone else as i want this nonsense to stop. besides which, i am probably last.

sayonara!

ludmilla — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 04:41:46 GMT

well it's been a crazy year for me so far, working nights, working weekends... but this afternoon i took up the last of the blue tape on the last of the difficult pressure-filled projects on my calendar, stuck the invoice in the mailbox, and now it's time to pack! i've got a whole week off! i leave wednesday morning for tokyo! "mcdonalds invades japan / tattooed woman" by masami taraoka, 1975

birthday postponed

ludmilla — Sat, 20 May 2006 03:12:37 GMT

hold the candles! i'm in the middle of a big blur of work, and sort of on the wagon, so i almost completely forgot i have a birthday on saturday! there have been reminders, though - phone calls "so what are you doing this weekend?" uh, working, why? small packages in the mail - is this the gold leaf i ordered? no, what's this pink marabou thing, huh? oh, right. ever wonder why i stay friends with my former beaux? reason #77: complete set of freshly burned dvds of "fernwood 2nite" left in my mailbox, no card. took me a little while to figure it out, but thanks, dave! i do like my cake and *celebrating*, but it's just going to have to wait a bit. end of the month, though, things will lighten up some. i've been working really hard, i'll be ready to party! line up the spanking machine for sometime in june. oh, and paul, when i said i wanted you to get me a pre-75 genesis tribute band for my birthday party, i was just kidding. sort of.

stay still! i'm mad, i told ya!

ludmilla — Sun, 14 May 2006 08:04:09 GMT

"Stop it. Stop it. Stop makin' a holy...Stop it I said. I'm mad, good and mad. And who wouldn't be.? You, Dunson, pretendin' you're gonna kill him. Why, it's the last thing in the world you... Stay still! I'm mad I told ya. And you Matthew Garth, gettin' your face all beat up and all bloody. You oughta see how, you oughta see how silly you look, like, like somethin' the cat dragged - STAY STILL - What a fool I've been, expectin' trouble for days when, when anybody with half a mind would know you two love each other. It took somebody else to shoot ya. He wouldn't do it. Are ya hurt?! Then stay still. No, don't stay still. I changed my mind. Go ahead. Beat each other crazy. Maybe it will put the sense in both of ya. Go ahead. Go on. Do it! " (with half-hearted apologies to both joanne dru and dorothy page)

ready for her close-up

ludmilla — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:00:27 GMT

today a national shelter magazine is photographing what is arguably my best commissioned work: a 10 by 13 foot mural after the "girl with a pearl earring." it won't come out in the picture, what i did here. because all anyone will see is that for some reason i talked my patroness into doing this vermeer image really really big. and it's a famous one at that. (ps i did this long before that movie came out) i go the usual interview questions - why this image? why so big? why did you guys install this in the bathroom? and the one i always dodge - how much? they never ask about the weeks and weeks i spent sitting in front of it, staring, sobbing, wrestling with my mediocrity, basically terrified. until the one day i got up at 4 am having finally realized what i needed to do, and went to the studio, and finished it. this painting changed me. it changed the way i paint, the way i think and feel about what i do. yes i did it for money. and i did it for love, i did it for art. why pick one? it's all there. my next mural took only three days to paint.

anything for a buck - the tuna color chart

ludmilla — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:38:38 GMT

i was recently discussing with someone the weird requests with which we in the custom trades are often presented. my former employer was once asked to incorporate a pregnant bulldog into a cloud ceiling mural. they gave the dog wings, and we loved the result so much that "flying bulldogs" came to represent our willingness to do anything, pretty much, for money, and as creatively as possible. driving behind a fish truck today i remembered one of my stranger requests. no, not the cat portrait, nor the 80 foot long history of the 49'er football team. the tuna color chart. the freshness of a piece of tuna is determined by a number of qualities, one of them being color. every morning around 2 am, down at the docks, small pieces of tuna are arranged on big white slabs with the size of the fish noted below. buyers can examine the samples and decide which fish they want. a local fish wholesaler decided to create a color chart, so that fish buyers and chefs might not have to come to the docks to look at the samples themselves, they could merely ask 'what color is the fish?' i was hired to identify and then mix paint to match the colors of tuna, so that a printer could then make copies to be distributed. so several mornings one month, at 2 am, iced samples of tuna were delivered to my studio for study. armed with a bottle of sparkling wine and a palette knife, i created nearly 60 different shades of deep red, coral, brown, mahogany (don't eat that one) and gave them numbers and letters and even names. after the third round of fish i quit craving wasabi. after the fifth, i could no longer identify any more distinct colors. unfortunately the chart was never made. now whenever i order maguro, i think hmmm, which shade is that? p-16? candy cane? what about you? what's the weirdest you've been asked to do?

resurrection

ludmilla — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 20:58:38 GMT

open altarpiece!

ludmilla — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 20:55:52 GMT

happy easter! this is the inside of the isenheim altarpiece by matthais grünewald, 1515

closed altarpiece

ludmilla — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 16:39:53 GMT

this time last year i was traveling in nürnberg, a city famous for so many reasons, but to an art history buff like me, it's a calm lutheran island of clean medieval design, in a turbulent sea of german counter-reformation fluff. don't get me wrong, i love a church laden with ormolu putti, but there is just something about the elegant curve of a stone groin vault. during lent, all the altarpieces are closed, something most tourists don't generally get to see, since they do most of their traveling in the warmer months. but when it is cold and rainy, and you walk into a spare dark interior, nothing drives the message home like a gruesome crucifixion. the lord is dead. today's example is the isenheim altarpiece, circa 1515, painted by matthias grunewald.

art and cheese in marin

ludmilla — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 04:43:34 GMT

this weekend after the snow and fatalities had been cleared off the roads in marin, i ventured up to petaluma to see the latest installment of jesse reicheck's massive retrospective at the marin french cheese co. jess reicheck was a popular and influential design professor at uc berkeley for a very long time. he worked obsessively at his art every single day of his life, until he died last year. he was a prolific painter and had an incredible sense of proportion and color. he rarely showed his work, so his family has organized this free showing in the old wwii era building on the french cheese co grounds. every three months they change out the show to the next "group" of work, which all have strong geometric forms and spiritual symbolism from diverse cultures, most notably kabalah and i ching. saturday they had an 'opening' of sorts, with fabulous soft cheeses, food, sweets and wine. the artist's family was on hand to talk about his work. this is a very special show, and this area of marin is simply gorgeous. go, take a picnic, (or buy lovely food at the cheese co. ) more information here: http://www.reichekretrospective.org/

inconceivable!

ludmilla — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 07:22:40 GMT

You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha -

cheap chinese mesh slippers

ludmilla — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 00:27:26 GMT

horrid, tacky, cheap, but remarkably comfortable.

if it's in my blog, do i own it? apparently not.

ludmilla — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 22:28:19 GMT

i am removing all of my artwork from my photo gallery, and i will be deleting some of my past posts from some tribes. i only have a few blog entries, but some of the images and content in them i may be deleting as well. if anyone i interested in my artwork, please go to my website at http://www.lynnerutter.com vera (above) and a few others will be there. i am sad about this. not all of my work is displayed on my website, and i like sharing the more personal stuff with with my friends here (ie my heart project, smaller work, work in progress, etc) but by leaving these things here i run the risk of them being mis-used, or used without my permission by tribe. as for my past posts, they were meant to be read by the members of those tribes and within that context only. they are not meant to be used in tribe advertising or to be searchable outside of this community. on my own website, i can at least control the quality of what is posted, and what is publicly accessible, and what is not. enjoy drinks with vera this week. i will have to remove this image soon. updated 1/13/05 artwork removed.