Category: General

 I have been dinking around on a painting that supposedly was finished several months ago. This is before:  

 

 And here is after: (the color differences are due to my photographic ignorance)

 

 It is representational of the inner war each time I paint. In my head is a cacophony of voices saying “looser, stop drawing with your paintbrush, just concentrate on color and value”.  And then there is a clear voice of my own experience that says “make it right and include almost everything; treat your paintbrush as an extension of your hand and eye; paint like you draw because is is who you are”.  Authenticity is always my goal in almost every thing I say and do. So why am I trying to discern voices from the cacophony? Look at that word: it has the word “phony” in it!!! Aha! There’s my answer! 

 

Now I need to add some more detail to the trees in the foreground AND the pasture in the middle ground! Will I ever finish. . .? More will be revealed!

  

This week was about animals. First, I had to bury Jones. Meanwhile, I have been taking care of the neighbor’s dogs. This is a stretch for me, because, as you may have guessed, I am a Cat Person (with a borderline Cat Disorder). The dogs are 2 beagles and a very old dachshund.  The dogs are missing their people in a large way, despite the fact that I am over there 3-10 times a day! So the dachshund has decided she wants to hang out with me at my address. I look down below my easel and there’s Bugsy.

 I hear some serious cat growlings behind me, and there’s Bugsy.

  

 Zeke keeps saying, “Person, it is LOOKING at me! Make it stop!” 

 I go to the studio to get some stuff, look out the door, and there’s Bugsy.

 

Perkins is fairly tolerant considering he lost his buddy this week  – no growling, just a stare-down. 

I head back to the house for something, look out the front door, and there’s Bugsy.

 

 I’m just trying to get a little work done here, and there is all this disturbance. Bugsy’s nails click when she waddles, she slobbers, she clicks when she breathes, and she is upsetting my cats. However, I did get a little work done before it was time to run back to the neighbor’s place and change the sprinklers again.

Three 6×6 paintings were begun and completed. In light of the week’s upsetting events, I returned to my favorite flower for comfort.

 p.s. My husband killed rattlesnake in the lawn next to the sidewalk that leads from the house out to the studio. Stop with the animals already!

 

Today I came home from photographing a house for a new drawing. Jones was on the porch, as usual. I said, “Jones, don’t lie that way. You look dead!” She was.  Zeke just looked over at her body and had lunch.  I went into the house to put my things down and  realized I needed a friend, because I am just a big baby.   S came over and brought Ralph with her. They are so kind.  They found no signs of injury, so they loaded her into a box, and I am now trying to get a hole dug in the DG (or whatever the heck this hard excuse for soil is) so I can properly lay her to rest.  Jones was a dropped off cat who came to us about 8 years ago. She had pretty coloring, a brown tabby with clear green eyes and very soft fur. I used to tell her that she was made up of the leftover scraps from the Kitty Factory. Her legs and tail were short, and her eyes were too big for her face. She squeaked rather than meowed, and she always let me know exactly what she wanted. “Let me in”, “let me out”, “Perkins wants to come in”, “the food bowl is empty”. . . she was very clear.  Each time we got a new kitten (she watched 5 new cats come into her space), she was outraged. If the new cat got too close, not only did she hiss and growl, she actually snorted! Not real ladylike, but she had a point to make. She was preceded in death Wilson, Scout, Prudence and Amos, but is survived by Zeke and Perkins. I got tired of her barfing, and I didn’t always like her, but I loved Jones and I will miss her. So will Perkins, but Zeke will just have dinner.

 

 Perkins and Jones looked out for one another. Zeke looks out for his bowl.