There are a few small fall shows coming up beginning in October, and I don’t have any small paintings for these venues. I have large Mineral King paintings, but this is not what typical customers are seeking at boutiques, festivals and fairs.

Hence, I pulled out some photos and began planning new small oil paintings. There will be 3 on 5×7″ boards which sit on miniature easels, 3 4×6″ and 3 6×6″ oils on wrapped canvas. All will be citrus. For now. Let’s see how things go here. . . if I finish these, I might do a few pomegranates too.

Then I heard one of my favorite sounds.

Oh boy! My new walking shoes are here! I took them into the house, thought about trying them on, reminded myself that I was supposed to be working, so I had to parent myself: “Try them on when you are finished painting and go back to work NOW”.

Because these tiny paintings don’t sit on my easels, I hold them in my left hand to paint. Or I lay them flat on my rolling thing (it has an art name but I can’t remember what it is).

However, there was another distraction.Tucker was very needy, but willing to sit still on my lap so I worked around him.

More rough beginnings, but that’s okay. It is hard to concentrate when there are new shoes and kitties who need me. Besides, I was tired from getting up early to walk fast and far in the dark in worn out shoes. (A goathead went right through the bottom last week!)

I came into the studio to get some work done, to post to the blog, to cross things off my inventory list that have sold recently, to sketch a little. . . you know, just the normal art business tasks.

This time Scout was very needy. She will not sit still, licks my hand and arm and bites my watch, steps on the computer, and changes position every few seconds. 

I had to smash her down with my hand so the laptop could photograph her. (Wow, my hand is scary looking. Someone please tell me that it is the Photo Booth application or I might go into shock.)