On Being a Painter

I don't mean an artist. I mean a painter. As in a painter of walls.

That's what I've been doing for the past few weeks. Well, when I've not been working like a big dog or travelling to Texas during a heat wave. Other than THOSE things, I've been working on painting the dining room.

When we first bought this house, about 15 years ago, the interior was ... it was ... well, it was different. The house was built in the 70's and we were the third set of owners. The first set had left things much as they were in the early seventies, including fixtures and wallpaper. The second set of owners had stripped some of the wallpaper and replaced it with Laura Ashley prints, mostly in shades of blue and peach, and then painted the remaining GRASSCLOTH wallpaper a dark shade of Wedgwood blue. Different. Maybe that's why we got the house so cheap.

Fast forward two years or so. In the kitchen we have stripped off the gigantic head splitting print of strawberries and peaches and magnolia blossoms all growing off of the same curling blue vine and painted the walls a lovely non-busy white. (My FAVORITE white -- Benjamin Moore's Atrium White -- LOVELY). In the bathroom we have stripped off something and uncovered some holes in the wallboard that were PAPERED over. Jeez. We have re-painted bedrooms that were a nice little girl shade of hot pink and mauve to a calm light purple and beige, respectively. We've done several things. The entire time that we've done all of this, I have been scraping and peeling and steaming and pulling off lots of blue painted grasscloth. Lots. More than you can imagine. My neck is a mess, my shoulders are shot, I have no life other than work followed by hours of scraping off quarter sized pieces of wallpaper every single night.
Every. Single. Night.

You will understand why I quit for a while. I was tired. I needed a break from fixing things. I swore, however, that once I was rested, my next project would be the horrible dining room, papered in Laura Ashley (of course) stripes of pink and blue and icky gold and white. It looked like an ice-cream parlor on steroids. It was HORRIBLE.

I never got used to it, but I never actually got around to doing it either. For about 13 years, I muttered nasty things about Laura Ashley and ice cream parlors every time I had to walk through the dining room. But I didn't do anything ... not until about a month ago when I decided to replace the light fixture and pull off one little bit of wallpaper that was started to peel up at the seams. Finally! I had dreams of bright colors and clear light and something funky. I wanted something artistic. My sister had told me that the most interesting room in my house was my bathroom*. Somehow that just felt wrong. This was my big chance to make a huge change and express myself!!

This was my big chance...

Okay, so I ask you -- how can I feel perfectly comfortable choosing to mix cadmium red alongside cerulean blue, along with a shot of cobalt and yellow ochre and viridian to make wood planks, like on this unfinished bit of a painting, yet when it comes time to pick a color to paint the dining room, I spend THREE WEEKS before I finally settle on what could kindly be called beige. Huh?

Beige. The name of the color is actually Harmony (isn't that nice?) yet it looks a bit like burnt cream of mushroom soup. I wanted to be bold. I experimented with colors like pumpkin and red and peach and rich brown and funky grey... and after many trips to the paint store, after buying more little sample jars of paint and holding up chips of color, I chose beige. Excuse me, I meant to say Harmony.

I'm a wuss.

*My bathroom, which is painted orange and has a green rug and turquoise towels, along with things like a photograph of an old statue taken by a friend, a painting of the beach by me, a painting of a flamingo by Diahn, several figure drawing pieces by Janey, funky candle holders, etc., probably IS the most interesting room in the house.

Flighty

Tennessee to Georgia to Alabama to Mississippi to Louisiana to Texas ... then back again, and all the while there is a heat wave happening. Sigh. As if Texas in late July is not hot enough, they had the hottest days of the year so far while we were there. Well, we're finally back to our own roost, where it's a relatively cool ninety something degrees. (Relatively.)

Really, is it just the summer temperature that has me so artistically uninspired? Still, I suppose I should show up here a bit more often than I have lately. I'm a bit embarrassed ... or maybe that warm flush is just the heat ...

California Dreaming

Life has been busy-ness as usual, but I managed to find time to paint this little bit from a friend's photo. I don't know why photos of the western United States are really pulling at me right now -- it's not like I'm the one who is going to California...
Anyway -- the colors make me happy.

Above: 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" Arches 300# HP WC paper -- "San Somewhere -- Western U.S., The Postcard Series, #3 (Mission Bell)"

Cactus Monday on Tuesday

I had meant to post this yesterday for Teri but was otherwise occupied. ( And thank you all very very much for your kind comments and e-mails.)

So, look, Teri! A cactus for Cactus Monday! But on Tuesday.

(from a photo snagged from my WC teacher's vacation pics, painted with Teri, the Queen of the Cacti in mind.)

And for you music lovers -- I'm listening to Coldplay's BRAND NEW album - Viva la Vida, which just came out today. Great so far!

The Best Cat Ever

He was the best cat in the whole world. At least, the best cat that I've ever known. This picture was taken a few weeks ago after he'd lost a good bit of weight. For some reason, right now, I can't find any really good pics of him -- they're on the hard drive somewhere.

This weekend he really went downhill, and I had to take him into the vet this morning. Turned out to be his final trip. And that's okay -- it really really is.

He came to us as a stray when he was still young -- maybe a year old. He had a terribly crooked tail, and I had just taken a long series of tissue mobilization courses -- of course I had to practice on him. I would mobilize his tail until all of his vertebrae went pop-pop-pop and everything straightened out. After a few treatments he decided he would keep me.

Over the past 16 years or so he gave me the chance to practice first aid and wound care many many times. He was a good sized tom -- healthy and slim with a large frame, and for years he reigned as King of the Cats in our neighborhood. He was always a good patient, and would sit very calmly while I worked on his frequent wounds. No matter what was going on, even after he got sick, he was the terror of the Cardinal crowd, and baby bunnies were told nighttime horror stories about him, I'm sure.

He had the most wonderful soft side, though. Kids could play with him without a worry, even though he was fully clawed. He never scratched or bit, and would wait until the second or third time that someone picked him up by the tail before he would finally just walk away. He was always by my side when I worked in the yard (I hate to think of the times that I called it "being underfoot"...). He would come running when we raked leaves, because he loved to get in the pile until he was covered, and then he would EXPLODE out and attack the rake. Funny cat.

And here's my last story ... A couple of years ago, when the dog was getting old and blind and stumbled around a lot, RuPaw was her seeing eye cat. Winnie would get confused going over the threshold from the garage to the backyard...

...and RuPaw would go back to get her. He would walk just at her shoulder with her chin hovering over his head. They would walk together out into the back yard until there was a good place for them both to sit down together. Once she was settled, he would then go on his way.

Now really. He was the best cat ever.

Weekend WC Doodle

Sometimes I just get bored and need to do a quick doodle ... wishful thinking in motion, I guess. I'm the really skinny chick in the expensive bathing suit. Yep.

Above: 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" Arches 300# WC paper -- "Seaside, Florida -- Spring Break, The Postcard Series, #2 (Beach Umbrellas)"

Never A Day In May

Whew. I never thought we'd get through that Everyday in May theme, did you? You can't imagine how difficult if was for me to go for an entire month without drawing.

What ... you mean I got it backwards? We were supposed TO DRAW every day in May? Oh dear.

Okay, so I did say to some of you at the end of April that I was looking forward to the Everyday in May challenge. And I really was! But you know how it goes -- the minute you say something like that, THAT is when Murphy walks through the door.

Here's what's going on in my world:

RuPaw the cat is still around, but has more bad days than good days. We are giving him subcutaneous fluids, which makes our house look at bit like a kitty hospital. Some days he will eat regular cat food, other days we have to resort to baby food (turkey is his favorite); tonight he nearly fell over with excitement about a few bits of leftover orange roughy grilled with teriyaki sauce, which made Doug and I feel a bit guilty about not leaving him more leftovers! At his lowest point he wasn't eating anything and I accidentally discovered a mixture that perked him up considerably -- Karo syrup mixed with a big spoonful of mayonnaise and evaporated milk. Yep. Nasty sounding, isn't it! But he lapped it right up. Every now and then I will still give him a spoonful of mayo, just because he likes it so. Still, I don't think we have too much longer with our buddy, and I don't think I'm going to put him through any more doctors.

Sadly, my sister lost her most excellent of cats last weekend after a long bout with kidney disease, too. Mackenzie had been Kathy's cat since she was a kitten and from the time Kathy was in her first apartment in a city all by herself. She was a great cat.

I never talk much about work, but anyone who works in the nursing home and rehab fields will know what a big deal it is that we had our annual state survey a couple of weeks ago. Lots of disruptions, but work still had to be done, so it meant a lot of late evenings for me. The very next week, we had a major corporate audit that had been scheduled, but that we didn't get much notice for. At the same time, I had two new staff members start -- one the week before the state survey, and one the week after -- so I was knee deep in orientation and training! What did I really do Everyday in the month of May? Work. That's what I did. Work. Lucky for me, I really love my work, and it feels like it is finally getting back to an even keel. (Who is that knocking on the door? -- please, not Murphy again!)

Around the house we've really been working on the yard this year. The landscaping is showing the effects of the drought we've had here the past few years. I lost at least one huge rhododendron, and probably will lose a second. Several small flowering bushes and trees didn't make it through the winter, and even the day lilies look worse for the wear so far this year. We cleared out several very big shrubs and small trees, and pruned the rest down more than we normally do to give things a fighting chance to recover. I also started a bit of a vegetable garden along the back of the house between the stumps of glory holly. If it goes well, we'll dig the stumps out. If it doesn't, we'll let the shrubs come back! Ahhh... but the hardest part of the summer yard work is DONE, and we can just enjoy it now.

Art-wise, I submitted a couple of pieces to a juried show, and both were accepted. Miss Vanilla Cupcake went in (finally finished, matted, and framed!) along with an acrylic painting of a cloud on the beach in Destin. Diahn submitted three pieces and all three of hers were accepted, also. We had a big laugh about how calm we were this year compared to last year, when it was our very first juried show!

My art class also did a collaborative project, making a shoe shaped book, with everyone submitting an original watercolor page. One of the guys in class teaches bookbinding, so he put the whole thing together just beautifully. We were featured in the local newspaper, and the book was auctioned off this weekend with the proceeds going to benefit the art center. I just heard this afternoon that the book went for $400 -- a nice donation to the center!

Now. I'm not going to promise a drawing every day in June. Not even close. But I hope I'll be doing a bit more than I did in May! And, while the month was BUSY with unexpected events, most turned out okay -- so I'm not complaining! Me and Murphy get along just fine in the end ... :-)

Murphy's Law Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy's_law

http://www.murphys-laws.com/ (Offering all of Murphy's Laws in one place)

http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Murphy's_Law (from the "content free encyclopedia" -- whatever that means!)

Painting at top -- 4 1/2" x 6 1/2" watercolor on 300# HP paper -- "Seaside, Florida -- Spring Break, The Postcard Series, #1 (Beach Houses)"

Arte y pico Blog Award

Nancy has very kindly awarded me with the "Arte y pico Blog Award" which was a really nice way to begin the month. I started this post ages ago, but got waylaid by a sick kitty and haven't had time to be on the internet at all for about a week and a half. So, please pardon the lateness!

The Rules Are...

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, for creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award-winning blog has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4) Award-winning and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y pico"blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.

Award winners are:...

Okay -- this is tough. There are so many wonderful blogs out there. I want to comment on everyone's. Oh well -- here's a start! :-) And if you want to see more excellent blogs, just click on any of the links over there on the right ... any of them! ;-)

(1) Diahn of Art by Diahn for combining great painting and drawing, photography, and wonderful funny stories. And for being my in-town art bud. That counts for something...
(2) Lin of View from the Oak for being such an inspiration with her DAILY drawing and her constant encouragement to others.
(3) Teri of Teri's Painted Daisies for also inspiring us all by drawing, again, DAILY, and for starting a certain cactus craze that I believe is sweeping the internet...
(4) Janey of Janey's Journey for being SO innovative and generous and funny.
(5) Annie of New Life Rising for fun collage and photography and poetry and wonderful thoughtful writing.
(6) What the heck -- I can't leave out Laura of Laurelines, even though she is on a blogging break. And after seeing her garden and imagining all the fun she must have there, I can't say that I blame her...

Okay -- now you all go forth and multiply the awards.

April Endings

Aw ... not quite the end of April yet, but I've reached the end of the Maruman book, and now am wondering if I want to work on the other side of the page. Anybody with any thoughts on that?
I'm loving sitting in the backyard documenting the spring bloomers -- this week it has been Lily-Of-The-Valley and May Apples in the shade and wildflower garden in the raised stone flower bed ...

...ending up with the old blue Iris that is blooming by the gate into the back yard. Lots of blooms this year. (And you can see on this scan the color of the cover of the sketchbook.)

Two4Tuesday

Nearly finished with the little Maruman sketchbook -- at least the front side. It's set up so that you can use it either way. Here's a branch of the Fothergilla shrub -- which is supposed to be a shade lover, but leans heavily in search of more sun than it gets in MY yard -- and the first Jack-In-The-Pulpit. There should be a few more showing up, unless they've had a bad winter. Or unless DH thought the three leaves meant they were poison ivy and sprayed them... darn it. I just thought about that.

Two more spreads left, and the irises are blooming, the May Apples are getting ready to open up, and I'm sure there's more to come. Yeah, I think I'll have enough happening in the yard to do the back side of the pages in this book.

Meanwhile, Dear Daughter has arrived back home safely in Florida. I spent a few hours moping around after she left this morning -- it's so hard to see them leave! Finally, I decided that boo hoo-ing and playing video games was no way to spend a day off work, so I went and then picked up my friend Marcia and ran to the art gallery to drop off a little watercolor. That cheered me up considerably! Ever since I've been working on another painting (the infamous Miss Vanilla Cupcake) that I CANNOT seem to finish. Sigh. It's been an up and down day.

Happy Family

We're back home from visiting my parents and having a fantastic family weekend. The dear daughter is still here today, and leaves for home tomorrow, the sun is shining, and our main plans are get her tires looked at and do some fun running around.
I sketched the lemon trillium patch in the back yard yesterday evening. Normally they fade fairly quickly, but the weather has been cool and all the bloomers have stayed in good condition for longer than normal. I started growing these trillium about 14 years ago when I rescued 2 small plants from an area in the woods that was marked off for road construction. It took a long time for them to get settled in and start spreading, but finally there is a good strong patch of them. I'm considering transplanting a few into other parts of the yard and maybe to my sister's yard, just in case...

Note: By the way, I have been corrected over and over by my sister -- SHE found the photo of the daughter and gave it to me to scan to put together with a bunch of other photos on CD's to give to our parents along with a gift. SHE found the photo at her house and then I found it in the bag of photos she sent over. Semantics... :-D

Goofy Grins

Grown and gone, but coming home this weekend! I found this photo of my daughter when she was little, and it just cracked me up. She's driving up from Florida and should be here tomorrow. Meanwhile, I've been trying to get work caught up so I could take a day or two off and to get her room cleaned up and ready. (Note: When you leave home, your parents frequently use your room for temporary storage of potential yard sale items and other junk -- that's why you always give parents a little heads up if you're coming home for a visit!)

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a few moments to sketch the bloomin' back yard. But if not, I'll "see" you all next week!

Lilac Time

The lilacs are blooming - already?!! They bloom for such a short time, and we're expecting a real cold spell tonight, which may do them in for the year. So I cut a big fistful of them off of my sister's bush and have them on the table in the breakfast nook. The smell is so sweet, and they are so pretty -- so much more delicate than I did them here.

What I love about this Maruman accordion style book is that I am sticking with the "series" bit -- since it all runs together it makes it easier to keep on track. What bothers me about this Maruman accordion style book is that I sometimes feel stuck in a series and in a rut... which is just the other side of the same coin. But really -- with lilacs I would normally have painted them completely differently, yet felt I had to keep within the same style I'd started in the book. Still, I tried to adapt and use less ink and more splash without looking out of character. I've been a bit uptight in this book, too -- just a matter of getting to know something new. I KNOW I'll be ordering a few more of these to play with! (And I got a bit heavy handed and thick with the color on the flowers, too. THAT'S just me getting to know how to paint with gouache rather than watercolor.)

This makes me want to listen to this song -- Lilac Wine by Jeff Buckley -- and I wonder what Lilac Wine would taste like, other than "sweet and heady"...

Yard Foolery

Sitting in the back yard sketching flowers. My version of yard work (at least this weekend.) Yep. And there's nothing anybody can do about it.

Meanwhile, D is busy raking and bagging leaves. HIS version of yard work.

Life is good.

"Spring has returned. The earth is like a child that knows poems."
Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring Break

Uh oh. I've been on a three-week break from Saturday watercolor class and had an assignment -- an assignment to do start / work on / do (?I never figured it out exactly) a full sheet piece. Actually, it is an assignment which I have NOT TOUCHED. I scrambled tonight to play catch up, but just am not getting it done. This is supposed to be fun. I'm going to KEEP it fun, too. So, I'm going to have to confess to my WC teacher that I AM, in fact, on good authority, a slacker.

I can only bring these full sheet sketchy things that are IDEAS for paintings based on photos from last year's spring break at the beach...

I particularly like this figure. She's ready for ANYTHING. But I kind of want to paint these in acrylic or even oil rather than watercolor. It's like they deserve something rather more solid than watercolor ... or something like that.

I'm also playing with this from a photo of a red bicycle parked in the middle of the street. The shadows were great, but the photo doesn't give me quite the details I need to be as accurate as it ought to be for a full sheet. Still, I can kind of imagine the shadows being these wonderful masses of interesting colors just dropped in wet-in-wet, with the bicycle almost being secondary ...

We'll see. I find that I am ready to get back into the swing of painting big.

And these count as today's drawings! I skipped yesterday because I spent the evening in a neighborhood meeting campaigning AGAINST speed humps -- they are dangerous crazy things, people. But that's for another day, another post, another blog ...

Foolin or Fibbin?

Was I foolin' or was I fibbin' on Sunday when I promised a peek of my early birthday present from Diahn?
Neither -- I was just forgettin'... which is just proof of how far I am on this side of FABULOUS!

She got me this totally GREAT Maruman watercolor accordion book and a Maruman sketch accordion book, recommended by Laura (we suspect that she funds her travel habit with secret commissions from art supply stores -- but Diahn is right when she says that if Laura recommends something it's usually good!) I also got a piece of Masa paper to experiment with (evil scientist laugh!) and an amazing little travel palette that she made from an Altoid tin. Absolutely BRILLIANT -- she experimented and found that Fimo didn't work well with gouache -- so she made the dividers USING HOT GLUE. She is a GENIUS.

Now I just have to figure out WHICH eight colors to put in here ...

So, yesterday and today, I just couldn't stop working in the watercolor book, painting flowers from the yard. Page 1 & 2 -- an azalea and a weeping cherry...

Pages 3, 4, & 5 -- Virginia Bluebells and a Bleeding Heart...

Page 6 - Celandine poppies ... nearly gone ...

Oh yeah -- I'm having a blast and will be ordering more of these sketchbooks! Thanks, Diahn!

Awesome April Azaleas

My azaleas in the back yard bloomed TODAY. Not gradually over the week, no, they bloomed TODAY. Yesterday there were a some buds peeking out, today there are blooms. I'm amazed.
(By the way, I cut this sprig of azaleas and did the drawing this afternoon from home while I was on a conference call for work. Shhhh!! I call it multi-tasking, and it just means I'm an efficient individual...)

RuPaw BluPaw

Look who's home from the vet! A blue bandage still on his left leg and still not totally healthy, and I'm going to have to give him fluids for a week; then we'll see after some more tests. But for now, I'm just happy that he's back home. He's such a silly guy -- he's an outdoor cat, but is very tidy. When he catches a bird or bunny he runs straight into the garage with it so he can eat it out of his bowl (gross, but a fact of life with outdoor cats.) Some years back, he had to be kept in because of some stitches, so we put a litter box in the garage. He's used it ever since -- it's hilarious to see him run into the garage, jump into his litter box, stick his head out and MEOW with relief. What a nut. He's not a very good model, though -- not one who will sit still, so I didn't capture the elegant shape of his paw.

Friends and Foolery

Diahn and I met up this afternoon for a cup of coffee, a few minutes of sketching, and to continue our trend of generally being disruptive in public places. We don't actually intend to be disruptive, and I really think we aren't -- it's not like we talk loudly or yell or dance around or act out or ANYTHING like that! We just crack each other up and spend most of our time together laughing. For some reason at least one lady today at Border's wasn't happy with us -- she kept looking over and then back down at her magazine. Finally she got up, walked past us, paused, looked at us, shook her head, and went on her way. This, of course, sent us nearly off of our chairs, laughing so hard. Bless her heart. At least she was the only one who seemed to even notice us. So we were able to sneak in a couple of quick sketches of people, despite also having a few "false starts" when subject would suddenly walk away or change positions so dramatically that it didn't even count any more.
Diahn also gave me my early birthday present, and I'm totally jazzed with it. I promise to show you tomorrow!
(Oh ... the suspense!....)

Fast Foolin' Around

Another wonderful rainy day! Busy doing Saturday stuff, including printing out some photos from our trip to Dollywood last weekend. While I had a photo of the crowd up on the computer screen, I decided to do a fast sketch. To time myself, I picked a 5 and a half minute song on iTunes, and let it play while I drew -- I had to stop when the song stopped. In reality, that's much slower than a crowd in real life would have moved, but it feels like a good way to practice. I'm wondering about adding color ... ???

RuPaw is still at the vet. He's feeling better, but not being very cooperative with his IV lines, so she wants to keep him until Monday. I went to pay him a visit, and while he looks better than he was, he still doesn't look exactly GREAT. I'm thinking that I'm going to be bringing him home Monday, no matter what. I think any longer is just too stressful for him. I love our vet, by the way -- she's just great!