Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful

Okay, maybe not frightful, but it's fraught with the type of frigid cold that usually assaults the Chicago area in the middle of January, not the beginning of December. I believe it's Mother Nature way of ordering me to stay inside and goof off.  Who am I to argue with the perfect excuse to toss some tinsel and trim the tree?

Whilst tossing and trimming, I came upon my most favorite ornament of them all:  a tiny penguin that's so cute that merely gazing upon him has been known to completely thaw the very coldest of grinchy hearts.

See what I mean?

More unpacking turned up more penguins (albeit not quite as cute), so a tinsel time-out was taken to do a little fun sketching and experiment with a recently acquired set of Cretacolor AquaStics (oil pastels that are water soluble. Woo-hoo, I'm all over anything that can be construed as watermedia!).

In this sketch, the AquaStic was applied to the paper, and then gone over with a wet brush.  Not bad, but unless the pastel was applied heavily, the tooth of the Canson Acrylic paper was pretty evident, as seen on his textured, ample belly.

This time the wet brush was rubbed across the Aquastic first, and then applied to the paper, creating a smoother, looser watercolor look.

The Aquastics certainly bear more experimentation.  I can see them being a useful, easily portable plein aire tool.  And for weather wussies like me, that means plein aire-ing when the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the temperature is balmy, and your water container doesn't freeze solid before you've even had the chance to dip your brush into it.

Back to tossing and trimming.  Time to find a special spot on the tree to hang the cute little penguin.

Sitting On The Fence with a Broken Heart

I'm back from my self-imposed hiatus, my dears, and I have missed you all terribly.  I have oodles of blogs to read and much to catch up on.  Life, once again, reared it's ugly head and demanded time for other things besides art and blogging.

I actually have been dabbling in art the past month, just not in the form that you're used to seeing.  Some of the wood fence that surrounds our patio needed replacing, so we started researching options.  I wasn't happy with the flimsy examples exhibited at the big box home-improvement stores, and was even less happy with the gaggle of estimates gleaned from several fencing companies.  Being a Custom Kinda Gal, it was time to take matters into my own hands.

We have an affinity for the Craftsman style of architecture, signified by simple, elegant designs using natural materials.  Of course, trying to incorporate this refined style into a 50's tract ranch is sort of like putting perfume on a pig, but...it's our pig, and it's smelling a little sweeter with every project we do.

Lots of internet research turned up the Gamble House, an extraordinary example of the style by Arts and Crafts architects Greene and Greene.  One particular detail in the house caught my eye: the angled pieces in the upper parts of the windows that are said to simulate the rays of the rising sun.

Well, we can all use a little more sunshine in our lives, right?  With this detail in mind, I sat down to design and build a fence.  (Yes, stand back...I have power tools and I'm not afraid to use them.)

A few sketched plans and several lumber purchases later....

... a fence began to take shape.

After a couple of weekends of work, I had my sturdy, custom-built fence at a fraction of the cost of having a fence company build it, a money-saving strategy that would make my penny-pinching Scottish ancestors proud.

In between jobs and fences and holiday get-togethers, we were caring for one of our kitties who was recently diagnosed with cancer.  Yesterday, we chose to end Maxxine's battle, and she is now at peace.

Maxxine was 16 years old.  I found her and two sisters in a hollow log when they were about two weeks old.  I took the kittens home, bottle raised them, and of course couldn't part with them and kept all three. Samantha passed away several years ago, and Gracie is still fat, happy and healthy.

Maxxine definitely wasn't the smartest sister, but what she lacked in cerebral abilities she more than made up for in cuddliness.  She had a raucous meow that she used frequently, and had a purr that was so loud and deep that you felt it in your bones.  If you closed you eyes, you would swear that you had a cat-sized motorboat sitting in your lap.  With Maxx gone, the house just seems too quiet.

Queen Maxxine Jean the Jellybean

1994 - 2010

Thank you for sharing our lives these past sixteen years.

A Kinda Likable Oops

In between pressing winterizing tasks around the house (it got into the 20's here last night...brrrrrrr.  I was all set to complain about it, but the poor folks in northern Indiana got several inches of snow, so I'll just shut up), I was determined to fit in just a bit of art.  So I did a quick giraffe sketch (gotta go with what you love), and then for a change of pace, quickly outlined the sketch in India ink. 

As I began to fill in the form with some acrylic ink, the India ink began to run into my nice, clean colors, giving the giraffe an undesirable muddy skin condition.  In my haste, I had grabbed the water soluble India ink, rather than the waterproof one.    Oh well.  I had already begun, so might as well go with the flow, so to speak.  After that, ink was just brushed on with abandon.

After all was said and done, I rather liked this girl, if for nothing else than for her spontaneity, looseness and complete lack of an over-calculated attempt at control.   She's fresh, if a tad mucky, and was a blessed half an hour of just devil-may-care painting.

Tonight, the part of the Blogger will be played by....

Hello all.  Furry Critic here,  filling in for Mom who is over in the corner babbling something incoherent.  I think she's having some sort of existential artistic crisis.

 

She's walking around mumbling things like 'textured lights' and 'limited palette' and 'cohesive body of work'.     I don't quite understand what that means, but it's keeping her busy in that stoo-dee-oo.  Not to worry, I take her out for walks and make her play ball in the yard.  But if she keeps babbling, I may need to take her to the vet.

 

So in the meantime, we wish you all a safe and happy Halloween.   Now if you'll excuse me,  I see a pirate, a princess, and a cute little Chilean miner coming up the front walk, and I simply must go complement them on their costumes.

Cones of Learning

These are a few studies based on the self-assignment "Make Something Interesting Out Of A Not So Interesting Photo".  Just like the farmhouse studies, the photo was reduced to a four value, black and white image so I couldn't possibly cheat.  All of the colors and values had to be dredged up from the imaginative depths of Right Brain.

Funny what happens when you have to throw away the safety nets and are forced to dust off an atrophied imagination.  I wouldn't have thought twice about this exercise when I was a kid; I would have happily applied a rainbow of color without a second thought.  Now as an adult, the idea is met with a bit of trepidation, and a feeling of floundering around, looking for a lifeline.  I wonder when I lost that devil-may-care creative childhood spark.  Oh well.  Best not to test the water, just jump in with both feet and start splashing around.

Just like doing the Zentangle Polar Bear, these studies became a little freer and easier as I went along.  I could just picture my decrepit Imagination, slowly getting up out of a rocking chair, slightly bent over, joints creaking, then stretching a bit and loosening up.  I hope for the day when, just like in childhood, my Imagination is dancing a jig.