Duncan and Duff

For the last week I have been obsessed with these portraits of Duff(left) and Duncan(right). They are only 5X7, but I had a very hard time getting the likeness of the dogs, especially Duff. I did portraits of two other Scotties owned by the same people years ago. Those dogs died and now here are the new boys. It has been quite a challenge to get individuality into each dog, but I think I finally managed to catch them. In any case, they're finished. After all I've been through, I am afraid even one more brushwork could be disastrous.

Chickens and More Flowers

I haven't taken pictures of the chickens for awhile, so when they refused to go in for the night, I used the time to get them on camera. This is the only one I got with all six. They are so friendly that it's hard to get far enough away from them. I threw a handful of Rice Crispies on the ground, then snapped the picture. They are big and beautiful and healthy.......and happy.

The cosmos is still going strong. It looks disheveled because of the wind, but it is covering the whole garden now. It's a beautiful sight. I picked the last of the gladiolas and put them with the others on the table in the kitchen. What tremendous rewards I have received from planting flowers. There can't be much that delivers such pleasure.

The country is in a terrible economic crisis right now. Since I have nothing to lose, it has hit me only (at this point anyway) in hypothetical terms. My brother Mike, however, has lost all of the money he spent years accumulating. He planned on moving here and enjoying retirement. We've talked about it for years, and I have even looked at real estate for him. He has worked hard all his life, and it just breaks my heart to see his dreams evaporate............

Painting Group

Wednesday we had our usual painting group. I have written about it so many times, I decided to take a picture. Here are Lisa and Sydney having refreshments (wine, cheese, and crackers) after our afternoon labor. I love looking at this because it brings back the feeling I always have there. Sydney's studio, on the third floor of her huge house, is comfortable and welcoming. The lighting is less than ideal for painting, but we aren't really bothered by it. Our camaraderie makes up for any practical difficulties there may be. We paint and talk, occasionally falling into easy silence as we work. Topics of conversation run the gamut......local gossip, politics, personal problems, religion, books, TV shows, art, philosophy....nothing is off limits. Despite the fact that we usually get together only this one day a week, it seems we are the best of friends. Seeing them in this picture makes me realize that I love them.

The top picture is the one I started that day and finished at home. I have liked painting these vegetables and envisioned a series. After this one, the third, I'm not so sure. I'm more intrigued by the idea than the process. Probably I will do one more and then see how I feel about it. I've already picked another arrangement, so I may as well keep going. I am so short on supplies that along with doing without some of my paint colors, I have started painting on a pad of canvas paper that I've had for at least ten years. It's flimsy, so master of invention that I am, I got some vinyl tiles left over from the bathroom floor out of the cellar. They are square, and are sticky on the back--perfect for mounting canvas paper. I am quite proud of my resourcefulness. It amuses me that so many artists no better or more famous than I worry so much about preserving their work. They worry about color-fast paint, archival surfaces and framing materials, and exposure to light. Putting my work on peel-and-stick floor tiles is a defiant piece of performance art, if only in my own mind.

I had a wonderful print-making teacher named Zislaw Sikora during a summer session when I was at school. He once said, as we students labored endlessly over our preparatory sketches, "Come on, hurry up. If you were Rembrandt, you'd know it by now."

More Vegetables

Here's the second painting of the pile of vegetables I photographed so many times. Once again, I'm amazed at how detailed my paintings look when shrunk down like this. I like it in the flesh, too, though.