Little Miss Annabel and Two Bits of Art

Good Morning Good People!

I do hope it's a good morning for you all. I woke up at 10 a.m. with a killer headache. I think the weather has a lot to do with that headache being here! I stumbled back to the kitchen after getting the pc up, going to make coffee and found a dead mouse floating in the pan of water in the sink. Better a dead mouse in the sink than a live one in the bread box. The cat, which cat I don't know, had knocked dishes over on the draining rack so I'm assuming said cat chased that mouse into the sink and then couldn't get it out of the water where it swam till it died. I tossed the dead critter outside

(Sorry, you all probably didn't need a dead critter story right off the bat, did you?)

There's new snow on the ground this morning. I said I didn't want any more snow. Someone wasn't listening apparently! :) Not a lot of snow, just a dusting, just enough to make it cold as all get out and to play havoc with my head.

That beautiful little girl that greeted you at the beginning of this post is my grand daughter, Annabel Mae. It has been a few weeks since I have seen Miss Annabel. Her mama says she's growing like a weed! I can believe that! Talked to her papa (my son RJ) a few days ago on the phone and heard Annabel in the background just a hollering her little lungs out. RJ said he was trying to get her to take a nap. He is an excellent daddy. Dotes on that little girl as much as he does 7 yr old, Brenton. Brenton was part of the package deal when he hooked up with Terah. He's a good boy, Brenton is. RJ is a good boy as well.

I didn't think any of yous would object to having to look at an adorable child this morning. Annabel is now 5 and 1/2 months old.

I hear my brother outside in the trailerhouse shed as I sit here typing this morning. He apparently doesn't notice the new snow on the ground. He's tearing crap apart out there! Taking down the ceiling panels this morning. I'm not going out to help him, it's too cold and my head still hurts.

My youngest son should be here in about an hour so I better get this post done and over with.

Here's some art. Only two pieces from yesterday. I thought there might end up being more but I got caught up in playing majong and didn't get any more drawing done!

Enjoy.

Hollyhock

ATC

28 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

365 Project

Sacred Bull

ATC

28 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

I see someone needs to clean the scanner bed again. Those black specks on the bull are not actually on the card. That black speck doesn't show up near as well on the Hollyhock. It's there though.

I didn't go to the museum in Logan with Ma the other day. I begged off cause of a damned headache and all the other crap I needed to get done. The exhibit runs through the end of February so we will still go see it.

You all get some Friday hugs and kisses. I'll be collecting my hugs here shortly when RW, Lue and 4 yr old Gavin show up. Have a good one, people!

Peace

831

Thursday's ramblings, no artwork in sight for this one.

I've done artwork today....two ATCs, but I've yet to scan the little devils. I'll scan them later this evening and do a post early morning to show you today's artwork. There may be more to scan before the night is over.
I got my paperwork filled out but not taken to its destination yet. I'm hoping that will occur tomorrow. It should have been done weeks ago, but being late isn't the end of it all...so I'm kinda procrastinating when I shouldn't be procrastinating. It'll get taken care of before the week is done! Guess that means tomorrow!

I had lunch with my brother at his house and then watched the movie, Foreve Young with him. He said it was a 'chick flick' and I reminded him I was not your typical chick. He agreed I am not your typical chick but he assured me I would probably like this movie anyway. And yes, I did like the movie! It was a good story. It reminded me somewhat of the movie Benjamin Buttons though it was an entirely opposite story. Good movie nonetheless and it wasn't time wasted in my opinion.

I have added a couple of books to the "books read in 2010' list on the sidebar. Sounder was an excellent read if any of you are looking for something to occupy your time in the reading department. The Body wasn't a bad book either! No clue what the next book on the list will be. I've yet to pick one from the shelves and get on with it.
I have about 1000 books in the house to choose from. And if I get desparate (like that's going to happen with 1000 books in the house,) I can always go out to the burned house and choose a book from the many, many boxes of books out there! I do have a book laying on the headboard of my bed that looks promising and it will probably be the next one on the list. It is called "Cranes On Parade" You all heard about Cows on Parade? Well, instead of cows, there are cranes (birds) painted in all fashion same as the cows were. I have a Cows on Parade book as well but it was read a couple years ago and a couple years is not enough time gone by to go back to a book I've already read when, like I said, there are 1000 books to choose from. I really don't know exactly how many books and I'm only guessing at the 1000 mark. There are books in every room of my house except the laundry room. (Ain't no time to read in the laundryroom!)

I was going to show you all something really cool that brother Sam found out in the trailerhouse shed when he was taking down the panelling on the walls, but it's so little I can't get a good picture of it. I was really surprised when he brought it in the house for me. Others wouldn't have even given it a second thought! So, what did he find? A dead scorpion. Yes, I get excited about things like that! It's a tiny little critter, but it's oh so cool! I'm going to keep experimenting with the camera and see if I can get a good shot of the pale tan exoskeleton of the scorpion. In life, the little guy was probably reddish brown as those are the normal scorpions found in my neck of the woods. He's only about an inch long and maybe 3/4 inch tall...he has his tail curled up above his body. The pose he is in is incredible! It looks as though he had died and someone pinned him to a board that way, but there are no pins in him! Sam said he was clinging to the insulation behind the panelling. It was an excellent find and I am so glad Sammy brought it to me. I have several dead critters in my desk room. Three skulls, a mouse skull and backbone, an owl pellet full of little bones from God knows what, a goat skull and a domesticated cat skull, not to mention the tarantula and emperor scorpions hanging behind glass on the wall. Yes, I am a weird girl! The strangest part of that collection of strange things is that the goat skull was given to me by my oldest son. The emperor scorpion and the tarantula were given to me by youngest son. The owl pellet came from my mother. The cat skull came from the trailerhouse shed. I'm pretty certain it was a cat I owned at one time. I've had two go missing in the years I've lived out here. The mouse skull and backbone was actually a whole mouse skeleton till I picked it up off the carpet beneath the china hutch in the livingroom when I rearranged last year. It fell to pieces though so I only kept the bones that stayed intact. I forgot to mention the coyote skull hanging on the wall above the desk. It came from my mother as well. There are strange things all over this room! Including the girl sitting in this chair typing on the keyboard! LOL Only my brother Sam will tell you I am normal and that isn't saying too much really cause he thinks he's normal as well and I know for certain he is not.

I like junk as well as most men do. I'm thankful my brother understands that. He is tearing down my trailer house shed and there is all kinds of cool little junk that most women would consider just that.....junk. Sam finds cool things and he keeps them out for me to see before he latches on to them for the junk pile. I garnered some tiny aluminum clips the other day that will work wonderfully for arms and legs on matchbox shrine dolls! Into my jar of little metal bits and bobs they went!
Somewhere on the www I saw little robots made out of bolts, screws, nails, nuts, you know, all that little metal crap that you find when you tear crap apart....my brother has been tearing crap apart right and left to separate the different metals whatever is made out of. I have access to a whole big pan of crap like that if I really want it. I need to figure out which glue would hold it together the best. I suppose I could solder it together but I'm not good at soldering and I always burn my fingers when I give it a shot! Too bad Sam sold his welding unit. I could learn how to weld, I think.
For those of you who also love junk, if you would like some little junk, I'd gladly trade you for it. Maybe you have different junk than I do or maybe you've some artwork that catches my fancy. Just let me know if you'd like some of my little junk crap and we can do some dealing.
Brother got news that makes our trip to the junk dealer not quite so dire so that trip has been put off for awhile. We'd rather sit on our junk than sell it right now anyway. The junk piles will only grow and then we'll just have more junk to sell for more money when we need it most!
The trailerhouse shed should be completely gone by next week! I'm anxious to see how much aluminum we get off the siding of that old thing. And the corregated iron on the roof will be a nice chunk to add to the iron pile! Not sure just how we will get it to the iron pile, but Sam says he's got that figured out already and I shouldn't give it any thought. OK. No problem.
I wish for another trip to the junkyard with my friend, but that doesn't appear to be going to happen anytime soon so I won't fret about that either.

I made a phone call this morning to inquire about putting my art in the gift shop at The Grassroots Art Center in Lucas, Kansas. It looks promising. I haven't heard back from the director yet. I sent her an email with attachments of some ATCs, some little books and the fish picture. I'm hoping she will want my work in the gift shop. I did two stone carvings for the Art Center back in '05 and Roslyn fell in love with those! They are both in the limestone courtyard behind the Art Center. Part of their permanent collections. There are other artists represented in the limestone courtyard as well. I was honored to be among those artists, as the two stones I carved for them were the first two stones I ever carved in my life! So, wish me luck on this endeavor. I'm rather excited about it.

I guess I'm done rambling for the time being. I can't think of much else to say.... Hmmm, me speechless? Doesn't seem possible!
You all get your hugs! I got a few today so I'm good to go!
Have yourselves a Fantastic Friday and I shall ramble again tomorrow!
Peace
831

Green Girl

Good Morning Readers!

This will be a short post today. I still have things to finish up from yesterday. A roadtrip is in order for later today and I have another assignment added to the task that was started yesterday. In short, I've another busy day ahead of me.

This drawing fits perfectly with my state of mind and physical well being yesterday. I was a tad green around the gills as it goes. Much better today, but still busy as all get out!

Green Girl

ATC

27 January 2010

365 Project

Markers on recycled cardstock.

I'm not sure what possessed me to draw a green girl, but there you have it! It's the only art (and I think calling this art is a stretch of the imagination if there ever was one!) that was produced yesterday. Not sure what will get made in the art department today. I know I need to finish the matchbox for my second matchbox/book for the swap. The book is done. The matchbox is still white...not very exciting! Still trying to figure out just what to put on the matchbox. So I will be wracking my brain to solve this dilemma sometime today. The matchboxes and books are not due till the first week of March but it's time to get them done and in the mail so I don't have to deal with them anymore till the returns come in.

I have cards to get into envelopes and mailed in the next couple of days too.

Brother Sam wants to take a roadtrip either tomorrow (Friday) or Monday, depending on the news he gets. I will be taking that roadtrip with him as we are headed to Salina to sell some junk to the junk dealer if all goes well. I'll be having to help load all that junk to take it to the junk dealer so that will cut into art time in the next few days. I wish things weren't so busy, but nothing I can do about that but go with it!

You all get some hugs on this chilly Thursday. Weather gurus said we were to have a dusting of snow on the ground this morning but there is no snow to be seen out there right now and it doesn't look like it's going to snow. I didn't want more snow anyway!

Peace, my friends!

831

A Pink Horse Rode In

I've been procrastinating on a certain area of my life and I really need to get a move on and get that task accomplished. When I'm putting things off, which is what I am doing with this mess, I focus elsewhere. Art seems to be a likely focusing spot. I doubt I'll get any art done tomorrow. I have things that MUST be done and art will have to go on the back burner. Some days you just have to live in reality!

Hey, but when I get this way, you all get to see what my muse finds so important in those times. She was all over the board today!

Winter Sunset

ATC

26 January 2010

365 Project

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Sophia

ATC

26 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Honey

ATC

26 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Lone Soldiers

ATC

26 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Pink Horse

ATC

26 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

It amazes me I have stuck with this project for 26 days straight.

 In that time I have been fairly prolific in the production of artwork.

71 ATCs

8 twinchies

33 inchies

1 2x3 foot canvas fish picture

2 pen and ink drawings larger than an ATC

1 Matchbox Book

5 stitched books

and

I did five drawings this evening that did not get scanned because the damn scanner is having a PMS moment and it isn't cooperating with me in scanning those 5 inch squares of black lines on whtie paper. It wants to scan the drawing in two pages! Why? Makes no sense to me so I've given up on them for tonight.

I have to get up early in the morning. My mother is going to call and wake my hide up! We are going to the museum in Logan to see an exhibit. Ma made reference to my fish canvas saying they had stuff like that on exhibit. I'm curious to see it.

Can you tell I don't have a real job?

I did those five drawings while waiting on supper to cook at my brother's house. Ma was doing the cooking. She stopped by my place and said, "I'm cooking fried chicken at Sam's, get dressed and come along." I told her I'd do just that and meet her in town in awhile. I needed a shower and to get dressed. I suppose I could have gone in my jammies...but I didn't.

Supper was good! Ma makes excellent fried chicken! Don't ask her to cook fried eggs though, she's not real good at that! Guess she needs her chickens grown to do something yummy with them!

We watched an old movie while we chowed down. Baker's Hawk with Clint Walker and Barbara Baker. It was an OK movie. Not one I am itching to watch again though. It was kinda cheesy in spots.

And now I'm home fighting with my scanner...I'm done with that wretched machine till tomorrow evening! Actually I'm fixin' to head to bed pretty soon.

My sister Susan had surgery on her spine this morning. They tell me she's doing well and will be home tomorrow, God willing. Doc fused a couple of her vertebrea together to fix them. Herniated they were. Anyway, she's gonna be just fine, in time.

I drove right by the indian on the hill sculpture out south of town earlier this evening when it was still light and totally spaced off getting a picture of it. That's OK though cause I'll be headed back to town come Thursday to accomplish totally that task I've been putting off.

You all have a great Wednesday! We are supposed to get a bit of snow tomorrow night ...I'm hoping not much.

 Get your hugs!

Peace

831

Hearts For Haiti, A Puppy and A Bit of Chatter From Your's Truly

Good Morning Readers!

I'm getting a late start this morning. Slept for 12 hours last night and feel as though I could go back and sleep another 12 if I didn't have so much to do today.

I added the button for Hearts For Haiti to the left side-bar of the blog yesterday. Click it and you can see what this is all about. The deadline for submitting your own work of this cause is fast approaching! Friday 29 January 2010 is the deadline. I showed you all three of the hearts below yesterday but the three I showed you then are the ones I am sending in to the project. I also promised you all a showing of my sister Linda's ATC she made for the cause.

This is Linda's ATC for the Cause.

Graphite pencil and markers on recycled cardstock.

The rest of the hearts are mine.

All are markers on recycled cardstock.

Chief

ATC

24 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

This is Cat's little pup, Chief. He's a chocolate lab. I'm not really pleased with Chief's portrait. I am going to paint him in acrylics one of these days. Dogs are not one of my best subjects for some reason. I can draw cats like there's no tomorrow, but dogs are shaped different than cats and I just don't do so well with them. I am in hopes Cat thinks it's a lot better than I do.

Last week, I think it was, I showed you all the bull sculpture that sits atop the hill behind my house and promised you then that I would try to get a better picture of it. I got a better picture of it but I really need to get a lot closer to the bull to take a good picture. The zoom on my camera didn't zoom very far! Here's another picture of it though where you can actually see the bull sculpture.

Not the best picture by any means! You can make out the bull though in this one! There are two bull sculptures within sight of my house. This is the one to the west. There's another bull and a pioneer family farther east. And if you come into Stockton on 183 Highway from the south, you'll see another sculpture of an indian on a horse (I think that is what it is) atop the big hill just outside of town. I wish I could remember the name of the man who did these sculptures, but I can't. He lives in Ellsworth, KS, that much I do know! The sculptures are all sillohuettes (not sure I spelled that right) made from sheet metal and painted black.

A few years ago I took a hike up to the bull farther to the east with my nephew. That bull is all of 15-20 feet high. It's not near as impressive up close as it is from a distance. The bull to the east is closer to the highway than the one I've shown you a picture of. I'm going to have to walk down there and get a picture of that bull one of these days. Too windy to do it today though.

You will see more of the sculptures in Rooks County on this blog in the future.

I need to get busy. I have laundry to do, a kitchen floor to sweep, the fridge needs a good cleaning and dishes need done. Oh, the joys of housework! NOT!

You all find something creative to do today and give some hugs, give some kisses and yada yada, you know the drill! :)

Peace

831

A Whole Lotta Art! and Some Rambling From Me

Good Morning, Readers!

My clock says it is ten minutes to eight in the morning. I just crawled out of bed and am thinking I might be crawling back in that bed if this headache doesn't subside soon.

I don't want to get far behind on the 365 Project so I am forcing myself to make this post to show you all yesterday's art. And there's a bit of it! Is it any good? Well, that's for you all to decide, not me. I just make it!

I wasn't home much at all yesterday and only one of these pieces of art was made at home. Yesterday was my sister Linda's birthday as well as my sister Susan's boyfriend's birthday and we had a big wing ding over at Susan's for that occasion. Actually today is both of their birthdays, but the celebration was held yesterday cause Saturday is the day that Linda comes to visit every week. But anyway...

We all sat around making inchies, twinchies and ATCs. Course, I was the most prolific of the bunch cause I can whip 'em out like wildfire compared to the others. Brother Sam refused to make any art with us even though he draws as well as I do. He was just being contrary like he usually is. I don't have anyone else's work to show you. Jerry, Susan's boyfriend, takes his and Susan's home with him to put on his fridge and I didn't scan but one inchie that wasn't mine. You'll get to see one of Linda's later in this post.

Jerry cooked us all dinner. Linda told him he wasn't supposed to cook his own birthday dinner, but he's a man, and men do what they want more often than not. Jerry likes to cook, it's what he wanted to do and he does it so good! That man can cook!

We pigged out on burgers, chicken, meatballs and steak along with squash and onions, baked sweet potato fries and regular potato fries. They pretty much used up what Susan had in the fridge I think. I worked out well. I was stuffed to the gills and quite satisfied! Then we had ice cream cake as well.

There were 11 of us in attendance, lots of laughter, noise and fun was had. Jerry loved the 100 inchies and the glue and magnets I gave him for his birthday. The glue is to put the magnets on the backs of the inchies I gave him so he can put them on his fridge with the others he has there. I figured 100 inchies was a good gift to give to him cause he always seemed a bit peeved when I wouldn't hand over those inchies last year every time I made inchies with him and Susan. So now he has a whole new herd of them to add to his fridge door. He's the only person who has ever paid for an inchie. At least for one of my inchies. I still have that dollar he gave me for one way back at the beginning of 2009. I got them all hooked on doing inchies. Then I introduced them to ATCs but those didn't take off quite as well as the inchies. And twinchies were then introduced and they still perfer inchies over any other size. There's a nice selection of markers at Susan's house as well. Art can be done just about anywhere!

I hope you all had an artful day yesterday!

We better get on to art or it's going to take all day to read this post!

Hopeful Heart

ATC

23 January 2009

365 Project

Hearts for Haiti

(I'll be adding a button to the blog for Hearts for Haiti after I post this entry.)

markers on recycled cardstock

Almost all the art made yesterday has a heart on it somewhere.

A Herd of Hearts

ATC

23 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

A Rainbow of Hearts

ATC

23 January 2010

Hearts for Haiti

Markers on recycled cardstock.

This is the only ATC made at home yesterday.

Hearts

ATC

23 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

My old brain wasn't in 'clever-mode

for titles of art yesterday.

We ran out of ATC blanks and I was too lazy to walk across the backyard to my house to retrieve more so we cleaned out Susan's twinchie stash next. (I'll be taking her a packet of blanks of all sizes sometime today.)

Bleeding Heart

Twinchie

23 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Blue Bird

Twinchie

23 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

This one is my favorite of the day.

Pink and Green Posies

Twinchie

23 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Green Hearts

Twinchie

23 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Heart Bird

Twinchie

23 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Robin

Twinchie

23 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Thunder Thighs

Twinchie

23 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

When I do art at home, I have access to all my files and the computer. I need something to look at to draw decently. I don't have that at my sister's house. I just go with whatever the muse is about at the time. It amazes my sister, Linda that I can crank them out so quickly. That I can come up with something to crank out so quickly. "How do you know what to draw?", she always asks! I can't answer that question, cause I really don't know how I know, I just do. It all comes easy. Least it did yesterday. (It doesn't come easy every day.)

The red chicken was the first inchie I made yesterday. Then I went to twinchies for a few and then to ATCs and back to twinchies and then finally ended out the evening with more inchies.

Flowers seemed to be on the agenda. Flowers are easy, peasy to draw. I don't even have to think about them, they just appear, almost like magic on the inchie blanks. Like real flowers, some of them are much prettier then others. Some look ragged, some pristine. I like to draw flowers on inchies.

And then I went with chickens. Linda said there is no such thing as blue and green chickens. I held up these two inchies and said, "Sure there are! Right here's the proof!" LOL She wasn't buying it. I keep telling them all there are no rules in art. It's all in what you want it to be. Linda made the heart inchie in this batch.
I brought home a twinchie and an ATC she did as well.

When I get the button for Hearts for Haiti up, I'll show you the ATC Linda did for the cause, along with the heart ATCs I'll be contributing.

It's still early and I've yet to finish my first cup of coffee but I've rattled on enough for the time being! I have a cute littel puppy named Chief to do a drawing of this morning and Linda's birthday present to work on. She's quite aware her birthday present is going to be late. She asked yesterday if she could have a sneak peek at it. I told her that wasn't possible cause there's nothing to peek at, yet! That shall change in the hours to come though!

You all get some hugs, give some hugs, throw a few smiles out into the world and laugh a lot today! None of those activities will hurt you...they will only help!

Peace, my friends!

831

Warning!!!!! There Are Naked People In This Post!

Good Morning Readers!

I wasn't home much yesterday and when I was home, I was visiting with my youngest son or sleeping.

I must give you all fair warning that this post contains MALE NUDE DRAWINGS so if you're adverse to looking at naked men (and women) you might as well just back on out of here for the day.

I can't say, cause I don't know, why I decided that nakedness was on the drawing board yesterday, but it was. I'm quite pleased with my efforts to draw nudes. People are not one of the things I draw well. Not usually. I was on a roll with these fellas though.

We won't start off with nudes right off the bat. I'll show you the elephant I drew with my seven year old grandson last night. He drew all kinds of things. But he didn't draw anything on the ATC blanks I gave him. He said those pieces of paper were too small. :) So his are all on scratch paper from my stash for making pages for 'throw-away' notebooks.

Pink Elephant

ATC

crayons on recycled cardstock

I'll be keeping this one for myself. It will end up in the big frame that will eventually hold 44 elephant ATCs. I seldom draw elephants but I collect elephants of all shapes, sizes and materials. My herd is about 300-350, might be more than that...I don't know, I've never counted them since the fire. I lost a lot of elephants in the house fire five years ago. My herd was close to 600 strong then. People give me elephants all the time though so the herd has grown. The big frame will house quite a few and it will look fabulous on my livingroom wall once I acquire enough elephants to fill it! If you would like to help in that endeavor, leave me a message with a way to contact you and I'll get back with you. I will trade art for elephants!

I thought about using this fellow for my ATC for the 365 Project for yesterday, but he's not my favorite of the day, so I went with this fellow instead:

Reclining Male Nude

ATC

22 January 2010

Graphite pencil and markers on recycled cardstock.

Drawn from a photograph.

I amazed even me with this guy! My people don't usually turn out so well. The combination of markers and graphite pencil surprised me also. It was an experiment of sorts. I drew the man in pencil and was going to leave him at that. I sprayed the drawing with Krylon Kamar Varnish to set the pencil so it wouldn't smudge. I gave it a couple coats, drying time in between. Blue and orange were my colors of the day and this fella just begged to have some color on him. I wasn't certain the markers would play nice with the varnish but it's just a drawing (practice, practice!) so I went for it! The markers played wonderfully with the varnish! The pencil still smudged a little, but it worked well, gave him a nice skin texture.

I'll be keeping this fellow for my man collection of ATCs.

Blue Male Nude

ATC

22 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

This image came from a google search. It is a stone sculpture. Not sure who sculpted it though, it wasn't labeled. I liked the way the shadows played on the print out and used them to advantage. Why blue? It just happened that way. I don't over think things when I'm drawing...I just go with whatever the muse says to do. She wanted blue people, so I made blue people.

I've not decided if I will trade this one or not.

Profile Blue Male Nude

ATC

Markers on recycled cardstock.

I love that this fellow has a pot belly. Not all humans have flat stomachs! Just a simple line drawing, colored blue with an orange background. This fellow will be for trade once I get him posted in my gallery over at AFA. He came from a google search as well.

Nude Couple

ATC

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Drawn from inside my head.

My drawings are always much better when I have something to look at to reporduce in my own hand.  This is the end of the nakedness for this post. I can't gurantee there won't ever be another nude to show you all. I may get the mood to draw naked women next time. Who knows!

I spent the afternoon with my brother at his house watching a movie and just hanging out. My little brother (he's 41) isn't a very social man. He prefers his own company to the company of others most often. I get along great with the boy! We are a lot alike. I am not any more social than he is! We watched The Pelican Brief, had roasted chicken and played with his little terrorist (aka kitten). Then I came home around 6 pm. My youngest son called to say they were headed over so Lue could do some work on the pc. She's taking tests for her job. When she completes the tests, they'll give her a 50 cent raise. I was happy to let her use my pc as they don't have internet at their house. They only brought one of the boys with them. Gabe. The others stayed at Lue's grandma's house. They have four boys. Gage, Gabe, Grant and Gravin! I can tell you it took me forever to get all those boys' names straight! None of them are my son's children, but that doesn't make them not part of this family. They are my grandsons!

I was already in my bed, almost asleep when they were headed out the door to go home. I wanted to stay awake till they had gone, but the old eyeballs refused! The fibro was kicking my butt again yesterday. Had no energy at all. I really didn't get much accomplished yesterday other than going to the grocery store, the dollar store and to get smokes. I had to hit the grocery store, the cupboards were bare and the dollar store was necessary cause the cats and dog were out of groceries as well. I wanted to go to Hays to get dog food but I couldn't get anyone to go to Hays with me so I went a different route for Fred's food. I'm not sure if there is a trip to Hays planned today with Susan and Linda or not.. If there is, I'll be going too and will get Fred a bag of his regular food. He doesn't really like Dollar General dog food even though he will eat it.

It's still early on Saturday morning so nothing has happend yet today. It's kinda chilly this morning, looks like rain out there. I'm having my morning coffee, reading up on the blogs I read daily and just trying to get going this morning. My arms are quite painful and I have a bit of a headache this morning. Hopefully the arms will straighten up and the headache will move on before the morning is done. If not, I'll probably be back in bed before the day is out. I hate the fibromyalgia when it flares up. There is no rhyme or reason to it! One shouldn't feel like crap after one has had a good ten hours sleep. I slept like a rock! I should feel refreshed, not still tired.

I'm out of here for now. Get your hugs! Give some hugs! Share a few hundred smiles today too! Everyone you meet is in need of a smile even if they don't appear to be in need! Give them one of yours and they are quite likely to exchange one of their own! Have a fabulous day!

Peace

831

Thursday Art and Little Else

Just woke up from a four hour nap. Not a good time to be waking up...it's a quarter to ten in the evening.

Napping explains why art hasn't been posted till now today.

Enjoy!

I didn't have a lick of trouble picking up the pencil early this morning to complete the four ATCs that follow.Cat from the 365 Project, and other endeavors,  provided the photograph you see under my rendition of that photograph. Thanks for letting me borrow your work, Cat. She takes wonderful phototgraphs, people! Go check out her blog.

Least Bittern

ATC

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Least Bittern

Cat's photograph.

I got four ATCs done today. And not much of anything else besides napping and reading for a couple hours. If I'm to read 50 books this year, I got to get crackin' on the reading!

Crab

ATC

Markers on recycled cardstock.

365 Project

Poppies and Pears

ATC

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Vaughan

ATC

Markers on recycled cardstock.

Vaughan is a bit of a wonky cat. His eyes didn't turn out right at all! My least favorite of the day! Just another practice session. The next will be better. It can only get better when you practice. And practice is what the 365 Project does for me. Twenty one days we've been at this...they say it takes 21 days to make a habit. I'm pretty certain this is a habit that will continue! I have RobbyGirl over at Naked Heart Art to thank for this habit forming. What a great habit it is too!

I needed a nap this afternoon apparently. I sure didn't mean to sleep from 4:30 pm to 9 pm. There was a cat fight outside the bedroom window that woke me. That Lola Kid went outside shortly before I laid down to read. Mr. Ed, the stray cat was beating up on poor little Lola. I have to take that cat (Lola, not Mr. Ed) to the vet and get her fixed! She's not old enough to have gone into heat yet, but that is fixin' to change in the next couple of weeks and we don't need any babies!

Mr. Ed is a clever feline! He's been hanging around for months, it seems. He refuses to be caught in the live trap so he can be relocated. Someone dumped his hide out here and he moved in. He figured out the dog door at my sister's house next door and goes in to help himself to the groceries. He sleeps under my house where there's an electric heater to keep the water pipes from freezing and he thinks he owns the place. Beats up Lola and fights with Billy. Susan named him Mr. Ed. She figured if he was gonna stay, and it certainly looks as though that is his plan, he might as well have a name. He fights with Susan's cats, Maddy and Calvin too. He's a nuisance cat. I don't know why people think they have to dump cats out here. Between me, Ma and Susan (we all live right next door to one another) we have seven cats already. We'd welcome Mr. Ed if he weren't wild as a marsh hare. You can't pet the fool critter. You can't get anywhere near him. And he refuses to go anywhere near that trap. He won't even go near it when you put a can of tuna in it to entice him in. I don't know how many times Susan has caught her three cats in that trap. She sets it inside the house and tries to keep her three in one room of the house while it is set so she won't catch them, but somehow they've all been caught at least once. Frankie, her kitten, has been caught more times than she cares to mention!

Fred chases Mr. Ed off every now and then. Fred usually likes cats, loves his own cats, but Mr. Ed rubs that dog the wrong way and every chance Fred gets, he chases Mr. Ed out to the trailer house shed. Course Mr. Ed doesn't leave completely. He sits out there and bides his time till that dog goes away and then he's back to prowling the neighborhood.

If you have a cat or a dog that you really can't take care of or that you don't like, don't go dumping it out in the country. Just cause people live in the country does not mean they need another cat or a dog. It's not good on the critter and it's down right rude to the people. Just because you leave that critter off at a house doesn't mean that critter is going to have an easy life because of it. Especially a critter that isn't people friendly to begin with. No one wants a cat hanging round that doesn't earn his keep. And Mr. Ed does not earn his keep! Part of earning your keep if you're a cat, is giving your owner affection.

OK, I'm done ranting about stay cats. Thankfully we've not had many dogs dumped off out here.

Speaking of dog...that Fred dog wants out! He's barking at the front door. Mr. Ed must be out there and Fred thinks he needs a run apparently.

I am going to be up for awhile so I'm going to go do the dishes and see what other kind of trouble I can find. If we hadn't unplugged the lights in the burned house, I'd go out there and collect some things that I need to put away in the house but beings it's dark out there and I'm uncertain which of those cords will make the lights work, I won't be making a run to the burned house tonight. I knew I should have gone out before I laid down to read.

I'll be back tomorrow with more art to show you all. Have a fantastic Friday!

Get your hugs! Give some hugs! Kisses are important as well!

Peace

831

A Blue Horse and Some Chatter

Here's that Blue Horse refered to in the title of the post.

Blue Horse

ATC

20 January 2010

Markers on recycled cardstock.

It is the only piece of art I have to show for today. I drew it early morning and am, at 11 pm getting it scanned and posted. It surprised me that I had to force myself to draw this morning. I gave it my all once the pencil hit the paper, but I really did have to talk myself into picking up the pencil.

I suppose tomorrow I will be ready to pick up the pencil...or maybe a collage is in order. Who knows! Something will happen. Hopefully more than just one piece of art.

Here comes the chatter.

I gave my brother a call about 9 a.m. I found him in my gargae cleaning copper wire from the trailer house shed. I have been with him all day long. We worked in the trailer house shed today. He tearing walls out and carrying boxes for me while I went through said boxes. That man is a slave driver! Takes after his mother! LOL We did accomplish a lot and I do need someone to motivate me to get things done sometimes. So I do call him and my mother a slave driver only with affection.

I found a few things out there today I had either forgotten I owned or thought were gone for good when the house burned. Some good surprises, like the picture of RW from the mid 90s with his hair bright blond and in a mohawk. Made me smile! Some not so good surprises, like that other picture. That made my heart sorrowful. All in all, it's been a very good day despite the tiny hurts from the past creeping in.

After our three hours labor in the shed, brother and I were dirty, tired and hungry. And quite satisfied with the progress made. All the boxes out there are now ready to be moved to the burned house. There are a few boxes that need to come in the house as well. I found a whole box of crafty type crap out there today.  A lot of that crap comes in the house.

I was really surprised to find that cabinet that had gone through the fire still had things in the drawers that I thought were surely gone, never to be seen again! A whole drawer full of calendars with quotes. I've collected those things for years....there must of been two dozen of them in that drawer. I've acquired almost that many in the five years since the fire.

I wish I had taken the camera out there with me. We made a lot of progress.

Our aim is to tear the trailer house down to the ground. Get rid of that eye sore! To do that, everything that was in it had to be moved to the burned house. The burned house is a sound structure I used to live in that burned on a Tuesday morning in the pouring rain! The house was burned extensively in the livingroom/diningroom and it is not livable, will never be. It is sound though. The roof only leaks in one place and the concrete floor could careless about that leak. There are no walls, only studs to separate the rooms, no ceiling, the flooring gone to the concrete slab the structure sits on. We finally got all the windows replaced. What the burned house truly is is a glorified storage shed. A big glorified storage shed. That's a good thing for a packrat like me.

At the beginning of November that trailer house shed was filled to the rafters with all kinds of crap. Some of it truly CRAP. The trash guys did not like me for about 5 weeks in a row. Those trash cans out back were over-flowing and then some from all the garbage we threw out. Our metal pile grew considerably in that time as well with all manner of metal things going in the pile. We narrowed it down to one roomful in the burned house. That room will be FULL, stacked to the crossbeams by the time all the boxes I went through today are in that room. I already have one room almost full, stacked to the rafters out there. It is full of presentation folders (that recycled cardstock), lighted signs and other manner of good stuff! That's the room I have reserved for the crap should come to the studio, which is in the house, but can't come in the house cause I have too much crap in here already! An artistic packrat needs a lot of storage space! Least that is what I tell myself!

The goal for that room full of crap from the storage trailer is to get rid of it. Sell it. Be gone with it for good! I moved out here better than seven years ago and that trailer house was already full when I bought it with the house. I've sold much out of that shed in those years but keep bringing more crap home. I'm on a spring cleaning endeavor. And Sammy is my handyman. He is a quite handy man! He converted the garage in the burned house from storage spot into a working garage/shop. None of this would have occured had Sam not motivated me to get something going with that perfectly good building sitting there. And I am more than ready to get rid of that trailer house. It was falling down, with everything still in it, all on its own from the elements and the rodents.

My oldest son and his buddy spent months cleaning out the burned house in preparation of cleaning out the trailer house shed. This has been an ongoing projec that is coming to the end at quick clip. That's a good thing!

After our hours of labor we went to Pburg to have lunch and to see RW, Lue and the kids. I find that picture of Rich with his yellow mohawk in the early afternoon and a few hours later there he is with his toenails painted blue. I can only shake my head and smile. RW is now 25 years old now. He was probably 17, maybe 18 when he had a yellow mohawk. He ain't changed much in that respect. He always did like to make statements with his hair. I always knew something was up when he'd come home with a new doo. I couldn't tell if that something was good or bad just by his actions with his hair. Sometimes he was doing it for laughs and sometimes he was doing it to show someone he COULD. A lot of folks thought Rich doing all those crazy things with his hair just made him crazy. I never saw it that way. That's just Rich, he means no harm.  Today when he showed off his blue toenails he was beaming, grinning ear to ear. I loved what he said. Lue had asked him to paint her toenails blue and in return she painted his toenails blue. Rich was quite cool with the idea!  Sam asked RW what he got out of the deal beside blue toes. RW said, "I got my wife's love and affection."

I got a lot of hugs at RW's house today. I got to tickle 4 yr old Gavin and hear him squeal. He loves to be tickled! I got hugs from Gage, Grant and Gabe. And my son actually combed his hair so I could see what he looks like now adays with it combed.! :) Rich never combs his hair. Still making statements with it, I guess.

I had a good visit with the boy and his family.

When we got back from Pburg I came home for a little while to let Fred warm up a bit as he'd been outside the whole while I was in Pburg...an hour or two. Then I headed to town to Sammy's house for a couple of movies. The Full Monty was hilarious. The ending disappointed me greatly! A Perfect World was an excellent story, a good film.

Then I came home and here I am.

Ready to go to bed. I've been up since 7 am. I need a shower and some shut-eye!

There will be more art tomorrow. Go get your hugs! They really are essential!

Peace

831

No Art At The Moment

I got home from Kearny, Nebraska bout an hour ago. We left at 6:30 this morning and pulled back into Stockton at 7:30 this evening. It has been a harrowing day!

This is how it started out. Dark, damp and cold.6:30 a.m. Poor Fred had to stay out all day. Though I'm not sure if the weather I experienced today was the same weather as what Fred experienced. I just know when I got home 13 hours later, that dog was ready to come in the house and he let me know it by barking his fool head off.

7:30 a.m. Phillipsburg....It's a might foggy out there.

The trees are coverd with frost and there's drizzle coming down. Not freezing drizzle, thankfully. Just drizzle.

Twenty minutes later, ten miles or so north of Pburg. The fog is like pea soup and getting thicker by the mile.

We were travelling along about 50 mph in a 65 mph zone. Others were going just as slow as we were. In some spots we drove much slower, but never much faster than 55 mph. Beyond the fog are hills and bluffs.

Just more fog. And more fog and more fog and and and........ it never quit!

Ok, it does clear up a tad every once in awhile. This is out the driver's window. I didn't look to see what I was taking a picture of. I kept my eyes on the road and one hand on the wheel. The trees were so pretty! They got a bit more snow to the north of us than we got and there's still a lot of it out there.

This picture shows a decent representation of how pretty the trees were. But it lacks that sparkle present in real life. Even though the sun was having a lot of difficulty shining, there was sparkle on the trees in places.

Another good shot of what the trees looked like. The fog has cleared a little bit. We hadn't yet crossed the Nebraska border. We're getting close though.

Cows, standing in the fog, eating. Cows are but eating machines. That's all they have their minds on....eat, eat, eat. It's probably a good thing cause if they knew why they were eating all that roughage, they might not like eating quite so well. I feel sorry for the cows in the winter. They seem oblivious to the weather though.

Now we are in Nebraska. Look at all that snow. It wasn't like this everywhere thankfully and the roads were rather clear except for being wet from the drizzle. Traffic was light for the most part on the morning drive.

Another big drift. These two pictures came out surprisingly well for having been taken while driving down the highway. I sometimes surprise myself! :)

We pulled into Holdridge about a quarter to nine. These are the bushes next to the thrift store in Holdridge. The tall building in the background that you can't see very well because of the fog is only a block away.

I bought a few books and game. I wanted that movie camera but the price tag of $3.00 wasn't the actual price they wanted for it and they refused my offer to pay the price that it was marked so they still have a $5.00 movie camera to hawk. It was a cool contraption. An old camera, took film about a half inch wide. I wanted it, but I wasn't giving them $5.00 for it when it was marked $3.00. 

We've just gone through either Funk or Axtill (?) something like that.....still foggy as all get out! Our trip to Kearny is 120 miles (roughly) from Stockton to there. We still have about 45 miles to go from here.

Those scratches on my hand are courtesy of that Lola Kid, aka Terrorist Cat. It hurt like the dickens when it happend about five days ago. Susan took this picture.

That tree was gorgeous! This picture doesn't do it justice with the ice on it, the chill in the air, the fog shrouding the landscape.....it was gorgeous!

We are in Kearny now. There were lots of pictures taken between Funk and Kearny but I didn't think you all wanted to see too many more trees covered in frost whizzing by on the highway. So I took a picture of this pretty little tree in front of Dr. Saw's office. Dr. Saw is a neurologist I do believe. Susan went to see him for a nerve conduction study. She has moderatly severe carpal tunnel in both wrists. She says her hands aren't what bothers her. It is her left arm and shoulder that bothers her quite muchly these days.

This is the bronze elk statue out in front of Cabela's in Kearny. We had a little time to kill between appts and drove out there and turned around and went back into town. It's still foggy as you can tell from the background. This was about 1 p.m. News cast had said the fog was to burn off by noon. That did not happen. It never burned off.

4 p.m., the medical building where Susan went to do her pre-op business. We were dead tired by this time. Both of us cranky and it was beginning to rain and the sun was fixing to go down. I sat out in the parking lot for over an hour after this picture was taken waiting for my sister to return. I drew about 30 inchies in that time. I'll add color to them soon and you all will get to see them. This will be the only reference to art in this post.

This is the last picture taken on the trip. The sun was going down and Susan was cranky and the flash went off and it didn't work too well with the window between the scene and the camera so she shut the camera off and said, "It's too dark to take pictures." And she was right. It was too dark, too wet and there was way too much traffic to be shooting the camera with the flash going off.

We made it home in one piece and that is all that ultimately matters. Please don't make me drive in crappy weather again anytime soon!

We didn't think we would be in Nebraska as long as we were. We figured come 4 p.m. we'd be back home again. I don't see well in the dark and I really shouldn't have been driving in the dark AND the rain and fog. But someone had to get us home. Susan cannot drive. She simply can't. She's wearing a neck brace and her arms just don't work like they should and she's in a great deal of pain. Was safer for me to drive than for her to drive. We call this running around in the dark business...the blind leading the blind. I've never been so happy to see the lights of Stockton as I was this evening!

We had a good day in Kearny. It wasn't so stressful really. It was just the crappy weather we had to drive in to get there and the crappier weather we had to drive in to get home. As I just said, Please don't make me drive in crappy weather again anytime soon!

I hope you all got some hugs today. I didn't. But some days you just don't. I did get a few laughs and I had chinese food for lunch so all is good! All is good!

Peace, my friends!

831