Mr Moustache

Here is her partner.

   And here they are together:

I'd like to think that he is hiding a little smile under that big moustache.

Have a Happy Weekend!

And a New Year begins

Hello and Happy New Year!

 

I woke up on New Years Day and decided that I would spend most of the day painting and drawing,  totally guilt free, not worrying about all the Christmas messiness that surrounded me.  I thought this would be the perfect way to spend the first day of the year, doing what I love and also knowing that this was what I wanted for the rest of the year too.

And what a productive little day I had.  I need to do this more often.  I tend to paint a little bit here and there, whenever I can sneak it in, never quite getting into the flow.  So maybe my New Year's Resolution needs to be to commit to one day a week of nothing but painting and drawing.  A day where I can work without worrying about vacuuming or dirty bathrooms or laundry.  I think it might be a fun resolution to try and work on.

I've been thinking about taking Misty Mawn's  "Face to Face" with Mixed Media Art:  A study of portraits and beyond and I think that is how this painting came about.  This piece started with my usual coffee stained background and then I glued tea bags over the top of it  and it created a wonderful brown background with subtle tones and variations.   Her face was created with light colored tea bags, charcoal and acrylics.  Her hair from painted coffee filters.  Her dress is part coffee filters, tissue paper, gesso and charcoal.  

Fischer my son looked at her with a wrinkled up nose and said "she looks like she is from another country"  and I think he is right.  My niece left for Spain the day after Christmas to study for a semester, perhaps there was a Spanish influence? 

I'm imagining her partner with a big black mustache.

A colorful little bird

Have you ever heard of a Cuban Tody?  I hadn't up until last week.  I saw one in a magazine and at first I didn't think it was even a real bird.    It has these crazy hot pink spots on its wings that look as if someone took a spray paint can to it, besides the pink it also has red, light blue and lime green feathers.   Its head is kind of big for its body and it has a thin pointed bill.  I love it!

Here's my mini version (4" x 4"):




 I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday, I know we did! 

Around here

Trying to get into the holiday spirit here.  We went and got our Christmas tree last weekend and it was 50 degrees!   

Fischer was in charge of cutting it down this year.

I did my first holiday faire last weekend.  I did okay.  It's a pretty small fair and they like to have mood lighting in the rooms which might not benefit my work very well.  I find I have much more fun at this fair when I'm with the kids and we can go do crafts, listen to music and wonder around and socialize.  But it's always good to get some exposure for my work.

"peace"

This week

This week I've been busy getting ready for the Holiday Faire at Pleasant Ridge Waldorf School here in town.  It is a really beautiful event.  Friday night is adults only and then Saturday is for the entire family. They actually have chestnuts roasting on an open fire outside the school!  The school is decorated very festive and cheerful, they have live music, an organic lunch, kids crafts and activities, along with wonderful holiday shopping from local vendors. Usually I'm just an attendee, but this year I thought I would be a vendor, hopefully I will have some time to do a little Christmas shopping.

 

Back in July when it was about 98 degrees, I was working on some Christmas paintings.  Fischer was wondering why in the world I was working on Christmas paintings in the middle of summer.  I told him that it made me feel cooler!  Here is one of my favorite pieces that I did.  It is similar to my painting called "Our Town",  this one is titled "Winter in Our Town"  

available here

This piece makes me dream about a warm and cozy fire after a wonderful day of snowboarding or skiing or any kind of winter fun.  

Doing the turkey tiptoe!

Amelia has been listening to her Dan Zanes and Friends:  House Party  CD  a lot lately, like 2-3 times a day, lucky for me it's a really great children's CD.  One of our favorite songs on there is "Tennessee Wig Walk" which is a remake of Bonnie Lou's 1953 version.  If you've never heard this song you can listen to a snippet here.  It is a very cheery and fun song.  Amelia will stop what she's doing when this song comes on just so she can dance!  This afternoon I was busy drawing turkeys while we had this CD on  and I was wondering how I should draw the turkeys.  I thought it might look kind of funny if they looked like they were tiptoeing away so they wouldn't get eaten on Thanksgiving.  After I finished the drawing I  kept looking at it and it didn't quite look like they were tiptoeing and as I kept looking, "Tennessee Wig Walk"  was playing in my head( as it has been for the past few weeks),

I'm a bow-legged chicken, I'm a knock-kneed hen
Never been so happy since I don't know when
I walk with a wiggle and a giggle and a squawk
Doin' the Tennessee Wig-walk.
To a tune on a fiddle on a hardwood floor
Tho' I'm broke and I'm weary and my back is sore
I walk with a wiggle and a giggle and a squawk
Doin' the Tennessee Wigwalk.
Put your toes together, your knees apart
Bend your back, get ready to start
Flap your elbows, just for luck

Then you wiggle and you waddle like a baby duck.  

Dance with me honey, tap your toes and glide
And we'll always be together side by side
Walk with a wiggle and a giggle and a squawk
Doin' the Tennessee Wigwalk.
Repeat all above.
Walk with a wiggle, wiggle with a walk
And you're doin' the Tennessee Wigwalk
Doin' the Tennessee Wigwalk [fade]
Doin' the Tennesse Wigwalk

I then realized that my turkeys looked more like they were dancing, like they were "doin' the turkey tiptoe" (of course sung to "Tennessee Wigwalk")!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

(don't forget to walk with a wiggle and a giggle and a squawk)

Peppermint and Pine

Just a little holiday happiness to share with you.

Looking around

Outside:                             

 

Inside:

The hunter and the hunted

Opening day for deer hunting tomorrow and its a big deal in these here parts!  (not so much in our household thank goodness)  Here's a quick little drawing I did this morning as I was waiting for everyone to wake up and was thinking about our modern day hunting culture. 

 

 Have a great weekend! 

A little reminder

One of the first things I noticed when moving back to Wisconsin from Idaho was all the different birds that you hear, even in winter.  The bird that stuck out the most for me was the blue jay.  Blue jays are really quite noisy, but can make quite a variety of different sounds that are pretty cool to listen to.  Blue jays tend to get a bad rap because of their bold and aggressive behavior, but they are really a beautiful bird.  Once in awhile we find  blue jay feathers in our yard or out on a walk and I'm always amazed at the beauty of it with  the different shades of iridescent blues, with black stripes and tips of white.  I think one of the main reasons too that I like blue jays is that they remind me of my grandma.  I didn't know this until I moved back and heard them.  It immediately reminded me of my grandma and especially fishing with her.  It's amazing how as a kid I didn't even notice this, but somehow it was got stored subconsciously in my memory.  I love how our senses are so in tune with our surroundings and can trigger long lost memories.

So I guess you could say I painted this one for my grandma!

available here