now here is a grayscale of my newest.....(its also flipped) i am considering redoing it....there are a few areas that i am not happy with.
now it is actually in color but i wanted to check values and composition without the distraction of color.
if i redo this....i am also going to change the composition a bit

so this is where i'm at right now.....
my little snowperson that i painted bernie last year as a dummy board has been translated into paintings as i had always hoped he would be

good morning blog!

my poor neglected blog.....waiting patiently for me to return

snowman partly finished

first let me tell you
duck egg salad sandwitches are great (don't put a huge amount of mayo in them though)
second..drawing with a fountain pen and some good ink is an incredible experience

brought up short by running OUT of black in and only (in a moment of extreme stupidity-when will i ever learn) having brown inks in the house

in painting news..... i am part way through the first christmas set of paintings
and began to work on the border and field of the second set
some of the watercolor paper has arrived, i still need more but right now i have no where to store it all safely so i have part of what i need.
next order i SWEAR is going to be HP twinrocker 300...... i am going to get i think 20 of the 22X30 sheets- that is about 80 paintings
but when i am done with the reproductions of the painting.... and they go up for sale, i KNOW that the person who buys them will not only have them for a lifetime (baring major acts of god) but so will their descendants as the archival lifespan of the paper and the pigments is 400+ years
that i can sell...... without feeling bad

in duck/chicken news....... i don't see them a lot and i miss them terribly, the doctor said bernie has to deal with them until i am totally well
i am almost there
Dr Sedani is a saint (he was my dad's doctor) and he was totally RIGHT, i am almost WELL!
i love that man

so there you go

i have to run now as another wood guy is coming to give us an estimate for taking down my most beloved 300 year old sugar maple.....that died over the winter- while i am totally heartbroken
it won't go to waste as it will keep us warm

til next time

midweek update!

mainly because i have a few minutes.
tomorrow my grand duckling is coming to stay for a few days.
i am excited.
i wonder if he/she will remember me?

in other news, i am stuck on a layout for the next in the crows series.....oye
but then again i was busy doing a lot of stuff for bernie online
and good thing i ordered paper, as i looked in my cut paper box and discovered i was really at the bitter end for the paper for this series.
in the meantime i needed paper for the christmas series which is next so it's a good thing
and i haven't loaded any more images to zazzle so i really need to get on top of that, since i still don't have access to a pigment ink printer. Now that just bites me though, cause zazzle and cafe press are print on demand but i think it's just a way to get their products sold without paying for true licensed art....
but what do i know? maybe it is ok that way too.....although it does place the burden of advertising on the artist, which takes even more time away from painting

i am sort of feeling better, i can breath again as long as i don't push it too far and it doesn't rain for a couple of days.
i have assorted other things going on (i did something to my shoulder, and my foot.....maybe the layout is stuck cause i hurt?)
but i think i will survive it
i also have acquired a painful lump on the back of my head! we think it's a spider bite, but nothing like a brown recluse or anything nasty like that...just a tiny one
probably when i was out in the duck pens

well that's about it for now......
hope everyone is having a good summer....mine is extremely packed so far
oh and a bunny is flopping in the center of my garden daily.......
good thing i was too ill to plant this year
cause we'd have to have peter rabbit soup

and 7crows is half way done

today dickblick.com saved my sorry ass...... i ordered paper to finish this series... only i ordered the wrong one, first i ordered the cp not the hp
then i also ordered the regular one not the extra white......
oye
bless them as customer service fixed it right away........
and the crows can go on
in the meantime i am working on 7crows....and it's coming along fine
there are areas i am not happy with, and areas i love..... so the trick is to try and keep what i love and bring what i hate up to snuff
so to speak

in other news it's been brutally hot.... horribly brutally hot. i am feeling better however, as dr sedani was right and it IS allergies.......so with his regiment i am not only better but actually a LOT better....(also no rain so not too many mold spores)

what else?
i am so behind on everything except painting right now, and i am really wishing that i was able to paint even faster
i need to get so much more done
bernie just asked me if i ordered more paint..... no, as i really don't need it (although i wanted french ultramarine from MGraham...... and a couple of other colors)

if i do another crow series...... i swear i am going to get maroon perylene and green perylene to mix the blacks...... oye.....
anyway, i am at the moment in a painting that it actually starts to get fun to do again....
i like the first washes i lay down...... those are pretty cool
but then the middle painting sometimes is boring....
not always...
but then i get to a certain part and it becomes really interesting....
i think i am at that part now

in other news i have a bad blister on my foot....actually the second one in the SAME spot.... in less then a week. so i suppose i need new shoes for inside
damn
oye
ok so that's my news....
next big sale with free shipping ........ 25 more sheets of watercolor paper

summer flys on

it's july already, more then halfway through a seriously eventful year around here
and i am due to finish scanning  a lot of paintings
i fight and struggle with the scanning

i want the images perfect when i get them digitalized as they are going to be fine art prints and they should be as good as they can be
i've opened a zazzle store and also a cafe press store, and i am still working on uploading stuff
i have to scan and correct the images then upload them.....the correct part takes a LONG time
so if you are waiting for prints to be available..... please be patient
we're getting there
i am laying out number 7 in the crow series
bernie is singing me the 12 crows of christmas...... (so is jen)
and in between the grand duck was here.. we had a wonderful time..... that baby knows it's gramma loves it dearly and i cried when it left. but we can't raise a baby this year as we have no pen space for winter.

ok in READING NEWS....i am reading ebooks now..... i got a blio download and get them out of the library.....for books i want to read but don't really want to own.... right now i am reading the book thief
and so far it's good


it's hot here and dry..... i think we are majorly hot and dry over a lot of the country right now
and due to my spring/early summer illness i didn't put in as good a garden as i normally do but i DO have stuffing going to seed for seed saving..... big crop of leeks!
and i did just harvest garlic
ok i just got a call so i need to go
ttyl