the new saturday is monday!

and i have hand wash planned for today....nothing major a few (three) of my light summer shirts
let's see if i can get through it
i went to bed early early last night, about 5 minutes after bernie left for work....
i slept until he got home more or less.....
came down........ and then had to go back to bed as i wasn't awake yet
i'm sleeping more and more lately.... not great sleep i imagine as i wake up tired
however i had interesting dreams about art supplies.....paintings...... and brushes

i think i need to paint today..... anything really... so my fall back subject is a duck!
(yes we all know i love my ducks)

meanwhile we are still emptying out the freezers..... the chest freezer is now at about 1/4 full and the upright is only got two out of the 5 shelves with stuff on it....not even full

and someone remind me that when the oranges etc are in season during the winter, that i need to make marmalade for use as marinades during the rest of the year

so all in all for the most part life is quiet
the uphill neighbors had new 'landscapers' that i caught throwing brush and logs over the property lines onto my back yard-- bernie says i am too nice to them..... what am i supposed to do? go out and punch them?
oye
in tiny other good news....i found my secret stash of peach goatsmilk soap......... i am so excited..... it's heavenly soap
really really heavenly soap......i should think about making more of it

our monday

and i have some HUGE news.......
we have a CLOSET of sorts

now this house is dated 1886 on the foundation and it was redone inside in about the 20s
and some more work in 1940
but the house itself is old old
old enough that it was built before closets......
but over our weekend (which was monday and tuesday) bernie took the bedroom apart and in a sort of alcove (it isn't big enough really in light of the bedroom to be a true alcove...... it's just a sort of part of the bedroom kinda........damn, well it's complicated)

bernie hung some rods and we have a closet!........now we need to get some curtains for the front
i am considering a duck cloth drop cloth and a band of toile ......either that or double layers of sheers
from floor to ceiling

i had wanted a series of shelves in there too but he got to doing it so i stayed out of his way..... i got two closet rods
one behind the other

i can actually hang clothes up now!

this and that and life after emma

captain cuttle is still looking for his lost love emma.
 estella is trying to keep him going and i think most of the time she's doing ok, she tried to get him to feed her and when he wouldn't, she fed HIM.
i miss emma
i look for her every morning, and can't get used to her not being there.
today estella asked me to fill the tube feeder (she kicks all the seed out on the floor every time i fill the feeder) so i did
the captain is eating.. so that's good right?

in painting/studio news....i'm working on the beginning of the new series on black paper
i keep thinking that my ideas are cliches and trite
but in the interest of not losing momentum i am going to do it anyway
just to keep painting

now i been asking myself what's getting in my way from finishing up the stuff i need to do with my work,
and maureen (bless her) had an idea......put the photography area into the painting area...... with a small set up that is basically permanent ......she's brilliant and she's right
so that will be another project (unfortunately for bernie not for me as i'm again having a lot of pain)

in duck news, misha, after a few days inside rest is now out in the day pen again
and bernie (bless him) changed bedding for me....
yesterday i bathed phoebe and took amelia and prudence to the worm field...
lilli put herself in a crate so i sort of left her there.....
i am going to talk to bernie about enlarging the day pens into a large run for them...... we'll see about that soon as it would be easier if we could do that


i have an appointment with the rheumatologist in august- however i may also have to get back to the pcp for this knee ..... the one i fell on in april still hasn't healed up so i would imagine i got a bone chip or something like that

i swear i really could use an apprentice or an assistant at the moment
someone with an interest in marketing
oye

ok i have to run
take good care

and now we lost FOUND misha she waltzed out of the woods at bedtime but we had a hell of a time getting her to come up to the house we found out that the neighbors cat was sitting in the way of her coming up (why do people let their cats roam? my cats don't bother anyone) anyway i went out and walked her in....... then clipped her and hugged her and fed her and now i want to strangle her for letting me worry

empty nests

we lost little emma today

when we got her

it was i think cancer, she was a chubby little thing and we just thought she was chubbier
captain cuttle is heartbroken

so are we

and the rain comes down down down........

but the beans and cucumbers grow UP UP UP.....
so do the lettuces
we have GARDEN!
well of a sorts
no tomato plants, as i didn't start them
one pepper which is a banana pepper that may or may not do anything

now for today, i am just finishing up my coffee and going to start work again.....
this painting won't paint itself no matter how often i dream that it does

meanwhile, i am still trying to photograph my work....uuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggghhhhhh this is a nightmare even with the new camera
and i am putting together a field kit for when i go to the bird farm
which also isn't easy..... i am not going to actually paint there, but take photographs and do color studies....
and i have to also get the rheumatologist appointments made- for the formal diagnosis of fibro
(and then the lyme doctor cause i am wondering if it could be all lyme? both of us need to go for lyme testing again)

i am still kicking around the next series
i still want to do a teacup series...but as the 'filler' series around the big paintings (big as in more involved not necessarily in size)

if i do the teacup series i really do need to pick up at least 4 different vintage cups/saucers that speak to me.-- and i really can't right now

i am also thinking i would like to do some work on fairy tales..... so i may do that
a series or two for a fairy tale

really while i sit and plan, there is so much that i would love to do, that even the thought of doing creates wings in my imagination and i get excited
sometimes it's hard to turn off the ideas, enough to settle on one...
like i would love to do the fairy tales.... and then hand bind them into a book!
float text (all the copyright in the public domain stuff) in the book like color plates USED to be tipped in.....
that sounds amazing to me

or do a series of illustration and make a slipcase/clam shell container that they fit in....
maybe even letter some pages to practice my atrocious lettering skills

i wouldn't mind hooking up with some etchers and doing a few series of etchings...it's been a while and i do so love to etch

oye.... see what i mean?

i am however leaning towards fairy tales i think...... or maybe folk lore from the northern hemisphere and the arctic circle again.....
i don't know why i am drawn there but i am

ok so that's my world on this rainy day....
bernie is sleeping as today is our monday...
i am about  to get to work

how about all you guys?
what all are you up to?

the last painting in the series

is off to a good start.....
or at least a start of sorts

i miss the birds though
there isn't anything alive in this painting..... but i guess it is the fitting end to a series about the life contained within a nest
i am sort of thinking of the next series and planning my field trip to the bird farm for the game birds, chickens and peacocks

i still need to think of a filler series too
and i would like to do some fairy tales as well if i can figure out something

meanwhile i am also beginning to work on some botanical stuff...here and there
i need to learn to use the colored pencils better as well

i also wish to tell you all.... that the rosemary & co series 33 and series 22 watercolor brushes are acceptable.....i am working with two of them at the moment and i am so far not missing my dragon's tongue at all!

now considering that my brushes need to be extensions of my eyes...... that is a very good thing

i tried to use the kalish pointed round in size 4 but that point wasn't pointed enough for the way i paint details

i am going to try their extended rounds, and detail rounds, and i am most definitely going to put in another rosemary & co order...i need flats and brights, some daggers, half liners...... and a couple of decent sized wash brushes

i think my next series is going to be on half sheets too..... so i need to cut six
that will give me 12 half sheets

in studio news, i am trying to get my little corner a bit more organized....i try and do a bit here and there
and i am also trying to put together a portable studio for when i go to the bird farm- even though i won't be painting, i will need to do some color studies i think.......
mostly i am going to be photographing the birds for paintings later in the studio
as how i paint really isn't conducive to out in the field- for one thing i take too damn long! ..... even if it was only three days (which it isn't anymore.... it's more like a week to 14 days now)...... i still wouldn't be able to do what i do in the wind and the bugs and the sun

ohohoh, i planted cucumber, beans and more lettuce seeds but only on the deck
i really haven't been out to the garden as i am worried about falling....
i have to get the insurance company to ok the referrals to the other specialists and get that done soon

oye
ok chicklets
off i go to pain

oh my, oh my

this is a fast study of a dried leaf and some oriental bittersweet...it's in preparation for the last painting in my current nest series.
the leaf has been kicking around the studio for like 5 years, as the shape was so interesting to me-- the bittersweet is from photos .....
this is a weird painting i know..but for some really odd reason, i like it very very much! go figure!
i like the way i rendered the berries.... the larger (closer to you) ones brighter, the faded look of the leaf (which is much darker in real life), and the more subdued painting of the smaller further away berries- i even like the way the shapes relate to each other....... and the painted  border.... the palette for this was very subdued as well.... my own mix for the reds, yellow ochre and naples yellow for the yellows..... umber for the browns...... i like this so much that i am going to do a few more along these lines and then maybe even down the road FRAME THEM for my self!
never underestimate the lure that red berries have for me...... oye

now in other news, i am starting to respond a bit to the extra rest and vitamin d.... this morning is the first morning in months that i was not in agony when i woke up
my hands still hurt but my shoulders not where near as bad
the absence of debilitating pain is amazing..... now i still have pain but not that horrible mind numbing pain that i've been living with
i still can't risk knitting yet...... or carrying full water buckets or stacking logs.... but i am hoping i can in time again because i feel so helpless

meanwhile..... i have plans for going to the bird farm this summer to paint edwards pheasants, along with chickens, ringneck pheasants, wild turkey, white quail, and a few peacocks.....
most likely i will do a lot of photographs, some on site color studies....... and then do the actual paintings here instudio...
i don't think i would have the time to do much actual painting at the farm, so to make sure i use my time and my models to the best of my abilities..... most of my work will be photo sessions
i may have to go back a second time but since it's far away, i may not have the opportunity to

i would also like very much to see about illustrating a book of fairy tales....but not the traditional ones

now yesterday, despite the very bad storms, we managed to shave most of the winter mats off fawn and give her a much needed bath, she looks and i imagine she feels so much lighter, cleaner, and happier today--- i wish we had a way to take her to a groomer over the winter so she can be trimmed up, bathed and dried thoroughly before she came home.... we can't bath her as we can't keep her warm enough through out the winter
and with her thyroid condition she mats so easily so fast that combing and brushing can't keep up with it... i know, cause i've tried so hard......
shaving her down and weekly baths are the only thing that keeps her from matting
she actually enjoys her bath....she relaxes into the hot water..... no struggling, no crying...... no fighting us...she seems to enjoy the water gently rinsing her too...
she doesn't seem to like the towel though!

anyway this is where we are all at right now