painting, bird farm, vacation

that's been what's going on since my last post
we had a blast with our friends at the bird farm.....OMG i want to move in there
i've finished another painting in the gouache series...... this one was horizontal petunias
(they're all starting to run together on me)
about to start the last of the series which is a vertical rose of sharon in purple.....
bernie did some stuff around the house .....cleaning and such
he also dry burned our back up kero heaters..... and the generator, got some wood stacked
etc etc.......
while i was completing this latest painting

in studio notes, i am still looking for a 100% cotton, fade proof heavy paper or board to paint on with gouache in dark colors.... i found two that would work but they are in england, without a distributor here- disappointing to say the least....
i'm also in need of new brushes again.....i had seen rosemary and co saying 1.00 shipping but when i inquired it was a typo and 11.00 shipping......
cheapjoes is following me around the net with ads for 1.00 shipping too but when i go to use it they won't allow me
so i am waiting.....
but i so need brushes due to gouache wear-
ohohoh, when we moved the paper boxes off the top of the budgie flight cage to take it out for it's annual deep cleaning, i discovered that i had a stash of paper up there, that i'd forgotten about.....so the next time i get paper for painting on, i am getting 300# instead of 140# as i have a ton (seems to be literally a ton, judging by the weight)...... of the 140#.....
so getting in a stash of 300# hot press paper is what i am aiming for in the future.

we are also about to get our snow tires for the prius..... and are waiting for the wood guy to call us back..... getting wood up here lately is a huge problem..... i maybe forced to look into replacing the stove with pellets -although i did see a grate for the woodstove that took pellets.....
heating is getting to be a real problem here...
there isn't a whole lot of building going on up here so land isn't being cleared and there isn't wood to be had as logs lately .... i'm looking at alternatives but so far i don't think we can get solar that can take over.... but i keep researching.
we did get two solar lights to keep for emergencies..... (i need better rechargeable batteries for them though)
i have a goal of having solar lights for nightlights, emergency lighting and also ambient lighting- so then our total lighting needs after are just task.... which i am going to replace with LEDs so hopefully further reducing our electric use....(which is currently 30% lower then a compatible house/family)- i am hoping to get our use, and bill, down to 50% less....
sadly the studio is the worst because of the terrible walls/windows/insulation.... we're working on it ..... slowly

so that's pretty much it- what's been going on here... i would post photos but google's got my gigs limited..... that's why you folks haven't been seeing any pictures here ......sorry

til next time