Don't worry - I'm here...

Not to worry - I've not completely fallen off the wagon. I have continued to "cheat" by combining 12x12 inch canvases into bigger ones; and that's what I'm doing right now. I do need to restart the smaller ones, though. This is the challenging time. Y'all help me keep my head above water, ok??

June 30 and July 1: Indulgent Creativity

OK - I made it a month - artwork each day. Practicality whispers in one ear - "what a waste of your time! Why spend that time and money when no one even cares? What's the point? Don't you have better things to do?
My muse whispers in the other - "keep doing it. It's good for you - like broccoli. It's fun. You love it and need it."

June 29: Death of Ruth

We learned today that an elderly relative had passed. Ruth Weber was my grandfather's sister's kid - how's that for tracking? She was 96. We attended her 95 birthday party last year. According to her daughter, she was a character to the end. Like all funerals, however, there's that knowledge that death will come, and that mix of fear, longing, and emotion. Ruth looked so unlike herself - her skin shiny like a wax museum sculpture.

June 28: Maple Flower

I got my Sis a flowering maple for her birthday - she's 63 today. One of the petals had fallen, thick and wrinkled and the most incredible color. Ever since the cataract surgery in February, I have been able to see color as never before - what joy!

June 26 & 27: Cattle Truck

At our hotel in Pipestone, MN; I smelled the distinctive smell of cow manure when I was out unloading the car. In the parking lot: a semi truck with a stomping, restless load of cows....
I felt bad, and wondered if they are fed or watered? Or just left to be - as they are bound for slaughter? Big brown eyes peeking out the metal cage... I watched as an entire family bounded out of the cab: dad (driver?) mom, and kids. Wow. Will mat these pieces head above, space, legs below...

June 25: Muse um head...

Today we spent wonderful hours at the Joslyn; an amazing museum in Omaha. One fabulous thing about visiting galleries is discovering artworks by artists that you didn't know about. A small face painting by Matisse stuck out today - yellowish and with the same exaggerated intensity as the "green line", but less abstracted..

June 23 & 24: Tigger's Tree

Just before we left for Omaha, the City of Robbinsdale orange-circled this elm in the driveway...the mark of tree death!
When I was a kid, we'd take Tigger outside on his leash. He'd run, dragging me behind, and zoom up the tree as high as he could...then look tentatively around and slowly begin backing down, until we could reach him...

Is this cheating, to do one painting on two canvases??