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??

June 22: Deb

We're in Omaha tonight...Last night, I made this quick with glances in Mom's mirror as she was finishing putting up her hair....
Watercolor pencils...

June 21: Summer Solstice

All of those hours of daylight that we so long for in the winter! I couldn't sleep well; light stayed very late and came very early. The moon and the sun and the clockface merged to lighten my sleep, quite literally...

June 20: Sensuality

This theme - horse and woman - has come up many, many times in my artwork; always in that context of pure sensuality - a unity of horse and rider, an ecstasy. Just another version of the same-old; it usually comes out in purples....

June 19: "Easter Island" Heads

At the cabin, I found a 1961 National Geographic. In an article about the Easter Islands (obviously a European name for this Chilean/Polynesian paradise!), I found a photo - from which this painting was made. At that time, only ONE ship per year brought provisions in and wool out (their primary export)...Two realizations: the amazing record of National Geographic in documenting life here and now, and the beauty of unspoiled, native life (other photos of the islanders reminded me of Avatar...)

June 18: Little Debbie Snack Cakes

This sketch is from an equally geeky school photo from my childhood - I think I was perhaps in first grade when this was taken, maybe 6 years old? As my mother will manage to remind me, I was "a little chubby", so she made most of my clothes. I vaguely remember this froofy shirt and vest-dress; and not liking it (I was a little tomboy - always in t's and pants and hanging out with Dad...). Gotta love the glasses!!

June 17: Mom

I was at Mom's in the cities this night. She, of course, would not hold still for me...this does resemble her, but a bit younger (thought everyone who knows her would agree that she "is" younger than her biological 89 years!). The drawing also looks a little bit like my dear friend Mamer; around the eyes. Mamer has the wisdom, not the years yet!, of my mom... Her favorite color has always been green...

June 16: Fingernail-Clipping Moon

(photo to come - out of battery!)
The moon tonight was that little, yellowy-white piece cut off the big moon - like a fingernail clipping from your ring finger.

June 15: Roscoe, the Metrosexual Sock Monkey

Pat's "Roscoe" has had earrings on for as long as I can remember....

June 14: Purple Shoes

Shoes, glorious shoes! For a person who is as social-justice oriented as I am, it's embarrassing how many pairs of shoes I have. The latest: a pair of handmade, all-leather CYDWOQs, made in California...oh foot heaven!
These are fictional shoes, but I would certainly wear them!

June 13: Lilypads

We spent the entire day gardening at the cabin; "Uncle Herman's Farm" ...
On the way home, I stepped out onto our neighbor's dock and took a photo of these ephemeral lilypads...the skinny, pod-like ones...

June 12: Sophie in a Too-Small Basket

That cat - she has to squeeze herself into any space that is too small for her! Mom found this little flat, beat-up basket at a rummage sale for free. It has "sophie" written all over it....

June 11, 2010: Patrick

Pat got a kick out of my drawing him...he even used "impressionistic" as a description when he saw the drawing! (Husband of an art teacher...) He suggested that I set up shop at the Renaissance Festival and do drawings of people in their Renaissance garb... I do like the Faber-Castell chalk pastels; they liquify nicely with a wet brush.

June 10, 2010: Sophie

Sophie is such a stunningly soft cat. Her fur has it's own shape and moves with her but almost independently... She is a big, fluffy, 'liquid' cat...

Art A Day = The Challenge

The first day without students, June 9, 2010, was my first Art A Day day. Pat's mom had loaned us a garden book, and a found a picture of one of my favorite spring treats; the trillium...