Slowly but Surely

I'm still trying to get my painting mojo back, so I'm starting slow and easy.  With this project:

HA!  Those suckers used to be green.  They have been living under the deck down at the house for about six years.  At least.  I will be having more house guests next month and, in an effort to provide a place for them to actually sit down, I resurrected these chairs with two cans of red spray paint made specifically for plastic.  I took the picture from far away because a) it looked cool, and b) you really don't want to see the chairs up close.  As I said in my facebook status about a week ago, getting even coverage with a can of spray paint isn't in my skill set.  I might be painting a table and four chairs, so I will take my sister Ann's advice:  lots of light coats.  I do love the look of bright red with all the greenery, though.  Purty.

Here's a painting I did that isn't very good:

I've been debating whether to show it to you, but finally decided you are going to get the bad with the good.  This is my interpretation of Dockstader Island here in Bigfork, but I need to loosen it up a bit.  Some of the painting I really like.  These two bits, for instance:

As a whole, the painting is too tight.  I'm trying again.  In fact, I've got four paintings in the works right now.  I've been an emotional wreck the past few days, so I'm countering that by concentrating my efforts on mastering my trifecta.  Poodle and I have gone running two days in a row, I've cut out all the crap food, and I'm working on my art.  All at the same time.  I have never been able to make this work, but I'm giving it my best shot right now.  Stay tuned - I hope to have some happy art to share soon.

Spontaneous Art Purchases

I'm all for spontaneous art purchases, especially if it is someone else purchasing one of my pieces (heh heh).  I did it myself just the other day.  If you have been following along here for a while, you will know that I have never posted pictures of artwork by any other artists.  I know, seems rude doesn't it.  Well that's about to change, because you HAVE to see my spontaneous art purchase.  It.  Is.  So.  Awesome.

It is a stunning glass bowl that looks like a nest, made by a local glass and metal artist here in Bigfork named Lee Proctor.  Lee makes some absolutely incredible pieces.  Check out his website here to see some of the commissioned pieces he has created, especially the larger-than-life sandhill cranes.  Really cool.

In other news, I had a pair of what I think were screech owls at my house last night.  They were definitely owls, but they were bigger than what Wikipedia says to expect from screech owls, and they made the strangest noises.  I didn't get any pictures because it was practically dark out.  Maybe they will be back again today.

In still other news, I finally painted something.  Here it is:

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Yes, I painted those.  They are little wooden pegs we are going to use in our latest shadowbox project at work.  They will be used to hold a very decorative, intricately beaded necklace in place.  The client wears the necklace frequently, but it is too delicate to throw into a jewelry box, so we are building a shadowbox she can hang on the wall that opens.  The necklace will be strategically placed on the wooden pegs.  It will be a work of art.  We so smaht.

I truly intend to paint something at home soon.  Maybe today.  I'm in a slump with everything right now and need to jolt myself out of it.  I suspect my next painting project may involve spray paint and plastic Adirondack chairs, but it's a start.

Crazy Days

My house guests continued their journey west on Monday, heading toward Walla Walla, Washington.  They kept pretty busy while they were here - Friday was a full day of river rafting and Saturday was a full day of Glacier National Park.  On Sunday I got to tag along, and we did this:

Awe.  Some.  I sat here:

We saw Hidden Lake like this:

And bits of glaciers that looked like this:

Next we went back into the park:

We hiked to here, which I've never done before (shame on me):

That's Avalanche Lake.  Then we inhaled a huge dinner and Paulina checked out Lake McDonald:

It was a fabulous day.

Right now I'm packing up a box to send to the Bay Area of California.  A lovely, lovely woman was in town visiting her sister and guess what she bought?

Two of my favorites!  I need to start painting again.  Soon.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

I shall start this post with a sleeping poodle.

My guests arrived yesterday afternoon.  They will be here for about five days.  We did a bunch of nothing last evening - Lolly says it hasn't been this hot in Chicago yet - and today they are whitewater rafting.

Roxie found a monkey in the tree.

Luckily the first stage of my 36" x 48" experiment dried and I was able to store it in the sauna.  My wee home is not big enough for three extra people plus a bunch of wet paint.

It's bigger than my table.

Last night we babysat Roxie's friend Bones.  So of course they decided to be swamp dogs.  I wish I had a picture of it - Bones was black from his shoulders down.  He wouldn't go near the hose, so Paulina and I dragged him into my shower.  By the time we were done, the bathroom was soaked, I was soaked, dirt was everywhere, and Bones was sort of clean.  He stayed over until his family got home in case the fireworks freaked him out.  As you can see, it wasn't a problem.

No room for momma on the couch.

 I shall end this post with a sleeping poodle.
 

Daisy Dog, Redux

Still no bears.  Still more daisies.

  

Poodle looks naked in that picture!

While bear hunting we also saw some HUGE dandelion puffball thingies.

That middle picture would be pretty cool if it were blown up huge.  So would the top middle picture (the back end of the daisy).  I have a picture of poodle I took with my cell phone two summers ago that I want to print huge.  It's this one:

Awesome.

In other news, I'm working on my secret project.  Initial paint went on last night and - surprisingly - it was still tacky this afternoon.  I figured 90+ degree heat outside would help the darn thing dry in a flash, like my laundry, which dried in about four minutes hanging outside yesterday.  It was kinda foolish to start the painting; I've got house guests arriving on Thursday and no place to store the darn thing.  Except maybe in the sauna.  Thank goodness for the sauna.

That is all.

Bear Hunting

Poodle and I went bear hunting yesterday, and didn't see a single one.  I've heard they are all over my neighborhood - one of my neighbors sees them every time he turns around - but I've seen nada.  Zilch.  Zero.  This is what we saw instead:

Lots of daisies.  Lots of poodle in the tall grass.  The temperature has been climbing and I think it is supposed to hit close to 100 degrees in the next couple of days.  Awesome.

I had a bit of good news yesterday.  Well, it wasn't really news, but it was encouraging.  My new plan is to tell everyone I know that we have a commercial building for sale, in case they know someone who is looking.  (By the way - we have a commercial building for sale in downtown Bigfork.)  I was talking to a friend who is a realtor, and she said she's got two investors looking to dump cash in a 1031 exchange and their time is running out.  She wants more info so she can talk to her clients.  This is in no way a sure thing, but it was encouraging to me.  Potential buyers are everywhere if you look hard enough.

On another front, my mojo is still mostly a no show, so I've decided to try something different to jump-start myself.  I'm not going to share any details until I know if it is working, but think big.  As in 36" x 48".  That's all I'm going to say.  I hope I have enough paint....

Mojo? What mojo?

So as you know, for the past seven or eight weeks my mojo has been a total no show.  Here's what I think happened.  I was mildly frantic getting ready for my vacation - I had been procrastinating on a few things at work that I knew would be a pain in the rear, so ended up doing them the night before I left.  That would be stitching down three football jerseys for shadowboxes.  I was in Vermont for a week.  I got home to find a minor flood in my bathroom.  In addition to being a crazy catch-up week at work, it took forever to figure out why my sink was leaking and how to fix it (thanks to a very helpful man named Doyle at my local hardware store, I can add plumbing skills to my resume).  Then it was my birthday.  The day after my birthday my dad went back into the hospital for three nights and four days.  I've also had some setbacks regarding my "hope and dream" plans regarding my move to Vermont.  I'm not quite ready to slide back down into the pit of despair, but I've had to give myself several pep talks in the past weeks.  And although painting is one of my happy places, I haven't had the right creativity to get to that place.  I tried, and ended up with a couple of things just about good enough for the trash.  Bleh.

So I gave myself a new motto.  I have a pink Post-it note on my bathroom sink that says MAKE BETTER CHOICES.  This is most specifically related to food choices - I gave myself a 10 day challenge to eat clean.  When I cut out the junk, I feel a ton better (no surprise there).  And I sleep better.  And hopefully it well help my mojo come back because I have more energy.  You can only spend so many hours a day glued to the couch reading, even if it is the latest John Sandford book.

Anyway, I did paint something passable last week.  Another sheepy.

If this ends up as a keeper, I'm going to name it "Lone Ranger."

Two days ago I needed to just get some paint on a canvas (or on my clothes, or on the floor - anything would be better than nothing), and I ended up with this little abstract piece.

I'm calling it "Expect the Unexpected" and for now it lives in a white lacquer frame, like so:

Yeah, I know, in this picture it looks pinky.  But it's white.  Kitchen art - matches the fridge.

Speaking of none of that (except the kitchen part), I had a tragic experience last night.  Today is Last Fridays in downtown Bigfork, and I was trying a new recipe that came highly recommended by some clients.  Carmelized bacon.  I know, right?  How could that possibly be bad?  This is Ina Garten's recipe and it sounded like something I would eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  So I put tin foil in two baking pans, set wire racks on top, cut an entire package (1.5 pounds) of thick-cut bacon in half and put the strips on the racks, then smeared them totally with a clever mixture of pecans, brown sugar, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and maple syrup that I whizzed up in the food processor.  Into the oven for 25-30 minutes until browned but not burned.  Well.  Let me tell you what happened next.  I washed the dishes, and sat down on the couch with poodle and John Sandford.  About 12 minutes later I noticed it was getting a little hazy in my kitchen/living room.  I checked the oven to see if maybe there was a dead squirrel in there that had caught on fire (you never know), but nothing.  I took out my fire extinguisher and read the directions (safety first).  Then I saw smoke coming out of one of the burners.  Called Derek and he told me that's how the oven vents, and all the smoke was because I was cooking (read "burning") sugar.  I have the ability to create ZERO cross-ventilation in my wee home because the only two windows that open are separated by an entire wall.  So I opened the door and waved a painting around trying to clear the place out.  When I took the bacon out of the oven, I have to admit it really didn't look appetizing.  But the recipe said to transfer it to a plate covered with paper towels while it was hot, and it would crisp up as it cooled.  If it was cooked enough.  But not burned (burnt?).  My bacon was showing a little char.  And felt floppy.  Not a good combo (in anything, really, not just bacon).

New paragraph.  Finally.  After a couple more chapters of John Sandford, I test-drove the bacon.  It.  Was.  Gross.  Can you believe I just said that about bacon?  Total fail.  I never thought it would be possible to have a bacon fail.  And what a tragic waste of 1.5 pounds of my favorite food.  I'm betting it will still smell like a diner at home when I get there late tonight, too.

So there you have it.  That's all I have to report.  If you decide to try and make Ina Garten's recipe (google it), let me know how it comes out for you.