Month: March 2012

Duckzilla and the dancing chickadee…

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 23 Comments

Once upon a time, in a land far away (well not too far away, I mean it was actually quite close) there lived a terrible monster.

Grrr! it said! “I will stomp on EVERYTHING!” it said.

“Everything in the water” it clarified for all who were listening.

“I am Duckzilla!” it yelled for further effect.

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Then it tripped.

And it was so mortified, it came out of the water, shook itself off and behaved itself for the rest of it’s life.

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Meanwhile, back on the ranch, a chickadee was doing the Hop.

“Let’s go to the Hop..oh baby”

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A swan was having a serious chat with some fish.

Swans do like to carp.

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As a heron eavesdropped for any good tidbits of gossip.

He was very koi about it.

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A real monster stared cross-eyed at the tree fuzz on his nose and wished he didn’t have hayfever.

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While a little dog begged for a treat.

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So he was given one and all was well.

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And everyone was happy.

.The End.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

It’s Spring!

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 18 Comments

Spring! Spring!! Spring!!!

Makes me sing sing sing!!

What a grumpy looking cardinal!

Cheer up Buddy.

It’s Spring!!

No? Hmmm. I wonder if he’s heard about Zeus’s bird catching abilities.

That’s right Zeus, my lab, catches birds.

He doesn’t hurt them. He simply catches them then stands around looking like a fool with wings flapping from both sides of his mouth.The birds freak out of course. Lab spit just isn’t a good cologne during mating season. Normally they prefer Old Spice.

I think he thinks they’re small planes. We live near an airport where many hobby planes are. I quite like them myself especially the old painted bombers. Zeus thinks he can catch them too. No such luck so far though.

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He’s been trying to catch this flicker, but he tends to stay up high. He looks like such a soft sweet bird but let me tell you when his suet is out that bird yells his fluffy little head off.

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So I told Zeus to stop catching birds. It’s weird.

To which he replied..

“Birds! I wasn’t catching birds! I was catching little planes!”

*sigh*

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In the meantime since my eyes are feeling a bit better I’ve been doing some quick sketch paintings to get back into the swing of things.

This is an acrylic of the sun setting over the Mississippi. It’s 5×7 and I spent about 20 or so minutes on it. It seems to me to be a bit off balance. The positive and negative spaces aren’t doing it for me. I do like the way the blues came out. They’re a combination of prussian blue, violet blue, olive green and naples yellow with a bit of white (all Liquetex brand).

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I also did this 8x 10 of my grandmother from a very crumbly photo circa 1920. There were parts of her face that were not distinguishable so I used my sister Yvonne’s face. She’s a cutie with lovely brown cow eyes.

This is also acrylic and I spent about 30 to 40 minutes on it. This is just a quick sketch for a real portrait eventually. I’m not sure why I signed it, I don’t remember doing that. It must just be habit or my mind is going, either way, it’s all good.

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I hope you all enjoy your first day of Spring and have some time to get out and smell the crocuses, crocusi? crocs maybe?

Beats me, but enjoy them all the same.

Happy Spring!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

 

 

Oh Dummy Boy…

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 14 Comments

Dummy decided to drive some snakes around in honor of St. Patrick. I wouldn’t let him borrow my car so he had to take the train.

His friends are Choral snakes. Choral snakes unlike coral snakes are nonvenomous. As you can see they have round pupils as opposed to slitted ones. If you see a snake with slitted eyes stay away even if they try to lull you with a song.

The Choral snakes are named Finbar, Ronan and John (their mother is a big fan of the Irish Tenors).

This is the song they sang for Dummy, it was quite lovely if a bit lispy.

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“Oh Dummy boy, the paints, the paints are calling

From glen to glen, and down the mountain side

The glazing’s gone, and all the brushes falling

‘Tis you, ’tis you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when acrylics are in the studio

Or when the watercolor is fresh and oh so clear

‘Tis I’ll paint there in sunshine or in shadow

Oh Dummy boy, oh Dummy boy, I love you so.”

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

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The theme for WordPress’s weekly photo challenge is “unusual”. I thought I would enter Dummy’s pic into it. Let’s just keep that between ourselves though, I don’t want him getting a big head.

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Thanks to all who have expressed their concern about my eyes. They’re still a little sore but much much better then they were. I’ll be back to painting soon!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Twitchy eyes and pirates

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 24 Comments

I’m suffering from eyestrain. My eyes are hot and dry. And the right one keeps twitching.

twitch twitch twitch…

I also pulled the arch in my foot.

limp limp limp…

It’s so bad now that when I went to get the mail with my hair unkempt, limping and twitching, small children and animals ran away from me.

It probably doesn’t help that I call the mail “My Precious”.

So I need to take a break.

I could put a patch on my eye. But then I would have to say “Arrrr” and “Matey” and get a parrot. I’d also have to get my boat out and float up and down the Mississippi pillaging and looting.

But the boat is still winterized and Sampson is not fond of parrots (he has met a parrot and it mocked him). And to boot my mother would be mortified if I pillaged and looted.

All together it’s just too much work.

But that’s okay, I’ll be back in a week or two. In the meantime Dummy has decided he’s capable of helping me out. He played a couple rounds of golf with some doctors and now he thinks he knows everything.

I just hope he doesn’t try to use his stethoscope.

It’ll break his heart to find out that he doesn’t have ears.

I did this little acrylic, ATC size 3.5 by 3.5 inches before my eyes went buggy. It’s of the Chicago Lighthouse that can be seen from Navy Pier. As always it will appear bigger than it actually is.

So I hope you all have a nice couple of weeks. Enjoy yourselves. Run amok.

But if you do happen to see a wild haired limping twitchy person, please be kind. Really really kind…

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012