It’s May?

May 2, 2014May 2, 2014 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 6 Comments

Hmm, somehow I missed April.

I think what happened is that the spring came and I lost my mind.

But I did take some photos.

This is the Lock and Dam No 15, on the Mississippi River.

It is the largest existing roller dam in the world. It’s nickname is the “Washing Machine of Death”.

dum dum da dummmm

Nothing like a nickname that sounds like some cheap knockoff wrestling name.

“And in this corner, ladies and gentleman…the Washing Machineeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee of Death!!!!!!!!!!”

And the crowd goes wild!

It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places as “Lock and Dam No. 15 Historic District, #04000175 covering 3,590 acres (1,450 ha), 2 buildings, 9 structures, and 1 object.” I know where the two buildings and nine structures are but what the heck is the one object?

This is a water pumping station. (I think)

This was taken inside the car wash.

Because that’s how I roll.

And I made my own planet.

I saw a dinosaur.

I painted a few tiny geese, with watercolor.

(I’ve painted these before but not with watercolor)

These are all ATC/ACEO size. (2.5 x 3.5 inches, the size of a playing card)

And this is a sunset.

I’d like to claim that I meant to do that, but actually I was in a moving car.

And the camera was on the wrong setting.

Much like the setting I used to take a photo of the “Blood Moon” which incidentally is a much better nickname then the “Washing Machinnnnnnnnnne of Death!!!!”

The blue is the star Spica.

That’s alright, you win some, you lose some.

I also wrote a poem about squirrels which I lost.

I think the squirrels may have stolen it.

Oh don’t me give me that cute face..

Ah well, have a good one!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2014

Ho, oh ho, oh no…

December 12, 2013 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 11 Comments

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It’s that time of year! It’s time for caroling!

It’s time to sing!

Hey! Hey! Where are you going cardinal?

Nuthatch?

Anyone? Blue Jay? I see you hiding behind that fence..

Oh alright. No singing, I am going to strum my ukulele though.

Here’s some little snow scenes I’ve been painting while medicated heavily. Had a pretty serious illness, but I’m fine now. If you ever have vertigo, I thoroughly recommend painting. It’s incredibly hard but oddly entertaining at the same time. I felt like one of Leary’s hippies.

These are all acrylic, four inch squares.

So I was throwing the acrylic around left, right and center, then I tried to focus.

On snowman..and their lives of snow.

Hope everyone is having a good December!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

Mudzilla!

October 13, 2013 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 8 Comments

(with my apologies to the Blue Oyster Cult)

Deep from the depths of the backyard, a savage creature awaits, stalking, sniffing

…chasing tennis balls…

The day comes when he pounces…

With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound

He’s a mole sniffing muck digging grimy hound

Eastern moles who think he’s a pain

Scream bug-eyed as he looks in on them

He picks up a clod and he throws it back down

As he digs through mole tunnels underground

Oh no! They says he’s got to go

Go! Go! Mudzilla!

Oh no! There goes the mole’s burrow!

Go! Go! Mudzilla!

History shows again and again how Sammy harasses the moles’ clan.

Mudzilla!!

History shows oh man, how I have to wash the dog again and again!

Mudzilla!

Meanwhile in between washing the dog and refilling large holes in the yard I painted these little landscapes for a trade. These are all acrylic and 2.5 by 3.5 inches (the size of a playing card).

Disclaimer: No moles were harmed in the making of this and in fact they are currently digging up the back yard while giggling themselves silly over the foolishness of any one trying to outdig them..

Oops..

I’m just kidding, my husband saved this one from the lawn mower and put him back safely.

(He is sooooo soft!)

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2013

My Summer or How I Was Kneecapped By A Groundhog..

September 3, 2012September 5, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 20 Comments

So how’s your summer going? I know, I know it’s nearly over and I haven’t posted much but I swear I have a great excuse, ahem I mean reason..

So there’s this groundhog and like all groundhogs, he is so cute, a big darling fat ball of fur. Adorable.

Actually there are a lot of groundhogs,woodchucks, whistlepigs, whatever floats your boat, there are tonnes of them all over North America.

As everyone knows, groundhogs often study meteorology. They quite enjoy it even though they get dragged out of their den every February to tell us when winter will end. And since all groundhogs have a strange sense of humor, they will often lie and give us the wrong info. They’re funny like that.

Some groundhogs, especially those located in Ohio are infamous for their archeological interests. In fact, The Ufferman Site in Ohio, which is on the National Register of Historic Sites has been solely excavated by groundhogs. They have brought up human bones, pottery and rock tool bits used by the Cole culture (circa 800-1300AD). No human has ever had to excavate as the groundhogs have done such a great job of it.

Groundhogs, can climb trees, they can swim and they can run. To their dismay, they cannot cycle and since all groundhogs dream of competing in Ironman competitions, their sorrow is great.

But there is one thing that Groundhogs are renowned worldwide for, there is one thing they love to do more then anything, there is one thing that amuses them to no end and that is to dig holes, big deep holes…

And while many people think they dig them to live in for safety and food storage, that’s ridiculous, everyone knows they prefer bungalows with full size pantries. They actually dig holes to trap humans especially humans walking around with cameras, so that that human walking around with a camera will twist and turn as they fall to save their camera and tear all the muscles holding their knee cap in place. And then that human will spend the next six weeks wearing a hot awkward metal and foam cast that makes me, ahem that human, walk like Frankenstein and since that human will be in pain occasionally they will groan and small children and animals will run from this Frankensteinian beast, except of course for the fat black cat that lives with that human and likes to scratch her face on the metal contraption and enjoy her pain cause she’s an awful sadistic animal and meanwhile the groundhog is rolling around slapping it’s knee, bubbling over with mirth and glee, because even though he’s adorable, he’s a mother of a mean little so and so…

And that ladies and gentlemen is how you write a run on sentence…

Anyway, it’s not that bad. (rolleyes) I’m fine (whine whine moan). Seriously it’s all good. (sigh)

Actually did some drawings for a trade. Lots of fun.

The only rule was that they had to be small 3.5 by 2.5 inches (ATC’s, ACEO”s whatever) about the size of a playing card and they had to be in black and white.

As always they might appear larger on your screen then they actually are

This is a little windmill, in black and white that’s down the road a ways, I think someone lives in it.

This is from a photo in the RIL on Wetcanvas, many thanks to the person who put it in there for all to use. It’s acrylic.

This is a barn in pen and ink that we have driven by a few times.

This is an 1800’s bread oven off in the woods (to keep the heat away) at Balls Falls in Ontario, Canada. This is an acrylic.

This is an old wagon that for some reason, someone stuck in their yard. Acrylic.

This is a penguin, cause I sure as heck wasn’t going to draw a groundhog. Pen and Ink.

And this is a Victorian house we drove by on the way to Saint Louis in acrylic.

Other then that, I took a photo of the blue moon. It wasn’t blue but it’s negative is.

I also found a potato with dancing angels in it, I was going to sell it on EBay but I gave it to the raccoon instead..

I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer and has a fun holiday weekend.

Happy Labor Day!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Peeping Toms, Dragons and Gargoyles…

July 10, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 5 Comments

I hope everyone survived the heat wave of the last few weeks. As well as all the talking about the heat wave of the last few weeks.

It’s been so hot, people are losing their minds. This store in our town even forgot how to rhyme.

I saw on the news people were in all the public fountains trying to keep cool so it didn’t really surprise me when I realized I had someone in my own fountain. I would have told him to get out but the truth is if my fountain had been any bigger I would have been in there too.

So it’s been a lazy summer so far, mostly because if anyone moves, they melt on the spot.

We had a new deck built. It’s great and it’s so much easier to relax on a nice big deck without bugs bothering you…

Hey!! Shoo!!

Well I never..

I tell you the bugs this year are downright obnoxious. They seem to know the birds and mammals are just too hot and tired to chase them so they’re getting very bold.

This one here even decided to become a Peeping Tom.

Or he could have just been a member of the paparazzi trying to get photos of Dummy in his mermaid get up.

Check out that supercilious grin though, he wasn’t a bit sorry even when I caught him at my windows.

I went inside thinking he had listened to my lecture but those paparazzi are merciless.

He was slyly leering right into my house.

The Nerve!

The least he could have done is waited until I washed the windows so I wouldn’t have to show everyone my spots…It’s a bit embarrassing.

Creepy. But they did inspire me to draw a dragon and a gargoyle.

I drew these with pen and ink for a trade on Wetcanvas. They are ATC / ACEO size, that is 2.5 by 3.5 inches (the size of a playing card).

This first one was from a fountain in Germany. I realized while I was drawing it that since it was sculpted in the 16th or 17th century, most likely there were still many people at that time who thought dragons were real. Did you know that in medieval times, they thought that the only thing elephants were afraid of were dragons. (They also thought hyenas changed their gender at will but that’s beside the point) So I suspect the owner of this fountain who were members of the real Frankenstein family (and isn’t that just cool) put this dragon on it to keep out the hordes of high diving elephants that were so prevalent at the time.

It’s also my theory that all the Bigfoot hunters of today are the descendants of Dragon hunters. Yes, every generation in history has had it’s legions of believers running through the woods, getting freaked out by owl calls and coyote yaps and making facts up about creatures they’ve never actually seen. (Not to mention leaving scores of Bigfoots and Dragons giggling themselves silly)

Now this next one, also the size of a playing card is a Gargoyle on top of the Historic Wells Fargo Building in Davenport, Iowa.

It was supposed to keep bad vibes out of people’s money but well we all know how that turned out… I blame it all on acid rain myself.

This building is from the Roaring 20’s and has a lovely clock tower but also a very strange temple on top of it. It would make a good setting for a creepy story.

And this is a rainbow cloud, it has absolutely nothing to do with anything else but it’s pretty

Have a good one!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Twitchy eyes and pirates

March 6, 2012March 6, 2012 ~ 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

The Badlands…

February 20, 2012February 20, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 16 Comments

I was looking back at photos from the past year and I realized I didn’t share the photos of the Badlands of South Dakota. Badlands are a geographic feature where the earth has been stripped to the bare rocks as opposed to the Naughty Lands which only go topsoiless.

They’re a pokey bunch of rocks. Trust me don’t trip..

Doesn’t this one look like a bunch of medieval Sci-fi castles?

This one looked liked a temple with a pagoda.

There’s most likely a bigfoot monk living up there. Bigfoots can be deep.

And baaaaa or maaaa or blehhhh or whatever it is that goats say..

I’m still playing with this lightbox thing. I’m boring Dummy so much, he decided to take up a hobby.

A closeup of the painting which is acrylic, 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

It’s of downtown Deadwood, South Dakota. Why there are Wii people walking in the background is beyond me. (and why Wii people have big fat heads is also beyond me.) Looks like city hall is ready to collapse there, I really should pay more attention to perspective.

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Happy Groundhog Day!

February 2, 2012February 2, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 18 Comments

And a Happy Birthday to my stepfather Hartley, a lovely man.

I phoned Hartley this morning and he did not see his shadow.

Hazzah, hazzah! Spring is coming.

Which I pretty much figured seeing as I have 59 irises coming up. That’s right 59. I don’t know why I counted them but I am a bit worried about them so Hazzah! again for not seeing a shadow. I didn’t count the tulips and daffodils though, they can take care of themselves. Oddly enough, I haven’t heard a peep out of the crocuses.

I made Hartley this card. I was out having a chat with the local groundhog, Jack Fickle McRumplestein, when I mentioned that Hartley was born on Groundhog Day. Jack insisted on posing for me. I think he may be under the impression that Hartley is part groundhog and all the better for it.

I should have taken this photo before I varnished it. Ahh well.

I also did a few more miniatures. Except for the leopard, these all have new homes. As always these will appear larger than they actually are.

This is an acrylic of a path near my house. It’s 2.5 by 3.5 inches (ATC/ACEO size) I used a pointillism technique which is quite fun to do on something that is the size of a playing card.

This is the Point Abino Lighthouse which I grew up near. It was operational until 1989 and then fell into disrepair. It’s being worked on now and has been declared an Historic building with a capitol “H”. It’s the only one of that style. I used to love hearing the foghorn at night. Nothing makes you feel more secure than knowing someone is up in the middle of the night keeping an eye out. Especially as I thought that there was Loch Ness monster lurking in the bay and we lived far too close to the lake for me to be happy about it.

I was trying for a more painterly simple style with this one. My perspective is bit off but that’s ok, I like the effect.

Acrylic 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

This is a church in Prince Edward Island that my sisters and I came across while rambling through the Maritimes.

Acrylic, 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

I threw perspective right into the wind on this one too. That’s right I got down and crazy on the perspective. Rebel with a paintbrush, that’s me.

And now some sad news. A lovely lady passed away and left our zoo which you all know I’m fond of, $250,000 to either get a panda, which can’t be done without giving China the Mississippi or the money is to be used to fix the black bear habitat. Last year they had to hire a new zoo director. Well this guy showed up in an Indiana Jones outfit complete with hat and in his infinite wisdom he decided last week to give our bears away. He said they are and I quote “nuisance animals” as opposed to the other animals in the zoo like porcupines, various rodents, reptiles and such, all of which are adorable but none of which are fun to find in your kitchen. Then he said that the Will says the money is to be used for a black as in color of the bear as opposed to the black bears as a species. He also did this without consulting anyone including the forestry board which has authority over the zoo. Guess what the favorite animal of the Commissioner of the board is…

Needless to say, he is no longer director of the zoo. And the zoo needs to get a black bear.

Here is a photo of the bear that is now gone but who was a sweetie and comical. I’m sorry he’s gone.

The moral of the story is to never underestimate the silliness and ego of a person who dresses up like Indian Jones, complete with hat.

While I’m on the topic of zoos, here is another miniature, this one is a bit bigger being 3 x 5 inches and is acrylic. This one is based on a photo of the black leopard that is somewhere back in the blog.

Now I have to go find Dummy, he’s been a bit sulky since the tape from his Santa hat is stuck all over his head. He does hold a grudge. I think a nice photo shoot will cheer him up, he’s a vain little Dummy.

Take care!

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The Eagle has landed…

January 15, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 33 Comments

The Eagles have landed! The Eagles have landed!

Woohoo!

I live in an eagle nesting area. This year has been so warm that not too many have been around. Then we had a week of snow and cold and the eagles are here. If it snows they will come..

Four eagles (two adults, two juveniles) sitting in a tree by the Mississippi River.

Duck!! I mean Eagle!!

Eagle! I mean Ducks!

Run Away!

Claude the goose, slowly sidled towards the portal to Narnia, hoping that no one would notice his absence.. sadly a large hungry lion was waiting on the other side..

His goose was cooked.

Where’s Claude? Oh no!!

“I didn’t do it!!”

Eagle!! I mean Ducks..oh come on now. Stop that.

Ducks are so dramatic.

Meanwhile back at the slough..

Stan the Gull practiced his new routine..

“Just me and my shadow..walking down the icy way..”

Only the gullible would pay to see that..ba dum chh..

Gull darn it. Don’t roll your eyes at me.

Fine, leave then..

I’ll just show everyone this acrylic mini, ATC size (2.5 by 3.5 inches)

It’s a cow on a roof. I think that’s pretty much self explanatory.

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Bigfoot, puffins,turkeys, the Hokey Pokey and a castle in Germany.

January 9, 2012January 9, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 22 Comments

Happy New Year’s all! I know people usually make resolutions at this time of year. I was going to make a resolution to stop procrastinating. “Going to” being the operative phrase. Instead I was distracted by a marathon on the Animal Planet abut Bigfoot hunters. I learned much that day. I learned from this show that grown people can freak out over a infrared camera image of a cow. The cow did not appear to be offended and continued to chew grass looking mildly interested while these people danced around and claimed to have a “Squatch” on film. It was a very zen-like cow.

They also claimed that Bigfoot shuffles in the woods, knocks on trees, uses echo location to find each other (they must share a common ancestor with bats) , prefers to intimidate women, eats berries and deer and mumbles when they’re not yelling in exactly the same way that the Great Horned owl in my backyard does. But the most interesting thing I learned about Bigfoot was that Bigfoots (Bigfeets?) like to swim underneath waterfowl and drag them under the water. Now I don’t mind sharing the woods with a large mumbling, shuffling, misogynistic, omnivorous, apelike creature with bat ears but I draw the line at a large mumbling, shuffling, misogynistic, omnivorous, apelike creature with bat ears who thinks it’s funny to pick on innocent birds while they swim along minding their own business. That’s just mean.

Therefore when I went out the other day and heard some shuffling in the woods which was obviously being caused by something with big feet I was all ready to go out and have at it with the bird bullying Bigfoot. I was quite happy when I found that the noise was not being caused by a Bigfoot by instead was by a wild turkey doing the Hokey Pokey..

You put your right feather in,
You put your right feather out,
You put your right feather in,
And you shake it all about,

You do the hokey pokey
and you turn yourself around
That what it’s all about.

Yay! You do the hooo-key pokey..you do the hooo-key pokey…

Ahem. excuse me, the hokey pokey always get me carried away.

I have done a few paintings. I took a break for a bit seeing as I hand painted about five million Christmas cards. Yup I did.

I did this miniature, ATC or ACEO size (2.5 by 3.5) in acrylic. As always, it will likely appear on your screen bigger then it actually is. It’s of some cliffs in Prince Edward Island which were covered in puffins. Unfortunately underneath the water a Bigfoot is lurking, giggling at the thought of pulling puffins under. Sigh.

The following mini is also acrylic and is 2.5 by 3.5 inches. It is of a tidal cave in New Brunswick. During low tide, you can wander into it and collect rocks. During hightide it is full of water and Bigfoots often snorkle inside it waiting for unsuspecting gulls.

The following mini is acrylic and is 2.5 by 3.5 inches. It is of Schloss Seehof in Bamberg, Germany which I visited many years ago. I don’t think there’s any Bigfoots there but we did have some German visitors last year and they were all obsessed with buying shoes so it is possible.

I hope you all are enjoying the start of your year!

Till next time….

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the purple dog painting blog

Art, Poetry, Photography & Other Nonsense

ATC

It’s May?

Ho, oh ho, oh no…

Mudzilla!

My Summer or How I Was Kneecapped By A Groundhog..

Peeping Toms, Dragons and Gargoyles…

Twitchy eyes and pirates

The Badlands…

Happy Groundhog Day!

The Eagle has landed…

Bigfoot, puffins,turkeys, the Hokey Pokey and a castle in Germany.

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