Oh Dummy Boy…

March 17, 2012 ~ 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.

“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.”

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

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.

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

Et tu Monkey?

March 15, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 12 Comments

Beware the Ides of March!

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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 Abominable Snow Dog

February 24, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 27 Comments

Yesterday, I was bit by a mosquito, the no-see-ums were out in full force and flowers were blooming.

Today I walked out and saw this.

Well Helloooo Winter..

While I was admiring the snow and wondering how that tree in the back manages to stay at a 45 degree angle I heard a loud roar.

Roarrrr!

Oh no! it’s the Abominable Snow Dog…

Grrrrrr..Look at those teeth, those claws!!!

He’s attacking!

I”ll distract him with my boot..

Run Away! Run Away!!

Wait a minute, come back.

It’s okay.

Apparently he only wants to Conga.

Bum bum bum bum bum chhh, bum bum bum bum bum chhh….

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Zeus pondered life’s oddities and wondered why his brain was cold.

And here’s to warmer days on the South Dakota Plains or wherever I was.

This is an acrylic, 4×6 inches.

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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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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Blue Moon…

February 9, 2012February 9, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 10 Comments

“I saw you standing aloneeee….”

Love that song.

The moon was not blue this morning but it was big and cold…brrr..

I took this in my backyard about 6am as I was braced against my house. This photography thing would probably be a lot easier if I had a tripod.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

Dummy’s photo shoot…

February 6, 2012February 9, 2012 ~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 8 Comments

Dummy has been a bit miffed since Christmas. You would think after all we’ve been through together he wouldn’t mind having a felt Santa hat stuck to his head. Sure it took a few weeks of having towels soaked in lemon oil wrapped on his head to get the glue off but still, what’s a little glue between friends. Besides he now has a lovely lemon oil sheen to him, he should thank me!

Nevertheless, I decided to really go for a nice photo outdoor photo spread to make him happy. Unfortunately Mother Nature is intent on making my backyard look as creepy as possible..

Fog and frost, brrrrr. Doesn’t it look like a zombie or a rabid yeti is about to come stumbling out?

It was an odd frost too. It was coming off in strings and floating to the ground.

We had to take photos inside, however I needed a light tent. A light tent is basically a small white tent that disperses light making small objects look clearer. I’m not a professional photographer so I didn’t want to spend a tonne of money on one. I decided to make one. I looked up several tutorials on YouTube, finally found one that seemed fairly simple. It was only about five minutes long though it was sped up a bit and this guy made a working light tent with a cardboard box, glue, some poster board and white T-shirts. I thought “Great! I’m an intelligent woman, I can figure this out, should take me fifteen minutes at the most.”

Four hours later with tape in my hair and glue on my shirt awash in a sea of cardboard shavings I finally finished.

Dummy inspected the box, made a few ho hums and decided he needed to get into a little set design. He couldn’t fool me, he was happy. I have been trying my hand at making some jewelry in the last week and he went hog wild among the beads.

He is wearing a moss jasper and cultured pearl necklace, a hand blown green glass and cultured pearl necklace and an aventurine, purple quartz, and cultured pearl necklace all with silver chains.

He is so vain.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012

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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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.