Deck the halls with singing doggies,
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Tis the season to be froggy,
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Tis the time to set up the tree
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And Dummy, his old friends he can see
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In poinsettias I take pleasure
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Dummy thinks they’re a real treasure,
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Fast away the old year passes,
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Thanks for reading my blog, ye lads and lasses,
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Since this blog is supposed to about art
Art art art art art art art art art
Here’s a mini duck I painted for th’art
Quack quack quack quack quack….
It’s lovely and has a large expanse of beautifully kept grass (seriously there’s no creeping charlie or crabgrass!!) that flows to a rather steep forested ravine where deer, rabbits, foxes, snakes, possums, raccoons, owls, turkeys and all sorts of other furred and feathered creatures frolic.
Unfortunately I also have a klutzy dog who likes to frolic too.
So there was Sampson frolicking and rollicking when he hit the steep part of the ravine.
And away he went.
I saw it in slow motion, he tumbled and rolled and tumbled some more….It was like watching a little furry snowball, flashing white against a backdrop of autumnal browns and purples and even though I appreciated the juxtaposition of colors, my heart stopped.
Anyway. I ran down, he ran past me going up. I ran back up.
Then I realized he couldn’t use his leg. And he was very sad. We had to go the vet.
My vet is in the town of Milan. If you read that and pronounced it like you would expect, you were wrong! It’s pronounced “my-land” and if you pronounce it the way most normal people on this planet pronounce it, they snicker behind your back and think you’re a fancy pants. My vet’s office however has the name of the town down the road on it even though it’s not in that town probably because people can pronounce that name. But Milan or My-land, I secured Sampson in my car and off we went.
At which point in a town of 5000 people, I ran into a traffic jam.I called the vet from the car. Don’t worry, I always keep my hands on the wheel. I have one of those Bluetooth things (though I don’t know why it’s called Bluetooth, the last time I checked my phone it did not have teeth nor was it blue). The phone works through my stereo and the buttons on my steering wheel, I’m not quite sure how it works but I think it involves small magic leprechauns and a cat named Henry. The first time someone called me I was listening to “Rock Lobster” loudly. It rang, and for a moment I thought the record had skipped then after a moment I remembered that it was not 1980 and deejays don’t use records anymore plus the odometer display was flashing what looked like my house phone number. Either my house was calling me or I had driven much further then I meant to. I panicked and pressed every button in my car and ended up listening to Muzak. I never did find out why my house called me. It’s never called again. I think it’s mad and wants new carpets.
But I digress. I called the vet to tell them I was stuck in a traffic jam and seeing as it is a town of 5000 people, they already knew.
There I was stuck in a traffic jam and I was looking around keeping myself occupied when Sampson’s window rolled down. I put it back up. And it rolled down. I put it back up. And It rolled down. I looked over at him. He looked at me. Then he smiled. And I realized that it was not an accident. Sampson knows how to work the buttons. That rotten dog can’t seem to figure out that’s it not a good idea to run amok in a steep ravine but he can figure out how to open a window. And to boot it was only 42 degrees out. I would have put the child locks on but I don’t know where they are and ever since the Muzak incident I’m little paranoid about touching anything. I sometimes get the feeling that the little magic leprechauns and the cat named Henry are very disappointed in me.
But after twenty minutes I managed to drive the block and a half to the vets and park. I went to gently pick up Sampson even though my hands were blocks of ice. He then jumped out of the car and ran up the stairs to the vets. On all four legs!
Son of a……..
To make a long story short (if you can believe that at this point, you’re, I’m sure a very nice person but gullible. You should work on that) Sampson did injure himself but not badly. He apparently has a floating patella. The vet showed me how to put it back if it slid again and gave him some anti-inflammatories (isn’t that a double negative, shouldn’t it just be flammatories). The vet said, it’s fairly common in small dogs and not a big deal. I’ve never had a small dog before Sampson. I did go home and ask Zeus how his patellas were and he said fine. And I asked how his parents’ and siblings’ patellas were. He wasn’t sure so he texted them and they texted back saying their patellas were just fine as well. There you go, it must be true.
All is well.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
And to my family who may have mistakenly assumed I’ve been in the kitchen baking all this time…you silly silly fools.. yes the brandy and eggnog is nearly gone but there will be pie and buttertarts.
Listen lady, I get that screwing around with us is fun for you.
Tsunamis, earthquakes, super storms, tornadoes.
Making sure it’s cloudy every time I have even the slightest chance of seeing an astronomical event..
Seriously I had my camera and my most powerful lenses all set up to see the asteroid 2005 YU55, had my game plan set and then.. Clouds!?!!
Always with the clouds. Jeez.
Anyway I get it, you’re mad. I’ve seen photos of the Pacific Ocean Dump . It’s disgusting.
And I get it, politicians are talking about building a huge electric fence along the Mexican border which will disrupt the migration patterns of several animals including the jaguar. Now I’m sure the politicians, since we all know how clever they are, will come up with a plan to allow jaguars to cross at mandated checking points provided they show proper ID and have visas. But although cheetahs read quite well and are often spotted curled up with a nice cup of tea and a mystery novel, jaguars don’t read. Filling out all those forms to get a visa would be out of the question. And even if they were given the visas and had ID, they wouldn’t be able to carry them. They don’t have pockets, though I suppose a lanyard wouldn’t be out of the question.
Yup, you do have a point, Mother Nature.
But to make it sleet, than freeze, then snow!
That’s just mean.
Thank goodness Dummy can fit in my tea cozy or he would have frozen to death while trying to clear the ice off the banisters.
He’s being very helpful since I actually managed to let him do his real job and pose for a painting.
This is a miniature, ATC Size (3.5 by 2.5 inches) in acrylic..
I also tried some gouache. Weird stuff, you can use it like acrylic or watercolor.
This is a miniature, ATC Size (3.5 by 2.5 inches).
Hopefully it’s obvious that’s it’s a pumpkin..
For the pumpkin I used a photo reference from the Reference Image Library on Wetcanvas. Thank you to the contributor. Normally I take my own photo references but the Wetcanvas RIL, is a useful tool for playing around. Most of the photos I take, I take with plans to use for references. In fact I have spent numerous hours trying to get a photo of the deer in my backyard. But the other day I was only trying to take a photo of this tree for a painting reference. When I looked at the camera monitor I realized I had been looking at the tree for so long, I had completely missed the two deer who were rudely staring at me.
Apparently being contrary creatures, deer don’t like to have their photos taken unless they think you’re not taking a photo of them. Vain, I tell you.
Oh hey, the sun is shining!
That’s good, I can get my tea cozy back from Dummy.
It’s been a bit since I wrote a new post. It was mostly just laziness but I have a variety of excuses as well. Pick which ever one suits your frame of mind..
Excuse #1 …
I was watching my neighbor burn down his yard..
Yes the same neighbor who yells at me for watering even though I have rain barrels and an overflowing well. Yes the same one who thinks I gave his yard crabgrass even though I have none. The same guy who hates my maple tree and wants me to cut it down even though it has nothing wrong with it and it’s a pretty tree…and so on and so on….
What happened was that not realizing that I was home, he started to blow all his leaves into my yard so I casually took the dogs out.
And he blew them all back.
He made a 20 foot long pile in his yard, about 2 feet high. Since he couldn’t foist them off on me, he decided to mulch them with his riding lawn mower…
Well the pile was too high, the leaves ended up caught in his engine and
FIRE ! FIRE! FIRE!
He kept driving then did a double take (which I’ve never seen anyone outside the movies do before)
Then he was dancin’ and singin’ and movin’ to the groovin’ (Sorry, sorry had a moment of Funky Grooviness there, it won’t happen again)
But he was dancing and grooving and jumping up and down flailing his arms and he kept kicking the leaves all over and they kept burning farther and faster and further and faster as well.
I opted to watch from my living room and not let him know that I knew that he set his yard on fire. I’m nice like that. Plus I may possibly have been hysterically laughing… ahem..
Anyway at least his crab grass is gone. Who knew it was that flammable.
Excuse #2…
I was helping Sampson put together a performance piece. It involved putting my garden to bed for the winter and cleaning up leaves (while not setting the yard on fire, I mean he did want to juggle some flaming torches but I nixed that one much to his disappointment). Sampson’s art du jour was a mind numbing display of pumpkin abuse..
At this point your children should leave the room, it may be too much for them.
SQUISH!! SQUISH!!! SQUISH!!!!
That’s downright disturbing. Pumpkin abuse is wrong, people!!
But see, there isn’t any crabgrass.
Excuse #3…
Speaking of dogs, I was also trying in vain to get a nice dignified photo of Zeus.
I often see beautifully dignified labs in magazines. So I was determined to get one.
I swear they must drug those dogs in the magazines.
Don’t stick your tongue at me..rude I tell you…
Aw..Gee..I’m sorry…
Oh that’s okay.
We’ll try again.
No! Not dignified! Not dignified!
My attempts to take a dignified photo of Zeus are on temporary hiatus since he decided to introduce himself to a nest of yellow jackets and he’s allergic. He’s fine, sillier looking then normal but fine. *Sigh*
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I have actually done a couple little paintings. These are rough copies of some Christmas cards ideas.
Could you imagine if someone actually gave you a partridge in a pear tree? I would be miffed myself.
The second is in the style of Van Gogh, and is a snowman.. (I was pretty sure you can tell it’s a snowman but judging by the amount of weird Russian spam I get on this blog, I’d like to make myself clear. It’s a snowman and no I don’t want any mukluks.)
If you notice there is a bend in the corner. Sampson chewed on it for a bit.
He’s still a bit mad about not being allowed to juggle flaming torches.
I watched an interesting show on “60 Minutes” this week about Van Gogh. I’m sure most people have heard by now that there’s a theory that he did not commit suicide but was accidentally shot. It reminds me of the theory that Gauguin actually cut off Van Gogh’s ear (which is more probable than not, Gauguin was there, he and Van Gogh were fighting , Gauguin was swinging around a sword but he claimed he left before Van Gogh cut himself.) Of course the curators at the Van Gogh museum get in a huff anytime someone mentions that Van Gogh might not have been altogether an insane depressed madman. It just gets them in a right tizzy.
Personally I love Van Gogh. I like most art though the religious works of the Renaissance leave me cold (except for Da Vinci’s, but only because he at least seemed to have a sense of humor). But either way, I have tried several times to copy Van Gogh’s painting (for practice only of course). After studying his brush strokes and color, I’ve come to one conclusion…
That guy was crazy!!
All those little dabs of color, over and over and over and over…
That and the whole walking over to the brothel and handing his ear wrapped in tissue to a prostitute named Rebecca for safe keeping…
Here’s my ode to Van Gogh.
“Van Gogh’s Cat”
(please note this is not a copy of a real VG painting, it’s my tribute to him)
Acrylic, 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.
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Here’s a couple more ACEO’s (Atc’s, minis)
I used to do paper-cutting in the traditional style of Scherenschnitte.
I still do occasionally but this time I was lazy and used ink.
Both are ink on acrylic, 2.5 by 3.5 inches.
“Fish Eyes”
“Mouse Tail”
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And here’s a photo of a llama meditating.
llama llama llama llama llama
Van Gogh should have tried that. It’s very relaxing.
My spell check does not recognize “Van Gogh”. Seriously.
I’ve always liked giraffes. I had been taught that giraffes are one of two living species (the other being the okapi) of the family Giraffidae which had evolved from palaeomerycids during the early part of the Miocene epoch. I was taught that they are even-toed ungulate mammals and were herbivores to boot. I was taught that they definitely did not dance.
Silly me.
Fortunately I found this book Giraffes? Giraffes! The book review in that link says it all…
“Giraffes? Giraffes! is the first in the series, and puts forth the following novel theories: that giraffes were not part of any evolutionary chain, but came here from Neptune, by way of very long (but convenient and fast) escalators; that giraffes are expert dancers, but they become angry if you ask them about their dancing; that giraffes control over 90 percent of what we see in mirrors; that the Giraffe navy is as strong as ever, contrary to recent claims in the popular press.”
I KNEW IT!
Well I didn’t really know know it but I had suspected as much.
Imagine my delight when we went to the zoo and the baby giraffe was out. She and her mother were kept out of the public eye until a few weeks ago. She is 14 months old, is 6 foot tall, weighs 105 lbs and is already proficient in tap and jazz. She will eventually reach 16 feet and weigh approximately 2500 lbs. She looks tiny compared to the other giraffes.
She’s such a doll. She pretty stayed in the same spot for about 20 minutes, then she went over to the fence and tried to nibble on it. The poor thing learned the hard way that the fence is electrified. She wasn’t hurt but she was very confused. She went right back to her spot and stood there looking at the fence to see what else it would do.
You can see how tiny she looks in this photo.
Here’s Mom. She’s lovely isn’t she.
And here’s Baby!
There was also a young mountain goat out and about. Unlike giraffes, mountain goats do not dance.
I’ve been brain-dead for a few weeks, not feeling terribly creative, forgot how to paint, the whole moody artist bit.
Blah whine blah.
So I went to the zoo.
(and no I didn’t have any children with me)
We have a pretty decent little zoo here. It’s not big, but the animals are sociable.
The Jaguar who is a big big gal was in a mood. She was huffing and puffing and making some strange noises. I never realized until today that a mad Jaguar sounds like a cow in heat. I swear she was mooing. Right after I took this photo, she shredded that piece of wood she was laying on like it was paper.
The leopards are so pretty.
Excuse the bars. For some reason they won’t let me in the cages.
The bobcats were frisky, I could have watched them playing all day. They are very small compared to the other cats. They’re not much bigger then Kitten, granted Kitten is a fat ass but still.
And the lion of course was being lazy. I read in the National Geographic that lions are one of the few animals who can sleep as much as they like. Makes sense, who would be silly enough to wake them up.
And just so Kitten doesn’t get jealous of me showing all these cat photos…
I hereby formally acknowledge and accept this lovely Versatile Blogger Award from roseribbonblog.
Thank you, what a lovely thing to do. Dummy is beside himself.
His head is so swollen he looks like a lollipop.
As part of the acceptance of this award I’ve been asked to tell you seven random things about myself. So here goes…
1) I grew up in Canada. Every now and then I get so homesick I have to phone one of my sisters so I can hear the word “about” pronounced properly.
2) I had been dying my hair for so long that I didn’t actually know what color it really was. So I let it grow out. And it was gray.
3) I have an invisible cat (The I-cat). She does exist but nobody ever sees her so maybe she doesn’t. I think she used to belong to some guy named Schrödinger.
4) There are a few things that drive me up the wall about the Midwest. Not having vinegar on their tables in restaurants is one of them. They will put butter on anything that moves. But ask for vinegar and they think you’re strange.
5) I like vinegar on my french fries.
6) Last week, I put a photo of a mole, my husband caught in our yard on Facebook. We let him go because he is so cute that I don’t care if he digs holes in my yard. I soon noticed that all my friends in the States and Europe commented on what a lovely guy he was while my Canadian friends and my sisters asked me if he bit or fought. So now I’m wondering what the hell is wrong with Canadian moles? Is there some kind of super vicious Canadian attack mole that I don’t know about? Has there been a mole uprising? Do moles even have teeth? Fangs? Will “T’is only a mole” be my last words?
I waste a good deal of time thinking about things like this.
7) I talk to Dummy. He has yet to answer. I like that about him.
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Oh! I knew this was too much for Dummy.
As soon as he heard, he popped the champagne and just had to start bragging to Mr. Service Award.
Mr. Service Award is a stoic sort (eunuchs often are) , he’ll be ok.
Thank you again! And now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go stop Dummy from swinging on the chandelier…
All over the roads of South Dakota we saw abandoned buildings. I always wonder when I see those buildings why they lie empty. I tell myself endless stories of these lost buildings.
I based this miniature on one such building. A house, a home at one time in a field. And behind that house was a tree with a tire wing hanging forlornly from it.
A little bit sad I thought.
“The Tire Swing”, Acrylic, 3.5 by 2.5 inches. (ATC, or ACEO size)
I’m not terribly thrilled with the painting. It’s okay but it’s not what I meant to do. I like the tree and the swing but not the rest. Goes to show that art like anything else is not all talent, it takes practice and when you don’t paint for a little bit you get rusty. I think that may be what discourages so many beginners. They think you need a lot of talent when it’s more like you need a good eye (or talent if you prefer) and a lot of practice. So if you’re a beginner, or just haven’t done it in years, take your time and and do many many paintings. Don’t be too hard on yourself, it will come.
In case you’ve been wondering Dummy did go on the trip with us. I’m not sure where he’s gone off to though…
Oh there he is! Climbing around Custer State Park.
We set out one day to find Mount Rushmore. We drove on winding roads lined with dark forests on a gloomy overcast day. As we rounded a corner in the road, I caught my first glimpse of a rugged granite face. A ray of sun came out and danced on that noble face of the man who refused to become King.
After all the silliness, kitsch and generally amusing tourist traps, I did not expect much.
the purple dog painting blog 