It is sweltering and hot and muggy and it’s summer!!
Yayyyy! Let’s go outside
And hang with the hummingbirds.
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Or dally in the daisies
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Or bounce with the bunny..
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Or go to the lake!
Acrylic, 12×9, with a palette knife.
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Whatever you are doing, enjoy the day!
Happy Summer!
Woohoo!
🙂
©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2016
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?
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This is a water pumping station. (I think)
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This was taken inside the car wash.
Because that’s how I roll.
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And I made my own planet.
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I saw a dinosaur.
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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)
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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.
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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.
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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..
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Ah well, have a good one!
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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2014
All Rights Reserved
I haven’t been blogging much lately, not for any particular reason, I mean besides everything in my house breaking at once and a total lack of coordination in dealing with those break downs. But eventually I did manage to get somewhat coordinated and put up my Christmas tree. I have hundreds of bulbs so it takes me awhile. I used a fold up towel dryer to sort my bulbs. Clever, no?
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I made a few new discoveries this year. For instance I discovered that when I put reindeer antlers on Sampson, he sinks. His head gets lower and lower until paralysis sets in and he is stuck on the floor. Apparently he thinks they are very very heavy. This made him quite sad. Fortunately his little bear was there to help him out.
I’m thinking this may possibly be useful in the future.
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I also discovered that reindeer antlers have a strange affect on Zeus as well. He realized that the wearing of reindeer antlers changed him into a reindog with super powers. Super Reindog, we call him. These super powers give him the ability to lie on my bed, because although ordinary dogs are not allowed on the bed and think that I don’t know they get up there the second my back is turned, reindogs have no such restrictions. Yes, a reindog will lie right on the bed in front of me and coyly wave his paw. Reindogs are very impertinent animals.
Well that reindog has another think coming if he thinks I’m going to put up with that…
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I also discovered that when the moon is full with Jupiter to it’s upper left and the Christmas lights are on, you can get some pretty cool shots. You must however stand in your driveway wearing pajamas, boots and furry earmuffs to do so properly.
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I also did some painting. Christmas ones of course.
This is an acrylic, 3×5 on 300gsm watercolor paper. I used one of my goose photos as a reference. This naughty goose has stolen someone’s Christmas ribbon. Geese are mean like that.
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This goose is being downright pestiferous. Fortunately this snowman appears to be a bohemian jovial type of snowman as opposed to the perfidious abominable type of snowman.
Acrylic, 3 x 5 inches.
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I also painted a little tiny snow scene, this one is acrylic, 2 x 3 inches. I don’t know why I made that so small, I was leaning in as I painted it and it just came out that way.
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This is another snowy scene. Had a bit of fun with the purple and yellows in this one. If you look closely, you’ll see a small pestiferous perfidious abominable snowman hiding in the shrubbery. Okay, not really. I just like using the words ‘pestiferous’ and ‘perfidious’.
Acrylic, 3 x 5 inches.
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I went out the other day, the light was terrible but I did meet up with this fellow. I was enchanted to meet him. He was, well not so much..
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Back at the ranch, Dummy decided to climb the Christmas tree so he could meet the Christmas Angel. He has been infatuated with her for years. He thought that as he started out as lowly carved piece of scrap wood, that she would not like him. He was pleasantly surprised to find that she started out as a toilet paper roll. They’ve been inseparable ever since.
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Happy Holidays!!
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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012
That’s a great song. Written by Sterling and Mills for Judy Garland of course.
Everyone sing!
“Meet me in Saint Louis, Louis..
Meet me at the fair
Don’t tell me the lights are shining any place but there!”
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“We will dance the Hoochee Koochee”
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“I will be your tootsie wootsie!”
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“If you will meet me in St. Louis, Louis,
Meet me at the fair!”
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Alright so I was actually at the Saint Louis Zoo but it was started when the city bought the walk-through birdcage from the 1904 World’s Fair. It’s now a world class zoo and it’s gorgeous. Just the landscaping alone is worth seeing.
And this camel with the bad toupee is worth seeing as well.
“Toupee!” he says in a bad British accent “You cad!”
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Then there was this monkey, a lion maned something or other who apparently thought I was a photographer for a clothing catalog.
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And he told the lemur to pose too. Work it baby, work it!
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This lemur went for the deep look
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This guy just yammered on in a bad New York Yiddish accent
“Oh vey! What do you expect me to pose for, I don’t wear the clothes!”
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And the hippo was as adorable as a 6000 lb animal can be.
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And don’t get me started on how much I love rhinos.
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Being at the zoo reminded me of a painting I had wanted to do for a long time.
I was the Pueblo Zoo in Colorado a few years back. I was watching this goose who was sitting on the ledge of their little river. And this goose refused to move, all the geese kept having to walk around him. Then along came this white goose and a brown goose. Instead of walking around the sitting goose, they stood and watched it, honking softly.
They seemed very perplexed by the sitting goose’s lack of manners. The sitting goose did everything it could not to look at them. It was a very haughty goose and it made me laugh.
This is acrylic, 5×7.
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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012
This week’s weekly photo challenge is to take a photo with two subjects.
I couldn’t resist as someone stuck their big fat head in the way, giving me two subjects.
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If you would like to participate in the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge follow this link.
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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog, 2012
the purple dog painting blog 