writing

Hello..it’s me..

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 1 Comment

I was wondering if after all this time
You’d like to see my blog…

I have been neglecting the old blog, there’s all sorts of cobwebs and paintbrushes laying about in here.

Sampson the purple dog is doing well. He is 13 now.  He had to have surgery on his leg to remove a tumor but it was benign, thank goodness. It was a ruff operation but it didn’t take him long to get back into his yoga routine.

He’s been pretty lonely since Zeus passed away. He grew up with three cats and Zeus of course was his nonstop companion. He was having fits every time we left him alone and let me tell you terrier fits are very very loud so in March we got him another friend.

This is Tallie, she’s a little girl lab. She loves Sampson so much even though she finds his chipmunk obsession bewildering. He seems to find her entertaining too.

She’s growing quickly and is already bigger than Sampson. She won’t get as big as Zeus was but she’s big enough now that she can reach the countertops and that has been loads of fun.

Arts and crafts wise I was so sure, I’d have all sorts of time with the quarantine to do stuff but nope, Life was like “Hey! You! Busy! Busy!”.

I did make a few animals. This is from a pattern on “All About Ami“. She has such great patterns. Check her site out.

This turtle is a combo of a few different patterns.  I really wish I had written down what I did but I think it’ll be easy enough to redo. The hat I made up with scraps.

I’ll be back soon with some experiments and such that I’ve been doing. Until then pass this lemon Bundt cake around and I will talk to you soon.

Recipe from King Arthur Flour’s website. Check out their advice on making Bundt cakes, if you’ve never made one before. I doubled the icing recipe because why the heck not.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

The Lion and The Mouse

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On WetCanvas (a forum for artists) there was a challenge to create something using Aesop’s Fables as a theme.

The Library of Congress, has each story in full (click link).  The illustrations alone are worth looking at. Many of the illustrations are interactive, I was charmed by them. Such a great site and resource, check it out!

Using ink and gilt,  I chose the Fable of the Lion and the Mouse. The following text is from the Library of Congress’s site. My original illustration follows it.

The Lion & the Mouse

A Lion lay asleep in the forest, his great head resting on his paws. A timid little Mouse came upon him unexpectedly, and in her fright and haste to get away, ran across the Lion’s nose. Roused from his nap, the Lion laid his huge paw angrily on the tiny creature to kill her.

“Spare me!” begged the poor Mouse. “Please let me go and some day I will surely repay you.”

The Lion was much amused to think that a Mouse could ever help him. But he was generous and finally let the Mouse go.

Some days later, while stalking his prey in the forest, the Lion was caught in the toils of a hunter’s net. Unable to free himself, he filled the forest with his angry roaring. The Mouse knew the voice and quickly found the Lion struggling in the net. Running to one of the great ropes that bound him, she gnawed it until it parted, and soon the Lion was free.

“You laughed when I said I would repay you,” said the Mouse. “Now you see that even a Mouse can help a Lion.”

A kindness is never wasted.

All text and images other than Aesop’s Fable are

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2018

 

 

 

 

Sampson the Dirty Dog

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Sammy recently had surgery on a tumor on his tush.  Unfortunately it was malignant but fortunately they were able to remove it with a clean margin.  We will be keeping a close eye on him and hoping for the best.

In the mean time, Sammy is supposed to be staying dry, clean and being a respectable puppy dog while he’s healing.

So of course he did this.

Yup, in the middle of a drought, within minutes of being let out, he found the only bit of mud for miles.

And he’s not sorry at all!

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum

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Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity. ~ Herbert Hoover

When you enter the Presidential Library of Herbert Hoover, there is a  beautifully made mixed media piece by Richard Pinney.  There are wood carvings and photographs and all sorts of bits and pieces.  I was quite taken with it and inspired as well.

Absolute freedom of the press to discuss public questions is a foundation stone of American liberty. ~ Herbert Hoover

Children are our most valuable natural resource. ~ Herbert Hoover

These dolls were given to President Hoover by Belgian children as a thank you for his war famine relief efforts.  The lady doll seems to be imploring the rather haughty male doll. I am not sure why he has his back to her but I am quite sure that his hat is to die for.

There’s also a slightly out of focus ghostly reflection that appears to be wearing a rather dashing black and white checkered coat. Interesting.

This toy fire truck was made in dedication to the fire fighters who put out the fire at the White House in 1929.

The fire started in the White House attic where 200,000 government pamphlets about all sorts of subjects were stored and then had the good sense to set themselves ablaze.

The President, his son and several other men, worked to remove as many files and historical items as possible while Mrs. Hoover carried on with the Christmas party for children she was hosting.  The children apparently didn’t notice the fire and good times were had.  Mrs. Hoover later handed out cast iron fire trucks to the children that had been at the party.

Hebert Hoover certainly had his share of foibles as all people do but he was an interesting man who did interesting things.  I highly recommend going to his library if you’re in the area.  If you like to meander, the grounds are quite large and perfect for a stroll.  He is buried on the grounds. 

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

The Super Blue Blood Moon

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 1 Comment

There should be dramatic music played every time someone says that.

And it should be said as if a wrestling announcer is saying it..

Laaaaaaaaadies and Gentleman….

(and the crowd roars)

Here in the night sky, hanging around that planet we call home, waxing and waning and dragging and pulling the water in and out and in and out and in and out..

It’s not just great..

It’s not just blue..

It’s not just bloody..

It’s the…

Supppppperrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuue

Blooddddddddddddddddddd

Moon!!

Dum Dum Dum Dahhhhhhh….

Then all the Goths cheer! (do Goths cheer?)

This is not the greatest photo, a little fuzzy but I took it at 4am when I was also a little fuzzy so it’s all good.

Anyway Happy Super Blue Blood Moon Day. Congratulations on making it through the first month of the year. Woo hoo.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

A beautiful ghost and a rather silly swan.

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Over on WetCanvas in the Fantasy/SciFi forum, there was a challenge for the month of January. The theme of the challenge was to create something, in any medium, that had to do with a song.

Mine is from a Canadian singer, Loreena McKennit. She wrote and sang a song called “The Bonny Swans”. Loreena McKennit has such a beautiful voice!

The video is a bit long but the gist of it is that a girl is drowned in the river by her jealous sister. Her sister wants to marry the girl’s love. The body is swept around where the swans swim and eventually is laid out by a miller who thinks it’s a swan. A harpist comes sees the body and makes a harp of it. He is invited to the sister’s wedding to the girl’s love. At the wedding the harp sings the story and tells everyone what the sister did to her.

I’ve been looking at tapestries and have been on a medieval binge so I did this, in a naive medieval style in material ~ embroidery floss and linen. I did a quick sketch on paper and then pretty much free styled this as I went along.

It shows the sister in her wedding dress as the ghost comes out of the harp to tell of her murder and a swan is attacking the sister as well.

The swan cracked me up, it’s a silly thing.

Please ignore the fuzz by the swan, I didn’t realize it was there till after I took the photo. (and can I say how much I loathe how long it takes and the manner in which Windows 10 downloads photos)

This is on a 12 inch hoop.

©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2018

Merry Christmas!

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I was involved in a Christmas card trade on WetCanvas with a few other artists. It was so much fun and I received some beautiful cards from all the world. 

These were the ones I made. They’re ink and metallic watercolor. The metallic are so much fun to work with but they are hard to photograph!

christmas art painting watercolor ink

I also did a Science Fiction ~ Fantasy Christmas trade. I made this dragon for a wonderful friend of mine,  who is a guide on the Science Fiction & Fantasy forum on WetCanvas. She does monthly challenges there that are so much fun and very clever. If you like scifi or fantasy, check it out!

This is watercolor, ink and a whole lot of glitter. 

I hope you have a happy holiday whichever one you celebrate!

Much love and good wishes to all!

 

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2017

 

In the garden.

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A hummingbird

A Monarch.

A finch, checking out its feet.

A swallowtail.

Another swallowtail.

And  of course, a Lesser Blue Warted Toadgon, native of the Indigo Forest of Cerulean.  It is one of the prettier invasive species though it’s a bit of a pest, stomping about and getting bluing everywhere.

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©Virginia Spencer, thepurpledogpaintingblog.com, 2017