Fur In The Paint

I hope you all are recovering from a night of revelry. I myself am feeling a little shaky this morning. Of course I am every morning. It’s caffeine withdrawals. It’s best not to even make eye contact with me first thing, until after I’ve poured myself some Diet Coke.

So in honor of the holiday I’m taking the rest of the day off.

Ha! (Sigh) Sometimes I crack myself up. I had you going there didn’t I?

But I am treating it like a Sunday. (sort of) Meaning I’m going into the gallery and will work on the new horse painting. (will post a wip tomorrow) and probably work on squidoo, website and bloggy stuff. For Christmas my brother sent me a stack of new Nintendo games which I’ve yet to crack open. So I may do a little of that as well.

However I will also have the front door unlocked and there will be no cranky “Leave me alone” sign put in the window.

Anyone got any great party stories they want to share?

And this is for Louise . . .
Rabbit, rabbit and ummm , , , rabbit?

Okay Louise, so you really need to explain this. And exactly what is the rabbit grace period? Or perhaps the more important question is . . . how long is it?

Upcoming Posts: Ask The Budda (yes, he’s back), How To Paint A Dead Horse in 5 easy steps and the latest wip’s for the horse portrait of Buddy.

Top Photo. Main Street Rolfe before you hit the business district.

Stop Sign on our gravel road.

The bitter cold has returned. I fried up some chicken skins and mixed it with kibble for the barn cats. They tend to eat less when it get below zero. Which of course is when they should eat more. Tomorrow’s barn cat menu, pork sausage.

Updated: Louise has finally told me what all this Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit stuff is about. If anyone is curious please visit Louise’s blog.

I thought since I told you a Halloween story perhaps I’d continue the tradition with a very brief Christmas story. And since my family traditionally celebrated the holiday on Christmas Eve, I’ll post this today.

Preface
I have many fond memories of Christmas as a child. I imagine most people do. As I have said previously we were rather poor when I was quite young. So much of our Christmas presents were of a practical nature or handmade. Still I always had a Breyer horse or two under the tree (I wanted these more than anything else in the world, except for maybe a real horse) Also coming from a talent filled family meant we usually had some handmade goods like wooden trunks (made by my father) or hand-painted jeans from my mom. (I still have both by the way.)

I mention this as a preface to the the upcoming story. It might seems a little odd to gift the hams mentioned below, but it kinda falls in line with acceptable gift giving goodies from my family.

Free Ham For Everyone! (It’s a Christmas Miracle!)
So, many years ago we received a ham for Christmas from my parents. (we being Mike and I) It was a monsterously big ham. My folks being the proud bargain hunters (and occasional dumpster divers) that they were, had to share how they got such a wonderful ham.

Mom likes to refer to herself as a dumpster diver. I suppose it would sound so much more classy (not to mention trendy) to call it recycling or better still . . . being green.

That year was a particularly icy and cold winter and a semi truck (carrying you guessed it. . . ham) lost control and hit a bridge a few miles from my dad’s business. Hams went spilling everywhere. All over the road, into the ditch and onto the frozen creek.

My dad (and from what I remember) several others sprung into action (like super hero’s) and went out and rescued all the little lost hams. It was hard and dangerous work (imagine retrieving a ham from a frozen creek) but they persevered and were richly rewarded for their efforts.

My folks gave hams to everyone that year. In case you were wondering, they were completely wrapped and waxed so despite skidding down the highway and into a snowy embankment, they were in remarkably perfect condition, with almost no gravel. (kidding) Yes we ate ours and it was good.

Yeah, it’s exactly like that.
My story kinda gives you that warm fuzzy holiday spirit doesn’t it? It’s almost like that time on Little House on the Prairie when Ma Ingalls cut off her hair to buy her husband . . . something. Was it a saddle? And Pa Ingalls sold his horse??? to buy ribbons for Ma’s hair?

That can’t be right. That would mean human hair would have had the street value of like cocaine (not that I would know, just guessing.) And that horses would be as valuable then as . . . well horses are now. So maybe that’s not quite how the story went. You know now that I think about it, it may not have even been a “Little House” episode. I should really research these things before I use them for examples.

Perhaps it was fiddle strings and Pa sold his fiddle. Hmmm. That’s gonna bug me now until I remember.

At any rate, have a wonderous Christmas and may it be filled with warm and fuzzy memories of your own.

I am thankful for a day of excess and rest. My plans are to have too much food. Followed by too much tv/video games and most likely too much sleeping. Oh glorious day.

Besides, I’m pretty sure pumpkin pie qualifies as a serving of vegetables. So I’m really just being extra healthy by having that 2nd piece.

Yes, I know I should be thankful for things like family, friends, freedom and that I’m still alive. But I have (and am thankful for) that everyday.

What I don’t have everyday is gluttony, sloth and ummm . . . Hmmm . . . what other deadly sin qualifies? Extravagance maybe? Ah heck you get my meaning.

So Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating it today.

And now if you’ll excuse me. I’m going to go slip into some stretchy pants followed closely by a turkey coma.

Today, be sure to remember what Thanksgiving is all about, eating too much! (urm . . no that’s not it.) Falling asleep on the couch with your pants undone? (nooo.) Waking up early on Black Friday to hit all the sales? (definately not) Spending quality time with family? (ha ha ha, sometimes I just crack myself up. . . wiping tear from eye) Okay, it about being thankful. (yeah, that’s it thankful.)

And if you get to spend fun time with family, eating too much and falling asleep on the couch with your pants undone . . . well, you really do have many things to be thankful for then, don’t you.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Everyone here at Wild Faces Gallery (and Mojo the cat) are wishing you a fun filled Halloween.

Mojo requests tuna treats . . . or chicken, yeah . . . chicken. Oh, or maybe eggs. Yummy!

Treats only please, no tricks. Unless you want a black cat to cross your path at least a dozen times.

Trick or bicuits?
Here at WFG, not only do we get the usual kind of trick or treaters. We also get the four-legged variety. We are a pet friendly place. (That excludes Budda. He thinks all other critters are evil and must be destroyed. Well . . . maybe not “destroyed.” Maybe just glared at while every hair on his body is on end, and occasionally making threatening facial gestures at them.)

This is Lizzie, who came to the gallery to show off her new witch costume. How cute is she!

So here it is as promised. I had to rush to complete it in time to actually use for this Christmas, and not the next one or perhaps the one after that. And to top it off, I actually got most of my cards written and mailed off, with a whole 7 days to go before the big day.

I had a dream last night about a flamingo. Not being one to often ignore my muse. I think I may give it a try. I have yet to do a bird in oil pastel so it may prove interesting. Plus I am in need of painting some insane colors like pink and turquoise. (They apparently aren’t found all that often in horses.)

So … umm… it is Sunday. And today, no matter what, My 2007 Christmas card design will be called complete. At least as far as using it for a card. I settled the red thing by adding purple and removing both the pink and the orange. I fell back to using my old mantra which is, when in doubt…add purple. And it worked. Well it worked sufficiently. I will post a picture as soon as I scan it for the cards.

I am sitting here, occasionally blowing on my fingers. I just came into the gallery and the place is still quite chilly. I’ve got Oliver the gallery cat draped over my left shoulder for moral support and proof reading. My warm and purring fur muff.

Speaking of frostbite in the gallery. Yesterday I had my art group over for our get together. I had the heat cranked way up and yet everyone had their hands clasped tightly in their armpits as they hunched over in the fetal position, swearing repeatedly that the room temperature was just fine. (Sigh) The problem with a big brick building plopped on a large cement slab in the middle of winter, is that it just doesn’t warm up. I can have the thermostat at 80 and the room temp in the front room will be 65. Now, I have been in this building for almost 8 years, so I just take it in stride. Sorry girls. I should have provided thermal undies or something.

Anywho, back to group. It is officially called 20/21 which has to do with women artists creating in both the 20 and 21st century. We are around 10 artists (some come and go) of all very diverse backgrounds and artistic styles. I am the only self taught amongst them. This can occasionally become uncomfortable for me. But that is only because of my issues, not anything anyone else does. We try to get together every month but lately it is closer to every 2-3 months. Most of the time it is a real joy. We bounce ideas off each other, show our latest work and talk art in general. It not only gets me in the mood to create, but to create better art.

Every year I try to come up with a new image for our business Christmas card. This year I have fallen behind and it is early December already. Which means I have to complete the painting, profile it for cards, print the cards and then of course write them out and mail them. Sigh. I better get cracking. I have an idea in mind. Nothing too original really. A pair of gray drafts in winter coat with red padding and decorations. Actually it is just a current version of The Greys from several years ago. This means I have to set aside my latest paint horse study for a few days.

After rummaging through my draft photos, (no small feat there) I find exactly what I want. Well, not quite exactly. I find basically what I want. I mean they are two draft horses with heads about where I want them. The only things that I am going to change is their tack. And the horses color and markings … and …oh yea, their hair coat from summer to winter, and lastly I will add red decorations and padding … and … ummm … crop the image. I think thats about it.

I projected this image because of my time constraints. I am a lousy tracer. I really suck at it. (really, really) And have since spent around 6 hours drawing it out more fully. Since there were so many changes it took me awhile to finish the drawing despite the projecting. But, I am sure it still saved me another 6 hours of draw time. I have always drawn out all of my paintings. I think it makes them have or more me kind of feel to them. Plus it helps me to better see. But I really needed to get going on this, so I did it.

Here is a snapshot of the work so far, complete with a couple dozen reference photos and smeared oil pastel all over. (I am not terribly neat). It is kinda washed out but you get the idea. The photo that is almost touching the left side of the painting is my primary reference photo. Hard to make it out here. I will try to get it scanned and posted by the time I complete the painting.

Tomorrow is the big day. It is our first turkey of the season. And as such all 18lbs will be consumed at an alarming rate. The Christmas bird lasts much longer and occasionally some of it even gets frozen. But the first bird always gets devoured. On the farm, Thanksgiving (and Christmas for that matter) are days of celebration for everyone. The horse gets extra apples. The goose will get some celery (which he likes almost as much as watermelon) and our dog Cisco and Ollie the gallery cat will get some turkey. By the time it is all over, everyone will be laying around belching with their tummies pointed skyward. Ahhh, so much to be thankful for.

The barn cats get the large pot of fat drippings and skins and such. They smell it cooking and will all be lined up in the windows watching and waiting. The are so ramped up by the time I bring it out that they are a snarling pack of wild beasties. As I trip my way through the dozen or so rabid looking felines. I speak softly to myself, “Yeah, though I walk through the valley of death shadow … No that’s not it, through the shadow of death valley… Ummm, …damn, I used to know it! ”Occasionally I wonder if at some point they aren’t just going to climb me like a tree and take me down.