(no subject)

Spent a bunch of the day with my sister and her daughter. We went to a music store to get a new string for my niece's guitar. I got to play a Seagull guitar--they're very nice. Then my sister and I went to the grocery store, letting the niece go into the Halloween costume store next door.

The store, Fresh Farms on Touhy in Niles, IL, was fantastic. Buckets of live crabs and lots of other very fresh-smelling and -looking seafood. Very nice fresh produce, including some things I have no clue what they taste like or how you prepare them. And ethnic foods for just about every ethnic you could think of. The prices on the seafood were much, much better than anywhere in Milwaukee. The cute little live (and lively) crabs were $0.99 a pound! I think I'll stop by there and buy some crabs right before returning to Milwaukee; I've got a cooler in the car since I brought in a bounty of fresh tomatoes from my garden. (I found more than I thought when I went through them very thoroughly right before I left).  The largest tomatoes here are from the Little Tomato Plant That Could.

Anyway, we bought a few things, including rolls for dinner as requested by my Aunt, and then headed over to the Halloween store. My niece had found a dress, wings, staff, wig, and gloves, and I took a few pictures. Then she tried to convince her mother to buy all of it, with very partial success--she now has a new wig and spiderweb gloves. Then back to my sister's place to put away her groceries, and to my Aunt's place to cook dinner. Which was good, especially since my brother and eldest niece stopped by.

After dinner and dishes, we indulged my Aunt and played cards--well, the grownups did. Then, my sister having been asked to once again participate in the parish art show this year, and she wanted something new; she borrowed my paints to put eyes on Jesus (a painting in progress, showing Jesus reading the Torah).

I was in-between things, and not sure what to do. I opened one of the sketchbooks to a page where I'd started a sky with some extra blue and white paint, from when I had squeezed too much out of the tubes. I showed my aunt one of the pictures of the niece, and decided to use that photograph, at least loosely, as a model. It's not done yet, but here's some photos of the painting as I worked.


I puzzled for a while over what would be behind this dark angel; the niece had said she wanted a staff with a cool skull, and I'm thinking I probably want something flow-y up at the top, though I'm not sure what yet, so I started with a rough skull carved into the stone behind her.  But stone skulls don't just float in mid-air, so I decided there should be a gargoyle carved under the skull.  The niece likes cats, so the gargoyle has some feline features in its face.

Gee, that gargoyle looks awfully lively.now I wonder if it's the pedastol for the skull, or maybe just crouching there in front of whatever is there.

Since I very rarely do sketches before I start painting, for me, paintings can be a lot like writing--the characters aren't always interested in doing and being what I first envision.

In other news, I did work on the idea for at least how to start a pirate story for Talk Like A Pirate Day, in my mind.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to work on it on the computer.  Ah, well, maybe tomorrow.

And I'm still tweeting poetry.  I usually try to participate in #haikuchallenge and #poetwist, both of which groups have a word every day to use in a poem. 

As to the art in progress, comments are, as always, welcome.

(no subject)

Spent a bunch of the day with my sister and her daughter. We went to a music store to get a new string for my niece's guitar. I got to play a Seagull guitar--they're very nice. Then my sister and I went to the grocery store, letting the niece go into the Halloween costume store next door.

The store, Fresh Farms on Touhy in Niles, IL, was fantastic. Buckets of live crabs and lots of other very fresh-smelling and -looking seafood. Very nice fresh produce, including some things I have no clue what they taste like or how you prepare them. And ethnic foods for just about every ethnic you could think of. The prices on the seafood were much, much better than anywhere in Milwaukee. The cute little live (and lively) crabs were $0.99 a pound! I think I'll stop by there and buy some crabs right before returning to Milwaukee; I've got a cooler in the car since I brought in a bounty of fresh tomatoes from my garden. (I found more than I thought when I went through them very thoroughly right before I left).  The largest tomatoes here are from the Little Tomato Plant That Could.

Anyway, we bought a few things, including rolls for dinner as requested by my Aunt, and then headed over to the Halloween store. My niece had found a dress, wings, staff, wig, and gloves, and I took a few pictures. Then she tried to convince her mother to buy all of it, with very partial success--she now has a new wig and spiderweb gloves. Then back to my sister's place to put away her groceries, and to my Aunt's place to cook dinner. Which was good, especially since my brother and eldest niece stopped by.

After dinner and dishes, we indulged my Aunt and played cards--well, the grownups did. Then, my sister having been asked to once again participate in the parish art show this year, and she wanted something new; she borrowed my paints to put eyes on Jesus (a painting in progress, showing Jesus reading the Torah).

I was in-between things, and not sure what to do. I opened one of the sketchbooks to a page where I'd started a sky with some extra blue and white paint, from when I had squeezed too much out of the tubes. I showed my aunt one of the pictures of the niece, and decided to use that photograph, at least loosely, as a model. It's not done yet, but here's some photos of the painting as I worked.


I puzzled for a while over what would be behind this dark angel; the niece had said she wanted a staff with a cool skull, and I'm thinking I probably want something flow-y up at the top, though I'm not sure what yet, so I started with a rough skull carved into the stone behind her.  But stone skulls don't just float in mid-air, so I decided there should be a gargoyle carved under the skull.  The niece likes cats, so the gargoyle has some feline features in its face.

Gee, that gargoyle looks awfully lively.now I wonder if it's the pedastol for the skull, or maybe just crouching there in front of whatever is there.

Since I very rarely do sketches before I start painting, for me, paintings can be a lot like writing--the characters aren't always interested in doing and being what I first envision.

In other news, I did work on the idea for at least how to start a pirate story for Talk Like A Pirate Day, in my mind.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to work on it on the computer.  Ah, well, maybe tomorrow.

And I'm still tweeting poetry.  I usually try to participate in #haikuchallenge and #poetwist, both of which groups have a word every day to use in a poem. 

As to the art in progress, comments are, as always, welcome.

The Poet Tweeteth

Coyote chasing ~
Rabbit scoots into the brambles, smiling ~
Coyote laughs, though his belly is empty ~
He can buy fast food!

Coyote, he rocks! ~
He makes all the mistakes first ~
So I don't have to!

Wind flows gently ~
The sky starts to pale ~
Slowly, slowly, color starts to return ~
Then suddenly, dawn wakes a double rainbow.

In regular life, I got to share adventures in fourth grade spelling and seventh grade literature, none of which make for good anecdotes, though one of my nephews did call me evil.  He didn't think I should turn his mis-spellings into bad puns.

The Poet Tweeteth

Coyote chasing ~
Rabbit scoots into the brambles, smiling ~
Coyote laughs, though his belly is empty ~
He can buy fast food!

Coyote, he rocks! ~
He makes all the mistakes first ~
So I don't have to!

Wind flows gently ~
The sky starts to pale ~
Slowly, slowly, color starts to return ~
Then suddenly, dawn wakes a double rainbow.

In regular life, I got to share adventures in fourth grade spelling and seventh grade literature, none of which make for good anecdotes, though one of my nephews did call me evil.  He didn't think I should turn his mis-spellings into bad puns.