Best of 2012

For many, today is a time for reflection on the year just ending and contemplation of our aspirations for the year about to begin.  And as with our twin blog, the Salon deWinchester showcases, I reflected on what were some of my better or most favorite works of the past year.  (Also check out the Salon "Best Of" post, via AWESOME LINKS.)   Since the Painterly Thoughts blog began in September, I decided to pick my Best Of's from the months beforehand.  My intention was to limit it to three.  We'll see how I do.     

These two chuckleheads were from my Blowhards series, inspired by the four winds of Greek mythology and my 2011 Faces of Evil series.  The ever angry pig, Mr. Limbaugh, needs no introduction but our other blowhard stumped a lot of people...  he's the unhinged, uninformed Glenn Beck.

Stupidoofus, Blowhard of the West

Porcusiratus, Blowhard of the East

My series, the Three Madgi, was a pun-ly trio of Madge the Manicurist of Palmolive advertising fame, Madonna "Madge" the ever more frightening megastar, and Her Maj-esty, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.  If I had thought about it, I probably should have felt intimidated by the thought of painting the Most Depicted Woman of All Time.  But that only occurred to me later so I think I got a pretty good result for two and a half hours of painting time.  My chief regret is that I didn't take more time to render all those diamonds a little better.

Her Maj...  Glorious!!

Finally, I can't say this last selection is a very good painting but:  who doesn't like tulips, and I always enjoy looking at it.  I hope you do, too — and with that, we're done except for me wishing you all a healthy, prosperous, and Happy New Year!

Tulip Bowl

Send in the Clown 2012-W52

Like many of you, I'm very unbusy...  defrazzling from the Christmas experience.  I had the good fortune to travel both ways with virtually no delays or airport headaches.  In between flights, I had a lovely visit with family I haven't seen for a year.  My, how time flies these days.  I hope you had a nice holiday too.

Most of my family somehow ended up in Texas, but we do maintain outposts in Chicago (yours truly) and Maine.  Like myself, the nephew in Maine misfortunately has his birthday in the cold miasma of the post-Christmas lull.  The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is not nearly as delightful as it were a week ago, all bedecked in garlands and with stockings awaiting to be filled by Santa.

Young people are poised to build up a head of enthusiasm for the revelry on New Year's Eve, while many of us watch for the imminent arrival of a dreadful Visa bill.  Egad!  It's no wonder that birthdays go off with more whimper than bang at this time of year.  Fortunately, Capricorns are dutiful and we soldier on nonetheless.

As he and his parents continue to wrestle with that wicked puzzle (as presented in the W37 and W44 posts), the boy will celebrate his birthday this weekend and so before Christmas I made and sent off this card in my efficient Capricornian way.  Avid readers might recognize the clown as a certain Uncle who blogs and thinks painterly thoughts...

I, Clownius

Merry Christmas 2012-W51

Last week I bought the lushest, best looking little Poinsettia ever—and at Aldi no less!  It stars in today's painting, a quick sketch with no drawing.  That's always a little scary.  Not sure I did her justice but perhaps it may brighten your holiday a bit, just the same as do our beloved Christmas carols.  Speaking of which, one variant of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas goes "Through the years, we all will be together—if the fates allow..."

You may remember that verse as it occurs right before the hard part with the very high notes.  And through the years at the family Christmas Eve dinner with her children gathered around her, my mother choked back tears.  Momentarily overwhelmed, she gurgled out words that we knew to be "the fates have allowed", for which she was clearly grateful.

Some time has passed since last we all crowded around that table, and things are different now.  My father is no longer with us and my brothers have their own family traditions & obligations.  So, we're fewer in number at the table; Mom and I are on our own for Christmas Eve this year.  Still, we shall muddle through somehow and look forward to family joining up with us on Christmas Day.

Whether your holiday focus is on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, or neither, I wish that the fates allow you all to gather together and celebrate the season with the friends and family that are dear to you.  Have yourself a merry little Christmas, now.

Impression of Aldi Poinsettia

The Greatest Gift? 2012-W50

Amidst the hustle-bustle of everything else going on during the holiday season, I elect to undergo my various annual medical assessments around now.  Don't ask why...  maybe a wiser person would think about shifting them to June.  But with the yearly physical now behind me, I can say with relief and pride that I am in excellent health all around.  My natural, unmedicated blood pressure is 110/80 and my vitals signs are superb for a man my age.  Or younger.

In my youth I might have joked, "I wish I could attribute it to good living".  However, since I turned Oprah30 = human50 a few years back, you can be sure I redoubled my efforts: start eating more healthfully and continue to not smoke or drink, get regular exercise and practice good sleep hygiene.  It appears all that good living on top of advantageous genes have given me the gift of being well.  Of well-being.  I can't think of any gift that could outdo that.

None of us know how long we have on this earth, but barring some misfortunate wrong place/wrong time scenario I hope to be around for many more years.  Good thing, because I feel I have many paintings yet to make.  Please enjoy today's effort from our last Salon of 2012.  The Painterly Thoughts blog will post as usual next Saturday on Christmas Eve-Eve-Eve assuming the world has not ended on the day before.

Bluffs

Cruise Control 2012-W49

I feel fortunate that most of my holiday season tasks are accomplished and what few remain are well-organized and doable.  What lies behind this miracle?  A few years back my family decided we would stop exchanging gifts among the adults and limit it to the children.  Of which there are only two, so shopping is a breeze and I aim to get'er done in November.  All presents have been delivered and now my biggest challenges will be waking up for my flight.  And "the tree".

Never ever have I spent Christmas alone.  (Ironic, because I appear as an extra in Home Alone.)  For most of my years I've put up the family tree — since before I started shaving — and except for a few years in the 1970's, my mother insists on a real tree.  She particularly fancies a prickly sticky variety of fir, and as tedious as all that can sometimes be, I'd rather put the tree up than take it down.  One aspect I do enjoy is hanging some of many ornaments I made as a lad.  Some are painted, others rendered in whatever craft was current at the time.  "Decoupage" springs to mind although I forget now what exactly that was.  Regardless, it's always nice to see those "old friends" along with the dozens more ornaments I've bought through the years.

This year, mum only wants a small tree, and so on the one hand it will be fast and easy to put up.  But on the other hand, how will I choose which ornaments make the cut?  Still, a tiny tree seems apropos for the very few packages that will nestle beneath.  Which brings me to my thought for the day:  why stress about the shopping and the myriad other preparations?  The wisest among us know that Christmas comes without presents and without decorations and without a roast beast.  As a Grinch would tell you, it comes just the same without any of the trappings...  Christmas joy is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp.

I'll say more about that in a week or two, so meanwhile take a deep breath and enjoy this so-so landscape.  Give yourself the gift of relaxation, if only for a minute!  And for those who are curious about such things, Loch Eilt is in western Scotland... about 40 miles as the golden eagle flies from where my family sprung.  And as anyone who's driven in Scotland can appreciate, only 90 miles by automobile.  Peace!

Study of Loch Eilt Shoreline

 

The Joy of Painting 2012-W48

This week I stumbled on a retrospective documentary about PBS show The Joy of Painting and its inimitable presenter, Bob Ross.  Like many Americans, back in the day I watched that show often...  mesmerized by the visuals and by Bob's soothing voice.  (So soothing it may have induced a nap or three.)  Although I'd never painted at the time, thanks to Bob I felt no doubts that I could do if I chose to.  Even now, I believe that Bob's happy approach is the correct mind set.

Watercolors are more like cats than dogs.  They will obey you up to a point but ultimately, they alone decide how they will behave.  (Especially today's paints as shown in this swatch; an aggressive orange, a weak granulating violet and a cold green that tends to flake.  Egad!)   My theory is that being a good watercolor painter entails being good at guessing how the paints will misbehave and possibly cutting off their routes to those paths.  But I am getting away from the point I really wanted to make.

Which is this. 
Since I learned to paint, I have also learned to pay no heed to how the painting on paper differs from its conceptual vision in my mind's eye.  Because differ they shall.  Rather, I enjoy whatever result comes off my brush and I do my best to pass off any happy accidents as intentional genius.  No painting of mine may ever hang in a museum, but that doesn't diminish the joy I feel making them.

Before I watched the documentary, I hadn't realized but now am certain that this positive outlook has grown from seeds that Bob Ross planted.  I'd already planned this painting, but now in memorium to Bob Ross, today it was my pleasure to paint these "happy trees".  It would be neat if you enjoy them too.  Thanks, Bob!

Happy Sequoia in the Mist

Closure, at Last 2012-W47

For my pants, that is.  After a bountiful feast on Thanksgiving Day, I can finally zip my jeans without sucking in my abdomen.  Even so, I shouldn't like to sit around in them for very long.  Regardless, I will have to make do with these pants...  you see, this weekend I wouldn't venture out to shop unless the life of a family member literally depended on me doing that.  But for those of you who enjoy the Black Friday experience, I hope you had fun and scored many bargains.

Today also brings closure to a painting we first saw about a month back, one that had an ulterior motive.  Not very sinister though, I merely wanted to use up some paint from my palette to clear out the well.  I liked the painting okay when I finished it, but as time went on, I didn't like how the trees looked like lollipops.  So today I thought it would be fun to haul out the pastels and embellish the work into a better place.  I'm not sure I got there, but it was fun trying.

As I was working, I thought... "wouldn't life be grand if there were some way to go back and make bits of your past life a little better?"  Not sweeping overhauls, mind you, just little flourishes.  And on the face of it, maybe that would be terrific.  But with so many choices, where would one begin?  So in the end I decided maybe it's best to leave sleeping dogs to lay.  Or lie.  While you ponder all that, please re-appreciate version 2.0 of this now multimedia painting.  I shifted the original in My Gallery so the two versions appear side by side, in case you like playing the "spot the differences" game. Enjoy!

Maples Lakeside 2.0

p.s. After a Mac OS upgrade, I was able to correct the image more accurately.  Colorwise, this onscreen version appears nearly identical to the actual painting in indirect daylight.

p.p.s. Amusing aside:  while packing up the pastels, I noticed that I used two pastel sticks from the "Special Colors" set, two from the "Portrait" set, four from the "Starter Colors" set and ZERO from the "Landscape Colors" set.  I'll mull over what I think that means... 

Big Shoulders 2012-W46

Last Sunday, Veteran's Day, I phoned my mother.  As usual for a Sunday — but also because Mom is a veteran of the Korean War.  She achieved the rank of Seaman 1st Class and so half seriously / half teasingly, I thank her for her service to our country.  You see, my parents met while serving together in the Navy Hospital Corps, so as far as that service goes I have much to be grateful for personally.

In Britain, it is Remembrance Day and they mark it with the red poppy badges that we favor for Memorial Day.  Or used to do, anyway.  And as we might expect, some yob over there burnt a poppy and posted a picture on his facebook account.  For which he was arrested.

Subjects of Her Majesty do not enjoy the constitutional protection of Free Speech as do we.  In reading various observations about the disrespectful act as well as the ensuing violation of the actor's civil liberties, I came across this comment from Fiona of London.  I don't know her, only that she is a wise and eloquent woman.  Here is her remark in its entirety.

I abhor that someone should burn a poppy, but to be able to do so is exactly what these brave young men died fighting for. We should all treat it with the contempt it deserves, but I honestly believe that our brave fallen have bigger shoulders.

I can't add to that, except to say thank you to all who have bravely served our country.  Cue the painting...

De- & Re- jected

 

Billion Dollar Bust 2012-W45

We now settle into a quieter, more peaceful time for the next 18 months or so.  Until it's time to rev up the 2014 campaigns for Congress et cetera.  Meanwhile, like most people, I'm glad the constant information churning and flaming rhetoric are now behind us.

Whether or not you are satisfied with the outcome(s), you ought to feel this election was a victory of sorts for all Americans.  Why?  Because a handful of Billionaires tried to buy this election and they failed.  Yes, they made the race closer than it probably would have been otherwise.  Yes, SuperPAC money was spent on both sides—although in fact, it made up about 40% of the Republican's billion spent while only 12% of the Democrat's.

Plutocrats (awesome $20 word, right?) like Sheldon Adelson, Foster Freiss, and the Koch brothers poured out millions and yet were unable to buy the White House.  Time may show that in fact their efforts in the primaries did more harm than good.  How reassuring that a handful of wealthy men proved unable to impose their will on the rest of the country.  How lucky were we to avoid a return to politics as usual... in pre-Industrial England.  The keys still belong to We, the People.

As the electoral dust settles, it comforts me to think that my humble vote as a Thousandaire counts just as much as the vote of a Billionaire.  And regardless of how you voted, that ought to be comforting to you as well.  But if not, here's a soothing painting.  Peace!

Morocco Blue Door

My Cup Runneth Over 2012-W44

My cup runneth over — with art to share.  Consequently today we'll go double.  Owing to circumstances, and despite a special mid-week Halloween posting, I've accumulated a couple extras in the paintings vault.  One such is the puzzle I made for my nephew, which I discussed in detail on the 2012-W37 post.  Our lad has assembled the puzzle now, thus no harm showing it to you:

<secret title>

No official guesses at the solution have come in yet, although Frankestorm Sandy took out power at the nephew's house.  (Otherwise mom, dad, and the lad are fine.)  So, make your guess; I'll publish the answer once nephew solves it, and with a spoiler alert atop the post in case you are still ruminating.

As for the other vault picture, I guess it will stay put for a bit.  Since the last two Saturday blog posts were lengthy, I'll make this one brief(er)...  shout hurray, and meanwhile here's my painting from Salon today.   
(Grus japonensis for you bird watchers.)  Enjoy the art, and good luck solving the puzzle!

Red-crowned Crane

Halloween Special Edition

Bat Boy on the Loose!

BOO! 

Sorry to scare you like that.  A couple weeks back, in Salon deWinchester we all painted the theme "something scary".  I think the original discussion was "the thing that scares you the most".

But I said to myself, no way am I deliberately going to give myself the willies all morning painting a spider.  And I've already painted David Koch and Dick Cheney  (refer to My Gallery, in the Faces of Evil series).  Talk about a gruesome twosome.

Then, I remembered an iconic image...  scary while concurrently amusing.  Many times did I see this image looking back at me while I stood in the checkout line at the supermarket.

You have to give credit to the now defunct Weekly World News...  it takes some effort to make the National Enquirer look cerebral.

Anyhoo, without further ado may I present — perhaps for the very first time in living-dead color — our beloved impish friend Bat Boy.  Happy Halloween!

Palette versus Palette 2012-W43

I begin by observing that today's title got me to reminiscing about the awesome "Spy vs Spy" cartoons.  So take a moment for your mind to drift away on that topic if you like, and then come on back...  What palettes I aim to contrast today are the tangible paint-holder object with the abstract limited array of pigments from which one constructs a painting.

Last week I wrote about the absorbing task of rearranging and revising my palette of four dozen pigments.  Or paints, if you prefer.  Very occasionally I will dip my brush all over the [tangible] palette while making one painting.  The Autumn Bucolic (below or in My Gallery) is an example:  I used many analogous paints along the gold-orange-red-maroon section.  But more typically, I restrict my [abstract] palette to three, maybe five pigments for a painting.   

Rollin' the Hay only uses gold, blue, and purple.  You can see the blue and gold, but most people could guess green (wrong) and probably never think of purple.  So why restrict the [abstract] palette?  Harmony.  When hues arise from a limited selection of pigments, they will harmonize— lively browns made out of gold + purple, and greens from blue + those golds & browns.  By proceeding thusly, the viewing eye is not jarred by off-tones from additional pigments.  Harmony reigns and tranquility ensues.  There is a lesson here.

In life, we feel pressured to accomplish much.  We deal with the urgent and we strive to address what is important.  The rest gets whatever attention is left.  Some people like to brag that they are great multitaskers.  Wrong!  Science has discovered there is no such thing.  Much better results come when you focus your brain on one thing, do it well, and move on to the next.  This philosophy parallels the palettes.

Li'l Plumeria

First, from all the things you could do in your lifetime (i.e. every paint made), select
a number that you should or could reasonably do in the next few days.  This is your [tangible] palette of short-term tasks from which you will pick a few for today.

Start and finish one.  Move on.  Or perhaps start one (e.g. laundry) that features long interludes between action and fill those gaps meaningfully.  Technically multitasking, but punctuated by predictable interruptions.

"Plan your Work, and Work your Plan!" as one of my bosses used to say.  Pretty corny but...  when you thereby limit the [abstract] palette of your day, you enjoy harmony along the way and tranquility when you later reflect on all you accomplished.

And please enjoy this week's miniature painting from a tiny birthday card.

The Godly Palette 2012-W42

My studio palette has been without yellow for some time now, forcing a handful of auxillary palettes into rotation.  Frankly, blue, green, and magenta were about empty too.  So why did I let them run down?  I was reluctant to refill wells because I had known this day was coming.  No choice but to grit my teeth and slog through a Big Palette Makeover.

A couple slots are doubled up, so roughly three dozen paints in this dirty palette's 34 wells.  The physical work of cleaning out wells is a little messy but fairly mindless.  Even as I type this, I have paint-dirt under a couple of fingernails from the red family while others sport a green or blue.  Hard to tell in this light.  I'm past the midpoint on cleaning and refilling, which must mean I'm halfway next to Godliness.  But there is an hour or more of cleaning yet to be done.  While you savor today's painting, you can be partly entertained by knowing I designed it to empty out a couple paint wells.

Cleaning is easy breezy next to the grueling slog of revising the paint selections.  It is like American Paint Idol but without an English smart-ass to entertain you.  Who will win?  With a half-dozen major manufacturers and a couple hundred pigments, there are easily 1,000 choices that could be evaluated.  So I did my research —and made some selections —and gave myself things to investigate further —and mulled and tinkered around with how to lay the paints out on the palette under the new regime.  Enough already!

Right now it seems like I will cull about 1/3 of my palette, shift around another 1/3, and double up on a few more wells (plus keep a couple paints handy in tubes or pans), making for a net gain of a dozen pigments in my studio palette.  Perhaps now the "triads" and "auxillary" and "tester" and "plein air" palettes can spend more time in the cabinet where they belong.

Upon reflection, it occurs to me that the last time I undertook a palette makeover was during the 2008 election frenzy.  I'm not sure which is more hateful...  enduring the non-stop political yak or performing the tedious duties of researching pigments and cleaning that dirty palette.  But I'm glad both only happen once every four years.  My name is David and I approve that thought.

Maples Lakeside

Mister Toad's Wild Ride 2012-W41

When I was a young boy, we lived tantalizing close to Disneyland — where, once the Tea Cup ride became boring one could move up to the slightly more thrilling Wild Ride of Mister Toad.  (Nowhere near as exciting as riding passenger during my late night speeds through lower Wacker Drive.  But I digress.)

Taking a similarly tame sort of "wild ride", I and my fellow member-artists in the Salon deWinchester have kept together for two years running as of today, and with excellent prospects for more "salonniversaries" as we like to call them.  And I think such togetherness of purpose over time is a pretty solid achievement.  Compare Salon to a book club:  less book-related conversation, somewhat less food, no liquor, but many more meetings to arrange and attend.  There's the hard part when you get right down to it.  Congratulations pending but first...

In the same vein of commitment, our Salon deWinchester blog posted its 100th installment today, with a posting every week since Saturday, January 1, 2011.  Now, going forward, the Salon blog will appear when Salon meets whereas the Painterly Thoughts blog takes over as the weekly blog.  I hope you will continue to patronize both blogs and perhaps check out some of the other links featured in the Awesome Links list.

Below is my Salon painting from today.  And with that said, on with the congratulations! to Eileen, Marge, Jacquelinia, Molly, Glen, Steve, our Guest Artists (and me), for two years of art and fun and fellowship at the Salon deWinchester.  Here's to many more!

The Autumn Bucolic

Fear of Art, episode one 2012-W40

More precisely, fear of making art.  Many if not most artists at times struggle with the question "what next"?  Or possibly, "which next"?  Famine or feast; too many ideas or none at all.  I like to do series of paintings, whether thematic or in a particular genre, so my problem is normally "which" not "what".

Lately, which portrait?  But however, I feel I'm at a point where I should stop doing portraits for a while.  Maybe change genres to work on some landscapes.  Is that feeling down to the influence of Autumn's spectacular array of fleeting color?  Or merely a diversion?  Another way to avoid the vague and scary prospect of wading into non-representational art.  Could be a little of both.

While I sort through that, I have a few pent up landscapes in my "which" pile, including a pastel over watercolor effort I started in March of 2011.  Egad.  I'll target that one for the first "independent" Painterly Thoughts blog on October 27th — by which time the Salon deWinchester blog postings will have become occasional.

Meanwhile, here is the landscape I made in Salon today while having fun with friends.  Enjoy!

Rollin' the Hay

Yard Sale 2012-W39

Today, sadly, I'm doing a lot less painting and a lot more panting than usual as I run back and forth between the basement and my yard sale table out on the parkway.  Time will tell how many of my surplus possessions can be foisted on the public and converted to cash.  But I know this.  Unlike last year, not one bit of that inventory is moving back into the basement for another year.  OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!~  so to speak.

Moving on, the "painting" below is a pen and ink drawing with (water)color pencil, from this year's summer solstice sketch party.  Pleasant although not distinguished; but there is a back-story.  While getting my party kit ready, I pulled a seldom-seen fountain pen from the place where I keep that sort of thing and filled it with some fancy black ink from France.  Ooh la la.  The prior ink was red and I figured "black trumps red" so I couldn't be bothered to clean the pen first.

My Plan A called for some watercolor washes over ink drawings.  Fortunately I had the foresight to do a little test...  on the scrap paper I'd used to start the newly filled pen flowing, I washed over the ink scribbles with plain water.  At least, it started out plain — it turns out your mother and Ben Franklin were right:  Haste makes Waste.   The still-present and soluble red ink swam out of the mix and bathed the steadfast black scribbles in a cherry pink glow.  Thus for the party I had to scuttle Plan A washes and activate Plan B.  Some weeks later, I exhausted the hybrid ink and, lesson learned, I duly cleaned the pen prior to the refill.

So, speaking of black ink, I wouldn't mind being it it at the end of the sale today!  Please excuse the implied pun and enjoy the drawing nonetheless.

p.s.  In order to procrastinate getting things ready for the yard sale, I revamped My Gallery.  Check it out!

Where'd that Cradle Go?!

 

Equinox 2012-W38

Vignette of Astilbe

Back in June, an art friend held a plein air sketching party in honor of the summer solstice.  Tomorrow, the tradition continues as another hosts an equinox sketching party.
Then I think the tradition may pause over the winter solstice, considering the weather and the holiday bustle are each a powerful counter-force in their own right let alone as a tandem.

The summer event saw a productive burst from me—six sketches of which three are pretty tolerable.  One appeared in the Salon deWinchester blog (and now in My Gallery), and the other two will round out the September editions of Painterly Thoughts.  Fingers crossed, something presentable will flow off my brush or pen at the equinox event, for sharing in October.

Looking at today's sketch of a vividly colored Astilbe gave rise to a few thoughts.  A couple or three, as we might say here in the Midwest.  First, I did the sketch with watercolor crayons that I bought in England in 2002 and have barely used since.  (And I did nothing "wet" with them.)  But it was a good reminder of the benefits gained when we venture beyond our comfort zone and do something not so habitual.  Better late than never, right?

Second, it reminded me that I tried planting Astilbe in my own yard.  Under similar conditions and with proper care.  Yet, mine failed to establish and are long gone.  I have plenty of skills with plants in general so it gave me pause to reflect on another life lesson... we can't be all things to all people.  Or to all plants.  Maybe I will give them another try though.  I've learned, too, that you have to be willing to fail in order to succeed.

Third and finally, seeing the Astilbes during their annual reappearance reminded me of the simple joy of seeing old friends after a long spell.  Just like with some of my art friends at that party.  I don't think I can add more to that thought, so please re-enjoy the "painting"!

2012-W37: the year 2012, week 37.

Hi all, and a special hello to click-over guests from the Salon deWinchester blog.  Which is probably everyone.  In case you ever wondered about the strange element in the Salon blog titles, my title here today should reveal all.  And speaking of reveals, in a moment I will reveal more about today's painting.  Plus, if you read the posting below from Sunday, September 9th, the founding principles of the Painterly Thoughts blog will also be revealed.  So see, the Bible isn't the only source for Revelation(s) today.  Meanwhile, on with today's thoughts.

I have two brilliant nephews, both in grade school and both living a solid 1,000 miles away.  This year, one of my New Year resolutions was to stimulate more frequent interaction with both and so I schemed.  For the younger nephew, I came up with a pretty good game.  Like any good game, there is ultimately a prize to be won.

But to win the prize, he must solve a riddle.  And to solve the riddle, he must assemble a puzzle.  But the puzzle is a wicked rebus.  I've shown it to six adults and only one got the tricky part.  Happily, the boy has smart parents (with smarter friends) and, just in case, I have a clue or two ready.  I feel optimistic they will ultimately triumph.  Don't feel excluded...  you'll get a crack at solving the puzzle and seeing the answer in future posts.

To gain pieces of the puzzle, my nephew has to mail back fill-in-the-blank postcards I send him.  Hence, I needed cards to enclose and mail postcards & puzzle pieces, which I painted as needed.  In My Gallery (Awesome Link, look left), these cards include the Berber and the skull ring.  And now today's painting of a Draco flying lizard—one of his current interests.  Well, as you know, little boys are made of frogs and snails and puppy dog tails.

Nowadays, allegedly, he sends postcards he writes himself.  Very sporadically.  Thus I accept the scarce phone call in lieu.  And even though my puzzle and other resolution schemes haven't garnered much success, I still think myself fortunate to have two nephews who remind me of the small moments in a mostly idyllic childhood I shared with my two brothers.

And with that thought, please pause to bookmark this blog page and then proceed to enjoy the painting.

Draco in Flight

What's all this, then?

My friendly art group, the Salon deWinchester, is reorganizing and may meet less regularly.  So thus presented itself a natural transition point to split off my weekly posts into this new blog.  Meanwhile the Salon blog lives on, to showcase works when the gang assembles.  Alright then.  Let's have us a painting and some thoughts...

I confess to not being a cat fancier.  We grew up having dogs, and I'm allergic to cats, neither of which helped the feline case.  I do freely admit that kittens are probably the cutest animal baby on the planet, even more adorable than puppies.  It's too bad they must turn into cats.

Anyhoo, in the winter of 2011 I did a series of paintings that presented cats in hats and wigs.  Specifically, cats that looked embarrassed or quietly enraged by the indignity of said hat or wig.  If you follow that awesome
My Gallery link on the left of your screen, you can view this delightful series.  And more.

As the cat series wound up, I pondered a companion series featuring the noble dog... with a pipe.  And after 18 months on the back burner, yesterday I whipped up the painting below — which I think may end up a series of one.  I feel it could use some finishing work but I am calling it done nevertheless.  I will say this about the dog, s/he does appear as though s/he could be thinking painterly thoughts...

And on that note, please become a Follower & thanks for visiting.  Y'all come back now!

Poochy Puffs Pipe Pastureside