Don't Call This Caterer 2015-W09

Fox News employs no shortage of people who can be divided into two base groups: idiots and crazys, although many are able to switch hit should a rebalancing become necessary after one factors in the "guests".

Wasting no time this year, the crazy idiots at Fox n Friends decide to kickstart 2015 by admonishing the women of America they should better cater to their menfolk. Listen up, ladies: more foot rubs. This gem and others apparently originate from a new book of dating advice for women. Surprise, written by men. We do know what we like...

The bizarre segment featured today's subject, Ainsley Earhardt. She testified her resolve to do more for her man. If I were him I'd be in a little panic as to what she might be cooking up behind those overpainted eyes and gigantic gnashers. Good luck, pally!

Fox Crazy Blonde NOS

Bark Bark Bark 2015-W06

Wellity well well well...  seems to me like I last blogged a few weeks ago. But according to mathematics, turns out to be nearer to 8 weeks.

And boy have I been hearing about it. Beginning last weekend I got emails, texts, and to-my-face "ahems" as to what's up with not blogging. How nice is that, to be missed out of someone's day/week/month?

Also fascinating: these where's your blog barkings sounded in roughly the same amount of time elapsed since my last posting. Could be an important social or behavioral sciences research project there. I leave it to those scientists to decide.

Back in mid-December I made a truly horrible first effort using gouache, so maybe the shame of that combined with the holiday rush and post holiday recovery conspired to delay all posting. Maybe not. Maybe I just needed a short break. We'll never know, but I'm finally digging out. Much like last weekend with all the snow.

2014 saw me paint several variations of a Bad Kitty. As I much prefer dogs over cats, I felt the pooches were short changed, so let's fix that. You have seen today's subject, Olive Puccio, previously on August 8th. That's when I announced the blog posting time was moving to Saturdays circa 5pm. The observant among you will notice that this post is going up on Sunday morning. That's because I had a much needed, awesome 3 hour nap on Saturday. Thanks noisy girls upstairs. But back to Olive, I think she will feature in some more studies while I stretch my painting legs and get back into my art groove.

Along with Olive variations I have a couple pent up portraits I feel ready to tackle. A book about how to approach Abstract painting lies atop my bedtime reading stack so we'll see if that long awaited foray into non-representational painting gets any traction in 2015. Meanwhile, here is the adorable Olive. Enjoy, and I'm glad to be back!

Olive II

Lazy Boy 2014-W49

It's true that lately I've been thinking about replacing a piece of furniture in my living room with a La-Z-Boy type recliner, but I think my title was more a commentary on how I've become lax with posting my blog. Chiefly because I haven't been painting as I should. Partly busy, partly lazy. So as 2014 dwindles down, I will plan to redouble my efforts in the New Year.

In this and prior year's resolutions, I recall also having mentioned exploring abstract painting and although I don't think today's painting exactly qualifies, it is at least a nod in that direction. And it most definitely was an abstraction since there was no underdrawing... I just painted as I went. So it won't win any prizes for composition but the color is nice and in any case it's much better than a big sheet of nothing.

Hope your holiday season is off on the good foot, that you're on top of your errands and scored some good bargains. Please take a moment tomorrow to remember Pearl Harbor day and the many Americans who gave their lives in serve to our country. Peace.

Abstraction of Clivia

Second Time Around 2014-W46

I'm not sure exactly why, but I seldom will do anything to a painting after the first session. Perhaps I'm lazy. Artists who paint in Acrylic or Oil can and often do rework portions of their paintings, whether fiddling with details or wholesale paint-out and do-over. We who suffer with watercolor accept that watercolor is difficult to alter once you lay it down.

Nevertheless, I wasn't so satisfied with my painting from two weeks back and so today I tried to address some shortcomings without leaving it overwrought. You can join me as I wonder whether I succeeded. Either way, I have had enough and no doubt that this is its final form!

Essential Autumn

Natural Horror 2014-W44

Normally I would have painted my annual Paintbox of Horror entry for today, but wasn't able to prepare sufficiently.  I hope to have it ready for you next week though.

Meanwhile, we had a different sort of horror in the form of the weather that Mother Nature sent our way yesterday.  One of the coldest most blustery autumn days I've ever seen, and although I got home without too much bother, my heart was breaking for the children who watched their Halloween blow away in the wind.

Essence of Autumn

I had no trick-or-treaters and only saw a couple plucky youngsters with even pluckier parents make the effort.  Next year I think I must hand out full size candy bars to help atone.  But in happier news...

Our chummy Salon deWinchester painted today for the first time since June — although we have met socially so we didn't have to spend the entire time yakking.  Artwise I revisited a subject I painted a five or six years ago.

I was walking up Damen Avenue in October and noticed a tree that seemed to have all the summer and fall colors on a single branch.  The original painting is to the right and today I reinterpreted it as below.  I'll check tomorrow to see if that poor tree has any leaves left after yesterday!

Essential Autumn

Who's that {woman}? 2014-W42

So I took last week off and it was fun and the world kept turning so no harm no foul.  Before I continue with the blog proper, we see from the title that this ends week 42 and the year has 52 weeks which means...  that's correct, there are only 10 weeks left in 2014. Let's all be anxious together about that fun fact!

Moving on to today's subject, she is the World's Oldest C---.  She's not the world's biggest c--- or the most stupid c---.  But she has been at it since I was a lad.  Not exactly on center stage any more, but I recently heard the latest bit of nonsense from this C---.  Who by the way is Phyllis Schlafly.  My contemporaries remember her as a leading campaigner against the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970's.  I hadn't thought about her much until she was blowing some new malarkey out of her pie hole.

In her latest crackpot theory, this old C--- claims that President Obama is deliberately letting the Ebola virus sweep into America to make it more like Africa.  I don't even know what that means.  I would first tell that C--- that her boys Georgie and Dick didn't exactly keep their hands on the wheel during a certain September, and oh by the way the body count so far is Ebola: 1, 9-11 Terrorists: 2,977.  In fairness to the withered C---, I would agree that attack did not make America more like the Middle East.

I think I may paint portraits of another c--- or two.  Fox News has a whole barnfull to choose from and I fear that one or two may soon join the US Congress.  Such is life.  Can't get through it without running into the occasional c---.  By the way, C--- is short for crazy bitch.  You knew that, right?

Crazy Bitch: Phyllis Schlafly

Leaf Litter 2014-W40

I finally took myself up on my offer to every now and then skip a week of blogging, so the continuous run of posts going back to January 2011 finally broke last Saturday. (Maybe the streak didn't go quite that far back.  I may decide to check that, or not.) Which brings us to this Saturday.

Whereas a taste of autumn might be nice, and I think we've already had a few licks on that lollipop, this morning brought us a sucker punch of winter. It is cold.  Not chilly, but rather 40 freezing degrees. If you just said "brrrr", that is correct. I planned to hit the Ravenswood Art Walk, but with the cold and drizzle I couldn't find it in me to go out and support my fellow artists. Instead, I bundled myself up, stayed indoors, and worked on some textile arts.

When suddenly it was 4:30, and I realized I hadn't eaten and nor had I made anything for the blog. But happily, I found inspiration on both counts and after some nourishment I got painting. I used a piece I made in 2008(?) to model today's abstraction on that theme. See if you can spot the seminal work in My Gallery. It's probably not the first one you see though. Keep going.

This week I also got a new phone, and nowadays that also means I got a new camera. I haven't cropped the photo to upload yet, so I don't know how I feel about the camera.  But I feel happy enough with the artwork.  It just goes to show that any idiot with a couple of brushes and 30 minutes can make something artful. In closing, I have to say that I enjoy looking at fallen leaves as a painting much more than on my lawn while I'm holding a rake handle.  Plenty of that to come, I fear.  But then again, it beats what comes next. Happy October!

Leaf Litter