I’ve been trying oil pastels again.
I’m really starting to like them. I think the messiness of the finger blending kind of puts me off, mostly because I’ve been using them while watching tv in bed. But I like that they are basically crayons, because that is where we all started right?
These dolls have been sitting around for over a year waiting for me to work on them again:
The one in the pointy hat is nearly done or maybe she is done? I was going to give her some fork arms, but I could never find the right forks. The pink one has a face started… Maybe this will be the week for them!
Yesterday on our walk at the new Glasgow Regional Park, we saw 12 groundhogs. That averages out to 4 groundhogs per mile. That seems like a lot! One of them was a youngster who had flattened himself out next to the path, hoping we wouldn’t notice him. Groundhogs can’t get very flat.
This morning I was cleaning the pool and a pretty fox came into our yard about 10 feet away from me. We have a small opening cut into one of the pickets of our fence that used to be for our cat (RIP Max), but now it is just for bunnies. The fox pulled himself in, took one look at me and turned around and squeezed back out. Strange that he would be out and about in the hot sun. He was really clean and bright red so I doubt he was sick.
Love the graphics on the cover of this 1957 book!
My favorite epitaph from the book:
Her lies the body
Of Mary Gwynne
Who was so very
Pure within
She cracked the shell
Of her earthly skin
And hatched herself
A cherubim
Don’t know what I would want on my gravestone. But definitely not:
Here lies Trina. She kept a clean house.
I’m still practicing and believing that someday I will be rich enough for me to have hired help do it for me.
Last weekend I saw this awesome outsider art large bust at the flea market and thought to myself “cool!”, immediately followed by “don’t even think about it, you couldn’t carry it to your car”. So I walked by. On the way out, I walked by it again and stopped to admire it. The guy selling it was this “artsy-type” person who I’d purchased stuff from before (he is kind of scary looking but very nice). Turns out the bust is made of a styrofoam kind of material so I got to buy it. Yeah! I looked almost as weird carrying this out to the parking lot as I did when I carried the voluptous wicker mannequin.
It is ginormous. Like about 30 inches tall by about 30 inches wide. I love it! But, I am going to have to get a bigger house if I continue to collect big art pieces like this.
Another view:
I’m still here! This summer I’ve been swimming in the pool, sewing on a quilt, sketching, and doing some yardsale and fleamarket shopping. I went to an early morning yard sale and got some very nice stuff. 3 big paintings for $1 a piece, a nightstand for $2, a pile of vintage postcards for $1, a book on collecting Indian clubs for $1, and a bunch of fabulous stuff for cheap. On a whim the next day I went by the house and there was no yardsale, but there was a big pile of free stuff. I got vintage white wood shelves for my shed, a big vintage wooden coat stand, a pile of books, and some odds and ends.
This painting I’ve titled “Boats by Some Lady”. The seller said the painting was by Some Lady (who am I to question…). It is 26″x28″.
Next up is “Blue Willow by Some Lady”. It is 24″x26″.
I like how the scissors are lurking menacingly.And finally, my favorite of the $1 paintings, “Flying Fruit by Some Lady”. It is 24″x26″.
I like how one of the apples seems to be flying. I really am not making fun of these paintings, they are far better and more detailed than I could ever do. They are obviously unfinished, as you can see in the boats painting… the foreground is kind of started and stopped. I kind of like unfinished paintings, you can see the process that goes into creating and can see more of the artist in them.
