E-I-E-I-O...this painting was done for my dear cousin, in anticipation of her first baby. She andher husband live on a large farm in Vermont and just adore their animals, so of course...
The pumpkins have been carved, the chile-spiced pumpkin seeds are baking in the oven and the bat and Spiderman costumes are ready and waiting...oh and don't forget the 10 pounds of Halloween candy sitting in the kitchen! I painted the little skelly above for a fund-raiser at my daughter's school...his heart is a little button sewn on. Or is it a she? I glued an orange-with-white-polka-dots ribbon around the edges and it was pretty adorable. Happy Halloween!
We had a great Fourth of July weekend. Lots of socializing with family and friends, and waaayyy too much food! The whole family got to ride in a parade on the back of this very cool antique fire truck, owned by my brother-in-law. He put in a lot of work to make it parade-worthy. It was a "wet parade," and all of the onlookers had squirt guns to shoot at us as we drove by. We had a hose and buckets full of water balloons to launch at them! The girls especially enjoyed that. Luckily the weather was clear and sunny. We've had about four thunderstorms since then.
We also met the new brood of chicks living in my dad's barn. They are only four days old and pretty adorable! He has kept chickens in the past, for their eggs. He hasn't had any in over a year, but when my oldest was disappointed that she could not collect eggs any longer, he decided to order some chicks. She doesn't have her grandfather wrapped around her little finger, does she?
Yes, he had his problems. The sudden media flurry regarding MJ's death has brought back so many memories for me! Most strongly, the "contest" I had going with my 6th-grade friend and neighbor across the street, Denise. We wanted to find out who could plaster the most pictures of MJ on our bedroom walls. Anything was game, from a poster to a 2 inch magazine cutout. My parents were pretty amused by my obsession. I had a very impressive collection going and for the first time in my life, began buying "Tiger Beat" magazine and others like it. Once the MJ photos were hunted down and painstakingly cut out, the rest of the mag went right into the trash. I had no use for anyone else. He was so cute at that time, wasn't he? Before the much-longer hair and surgeries of the "Bad" album era. Anytime I hear "Rock With You" it brings me right back to the rollerskating rink. Those were the days!
This is a brilliant piece of art. I've developed a fondness for jellyfish lately, for their interesting organic shape and graceful underwater movements. I've only drawn/painted one teensy specimen so far, for the huge map made for Bridget (seen in older posts) -- see it floating there on the left side? These teeny-tiny drawings are clickable if you want a better look.
