. . . painted rather graphically

This is one of the newest pieces I've painted. The art rep was enthusiastic about the striped pieces he took on Saturday and asked if I could paint more. I like to paint them. There is organization to them that appeals to my Virgo nature. Yet I have also learned that the lines don't need to be perfect; it's better if some of the paint bleeds over onto other colors. After all, I'm not making a sign or painting a crosswalk on the street. I have also allowed myself some experimentation in the nonstriped areas. For instance, I have tried layering my venetian plaster mixture in different colors on top of each other. Something that is not visible in the picture above is that there are objects and marks scratched into the paint. These also give me a chance to experiment with color combinations. . . not so much the painting shown here, but combinations I see in my mind that I am anxious to try out. I think black will be the one unifying color in most of these paintings. These pieces are directly inspired by the encaustic pieces done by Graceann Warn (http://www.graceannwarn.com) and I have tried very hard to be inspired by her paintings, not imitative, but let's face it, stripes are stripes.



Little Joey was not feeling very good the night before last so he came to spend the day with me. He was a bit bleary-eyed in the early morning, but we went outside to play and he learned to drive Betsy's Barbie Jeep, although he hasn't learned to steer it yet, so I ran behind him holding on to the back of it. It's a good thing he couldn't sustain long periods of pressure on the foot pedal, because I could not withstand long periods of running, even at that slow pace. Then we went into the backyard and threw hedgeballs into the DMZ between our yard and the golf course and looked for bugs. After that we went to PetSmart to look at dogs, cats, birds, and fish. We came home with two Betas and the set up, including food and shelter. Unfortunately either we chose an ailing Beta or the trip home was just too much trauma; one of them very clearly was on its last gills. After a lunch, a long nap in a "big boy" bed, and more Barbie Jeep, I took Joe and the fish back to their house, ran back to PetSmart and got Betsy a new Beta to replace the terminally ill one. And I got myself a couple of them, too. I found that I really enjoyed watching them. So now I have studio pets.


Tonight is the VP debate, eagerly anticipated on all sides for the potential for monumental screw-ups. I do not like to listen to Sarah Palin talk. . . she bugs me, because she drops all the "g" endings to her gerunds and she says "ya" instead of "you" as in "I'll be gettin' back to ya on that." Very folksy, and I must say that many people in Kansas speak that way, too, at least when they're sitting on their back porches visiting with neighbors. Not acceptable when you're trying to convince the world that you know what you're talking about. Actually I feel a bit sorry for Ms. Palin. The only way you can talk with any degree of expertise on many of the subjects she will be asked about is to know the topic completely, every side, see every possibility and every pitfall. And the only way to gain that expertise is to live with it day after day until it becomes part of you. And she's only had a month or so to cram all this esoteric information into her head. And despite the fact that she may be smart, there's no way she has any expertise. I can identify with her and I can empathize with her. That doesn't mean I agree with her, because I don't, not on any political issue.