[i] LoveLife

Conversations with Judee.

I miss my friend Judee. She passed away last Christmas. I spent most of the day painting birds and having imaginary conversations with her... I'm not really a bird person. I intended to paint something bright and modern today. And again - I was busy sticking newspaper on otherwise unusable canvasses and painting a barn owl. And another crow. And a hawk owl. Judee was on my mind. If she were here she would have asked me what in my life was encouraging me to paint birds and what did that mean in the bigger picture. We would have decided that it was definitely the wings metaphor and the idea that maybe I'm off the shaky ground of just-gave-birth and I'm ready to get back into the air. She would have told me another story about her lifetime that would add nine more layers to the huge collection of interesting things she had done and accomplished. We would have laughed about it. I would have totally not appreciated how much I loved and a depended on her. We would have also drank lots and lots of decaf coffee - which I never liked - but hated to trouble her for anything else.

She's not here -  but I think she was visiting me this afternoon and I think she might be part of the reason I was moving along on my pretty barn owl. She was a wise old bird (and she'd think that was funny). Thank you Judee....

Rest a while.

Honestly, I haven't gotten a great photo of Pilot in a while. Oh, I get lots of photos - but, they never look quite right. She's always mid-sentence (she totally speaks full sentences these days) or mid-shriek or mid-blink. There is always a motion blur. She's always rocking around like a lunatic so it makes catching the sweet-girl part of her personality tricky. This shot is from the weekend. Just AFTER she had a mid morning bath because she fell in the stinky, muddy creek when we were walking the dogs. I'm not gonna lie - it was FUNNY. Dan said DON'T RUN BY THE CREEK and she promptly did a sharp 120˚ turn and ran INTO the creek. She had to ride home in the stroller NAKED. And muddy. With me giggling the entire way. She is seriously testing boundaries these days.

She also developing a serious bond with this little dog. So cool. (I have a Penn report this week, too - I'm just waiting for her to GET CRAWLING!)

Thanks for the comments about yesterday's painting called Joy. I forgot to link it to the gallery section so you can read a little more about the head space is came from. If there's enough interest I will release a gallery print edition. Just say the word. ;)

Today: PAINTING DAY. I'm not entire sure that I've shook the dark and twisty feeling. I guess I'll see what turns out after a couple of hours in the dungeon and a couple of coffees in the belly. Check back for an update.

GO!

Counting crows.

I painted all day yesterday and it was one of those days where I set out to paint something and ended up gravitating to something else. EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE (not always) I recognize when that's happening and I let my paintbrush lead instead of my brain. It usually turns out making me really happy. I spent the morning drawn to crows. OF ALL THINGS. And ripping up books. A bit darker than my average day - but, maybe it's because Halloween is on the horizon.

It's a little bit darker than my usual style, but there's something I like about it. Maybe the ambiguity of the second crow... is it coming? Is it leaving? One crow means sorrow and two crows mean joy... Dan kept staring at it (which he usually does not do) so I feel like there's something working here. Either way - it was a productive day and that's all I'm gearing for while I get back into my painting groove. It was chilly, dark and definitely fall which jump-started my i-love-you-fall heart as I get ready to say goodbye to September and hello to the season that suits me best.

Today: We are getting groceries, digging out our mittens and working on a de-cluttering around here. AND CRAWLING. Penn is stuck on backwards. It's the perfect temperature for coffee in the park and off-leash dogs and bundled up babies. And scarves. It feels like a slow-cooker day. And JEANS! Yum.

GO!

September Bulletin Board.

I ALMOST forgot about the Bulletin Board this month. I can hardly believe that September is nearing the end. Wow. I am equally surprised by how little shopping there is on this month's bulletin board. EXCEPT FOR THE VERY COOL NEW CAMERA BAGS THAT MAILE IS ABOUT TO RELEASE. Yeah. I have a camera bag THAT I DO NOT USE because it makes me feel like I should be some kind of old, touristy-type man. (Dan says the word I am looking for is bush-league.) Yes, I know I should be protecting my camera - but, I just need something cooler. VOILA MAILE! Check out her announcement post today. Sweet.

Our weekend was awesome and hilarious. Pilot fell in a creek. I went to a Keith Urban concert with the Martini Mommas. It was just a barrel of giggles all weekend long. I laughed a lot and that's the way it should be so I think that's why I'm feeling SO MUCH BETTER THIS MORNING. Thanks for the get-well-soon wishes.

Today: I'm painting! I'm also doing errands and trying to get a really big piece of art conceptualized and complete by Thursday morning. I feel like before I jump into a run of paintings for the show - I need one really whacky fill-up-my-soul piece. I'm on it today. WITH COFFEE IN HAND. Today is shaping up to be a perfect Monday....

GO!

The office.

It's funny no matter how you spin it. We were visiting Dan at his office on Thursday and Penn was happy to sit a push paper. Pilot was a bit of a whirlwind and I'm sure the people who work at Craig & Ross were pretty happy when we left the Richardson building. ;)

Piles ahoy!

LOOK AT THAT PILE!  This is the first of 17 piles of Garage Sale items that are heading out on their journeys. We are plugging away at getting everything into the right envelopes and heading out the door. And by WE - I actually mean Dan. And every so often he looks up from his packing and shipping and says 'WHAT MADE YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD SYSTEM?'.

Painting.

Hi. Short post. I'm sick. I think I might be sicker than I have been in about three years. We had a slow day yesterday so I thought I'd jazz it up with a colourful photo of Pilot doing her favourite thing. That's all I got. Penn's sick, too or just crying all night long for the hell of it.

I had Maile's link wrong yesterday. GO HERE.
I posted this.
I posted this.
I posted this.

Today: The nanny is here and I actually have the option to crawl off into a corner. Which I might do. Check back.

Meadows of colour. Achooo!

Oh man. I am sick. Cold or flu. BOOO. I think it's just a matter of being run down. I finally clued in to why the girls were being loonies. They are sick, too. Ahhhhh. Bummer because we are so close to getting into a routine and bummer-bummer because sick sucks. Oh, well. I got a painting or two finished up yesterday but I wasn't totally feeling it so I turned my attention to catching up on the design work that I was falling behind on. Good enough, man - good enough.

I was also farting around with some new brush stroke techniques. Just to change it up. I did a couple of dry brushed pieces and they are nice. I will post them soon... this is a nice one.

Today: We are off. Groceries, dropping off paintings, playing at the park. I think we all need a low key day and I think that we are also going to buy a bag of oranges and rub them all over our body to ward off any other germs or sicknesses coming our way BECAUSE MAILE IS COMING NEXT WEEK FROM TEXAS. Man, I want to contact everyone in the entire city and say MOW YOUR LAWNS - try to pick it up a notch WE ARE GETTING A VISITOR. Woot! I'm gonna try to post three new pieces of art this afternoon. And nap.

GO!

Bark. Bark.

Norman is just SO DARN photogenic. I think it must be a French Buldog thing. It makes me want to be a bulldog. Chubby is in! I took this photo from a few posts back and (then in Photoshop) quickly adjusted it using 'THRESHOLDs' and voila! Five seconds to a perfect and very, very silk screen-able image. I had this little dream that as soon as I had some free time - I would create cool shirts and stuff like the one in the photo (that I digitally put together). CUTE.

Global good.

It's an every-day, every-decision, always-on-my-mind kind of thing to balance out who is 'winning'. And by winning - I mean who is benefiting from the decisions in question. Is our activity/purchase/plan good for Pilot or Penn or me or Dan or the dogs or everyone? Sure, there are no-brainers like laundry soap or toilet paper - YES, GOOD FOR EVERYONE. Things like morning park-time when Penn would better benefit from a nap in her crib - Pilot the busy bee with too much energy wins. Things like sitting on a big blanket watching Pilot race around with the neighbours - me AND my girl tribe win. Things like long lineups or long flights for babies - ARE NOT GOOD FOR ANY OF US. Then there are things like painting... YES, it's crazy good for ME. But, I have to believe that it's also good for Pilot + Penn because they are learning to be more exist without me and to formulate their little wings (or maybe that I am slowly learning to be okay with the very big wings they will develop long before I am ready). It's great for Dan because he gets a happier me and really the same applies to the dogs because I feel so much more awesomeness when I am painting. For instance - I stop calling Norman an 'dirtbag' and start taking a few more minutes to rub his super cute little chin.

See? Everyone wins.

Today: I have 5 pieces that I am working on and the first 15 show pieces to plan out. The nanny is here and I am going to do my very best to STAY OUT OF IT. That is so much harder than it might seem. But, I think by letting them find their own rhythm together - EVERYONE WINS.

My coffee is a mocha today. Hello paintbrushes. GO!