Drawing and Crocuses

Chinese shoes: left, 19th century and right early 20th century

Crocuses: February 28 2008.

Flower Arrangement

White Tulips and Amaryllis

White Tulip

2 Still Life Paintings

From some years ago, oil.

Meanwhile on the Poultry Side.....

Here is our one and only boy Zizou and one of our girls ZsaZsa. The latter is a veritable little egg-laying machine,....a real cutie too!

Yesterday's Feast

DavEm (see words, acronyms, explanation in appropriate column) came for dinner yesterday evening for one of our special treats....a French dish, cassoulet, accompanied by French bread, crisp salad and of course generous rations of Earthquake Petite Syrah...
I had started it several days before although, I had decided to purchase the confit of duck et NOT do it myself......takes for ever, I know, I have done it, following Julia Child's very good recipe.
By the way, you need tons of duck fat, yes, tons if you want to embark on your homemade confit. Cooking the beans and putting it all together, sausages, pork belly and all still takes a long time even if you have purchased your confit.
The beans , (harvested by hand), are Tarbais beans, from the foot of the pyrenees mountains in France, a beautiful variety with that melt-in-your-mouth quality, taking well to being reheated.
We enjoyed the whole experience but quite frankly my homemade confit is far better.

Journal Page

I just had to rework this woman, give her a haircut, shampoo out her chestnut hair color and other minor corrections...Voila, kind of a syrupy sweet page....

Same face

But this time with one click saturation

In the Studio....Working on faces..and Yesterday's Very Quick Journal Page

Journal Page Finished!

I did it! Yesterday I finished this one and took pictures, but I was too tired to post them. As with prior pages the size is 9" x 12" on watercolor paper. Watercolors, acrylics, Caran d'Ache Supracolor pencils, Golden glazes, Ranger Distress Inks, commercial and original stamps, all original drawings.

Visions of....Spring

Oh!Joy.....I needed to see this...little marvels: shoots of tulips, crocuses, daffs, and the first flower...can't think of the name right now, I apologize. In French "perce-neige"

Over the Top!

I thought it would be fun to take a picture of these tulips over a busy background....over the top, baby! you be the judge, for me it works, only for an instant!

The Great Horned Owl

I do not have one great picture...way too difficult although she did not mind posing for some 8 hours or so. As mentioned in my post yesterday, there was a lot of wind which caused the branches to bend and move and be agitated...there was a lot of sun right on her face, which prevented her from opening her beautiful saucer-like yellow/orangish eyes...at times I was on the verge of losing my footing, at times my hand was totally moving too! But what a blessing to have sheltered this magnificent creature an entire day!

Progress?

Little progress as I spend the day, at the gym, in church, meeting with my 2 other mentors, starting a cassoulet, and last but not least observing the most magnificent great horned owl perched on a branch of one of our pine trees. Pardon me but I do not have the words to describe this experience, my first. Such an awesome sight. She never showed any signs of fright....I guess I am not a threatening animal to her...they have no natural enemies! More on this later including a picture. I took something like 50 to 70 pictures but few are acceptable as the winds were rather forceful and often my footing was precarious. Now I feel the urge to ........................sleep. About my journal page, I made a mess glazing the left side of the female.

Tagine Bil Hoot

In this household we are eating fish on Fridays during lent so yesterday I cooked a tagine of fish with lots of garlic, parsley, cilantro, lemon (including preserved lemons), olives and ginger, paprika, cumin.....yum! Look at this juicy garlic ready for more knife action!

In the Studio

Working on this journal page.

Sunset

OK, I know, I know, I have posted many of these but to me it is so magnificent that I cannot resist the thought that somehow, somewhere a visitor will enjoy.
So, no more for a while......promise.......a little while

Quote

An artist is someone who turns his coat inside out and falls in love with the color of the lining. ~Jeanne Tardiveau

Early this Morning

I can't help sharing these with you, it was so gorgeous, what a blessing at the beginning of a busy day! Have to meet for lunch with Norma, my mentee, have to bake a cake (partly for a friend newly diagnosed with terminal cancer), have to plan dinner(shopping) for Steve (who is hoping for French Onion Soup, from scratch) coming back from San Diego.............................and YES I would love to spend a bit of time in the studio!
PS: I had to take a photo of this lonely crow at the top of the tree...I love crows

Skull, Elfin Head, Bones , Angel and Baby Shoes

And some unmentionable: A shelf in my studio.

The Day we Shook Hands

Is it great? No, but I made substantial improvements and learned a few things as I went along, but, oh, the frustration at times!!!So I"m content and eager for the next project. One of the things I learned (actually it was more "re-learned") is that sometimes you have to let go of your original idea and move with the flow, happy accidents and all...Of course you all know by now how stubborn I am.... On the running front, I saw my podiatrist today and I was overjoyed to be able to tell him that finally I had 2 or 3 runs without any problems...almost perfect in fact, so I'm on my own from now on... He is my age and said "oh, if only I could have half of your energy"....he does not see me at the end of the day.

Jail Today...Studio work

It was a wonderfully joyful jail visit, so many smiles, many giggles, lots of hugs!
But one of my buddies was crying, going to prison and we will not see each other any more. I will miss you, Autumn!
In my studio , still working on that journal page, a battle took place between Pitt pens, paints and brushes, Caran d'Ache Neocolor II and Supracolor,.....and myself.......they won, results tomorrow!

Cosmopolitan Anyone?

Ahhhhh.....so good, especially when prepared by Steve! The fragrance of the grapefruit rind rising from the glass as you approach the rim is........very addictive. But then the savor...exquisite, my friends, exquisite!