I finished this 8x10" charcoal. It would look more "finished" in a mat, but I don't have one at the moment. I like it.

I've started a large watercolor that should prove to be fun...the theme is: "Day of the Dead". I love the skeletons, dressed to the nines-part of the November day of remembering those who've past on..big in Mexico, New Mexico, and really, in a LOT of areas. This should be fun. Bright colors, humor. Gotta love that.

I'm packing up our place here in Seattle to go back to Albuquerque. We've been in Seattle for too long now. Time to go home. I'm lucky because I'll get to do some traveling with my husband as he goes between Seattle, Michigan and Albuquerque for work in the upcoming months and years. We have great friends in lots of places.

I'm looking forward to camping out in fancy hotel rooms and painting all day long while he's off working. Lots of focused creative time.

So, I was brave today. After walking around my brand, spankin' new easel for half a day, I at last, jumped in, and put it together. I only forgot four parts-the rubber feet. Eh. Not so bad. I'll pop them on later today. I love this easel. The wood, the color, the quality. Yum!

A shot of my dos chickies, on THE EASEL. This piece is about 8x10, I don't think you can tell that in this shot. It's at that sort of ick spot right now...showing promise, but not making any promises to me that it's going to turn out.

I popped down to Dakota Art yesterday, on Roosevelt in Seattle, and picked up some charcoal sticks because my order from Dick Blick's hasn't arrived yet and I have the patience of a gnat.


I'm not liking the tortillon for blending the darkest of the dark. I left half of my art supplies in Albuquerque and am having to reorder some of my most used things. I'm waiting for the arrival of some stiff blending brushes so I can more easily tame those darkest of black lines.

And of course, working on the feathers with more intense value ranges makes the poor little calm heads just receed away into the woodwork. Artwork is like life. You never know if it's going to turn out, but if you don't press on, you'll never know how good it might be. It's like when you're trying to spring clean and you've gutted every single closet and cabinet and your livingroom looks like a bomb went off....for about 6 hours as you work like a dog to get it back into order. For 5 1/2 hours it looks like it's never, ever going to come around and that maybe you should just throw it ALL in the trash and move-start over fresh. Art is like that. It's that last 30 minutes when it starts coming together. Or not. Talk about faith. Artists know about having faith in something you cannot see!

Easel

Here I am, starting a new blog. I had a great blog going, then moved from Seattle to Albuquerque and let it flounder and then pass on quietly. My husband (of 27 years) and I now own a home in Albuquerque but as he travels for his company 3/4 of the year, I've found the best way to see him is to be with him. So, I paint while he works in Michigan and Seattle area. Our home is in Albuquerque, as are our grown children. I'd prefer to be there, full-time, all the time, every day an every night.

Forewarning: I like to talk. No, that's a huge understatement. I pretty much love to talk. I also love photography and art, so you'll be seeing a lot of photos here as well as snapshots of my works in progress.

This is a charcoal I recently started.

In other HUGE news, I bought a small 12 x 12" Gisclee print of a painting of Paula Manning-Lewis's that I've been coveting....nay, I've been literally DREAMING about, for about a year...since I saw it in her gallery, Chroma Studios Gallery in Albuquerque. For some reason, Blogger isn't connecting links right now so I can't provide the links tonight. Tomorrow, when they've resolved the problem, I'll jump on and provide you the links for the artist and her gallery.I got the last one. I am so lucky to have a print. It's going to go right above my computer, where I can stare at it and think of New Mexico and of the artists I want to be back around in the near future. This piece is called "Grateful". The original piece is 48 x 48" and is $2000 which is a huge bargain. If I could, I would sell my kidney for that piece. It's a happy-inducing piece of art, if ever there were one.

Lastly, and this is awesome, so be impressed...I bought this most amazing easel today! The best one I've ever had. Why isn't it put together you ask? Well....it has parts, and a book. It looks hard. It's sitting there against the wall, waiting for me to have more brain cells in the morning.