Cricketts Inky Art Blot

A few splashes of red have sprinkled themselves about my day... From lunch in the sun... ... to constructing a skirt hitcher for the renaissance faire.

I am totally freaking out. I have 2 birthday parties this weekend for my kids and their guests. I'm really not in the slightest bit ready. Somehow the kids managed to talk me into sleepovers to follow the laser tag, mini golf, bowling bonanza, now the sudden realization of the agreement has slipped into place. As I looked around the state of the house this morning and measured the devastation, my eye was taken through the window by the promise of a warm spring day. Who am I to turn away from the beauty of Mother nature? The clean up, goodie bags etc., can wait :-)

I loved the colours and shadows of this fire pit.

Today's inspiration, brought to you from my fruit bowl.

Another self portrait. I swear that I'm not becoming narcissistic, I'm just the only model that would not be insulted by the make-over!

Super scary huh? Self portrait, a face only a mother could love... well, maybe not.   The inspiration for this was Picasso's "the Village Dance". I had not seen the painting for many years, but I had been thinking of a trip to Paris where I had seen this painting maybe 20 years ago. I remembered the heaviness of the eyelids and the solidity of the stares away from each other. Although the painting was the starting point, I had only that vague rememberance of the style and was trying to capture that as a memory, along with the nostalgia of that visit.  

A photo that I only just processed, taken at Leaping Frog winery a few weeks ago.  The place where time's fun having flies.

Here is my photo version of the Nautilus that visited High Desert Steam's Exposition.

The though of a flying chameleon tickled my fancy. So I thought that I might try making one.

I have been working on an Iris flower for a gift to a girlfriend. Of course this now means that It's not good enough. After making about 29 versions, I'm going to leave it and have another go tomorrow.

This weekend, I cleared up a lot of the canvas and materials that were littered around the studio. My husband helped to move furniture and flat files into their new homes. The room below was previously the living room. The carpet needs to be ripped up and the walls painted to an off white.   The next phase will be to knock out the entertainment area and wall, into what was the dining area. Then some kind of easy clean floor needs to go down, but nothing so ugly that if we move the place won't sell. On a slightly more random note, here is a photo by Frances Melhop of the family in airship pirate gear at her exhibition opening last Friday night!

I just got home from an exhibition opening and I am exhausted! A quick photo of the geese from this morning:

This piece is untitled, as I have not nailed a name yet. It is an emotional piece, but possibly too close to home to discuss. Sometimes it is better to allow others to have their own interpretation anyway, without the distraction of a title. So... Untitled will do nicely.

Walking to the kids bus stop today, there was a small, but interesting root on the side walk. I give it a series of looks, trying to find one to settle on. The light is almost gone here at the studio tonight, but I caught a photo of the goslings having a rummage in the lawn.

Baby ducklings are back on the pond, so cute with their "peep, peep, peep'. "The Honkers" were guarding their new baby goslings. They scrounged some bread then hissed at me repeatedly, just incase I got the wrong idea and thought that I really could reach out and give them a cuddle. New iris flowers have opened and this colouration was a complete surprise. It inspired me to digitally paint the flamboyant flower at the studio today. "Flamboyant Iris"

Yesterday was our local Steampunk group's annual exposition. High Desert Steam, has an active group with many events throughout the year. Many of the Sacramento Steamer's were visiting or vending too. Our family dressed up and joined in the festivities, snatching up bargains and the youngest won a raffle prize. Lots of fun for the whole family. Our family were dressed as airship pirates, this is me with my youngest daughter Olivia. This art car, called the Nautilus after the Jules Verne fictional submarine, was at Burning Man last year and in our Sparks Steampunk Christmas Parade. High Desert Steam won first place! Inside the Nautilus Mary Crawley, did a "riveting" undress, which I could not possibly photograph. Here are some of the other local Steampunks, including Willie Puchard, who is a major force in High Desert Steam's event organization. Below are numerous attendees. Monique below, is w

I have lost 4 stylus pens since January, including 2 iJots. Now I am totally sulking coz I can't have a new one. Apparently I need to look after my stuff better if I want fancy iJots. This is the rule set by my 8 year old, I guess that someone must have said something like that to her once. Hmmm, well, here is a super stroppy, sulky, what-do-u-expect-without-a-stylus image for today. Do I look bovvered?

Iris of the day: Tea and Jammy Dodgers at the Isles Tea shop.

I tackled another heap of mess from the art studio floor. I had recently bought a few canvas panels in the sales and stacked them in a corner of the room. By stacked, I mean artfully balanced ready to topple if a gust of wind raced in when the door opens. By corner of the room, I mean the little space of floor that was actually free of anything. My art/canvas storage rack was actually neatly full of items. Unfortunately, none art related. I set to clearing it up and by the end of the day had canvas where it was supposed to be! Yay! It might be noted that the space cleared on the floor where the canvas was temporary stored should now be clear. Oddly, some other things appeared to fill the gap. Oh Well!

Everyone is familiar with Van Gogh's Irises. The iris is a beautiful and showy flower that is one of the joys of spring. According to Wiki, an ancient belief is that the iris serves as a warning to be heeded, as it was named for the messenger of Olympus. It also conveys images of lost love and silent grief. I have been observing the growth of my studio garden iris' that I planted just after moving in and have come into their own this year. We all have times of highs and lows, currently I am experiencing a low. The first image is a digital image that I made, hopefully expressing my interpretation of the messenger of Olympus. I tried to show the flowers reaching out as though grasping at something precious, slowly slipping away. The textures are reminesent of tear stains and the colour palette is that of my association with grief that I have been harbouring recently. Messenger of Olympus   The second image is of the studio iris' that are inspiring my thought