always something to do

How much quicker time flies when one is being productive. I don't know; is that a good thing?
You won't find me enjoying the run to stay in place. As I corrected these pictures I'm about to show you, my critical eye saw a dirty floor mat and windows that need cleaning, a hedge, bushes and a lawn that need trimming and artwork that could use  a few tweaks.

In the meantime, Muji needs cuddles. Like, really! He needs them.

Some animals are much needier than others. Just like people. They suffer for not getting their daily requirement.

Babu loves his cuddles too, but he's very squirmy, the weight of his body pressing down on his little paws, so I put him on his back. Then he reaches up gently to my cheek like a baby, purring and grooving with the attention. Here he's doing his baby mewing, wanting some affection.

It's rather hot today. Too hot to open the windows. On the way to check the mail, I caught this vignette of an aluminum squirrel nutcracker, some seashells and pebbles plus a beautiful vase carved into stone by Nova Scotia artist John Hannah.

From the front ramp, the yard is looking that late summer scruffy. It needs a tune up.

I've been steadily exploring what those cheap Crayola coloured pencils can do. They are showing great promise, certainly equal to that of the much acclaimed new Jane Davenport "Magic Wands".

Disappointed with the eyes, I whited them out with Sharpie white paint pen and drew them again with extra fine black Pitt pen and a little brown pencil crayon.

It's funny what you see when you take a picture of your work. This squirrel turned out ok, done from memory, years of drawing them on pottery, but now I see that I forgot to colour in the nose and he could have used some shading where his feet touch the branch. Other tweaks would enhance this picture, but I'm done. I get like that.

"Life is just a dream, sweetheart"

done in Crayola coloured pencils and my new Uni-ball Signo broad white pen.

Then I was scribbling, filling the page with Crayola coloured pencil layering, enjoying the mix of colours I might not normally put together. Some washi tape by Tim Holtz made a nice muted border for one of his cardstock cut outs that I got in a pack earlier this summer.

It has a bit of that "going back to school" vibe.

It's been so nice having Wally home, even though he's pre-occupied with his plumbing right now. He's ordered the fabulous dramatic tile we decided on after such a long while, but we won't have it for another week and a half. That's ok. There's so much else to do. Now I must make lunch.

sweet September energy to you dear viewers

with peace in our hearts

and that's august

Welcome dear viewers, on this last day of August, unusually balmy with a gentle breeze and wispy clouds on this late summer afternoon. I hope you've been well and have taken time to figuratively, if not literally, stop and smell the flowers. It all goes so soon.

Wally continues to be very busy at work, and I continue my quiet days at home with the cats. They put me through the moves each morning as I will soon describe, but now they are both passed out as cats are wont to do, enjoying their naps with fresh air from the windows wafting through.

One day last week...

Muji was awake one afternoon and caught sight of something fluttering, most likely a leaf.

My pretty boy makes a pretty picture

Babu was on hand waiting his turn in the window.

On another day, Babu was "stalking" a sparrow- through the window screen.

Oblivious, the little bird  fluttered and preened on the railing after a splash in the bird bath.

This morning I caught a rare sight of my two companions sitting together.

Babu is usually the one who doesn't stay still except when he's asleep, but this morning they were waiting for "seconds" in the kitchen.

Actually, it's just Babu who wants seconds. Muji hasn't finished firsts.

This is the new routine as I try to wean Muji off of his demands for his beloved kibble before he's finished his tinned therapeutic food.

Babu has elected himself clean-up committee. 

This includes cleaning up Muji's plate before Muji has finished.

This keeps me on my toes as Babu is already a touch overweight and that tinned food is expensive.

That doesn't stop Babu from kitten mewing plaintively for my attention to his appetite.

As long as I stay on top of them (and myself for I must not soften up to their demands) things are under control.

 Muji didn't finish his breakfast this morning.

And Babu can't understand why I lifted Muji's plate.

Lots to show you, this piece is done in coloured pencils with a few dabs of white paint pen.

Experimenting with a all my different black pencils, the one that came out the darkest was,

surprisingly, my 55 year old Laurentian coloured pencil- another allusion to the better quality available in the past.

After watching some videos about printmakers, I found myself intrigued, once again, by the new retro palette in somewhat earthy pastels. I themed this picture using some animal symbols of love and did a variation on Botticelli's Venus. Sketched in grahite mechanical pencil, I went over the lines with extra fine Pitt pen, then coloured in with Jane Davenport coloured pencils, or as she calls them, "magic wands." The surround is washi tape.

It's back to school season in the stores and I found myself in front of a display of school supplies pondering the value of Crayola coloured pencils. I found a 100 pack for $12!  That's outrageous. So I bought them.  This is what I did in place of a swatch test, using as many colours in the pack as I could. I then, like a crazy woman, proceeded to colour in all the negative spaces in black Pitt pen with some coloured pencil blends down the middle. More washi tape, these are by Tim Holtz, went on the border.

Continuing to experiment with the Crayola coloured pencils I began to scribble first one...

and then a second abstract. I worked them from every which way and am pleased with the balance I found in design by doing that.

Last night I began making these little "C' shapes, again trying to use an ever-changing variety of colours from the Crayola pack.  This morning, I carried on, eventually summoning the courage to draw the rabbit in a Pitt brush pen and then continued colouring it in with the Crayola coloured pencils.

Here's a little footnote: I was surprised to see that the label on the box spelled "Coloured" with a "u". I see now that these, as well as "All Crayola Art Materials are Nontoxic". Crayola is now a Hallmark company. My pencils were made in Brazil and imported by Crayola Canada out of Lindsay, Ontario. I found this news comforting somehow... ethical comfort.

peace on earth

Babu and Muji

Well here we are on a late summer day with all the potential that comes of being alive.
It is a quiet day with the windows closed to keep the stifling humid heat out - and the cats get bored.

Babu wants to play.

This is the routine.

 

There are so many ways he tells me.

For a cat, he can be quite eloquent

I get a lot of arm taps,

and sometimes my cheek

He is always gentle; never claws out

and tries to tell me with meaningful looks and purrs and myow's 

what I already know

pul-leeze play with me

His sweetness charms me.

I've learned a lot from Babu.

Though he can be annoyingly catlike,

I've learned how dense I can be as his communication is usually subtle and quick,

He only amps it up when I'm not responding

I've learned to respect his intelligence, and after all, play is the way we all express our true natures.

Now Muji comes in, never one to miss some love and attention,

he gives his head a ghostly shake. 

He inspects my camera strap

a sober little guy, 

Muji doesn't have the predator instinct like Babu and I often wonder how he would ever fend for himself outdoors where he'd love to be.

He much prefers cuddling

though he is learning to bat and jump at the mouse on a string that Babu loves so well,

"copy cat"-ting Babu's behaviour.

When Babu is exceptionally bored, he plays at taking Muji down like a gazelle, 

grabbing him by the neck and forcing him to the floor

Muji, in his sweetness, tolerates this predator play from his "little" (Babu's not so little anymore) "brother" (adopted)

I've never had a more loving animal than Muji

who also taps my arm, my cheek, the top of my head

for attention and love.

I'm a big fan of Cathy Cullis ever since I discovered her work at least 7 years ago. She has a big following now.  This piece is my interpretation of her gouache Tudor women, mine done in coloured pencil on that cheap kraft paper in my sketchbook.

Then a complete switcher-oo as I'm wont to do. The idea of groundless figures came to me and I used this format for exploring more with composite subject matter and colour. All done in coloured pencils save for some white Sharpie paint pen, I used a combination of pencil brands.  I became quite smitten with my old "light green" Eagle Prismacolor, a blue turquoise that I used to outline the figures. Waxier and more lush than my modern day pencils, it quite surprised me with its longevity as the name changed in 1969 and I'm pretty sure I got them well before that.

"Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant...Making your unknown known is the important thing."

                                                                                                 Georgia O'Keefe