On going grey...

I've made a conscious decision to let my hair go grey. Or maybe it's just laziness. I can't be bothered with the whole time-suck of getting it dyed and then, from now until the END OF TIME, getting my roots touched up. Until I am a wizened little octogenarian with improbably red hair that goes EXTREMELY well with my liver spots and is fooling NOBODY...

Anyhow...

You can tell somewhat where the creeping greyness is at in that process from this photo--although it's not quite as noticeable as in some OTHER photos where I much more closely resemble Cruella DeVil. Or Pepe LePew.

If you squint your eyes a lot, the streaks at the front of my hair ALMOST look like they're blonde. But no, they're actually grey/white. I have hopes of someday having the Bonnie Raitt/Joe Perry slash of white in my hair (and the associated coolness), but with my luck, I will end up looking like a very aged mouse instead.

Yes, I HAVE DYED MY HAIR IN THE PAST. But the first time, I was 14 and succumbing to peer pressure. The second time I was in my early twenties and it was the 80s, and, while I have no excuses really for a bleached-blond top and dark sides, I would say that there were no excuses for a LOT of very public fashion experiments in the 80s.

Fingerless lace gloves.

Wham, the band

Boy George

Gaultier's pointy bra thingy that Madonna wore in concert

Giant linebacker shoulderpads...

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. My little hair-dying experiment was mild compared to some of THAT.

And the third time I went through dying my hair, I was in my thirties and had had the same style for YEARS and I felt sorry for my stylist, who was dying of boredom after about the tenth visit where I had her do the same trim on my plain brown hair. So, at her suggestion, I had her dye blond streaks just in the FRONT of my hair.

I ended up looking kind of like Rogue from the X-Men, if Rogue was a thirty-something policy analyst. As policy analyst hairstyles go, it was pretty edgy, but STILL...you had to keep going in and touching up the roots. Plus there were none of the Rogue-associated powers that I would have put to good use, like sucking the life force out of whatever idiotic politician I was working with at the time who was convinced that "No Child Left Behind" as written was a GOOD THING.

Rats.

So I let that grow out.

So I've been thinking about this recently, mainly because Jon and I went to a wedding and he had me help him put some "Touch of Grey" haircolor in his beard.

Just to be clear, I don't usually spend time thinking about my hair.

AND I LIKE IT THAT WAY.

But every once in awhile, society comes in and reminds me that, according to the media, I am just advertising my decrepitude by not going the dye route.

Like that ad for the same "Touch of Grey" haircolor--where you leave JUST a BIT of grey in. All these hunky forty-something guys with just a little bit of grey in their hair--the "Doctor Strange" amount of grey at the temples, say--cavort around doing active things! They're on the beach, with their surfboards, displaying their improbably buff bodies, then they're hiking a fourteener and then they're cracking open some cold brews with their pals. And their women--a whole bunch of equally buff, active chicks who like to apparently WATCH these guys surf and climb fourteeners and then drink beer with them. Or at least FETCH the beer.

And NONE OF THE WOMEN HAVE A SPECK OF GREY IN THEIR HAIR.

Just saying. Not sure if the women with all those partying dudes are supposed to be TROPHY WIVES or just THE MEN'S DAUGHTERS...or if they're forty-something women who dye their hair ALL THE WAY, the way maybe I should be doing.

And I caught a HILARIOUS Simpsons episode the other night, where Marge stops dying her hair. After a series of comments that I have often received ("Thank you for your bravery!") and others that I think might have been the subtext of comments I've received ("I hope I look as good as you when I give up!"), the clincher is given by Ralph Wiggum, who says,

"Grandma had hair like that when she went to sleep in her forever box!"

I could NOT stop laughing at that! And, even though Marge caved in and went back to the blue dye, this is what I have to say:

Helen Mirren

Richard Gere

Emmylou Harris

David Byrne

Jamie Lee Curtis

GEORGE CLOONEY...

NEED I SAY MORE?

About cats...

This is Goat.

She's about six months old and WHAT A CHARMER...

I was at the Rocky Mountain Feline Rescue's shelter two weeks ago when I met her. And her sister. And her other sister, whom I THINK got adopted that same afternoon.

It was EXTREMELY foolish of me to physically venture into the shelter because I have a very low resistance to the Kitten Time Warp. This is a condition where you lose the ENTIRE afternoon's productivity when you are in proximity to kittens, and apparently for me, prior exposure does not guarantee immunity. (See my post from June, titled Lost Time Phenomenon Explained, for more details.)

Not only that, but I nearly broke the overlords' first rule:

NO OTHER CATS IN THE HOUSE.

Goat and her sister Bellow were so CUTE though. And they were working HARD to close the deal with me. It was a close thing, let me tell you!

But the overlords would have been OUTRAGED. I would have PAID...

And my husband would have been none too happy, either. Because TWO CATS ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH, especially when one lap is not big enough for both of them.

So I left Goat and Bellow there, along with all the OTHER cats, and I dropped off my package and left.

Oh yeah. That package was why I was there. I donated a gift certificate for a portrait for the Rocky Mountain Feline Rescue's "Wine and Whiskers" silent auction/wine tasting event, which will be held tomorrow night, September 23, from 5 pm til 10 pm at the Molly Brown Summer House in Denver. Tickets are $40/person, which includes wine and hors d'oeuvres, and ticket proceeds and silent auction proceeds will benefit RMFR.

I could have EASILY mailed that package. But maybe I just needed a kitten fix.

So today I decided, instead of trolling the cat shelters, that I would look up some wacky cat "facts" on the Internet for my kitten fix.

And I found this amazing statistic at www.catscans.com:

A single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kittens in just 7 years.

Wow...them's some impressive numbers.

Also according to this site, more than 35,000 kittens are born in the U.S. each year!

After reading this, I was all impressed with the site, despite its lack of citations.! After all, it was on the InterWebs, right? It had to be correct!

Then I read another "fact" from the site:

25% of cat owners BLOW DRY THEIR CAT'S HAIR...AFTER A BATH.

Okay, I was with them until I got to the whole BATH part.

My cats have NEVER HAD A BATH IN THEIR LIVES.

I cannot even fathom the work that would go into getting them BATHED, but it would NOT be a pretty sight. There would be yowling and blood and screaming and it would probably look sort of like the scene where the crazy Brazilian doctor cut out the American blond girl's internal organs in "Turistas, Go Home." And splashing. Lots and lots of splashing.

And then, after all that, BLOW-DRYING?

I don't THINK SO.

By the time Smokey got to the stage where I should be blow-drying her, I would probably be in the emergency room, looking forward to taking another 10 days of antibiotics for cat-bite.

But I do know this.

There are far more cats and kittens out there than there are homes for them. Cats like Goat and Bellow and the others at the RMFR are the lucky ones. They're in a no-kill shelter, so the clock isn't ticking for them. But most cats aren't that lucky.

I'm a total advocate for no-kill shelters, but without a comprehensive spay/neuter program, there are STILL too many cats to go around. So, even though I don't REALLY trust the numbers on this site, I still agree that you should spay or neuter your cat!

But BATHING them? No WAY!

Early morning ramblings...

Holy cow. It is taking FOREVER to load this image.

Maybe it's because I'm on the road and off the mainland, sitting in the lobby of a Hawaiian hotel (the only place in the building that they have wi-fi and I CANNOT HANDLE THE WHOLE CABLE CONNECTION THING WITH MY MAC, which is all they have in-room).

Plus Jon's asleep upstairs. Did I mention it's 3 in the morning? Even though that's 7 AM in Colorado, it is PITCH BLACK here. And I very rarely SEE 7 AM in Colorado, anyway.

There's a surprising amount of activity here for 3 in the morning. I have already deflected one guy who came in off the street, looking for some action (although, as I would define it, I am not exactly looking actionable since I just rolled out of bed and threw on some clothes before I staggered down to the lobby. I still have those CRUSTY things in my eyes, for Pete's sakes).

And WHY am I here? TOO MUCH KONA LAVA JAVA ICE CREAM last night.

Jeez. I have NO caffeine tolerance. At least my PULSE is racing, even if the Internet connection is NOT.

I should probably apologize for the long hiatus between posts. Basically I have been travelling a ton. Last weekend was Vegas, for a wedding and I had a deep objection to paying Planet Hollywood an extra $14 a day for internet over their extravagant weekend room rates. Then it was immediately to Hawaii, where I have been on the running track at King Kamehameha School during EVERY SINGLE WAKING HOUR and sleeping the rest of the time. So I have been giving my cell phone a workout in terms of email retrieval.

And I just SUCK at typing with my thumbs.

Anyhow, since I finally HAVE access, I thought I'd post this beautiful image painted by my friend, Tabetha Landt-Hastings. I bought the piece, called "Red Rocks," almost two weeks ago--although I had been eying it for some time. And I finally thought, "Okay, I am going to go ahead and get it." It's an original oil painting, and I know folks have been looking at it in Tab's gallery for YEARS.

MWAHAHAHA, folks! It's MINE! All mine!

Although you can get prints if you like! Check out Tab's online store at:

http://tabetha-landthastings.artistwebsites.com/

Aloha for now!

What I've learned the past three months...

So here are a few things I've learned over the past three months of painting animal portraits. The photos here are of my portrait, "All-American Beagle"--which relates to point 7 below on criticism...and the Boston Terrier has to do with the first point!

Boston terriers come in multiple colors besides black and white. They also come in brindle or seal (black but with a red cast when seen in bright light) and white. This is Rudi, looking doubtful about something (perhaps having her photo taken). I can’t tell if she’s brindle or seal here.

Bulldogs. I just REALLY REALLY LIKE BULLDOGS. Too bad about all their breathing problems and potential jowl infections, but wow, what cool personalities they have. And such expressive faces. And the fur on their heads is SOOO soft. Plus the whole skateboarding thing.

I need to find more venues for getting cats to paint, because I am spending way too much time thinking about dogs’ jowls and teeth. Or horses. I would REALLY love to book a commission for a horse right now!

When a cat bites you, IT CAN BE SERIOUS. After Princess, my neighbor cat,(now aka Evil McEvil) chomped down on my foot last month, I found out that cat bites are really prone to infection. As my doctor said, “It’s like they’re injecting EVERY SINGLE DISGUSTING THING that they’ve put in their mouths RIGHT INTO YOUR BLOODSTREAM.” So if Fluffy, like Princess, decides to fang you, you should get to the doctor quickly and prepare to take at least 10 days of ENORMOUS antibiotic pills to combat the infection! In my case, I’m not sure if Workman’s Comp would cover a cat bite or not! I do know that, when I limped into the doctor’s office and told them that a) I painted animal portraits and b) a cat had bitten me, they all LAUGHED uproariously!

It is difficult to paint while your foot is elevated over your heart. (My doctor prescribed that, in addition to the enormous pills.)

My cats, even though I have been focusing inordinately on DOGS lately, are still very interested in supervising my work, standing on my drawing tablet, blocking my view of the computer monitor and mixing the paint in my palette with their butts. So I guess my paintings are currently both cat/dog portraits in a mixed-media sort of way.

If you’re an artist, just putting your work out there is going to result in unasked-for criticism. And you need to strengthen yourself against it, consider the source, sift out the crap and keep going.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t listen to criticism. I’m just saying it shouldn’t stop you from your own creating. This just came up because I got the oddest email the other day from a breeder that I’d sent my information to. She very helpfully said (and I am paraphrasing here, but this was the basic gist) that, unless I added softness and charm to my portraits, I was never going to sell them. At least not to beagle breeders or enthusiasts. They like something different.

She was much more polite, but she basically said my whole style would need to be changed because it’s not what beagle people want.

So that stopped me for about half a day until I started wondering how she had gotten elected to be the official spokesperson/tastemaker for all beagle breeders/enthusiasts. I think she really intended to be helpful, but it just didn’t make sense. I’m sure that there are SOME beagle people out there who like a modern and colorful style. After all, I’ve found that people with OTHER breeds of dogs like my style. Why would it be so unattractive JUST to beagle owners? Is it something about harkening back to the good old antebellum days of the foxhunt and wanting something evocative of that?

So I did not tell her what my father told me to tell her (he is a totally AWESOME dad in the artistic support arena so you can probably guess what he said) but I thanked her for her opinion and her expertise as a breeder (she had told me a great thing about the breed standard, which had something to do with a soft pleading expression). And I told her that I would certainly share later beagle portraits with her when I booked them. I also let her know how busy I am painting for people who seem to prefer a lack of charm in their pet portraits (although I hope I was more subtle about it than that).

Then I started painting again…a REALLY ugly, hard-edged poodle, in case you’re wondering, Because I think the poodle people LIKE ugly.

There are a whole bunch of mixed-breed dogs that are now being marketed as “designer dogs.” (Golden doodles, Schnoodles, Maltipoms, Foxton Terriers, Labradoodles, etc.) Supposedly there are logical REASONS for cross-breeding these dogs (like they have hypoallergenic properties, instead of the more-likely reality that, oops, Anita was in heat and she got out of the yard and got jiggy with the neighborhood pit bull) . And THAT IS SHEER MARKETING GENIUS. Because what’s actually the case is that you’re getting a fancily-named mixed-breed dog with uncertain characteristics. And you’re paying TOP DOLLAR for it!

Face it, you could get something EXACTLY like that at the local shelter for MUCH LESS!

I could USE the marketing geniuses behind “designer dogs!” But they are probably all somewhere making big bucks working for Equal or some other industrial poison that’s being sold as a low-calorie sweetener.

IN CASE YOU CAN’T TELL…I like big mutts, and I cannot lie…

Happy Labor Day!

The Sookie Stackhouse Syndrome, for something totally different!

Well, it's been a busy week!

I have FINISHED a lot of things:

For example, this is Stella, a young Boxer I fell in love with and decided to paint, as much for her goofy jowls as for any other reason. Although I think I spend WAAAAYY too much time looking at and thinking about dogs' jowls. At least way more than the average person who is not a veterinary dentist.

I finished her portrait last week.

And I got three pieces selected into a juried show featuring the Dog at the Niza Knoll Gallery here in Denver. And the one I had finished JUST before the deadline SOLD at the opening! Bam! It's now gone from my universe (although I believe I will probably be waiting about SIX WEEKS for the check...).

Then there was a skateboard design featuring a bulldog that I HAVE BEEN BEATING MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL ABOUT FOR A MONTH BECAUSE THE ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE (despite the fact that it is not SUPPOSED to be alive) HATES ME. But I actually finished it on MONDAY, THREE WHOLE DAYS BEFORE THE DEADLINE. It's gone, except for the show opening at the end of September!

So I have been thinking about ENDINGS a lot lately! To everything, there's a beginning, middle, and end, right?

Except when there's NOT.

Like with Hollywood...and some VERRY successful writers and publishers.

I should probably preface this by describing what I call "The Sookie Stackhouse Syndrome." (and I'm talking about the books here, not "True Blood," which I think has gone off into a spectacular bunch of new directions. It's saying something when two of the best characters--Jessica and Lafayette--weren't EVEN alive in the books.)

Don't get me wrong-- I love vampire porn as much as the next schlubby, middle-aged housewife, and I started out LOVING Sookie all those years ago when Charlaine Harris created her. But now we're at novel umpty-seventeenth...and I'm not feeling it so much. I think Sookie is past her due date, character-wise.

But she's SPECTACULARLY money-making. So we will probably have another umpty-forty seven novels out, along with coloring books, sing-along DVDs for children and craft spin-offs where the readers can create designs for Sookie's new kitchen or new names for whatever shade of hot-pink toenail polish Sookie will use in the NEXT book. Whatever.

Have you noticed that? Whenever Sookie is majorly stressed in the novels, she either compulsively CLEANS or BAKES something. Or she takes A LONG BATH, shaves her legs so they're "silky smooth" (her words, not mine) and applies a homemade pedicure, complete with "Hot Torrid Mama" pink nailpolish.

No wonder all those supernatural dudes want to get into her pants! She's like a cooking, cleaning Barbie with functional lady-parts!

So anyhow, I've cooked up this term for when you have a concept--a great concept, okay? There's a character that's engaging and excellent and has all sorts of room for growth in a world that FEELS REAL. Harry Potter. Anita Blake. Sookie Stackhouse. And so they do grow, for awhile. But after a certain point, you start to wonder if they're genetically modified or something equally unhealthy. Sookie so far has hooked up with vamps, were-tigers, shapeshifters, etc. And, of course, let's not forget her ever-expanding fairy powers. And then it starts to feel like Charlaine is keeping Sookie alive NOT because she has anywhere else to evolve to, but only because Sookie is a zillion-dollar enterprise. And I feel like a sucker every time I grab the latest book off the library shelves as soon as I see it

(WHAT??? I HAVE TO FIND OUT SOOKIE'S LATEST NAIL-POLISH COLOR!!!)

For awhile I would read the latest Laurell Hamilton (Anita Blake, vampire slayer) novel JUST to see a) what NEW and potentially confusing powers Laurell could saddle Anita with, b) what NEW breed of supernatural hot humanoid she would cook up, and c) just HOW MANY PAGES it would take for Anita and the hot dude to get to the sex scene. No kidding. I started out LOVING Anita Blake. But she's starting to feel like the literary equivalent of punching the time-clock. And I feel like a sucker.

So, ENDINGS...Hollywood and big publishers, in particular, doesn't tend to like them. And now you have this odd Sookie Stackhouse Syndrome, where sometimes you're not even allowed to ENJOY the ending before you're set up for the NEXT SEQUEL. (Latest crappy "Resident Evil" film--I'm just warning you!)

I DID mention Harry Potter earlier and that was NOT a mistake, but it only applies to the FILMS. I think J.K. Rowling did an AWESOME job writing the series and creating not only a good beginning, middle and end for the overall series, but also pretty satisfying endings for each book. And she ENDED it. Pretty definitively.

Not so, Hollywood! I went to the last (?) movie last week with my brother and ZZZZZZZZ...

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? I was REALLY disappointed that something could a) tell things SO hectically and fit in so much stuff that got left out of the first movie (presumably so we could watch Harry and Hermione DANCE FOR FIVE PLUS MINUTES) or fit things in around the FIVE MINUTE SCENE IN THIS MOVIE WHERE HARRY AND RON TOOK THEIR SHIRTS OFF and b) be SO tedious.

The whole thing felt MIGHTY long. Which was a shame, I felt. Afterwards, I was lamenting to my brother, who works in the film industry, "WHYYYYYY??? WHY BREAK IT INTO TWO MOVIES???"

And he, cynic (and expert) that he is, said "To DOUBLE THE BOX-OFFICE."

Sookie Stackhouse Syndrome to the Max!

Anyhow, the Onion expressed it much better than I did! Here's a clip they ran that seemed to capture my whole feeling about the movie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zgb8N-5py0

Have a great weekend! And, if you have any chores outstanding, just FINISH SOMETHING!!!

...and the final product!

And here's the final product. You can see that I've gone in and lightened up the background with some nice, gauzy patches that are pretty evocative of the grass in the initial photograph. And I've blended in that whole reflection of the greenish light in the dog's ruff.

What I like about this portrait is that it's very realistic. It captures the dog's appearance and, I think, to some extent, his personality. And it still makes me wonder WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT DOG LOOKING AT?

(Even though I am the creator of THIS particular dog, so by rights, I SHOULD know).

At the same time, it's clear that THIS IS A PAINTING. There are nice places where the yellow and red underpainting shows through that adds to the painting. I like that. I like that this piece is very "painterly" (which was a big word my art professors used, probably to confuse me). So to keep the confusion from spreading, here are the definitions of "painterly" from dictionary.com:

paint·er·lyAdjective/ˈpāntərlē/

1. Of or appropriate to a painter; artistic: "she has a painterly eye".

2. (of a painting or its style) Characterized by qualities of color, stroke, and texture rather than of line.

I'd say it's probably definition 2 that we're dealing with, but maybe it's both, in some ways.

And that's my whole process, in a nutshell! I have spared you all the moments of frustration, examples of profanity, and suicidal impulses in this series, but you have the basics!

That's it for today. Now I must go learn how to stretch canvas better. Currently my attempts at stretching canvases resemble those of a nonathletic five-year-old, and I have about 3 hours to polish my skills, since I have some giclee prints on canvas that I'm putting in some pet supply stores and veterinary offices this afternoon! So it's off to the staple gun and the canvas pliers and YouTube videos on how to fold the CORNERS. The corners are KILLING ME!

Painting process--ugly duckling stages...

So here you can see the ugly, seamy underbelly of paintings.

At least MY paintings. I know of a pet portrait artist who regularly shares photos of her paintings in process and they almost NEVER look this chaotic. However, she also only uses TWO coats of paint. In TOTAL.

That's kind of hilarious to me, since I often end up with up to 10 different layers of paint (maybe more) at different points on the canvas. It's just how I roll. My process might not be as EFFICIENT as this other artist's, but, to be honest, I VASTLY prefer the way my work turns out at the end.

Even though the trip along the way is filled with ugly, ugly versions of the painting. And sometimes I feel like "HOLY CRAP MAYBE I SHOULD BURN THIS TRAVESTY BECAUSE IT'S NEVER GOING TO EVOLVE INTO THE THING OF BEAUTY I'D IMAGINED IN MY PROBABLY DELUSIONAL MIND."

Anyhow, here are the "before" photos, just for your information.

When I start, I like to use a bright color for the underpainting. Right now I'm working on a portrait of a Boxer and I'm finding that the way the bright crimson underpainting glows through is really adding to the way the whole piece comes together at the end. Some of this is due to the way I use acrylics.

Acrylics, feel-wise, are this cool hybrid between watercolors and oils. Until they dry, they're water-soluble, which means you don't have to use nasty stuff like turpentine to clean your brushes. And, if you use acrylics straight out of the tube, they can go on nice and thick and opaque, like oils. But you can also THIN them with water--and then can apply them to the canvas in varying degrees of transparency.

So I use acrylics in BOTH of these ways -- in opaque layers and also many, many translucent layers to build up the image. And I find that a really POW color for underpainting, like the red I used under the shepherd's brownish parts, glows through all the other layers and gives the painting a depth that it wouldn't have, otherwise.

Or maybe it's all those OTHER layers that I use.

The second photo in this sequence is actually one of my little cat, Windy, who seems to be putting her pawprint of approval on the piece. But then again, she's a cat and, while I've heard that cats actually see in MORE colors than just black and white, I've also heard their color sense is EXTREMELY limited. So, although she gets to boss me around on all sorts of other matters, her opinion on when my painting is finished carries NO WEIGHT AT ALL. Because the piece is NOWHERE NEAR FINISHED.

The last photo (which, probably isn't showing UP as the last since Blogger has decided once again to thwart me and I can't figure out how to get images showing in the correct order) is the one of the shepherd partially blocked by my paintbox and palette. I put this photo in to show yet ANOTHER layer -- that of the greenish-yellow around the dog's neck. I realized that the photo had a nice glow on the dog's ruff of light reflected up from the grass. But my painting, up to that point, had lacked ENOUGH of that. So here I go again, backfilling and adding yet ANOTHER layer of paint, to capture that reflected light.

I'm surprised my paintings aren't about 3 inches THICK!

Final image in next post. It will look VERY DIFFERENT!