Show and Tell

Well, I finished a couple more things, including the one portrait commission from way back when, and I actually got them all scanned in. So, tonight we are having show and tell!

First up, is the portrait commission:

This dog was done in oil on canvas as part of a demonstration for my website. I don't know whether it was that or just the problems of doing a black dog, but I had a hard time getting it done. I know I wanted it to be perfect, so I probably was trying too hard. At last, I just to hell with it and finished it off. As you can see, I don't think it turned out too badly. I still have to send it to owner and hope she's not totally pissed off at me!

Next is a pink waterlily:

This is just a small 5x7 oil on canvas of a pink waterlily. What I was more interested in was the water, the highlights on the water, and the lily leaves, but I didn't figure anyone would be interested in just leaves and water. So, I also included a flower. Why did I have to pick a pink flower??? Here's a little secret -- getting certain pink flowers to look realistic is tough, very tough. Normally, you have to mix white, permanent rose, and a bit of yellow to get the light areas. And then to get the dark, ... well, I've never figured that out for sure. If you add blue, you get a dirty purple. If you add black, it turns brownish. If you add purple, it turns brownish. I usually just keep adding layer upon layer until it's right. One of these days, I will figure out pink shadows!

Then a ruddy duck art card:

This is just a quick watercolor painting of a ruddy duck. Again, I was looking more to learn about the water and it's reflection than the duck. Although, I am rather fond of ruddies. The are just so perky. One of these days, when I have nothing else to do, I will do a larger version of this and I may even carve a ruddy duck decoy. (For those that want to see either of these, come back in about a year!)

That's it for now.

Just About Had It!!!

I can't believe the last 3+ weeks. Between computer meltdowns and hubby's truck problems, I'm just about ready to give up and go flip burgers!

Here's my last 3+ weeks:

• computer 'smells' -- get new power supply and hard-drive. Small bill.
• hubby's truck has no turn signals, sometimes -- his truck has intermittent problems with turn signals so he stops and has it worked on for a day. BIG bill.
• computer stops working -- 2 days out for the shop, the computer decides it doesn't have an operating system, so back to the shop. Tech guy saves most of data, but not my emails, when he reformats the hard-drive. Small bill.
• hubby's truck still has no turn signals, again -- 50 miles from the repair place, they go out again. Owner says he can't do anything else, so take it to a truck dealer. Stops at dealer and they have no clue either! Medium bill.
• computer refuses to send or receive photos -- my ISP claims it's software and Microsoft says it's ISP. Take it back to Tech guy and he reformats hard-drive again. I get to install all the software again. Small bill.
• hubby's truck has no turn signals (while driving in L.A.) and now has a power drain -- he comes home. Truck refuses to start so we charge the batteries (4 of them) with my motorcycle battery charger. Get it started and we take it to our local diesel mechanic. Was in the shop for 3 days -- warns us he's not sure if he fixed it. HUGE bill and, because of a bank problem, we have to pay by check not credit card.
• computer works fine, but ISP doesn't -- for some reason the ISP keeps not recognizing my dial-up number. Finally, after 2 hours on the phone, my computer doesn't think I'm calling a new number everytime I connect to the internet. No bill.
• hubby's truck smells -- he gets up one morning to find a battery leaking. Gets a new one ($200+ if you want to know) and everything seems fine. Small bill.
• computer works, but web site missing -- a friend emails that my site is down. That was on Friday and it's still down. So I spent the weekend moving all my eBay store photos to an independent server and then revising all the listings to point to the new photos. No bill, but 3 days of work!

Now, haven't I had fun? All totalled, these two electron problems cost us about $3000, a week of driving for hubby, and 2 weeks of working time for me.

And somewhere in all this process, I'm suppose to be creating wonderful art, finishing up some portraits, doing some sculptures, and planting fruit trees. Well, the trees aren't going to get planted since I don't have the money to buy them. The sculptures are going to have to wait because I don't have time. The people waiting for the portraits are already pissed at me, so what's a bit longer? And I did do a nice burrowing owl, somehow. (Now if everyone bids huge amounts, maybe it'll pay off the bills from the last 3 weeks?)

Burrowing Owl auction

To say that I'm tired is an understatement of huge proportions! I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted. This is why, despite everything I'm suppose to be doing, I have been taking time out to draw leaves (very meditative activity) and read. I'll get thru this somehow -- I always do -- but I relly would like to take a week off and go pound on a rock.

Instead, I need to go list something else on eBay.