More Snow

The Road, 4x6, Oil on Cradled Panel, 2008

Well, it's a snow day today, so I figured I'd better get a post up before either the satellite goes down or we lose our power. I managed to get out to the hen house this morning and I also filled all the bird feeders (normally my son's job, but I decided to let everyone sleep in this morning). I also got out to the barn to look for more of my old work. We have had a lot of snow this winter already, and even more last night and today and I am pretty sure I pulled more than a few muscles while climbing over the snowbanks and trying to carry a bucket of hot water, a bucket of scratch, a bucket of bird seed and a portfolio and a suitcase while walking in three feet of snow. Not all at once of course, several trips were involved here.

So today I am going to do some painting and then I will be going through the old work later on. I did take a quick peek though and there will be an added bonus for all you super lucky folks-I found some things that I did in high school! Most of it revolves around images of Jim Morrison and The Doors, and I probably should be too embarrassed to post them, but what the heck.

Oh and by the way, this morning I added about eight new paintings to my sales blog, including the one above.

Mental Adjustments

Pink Side of the Road, 2008, Oil on Birch Panel, 16x20

I just wrote a whole thing about what a funk I have been in lately, blah, blah, blah. I realized that I have spent yet another day doing nothing in my studio and I am feeling disappointed in my lack of progress in the studio. Of course today I had a good excuse (snow day, kids home) but it seems like I am always making excuses.

Usually I prefer to beat myself up for not doing what I think I should be doing each day but I am giving myself a rare break from that tonight. So I deleted what I wrote (too depressing, even for me at this time of the day when I can be very pessimistic about everything) and will just try to work in the studio again tomorrow.

I should remember the story about the above painting: I did the underpainting for it (and the one I posted on Monday) last spring, way before I moved up into my new studio, before painting the walls, planting the garden and preparing small format paintings for a July show. I finally got back to the underpaintings in November and added the color, even though I had completely forgotten what I had had in mind for them when I started. But I love them, and maybe they turned out better than they might have if I had finished them right away.

I gave those two pieces very little thought all that time, but instead of bang, bang, banging them out, there was time and other experiences between the start and finish line. And now that I think about it, that is how I have been approaching the portraits too. Much more slowly, with time in between each step, but not a lot of consideration either.

Hmmm. Perhaps I need to reconsider my process just a bit, rather than giving myself a hard time about not painting like I used to, such a hard time that I can't even work at all.

Power to the People

When the power went out on Tuesday evening it was no surprise. Happens fairly often out here in the boonies, and not necessarily when there is bad weather either.

We stumbled around the pitch black house trying to find flashlights and candles, then eventually went to bed, pretty sure that the power would come back soon. It was charming and cozy and we didn't mind. But when I got up at 6am, it was looking pretty bad outside and I figured I better find out about if it would be a snow day. No power though, so I bundled up and went outside to sit in the car to listen to the radio (did I mention the phones were down too?) in the dark. Very surreal. School was cancelled so I went inside and went back to sleep for another hour.

We spent the day at home, eating the perishable food from the fridge before it, well, perished and I felt thankful that we had decided not to buy a quarter of an organic cow. I sat next to the fireplace and read a book for most of the day, which was nice.

However, all of the quaint charm of pioneer living began to wear us down by the end of the day (our water pump and furnace requires electrical power so few toilet flushes were in order, let alone showers, ewww) and Doug drove down the road to find a signal for his cell and make arrangements for a hotel room. He got a great deal at the local Howard Johnson's, which is pretty much empty this time of year so I went with the kids while Doug stayed at the house with our oldest son and the pets.

No one can tell us when our power will be back on, and thousands of homes are affected in the area. I dropped the kids off at school and a bunch of us moms commiserated in the parking lot and discussed where where to get the best hotel rates and how long it took us to cry "uncle" before fleeing our dark and cold homes. We lasted longer than many. I then secretly yearned a bit for a house in town.

Oh and did I mention that we will be shopping for a generator next week?

So this pioneer girl is going to take a break from blogging for a few days, but will be checking emails so sympathy will be much appreciated. heh.

Early Snow and the Old Studio/New Living Room

It looked like this out front this morning:


Not too bad and the kids went off to school. Halloween decorations clash a bit with the snow, but there you are.

By midday it looked more like this:

and then it got even worse. The kid's practices, football games and boy scout meetings were all canceled and everyone made their way home eventually.

Our internet was down most of the day, but just popped back in so my productive hours of painting are probably over now. Heh. And even though we had a few flickers, the power did stay on all day so that was good.

Anyway, in other super exciting news (I think I need to get a life:), our new rug finally arrived yesterday and now the old studio/new living room is pretty much finished. Still trying to scrounge up some art to put on the walls (I hate empty walls), but it is a very comfy room and I plan to take a day soon and just sit on my new couch and read. Well and probably nap too since I can't seem to read without falling asleep anymore. But I digress....

This is actually the second rug we bought for this room. The first one (you can see it here) was beautiful and I loved it. But it arrived before the furniture came, and then the deadline to return the rug passed too. So when the furniture did arrive, of course, it did not work well at all with the rug-the warm tans in the rug made the neutral sofa look slightly pink. Subtleties that could not be seen on the computer screen while ordering, alas, and the kind that drive me crazy. It was close though and I tried really hard to like the combination, but after a few days I knew that the mismatch was always going to be the first thing I would see in that room. I am obsessive like that. So I managed to get the return deadline waived, sent back the old rug and ordered a different rug, with fingers crossed. I had a good feeling about the new rug though, especially because it was cheaper than the first one. When I unrolled it yesterday, the room looked perfect, the choir sang and the whole world seems right again....




See how easy I am? It only takes eight gallons of paint, brand spanking new furniture and two rugs to make me happy. Oh yeah and a new studio which made all of that possible. Ok, so maybe I am a bit high maintenance....

Cracked Ice

Road to Nowhere, 2007, Oil on Panel, 12x16

A lovely cozy day around the house today. We had an ice storm last night, so no school for the kids. Everyone is working on various projects and Doug and I are even getting some work done. It's incredibly beautiful outside, but treacherous too. I went out to tend the chickens and as I slid across the road and over the snow it cracked under my feet like ice on a lake. Our pathetic little sledding hill has transformed into a major speedway and we have had at least one (minor) injury there today.

I suppose someone should go out and shovel or something but sitting by the fireplace is just too perfect today and so we will just hope the temperature will go up just enough to make slush by tomorrow. Don't have to feel guilty about a driveway full of slush.