Thanks to Kurt who reminded me that I need to get going on my paintings, even though it was unintentional on his part. 

I wasn't happy with the background of this work so I'm stripping it off with my electric eraser, sanding it lightly to bring back some of the tooth of the paper and starting fresh.  To make black for this work I'm using  mainly Tuscan red and Indigo blue.  There's also a little brown in there in places too.  As I like to work in small bits I went ahead and created the black in some places to see what it would look like.  As it turns out, I actually like it with the black and red pattern and will maybe continue on that way.  If at the end I don't like it I can continue the layering to finish up the entire background in black.  I also have to still work the second arm attached to the hand in there somehow.  Sigh.

Anyhow, that puts me behind on the other two I started.  Hopefully this one will be ready to go to the framers in the next few days and I can move on to the next ones I've started.

Portrait of Kurt - finished!

I finally finished the portrait of Kurt, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I was going to give it to Kurt, but it's much too nice, so I think I'll sell it. It should bring a pretty penny!

I worked hard to get the pattern on Kurt's shirt right, even though no one will notice it because they'll be too busy admiring his hair.

Salvia

Thanks to "Grandma C" for identifying the plant in question from yesterdays post for me!  I went searching and found out some interesting things about Salvia.  Firstly, there appears to be many different types.  They are various types of  sage and members of the mint family.  Oddly enough I also found a whole whack of mint growing along the river bed and along the mainland across from these plants.

One type is of paticular interest:

Salvia divinorum (also known as Diviner's Sage, ska María Pastora,[3] Seer's sage,[4] and by its genus name Salvia) is a psychoactive plant which can induce dissociative effects.  The plant grows to over a meter high,[1] has hollow square stems, large leaves.  BINGO!

Grandma C!  What have you got growing in your garden;-)  Okay, I know you said yours doesn't get that big so I would imagine you have one of the other types.  (Snicker.)

It seems the various types are used for different reasons.  Some for tea, alzheimers treatment, and the naughty kind listed above is illegal in some places. 

I'm still not sure which type the one I found was.  Some require dry, well drained soil and some a swampier soil (which this seems to be.)

One more question for Grandma C.     Do you know what this is and do you have any of it in your garden;-)


Kidding Grandma C!  Thanks for your help.  Love ya!

A Little Bit of Everything

As you can see I've only gotten minimally further on the frog and poor Kurt remains on my wall with "wax bloom" doing interesting things to his face.  I'm hoping to start his again next week if I can find a large enough block of time when a minimum number of eyes are vying for my attention.

On the "Squirrel Temperature Scale" today it was a flat out on the fence day.  The only thing that saved it from being a legs dangling over the side (one level above dead on the ground.) was that the humidity wasn't quite as bad as usual. 

In Ontario so far this year we've been running generally in the 80 - 100s F.  So if you decide to visit, don't bring your skis unless they've got a boat to attach to.  In fact even in the territories (the upper most parts of the country) they've been hitting in the 80s F some days.

Does anyone know what these flowers are?  I found them on an island in an area that would normally swampy if the island actually still had water around it.  They seem to be doing well.  I'm not sure if they normally grow if the water is higher.  This year the water is lower than I've ever seen it, thus making the island no longer an island but just land.  I'd love to grow these in my garden but I suspect they wouldn't like it here.  They also, besides having vibrant deep red flowers, have a hollow, reed like stem and are about 2' to 3' tall.  The type of stem they have makes me think they might prefer damper areas.

A couple of weeks ago they sent out warnings about another flowering plant called a "giant hogweed" that has it's origins in Asia but has thoughtfully been brought over by someone and  is now spreading through our region as well as the rest of the country.  It's sap causes extreme blistering which can leave some nasty scars and also can cause blindness if gotten in the eyes.  They're trying to eradicate it before it really gets going.  When I picked the flowers pictured above, which aren't giant hogweed btw, One of Four almost refused to drive home in the same car with the flowers despite the fact that they weren't a known toxin.  When I described them to others they warned me about their potential deadliness being an unknown entity and all.  Sigh.  Well, it's been over 24hrs and I've NOT broken out in a rash, dropped dead or turned into a disfigured monster of any sort.  (Well, because of said plant anyways.)  As for the giant hogweed, it is probably a good idea to get rid of it but honestly, if you know what it is and deal with it properly you'll be okay.  There's poison ivy everywhere here that can have the same effect and I don't see people running screaming from parks.  Perspective.

pls note: although I've used imperial measure for temperatures, and legnths, the "Squirrel Temperature Scale" is metric.

Mud Lake

Click any photo to bigify

I thought it would be a good idea.....hiking around Mud Lake.  I suppose for most people the name of the lake would have sent up warning signs but I'm not that bright.  

We drove down and I had intended on just going for a little walk.  We kept taking paths ending in dead ends.  Eventually we made our way completely around the lake.  It ended up being an hour and a half.  Not bad.  At one point when I knew we were headed in the right direction but not sure exactly where we were we ended up at the pond where we catch bullfrogs which is part of this water system.  We had walked almost all the way home.  We now had to find our way back to where we left the car.

Two of four found a boggy area that had mud like quick sand.  We eventually managed to get her out and retrieve her shoe.  One of Four got stung a couple of times.  The area is infested with poison ivy so it will be interesting to see if anyone gets it.  I don't seem to react to it.....well, not in the past anyhow.  Hopefully they are the same.

The little grey squirrel in the picture jumped out at us along the path and ran at us.  Apparently he's used to being hand fed I suppose as there were peanut shells all over, and I all but had to beat him off with a stick.  He didn't buy that we weren't there to feed him.

Two of the kids don't want to ever go back.  Wimps.

I tried to explain to the 9 sets of kid eyes from the various parts of our neighbourhood and the next that I am NOT keeping any more pets in this house.  We have fish (a gazillion), loaches, 3 rats, triops (pictured above) and a dog.  We do not need to set up a little oasis for garden snails too!  No, I don't care if you beg or promise to take care of them....the answer is still NO!

They set up the "little oasis" anyways.  Complete with lettuce from my fridge and the rest of my spring water intended for the triops that they promised to take care of that I now am (of course!)

"Where should we keep them?" One kid asks that wasn't even my own. 

"Back in the stream where you found them!" I snap.

They're now sitting in a jar on my kitchen table.  In their little "oasis" complete with rocks from my yard, lettuce from my fridge and a couple of flowers from my garden.

That brings me to the reason I haven't gotten much to post in the way of progress on my paintings and the first photo on the post.  9 sets of kids eyes.  Sometimes less and sometimes more are in my house.  On my computer, watching my t.v, running around my basement and my upstairs.  Rumaging through my garden and invading my fridge and cupboards.  Screaming, giggling, fighting, playing, laughing, crying.  It's not like I can get work done with the constant barrage of questions either.

Where did they all come from?  I thought we made only 4!  Sometimes I come home from cycling to find a couple planted in front of my t.v. while mine are all outside.  Their mom doesn't let them indoors when it's nice out so they come here.

"Okay, t.v. goes off now cause I have to get to work, plus it's really nice out you should be outdoors playing." I say to their blank stares.

"You work?"  I can see the question in their eyes as they exchange glances.

"Well, it's almost over.  Like, just 10 more minutes, k?"

Mr. P and I always wanted to have a safe place where the kids could come and play with their friends and where their friends can feel completely at home.  I think we've achieved that.  I just didn't envision that it would include garden snails,  and puppy dog tails, not to mention fish, frogs, triops, bugs and mud.  Lots and lots of mud!!  I was thinking more the sugar and spice and everything nice.

Answers To Questions....

I'm using this as a practise sheet to work out some of the bugs before I start on my good copy.  I did this with my last commission and it was quite helpful.  I'll never work the whole thing, but just some difficult areas to work out the problems as I go on with the good copy.

Okay, I've had so many questions about Kurt from people who either are visiting my house, or read my blog and email me questions, call me and ask, or drop in and blurt them out.  Time to straighten things here and now.

Kurt put up yesterday's drawing not me.  I'm not as good at perspective as he obviously is as shown in his napkin drawing.

I don't know if Kurt is married.  Why?

I don't know if Kurt is gay.  He says not, but if you're interested in a date with him, ask him yourself.

Yes, I have an address I can send his painting to in the famous American city in which he lives.  Whether it's his home or not I don't know.

No I won't go down there and deliver it to him in person.

Yes he has an address that he mails his zine to in the not so famous Canadian city in which I live which may or may not be my home address.  No you can't have my copy, subscribe yourself.

I don't know if he eats it after he picks it, but I suspect (and hope) he's not actually really picking it but just doing it for show.

Maybe he does just photoshop himself into exotic locations just pretending to travel, but I suspect not and who cares, it's still funny.  No I won't do a pixel count comparrison to check and see.

I'm not sure if he owns a car and drives around the congested streets of his city. 

I don't know if he has a job,sugar momma, or how he makes a living.

Yes, that's the bacon blog guy.

And to the person who asked (and asks of everyone)  if a sheep gets in his house, I don't know if there is a shepherd in the famous American city in which he lives to help get it out.  (And people think he's weird!)

No,  I don't want to meet him.  Part of the fun of Kurt is not really knowing who he is, but trying to figure him out.  Were I to actually meet him and find out he does put his pants on one leg at a time, goes to the bathroom and probably even occasionally has flatulence, would make him very ordinary and spoil the fun.

Aren't the most interesting bloggers to follow the ones you have to read over a long period of time to find out little bits about them and what makes them tick?  I'm a people watcher not a people person so blogging is ideal for me. 

So out of the top questions what have I figured out?  Well I can answer only one with complete certainty....YES!  He is the bacon blog guy.  If you want to know more then ask him yourself or order his zine!

P.S.  to Kurt, are your eyes blue or blue-grey?  I need to know for the painting.  Also, are you married, gay, rich, poor, middle class, good with photoshop or illustrator, and have you ever had a sheep in your home?  Just wondering....you know....for the painting.

Kurt's Pick, 2nd attempt

I've started Kurt's Pick a second time, and this time, I'm much happier with how it's turning out. It looked too masterful before, and now it has a restaurant-napkin spontaneity that I really like.

If you're here to see the progress that on "Big" and/or "Kurt's Pick" then GO AWAY!  Arrrrggggg!  Stupid bullfrogs and friggin' Kurt's eyes....

Sorry, it's been one of those days.  To start, we're having multiple family birthdays this week and I was making a cake when the blender decided to have a mind of it's own and spewed cake mix all across the kitchen.

I've decided when my birthday comes later this week that I'm going to take the big leap this year and turn 41 instead of 40 again.  I toyed with the idea of turning 39, but that was so 2004.  Funny thing is that my diabolical plan is working.  Nobody knows how the hell old I really am. 

As for "Big," this guy is a whole new challenge.  He's got so much pink in him it will be hard to make him look like a frog without making the pink stand out too much.  And then there's Kurt.  His eyes are wrong so it's back to the drawing board for him.  Literally.  I think I need to enlarge him and decrease the focus on the background.  The colours on his face are so dark that there is so little definition on his eyes making working them difficult.  It's hard for them not to just become flat.  Last night I had added red to the pupils to increase the depth before adding a dark blue and he looked like Satan.  Makes me with I had gotten a picture.  I suppose what I'm saying is.....see you in a couple of days.

Starting The Colour

Many coloured pencil artists suggest starting with lighter areas.  I like to plunk in some of the darker valued areas to assist me in determining the range in values.  I find working only lights first tends to create an overall painting that ends up being too light and without any punch.  These both are paintings that need punch;-)

Believe it or not, there are already 8 different colours that I've used on various parts of Kurt's face and hands, including various browns, yellow, blue, flesh tones, oranges.  I'll keep layering these and then start adding others such as, deeper oranges, crimsons, reds, more browns and blues, brighter yellows and possibly even green.

I'm currently leaning towards doing the plaid afterall.

A few people have asked me "Why????" when they see the one of Kurt.  (They don't bother asking me when they see the frogs now.  They know those are the ones that sell;-)  Well, it's funny and I like to do paintings that capture the personality of the person I'm painting.  Somehow, though I've never met Kurt, I get the feeling this is a pretty good overall representation of the Kurt we know from his blog.  He's a cartoonist, traveler, former teacher, (He still dresses like one too;-)  and he has a dry sense of humour.

To be fair when I asked him for a copy of this photo to paint after I had seen it on his blog, he asked me if I thought it would be the best one for a painting.  Since I have a gross, bizzare sense of humour I said I did and eventually he kindly granted my request.

Now on to tackling that plaid!

Kurt's Pick and Big

Kurt's Pick

Big

Here's the two new paintings I've started.  The first being part of my "Bloggers Who Pick Their Nose At International Tourist Attractions" series.  The second is part of my "Amphibians In The Hand" series.

At this point the drawings are traced out in black ink and will be transferred onto the good paper in very light pencil.  Even doing it this way sometimes causes the paper to become scored and thus making it more difficult to work.  Also, you want to use the eraser as little as possible as it flattens the tooth of the paper. 

These drawings assist me in locating "landmarks" on the paper that I can use to help with the placement of colour.  Sometimes I use them and sometimes I make changes.  These are by no means what the finished painting will look like.  Often I make changes while rendering the painting with colour.  For example, Kurt's eyes aren't quite what I want and I'll be better able to make the changes when using colour.  Also, I may go cross-eyed and crazy trying to put in all that plaid on Kurt's shirt.  (Well, maybe I should say crazier.)  I may just make his shirt a solid colour.  BUT the lines on his shirt will help in assisting me to determine the directionality of the strokes the pencils should take when I'm working them.  If I were, for instance, just to colour using up and down strokes it would flatten out the painting and draw your attention more to the shirt instead of the intended focal point of the pick.  (That's if I put a shirt on him and draw him as a man.)  As for the bullfrog, he's not wearing plaid.  He'll be the easier one of the two.

I also use this "map" to make some notes with regards to special areas I want to pay close attention to or make sure that I render them in a certain way.  Area's that are to remain white and therefore the paper should remain pristine is an example of this or small features that may easily be missed on the first layer of colour that could make later changes difficult.

To get to this stage in the process takes generally 2 full days (per drawing) depending on the detail and difficulty of the original drawing and whether or not I start off with an adequate photo.  I've lately been working from multiple photos per painting.  This increases the difficulty of the piece.

Wish me luck, or to break a leg or something.  I'm going to need it!

July 1st~ Canada Day

Yesterday was Canada Day.  It was our 143rd birthday.  Queen Elizabeth celebrated with us this year on Parliament Hill.  She looks very.....dusty.  White.  Powdery.  I think she needs some sun! 

There were over 350,000 downtown for the celebrations.  It made moving around interesting to say the least.  Everyone pretty much looks alike dressed in either red or white.  It made keeping an eye on each other difficult. 

We returned home for the afternoon as one can only take so much of that kind of a crowd for so long.  Later that evening we headed back down to Parliament Hill for the fireworks.  I remembered on the bus ride down why I haven't done this since I was a teenager.  I think we might have been the part of only a handful of people on the bus that wasn't blotto!  The last time I went to the Hill on Canada Day there were guys standing on trailers in the downtown  core dancing naked for the crowd.  This time the drunken teens only busted up the bus windows.  We didn't go right down to the Hill itself but watched from a km or so away to avoid the larger crowd.  Glad that earthquake didn't hit yesterday.  I imagine the results would have been drastically different!