If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother

She begat me and I became her. As a teen, I resisted, as an adult, I’m honored and hope to fill the toes of her shoes.

Wise, gentle, compassionate, I never heard her yell or be rude. Always makes people feel welcomed and wanted.  And at almost 90,  I still have her in my life. At the prodding of a friend,  I thought I’d try a portrait.

First a rough sketch in willow on linen.

Pre- toned canvas, light sienna wash.

Trying to work out the main features in a general way.

The real mom.

Thought I had a good ride with this one so far and then. Then. It all went south and I think I forgot how to paint. Can you forget? Can you forget how to apply the paint. Seems that’s where much of my angst lies. It’s either too thick, too thin, too muddied, too overdone, or just too wrong.  So this tribute to be is not to be. It’s been duly scraped and scrapped.

But let me paint a portrait of her for you with some of her/my favorite expressions and quotes that I still find myself parroting today.

” I’m too light for heavy work, and too heavy for light work “

” One mother can care for 10 children but 1o children can’t care for one mother “

” When in doubt, DON’T “

” The devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know “

” For a marriage to work, the man should love the woman a drop more than the woman loves the man “.

” A woman needs her own pishka * that no one knows about ( * translation from Yiddish- a private stash of your own money – kept even from your husband )

( Hope my husband isn’t reading the last two but if he is…. Hi Honey!  You know I don’t listen to my mother ).

” After 70 there are only two things a man is looking for in a woman- a nurse or a purse, and I’m not going to be either one ” ( This said after my father died )

And after my  commenting doubtfully on a boyfriend much shorter than I, she added ” laying down, they’re all the same height “.

How can you not love the simple truth and beauty of her take on things!?

She is the source of my inspired love of painting, decorating, and general festooning of anything. She has painted walls, lampshades, shoes, canvases, and toilet seats. The latter with thick applications of acrylic paint in the form of flowers thinking we were all asleep.

Some of ” we ” were not. And sat down. And stood up with the seat still stuck to my sitbones.

But seriously, what am I going to do about getting paint onto canvas without suffering the perpetual ” Scrapenheiser Disorder “? Really. Help.

I’ll ask them, see if anyone here can lend an ear.

Surely someone HERE can lend an ear- just look at them!

What Do We Call This Year?

So we popped corks, watched a ball drop on TV, watched Dick Clark need a chair, heard the fireworks, listened to the conch shell be blown….(it’s a  Caribbean tradition and a sketch being started ), and made the usual hasty boo boos in writing the first checks of the new year.

But we still don’t know what to call it or how to welcome the decade. For the past nine years it’s  been two thousand one, two thousand two,  two thousand nine and now?

Now what is it? Twenty-oh ten? Twenty ten? Two thousand and ten? Two thousand ten? It’s unchartered is what it is. We’ve no precedent for how to say it so maybe it will sort itself out or maybe it will go the way time telling has gone. Pre- digital watch wearers told you the time as ” twenty to two “. Now ask anyone wearing a digital watch what time it is and you’ll be told ” one forty “.  Or if you’re in the company of a military person, you might have to take out your abacus and calculate that oh sixteen thirty means you missed your plane.

Or as Carol has mused over, we could still be using Roman Numerals.

Or just say what my elder friend says with a look of fed up disgust when told that something needing fixing will ” take time “.  ” Crap “, she says, ” I don’t have time for time “.

Well anyway you say it, the new year has trotted in and schlepped along with it, a new decade.

Let’s agree that no matter how we say it, read it, or write it, we’ll all do our part to improve some small acreage of this planet we live on.

Because from her head to her crazy toes, Cloud is making the world a much prettier and sweeter place. Let’s follow her lead.

From top

To Bottom

Artists for Animals- St. Croix

Capable Hands oil on canvas- SOLD

Locally Grown – oil on panel – SOLD

Here’s a formula that can’t lose. Take one island. Four thousand unwanted animals per year. Thirty five artists. A newly formed Foundation dedicated to ending pet overpopulation. Oh, and add French food and an open bar.

I’ve been helping to orchestrate  a fund-raiser for the Sunshine Foundation, a St. Croix non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to end pet overpopulation by offering very affordable spay/neuter services to needy families for their pets.

The idea was to have some of the islands’ leading artists show up to three pieces of their work with a portion of the sales going towards the Foundation. Great exposure for the artists, a kick off to the season here, and a chance for the Sunshine Foundation to get their message out to the community.

I was thrilled to have sold the above two paintings to one couple who couldn’t decide so the tie-breaking, decision-making and I might add, very astute husband said ” Let’s buy them both”! Really, why anguish over the obvious!

Great turnout of supporters and flute glass raisers…..

Interested lookers….

Partners in fine crime- Sam, you’re the best!

Photo courtesy of Ted Davis of D&D Studios, St. Croix. Thank you Ted!

Wonder if what happens here is a common gallery experience- the work gets snapped up within the first 45 minutes and after that, it’s mingling, schmoozing, drinking and eating. It’s as though the frenzy of the first purchase overrides the socializing and then conversely, the frenzy of chatting overrides any interest in further buying. Can anyone else chime in on this?

Why hair raising as a tag, you ask?

Because one week before this gala was when my hard drive crashed. As in muerte, morte, dead, don’t even bother, RIP, who’s giving the eulogy kind of dead. Little by little, the hair is growing back from where it’s been pulled, the programs are getting re-installed and I’m forming an all girl group called ” Bonnie and the Back-Ups ” starring me and my 320 gig external hard drive.

So what’re the dog raising, hell raising tags signifying?

That cute little puppy Cloud, happily gnawing on Cubas’ foot, will happily chew on anything that’s in her view. Before it was Cuba’s foot, it was my v-e-r-y expensive pair of prescription sunglasses with the Progressive lenses. She ate both temple pieces, left the frame, the lenses and left  little gnawed stubs of useless plastic that give my glasses that Thalidomide effect.

This is one artist that is for animals- asking permission!

It’s My Hard Drive and I’ll Cry If I Want To…..

You would cry too if it happened to you….

” There are two kinds of people in the world”, the computer repair man said, ” Those who have lost their hard drives and those who haven’t YET”.

Great. So I’m in good company with 300 million other people. I’m not consoled.

And if you’re all saying..” Why, of course she had everything backed up, she’s no fool”, say something else. Backed up some ( my art, important docs, some photos ) but lost most of my photos, all of my music, and essential photo applications are gone. I was four days away from bringing it in for suspicious behavior but had to wait until an event I was organizing was over. It just wouldn’t wait.

” What”, my friend Scott asked, ” The camel couldn’t walk the last mile “???

Another post is coming when new programs arrive.

This is what it looks like when your DOGS crash:

St. Croix This Week- November Cover

They loom, stilts no challenge for their years of training. Mocko Jumbies are the feature of this months’ cover.

Interpreters of superstitions and spirits of  long ago , their contemporaries perform at Jump Up, a four time a year favorite  event.  I found a great video

on You Tube that gives you an idea of their height and irresistible street cred.

Here’s a link to the ” About the Artist ” page on the inside of the magazine- a place for shameless self promotion, or another tear sheet for my only heir to ruminate over keeping or using it as a book mark.

St. Croix LAST week was the destination for 5 visiting friends, so I took in some beach time, photo time, dining out time, and no painting time. I HAD no time.

What I did have was an additional perspective of where I live through another’s eyes. Mary of 2FramesperSecond, dedicated to the Canon G7, montage’d the synopsis. ( Pay attention, Cloud lovers…this means you, Jala )

Thought to be milkweed bugs, nevermind that thought. Don calls them love bugs, as  you’ll read in his comment below and I call them push-me pull-yous. As graphically beautiful as African Masks.

Now another PS: this edit in from dear friend Scott who knows everything flora, fauna, and food, what he states is the scientific name:

“The push-me-pull-you insects are “true bugs” – that’s the correct entomological term for them  – “bugs.” They belong to the Hemiptera group of arthropods. They all have piercing-sucking mouthparts. These are found on Malvaceous plants; hibiscus and their kin, especially the beachside Hibiscus tiliacea – the tree with hibiscus-like yellow flowers.” Thanks, Scott. ( love my smart friends )

Water on wood, photographer (me ) on assignment.

Several photographers on assignment, actually. Two friends are photographers for the AP, shooting opposing teams for the World Series. Just made it here by the grace of Game 6, Game over.

A typical scene at the dinner table:

The G7 Summit

Love this group- they never sit around for too long.

Time spent with family…..

Animals triangulated, moment seized by Lobo. Thanks Judy.

Yes, they’re both real. And that Cloud is a Purina contract waiting to happen.

Be looking for some lovely watercolors from this visit by Carolking, who will now be forced to publish them on her blog sooner than she may have wished.

You Been Axin’ Where I’ve Been?

Not painting. That’s where. Here’s the winter line up so far: Major outside land overhaul, some with help, much of it by my own hand.

To the tune of ” Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend”

” A kiss on the cheek may be quite continental, But a pick ax is a girls best friend”.

Yup, pickin’ and axin’ for back trouble but the good things grow as fast as the unwanted ones so you have to work fast after the land is cleared. All 39 holes dug and filled. Quick before those relentless snake plants take over again. Here, they’re referred to as Mother in Law Tongues. ( that’s only if the son in law is a jerk ).

More beds defiled of unwanted invaders and enhanced with things I actually like looking at:

Done. Actually the bottle of Advil is empty.

Next on the lineup: Coordinating a considerable size art show as a fund raiser for a newly formed non profit organization called the Sunshine Foundation. They provide much needed low cost spay/neuter services for those families who otherwise could not afford it. Overpopulation and feral packs of animals are a blight here.

” Artists For Animals” is going to be held on December 5th in a beautiful gallery space here. We’ve received eager responses from 32 of the islands most sought after artists to show for a one night event.

Pulling this together has many of the same characteristics as herding cats and collecting spilled mercury from a broken thermometer ( yes, before digitals ). I’m putting three of my newest pieces in the show and luckily they’re already completed.

And then, and then, the arrival next week of FIVE, yes FIVE friends from NY and Boston who expect to sleep in beds devoid of spider webs, mold, unidentifiable rust spots, and wish also to eat, and even imbibe in some beverages generally associated with vacation.

I’m in uber-cleaning, shopping, vacuuming, laundry mode ( damn where’s that bottle of Advil and Advil PM?)

Three of the five are friends first but also fellow bloggers:

Judy of Lobos Rants, Carol of Carolking, and Mary of 2Frames per Second

Away went the paints, easel, dropcloths and the nasty detritus of an oil painters warren to allocate sleeping space on the Murphy Bed in my studio which will become a photographers’ dorm since both Mary and Elise are professional photographers.

Fearful that my painting hand would not only atrophy but strike at midnight for better care and, well, some kind of recognition from it’s owner, this same owner thought it a good idea to try something in watercolor. Much less to take out and put away.  I’ve been a long time fan of Peggi Kroll Roberts and the gorgeously simple way she sees shifts of color and values. I’ve had some of her postcards on my bulletin board for a few years and have been reading about her terrific workshops of late, taken by Faye Christian Phillips and Ed Terpening. Ed’s comes with a video demo by Peggi- very cool.

I’ve tried an imitation as I don’t know how better to flatter her and thank her for her great work. It’s not that I want to paint like her as much as I want to SEE like she does.

So Peggi, pardon the pedestrian-ness but here’s to you!

Peggi’s

Not Peggi :

Well, excuse me, but I’m off to find little paper umbrellas for beverages  for friends who think they’re coming to the Tiki room or something……

St.Croix This Week – A Magazine Cover

So what if it’s published once every two months and calls itself St. Croix This Week.

Everyone knows time takes its time here.

A week can seem like two months when you’re trying to schedule a phone repair. Or tracking down the last ream of laser printer paper until the ship ” literally ” comes in. But I’ll not pick the nit of ceremony being stood on about it’s title.

It’s a great publication, generously heaped around the island at hotels, shops, offices, public places and our only airport. It’s free, glossy, informative and a favorite of tourists and residents.

Nice exposure, half a page on the inside for a personal blurb and photos of some of my current work. When the November issue comes out, it will have the same inside content but the cover will be the second one I did.

So follow along: this month you’re seeing the one I did for October, at the end of October the one I did for November will be out and at this rate, 2 months = 8 weeks=2 covers.

The theme for this cover was our Sunset Jazz Concerts one Friday of every month. I used gouache and pen and ink. Gouache has the best properties of water color and tempera. Thin or thick. Water-y or opaque. Was great fun and whimsy.

Any busier, and I’d be a…….

They’re busy too.

It’s called How to Conduct Successful Negotiations as a Domesticated House Pet.

I think the pup has more reading to do. The cat has long embraced ennui.

Place Your Money Here

How to turn a generic, unexciting plexiglass donation box into something that you’d feel guilty NOT putting change or a bill or two in.

Can’t rely on puppy faces or kitty poses. It’s all about fresh food for our island.

I spend every Saturday volunteering with the VI Farmers Coop at the produce tables, connecting locally grown vegetables and fruits to locally eager shoppers.

I’d never painted on plexiglass before and didn’t know if the paint would adhere. What kind of paint? Some online research pointed to acrylic. No drawing, just fearless brushes, my favorite Sta- Wet Palette and artistic latitude with fruit pigmentation. After I painted the outside, it occurred to me that the colors would pop more if they were on black. So I painted the inside black. Not only a forgiving surface for painting, but great fun- something I haven’t felt about oils lately.

The perfect triad: We buy fresh food, farmers do what they love and make a living at it, and none of these characters have to go homeless again…….

Or would you still rather have a puppy?

Post Partum Post Script

This isn’t primarily my news although I’m involved, I’m not the focus. The focus is a new person, 8 and a half pounds new. Born on Labor Day Weekend. And one of the surprises that I couldn’t reveal on my last post.

Some may remember a painting I did a little over a year ago called CaptuRED. You can read the complete post here.

It was bought as a surprise by a friend for his lady who had admired it. She was told for years that she couldn’t bear children and had resigned herself to accepting  that as final.

The night the painting arrived, she made liars out of a Rolodexs’ worth of doctors’ names. Women know when ” something happened “.  Little Quinn was born 9 months later.

Now on her way to having what she calls ” Irish Twins”,  she was expecting their second baby right about now. This time SHE contacted me and said she wanted to buy another painting as a surprise for her man, knowing she was having another boy. This is the one she thought he’d like.

Shallow Water

So Labor Day Weekend, her labor produced a brother for Quinn. Since they both read my blog, and tried to get a leg up on the mysterious lack of detail in the last post, HE thought SHE thought that HE was surprising her with another painting.

She had the last laugh and probably the last full night of sleep for the next 18 years.

I think the next painting I do, should be of a full time nanny accompanied by a houseman.

Bet they’d fall over themselves to buy it first.

Congratulations Sean and Toni! And thank you too.

Second Cover- Gouache and Ink

The second cover completed but shown only in stages. Can’t reveal the finished piece until it’s published in September.

I used gouache for it’s richness of color, washiness similar to water color, and it’s compatibility for canvas board and drying quickly. It had to be finished and photo ready- can’t use oils.

Theme: Sunset Jazz in Frederiksted

. Once a month, the best local jazz performers hold an informal concert as the sun sets on the western end of the island. We bring chairs, blankets, Off, ( what did you think? ), and open ears. Free, and delightful.

I did small studies in a notebook to establish a color story and rescue my watercolor technique from the morgue. The beauty of gouache is that you can water it down or lay it on.

Did a larger sketch to place the key figures and work out details.

Then I hit the canvas board with pen and ink, ready to place the actual colors on the finished piece.

So now you’ve got hair and make-up but you can’t see the dress until the not fat lady at the magazine says ” I’m Singing “.

It’s otherwise  summer torpor,

new puppyitis,

and watching geckos eating mangos.

One more secret confession: I’ve sold a painting that also can’t be revealed as it’s a surprise from the person who bought it to someone who reads this blog.

More fodder for a September post.