Siamese Cat and Butterfly

Happy Friday!

I've had a busy week finishing up this pet portrait commission of a border collie. It was one of those cute dogs with one blue and one brown eye. It turned out rather dramatic.

I also pained a Siamese Cat and butterfly. I was trying to do something a little different, a little askew with the composition. Prints are available here.

Siamese cat and butterfly (acrylic inks)

Hope you've had a fabulous week. We had lovely balmy spring weather but today it started snowing again. Oh well, it does look rather beautiful......

I also decided to post my creative workspace on instagram as part of the #meetthemaker tag - warts and all. I do TRY and keep it tidy but it always explodes into life! I do work better in chaos....I don't know why but I feel so much more creative in chaos.

Well that's my excuse anyway and I'm sticking to it.

Yes of course I can't find anything. And yes of course I frequently put my brush into my cup of tea.

Maybe I should buy these mugs as a reminder of what goes where:

Anyway it doesn't really matter. I can't kill myself as I don't use oil paints......


I share my studio with my guinea pig Marshmallow. I work to a background of squeaks and scrabbles.

What is your workspace like? Do you keep it tidy or not? Do you need chaos to function?


Linking up with Brilliant Blog Posts and Paint Party Friday
 

It's a Raccoon's Life

For those of you who don't know it Pumpkin is an instagram sensation that just won't quit. Yes Pumpkin is a one year old rescue raccoon who after tumbling out of a tree as a baby and after being abandoned by her mother, was adopted by Rosie Kemp.

This adorable raccoon lives with the family dogs Toffee and Oreo and seems to think she's a dog, uses a toilet and loves watermelon. She also has 615,000 instagram followers. You must follow her ....I guarantee you will fall head over heels with this charming girl.

The interesting thing is Pumpkin lives in the Bahamas. At first I thought WHAT? How can a raccoon even live in the Bahamas...wouldn't they be too hot? It seems that raccoons were introduced to the Bahamas at some point a few centuies ago and that this species is now called the Bahaman Raccoon, and is smaller than the more common raccoon. It adapted that way due to a process called insular dwarfism, and has a more delicate skull and a longer snout.

Anyway Pumpkin was such an inspiration to me that I decided to do a portrait of her called 'Raccoon Breakfast' in acrylic inks.

Pumpkin lives an amazing life in the Bahamas, lounging on the sofa with her doggy pals. It's a dog's life...or should that be a Raccoon's Life.

Buy Raccoon Breakfast as cushions, prints and mugs here.

Linking up with Paint Party Friday, My Favorite Pet and Brilliant Blog Posts.


nursery art prints for sale

Superbowl Madness!!

We had an exciting Sunday. The whole country went completely wild for the Superbowl!! Even though I know jack about football I decided to root for the Carolina Panthers because they have a theatrical quarterback called Cam Newton. I don't really understand the rules of American football.

These are the basics: Using the down system, the offense has four downs (essentially four plays) to go 10 yards. If the offensive team advances the ball at least 10 yards in four tries or fewer, the team receives another set of four downs.

If the offense has failed to advance 10 yards after three tries, the team usually punts the ball on the fourth down (a punt is a kick to the opponent without the use of a tee). The other team then begins with its own set of four downs, traveling in the opposite direction.

But I don't really know what any of that means. If you listen to the commentary they talk a lot about tight ends. Are they referring to the posteriors of the players? It's all double dutch to me.

The game stops and starts every few minutes so that it seems like it was invented to show as many adverts as possible and that's OK because adverts are specially made for the Superbowl and they are really good so no complaints there.

Since I could not easily follow the game I stuck to doing what I am best at: stuffing my face at a superbowl party with chips, hotdogs, guacamole, pizza and other artery thickening delights.

Have you ever watched American football and do you like it? And what is a tight end?

In the end the Carolina Panthers didn't get anywhere (the Bronco's whipped their asses) but I felt like painting a big cat so I did this Jaguar (available at Redbubble)

It's great to find admirers of your work on the web. I was thrilled to read a great review of my shop over at Life with Peanut. So do go check it out!!

Linking up to Brilliant Blog Posts.

Fox in the Snow

We have been flooded with snow for the last week. Heaps and heaps. Piles and piles. And then the aftermath was even worse. Either the ploughs didn't come or if they did come they would spray snow all over your sidewalk.

So while I was indoors, claustrophobic and climbling the walls I painted this little fella who is looking at the slow drift of snow flakes. It is available at Redbubble. He was painted in watercolor.

During the snowstorm we also lost one of our two guinea pigs. Yes little brown Peanut has gone to guinea pig heaven. She was such a sweet and gentle little thing. RIP Peanut.

Peanut in the doll's house

Linking up to Brilliant Blog Posts and Paint Party Friday

Snowmageddon!

Flamingo Tango, 18 x 24 inches, acrylic inks

Even though we here in Baltimore are bracing ourselves for 'one of the worst blizzards ever' that is going to hit us today, I still felt compelled to paint a bright, tropical painting that I call Flamingo Tango. It was one of those things where I could have added a lot more detail but I just liked it like this so I left the flamingo's to it.

Things are absolutely crazy. There the shelves have been picked clean in the stores.

I am tucked up as snug as a bug in rug baking cookies and garlic bread. I don't plan on going anywhere. I have enough junk food stockpiled to last the winter! We are predicted to get 18 - 24 inches of snow over the weekend.

I don't really mind the snow that much. The internet usually goes down and all the neighbors are out in the street doing wierd things like talking to each other!! It is a bonding experience and since we don't have a snow blower we will probably need to borrow one from someone at some point. This was me in Snowmaggeddon 2010 (some people have pointed out that while I am busy posing others are slaving away digging up snow) - what can I say I'm more of a poseur than a shoveller!!

UPDATE SATURDAY MORNING

Feeling a bit claustrophic. Have been eating a lot of garlic bread. Watching my neighbor and his snowblower. Only 24 hours to go.

You can see Flamingo Tango in my Etsy shop and prints are also available.

Linking to Just another Linky and  Paint Party Friday

 

Ch-ch-ch-changes

What a sad week, what with the death of David Bowie. I actually had a dream about David Bowie the night before he died so maybe I am a psychic. Not sure. I actually saw him on the cover of a music magazine a week before then and I remember thinking 'God he looks terrible.' Maybe he looked bad because he was suffering from cancer which he hadn't told anyone about. Anyway it was really bad to hear about the passing of such an amazing character.

I was a Bowie fan from about age 13. I loved everything about him. The fact that he was so wierd and so cool at the same time made him irresistible. I even saw him at his Glass Spider tour in 1987 at the massive Wembley Stadium in London but to be honest that was utter chaos. My friend and I were standing near the front looking up at Bowie dressed as a giant spider....very strange.....floating above us in a giant web. Anyway there was a massive surge of fans behind us, we were thrown forward and I lost my shoes in the mud. We got crushed, some people fainted....it was just really insane so I don't really remember anything about that incident just losing my shoes and fainting girls being pulled out of the crowds.

Did you ever see Bowie live? What was it like?

To be honest 69 is not really that young an age to go and he packed a lot into it. What a chameleon. We're none of us as young as we used to be. I'm afraid I have become very absent minded these days. I looked for my car for half an hour in the car park yesterday - and my car is YELLOW. I also recently threw my daughter's retainer in the trash and later had to try and find it (nice). But mainly I am to be found wandering about the house with two pairs of reading glasses on my head asking my kids 'Has anyone seen my glasses?'

What's your memory like these days? 

So it was with some relief that I have learnt that the cure to Alzheimers and Dementia is to quaff champagne. Yes its an actual scientific study that says three glasses of champagne a day will do the trick. So let's all raise our glasses and drink champagne to improve our memory.

I'll leave you with my latest creation, Zebra Splash, painted with acrylic inks. You can buy prints etc in my Redbubble shop.

Let's embrace the ch-ch-changes ....it is sad about David Bowie but I'm sure wherever he is now he is having a fabulous time .....

Linking up to Paint Party Friday and Brilliant Blog Posts.

Happy Fabulous New Year!!

How the mighty have fallen eh? While my kids were at a New Year's Eve Party I gave in to middle age and dozed on the sofa last night. Here's a pic of me:

I watched CNN with Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper. Kathy Griffin was rolling around nude at the side of a pool doing the ice bucket challenge. Then she was just wearing a bra in Times Square. It was all a bit sad and desperate for attention. I thought of all the people crammed into Times Square for hours trying to get on TV. What happens when they have to go to the bathroom? It's probably best not to think about it!

Suffice to say New  Year's Eve passed me by this year. I had been at the National Gallery of Art in DC all day which can be pretty exhausting for an old fart like me.

Christmas Tree and the Capitol

I went with a friend who wanted to see all the Medieval, Renaissance and Mannerism paintings. My favorite was this El Greco. Absolutely amazing! Can you believe this was painted in 1610??

The Laocoön by El Greco 1610-1614

2015 has been a hectic year that has just flown past. I have been doing a ton of pet portraits. Here's my latest one of a golden retriever:

Wishing all my friends a Happy New Year! Remember you are fabulous dahling!!

How did you spend New Year's Eve?

Happy Paint Party Friday. Linking up with Brilliant Blog Posts.