Today felt like fall. The horses are getting fuzzy. This was the first day I wore jeans all day and did not change into shorts. Then again I am also not feeling all that great today, but I'm hoping that's because I go to bed too late all the time or something. I heard this novel idea called "go to bed earlier" so I think I might try that out tonight. I refuse to get sick, that will not be convenient. Tomorrow will be better, I'm sure...
Actually tomorrow I have to take birds to auction, which means getting up at 5am, which pretty much sucks. Only seven birds going, all young roosters that didn't make the cut for show birds. It hardly seems worth the trip, but it's seven fewer cockadoodledoodlers, and it will free up a couple of pens.
I got a big shipment of art supplies today that I had ordered, that's always fun. Turns out there were some colors of Prismacolors that I didn't know about. *gasp!* I usually just get those locally and they don't have the new colors. I also ordered some Pablo pencils, and if I like them I'd consider getting a full set and adding them to my collection so that I can have an extremely full color range. I'm pretty well committed to colored pencils, so it's not as though I'd be buying something I might never use again! I am rethinking how to keep them organized though. At the moment they are all out on my drafting table, each color in its own little section, flat on the table. I really do like this arrangement, it suits my working style quite well. On the downside, it takes up a rather large area of the table (ok if I'm doing smaller work, not okay otherwise), and I'm limited in how many colors I can keep out at once. So I'd like to either attach some sort of bins around the outer perimeter of the table (which would probably be a disaster, because I don't know how to do that, so I'd cobble something up and it would last a couple weeks and then fall off) or maybe I just need a small set of fairly flat drawers to sit on top of the large set of drawers (you know, I myself am thinking "ha ha, she said 'drawers'... you know, like undies?! So probably other people are thinking that too). I can't put pencils in the large drawers, they are too hard to reach down there. OMG, I'm going to fall off the chair I'm laughing so hard now. "oh no, I can't get these pencils out of my drawers!" Curse whoever gave that word so many meanings. :-O
ANYWAY........ the gist of that was I need a bigger work space and more storage, so I'll have to poke around and look for ideas. Little canisters would be cool (to store them upright) except when my pencils get too short and then I'd lose them. Hmmmmmmmmmm.
I got a bunch of paper too, I needed to restock on Stonehenge paper, and I also bought some velour paper and something that was on sale and advertised as "translucent pastel paper." Weird. It's gray, but translucent, sort of like a cross between vellum and parchment, but toothier. Not sure what I'll do with it but it sounded too neat to turn down. I'm a bit disappointed by the velour paper, I'd hoped it would be heavier. Working with floppy paper makes me nervous. I should have gotten the velour board instead, but I'll give it whirl if I can actually talk myself into trying pastels at some point. I've seen some graphite work on velour too and it was WOW amazing. It's fuzzy!
Ok, time to see how that "go to bed earlier" thing works.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Frog on the window!
They're just so cute! Actual size about an inch long. Those golden eyes are so cool!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
daily dose of cuteness
(this one below is a view from the top)
Who can resist the cuteness of an upside-down sleeping cat? :-)
I've been really busy..not much to write about lately. I still haven't unpacked completely from the art show. Looks like I'll be hanging a bunch of work at an office in downtown Sacramento starting on Sunday (through the end of December). More info on that later... Since the walls here are covered with my own work they are going to be pretty barren for a while. That's okay. Maybe I'll sell something!
The Lemon Blue Old English are totally done now, I scanned them today. Next up are *more* Silkies. Yeesh. Then two more pairs of Old English, and as far as I know that's it. Wow. How weird that will be. I'm off schedule but still within the timeframe as long as I don't stray much farther off. I am really busting my butt to get this stuff done by the mid November deadline.
I'm feeling quite guilty about not getting in any horse work these days, I NEED to do that. Not just that I feel obligated to work on Dusty's training, but I ought to be out riding Shylah every day, and I just can't fit it in right now. Aaaaack. This the crazy of time of year, crazier this year. I haven't talked about the Europe trip, but it's coming up...soon... I probably won't say too much until I'm back with a million photographs. And then the poultry shows start, and then Indiana, and then the holidays, it's all a whirlwind! :-)
Award Donation
Quite some time ago I'd agreed to donate a framed BBRed Rosecomb print to the Rosecomb Bantam Federation to use as an award at their national meet (the BIG Indiana Show in November). But the more I got to thinking about that the more I didn't like it, because I wanted to put in something more special. So... here ya go, an original! I'll need to frame it, but there's plenty of time.
colored pencil, graphite, ink (pen and inkjet printer)
tan stonehenge paper
whole thing is 4.5 x 6.5 inches
colored pencil, graphite, ink (pen and inkjet printer)
tan stonehenge paper
whole thing is 4.5 x 6.5 inches
Monday, September 25, 2006
Draft Horse Classic recap
Alrighty, well I tallied up the sales, and it's always interesting to see what does best. As far as prints go, it was a 50/50 split between chicken art and horse art. With the note cards, which are the item sold in the largest quantity, it was 51% horse art, 39% chicken art, and 10% other art (dogs and wildlife). The top selling card is the same every year: "That'll be the day" (BBRed Rosecomb). Last year I sold a ton of "My Foot!" cards (cat), and this year not a single one. It's very unpredictable. "My Foot!" and the b/w Nellie photo are two of the images that receive the most compliments, and yet even though I have them on cards, mugs, etc, I sold none or very few. Weird. Thank goodness for note cards, and for the chicken art. I am getting repeat customers, and a few told me they come there just to see my stuff. That's totally awesome, it's really a huge compliment. People really like the chicken stuff, it's definitely my reputation now, and I still get a lot of nice comments that people enjoy the variety of work that I have in my booth.
Here's my booth:
So the show lasted four days. The first was pathetic, the second wasn't much better, but thankfully the weekend was much better. I stayed in town this year with fellow Wilton artist Stacy Maeda and her mother Marilyn, and that was a lot of fun getting to know them better. And I sure didn't miss the commute! It took about 4.5 hours to set up, and 2.5 hours to take it all down. The boxes were a little lighter on the way home, but there's still a lot left!
I did a lot of drawing during the show, and got a lot done (finished the pair of Lemon Blue Old English Game Bantams). It's hard to work there, the lighting is poor, the chair is uncomfortable, etc, but I think it's something people enjoy seeing, and I'd be bored out of my gourd if I didn't do anything! My concern about it though is that people are hesitant to "bother me" while I'm working, and really I'm okay with being interrupted for purchases! But I feel uncomfortable just sitting there doing nothing while people are browsing, so I guess it works out.
Normally I barely get to go out and see the horses at all. Being up there alone (other than on the last day) I can't very well leave my booth unless it's really quiet time and I get a neighbor to watch things. But this year since I was staying in town I attended the Thursday night horse show with a bunch of the other artists, and since the show didn't start til noon on Friday I was able to get to the fairgrounds early and watch a lot of the morning halter class, and wander around the barns taking photographs (during the big exhibition shows the barns are closed off, which makes it impossible to take photos!). It was cool and very windy that morning, and the horses were definitely feeling it!
Waiting their turn at the wash rack:
Spotted Draft Horse. I "spotted" this guy and his matching buddy Thursday night in the driving competition, and was pretty wowed by their look.
I was in a new location this time. For four years my booth was in the same spot in the building, and I just never felt that I fit in down there. Everyone was very nice, don't get me wrong, but I felt it was time to try out a new location, so I asked to be moved down to the other end (plus it was fun to get the Wilton artists next to each other, and that made it easy to booth-sit as needed). So I got to know a new crowd this year, and they were a hoot. I hope to be in that same place next year, I really enjoyed that crowd.
The wild bunch: left to right, Diane Hausmann and Laurence Vincent, Sharon and Bob Hunt, Lesley Harrison, Marilyn Maeda, John Keller, me, Greg (sorry Greg I don't know your last name!). Not pictured is artist Stacy Maeda.
Oh, and I also decided to bring everyone chocolate chip cookies Thursday morning (I baked them Wednesday night). Holy moly. What a great way to get to know everyone! Tee hee! They pestered me for more all weekend. I think next year I'd better make a double recipe, and I'd better make darn sure I bring some or they are all going to shoot me! What have I done?! I've created monsters! ;-)
So, all in all, a great show, despite my initial concerns. I haven't managed to unpack yet, but I'll get there. I really love that show, the people are wonderful and there is SO much good art there. I heard that comment from a lot of visitors too, that they had never seen so much good art in one place. I'm looking forward to next year. I WILL be entering a chicken drawing next year!!! ;-)
A bit of sad news though... "Twinkie," my Old English Game Bantam, died while I was gone. It was a freak accident, nothing anyone could have predicted or done anything about. Poor Twinkie, I liked that little bird. :-(
Here's my booth:
So the show lasted four days. The first was pathetic, the second wasn't much better, but thankfully the weekend was much better. I stayed in town this year with fellow Wilton artist Stacy Maeda and her mother Marilyn, and that was a lot of fun getting to know them better. And I sure didn't miss the commute! It took about 4.5 hours to set up, and 2.5 hours to take it all down. The boxes were a little lighter on the way home, but there's still a lot left!
I did a lot of drawing during the show, and got a lot done (finished the pair of Lemon Blue Old English Game Bantams). It's hard to work there, the lighting is poor, the chair is uncomfortable, etc, but I think it's something people enjoy seeing, and I'd be bored out of my gourd if I didn't do anything! My concern about it though is that people are hesitant to "bother me" while I'm working, and really I'm okay with being interrupted for purchases! But I feel uncomfortable just sitting there doing nothing while people are browsing, so I guess it works out.
Normally I barely get to go out and see the horses at all. Being up there alone (other than on the last day) I can't very well leave my booth unless it's really quiet time and I get a neighbor to watch things. But this year since I was staying in town I attended the Thursday night horse show with a bunch of the other artists, and since the show didn't start til noon on Friday I was able to get to the fairgrounds early and watch a lot of the morning halter class, and wander around the barns taking photographs (during the big exhibition shows the barns are closed off, which makes it impossible to take photos!). It was cool and very windy that morning, and the horses were definitely feeling it!
Waiting their turn at the wash rack:
Spotted Draft Horse. I "spotted" this guy and his matching buddy Thursday night in the driving competition, and was pretty wowed by their look.
I was in a new location this time. For four years my booth was in the same spot in the building, and I just never felt that I fit in down there. Everyone was very nice, don't get me wrong, but I felt it was time to try out a new location, so I asked to be moved down to the other end (plus it was fun to get the Wilton artists next to each other, and that made it easy to booth-sit as needed). So I got to know a new crowd this year, and they were a hoot. I hope to be in that same place next year, I really enjoyed that crowd.
The wild bunch: left to right, Diane Hausmann and Laurence Vincent, Sharon and Bob Hunt, Lesley Harrison, Marilyn Maeda, John Keller, me, Greg (sorry Greg I don't know your last name!). Not pictured is artist Stacy Maeda.
Oh, and I also decided to bring everyone chocolate chip cookies Thursday morning (I baked them Wednesday night). Holy moly. What a great way to get to know everyone! Tee hee! They pestered me for more all weekend. I think next year I'd better make a double recipe, and I'd better make darn sure I bring some or they are all going to shoot me! What have I done?! I've created monsters! ;-)
So, all in all, a great show, despite my initial concerns. I haven't managed to unpack yet, but I'll get there. I really love that show, the people are wonderful and there is SO much good art there. I heard that comment from a lot of visitors too, that they had never seen so much good art in one place. I'm looking forward to next year. I WILL be entering a chicken drawing next year!!! ;-)
A bit of sad news though... "Twinkie," my Old English Game Bantam, died while I was gone. It was a freak accident, nothing anyone could have predicted or done anything about. Poor Twinkie, I liked that little bird. :-(
Sunday, September 24, 2006
recovery
Well, I am back from Draft Horse Classic! I'm waaaayyyy too tired to write much tonight, but after quickly adding things up it looks like I had my best year ever. Woo hoo! That surprised me, since it started out really slow for me. Thursday was a waste of time, Friday wasn't much better, but the weekend picked up a lot. "Oregon Wade" and "The First of Spring" both placed third in their classes, and "Oregon Wade" sold. Since it's an etching, there are still more originals available though (19 more!) I'll have to tally everything up and see what did best, but off the top of my head I'm going to say the chicken art did better than the horse art, we'll see.
I had a lot of fun this year, my booth was in a different location, and it's amazing how different parts of the building have different personalities, I was in a WAY more fun area this time around and I will definitely request that location next year!
I'll have some pics later.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I had a lot of fun this year, my booth was in a different location, and it's amazing how different parts of the building have different personalities, I was in a WAY more fun area this time around and I will definitely request that location next year!
I'll have some pics later.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
show time
Well, cross your fingers, cross your toes, think happy thoughts and wish me luck! It's Draft Horse Classic time! Come visit me! Nevada County Fairgrounds, Grass Valley CA.
Art show hours:
Thursday noon-5pm
Friday noon-8pm
Saturday 9am-8pm
Sunday 9am-5pm
Or something like that...
Art show hours:
Thursday noon-5pm
Friday noon-8pm
Saturday 9am-8pm
Sunday 9am-5pm
Or something like that...
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
ranting
So here I am in the middle of packing stuff for DHC setup tomorrow, and I'm running off a bunch of fliers and stuff, and the printer runs out of ink. So I zip into town to get some new ink, only I can't find the appropriate color cartridge. I got the black one, and the sales guy handed me another color cartridge and assured me it would work. "But it's not the right number" I say. "Don't worry" he says, "they just don't list all the printers on the box." Grumble grumble...okay, if you say so.
It doesn't fit. Totally the wrong size. I managed to run off probably all that need for the moment after replacing the black ink, but now it's stopped again since the color cartridge is out.
I had better be able to return an opened box of ink or I am going to be PISSED OFF. I don't have time to go into town again today though, so it's going to have to wait. Ugh!!!!!!
It doesn't fit. Totally the wrong size. I managed to run off probably all that need for the moment after replacing the black ink, but now it's stopped again since the color cartridge is out.
I had better be able to return an opened box of ink or I am going to be PISSED OFF. I don't have time to go into town again today though, so it's going to have to wait. Ugh!!!!!!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
crazy weekend
I think I actually fell asleep several hours ago (mentally anyway) but I've been zombie-ing around all evening anyway.
I delivered my art to Grass Valley on Saturday, and then stopped at an office supply place on the way home to pick up some lights (my booth is usually one of the least well lit at that show). They didn't have enough lights in stock but I remembered about a zillion other things I needed and managed to run up a rather large bill. Great. I need to try another place tomorrow and see if I can acquire more lights.... hmm, better get some extension cords too. I'll probably remember a million more things I need. On the other hand, every year there are fewer and fewer things I need to buy in order set the booth up.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning this room for the eighty millionth time (every time I got it almost clean I had to do some more work in here, like framing, and then I totally turned it into a disaster again), and I cut out the pastry dough for the cookies, packaged up a few prints, and then even squeezed in a little time drawing Lemon Blue Old English. Went to bed at 12:30...ugh!
Up at 7:30 today, and after feeding the critters I started right in baking cookies. I made 105 of them, and didn't end up with many left! :-) They are quite possibly one of the most wonderful cookies in the universe, but the downside is they are at the prime for only a day--wonderfully crispy and flaky, sweet and tart all at the same time. But they don't freeze well and they don't store well so I can only make them when they will all get eaten in one day, so they've become my designated meeting-cookie.
Apricot Kolatchky, a.k.a. Auntie Lulu's Apricot Cookies
(no, I can't post the recipe, family secret)
ready for baking....
Fresh out of the oven, OMG they smell so good!
Sugared and arranged!
MMmmmmmmmm!
The last the poultry people staggered out around 4, and I could have easily curled up on the floor and not woken up til tomorrow, but alas there was too much to do. I passed the time during the meeting itself by folding cards. Not sure how many, several hundred. It took me about an hour and a half, so I was glad I got that done during the meeting. Later in the day I bagged them all, and packed up a few sale items, and managed only a very small amount of time drawing (crap! I'm off schedule again!)
There's still a LOT of work to do, I need to pack a bunch of things, make price tags and labels, and for that matter just figure out what I'm taking! I have to figure out if everything will fit on the 8' table I reserved, and map out the layout for how to hang the artwork on the walls (this saves me SO much time during setup). I get completely stressed out by this art show prep, but it always seems to come together okay. Oh, note to self, get another 8.5x11 portfolio...
I'll need to bring some artwork up there to work on during the show. It helps to pass the time, and people seem to enjoy watching someone draw (I would think it would be quite boring...) I guess the obvious answer would be to take the Lemon Blues. I didn't want to work on Standard stuff up there for several reasons but I think I might have to just to keep on schedule. I have a few other things that need to be done and I'd hoped to take one of them, but... deadlines a-looming. We'll see.
Absolutely nothing to report about horses or chickens, it's been all I can do to get out there and feed the last few days! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
I do need to make a slight rant here, and that is that in general people really need to learn how to RSVP. I won't elaborate because if I do then I'll just get long-winded (I do that when I'm tired). So I'll just leave it at that. RSVP, really, do it, it makes the hostess much less cranky.
I gotta go to bed, I have approximately ninety million things to do tomorrow.
I delivered my art to Grass Valley on Saturday, and then stopped at an office supply place on the way home to pick up some lights (my booth is usually one of the least well lit at that show). They didn't have enough lights in stock but I remembered about a zillion other things I needed and managed to run up a rather large bill. Great. I need to try another place tomorrow and see if I can acquire more lights.... hmm, better get some extension cords too. I'll probably remember a million more things I need. On the other hand, every year there are fewer and fewer things I need to buy in order set the booth up.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning this room for the eighty millionth time (every time I got it almost clean I had to do some more work in here, like framing, and then I totally turned it into a disaster again), and I cut out the pastry dough for the cookies, packaged up a few prints, and then even squeezed in a little time drawing Lemon Blue Old English. Went to bed at 12:30...ugh!
Up at 7:30 today, and after feeding the critters I started right in baking cookies. I made 105 of them, and didn't end up with many left! :-) They are quite possibly one of the most wonderful cookies in the universe, but the downside is they are at the prime for only a day--wonderfully crispy and flaky, sweet and tart all at the same time. But they don't freeze well and they don't store well so I can only make them when they will all get eaten in one day, so they've become my designated meeting-cookie.
Apricot Kolatchky, a.k.a. Auntie Lulu's Apricot Cookies
(no, I can't post the recipe, family secret)
ready for baking....
Fresh out of the oven, OMG they smell so good!
Sugared and arranged!
MMmmmmmmmm!
The last the poultry people staggered out around 4, and I could have easily curled up on the floor and not woken up til tomorrow, but alas there was too much to do. I passed the time during the meeting itself by folding cards. Not sure how many, several hundred. It took me about an hour and a half, so I was glad I got that done during the meeting. Later in the day I bagged them all, and packed up a few sale items, and managed only a very small amount of time drawing (crap! I'm off schedule again!)
There's still a LOT of work to do, I need to pack a bunch of things, make price tags and labels, and for that matter just figure out what I'm taking! I have to figure out if everything will fit on the 8' table I reserved, and map out the layout for how to hang the artwork on the walls (this saves me SO much time during setup). I get completely stressed out by this art show prep, but it always seems to come together okay. Oh, note to self, get another 8.5x11 portfolio...
I'll need to bring some artwork up there to work on during the show. It helps to pass the time, and people seem to enjoy watching someone draw (I would think it would be quite boring...) I guess the obvious answer would be to take the Lemon Blues. I didn't want to work on Standard stuff up there for several reasons but I think I might have to just to keep on schedule. I have a few other things that need to be done and I'd hoped to take one of them, but... deadlines a-looming. We'll see.
Absolutely nothing to report about horses or chickens, it's been all I can do to get out there and feed the last few days! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
I do need to make a slight rant here, and that is that in general people really need to learn how to RSVP. I won't elaborate because if I do then I'll just get long-winded (I do that when I'm tired). So I'll just leave it at that. RSVP, really, do it, it makes the hostess much less cranky.
I gotta go to bed, I have approximately ninety million things to do tomorrow.
Friday, September 15, 2006
framed!
I spent many many hours framing today, including the two pieces that were accepted into the Draft Horse Classic art show, which I will be delivering up there tomorrow... By the time I see them again on Wednesday they might be judged (well, they will, but the awards may not be out yet). And if a miracle happens I won't be bringing them home with me next Sunday! :-) (cross your fingers). These photos are not to scale, "The First of Spring" is considerably larger than "Oregon Wade."
"The First of Spring" colored pencil & graphite
"Oregon Wade" intaglio etching
I have to complain about the weather. It's totally amazingly wonderful, and I don't have a spare five minutes to go out and enjoy it or work the horses lately. I am up to my eyeballs getting ready for DHC, and trying to get ready to host a meeting on Sunday (why did I agree to this?) Aaaaaaaack!
"The First of Spring" colored pencil & graphite
"Oregon Wade" intaglio etching
I have to complain about the weather. It's totally amazingly wonderful, and I don't have a spare five minutes to go out and enjoy it or work the horses lately. I am up to my eyeballs getting ready for DHC, and trying to get ready to host a meeting on Sunday (why did I agree to this?) Aaaaaaaack!
Thursday, September 14, 2006
The horses
Looks like a committee meeting of some sort, but it was more like forced bonding. I tied them all to the same place (with a fence between each) and left them there for 4 hours. I doubt it'll solve their issues or anything, but it was good for them.
Frogs!!!
There are frogs EVERYWHERE this year, like this one that was in one of the chicken water bowls. That didn't seem like a good idea since I'd just put some birds in there, so I relocated it to a sprinkler on the lawn.
There are at least 3 frogs that live in the house at least part of the time. It's very funny, when the door is opened in the evening they go outside, and they stay out all night, and when the door is re-opened in the morning (to let cool air in) they are right there in the doorway and then they come back in and get inside the plant!
There are at least 3 frogs that live in the house at least part of the time. It's very funny, when the door is opened in the evening they go outside, and they stay out all night, and when the door is re-opened in the morning (to let cool air in) they are right there in the doorway and then they come back in and get inside the plant!
A Chicken Post
I warned you this would happen when I got my camera back! These are in no particular order, I don't have time to be that creative.
I finally got all the cockerels moved into the conditioning coop. There are, let's see, 7 Blacks, 1 Brassy Back, 3 Blue Brassy Backs, and 8 BBReds. NOT all of these will end up being as good as I want them to be! In fact, at this point I'm not that thrilled with any of them. These are the two oldest BBReds... they're not bad:
A BBRed pullet:
This is one of the Brassy Back "sports" out of the purebred Blacks. He's too dark to be shown as a Brassy, but I'll probably use him or the other male (not pictured) for breeding Brassies, I'll see which one ends up being better quality:
A future champion? Hard to tell at this age!
They spend a lot of time grooming themselves:
Blue Brassy Backs:
A breeding stock Brown Red pullet:
Hello chicken!
Closeup of one of the Blue Silver Duckwing pullets:
The 50% Rosecomb/50% Dominique F2 pullet. Too dark right now but she may end up decent... too early to know. I have my doubts about her though:
One of the 75% Rosecomb cuckoo pullets:
This might be the same one pictured above, I'm not sure (flash made her color look too light):
This was the most well marked of the "too dark" Cuckoo males. And then he sprouted a whole bunch of red feathers. Off to auction!:
Twinkie, the Silver Duckwing Old English.
Twinkie's son, who I thought was a Silver Duckwing but now I wonder is he a Golden Duckwing??? (if so, how on earth did that happen):
Eddie (10.5 years old), king of his domain.
The best of the "too light" Cuckoo cockerels, unfortunately this guy has a lot of solid black feathers. I'll hang onto him. He's fairly small and typey, which I like:
And suddenly there was a chicken on my knee!:
Probably my best colored Cuckoo male... something wrong with his comb, ha ha! He's a 50% Dominique F2... single combed. Should I use him for breeding??
I finally got all the cockerels moved into the conditioning coop. There are, let's see, 7 Blacks, 1 Brassy Back, 3 Blue Brassy Backs, and 8 BBReds. NOT all of these will end up being as good as I want them to be! In fact, at this point I'm not that thrilled with any of them. These are the two oldest BBReds... they're not bad:
A BBRed pullet:
This is one of the Brassy Back "sports" out of the purebred Blacks. He's too dark to be shown as a Brassy, but I'll probably use him or the other male (not pictured) for breeding Brassies, I'll see which one ends up being better quality:
A future champion? Hard to tell at this age!
They spend a lot of time grooming themselves:
Blue Brassy Backs:
A breeding stock Brown Red pullet:
Hello chicken!
Closeup of one of the Blue Silver Duckwing pullets:
The 50% Rosecomb/50% Dominique F2 pullet. Too dark right now but she may end up decent... too early to know. I have my doubts about her though:
One of the 75% Rosecomb cuckoo pullets:
This might be the same one pictured above, I'm not sure (flash made her color look too light):
This was the most well marked of the "too dark" Cuckoo males. And then he sprouted a whole bunch of red feathers. Off to auction!:
Twinkie, the Silver Duckwing Old English.
Twinkie's son, who I thought was a Silver Duckwing but now I wonder is he a Golden Duckwing??? (if so, how on earth did that happen):
Eddie (10.5 years old), king of his domain.
The best of the "too light" Cuckoo cockerels, unfortunately this guy has a lot of solid black feathers. I'll hang onto him. He's fairly small and typey, which I like:
And suddenly there was a chicken on my knee!:
Probably my best colored Cuckoo male... something wrong with his comb, ha ha! He's a 50% Dominique F2... single combed. Should I use him for breeding??
Ooooooh!
Shirts are now available in cardinal!!! Purty!
I have several more images to add, but probably won't get a chance til after DHC (after Sept 24).
I have several more images to add, but probably won't get a chance til after DHC (after Sept 24).
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
an early ambition
There have been four careers that I have wanted in my life. The art thing was always there, ever since I could create art as a little kid. But there were other ambitions too, although the art ambition was right there too all along (I was one of very few who never changed my major!).
There was writing, though that was pretty much only in conjunction with art (writing and illustrating kids books). I think I probably started wanting to do this when I was a kid myself, and I remember still thinking about it in high school, but then I kinda lost interest. Maybe lack of exposure to kids, maybe I can't write that simply! I had teachers in elementary school who swore I would write a novel some day. I doubt that. Short stories perhaps, but I think a novel would drive me insane, plus there's nothing I can say that would take that long.
There have also been times at which I wanted to be a teacher. Second grade comes to mind. What little girl in that class didn't want to grow up to be just like our wonderful teacher. Probably sixth grade was the last time it crossed my mind. I couldn't handle it!
I also wanted to be veterinarian. This was from maybe age 4-6 or so. What a cool job, getting to be around animals all day. But then on the ranch I saw the things that weren't cute little puppies and kittens... the births, the deaths, the emergencies, the stitches, the castrations. With a soft heart and a weak stomach, it didn't seem like such a good idea anymore.
I drew this in kindergarten. I have to explain this a bit though, because it looks like I'm doing something strange with that dog (YES, that's a dog, I remember being very specific about that). But actually what it's doing is jumping gleefully over my outstretched arm. What can I say, kindergartners don't know about foreshortening and perspective!
I remember in preschool that I drew people very differently than my classmates. They would draw a head, and then the arms and legs would all connect to the head, so people had no bodies. I drew bodies. I remember trying very hard to explain this to one of my friends and she couldn't understand it, she said her drawing looked just like mine. Weird how people perceive things differently.
Anyway, in other news...
Dusty was fine this morning, he stood nicely and didn't do anything stupid. Woo hoo! One lesson learned.
Still not done cleaning chicken coops, it was 99 degrees today (ugh!).
Blue Silkies are done!! :-)
There seem to be two frogs living in the potted plant now. I am going to laugh if they start croaking during the meeting!
There was writing, though that was pretty much only in conjunction with art (writing and illustrating kids books). I think I probably started wanting to do this when I was a kid myself, and I remember still thinking about it in high school, but then I kinda lost interest. Maybe lack of exposure to kids, maybe I can't write that simply! I had teachers in elementary school who swore I would write a novel some day. I doubt that. Short stories perhaps, but I think a novel would drive me insane, plus there's nothing I can say that would take that long.
There have also been times at which I wanted to be a teacher. Second grade comes to mind. What little girl in that class didn't want to grow up to be just like our wonderful teacher. Probably sixth grade was the last time it crossed my mind. I couldn't handle it!
I also wanted to be veterinarian. This was from maybe age 4-6 or so. What a cool job, getting to be around animals all day. But then on the ranch I saw the things that weren't cute little puppies and kittens... the births, the deaths, the emergencies, the stitches, the castrations. With a soft heart and a weak stomach, it didn't seem like such a good idea anymore.
I drew this in kindergarten. I have to explain this a bit though, because it looks like I'm doing something strange with that dog (YES, that's a dog, I remember being very specific about that). But actually what it's doing is jumping gleefully over my outstretched arm. What can I say, kindergartners don't know about foreshortening and perspective!
I remember in preschool that I drew people very differently than my classmates. They would draw a head, and then the arms and legs would all connect to the head, so people had no bodies. I drew bodies. I remember trying very hard to explain this to one of my friends and she couldn't understand it, she said her drawing looked just like mine. Weird how people perceive things differently.
Anyway, in other news...
Dusty was fine this morning, he stood nicely and didn't do anything stupid. Woo hoo! One lesson learned.
Still not done cleaning chicken coops, it was 99 degrees today (ugh!).
Blue Silkies are done!! :-)
There seem to be two frogs living in the potted plant now. I am going to laugh if they start croaking during the meeting!
Monday, September 11, 2006
nothing in particular
I am wondering if my little Silver Duckwing Rosecomb cross might in fact be a Golden Duckwing. I am not sure... his hackles seemed very white when he was younger (he's not even 3 months old yet) but now they seem more of a cream color and his back is brown. Hmm. He hasn't been out in the sun either! Weird, I sure don't understand all the wacky stuff I ended up with. Can't wait to take some photos! No camera yet... *sigh* It had better get here by Draft Horse Classic!
I started moving cockerels into the conditioning coop today, but I got a late start and by the time I got all the older males out of there I only managed to get two pens cleaned (8 more to go) before it was pretty toasty outside. Hard to say how many of the little guys will end up being show quality. A lot fewer than I'd like, I think!
I had to move my ancient rooster "Eddie" out of the pen he was in because I needed it for some other birds, so I put him in the aviary with the show pullets. Normally I would NEVER put a male in with them, but he's like "Grandpa Eddie" to them. They adore him, and follow him all over the place (if I put an aggressive young male in there the pullets would run away). He's not the slightest bit aggressive toward them, so it works out well. He seems happy! He's ten and a half years old now, but still going strong.
I tried to put all three horses in one corral tonight. My farrier B.H. is coming over in the morning to trim everyone, and my horses have such hard feet I always soak them the night before (put the sprinkler on one corral for a few hours til it gets muddy and leave the horses in there all night). Well, that didn't work. The girls totally terrorized Dusty. They actually seemed to work as a team to corner and kick him. Why must they be so evil! So I had to let him into another pen and I'll just have to be out there REALLY early to deal with them. I think I'll tie them all up to feed tomorrow, so I can feed them all along the same fenceline and keep it watered down. Fun with horses, it never ends...
Things are exciting as always in the art world. I'm working on the last set of sketches (preliminary rough drafts, b/w pencil outlines) that I'm aware of (unless the Phoenix do indeed get added, in which case I'll have a cow). It's the Old English Game Bantams now, and as I expected all along they are a challenge. It's one of those breeds that seems to generate a great deal of fervor and there are a lot of different opinions out there about how they ought to look. I have to be thankful that this stuff is not available for public discussion, because then it could go round and round for years (centuries perhaps) and never conclude. I'm striving for a happy medium. Personally I think I nailed it, but I have all my fingers and toes crossed (or at least I did til I started typing) and hope to get an approval in the morning. The Silkies are giving me headaches... I fixed a problem that might not have been a problem, sorta depends who you ask I guess. So I kinda had to "fix" it back a little bit. Fun with x-acto blades! (rolls eyes) Let's hope for smooth sailing from here on out. Now if I could only get a definite answer on the Phoenix I could start counting down!
I have to clean the living room this week, we are hosting a poultry meeting this weekend. It's hard to clean now, not just that I'm a slob and don't like cleaning, but I'm starting to pack up for DHC so I've been taking a lot of things out and stacking them, so now I have to put them away, or at least move them elsewhere. Why did I volunteer to host this? Oh, I guess because I was asked to.. Oh well, an excuse to make ~100 apricot pastry cookies again...hope nobody's getting tired of them! :-)
There is a tree frog living in the house. They end up in the house all the time, they wander under this little gap under the screen door, and I catch them and put them back out. (amphibians and dust bunnies are a very bad combination, it does not end well) :-( But this one little dude has taken up residence in a potted plant by the front door. I heard it croaking the other day and put it outside, and a day later it was back (same one, I can tell!) So I figured it must be happy there, and I left it alone. It's been there for two days now. I don't know if it goes out and wanders around the room, or maybe it goes out the gap under the door and then comes back. I wouldn't think there would be much to eat inside the potted plant. Not sure how long this will last! Now if I only I could take a picture! Oh man, this blog is going to be flooded with photos when that camera comes back.
I got my hopes up today, I heard the UPS guy pull up when I was out cleaning coops. *squeal!* I ran up to see what he brought. Alas, not my camera. But it is this nifty new keyboard that I'm typing on now, oh so much more sensitive than the old one, I shall type like the wind!
I started moving cockerels into the conditioning coop today, but I got a late start and by the time I got all the older males out of there I only managed to get two pens cleaned (8 more to go) before it was pretty toasty outside. Hard to say how many of the little guys will end up being show quality. A lot fewer than I'd like, I think!
I had to move my ancient rooster "Eddie" out of the pen he was in because I needed it for some other birds, so I put him in the aviary with the show pullets. Normally I would NEVER put a male in with them, but he's like "Grandpa Eddie" to them. They adore him, and follow him all over the place (if I put an aggressive young male in there the pullets would run away). He's not the slightest bit aggressive toward them, so it works out well. He seems happy! He's ten and a half years old now, but still going strong.
I tried to put all three horses in one corral tonight. My farrier B.H. is coming over in the morning to trim everyone, and my horses have such hard feet I always soak them the night before (put the sprinkler on one corral for a few hours til it gets muddy and leave the horses in there all night). Well, that didn't work. The girls totally terrorized Dusty. They actually seemed to work as a team to corner and kick him. Why must they be so evil! So I had to let him into another pen and I'll just have to be out there REALLY early to deal with them. I think I'll tie them all up to feed tomorrow, so I can feed them all along the same fenceline and keep it watered down. Fun with horses, it never ends...
Things are exciting as always in the art world. I'm working on the last set of sketches (preliminary rough drafts, b/w pencil outlines) that I'm aware of (unless the Phoenix do indeed get added, in which case I'll have a cow). It's the Old English Game Bantams now, and as I expected all along they are a challenge. It's one of those breeds that seems to generate a great deal of fervor and there are a lot of different opinions out there about how they ought to look. I have to be thankful that this stuff is not available for public discussion, because then it could go round and round for years (centuries perhaps) and never conclude. I'm striving for a happy medium. Personally I think I nailed it, but I have all my fingers and toes crossed (or at least I did til I started typing) and hope to get an approval in the morning. The Silkies are giving me headaches... I fixed a problem that might not have been a problem, sorta depends who you ask I guess. So I kinda had to "fix" it back a little bit. Fun with x-acto blades! (rolls eyes) Let's hope for smooth sailing from here on out. Now if I could only get a definite answer on the Phoenix I could start counting down!
I have to clean the living room this week, we are hosting a poultry meeting this weekend. It's hard to clean now, not just that I'm a slob and don't like cleaning, but I'm starting to pack up for DHC so I've been taking a lot of things out and stacking them, so now I have to put them away, or at least move them elsewhere. Why did I volunteer to host this? Oh, I guess because I was asked to.. Oh well, an excuse to make ~100 apricot pastry cookies again...hope nobody's getting tired of them! :-)
There is a tree frog living in the house. They end up in the house all the time, they wander under this little gap under the screen door, and I catch them and put them back out. (amphibians and dust bunnies are a very bad combination, it does not end well) :-( But this one little dude has taken up residence in a potted plant by the front door. I heard it croaking the other day and put it outside, and a day later it was back (same one, I can tell!) So I figured it must be happy there, and I left it alone. It's been there for two days now. I don't know if it goes out and wanders around the room, or maybe it goes out the gap under the door and then comes back. I wouldn't think there would be much to eat inside the potted plant. Not sure how long this will last! Now if I only I could take a picture! Oh man, this blog is going to be flooded with photos when that camera comes back.
I got my hopes up today, I heard the UPS guy pull up when I was out cleaning coops. *squeal!* I ran up to see what he brought. Alas, not my camera. But it is this nifty new keyboard that I'm typing on now, oh so much more sensitive than the old one, I shall type like the wind!
Friday, September 08, 2006
Disjointed thoughts and ramblings
I've been meaning to post something for the last couple days but then the next thing I know it's like midnight every day and I'm still staring at Silkies, so I haven't quite gotten around to it. I had it all figured out earlier what I was going to say (while I was stuck in traffic for an hour and a half..gotta love Sunrise Blvd eh? Yeesh.) But I guess it all blew out the window, so now I have to start from scratch.
I put "The Sound of the Feed Scoop" onto the Cafepress store now. Sorry, I'd upload an image or something but I'm not home and don't have access to it. So all you Feed Scoop fans...go wild! ;-)
I'm really start to plan out everything for Draft Horse Classic. I went through the Cafepress store and picked out some items, but before I knew it my shopping cart was up to several hundred dollars, so after picking my chin up off the floor I opted not to complete the purchase. Shoot. I'd like to have some shirts and stuff for sale there, but even though I can buy "at cost" it's NOT like wholesale, and it would cost an arm and a leg to get much inventory, and then of course if it didn't sell I'd be stuck with trying to find a place to store it! Hmm. I guess maybe I need to just really narrow it down and get a few things. Maybe just the draft horse image? Then again it's the chicken stuff that always sells best for me. Darn, wish I knew what to get and how many! I wish there was a way to have it all set up right there to order (hmm, wonder if that building is a wireless hot spot, then again I don't have a laptop anyway, moot point). Plus people want instant gratification, I think I'd do better having things there and ready to go. I just hate the up-front spending! Still gotta get envelopes, the cards haven't arrived yet, gotta pack and label, etc.
Oh, I still don't have my camera yet. I'm getting ancy!!
I was thinking more about future art projects, non-commissions. There is so much I want to do. I have this whole series of chicken stuff in mind (really you'd think I'd want to do anything but chickens). There is also a life-size head portrait of a Percheron horse I want to draw. I photographed him several years ago. He had been abused. His expression pulls the heart strings.
I took another memorable photo at Horse Expo last year during the Andalusian show. It's overexposed and out of focus, but the effect is gorgeous, it has this marvelous blurred motion look. I can't do that with colored pencil, my CP work is pretty tight, to say the least. It's not something I'm compelled to paint. My paintings are cartoony. But as I was sitting there the other day absent-mindedly starting at my art cabinet, at the brand new unopened TWO boxes of soft pastels that I've had since high school... ding! Yeah! I wanna make a giant pastel drawing! How cool would that be. Never worked in pastel before...
And I still have some enormous paintings in mind. One, a chicken of some sort, I want to make for the living room, which is drab and needs color. And if it happened to sell instead I'd be fine with that. ;-) But there are two more... can't elaborate, with the holidays coming up, not knowing who all reads this thing... but I'm thinking two 30x40" paintings.. Hmm!
This is going to be the busiest next couple of months I've probably ever had. Well, a different sort of busy than I was in school, with the endless academia and studying. Lots of travel this year.
Things are going pretty well with the horse adventures. The first time I tied Dusty to the fence he climbed it. He didn't climb OVER it but he walked his front feet up to the second-to-top rail of a 5 foot fence and stood there with his nose between his hooves looking extremely awkward. I of course about had a heart attack thinking he would stick his legs through and snap them off, but he managed to get himself out of that predicament without more than a scrape on his hoof. Geez. He's improved greatly since then, and will actually stand quietly. Yay! His "whoa" needs a lot of work, he likes to go go go go on the lunge line. Whereas my horses, you tell them whoa and it's like "oh thank goodness, finally, I worked SO hard trotting that ONE circle!" The girls are a bit lazy... Anyway, Dusty's doing well, and they are all getting along much better, except at feeding time.
Not much else exciting. I thought I finished the Blue Silkies Thursday night but I've run into some controversy.. thought I fixed a problem, might have to fix it again. Ugh. Do I know yet for sure how many I have left? Why no, I don't... (rolls eyes). So, I'm a couple days off schedule now. Not the end of the world, I just need to rearrange things a bit, it'll work out.
That's about it. I can't spell check on this computer, it doesn't like me and it'll eat the whole posting if I try it (learned that one first hand!)
I put "The Sound of the Feed Scoop" onto the Cafepress store now. Sorry, I'd upload an image or something but I'm not home and don't have access to it. So all you Feed Scoop fans...go wild! ;-)
I'm really start to plan out everything for Draft Horse Classic. I went through the Cafepress store and picked out some items, but before I knew it my shopping cart was up to several hundred dollars, so after picking my chin up off the floor I opted not to complete the purchase. Shoot. I'd like to have some shirts and stuff for sale there, but even though I can buy "at cost" it's NOT like wholesale, and it would cost an arm and a leg to get much inventory, and then of course if it didn't sell I'd be stuck with trying to find a place to store it! Hmm. I guess maybe I need to just really narrow it down and get a few things. Maybe just the draft horse image? Then again it's the chicken stuff that always sells best for me. Darn, wish I knew what to get and how many! I wish there was a way to have it all set up right there to order (hmm, wonder if that building is a wireless hot spot, then again I don't have a laptop anyway, moot point). Plus people want instant gratification, I think I'd do better having things there and ready to go. I just hate the up-front spending! Still gotta get envelopes, the cards haven't arrived yet, gotta pack and label, etc.
Oh, I still don't have my camera yet. I'm getting ancy!!
I was thinking more about future art projects, non-commissions. There is so much I want to do. I have this whole series of chicken stuff in mind (really you'd think I'd want to do anything but chickens). There is also a life-size head portrait of a Percheron horse I want to draw. I photographed him several years ago. He had been abused. His expression pulls the heart strings.
I took another memorable photo at Horse Expo last year during the Andalusian show. It's overexposed and out of focus, but the effect is gorgeous, it has this marvelous blurred motion look. I can't do that with colored pencil, my CP work is pretty tight, to say the least. It's not something I'm compelled to paint. My paintings are cartoony. But as I was sitting there the other day absent-mindedly starting at my art cabinet, at the brand new unopened TWO boxes of soft pastels that I've had since high school... ding! Yeah! I wanna make a giant pastel drawing! How cool would that be. Never worked in pastel before...
And I still have some enormous paintings in mind. One, a chicken of some sort, I want to make for the living room, which is drab and needs color. And if it happened to sell instead I'd be fine with that. ;-) But there are two more... can't elaborate, with the holidays coming up, not knowing who all reads this thing... but I'm thinking two 30x40" paintings.. Hmm!
This is going to be the busiest next couple of months I've probably ever had. Well, a different sort of busy than I was in school, with the endless academia and studying. Lots of travel this year.
Things are going pretty well with the horse adventures. The first time I tied Dusty to the fence he climbed it. He didn't climb OVER it but he walked his front feet up to the second-to-top rail of a 5 foot fence and stood there with his nose between his hooves looking extremely awkward. I of course about had a heart attack thinking he would stick his legs through and snap them off, but he managed to get himself out of that predicament without more than a scrape on his hoof. Geez. He's improved greatly since then, and will actually stand quietly. Yay! His "whoa" needs a lot of work, he likes to go go go go on the lunge line. Whereas my horses, you tell them whoa and it's like "oh thank goodness, finally, I worked SO hard trotting that ONE circle!" The girls are a bit lazy... Anyway, Dusty's doing well, and they are all getting along much better, except at feeding time.
Not much else exciting. I thought I finished the Blue Silkies Thursday night but I've run into some controversy.. thought I fixed a problem, might have to fix it again. Ugh. Do I know yet for sure how many I have left? Why no, I don't... (rolls eyes). So, I'm a couple days off schedule now. Not the end of the world, I just need to rearrange things a bit, it'll work out.
That's about it. I can't spell check on this computer, it doesn't like me and it'll eat the whole posting if I try it (learned that one first hand!)
Monday, September 04, 2006
artsy fartsy musings
Guess what I drew today. Nothing! Tee hee. Hey, if everyone else gets a holiday so do I! I'll be diligent tomorrow though (after picking up birds from the fair). I have to finish up this current pair of Blue Silkies by the end of Wednesday. I need to get some information about EXACTLY how many illustrations are left to do, because I'm about ready to go into final countdown on this stuff, but I'd hate to have extras sprung on me at the last second, and there are a few things still hanging in limbo. That needs to get cleared up pronto!
I'm getting a bunch of new note cards printed in time for DHC, but I'm also going to be switching things over to the cafepress store and not carrying a bunch of inventory here. I need to have my own stock of cards to sell at art shows, but other than that I think I'd like to just be "dealing" originals, as I don't sell much off my own website anyway. So over the next couple months I will be adding new things to the cafepress store. I did some rearranging today, but haven't added anything yet. I'll keep ya posted... I would like to get pretty much ALL my art on there, but it takes some time.
One of these years I am going to have a line of holiday cards for sale but I don't think that's going to happen this year.
I'm getting a bunch of new note cards printed in time for DHC, but I'm also going to be switching things over to the cafepress store and not carrying a bunch of inventory here. I need to have my own stock of cards to sell at art shows, but other than that I think I'd like to just be "dealing" originals, as I don't sell much off my own website anyway. So over the next couple months I will be adding new things to the cafepress store. I did some rearranging today, but haven't added anything yet. I'll keep ya posted... I would like to get pretty much ALL my art on there, but it takes some time.
One of these years I am going to have a line of holiday cards for sale but I don't think that's going to happen this year.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Dusty
I took 64 birds to auction this morning, left the house just before 6am (ugh!). Maybe a dozen were old breeding stock birds that didn't do me much good, and all the rest were youngsters. It's SO nice to get rid of extra birds! The Creles are gone, and I don't regret it one bit.
I came back home and crashed on my bed with the two cats for about 45 minutes, and then JJ came over for Dusty's first training session. Just worked on some desensitizing and backing up today, and lunged him because I was curious to see what his gaits were like (pretty normal, but a little different..) But at least now I can show you a picture, since J brought her camera! I trimmed his mane a few days ago. It's a wee bit hunter-jumper-ish right now but it's a vast improvement over how it did look.
I came back home and crashed on my bed with the two cats for about 45 minutes, and then JJ came over for Dusty's first training session. Just worked on some desensitizing and backing up today, and lunged him because I was curious to see what his gaits were like (pretty normal, but a little different..) But at least now I can show you a picture, since J brought her camera! I trimmed his mane a few days ago. It's a wee bit hunter-jumper-ish right now but it's a vast improvement over how it did look.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
All's Fair
Well, I have had enough of State Fair for the year. I spent most of the last two days there, though I didn't really spend much time at the poultry show area other than today during judging. It's pretty different than a "real" show, it's full of the general public and severely lacking in exhibitors. But for some odd reason I really enjoy the fair. It's a fascinating place to people-watch.
I didn't count how many birds were there. I know about 80 were entered and not all showed up, so maybe 60? That's a VERY small show. I didn't win. I got Reserve Champion Bantam with "Luna" (Black Rosecomb hen). Best Bantam was a nice Black Silkie, and in fact it also won Best in Show. Reserve of Show was a White Runner Duck.
Not much exciting to report. No pictures from the fair. :-( I haven't touched the drawings since Thursday, I'll delve back into those tomorrow. I also plan to start working Dusty tomorrow morning. They are all getting along, though Gwen still runs him off when he gets too cozy.
I'm taking about a gazillion birds to auction tomorrow morning. I don't even know how many, guess I'll find out tomorrow! That'll be nice to get rid of them. I REALLY need to get the cockerels into the conditioning coops. As it stands now I can probably count on one hand the number of show-quality males I'm going to end up with (simply because of condition). Things got out of hand this year.
I didn't count how many birds were there. I know about 80 were entered and not all showed up, so maybe 60? That's a VERY small show. I didn't win. I got Reserve Champion Bantam with "Luna" (Black Rosecomb hen). Best Bantam was a nice Black Silkie, and in fact it also won Best in Show. Reserve of Show was a White Runner Duck.
Not much exciting to report. No pictures from the fair. :-( I haven't touched the drawings since Thursday, I'll delve back into those tomorrow. I also plan to start working Dusty tomorrow morning. They are all getting along, though Gwen still runs him off when he gets too cozy.
I'm taking about a gazillion birds to auction tomorrow morning. I don't even know how many, guess I'll find out tomorrow! That'll be nice to get rid of them. I REALLY need to get the cockerels into the conditioning coops. As it stands now I can probably count on one hand the number of show-quality males I'm going to end up with (simply because of condition). Things got out of hand this year.