another crazy weekend

Okay, the downside to the PPBA show is that it's such a busy weekend I don't get to do much of anything. It was a good show and I had fun, but I always feel like I miss out on a lot. I had my art booth set up on Saturday from about 10am til 3pm. Didn't make much money this year but between that and selling 6 birds it certainly covers the expenses, and a lot of people looked through the portfolio, so that's good. It's always tempting to not set it up again the next year, but of course the one time I do that will be the time someone comes through waving wads of cash around wanting to spend thousands of dollars on poultry art... (yeah, right). The booth looked good though, I had a different setup and I think it worked out well.





I had a good time visiting with people but was still left with the impression that there were a lot of people I never had a chance to talk to. I did not see any of the birds other than the ones I was showing. I barely even saw the rest of the Rosecombs. Ugh! I took no photos other than of my own birds. I am looking forward to the rest of the shows this season in part because I can relax and enjoy them.

I got Reserve RCCL with the one black cockerel that I've been showing this season. He has blossomed into quite possibly my best bird that I hatched last season. I still need to photograph that BBRed cockerel...


So all in all a good weekend but there were people I missed seeing and things I missed doing and somehow it really had a different feel than the show last year, I'm not sure what's up with that. I'm excited about the next show, it's coming up soon! :-)

I spent the day working on $$%^^&@ sales tax forms, which I hope to complete tomorrow (I guess I'd better, they are due on Wednesday). Bleh, to say I'm not fond of tax stuff would be a huge undestatement.

I finished a sketch for an upcoming Aseel drawing, which I will post soon. I want it to appeal to both the exibition and game crowd, so I want to run it past a lot of different folks. I also started the sketch for a Japanese Bantam, and will be starting three dog paintings by the end of the week.

The weather has been gorgeous but wayyyyy too dry. The grass, which is all of about an inch tall, is now dying, because we haven't had significant rain since... early or mid December? (I'm guessing here). It's really not good. I think hay will cost a fortune this year.

Okay, back to work.

cats and strings

We just got these nifty "string curtains" that hang across the hallway, it kind of separates the bedrooms/bathrooms from the rest of the house (so that when guests are over they have a bit more privacy)...

Olin says "you got these just for meeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!"




I finished the golden phoenix pair yesterday. So again I can say "I would have been done" but I still have the one Dutch Bantam pair to go. I need to get more info on those before I can start so I'm going to dive into about a million other projects next week after I get the @#%^ business taxes done. I need a few more approvals on the phoenix before I can post them on line.

I'm crazy busy right now getting ready for the Pacific Poultry Breeders Association show. I'll be taking 17 birds (which are hopefully reasonably clean since I haven't washed a single one) and I'm also taking a large amount of art and the booth thing. I picked up some frames today and just started packing up art stuff today. Still have a long way to go, and it'll take a while to get all the birds ready on Friday. I volunteered to be in charge of organizing all the vendors and breed clubs, so I have to go down there tomorrow to measure out spaces and distribute tables, etc. Whee...

I'm going to set up the booth a little differently this year. I'll have to get creative with extension cords but I think it'll work, and give it a different look. Will have pics later!

And now back to packing and labeling art...

random pics of the day

nature study

I found a dead bird in the garage today. It's an Audubon's Warbler, aka Yellow-Rumped Warbler (or "Butterbutt" as we used to call them in bird survey class). It was a strange place to find a bird, as the garage door tends to only be open long enough to park a car and unload stuff, the cats are never in the garage, and the bird was right in the middle between the cars so it's not as though it "rode in" on a bumper. Anyway, never get to see one quite that close up most of the time, and they are beautiful, so I took a few pics before putting it to rest in the garden. I never knew there was a yellow spot on the top of the head.

why you should always wear a helmet

As you know I was in a bit of a riding accident two weeks ago. I'm fine, other than I *still* have a bruise on my butt, but it really made it clear to me why riding helmets are such a good idea. Granted, it's hard to look particulary attractive in one, but... c'est la vie, as they say. I have to send my helmet back for replacement, so I took some pics today before packaging it up.

It's the back left side that got dented, so for comparison sake here's the normal side, nice and smooth:


And here's the dent. It's much more impressive in person.




These things are not easy to dent. That would really suck if that was my head.

where did the time go?

Hold on now, how did it get to be nearing the end of January? What the heck happened? Why am I not done drawing Standard chickens?!?! Gah!

I can't believe that in a week from tomorrow I'll be cooping in at the PPBA show. Has it really been a year??? This is nuts. I have to wash birds again! AND get all the art stuff ready. Ugggg, I probably need frames. Darn it, I might have to go the frame shop again tomorrow! It's always something....

I have to get those dog paintings done. I have to do my stupid #$%$%^ business taxes by the end of the month. Arg!

I really need to move on from the Standard drawings, but I need to get them done before I can move on, but I'm really dragging my heels again. Not good! I am excited about some upcoming projects though. I've started back to work in the litho studio. It's been three years since I've printed a lithograph so it'll take some getting used to but it's good to be back and I think my image will turn out really nice. I grained the stone today and hope to start drawing next time I'm in there. My next non-commissioned drawing will be an Aseel (Asil, however you want to spell it) rooster. Probably spangled, and I can't tell you what the context will be but it's going to be...unique! :-) I'm just debating about the size. My original plan was to do a "life size" image, so probably about a 21x24 inch piece of paper. This would take 2+ weeks to draw, and have a very high price tag on it (fine by me if it sells!). Not sure I want to put the time into a big risky piece though. Maybe I'd be better off working smaller so I can put a smaller price tag on it. 10x11 seems too small though. 14x16? Life size *would* be impressive. I think it just comes down to how much of a risk I want to take. Maybe I need to sketch it out and see...

And on that note...

The website update (see link to Katherine Plumer Fine Art in right sidebar) is pretty much done. The sales section is getting revamped and is temporarily off line but I at least got the galleries redone, so that's a start. I will probably be adding more image commentary over time, but I had to rush to finish since I had an ad coming out stating that all the Standard images were up on the "newly updated site." They are up..go to the poultry drawings section. Three pairs not pictured yet: Silver Phoenix (done), Golden Phoenix (in progress), (color?) Dutch (upcoming). The site may have glitches and typos...let me know if you find anything embarrassingly obvious.

Bantam Wheaten Old English Games

Bantam Wheaten Old English Games
8x10 inches each
colored pencil, graphite, ink
on gray paper
for the American Standard of Perfection

Bantam Blue Old English Games

Bantam Blue Old English Games
8x10 inches each
colored pencil, graphite, ink
on tan paper
for the American Standard of Perfection

Bantam Bearded Buff Silkies

Bantam Bearded Buff Silkies
8x10 inches each
colored pencil, graphite, ink
on tan paper
for the American Standard of Perfection

catching up

Let's see, where do I start.

Probably people in the rest of the country think us Californians are really wimpy. The weather reports here just go nuts every time we get rain or cold weather, and it's been COLD lately. Of course for here cold means lows in the 20s, highs in the 40s. We like to whine about how cold we are. The pipes freeze, I have to pour hot water on the chickens' water bowls in the morning.

I was down in Hollister this weekend for a poultry show and had a really good time. It was so cold though! I don't think I stopped shivering all day Saturday until I got back to my nice toasty hotel room. Oh, that was probably the nicest place I've stayed, at least that I can think of right now. This was the view out the back door of my room:

Anyway, I ended up clerking most of the day Saturday, which is always interesting but it was a little rough to be on my feet all day since my back still isn't quite normal...

I got Reserve RCCL on a Black Breasted Red Rosecomb cockerel, which is way cool. He's a really nice bird but has some conditioning problems (missing a few chunks out of a few tail feathers). There's one pullet that may turn out decent but she still needs more time to mature. And there's another BBRed male I haven't showed yet because he hasn't grown his sickles out yet. If he DOES, he's going to be great. I'm concerned though that he won't grow them at all though. :-( (that's sometimes a problem).

You know, as I was sitting around that evening talking and laughing with a bunch of other exhibitors, it's hard not to get sort of nostalgic about everything, and think "these are the good times, these are the times I'm going to look back on and smile about some day." It's a great crowd, I wish I could see everyone more often.

So you're probably wondering about the Standard art. (Whatever happened to being done by Christmas? ha ha). The golden Phoenix pair is partly done. And I know what you're thinking, that's the last pair. It was... until Saturday. Now hold on, I know I know... But this is a special thing. I agreed to take on one more pair because they are being sponsored in honor of Mary Hoyt. Mary passed away recently. She was one of the nicest people in the world, always asked about my art, even read my blog. We all miss her, the shows are not the same without her, and I'll do the last pair (Dutch Bantams) in her honor. But that's the last of them. I think the book should be printed by the fall of 2007.

The website update is almost done, maybe another day or so. It's taking way longer than planned. Not only am I adding a lot of new stuff but I'm deleting a LOT of old stuff. I am removing the more "craft" type items and mostly sticking with fine art that is representative of the type of work I do for commissions (plus all the original prints, etc). The sales section will be totally redone too but that's going to take longer so in the mean time I'll probably pull that whole section off line for a bit. What a pain.

Today I went shopping with A.S. while she tried on wedding dresses. So beautiful! I am overwhelmed by the rows and rows of poofy white dresses though, they all look amazingly the same to me, I don't know how a person would make that decision. I get to be a bridesmaid! That's the first time ever. (If you are thinking "wait, aren't you the shopping-phobic person who hates to try stuff on?" you're right, this will be challenging). ;-) It'll be fun though, I'm happy for her and excited to be a part of it. Everyone I know is getting married or engaged or both lately, it's crazy. I am going to be the last one left!

Anyway, on that note, I think I'll call it a night.

Dusty's graduation

Well, I've been trying to find the time to sit down and write this one for a few days now...I guess tonight's the night I write it.

Dusty (the horse) was originally going to go home on Saturday, but I was invited on a trail ride at Folsom Lake on Sunday. Since I haven't ridden Shylah for a while anyway, it seemed logical to take Dusty instead, and that would be a nice "graduation" for us. He'd been doing so well, I was very proud of him.

So Saturday afternoon I saddled him up and put saddle bags on him just to double check that he was okay with those, since I had managed to overlook that before. He was fine with them, no problem. I did some work in the arena and then took him out in the neighbors' field to walk him out, and all was well until a jackrabbit popped up. Now this is not a big deal, Dusty has seen a zillion rabbits, and he just sorta looked at it, alert but not concerned. It went behind a brush pile, popped out the other side, and he just lost it. He spun around and took off in the opposite direction. Whoa! Okay, I wasn't expecting that, but I kept my grip and quickly got him stopped. But it was like someone flipped the switch, and after that I just couldn't get him to settle down. I tried making him work and keeping him thinking, doing all sorts of intricate moves, changing direction, anything to get his mind refocused. Didn't help. I tried to sloowwww him down, but he would just paw and dance around, and try to hurriedly head back to the barn. What went wrong? What happened to calm non-spooky Dusty? It wasn't like he hadn't ever spooked before. He did from time to time (what horse doesn't?) but it had never been a big deal, he'd sorta flinch to the side and look at the (non)scary thing like "wow, did you see that!?" The whole situation was just weird. I eventually did get him back to the barn with both of us in one piece, and had him stand tied for a few hours.

Sunday morning I was up at 5am to take birds to auction (ugh). Got back home around 8:30am. There wasn't enough time for a nap, just enough time to curl up in bed and get warm again! And then I went out to tack up Dusty. W picked me up at 9:30 and we drove up to Folsom Lake. I'd never ridden there before. I haven't been out on trails very much at all. Dusty was very alert and inquisitive about everything in the waiting area, looking all around and just taking it all it. We waited for W's friend to show up, and when she arrived and saddled up we headed for the trail entrance.

The entrance to the trail was marked by two very large whitish granite boulders. Dusty was in the back, the other two horses leading the pack. We were nearly right next to the boulders (having been approaching them for some distance now, it's not like they popped out of nowhere) when Dusty seemed to notice them for the first time and got very hesitant about going forward. The other horses were already through, but he didn't want to walk between the boulders and started backing away. I urged him forward, he took a step, and then the next part all just happened so fast. He whirled away, right out from under me. There's this split second of thinking "I can still grab the saddle." Nope, too late. And then "this is going to hurt." And then it hurts, a LOT. That's a long way down even on a horse that's not very tall. I landed on my butt/lower back (the bruise now is really funky!), but amazingly kept hold of the reins. W rushed over and grabbed Dusty and I just lay there for a little bit doing inventory of body parts to make sure it was all still attached and functional. I figured out nothing was broken, but it wasn't feeling too great either. My first thought was there was no way I was going to finish (or even start!) the ride. Not that I was afraid to get back on but I didn't think I would be able to. But after a few minutes I stood up and decided if I could get back up there then I'd be good to go. So the big scary boulder became a handy stepping stone (no way could I get back up the normal way!) and off we went on about a 4 hour ride.



Other than being in pain it was a wonderful ride, the trails are really nice, the horses all got along, the scenery is great, etc. I liked riding down on the beach area, and we took the horses in the water and let them splash around. It's so funny when they all start pawing at the water! By the end of it I think Dusty was really tired. At first he'd been hard to slow down (he walks fast, but I didn't want him tailgating other horses) and by the end he kept trying to stop and I had to urge him onward.

And then we took him home. If you're thinking I don't even want to see that horse again, you're totally wrong. He's fun, and I want to take him out and gallop him around the fields where he lives, that would be great. I will ride him again. I don't feel right about this spooking problem thought. He'd been so good, ready to go home, and then twice in two days he has this massive whirl-away spooky thing going on...ugh!

I know that anybody can fall off a horse, but it really makes a person feel stupid when it happens. Like "gee, anyone who saw that must think I'm a really bad rider" even if that's not the case! (I'm not *great* but I'm not bad!)

So... I've been really quite sore for the last few days, and in places I didn't even realize at the time I had hurt. It wasn't til I woke up with neck pain the next morning that I got to wondering if I had hit my head (didn't hurt at the time of the fall, but I had been wondering how I landed on my back and managed to not whack my head). Well, I took a good look at my helmet and holy moley I sure did whack my head. There's a huge dent! I'm REALLY glad I wear a helmet! Unfortunately once a helmet has been in an accident it's not considered safe anymore, so I do have to get it replaced. Whee.... And of course it's entertaining to see what shape and color the bruise becomes from day to day.

Fun with horses, it's always something... I definitely want to get back out on the trail! :-)

works in progress

Upcoming stuff: Ella, Kirk, and Rambo. Shelter dogs. 12x12 inches each, will be acrylic on canvas (what you see here is the pencil sketch).

Bantam Lemon Blue Old English Games

Bantam Lemon Blue Old English Games
8x10 inches each
colored pencil, graphite, ink
on tan paper
for the American Standard of Perfection

Bantam Bearded Blue Silkies

Bantam Bearded Blue Silkies
8x10 inches each
colored pencil, graphite, ink
on gray paper
for the American Standard of Perfection

Bantam Non Bearded Blue Silkies

Bantam Non Bearded Blue Silkies
8x10 inches each
colored pencil, watercolor, graphite, ink
on tan paper
for the American Standard of Perfection

this and that

I am glad I don't have my pay myself to work on my website, because it's turning into a LOT of hours. I haven't uploaded any changes yet but I have the horse, dog, and cat sections done. Still need to tackle the poultry, which unfortunately is where most of the work needs to be done and where the most crucial stuff happens. Oh yeah and the price list and commission info. Whee...

I need to start washing chickens this weekend, I've entered 17 birds in Hollister.

I finished the Silver Phoenix drawings a couple days ago. Do you know what that means? I only have ONE PAIR LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)!!!

I am starting the last pair of SOP drawings, and three dog paintings, and shortly thereafter a Japanese bantam and a large Aseel. And I'm going to start showing works in progress on the blog.

Dusty and I are going trail riding on Sunday, it's his "graduation" before he goes home. Gonna miss the boy....

Bantam Red Naked Necks

Bantam Red Naked Necks
8x10 inches each
colored pencil, graphite, ink
on tan paper
for the American Standard of Perfection

Bantam White Naked Necks

Bantam White Naked Necks
8x10 inches each
colored pencil, graphite, ink
on white paper
for the American Standard of Perfection