just stuff

It's been hot. Over 90 degrees. It's still April, for crying out loud! Thankfully I think it is going to cool down this week.

The mockingbird nesting outside my window doesn't like it when I look out the window at her....

Another batch of chicks hatched this weekend, I think there are 14 or 15. The hatchability of the Black Rosecombs seems to have improved greatly, so clearly the outcross was a good thing. Though I must say what I spent on the pair was pretty much only for the male! All the black chicks are his. In the last six weeks the female has produced 2 eggs, and neither one hatched. I ended up setting one more small batch of eggs this weekend to try to get some brassy backs (I switched out the male and put a Black male in there, not ideal but kind of a last resort). There were so few eggs last week anyway it wasn't worth trying to sell them. I still think I will end up with under 75 chicks, and that's fine.

I'm spending all my art time on the book cover now, working hard to get that done by deadline (Wednesday!). It's been a bit of a struggle, honestly. Subject, composition... I was having some serious doubts about it yesterday but then left it for a while and came back and saw it under different light and it seemed much better, and I could figure out what to do to really make it "pop." It's popping now, it's really falling into place today and coming together as a scene that works. Still a little work to do on one of the figures and a little more to do on the background. Next up, chicken art.

The question has been asked several times now by several people when will I do a male nude scrimshaw? Well, I guess the short answer is whenever someone wants me to. I know that some of the people who have asked read this blog, so if anyone is a potential buyer of such a scrim subject... what is it that you are looking for? Like how much exposed skin are we talking about here? It's a real quandary for me whether to show these nudes scrims on the blog anyway, and I'd certainly have to be pretty careful with male subjects.... What sort of scrim art would sell? I'm thinking probably not jewelry, but likely display pieces like the other nudes?

State Fair art entries are due in a month. I should enter a bunch of stuff. It just dawned on me I should enter a scrim piece but I can't figure out what category that would go in. Maybe I'd better email and ask, it doesn't look like it fits anywhere. I really wanted to enter the Aragorn painting there but the deadline is before Horse Expo, and if by some miracle it was accepted into State Fair but sold at Horse Expo in the mean time, oh I'd be up dooty creek!

Draft Horse Classic entries are due in about a month too. Crap. I need to order paper for a drawing, and I really want to enter a scrim piece. I have SO MUCH TO DO.

(RP, I will compile that list for you, I am picking up a bunch of work that's been hanging in EG and I need to sorta inventory what would be available to hang at that time. Stay tuned).