August 15 work in progress (nude)

I heard from a few people, and strangely all of them said the chicken ought to be blue. Hmm, that's quite interesting! But my non-chicken friends said she needs yellow-orange legs. I gotta say, it's really hard being a chicken snob, because of course in the Standard, an Old English would never have yellow legs. So I can't make her "standard blue." Besides I've already drawn a lot of blue chickens. But I could just make up some wacky blue color, or make her blue like a jay. So, blue is good, now to figure out what sort of blue and what pattern. :-) Can you hear the wheels turning? Creak creak creak...

I spent another couple hours hunched over the microscope today. I am definitely learning what features I would like to have in my own scope some day. Longer focal length so I can sit straighter and have more working room under the lens (I keep burning my hand on the light!). And being able to work in air conditioning will be nice. It's usually pretty cool in there but today it was hot.

August 14 work in progress (includes nude)

Two very different things to post today....

But some random ramblings first. I got the check from the poultry auction today. Pathetic. Came out to $1 per bird after they took their commission. Needless to say I won't be going there again. It was lovely to get an extra hour of sleep and not spend an hour and a half driving, but I could have gotten probably at least three times that amount if I'd gone to Roseville instead. Poopy doo.

I discovered today, while running some errands in the old pickup (not my usual vehicle, though sadly probably more reliable than my Taurus these days...) that although the radio hasn't worked for about a year, the tape player still does. Go figure. There were some ancient Chris LeDoux tapes in the glove box so I drove around town like a real redneck... music blaring, windows down (no air conditioning). Ah, it brought back memories of junior high and high school, when those tapes were practically all my brother would play in his car when he drove me home from school... wedged in the backseat with his hunky cowboy friends. Oooh yeah. ;-)

I picked the last of the peaches and plums today. Gotta do something with them tomorrow before they all spoil. I shall miss them.

Okay, now on to art stuff..

Help me pick a color for this. I thought it would be fun to be kinda interactive with this one. Suggest anything. A real chicken color, a crazy impossible chicken color, a wild bird color, anything. I may or may not use anyone's suggestions, but I have drawn so many "real" chickens I just would rather do something different. If nobody comes up with something I like better (yes, I am picky!) then she shall be White Spangled Red.


And then there's this one, another practice piano key. It won't be perfect but I thought I'd show you the WIPs and entertain you anyway. This is based on a vintage photograph (early 1900s). Since this is evidently a popular subject for scrim I thought I'd better do some practice... haven't done figure drawing for a while.

first scrimshaw

A friend of mine who is an extraordinarily talented engraver recently suggested to me that I try making some scrimshaw. I knew nothing about it, but jumped right on it, and OMG, I think this could become an obession. I ordered a new scribe tool, a DVD, a book, some ivory, and a few other odds and ends, and set to work learning. I've done pen and ink stippling, which is helpful. And I've done drypoint etching, which is more helpful. Scrimshaw is incising ivory (or plastic, bone, synthetics) and filling those lines/holes/scratches with ink/paint.

Impatient for my goodies to arrive, I did a "spoonshaw" a little over a week ago. This was done with a fairly dull etching scribe (less sharp = larger dot size) with 0-1.5X magnification, on the back of a plastic spoon.


The spoon was done using an old optivisor (1.5X) some of the time, and nothing when I got tired of wearing that thing. I later tried using a ~2X magnifying lamp, but it was so hard to get the image lined up just right so that I could see what I was doing. The pros use stereo microscopes. That's well out of budget right now but to my great delight I learned that my neighbors have one! So the next piece (the elephant) was done at 10X on a scope. WOW it's weird to work at high magnification! But it's necessary, there is no way to get the fine dots and fine detail with the naked eye. Under the 2X lamp, I thought I had areas solid black, but under the 10X scope, I could see more white between the dots than dots themselves! In time if this works out I plan to get my own setup but for now this is incredibly awesome to be able to use theirs.

I finally got all my stuff, and proceeded to really mess up my first attempt on ivory (pre-ban piano keys, if you are wondering). The elephant figure itself turned out pretty good but I made some big mistakes on this piece. I'm going to post it anyway but I must say it's not a good piece, I did a lot of experimenting with different techniques and did some damage along the way. But I learned, oh I learned... I'll just keep this one, or give it away or something, can't sell work that's not up to snuff. I will do a few more practice pieces before I try to sell anything. But.. this has some potential I think. I like it!


scrimshaw on ivory piano key (7/8 by 1-7/8 inches) made into necklace

Depending on your monitor resolution, this is about what I see through the scope:

art shows!

I just sent this out in emails, so I'm pasting it here too...

1)
Museum of the Chicken First Annual Art Show (does this sound perfect for me or what?!)
I have 8 pieces in the show
location: Cje's Art & Fiber Printing, 10239 Fair Oaks Blvd, Suite C, Fair Oaks, CA 95628
the show runs August 15th through September 29th
OPENING RECEPTION Saturday August 18th 6-9pm (I will be there but probably not til 6:30 or later)
SECOND SATURDAY RECEPTION September 8, 6-9pm (tentatively yes I should be there)
Come visit me at either reception if you get a chance, I'd love to see some familiar faces!

2)
I am also applying for a booth at the FAIR OAKS CHICKEN FESTIVAL, September 15th. More info: http://www.fairoakschickenfestival.com I won't know for a few weeks whether I am juried in or not. That's an outdoor festival. I'll post more info if I get in.

3)
An early art show notice.... Love horses? How bout tractors and art and old timey music and great cinnamon rolls? Then you need to come see me at the Draft Horse Classic! It is located at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley, CA. This is my sixth year participating. I just love this show! I have three pieces in the art show and will have a 10x10 booth full of art for sale.
Thurs Sept 20, noon til 6:30pm
Fri Sept 21 noon til 8pm
Sat Sept 22 9am til 8pm
Sun Sept 23 9am til 5pm

4)
Look for my art at the California State Fair! Of over 1800 entries, about 190 were accepted. My drawing "Proud Heritage" won an Award of Excellence in the drawings category. This is a very good thing! :-) http://www.katherineplumer.com/closeups/poultry/ProudHeritageAseel.html

peachy keen

There isn't a lot of excitement to report, which is why I haven't been reporting it.

I've been up to my ears in peaches (they are huge! 1/2 pound each and OMG so good!). Pureed peaches, dried peaches, canned peaches. It's just been peachy. Here's what I did today, this'll be great in mid winter!

Shylah is doing wonderfully well on trail rides at JJ's. Other than the first time I've just been riding alone. She's had some of those "stupid moments" but overall great, and is pretty consistently jumping a small irrigation ditch that crosses a road (well, as long as she's headed "home"!) I'll see about getting her back home in another week, and then a week after that she'll be off for adventures with JC in the land of bears and boulders. I WILL miss her, not seeing her for a month, but September is so crazy for me anyway it's really just as well.

I am about half done with a practice piece for an entirely new art venture (this thing I keep dropping hints about). I already love it but can see that it is something I don't want to do for more than maybe two hours a day (will explain all this later!) ;-) I've made some mistakes on the practice piece, so it's a good thing nobody is paying me yet. I have also learned a LOT. Pics and explanations in a few days, assuming I don't screw it up between now and then.

I am taking 50+ birds to auction tomorrow. YAY!!!! There is a new auction just a few miles away. Double yay! That'll beat the heck out of driving to Roseville.

Sleepytime

August 7 work in progress

FINISHED! :-)


"Jessie" (Black Labrador, age 12 at time of portrait)
8x9 inches
graphite and charcoal on white velour paper
not for sale, collection of the artist (she's my dog) :-)

This is just a detail view to try to convey the softness of this paper, it's yummy.

oops

I keep forgetting to post this, it's a photo from the first ride over at JJ's. Me and Shylah are in the back. W (sidesaddle!) and Blue Top in the middle. NV and Dusty in the front.

another weekend flew past

Where to start? It was a busy weekend. I had the place to myself, which led me to do silly things like sleep outside in the hammock at night (brrrr! I was glad Homer the cat curled up on my feet this morning!), and eat pancakes for dinner. Why? I dunno, why not.

Aside from starting (and finishing) Harry Potter 7 (I will not say a word about it!) it was a weekend of working around the house, and primarily working in the kitchen. There were approximately 9834984509092 ripe nectarines (okay, slight exaggeration), so I made jam (and strawberry jam too, Saturday was very jammy) and a bunch of pie fillings, tried to bake nectarine bread but it failed miserably (darn random internet recipes!). A very fruity weekend.

I rode Shylah for about an hour and a half, maybe a bit longer than that, on Saturday morning out at JJ's. Just me and Shylah on the trails and levees. She was GREAT. A few minor stupid moments but all in all super good. I think she enjoys going through the parking lot at the corn stand, she seems to love the attention! I miss having Shylah here and seeing her every day (of course I still get to see Gwen every day, but Gwen's not as happy to see me as Shylah is!) but I'm REALLY going to miss riding out there when Shylah comes home. To get anywhere from here I have to ride on the road. Hopefully after this Shylah will be a lot better about cars but being out there on the levees reminds of a lot of the old days with Thunder back on the big ranch, and I sure do miss those river rides.

No art updates, I didn't have time to make art this weekend, but it'll be back to regularly scheduled art updates soon!

I don't regret missing the re-onion, but I know there were people I would have liked to have seen.... C'est la vie. I guess if they wanted to see me too it would happen.

Boring post, I know it. Over and out.

jam!

Okay, anyone who is interested in home-made jam, stake your claim now! $5 per (8oz.) jar. I'll ship it if you pay for shipping.

Strawberry: EDIT: SOLD OUT
Nectarine: EDIT: SOLD OUT
Apricot: EDIT: SOLD OUT

PEACH: if anyone's interested let me know asap, they are ripe!

August 2 work in progress

Getting there... Once the rest of that blank spot is done I will still need to adjust it a bit.. some of the mid range grays need to be darker, it's just often hard to see that until the whole thing is done! I'm glad I'm doing this piece, not just because it's a portrait of Jessie and something I've been wanting to do, but I'd been wondering if I was overcharging for graphite. OMG, NO. It really is only slightly less time consuming than colored pencil! So it's good to know I'm right on track, I hadn't done any graphite work for a couple of years. I still love it! And this paper, wow, scrumptious! I wish you could see how lush this is. When I do the final scan I'll do some detail shots.

I finally bought the new Harry Potter book yesterday. I know what I'm doing this weekend!!! :-)

I rode Shylah at JJ's this evening. W rode Blue Top and J's friend NY rode Dusty. All were well behaved, but poor short Shylah just can't keep up with those Tennessee Walker boys and their huge strides. She was hustling but lagged way behind. Her two biggest spooky moments (which were incredibly small) were when Blue Top stepped on a crunchy bunch of leaves, and when Dusty spooked at a barrel, and Shylah spooked at Dusty spooking! Silly horses. I am still trying to figure out when to ride this weekend, and how often. I do love evenings, but morning means there's no time at which I have to be back! Guess it may depend if anyone goes with me.

Saturday evening is the high school reunion, which will not be graced with my presence. I'd thought about attending a bbq instead but the one person I know well is involved in running it, sooo.... hmm, go riding or have a quiet evening to myself. :-) Then again I'm still debating going to the bbq anyway, durn, I feel a bit pathetic not doing anything (it's like missing prom!) Hmmmm (anyone want to go to a bbq Sat eve?).

I've been working on some other art stuff too but I can't post all of what I do. Graphic design thing (will post), practice thing for upcoming "new venture" (stay tuned), and a large-ish dog painting commission that is a gift therefore can't be shown here til potentially after Christmas (yeeps!)