October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month & Other Palaverin'...

I'm sure most of you know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - GO GET YOUR MAMMOGRAMS and do your self-exams!!!  Do everything you can for yourself and your beloved family and friends to stay on top of technology and ways that we can help beat this disease. 

Seen this bumper sticker?  I've been seein' it around my hometown quite a bit lately.  A little chauvinistic, but you get the message.  I happen to love it!  A serious issue to be sure, but hey, whatever gets the message across! You know men can relate to this bumper sticker alot more than one that has the word "breast" on it - they can hardly even say the word!  much less warn the female members of their families.

On a more serious note, a good friend of mine here just had a double mastectomy last Friday, October 1.  She has breast cancer in her family, and they found a very small spot on one of her breasts.  She decided to make the ultimate sacrifice of losing both breasts in order to forestall any recurrence later on (Lord willing). What a tough choice to have to make - I know she was thinking of her husband and 4 kids as she made this decision.  Please keep my friend, Wanda, in your prayers...  thank you.

Now, on to other Palaverin'.....

My son's kitty, Lucy, loves to watch TV.  She prefers FOX news and Family Guy (which I detest - it's so crass) but she does this quite often.  Isn't she pretty?  My chihuahua, Bug, is staying at my son's house while we get the house re-vamped a little.  Bug has always hated other dogs, but she loves Lucy.  They play together, they eat together, they sleep together.  It's amazing.  They run and jump and mock-fight. Of course, Lucy has sharp toenails and sometimes we hear a yelp from Bug when the action gets a little too rough.  But it hasn't stopped Bug from snuggling up with Lucy on a blanket on the couch. 

You know how on a slick coated dog, if they get a little tuft of hair sticking up from the rest - if you pull on it, it comes out and usually has a little bitty scab attached?  Well, sometimes we find those on Bug - results from these two scuffling, I'm sure.  (was that gross? was it? I wasn't trying to be - just seein' if ya'll noticed stuff like that...)

Here's a few random Autumn scenes - paintings I have done in the past. The first one is a watercolor (under glass) of an old red barn in our area.  This is actually how it looked in Autumn.  I took some pictures of it several years ago, painted it a few years later, drove by the area a few months ago, and couldn't find it at all.  Don't know if it's been torn down or things just grew up around it.  It's sad to me to see the old things just fade away never to be seen or remembered again...

Below is a terrible photo of a plein-air 8x10 piece I did whilst in the company of some of my art friends.  We went out on a 40 degree day with the wind whipping around and we had very pink cheeks and noses, gloves on which made it very hard to paint, the oil paints were not moving around very well, and my eyes and nose were watering so badly, I just gave up and let 'em run.  But I got my painting done. Another old barn with a squeeze chute.  I love old barns...and other old structures out in the country...  sorry for the picture quality...

 

I also love back lighting from the sun or other light source. See below.  Late afternoon looking not quite into the sun and the trees were just starting to get some good color.  I love painting outside.  Sometimes I bring my 8x10 studies into the studio and then do a large painting of them.  I have 4 wonderful friends that I paint with.  We are all so different in the way we paint, the way we were brought up, the ways we believe, etc.  But one thing holds us together and makes us good friends - painting is our muse.  We "understand" each other.  We respect each other and our differences, and we love each other in spite of everything else. Painting/Art - seeing it, smelling it, touching it, breathing it in, absorbing ourselves in it.  We have to do it ---   or die.

I can't wait til 2-3 more weeks.  I've been working here for the last 8 years. I'm so ready to get back outside on a more regular basis and paint with my buddies.  I've hired another lady to work part-time.  (that's why I have been MIA here lately - along with all the other stuff going on in my life right now.) We are extending our business hours from 8-5 Mon-Sat. I will work Mon-Wed. and she is working Thurs - Sat.  My art gang is chomping at the bit for us all to get out and paint together, ALL of us, again like it used to be. They've missed me - it's good to be missed.  I've done a little painting these last 8 years, but not like I was before.  I'm hitting the road again, the hiways and byways, the parks, the countryside, wherever my muse stirs my soul.  I hope to start a painting blog when I get rolling again.  Wish me luck!

Enjoy this short Autumn season! and as always - Keep your dress down!