What are you up to?

[PaintBoss]

Just having a quiet day. Moving a bit better with less pain meds. My little buddy hanging out with me. It’s been a weird combination of muggy and not hot but very warm and grey skies the last little bit of September and now. Usually, it’s gorgeous blue skies, and lovely moderate temperatures with some warm days. I feel lucky though when I see the destruction down in the south after hurricane Helene.

 

[john]

Congrats Ellen on your sobriety. You show me that it's possible to do. So far so good with mine. No cravings. The fake beer is helping.

Christine glad to hear you are doing better.

Speaking of hurricane Helene, I just got back from visiting my brother in Atlanta Georgia. Bad timing. Towns along the route had no electricity or gas. The hotel rooms were all taken by emergency workers. I passed a caravan of over a hundred Con Ed line working trucks.

Incredibly, this past spring I visited both Cedar Key Florida and Asheville NC. Glad I did because now they are mostly destroyed. Terrible to see. This kind of thing is just going to get worse and more common. Be prepared.

I just had to get a couple of paintings entered into a juried show, while doing a bunch of other things. I guess being busy is good but I'm looking forward to things getting quieter so I can spend more time painting. The last one for the show I had to sort of rush. Hopefully one will be "invited".

We went to the Atlanta Zoo. Very nice. The gorillas were really fun to watch. They play wrestled and hung out in hammocks. They have relaxation down to a science. Like this guy. He's like " Who you looking at human?"

 

[Grapes]

It’s been a weird combination of muggy and not hot but very warm and grey skies the last little bit of September and now. Usually, it’s gorgeous blue skies, and lovely moderate temperatures with some warm days.

We're waiting for snow here

PB, Finn is looking so CUTE! She's healing you with her fluffy cute face.

John, Congratulation for your entries to the juried show! Keep us updated.
I'm the same, always looking for quiet times just to paint. I want to wipe everything else away from my calendar, even stopped going to exhibitions.

 

[stlukesguild]

A good many of the students I went to art school with learned early on that alcohol and painting did not mix well. We'd have a good buzz going and think that our latest painting was a work of genius. The next morning we'd find ourselves thinking "what the hell was going through my mind?"

I still drink... mostly socially. I don't think many teachers today could survive without a little something after one of those especially ugly days. When my wife and I lived in New York... and then after... for the first few years back in Cleveland... I was the proverbial "starving artist." We couldn't afford a lot of luxuries. The "luxuries" we did buy included good tea, good coffee, and good beer. Good wine was out of our budget. We still imbibe in all three. We'll have a good coffee or tea in the morning on weekends, and I'll often have a couple good beers in the evening when we dine out. Or tequila! I discovered that tequila is low in sugar, doesn't tend to cause hangovers, and good tequila is generally cheaper than other hard alcohols.

 

[Artyczar]

Arty,
I stumbled on this going through this thread. I love it! You are such a creative person. I love how you look at the world. It’s very unique.
View attachment 43793

Thank you very much Christine.

 

[Artyczar]

John, it sounds like you're doing well so far. Keep it up. You can do it, and there are no hard-fast rules. In my opinion, anyway. When I quit all the things I did, I may have "slipped up" a couple of times, but I just got back on my intended path and lived a better life for me. I let "others" get disappointed in me if they wanted to, but I knew what I was and wasn't capable of. I'm just saying, be kind to yourself. And congrats on your entries into the juried show. Good for you!

Christine, I'm so glad to hear you're feeling better! Thank goodness! Oh, my gawd, your dog melts me! You have no idea how much she tickled my heart. What a face!

Ellen, congratulations on getting through so much! You are strong and an inspiration!

I have been BUSY! I'm working on the last of the details of my show--the last major piece (the sculpture), which, believe it or not, has a lot of technical, or rather physical engineering issues, to it that Hannah and I are trying to get squared away. We've had to figure out how to make it come apart and install it on site because it can't be transported in one piece, etc., blah, blah, too boring to explain.

I've also been working on the promotional aspects, and I recently joined a network for mid-career artists, strictly to find out what the hell I want to do with my future. I'm trying to reevaluate my goals and such. I've been in kind of an existential crisis, I guess. Meanwhile, I started talking to a small gallery in Brooklyn about possibly showing there. While that sounds exciting and everything, all that comes with expenses.

 

[Grapes]

We've had to figure out how to make it come apart and install it on site because it can't be transported in one piece,

Arty, you have a show coming up! I think I read somewhere here in CS about it, possibly. The sculpture taken to parts and transfer sounds interesting .. oh my, and how complicated!
Hope you find a scholarship for the Brooklyn gallery, would that be a possibility/option! Here artists mostly exhibit with scholarships, I've heard.

 

[brianvds]

Noticed this some time ago in the garden: a dove that had gotten it into her pea-brained head to build a nest on top of a ladder leaning against the wall:

But the plan worked - there are now two nestlings!

 

[Terri]

Silly birds. The strangest one I ever had was a mama bird finding a large, open bag of garden lime, which is very soft and powdery. Not sure why the bag was open, but she nestled down in there and before we knew it there was a nest with eggs, then babies.

Such a sweet picture, Brian!

 

[Rich53]

Noticed this some time ago in the garden: a dove that had gotten it into her pea-brained head to build a nest on top of a ladder leaning against the wall:

View attachment 43985

But the plan worked - there are now two nestlings!

View attachment 43986

Well, now we know the origin of the term " bird-brain"!

 

[john]

Well neither of my paintings were "invited" to the juried art show. Not really surprised. They had nothing to do with the theme "my generation". That's OK, I had wanted to paint them anyhow. But next time I'm not going to stress myself out with meeting these deadlines. And the timing of these is always in September which seems to be the busiest time of year for me.

I went 25 days with no drinking at all. Wasn't that difficult, just a little boring. I'm allowing myself a couple a day now. And no booze, only beer and wine.

Found some chicken of the woods mushrooms today while walking the dog. These are choice edibles. They taste a bit like a cross between eggs and chicken. They are found growing on oak trees and their orange color makes them easy to spot.

 

[Rich53]

Congratulations on 25 days!
A warning, however: it is so easy for us to fall into the trap of "If one bottle didn't hurt, what harm can two do?" and down we go.
I'll admit that losing my Mom to alcohol just before I graduated HS kept me from alcohol, but I do have other temptations to battle.

As to the Chicken of the Woods, considering that when people are asked "What do [snakes / frog legs / etc.] taste like?" the answer is usually "chicken"; and considering my sense of humor, I'm afraid I'd say that CotW tastes like snake!

Have a good day,
--Rich

 

[Artyczar]

Thanks for the interest, Grapes. I finally finished that sculpture and am apprehensive about installing it, but we'll see how it goes.

John, congrats on 25 days! Just be careful, or mindful rather. As long as you can trust yourself, that's all that matters. If you find you can't, I hope you reach out.

I've been busy trying to get loose ends tied up with all the show stuff, wrapping up the work for transit, etc. I also had to take a 2nd trip to LA to see my brother, who has stage 4 cancer, and that's been difficult.

 

[PaintBoss]

I’m sorry to hear that Arty. You most definitely have a lot on your plate. I wish you well with all of it. Whatever is the future for your brother, I hope he has comfort and peace.
As far as your installation goes, I hope you get a picture of it when it’s all up and on show. And I hope that goes smoothly for you as well.

 

[Marc]

Sorry to hear that about your brother. Cancer's a complete C word

 

[brianvds]

Went for a walk around the local nature area. Signs of early summer everywhere:

Weaver bird males are hard at work weaving nests:

An eggshell, probably a dove that recently hatched:

The single jacaranda tree in the park is in bloom:

These are not indigenous, so this one will probably eventually be removed from the park. But they are widely used as street trees here, so Pretoria and Johannesburg are both clothed in purple blossoms this time of year. Beautiful, but also gives me minor anxiety attacks, because this is also the time of year when students write exams, so the blossoms awaken vivid memories of stress and late nights!

Another common sight in early summer: termite males and females fly out of nests in their thousands to go found new colonies. Most get eaten by birds and bats. Next morning, you see their wings everywhere:

And as free bonus, here's a hadeda ibis screaming its head off, a skill they have perfected over millions of years of evolutionary fine tuning and are very good at:

 

[Mississippi Hippie]

I’m sorry Arty my thoughts go out to you and him.
John I haven’t had an adult beverage in about a year and a half and I think I can never go back. Things really go smoother w/o booze!!
Brian love the birds!! Wish summer was starting here, to, but it’s the 2nd or 3rd day of Fall temps. I saw a hawk up close 2 days ago, wish I had more a reflex to photograph wildlife.
Out side my house there’s a huge crawdad mound/tunnel (don’t have picture, will take) and the land and water turtles have returned since the hurricane! I have a picture of a box turtle and I haven’t been able to identify it’s type between two, but it’s the kind I see on my lawn and street that faces a swamp and lake. The water turtles are in the river off the backyard. I just moved in on July 5th, and I love it here. Sold a house for 9 mo and my husband and I really wanted a place on the water. It’s pretty country being the outer neighborhood in Biloxi, MS. It’s the safest neighborhood in the city. Something we wanted after living in a dangerous area in Alabama. Have to take more pictures!

And just because here’s Rupert:

You can see the turtles head in the foliage if you look close:

 

[Grapes]

Arty, you and your brother are in my thoughts!
Brian, so you write from South Africa! Lovely pics. We're getting ready for winter here.
Mississippi, Rupert is really beautiful! What is his age? Looks very young, so soft looking fur.
John, thanks for the update. Competitions are often tricky. You never know what the judges want. It's like a lottery. I was once surprised positively.

 

[Mississippi Hippie]

Rupert was 1yo this July!

 

[Grapes]

Thank you for sharing his photo!