Salty Dog on Mat Board

I have been wanting to try some drawing on colored mat board. Well last night I did an ATC on mat board. I have to say I really like working on it. Now I just have to find someone who makes their own mats and see if I can purchase or recycle their remnants.

Here is "Salty Dog" on blue mat board with the back ground colored and without. I used watercolor pencil and a little waterbrush, then more wcp. Now I just have to find some rembants or uncut mat board in colors at an affordable price.

The name Salty Dog is because my "model" is a ceramic salt shaker I purchased at Goodwill.

Libby Finished

I finished my commission of Libby the Vizsla. I will deliver it tomorrow.

Rain

It's raining here. We need the water but it's not too good to have 3 dogs going outside to do their business and tracking water and mud inside. And Dizzy is like a wet dust mop after she goes out. Her kind of hair just sucks up the water. She comes in and wants her mama to wipe her down.

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. I probably wouldn't remember it if it wasn't my mother-in-law's birthday. She has been gone many years now but since researching her daughter's father's past, I realized how much that day had an impact on my mother-in-law.

Her husband was a pilot and joined the RAF before the US was in the war. He left for England in December. They married before he left and she was left with a surprise. She was pregnant. The husband died the first part of September and their daughter was born two months before. I just hope that he knew about the baby before he died. He was buried in France where his plane went down.

Even tho my mother-in-law would later marry again and have a son (my hubby), she never really accepted that he was dead. She would watch newsreels from the war and search faces. I have since proven that he did die and we even have a photo of his gravestone in France. I just wish that Margaret had lived long enough for the internet and my search so she would have had closure.

That probably wouldn't have happened had she lived as she didn't share information about her first husband even with her daughter. It was too painful and the daughter soon learned that asking questions caused her mother much grief so she stopped asking. And now everyone with any knowledge is no longer living. We have found some information but keep hitting dead ends.

The state of Maryland won't give us a copy of the dad's birth certificate because his daughter doesn't fit any of the people who can get that information. Like the person themselves. A child of that person isn't on the list. We even sent paperwork showing his death, his gravestone, her birth certificate, RAF papers that have been unclassified, the daughters driver's license, and anything else that we could think of. Everything including the check was returned and marked unable to provide that information due to she isn't allowed that info. If she isn't, who is? That man can't ask for it himself. Anyone who would be, is no doubt no longer living but her.

His daughter knows very little about her dad. She would like to know more about his family. He could even have had children before her. She doesn't even know her grandparent's names (except the first name of her grandfather) or anything else about them. Why isn't she allowed that information? She wasn't adopted. Files should not be closed to her access and nothing in those files would hurt anyone if she had them. His daughter is now 65 years old. I would like her to have the knowledge about her past that everyone else has.

I told Dannie, my sister-in-law that she had better not die until I have that info as I am determined to find out. But I'm getting doubtful. The letter from the State of Maryland took the wind from my sails.

I am doing some thinking today (oh no, the sky may fall). I am putting thoughts down for my last day of the year post and for my wish list for next year. Of course it will contain the usual weight loss. Hopefully other things on the list will come about better than the weight loss each year. Maybe if I put weight gain, it will psych myself out for the opposite. But if it doesn't, I'm in trouble. Just how far can a body stretch without bursting?

Dizzy

My Dizzy is no longer a baby. She is a young lady now at 8 months. And none too happy about wearing a doggie diaper.

Moley Library Project.

I took out my Moleskine Project book tonight and finished up the sketches I had started. But I did it really fast and not really caring whether it was very neat. My problem is that I don't really care if I finish it or not. It was to go into a traveling library and be on display at several galleries, then return to a permanent library at the Art House Coop.

I never was really interested in the theme I received, then I roused and figured out a way to advance with it. Well working on it tonight didn't do a thing for me. And time is running out. They extended the time by a month but that new date is January 1st. I have only filled about 4 or 5 double pages and I'm not sure I could fill it that fast. Especially with the theme at hand.

So this may be just a practice book for me to use at home. Quite an expensive one considering I could get a hardbound Moley at Barnes and Noble that has really nice stiff pages in it for the price I paid for this one with almost tissue paper thin pages. In that library with people checking them out, I can't see them holding up for long with those thin pages. I think I will just save my energy and create some artwork that I will be more proud of.

I was surfing the net trying to find a way to do a new ATc Project on WC. I still haven't found what I want to do for it. It needs to be something different and along the mixed media line. Not just regular drawings with graphite and cps that I usually do. Open theme tho. There will b e 19 cards to do and if I don't find something that gets me interested, I may have a long 6 months with that project also.

Giraffe ATC Trade

This month's ATC exchange at the Drawspace Forum is for Giraffe ATCs. I worked on mine last night and today and finished them. I had to do 9. I decided to do some cartoony ones this time. Here they are.

Bud

I did this for a friend as a thank you. It is their boxer Bud who passed away early this year. They usually adopt rescue boxers and have another to add to their gang now. I think they have 3 dogs now and two are boxers.

This is done ona 9x12 inch sheet of Bristol Smooth and is done in colored pencil.

Over the Top Award

I have a fun award from Teresa. Please visit her blog as she has some beautiful art, a wonderful sense of humor, and has a gift for writing. I have known her for less than a year but I feel like I've known her all my life. I call her TBerry (because of all the berry picking she does) and she calls me CA (California).

The rules are:

I need to pass this award on to five people, then I need to answer a list of questions in ONE word.
So here we go:

1. Where is your cell phone?…Purse
2. Your hair?… Thin
3. Your mother?… Loving
4. Your father?… Frail
5. Your favorite food?… Chocolate
6. Your dream last night?…Tiring
7. Your favorite drink?…Dr.Pepper
8. Your dream/goal?… Heaven
9. What room are you in?… office
10. Your hobby?… Crochet
11. Your fear?… Heights
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?…Home
13. Where were you last night?… Home
14. Something that you aren’t?… Needy
15. Muffins?… Pumpkin
16. Wish list item?… Laptop
17. Where did you grow up?… Bakersfield
18. Last thing you did?… Typed
19. What are you wearing?… Sweatshirt
20. Your TV?… Company
21. Your Pets?… Dogs/Birds
22. Friends?… comforting
23. Your life?… Okay
24. Your mood?… Pensive
25. Missing Someone?… KC
26. Vehicle?… Adequate
27. Something you're not wearing?… Bra
28. Your favorite store?… Michaels
29. Your favorite colour?… Purple
30. When was the last time you laughed?… Today
31. Last time you cried?… Today
32. Your best friend?… Hubby
33. One place that I go to over and over?… Goodwill
34. Facebook?… Yes
35. Favorite place to eat?… Home

Now I need to pass this on to five bloggers. Here is my list, in no particular order.

1. Jo Castillo
2. Ai
3. Tanya Bond
4. Joan Tavolott
5. Laurel Neustadler

All artists that I visit their blogs daily. They all do great work and post fairly often.

Steve Continued

More photos of Steve.

Steve

Today is my brother Steve's birthday. Too bad he isn't here to celebrate. Steve was s drug addict and passed away at 46 from complications of his drug use. He had more than one type of hepatitis and his liver just gave up. He suffered a painful death that he went thru for around a month in the hospital. At least it seemed like a month. It may have been shorter.

He was told he would not live, then told he had a chance, only to hear that he would not live. The nurses said he slept with his eyes wide open scared that if he fell asleep, he would not wake.

At first he was able to make conversation and even sit up in a chair, but when he got worse, he looked like a frightened wild animal. I will never forget how he looked. Those wild eyes were haunting.

Steve had amber colored eyes. When he got hepatitis, his skin was the same color as his eyes. It was as spooky looking as anything I have seen. It is hard to watch your baby brother die especially such a painful death.

We had not been speaking before he got sick. In fact he told my mom that I probably wouldn't come to the hospital. Wrong. How could anyone not go see their baby brother during his last days. The first visit was a little awkward. I was afraid of catching it so wouldn't sit or touch anything. My brother noticed and I'm sure it made him uncomfortable.

So before the next visit, my hubby and I went for shots. I couldn't imagine my brother passing away with me never being able to touch him again. I wanted to be able to hold his hand and help make him comfortable. Also to be there so that my mother could take a break for a couple minutes. She was there from daylight till night. She held his head and talked to him like she did when he was a baby.

In the end I was praying for him to pass on so he could be away from the pain and so that I didn't have to bury my mom too. It was taking so much out of her. Not only losing one of her children but actually watching each day as he was fading away.

My brother was fighting to the end. I know he had a long talk with our other brother one night and I hope that he was able to feel at peace. I have cried thru this whole post as it was hard to write. I still feel the loss very strongly. I don't miss the addict he had become, but I do miss the little boy who was so full of mischief, the young man who was such a proud dad, and the wonderful man he could have become if he had made better choices. I thank him for leaving behind a wonderful son for me to enjoy and watch grow to manhood with a baby daughter of his own.

And thank you for the wonderful gift your death gave to me. The day of your memorial (and my birthday), I accepted my Lord and became a Christian. I love you Steve.

Great Grandma and Kylie

Vizsla Start

I got a start done on my commission after dinner tonight. I had been putting it off and wanted to at least start it. I was sitting on the couch with a black and white copy of the photo, and balancing the sketchbook on my lap. I still have to work some more on the sketch and then transfer to better paper. The box around it is 5x7 inches and it will fit an 8x10 inch frame and mat.

Kylie's First Thanksgiving

This is Kylie's first Thanksgiving. Here she is with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa.