Dust Off the Crusade.

 My More Love Crusade gets ignored and forgotten at times, but its time to bring it out, dust it off, and put it into high gear.  Its time.  Yessirreebob, this is the time if there ever was one.
So straighten up all you meanies out there, the Crusaders are back and we're ready to be real real nice.


I made 21 little dinky Christmas ornaments today.  They're encaustic on wood.

A sweet little collection, right?

But alas, I had to stop crafting.  Its zombie night.  Zombie night btw is always on Beef Monday.  We like our beef rare on zombie night.  Real real rare.

And this hunk of fabulousity below, well, I had to take a picture of it and share it with the world.  Its a candle that looks like a cake.  Where else, Anthropologie.  Everything is perfect in Anthropologie.  I could have stayed in there for a very long time.  What am I talking about, I DID stay in there a very long time.  In fact, I might move there, sort of like the Bundy's did when their a.c. konked out and they moved into the GitMo freezer isle.  (I made that name up or my brother did, GitMo)

I wonder how long it will take them to notice.  Surely it won't be until after Christmas, so I'm good for a while.

That's where I'll be!

Nineteen Santas Before Sunrise.

The sun come up out my window while I painted Santa ornaments this morning.  Earrrrrly.  I had 19 well underway by the time it showed its pretty little orange rays over the hayfield.

I'm trying to give each one a personality, a unique character.

I couldn't get in the studio to put the wax over them.  Today was delivery day for art, so it involved a bit of driving and dropping off and then some shopping and hibachi grill.  My husband will take me anywhere if hibachi grill is involved.

I was rather falling in love with some of these guys at this stage:

Early stages, for anyone interested in the how-to's:

It must be Christmastime because the Christmas Cactus says so.

See.

It Takes A Pill
         by tereSager

Today the past walked by me.
It wanted me to see
how well how good how wonderful
that it appeared to be.

The cold black wind around it blew
and at first sight the lie I knew
that the show that was pretended
in its mind it never ended.
Down to blackness in the crash
a deep dark hole, a lightning flash
it let me see for one brief dot
with clarity, its life is not
what is portrayed upon the web
or anything like what is said.
Instead that sleep does not come still
unless each night it takes
a pill.

Enjoy Slugs Today.

Election Day Plan.

I've been painting at Command Central every morning.  Easy watercolours.  No big mixed-media messes.  Save that for the studio.

This way I can sip coffee in my pj's and play with paint at 5 a.m. while the house is quiet as a churchmouse and not make a big honkin' mess.  I make a little honkin' mess instead.

No matter what, this is going to be a busy crazy day and its going to be next to impossible to get anything done in the studio.  The vibe out there is sick.  Hiding from it in the studio behind a big big painting is comforting and wonderful, but sometimes difficult.  And when the vibe is sick, my phone rings a lot and people wander in and need to chitchat.  Stop 'N Chats.  Don't love 'em.

The plan is to make a nice big egg sandwich on cloud bread-my newest love. There are recipes for it all over Pinterest and I say try it, it turned out fantastic.  Zero carbs.  Heck, it might even be negative carb but that is my fantasy and not real so don't believe it, but I digress.

After consuming a gigantic neg carb protein breakfast I'm going to go do it.  I'm going to vote.  It's going to be awesome and its going to be a landslide.  There.  I said it.  Outloud and on the World Wide Web.  For all of my three readers.
   
Then I'll be going into the Dreamery to escape.  I have on a cute voting/election-day outfit, low-key but perfect.  It involves mauve velvet and silvery gray, oh and Cowgirl boots just like always.  But I'm busting out the baby pink ones.  All this means I'll have to wear the Lab Coat, and since its cool enough for it, all is well.

Happy Day Lovelies, enjoy!

Christmas During Indian Summer.

Its coming.  You can't stop Christmas from coming no way no how.  I know, I've tried.

Might as well get with the program and paint Santas and Elves.

These ornaments are encaustic on wooden discs and little flat stick-like pieces of wood.

Oh my gosh its totally putting me in the Holiday Spirit.  Humming Christmas carols is mandatory when you are creating these.

These are encaustic on Capiz Shells.

Translucence.

At last count I think I have made at least 30 of these crazies.  I can't stop.  Oh yeah, I've been meditating with Oprah and Deepak while I paint them, insane. The thing is, its mid-November and it still seems like Indian Summer out there. Christmas is going to be. here. all the sudden and freak us all out because we're all still in summermode, and I don't want to be freaked out.  So this is a perfect solution, its taking me there.

More Drinkin' Less Drawin'.

October.
Its always the prettiest month, and I'm a bit sad to see it go.  Painting some leaves is my way of keeping it right here.

This is a section of my daily squares journal page.

Another section.

I took this journal to the Drink 'N Draw with me but didn't even pick up a pencil to work in it.  We met at the local winery.  It was cloudy and sunny so the light was exquisite, and distracting.  The wine tasted good and I did not draw one single thing.

This was my Halloween self-portrait.  Isn't the "more love" heart at my feet wonderful?

Does this cape make my butt look big?

"Bag It, Tag It...

Sell it to the butcher in the store."  I can't help singing that Phish song when I'm baggin' and taggin' artwork.  Its so catchy.  And appropriate.  It helps you work if you sing.

This guy is different from the others.  I thought I'd shake things up.

 I put this one in the white frame with a taupe mat and its making me quite happy.

These two costumed crazies evolved into a Court Street fantasy scene.

Is it wrong that I want it to go in this dusty old broken frame in the worst way?

details.

Framing paintings, painting paintings, tagging paintings, inventorying paintings, delivering paintings, all of it is keeping me hopping.  So, when our neighbor gave me these peppers I knew we needed soup.  White Chicken Chili.

Somehow I couldn't bring myself to chop them up without taking a bunch of photos of them.  They're so pretty.

There was work to be done and we need to eat, so I did it, I chopped them up.  Its ok though, I still have photos.

Back to the grind, framing.

Naturally this guy got a baby pink frame.

No frame required here.

This is a kind of weird frame to put a watercolour in, but when I tried it I liked it.

Same with this one.

Packing them up is bittersweet.  I didn't even get to live with these guys for one little New York minute to see if I even liked them.  But its nice to have a basket of fresh paintings to go out into the world.

Here's a Wayne Tree, framed in turquoise.

The whole time I was working this was happening.  She was with me emotionally though, I could feel it.

I put Three Feathers in a yellow frame and I'm not sure about it.  Oh well, too late!  Its out there.

Driving to the gallery there were wild turkeys in my tunnel, always a nice sight. I do wish, however, that there would have been time for a much more pleasing photo but this one will have to do I suppose.

I still have to decide if and how to frame these crazies.

Sometimes I don't want to frame my paper pieces.  I just want to stick a thumb tack through it on the wall and be done with it.  I'm tired of all these rules of framing and art show stipulations and gallery etiquette.  Thumb tacks I say. Good enough!