Just Stuff

I've been working at trying to arrange the studio so that my husband can install the new cabinets this weekend.  But I have to admit that I was also checking out things on the internet and noticed that there's been a run on visitors viewing my Kelpie puppy painting from way back in 2008!  It's not that great of a painting and when I see things like this, it always makes me curious!

If any of you who have searched for the Kelpie puppy and viewed it recently would like to explain why it's so popular, I'd appreciate it.  Or, if any of you who know what's going on with it would like to tell me, I'd appreciate that also!

I do notice when paintings are viewed frequently and will change them around from one host to another or add additional or heavier watermarks to them if I feel it's warranted.  

I do hope that people using the internet know by now that items posted online are copyrighted even if there is no copyright notice on them.

Anyway, I'll keep my eye on the various "popular" and may even sign up for a photo tracking program.

I also wanted to comment about the areas of the US who have been absolutely slammed with snow and ice.  I do feel for you and you have my prayers.  You know I don't particularly care for winter weather so I'm especially aware of the inconvenience at least that you're suffering.  I hope there's a break soon and that spring arrives early this year!

Stay warm everyone.

Oh, No, Not Again!

         

Yep, it's snowing AGAIN this morning!  It just started less than half an hour ago or so and look what's accumulated already.  My DH just had to go to work this morning and left at his usual time before it started snowing.  He works about an hour from here and actually made it to work before the first flake fell.  However, it may be a different story this afternoon when he tries to get home!  I hope he heeds the advice he would surely give me and comes on home before the roads get icy as they are predicted to become (check out Atlanta who got this a few hours ahead of us!)

Guess I'll stay in today and see if I can work on a painting.

More Snow, Colourfix Suede and Other Stuff

We are having a really, really weird "snow/no snow" day today!  It was cold with a very heavy frost this morning but the sun came out and it was really pretty for a little while.  Then we had a 2 minute flurry of heavy snow with high wind - almost like a mini blizzard!  Then the sun came back out again and since the weather forecasters had said all the snow would be in the morning hours, we decided to go to a Hobby Lobby about 30 minutes away.  We set off with the sun shining and got about 10 miles before we ran into blowing heavy snow again.  We thought it would end just as it had before but it only seemed to get worse so we turned around and came back home!  Bummer!

I didn't really need anything at Hobby Lobby but it seems that I've been stuck in the house forever and just wanted to get out for a bit.  The reason I didn't need anything is because I just placed an order with Jerry's Artarama yesterday evening.

Yep, I finally ordered the new Colourfix Suede paper along with some other things I've been wanting.  It should be here towards the end of next week if all goes well.  Sue, from Pencilpix blog, told me she'd been dithering over what support to use and had effectively put off starting a new painting.  I think that's the case with me and I hope having a new support to try will get me revved back up again!  The cold and lack of sunshine really zaps my creative juices and I haven't wanted to paint at all lately.

I have several things on hold that I really need to get going on but it seems that if I start something when I'm not in the mood, I struggle with it and sometimes end up starting over anyway.

I'll keep you posted on how I like the new suede paper - just hope I'm in the mood to try it when it gets here!

Going, Going ------

Almost gone - that's both the snow and the old year and, to tell the truth, I'm not at all sorry to see either go. 

You know my feelings about snow and even though 2010 hasn't been a really awful year for us, it's just time for a new beginning with a new year, don't you think?  I  have a good feeling that 2011 will be a great year.  And I wish for a super year for all of us artists as it's also time for art sales to recover.

So, may I wish all of you a happy and prosperous New Year filled with every good thing life has to offer!

Back To Normal?

Well, the snow is finally melting and the roads are clear at least.  There's still quite a bit of the white stuff around but the patches of bare ground are getting bigger all the time.  The weather forecasters say we should be up to around 70 degrees by the weekend!  Whooo Hooo!

In the meantime, I'm still trying to clean up and organize my studio when I really need to be painting.  I have several paintings to do and have got to get cracking on them soon - I just need to be able to find my table so I can paint!

So, I want to take this time to wish everyone a wonderful coming new year.  I think I missed wishing you all a merry Christmas but I hope you had one anyway.

All the best in 2011!

That Four-Letter Word Again!

You can call me a whiner, I don't care, but I don't like snow and cold.  I even moved to the southern part of the country to escape it but we still get some from time to time.  Usually we get a few flakes then the sun will come out and it's gone within a few hours.  But we got dumped on Christmas night and it's still here 2 days later!  That's not what I bargained for when I moved here!

So, I've stayed inside and finished painting my new cabinet and am in the process of filling it up with all my various art papers.  Right now, my studio is a royal mess as everything was piled on my art table to make room for the new cabinet so I've got to sort through all of that and decide where each type of paper should go.  This is NOT the fun part as I'm notoriously unskilled at organization.  Once something is organized, I tend to keep it that way, but deciding how it should be organized is giving me a brain freeze!

That's why it's taken me this long to decide what I want in the studio and how I should arrange it.  My husband gave me carte blanche in the home improvement store for Christmas and insists I get cabinets and counters ordered.  That's great but every time I tell him what I'd like, he comes up with a reason why it would be impractical!  Like, there's a short wall that I think would be ideal for my computer desk and peripherals table or a counter but my DH has pointed out that the phone line is on the opposite wall across the room.  Since I use the phone line to connect for DSL internet access, I really need to have my computer close enough to connect to it.  I'm not so sure that's a real problem though as I'm sure the phone line can be moved.  I'm also sure my DH wouldn't be thrilled to have to do it since it would involve crawling under the house!  I could have the phone company or an independent contractor move it, but I know my sweetie would rather do it himself even if it means crawling through cobwebs in a dark place.  I can just see him moving the phone line then I find out later that moving my computer to the new area just isn't working after all!  He's a wonderful, patient and indulgent man but I think that could cause some major words between us!

So, these kinds of problems keep me in a dither about how to organize and I tend to do nothing instead of forging ahead and maybe making a mistake!

Are any of you out there any good at organization?  Any suggestions would be more than welcome!

Crunch Time!

It's getting down to the wire as far as Christmas is concerned - is everyone ready?  I still have one or two gifts to get but don't know exactly what - do you all have people like that?  It's the ones who you don't really know that well but want to bless with a little something and you want it to be something they'd like to get.  Well, not much time to figure it out, is there?

Sorry, no pictures with this post - I have been painting a little but my scanner died so I don't have any pictures to show.  I don't know about you all but I have a difficult time taking a digital photo of my paintings and would much rather scan them.  Not only has the scanner gone south, but the weather has been very overcast and rainy so there hasn't been any good natural light for photos anyway.

As a matter of fact, we started out with a snow/sleet mixture yesterday morning and got some intermixed snow off and on for most of the day.  The temps rose overnight and are above freezing so there's nothing on the ground, thank God.  I know some people like snow for Christmas (& there's a chance for it on Christmas Eve here!) but it's a nasty four-letter word to me!

It doesn't help that everything practically shuts down here when one snowflake falls so you can't do last minute shopping or anything.  Of course, most people just jam the grocery stores for a while then stay home and watch it fall.  That's fine for them but it's such a pain to try to get to the barn to take care of Bonnie when it's slick and icy out or if you have to slog through snow.  Then, there's the extra clean-up because she stays in her stall more and ice to either chip out of the water tank or having to put in the tank heater.  She's worth it, of course, but I'd still prefer no snow!

Barbara, This is For You!

Looking Out over the Back Hayfield

copyright
Jan Gibson

Ok, Barbara, this is what you're missing by not being here! Aren't you glad you decided not to move here to live?

This photo was taken about an hour ago and there appeared to be about 2 to 3 inches of snow on the ground with more coming down thickly as you can see. It's still falling hard and fast and the weather people say we have about another hour to go before it moves on out.

We'll probably end up with about 4 inches of snow which will probably hang around for another day or so then melt in the coming 50+ degree temperatures!

But there is good news - yesterday I went to lunch with a friend to a suburb of Raleigh and there was a Border's bookstore in the same shopping center. I found two great how-to books on painting, one on watercolor and the other on watercolor, gouache, oil & acrylic so I'm going to hunker in and try to do a little learning today.

The only problem I foresee is how to keep the electric blanket over my head and still do the painting exercises in the books! Wish me luck!

New Watercolor Painting

watercolor
copyright
Jan Gibson

I finished this about a week ago but am just now getting around to posting it. The colors look a little washed out but if I try to fix them in my photo software, the painting gets a weird cast to it.

Anyway, this is an Italian Greyhound that I painted as a change of pace from pastel. The photo references were lousy but I'm the photographer so have no one to blame but myself! lol

Changing the subject, we are getting our first snow of the season. It was spitting snow a little bit when I woke up about 3 and when I let the dogs out a few minutes ago, it was coming down pretty good. The temperature is in the mid-thirties though and I know it won't stick.

We rarely get snow but they're (who are "they" anyway?) predicting a colder, perhaps snowier winter than we've had in recent years. Of course they don't know for sure what the weather will do in the next few weeks let alone the rest of the winter! Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part as snow is a four-letter word in my book! I guess I don't mind it as much as I used to because I don't have to drive in it or be out in it for any extended length of time. It makes the barn chores a little more difficult but otherwise, I can just stay here in the house and ignore it!