Why did the Tarantula cross the road?

Well, it's been awhile. Thought I would start off with a recent story: 2 evenings ago I was driving down the road near my home here in Solvang, California. A gorgeous, slightly cool evening for this neck of the woods...and I mean woods! Our house is on a hilltop located in Santa Ynez Valley with coyotes, mountain lions (OK, I have never seen one, just heard stories), horses, wild chickens, and Max (my black lab friend who lives nearby).  As I was driving down our canyon road I saw something dark (the size of my fist) 20 feet in front of my car. I slowed down as I saw this 'thing' creeping along. I STOPPED when I saw what would be the largest spider I have seen in the states. I pulled over, hopped out and stood in the middle of the road dumbfounded as this Tarantula made it's 8-legged way across the road. Uh, where were it's eyes? I couldn't quite see them and I wanted to know just WHICH way was forward as I stood ready to make a quick dash.
Anyway, another car was rounding the curve and I put out my hand for them to stop. The driver looked down in front of her car, smiled, shook her head and pulled around the crazy lady and her new friend in the middle of the road.
To make this story shorter, my new friend ambled across the road and that was that. After a Google search I found that this area of California is hopping with Tarantulas. The ones we see crossing the road are males, not too aggressive, evening time is the prime time to view them, and (of course) it is mating season. So, I wonder if I took a pole how many people got the answer to my subject line before I even typed this?

Giving Back

Today was a day of gifts. I introduced 30 children to the basics of Chinese Calligraphy at the West Des Moines Library. One challenge was to give my demonstrations on a vertical surface. Now, that doesn't seem difficult until you think about standing on spotless carpet & painting with a large brush soaked in black ink. The staff may have been worried about the students spilling, but I was worried about ME spilling!

There were so many eager faces in the crowd. It warmed my heart to see all of those eager faces sitting there just waiting to learn.

The kids had fun and so did I! 

Is this Heaven?

This morning I met an artist friend at a local tea shop. I brought a prototype of a calligraphy painting I have been working on so I could discuss this with her. What a delight when my friend told me that she could read Chinese writing! It was even more of a surprise when she told me she could read most of my characters!

While sitting with our tea and talking art, a man with a warm smile and an Irish brogue approached our table. "Are you from China?" he asked my friend. "No, from Korea" Lucia stated simply. She smiled and then asked him "Are you from Ireland?"  "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Dublin!"

Only in Iowa! :-)

Important Link for this Post! Gong Fu Tea
http://www.gongfu-tea.com/

All you have to do...is listen

I am dancing a jig here (uh, my Irish slang...) as I finished my 2nd painting for the week. Both of these paintings are to be sold as either silent or live auction items for the ACS Bras for the Cause Events this weekend and another fundraisor for the James Albert Foundation which is helping to build schools in Belize.
The painting here started as a watercolor on museum mounted Gessoboard. I stained the sides of this board (to enhance the appearance and preserve the wood), then taped this off to protect the sides. I then did a loose, watercolor painting of an Asian elephant and an imaginary landscape. I had a poem that kept haunting me as I painted this elephant, so decided to write this in the quiet area to the R of the elephant. I then took some Walnut Ink and a calligraphy brush and quickly outlined the elephant to make it 'pop' just a bit. After the painting dried I sprayed the surface with an archival matte spray to help preserve the watercolor on this slick surface. I then went in with encaustic medium and brushed around certain parts of the painting, giving this a dream-like texture and appearance. The last thing was to collage a bit of calligraphy on this baby. The golden, calligraphic symbol stands for 'to listen'. The photos here are deceiving in that the gold pigment I used in the writing does not photograph well. The poem on this painting is from a favorite movie of mine, August Rush:

Listen. Can you hear it? The music! I can hear it everywhere. In the wind... in the air... in the light. It's all around us. All you have to do is open yourself up. All you have to do... is listen.

Autumn Morning in Napa

Autumn mornings can be beautiful in Iowa. These farm scenes were taken just west of DM today. The colors and lighting were stellar. I do believe the best lighting may be about an hour even earlier. So, tomorrow or the next AM I am going out in my PJs and lugging a thermos of coffee!

Pthalo, Phthalo, Thalo and Prussian

About this painting- and all of that gorgeous green grass! I learned a lesson about how SCARY pthalo green can be to a watercolor painting. Pthalo green and pthalo or prussian blue are staining, aggressive and 'yes' scary colors! I have those on  my palette as other artists have mentioned they make great darks. However, they have ruined 2 of my paintings this week as NOTHING I did to neutralize these colors worked. Yesterday I spent an hour or so emptying/discarding all of the colors on my palette (including those obnoxious colors) and squeezing out only colors I love and find workable. Time well spent!

Of course, this is NOT the painting - but the photo. The painting will be redrawn and started again (without staining colors!). Perhaps shown in a later blog.

Is this Des Moines?

This week I spent the a couple of afternoons sketching and painting in the Pappajohn Sculpture Gardens downtown Des Moines. I gave plein air painting a good run! The sun and slight wind enjoyed blurring my eyesight and tossing my easel or watercolor board around at times. Totally worth is as I watched and listened to all sorts of people enjoying this public space. I saw everyone from new brides to people enjoying a lunch hour, to kids tossing footballs. Was this Des Moines?!? It sure was! I am thankful for the donation and tax dollars that went into finding/procuring and saving this beautiful area.