The Real Housecats of New Jersey

We laugh that we have very few "varmints" around here, even tho we back up to some scrabby looking woods. Our neighbors even talk about the one squirrel we share for several houses in the neighborhood.

One thing that we do have, tho not alot, but more so than any place else I have lived is feral cats.
Surviving out in those scabby woods certainly must toughen the creatures that live there.

I imagine that if the feral cats were to talk, they might have a bit of an attitude, one on the rough side.

So mix the Jersey shore, the Sopranos, reality shows and some tough cats and you come up with The Real Housecats of New Jersey.

It's PETacular

My friend Terry Stanley has started a new project.
It is called "It's PETacular!"

She had such a great success last year with Dog Days of Painting and had lots of requests for pet portraits that werent dogs.

Stop by her new site.

Two legged dog

What an inspiration. From the AP

Surf Taco -- Art of the Taco.

Been getting ready for Art of the Taco this coming Friday evening. It is at Surf Taco at 1003 Main Street in Belmar, NJ. Printing up alot of greeting cards. My new series, The Real Housecats of New Jersey will be available.

I participated in the event last year and had some fish tacos which they call a Surf Taco. I really like the shredded cabbage instead of lettuce. Fortunately we found a location closer to use in Forked River . Oh, btw, pronounce that "For'-ked River" if you dont want to sound like an outsider. The nice thing about the location is that there is also a coffe shop Java Brewin in the same center.

Morphing self portraits from YouTube

Master artist self portraits from YouTube

Silent Monks sing Halleluia

Silent Monks sing Halleluia on YouTube

In Philly

Was in Philadelphia the other day. Stopped at the art museum and took a few photos.

East entrance. There was a special exhibit of Arshile Gorky's work. He was rather versatile in his style. Did alot of abstracts. One in particular that caught my eye was the Plough and the Song. Not so much that it was an interesting painting but that he did so many studies for it.
I could see doing a quick sketch, but why so many separate studies? It's not like anyone is going to know you made changes on an abstract -- or that the changes werent intentional. Well, that is my thought.

Looking out down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from the east entrance. Same steps that Rocky ran up. I walked all the way from where the road bends out of view, through the whole museum (which is huge) and back again. I thought I wore comfortable shoes until I was about halfway done.

Rocky statue is at the base of the steps. Had to take a picture of the statue just to say I was there.

Art of the Taco VI

Participating in Art of the Taco again.

Friday, December 18th starting at 7pm at Surf Taco at 1003 Main Street in Belmar, NJ.

Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody

Something fun break from the busyness of the holidays.

Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody on YouTube

Rittenhouse Needlepoint

I had the chance to be in Philadelphia last week. While there I decided to check out Rittenhouse Needlepoint to see if they carried any Maggie Co handpainted needlepoint canvases and potentially some of my geishas.

It was located right on the corner at 1737 Chestnut on the second floor. The shop was sun filled and inviting. There were multiple racks of handpainted needlepoint canvases. I took a look at several and thought that they were art piecess in themselves. There were lots of intstuction books as a wall full of colorful thread.

In the corner was a seating area with comfy chairs and couch for people to come and work on their needlepoint projects and chat.

I taked with Russell who freely gave me lots of information about painting canvases. I decided to purchase a couple of feet so I could try my hand at it. Russell recommended a 14 gauge canvas for painting. He also pointed out that one thing that makes a good painted needlepoint canvas is to paint the stitch. It takes all the guess work out of stitching the canvas with regards to what color thread to put where.

While their custom painters use a special paint for the needlepoint industry, acrylic paints can be used by the novice painter. What is important is that the paint does not bleed -- especially when someone has put alot of work into stitching the canvas as steam can be used in the finishing process.

I am tempted to try painting the Animal Stackers I finished recently. But probably should start with something a little simpler, like my fish. They hold painting classes for those who are interested when they have at least 4 people signed up. Contact them if you are interested.

How cute are these?

When we went to the Wheaton Arts Center last week, we of course had to stop at the museum shops.

We were walking past the Brownstone Emporium when I saw a pair of these slippers in the window. I thought they were just the cutest things and had to go in and get a pair for our future grandchild.

Wheaton Arts Center

Went to the Wheaton Arts Center in Millville NJ the other day. Watched a glass blowing demonstration. Have seen demos at Simon Pearce in Chadds Ford, PA and on HGTV before.

One of the apprentices talked about the process during the demo. There was a huge brick furnace with several gloryholes and several other glass artists working on some art pieces. The glass artist who was doing the demo took about 20 minutes to shape the bowl he was creating. I asked the apprentice how much the fuel cost to create that one piece. He hadnt been asked that question before, but figured that based on how much it costs to rent furnace time, it probably was about $15-20 worth. And the sand/silica probably only cost about 35 cents.

We happened to go on the day that Tropical Storm Ida had begun to affect the mid atlantic coast. It was cold, rainy and windy. We thought that it would be nice and warm in the glass blowing building, but actually wasnt overly warm. The brick furnace was shaped like an upside down wine glass and apparently the tall design of the stack created an extremely strong draft.

Side Note:
We did have a nice time there in spite of the crummy weather. Lots of glass to see at the glass museum. We looked at the gift shops located across from the studios and museum. There were several things that we really liked.

They are having a Holiday Studio Sale Thanksgiving weekend and the following first weekend in December. Definitely worthwhile going to if you are looking for something unique.

Animal Stackers on the Wall, Purdy paint brushes and curtains.

The Animal Stackers painting fits perfectly in this spot. My daughter is currently 6 months pregnant and they only just finished installing hardwood floors by themselves the week before I arrived. They did a really nice job.


While at my daughter's, they wanted the nursery painted. Carribean green was their color choice. It took 4 coats of paint. 1 coat of white to cover the initial wall color that had patches of green test paint all over. 1 coat of carribean green mixed with some white. Then 2 coats of carribean green itself. And 4 times to cut in along the molding and ceiling.

When we went to pick up the paint, I picked up a brush for cutting in. I just happened upon the Purdy XL Dale paintbrush. I am in love with the brush and bought a couple to bring home with me. It made cutting in sooooo easy. Even in the very corners where the molding came together.
My daughter also requested I make curtains. Unfortunately I was painting when she went to the fabric store. The white cotton, crinkly satin chocolate brown, and dark brown wide wale corduroy was a bit of a challenge to put together. Did manage to at least make them functional.

The painting on the wall is by Gary Simon. I picked it up at the Unforgettable Art fundraiser for the Alzheimers Association in Rockford last spring. The plant in the corner is a money plant. Supposedly safe to eat any part of it. The cats were eyeing it when they brought it home.

Animal stackers -- done, I think.

Pending approval, I do believe I am done for the most part.

Nearing completion of Animal Stackers.

Made changes again. Decided that the animals got lost on the blue diamonds in the background, so lighten them some. May end up lightening them some more, but for now I am okay with them.

Warmed up the pink in the elephant to that of the flamingo and started cleaning up the blanket. At this point I am planning on whatever pattern to include orange - maybe just a big star. Blocked in a bird on the elephant trunk, a mouse in the cheetah's paw and a chicken on top of the alligator. Yet to sketch in a frog. Planning to put it on top of the flamingo or monkey, or maybe both.

Finalizing some decisions on Animal Stackers

Done painting for the day. Added spots to the cheetah and cleaned up the lines around most of the animals. Started on the elephants blanket. Got some correcting to do on the black and white border. Not sure what kind of a pattern I will use on the blanket. Also have a few more creatures to add to the stack.

Yet another change to Animal stackers

While I liked the soft colors of the diamonds in the background in the previous progresses, I was not happy with how they went with the other colors that were developing. I thought that I needed to darken the blue. Didnt care for that. But whitening the pale cream diamonds made the difference. And you will also note that I changed the elephant to pink.

Filling in color in Animal stackers

Filled in the colors of the monkey and flamingo. By this time I have also already started to change the giraffe to brighter colors.

Changing mind again on Animal Stackers.

Have now changed my mind yet again and removed the clouds. Because I have put the monkey on top of the giraffe and not hanging from the tree, I felt I needed to balance the composition. So have added a flamingo on top of the meerkat's head.

Additions to Animal Stackers

For some reason I thought I should put clouds in the background. In the process of working out the colors.