Enormous Tiny Art Show

Feeling Feral

Catnip Mouse and Stardust Quilt

Two more drawings for the Enormous Tiny Art Show! The show opens tonight, and while I unfortunately won't be there, Otto will. I hope he doesn't dip his paw in the punch bowl. My new drawings are now available to order on the website. Except for that top one - that one's sold!

And, it's Matt's Birthday Eve! So we're going out for A Delicious Beer. Happy birthday, my favorite Matt.

Otto's foray into film

Otto doesn't have many aspirations, but he does enjoy the good clattery sound of Something Breaking... This is my first try at an animated gif, which is a simple moving image file. So, who knows what Otto will do next?! (I mean, after he smashes the vase on the floor.)

The enormous tiny cat returns

Demise of the Tenmoku Vase

Thinking on the Tree Cathedral

I am cat obsessed, and I can't help it. There is a foul, scrappy little cat named Malcolm who sometimes sleeps on the glider on our back porch. He likes to pick at the armrest cushion and watch the green poofs of stuffing come out the hole he's made, and float away on the breeze. He is stinky and he pees on everything, and try as I might, I simply can not convince him to come inside and live with me. He only wants to be feral and free, not to have baths and overflowing bowls of crunchies.

And so. I have only this made up cat, Otto. I've drawn six of him and sent them off to be part of the upcoming Enormous Tiny Art Show at Nahcotta Gallery in Portsmouth, NH. This show happens twice a year, and I am honored to be participating in it for a second time. Thanks, Nahcotta!

In other news... Is there any other news? Matt and I have been tearing our house apart, sorting through Things, some of which we will take with us to Vermont and some of which we will unload before we leave Scranton. None of which we will drag out into the woods, douse with lighter fluid, set aflame, and tip down a mine shaft, which is sort of the ordinary (and super fun!) method of disposal 'round these parts. It's always your scruples that prevent you from having fun, people - remember that.

Our estimated date of departure falls sometime in the month of April. Til then, we'll be firming up house plans (can't wait to share them here!), and trying to sort our thises from our thats. I hope you're all well!

Happy Monday

We had a fun weekend off, beginning with cranberry-picking in the bog with Ellen and Mark. I met Ellen through blogging, which is very cool, and what is even cooler is getting to hang out with her, because that's just plain fun, but also educational: she knows a lot about foraging and cooking. Her new book, Backyard Foraging, has become a resource in our house... and this ties into the next thing I want to talk about, which is...

Has my husband turned into a squirrel?! No, he has not, but I can understand why you might think so. There are heaps of nuts in our house, and I do mean HEAPS. Black walnuts, English walnuts, and acorns. Matt has been collecting and shelling these, and also putting up other food for the winter - grand proportions of other food. There are things fermenting (curtido, kimchi, sauerkraut, salsa, cider, mead, and more) in pretty much every corner of the kitchen. This means there are little crocks and jars and tubs and bottles, each shrouded in its own kitchen towel, bubbling and burbling and keeping me company. So thank you, Matt, for keeping us fed and happy!

There have also been divine things stewing on the stove top. I get to eat them when I come in from the cold, where I have been cutting parts out for my shed. My shed! I can't wait to show it to you. But it will be awhile. I can't put it together until we take the parts to Vermont, because how would I get it there, if it were already put together? I have to keep reminding myself of this, because I do prefer instant gratification to wait-four-months-till-you-get-to-nail-your-shed-together.

That's all, folks, except: Happy Monday, from me and Otto!

Doings

The craft fair life, it's an up and down affair, I'm learning. It's exhausting for me (at home I have just me, my imaginary cat, and Matt to talk to, but when I go to a craft fair, I have to talk to people all day!). But I've got a system down, and an excellent assistant (that's Matt), and lots of help from my dad with pre-fair printing and other prep. So it seems more doable than it did at first. And yesterday's Clover Market in Chestnut Hill was actually quite fun! Friends we hardly ever get to see stopped by, plus other great folks I haven't seen in years. Sales were good, the sun shone, we had a little celebratory dinner in a nice restaurant and I ate the best seafood risotto of my life, and the truck did not break down even a little bit. Thanks to everyone who came out! Thanks for buying art, and also being an all-around fun crowd.

That picture up there is Otto on a night like no other. He is available as a print in my etsy shop.

the Each Week, One Beast project: week ?

The beasts are on hiatus, because their maker is overwhelmed. I feel like doing what Otto is doing above, fleeing from his responsibilities. Matt bought me an enormous bottle of gin, and it wouldn't be hard to go sit with it out in the garden, with the season's last flowers, and then eventually tip over, from which perspective I could enjoy the vees of geese as they pass by.

One thing about this art business is that my busy season is the holidays. Or so it seems - I'm still learning. So - I'll be sharing what I'm working on as I'm working on it, and beasts will come on an irregular basis, and if you want to come visit me, I'll make you an awesome cocktail and we'll sit on the back porch and not answer any of our email or fulfill any of our promises.

the Each Week, One Beast project: weeks 34 and 35

Well, these beasts just don't draw themselves. I didn't post one last week, and I'm just barely making it this week. I've been drawing plenty, but nothing I feel like sharing. So. I've just done these Ottos, they took about seven minutes, and they're way better than the other Ottos I worked on for, like, a million hours. Does this say something about my usual technique?

I've been trying out these little fast side-of-the-pencil-lead sketches because I think they help me loosen up and determine the basic shapes a someone ought to be, before thinking about details. They're fun and satisfying.

Other than that, I have only one other little happy event to tell you about. The baker's brand new 25 pound sack of organic dark chocolate chips took a tumble (which Otto had NOTHING to do with) off the stack of boxes by the flour. This sucked for the baker because a bunch of them spilled, and while I really did feel sympathy for Matt and his lost investment, it's hard to feel very sorry for someone when their misfortune is your big bowl of chocolate, you know? Floor chips really can't be baked into cookies for customers, but they can be eaten by your wife. That's lucky old me.

Happy weekend, everyone.

the Each Week, One Beast project: week 33

We've talked a lot about what Otto doesn't like, but not so much about what he does like. He likes cooking. But alas, he is not technically allowed on the kitchen table. Here he is, about to be whisked off.

I thought I'd share the before picture for this finished drawing, from my sketchbook, below. Sometimes I get a sketch I love, and man, it's so challenging to capture the energy of the loose sketch in the next drawing - the one I do on the nice, expensive paper. If I'm lucky I get something just as good as the sketch, but different. If I'm not lucky I get pages and pages of F-ed up Ottos, ready to be recycled into something more useful, like toilet paper.

the Each Week, One Beast project: week 32

The cat whose name is a palindrome. Again. Sheesh.

the Each Week, One Beast project: week 31

One more Otto. I'll share the complete drawings that these little Ottos came out of soon. Happy weekend, all!

the Each Week, One Beast project: week 30

Ha! It's Otto again! It's now the Each Week, Otto project. Maybe, maybe not. This is again a sneak peak of a bigger, tiny picture. So far, with your help, I now know that Otto hates: cold milk (which is the same as milk that has not been warmed), the tedious task of painting trim, wet shoes (who doesn't?), dogs and everything having to do with them, sticky paws (and even just the mere thought), and Rude Awakenings. Please feel free to add to the list! Either here in the comments or an email to me, Otto's personal assistant and keeper of files, records and such.

the Each Week, One Beast project: week 29

This week's beast is a small part of a larger (but still very small!) drawing, and also an introduction to Otto, a cat of extreme grumpiness. I think we'll be having more of him around here, because, since I am currently pet-less in real life, I have been entertaining myself with tales of Otto and all the shitty things that annoy him. Like being stuffed in a loaf pan. He hates that. I'm just at the brainstorming stage, so if you can think of anything that might really get Otto's goat, do share!