Happy Valentine's Day!

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 dog alarm

Hello! I was going to write you a post all about 2013, and what was good and what was bad and what I could do better, and then I thought... Who wants to hear all that crap? Rumination is for cows.

So instead, I made you this story. I hope you like it.

This is my mom's cat, Charley.

This is my dad's dog, Leo.

These are Leo's paws.

They are tender and sensitive.

They are Leo's Only Possessions.

And they are Private.

When everyone else is just going to bed,
Charley is just beginning his day.

He runs. He jumps. He slides.

 He does so many things,
and he gets very, very hungry.
He barrels down the basement steps,
and checks his bowl.

No Crunchies.

Charley meows. His meow is a small sound, which surprises him, because he is a big cat. He tries again. But his meow is just a speck, a nothing... a tiny complaint in the great, vast night. Charley knows what to do. He charges up the steps. He zooms along the runner rug into the living room. At the end of the rug is...

Leo. His snores go in and out, and his paws quiver.

Charley taps Leo's paw, but Leo is sleeping so soundly, his paw does not notice. Charley tries again, with extra umph.

Leo's head flies up, his ears flap airborne, and a Great Big Bark escapes his jowls. His bark is loud and round and resonant. Charley presses Leo's paw like a button, and each tap is followed by a large, echoing bark.

Between barks, Charley hears something else, through the ceiling above him. It is two bare feet hitting the floor, then the soft scrape of slippers on wood. This is the happy sound of success: someone is coming to top off the crunchies!

  While Charley races back to his empty bowl to wait, Leo heaves the sigh of a still-very-sleepy Labrador. His head hits the rug with a weighty flop.

 All's well that ends well! (The end.)

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!

The days are growing longer...

...and I'd like to wish you a Happy New Year! I am hibernating. Which means I've crawled into my dark place. There are enough Stephen King audiobooks here to last til the first crocus. I'll be back 'round here before then, but... in the meantime, know that I hope for you: brightness and light, love, and the beauty that hides in shadow.

Weekend happenings

Are you in the holiday spirit yet? WHAT? You say the gloomy dreary dismery has got you down? You are sick of the short days, and how they seem all brown and soggy? You tried to muster some excitement, so you got out the ornament box, and then your damn cat batted the only family heirloom you had right off the Christmas tree, and it shattered, and then you stepped on the broken glass?

Well, Eeyore, dry your tears and lift your chin. I've got a little list of festivities that might just inspire some cheer. (This list is kind of only good for Pennsylvanians and Vermonters, so if you're neither of those, here's what you do: make yourself a delicious cocktail, and throw some cranberries it it!)

It's First Friday in Scranton! Tonight is the opening reception for Art X5 at ArtWorks. Me and my original drawings will be there along with the works of these talented artists: Jean Adams, Siri Beckman, Jenn Bell, and Valerie Kiser.

Also tonight in Scranton, Holiday on the Square! (and tomorrow too). There is *so* much fun stuff planned for this event, and while technically yes the weather might be a teensy bit frightful, there are heated tents! Plus you can get your Old Timey Scranton Portrait taken! Drink free hot chocolate! Enjoy the tree lighting! Tonight my Totally Awesome Husband will be there selling my prints and Christmas cards while I'm around the corner at my opening. Tomorrow I'll be there. Hope to see you too!

And finally, at The Cotton Mill Open Studios & Holiday Sale in Brattleboro, Vermont, there will be... my dad's photographs, my mom's paintings, and my prints! If you're in the area, please stop in and say hello to my Totally Awesome Parents.