Grady, my cat, watching his reality show

Grady won't miss his reality show of birds, mice and butterflies on CD. He's absolutely transfixed by the action. He can't quite figure out how they got into the TV even though he tries fishing them out from the back and top of the set.

Maybe I should spend more time watching TV and less painting. I'm in the process of reworking some paintings to death. I really have a hard time knowing when to quit and Jerry is kind of peeved at me now because I reworked his portrait into something quite strange. I'm hoping I can bring it back after the paint dries, but who knows where it will lead. I'm hoping to start something new to dissipate my energies on, but I'm having a hard time setting up an interesting still life. I'm finding that indecision is also one of the banes of being an artist. (Sigh)

Life goes on without Photoshop

Grady attacking my camera strap

I've been playing around today with the software my sister gave me, Paint Shop Pro. Knowing how I was going through withdrawals since my new computer wouldn't run my ancient version of Photoshop, she said she'd mail me this program to try out. She had bought Photoshop CS3 last year to use in her web design business and didn't need Paint Shop any longer. I must say--I love this program!! In a lot of ways it reminds me of Photoshop, but it seems to have a lot of other features Photoshop lacks (or maybe they weren't there on my old version.) I'll still have to explore a lot, but I like the drop shadows idea (if I can figure out how to do it) and this curling edge thingy I put on this picture of Grady. Who says you have to go broke to get a good picture editing program?

Fuzz Therapy for a Rocky Day

Grady and Orchids, digital art

Today was pretty depressing watching the little bit of my remaining IRA evaporate. It really is well past time to let the smart people run the country. If we could only find some. I'll put my cat up to the task any day. He looks like an Einstein compared to what's running around in Washington, blowing all our money on corporate fat cats. (Sorry to insult furry felines everywhere.) We went to the Maitland Art Show last Saturday night. It lasted until 10 p.m.--I think it was a first nighttime show. I loved it because it was cool, no sun beating down and causing more skin cancer, great moon out, lovely lake with a fountain and, oh yes, some great artists. Maybe the Winter Park Art Show will take a hint and do the same thing. We had a great time and I was inspired to do something, anything, paint, draw. One artist I really admired had painted a lovely grey cat, which reminded me of Grady. I really would have liked to splurge on it, but I'm afraid impulse shopping is long gone now. So, why not try to paint my own? This is one of the ideas I'm working on. Grady is totally obsessed with a couple of blooming orchids I brought into the house and set on the fireplace mantel. He stares at them incessantly and has been trying to figure out how to get up there and eat them, so that's why I included them. Don't know how it would look in paint once I get through with it, but it might be worth a try.

Cuckoo Cat

"I have lived with several Zen masters--all of them cats."-- Eckhart Tolle

This clock drives Grady crazy. It's one of those bird clocks that chirps and sings on the hour and it's over the door in the office where I spend way too much time. Grady likes to lay on the printer and watch me fool around on the computer and when the clock goes off, he becomes overly fascinated. I never suspected, though, he would attempt something like this. Today he leaped up on the door from the desk to try and find out exactly where those birds were hiding. He's been honing his technique on the banister in the living room and it really paid off. So focused! I could definitely learn something from him.

"Something A Little Wrong With The Mouth"

Grady and Marley

Once again it rained almost all day today. We got out for a short walk with Marley in between downpours and he sure was happy (so was I--cabin fever is really setting in.) When we got home, his buddy Grady was so glad to see him, he couldn't resist snuggling up to his wet friend. Of course, I didn't get there in time to get the best picture, but this one is kind of cute, too. Poor Grady, we're going to take him to the vet tomorrow to be neutered. I hope he forgives us. He's such a sweet kitty, so trusting, I can't help but feel somewhat guilty. I know, I know, it's for his own good because he's a house cat. I just hope everything goes all right.

I've been trying to finish the portrait of Jerry and Seamus and it's not going well. John Singer Sargent, one of the most fantastic portrait painters ever, certainly got it right when he said "A portrait is a painting with something a little wrong with the mouth." If he felt he couldn't get it quite right, how could I ever do so? My painting has got a lot wrong with the mouth. I finally gessoed over Jerry's mouth and took another photograph because I had spilled water all over the original. I asked him "please, don't show your teeth." I've never been able to paint teeth and don't intend to try anymore. I'm not comparing myself to Rembrandt or any of the masters, but you don't see their portraits with teeth hanging out. They must have said the same thing. In any case, tomorrow I vow I'm going to finish that painting or go mad trying.

A smile for a grey day!

I haven't been celebrating my cat blog lately with pictures. Grady is growing so fast, I better get some good shots before he's totally mature. In the spirit of celebrating cats, if they did follow rules, these would be the ones. It's a little bit of a smile to brighten up a grey, drizzly day.

Higgins visits the Garden of Earthly Delights

Hope to resolve this (in more ways than one!)

I spent quite a bit of time today on Photoshop (or at least attempting it.) I'm afraid I might need a Macintosh computer since my old Dell keeps crashing. It gets so annoying trying to do a little bit of graphics and have to keep rebooting the computer. I keep fooling around with this Higgins picture. I'm not sure why I'm drawn to it, but here's another. I also loaded a few more paintings onto Flickr and I found a new website called artcardswanted.com where I uploaded the three ACEOs I did the other day. I'm going to do a few more tomorrow since they're pretty fast and you can fool around with different things and not waste a lot of paint. Who knows, I may stumble onto something good. I'm hoping some of the paintings I can't seem to resolve might be helped by looking at them in Photoshop and trying a few things (like the painting above)

I'm really starting to like the program since I'm finally catching on (a little bit). Got another good picture of Little Grey (possibly Sean). He and Seamus were wrestling today and it was really cute. Next time I'm going to try and get a video of them with my camera. I've somehow never used that capability before!