Happy Halloween from our resident blonde!

(Note: no puppy was hurt or in any way humiliated to create this photo.)

Where things stand....

This is something of a 'blogiversary' for me - I noticed that this is my 400th post! Who knew I had that much to say!

I've been weaving a bit this week, and can now see that 'the end is in sight.' I also have 20 small paintings painted, framed, and ready for the miniatures exhibit, all smaller than 8x10 inches. I'm pulling out tapestries for the gallery later today and tomorrow. Everything will be hung on Monday. I'll take some photos to share, if I remember.

Things are going better with Booker, too. I have discovered a few things that 'work' in modifying some of his less attractive behaviors. (The most effective is for me to go into another room from him. He is such a social creature that he hates being left alone, even for 1-2 minutes.) Our biggest problem with him right now is how he 'greets' people. He gets a bit too enthusiastic. The other day, the UPS truck came, and I waited until the package was left and the driver was returning to the truck before opening the door. When I opened the door to get the package, Booker burst through the screen door, and ran out and jumped into the UPS truck to greet the driver. It took both the driver and me to leash him and get him out of the truck. By then, I was ready to let her keep him, tag him, and deliver him to another sucker! Halloween might be really scary here, if he attacks all the trick-or-treaters with his usual gusto. He is a bit over-the-top-friendly for little ones still, so he will probably be in the basement with one of us while the other gives out treats. I'm afraid he won't like that one little bit! He is certain that when the doorbell rings, it's always for him.

Planning ahead...

When I weave, I am either thinking of what 'comes next' technically in the piece I'm working on or, as I near the top, I begin to think of what will come next, design-wise. As in, what will be my next tapestry? I have a commission I will need to consider, but in my own work, I am still thinking in terms of this calendar series I've been doing. I'm weaving January now, and have done February and September. With the month of October coming to an end, I looked back through the Maine photos with an October tapestry in mind. The tapestries are square in format; 18 x 18". January and February were both challenging to weave. September also had it's challenges, but was simpler. I wove it between the two more complex ones. I will definitely be ready for something simpler by the time I finish the January piece and a large commission piece! So I passed over the reflection photos, for now anyway, as I think even considering them might just send me over the edge!

These are two photos I'm considering as possibilities. The one above I like because of the complimentary contrast. It would be the simplest to do. The one below is a photo of a canopy of leaves, which I took for my husband who, being a woodworker, loves oak trees. I've woven a lot of leaves, but not for a long time. I do like the composition of the leaf image.


I like both images, but am not sure that either one is 'IT' yet. Do you see either of these as tapestries?

Or I could merge the two images, sort of like the "September" tapestry. But this is really my least favorite option. What do you think?

Last leaf of autumn...

... meets the first flake of snow.

This is a picture from the sitting room window last night, as the first snow of the season was falling. It's actually a fairly impressive snow for us. We're NOT Denver, who gets impressive snows as a matter of course, and their snow doesn't melt by 10 a.m., as ours generally does. And 'impressive' to us is a dusting on the ground, while it sounds like they really are getting hit today, with 8-10 inches expected to accumulate.

This is Booker's first snow. When I put him out into his yard this morning, he hunkered down and barked at it for a bit. How dare such a thing invade his yard? Then he tentatively went up to a bit and tasted it. Mmmmm, tasty and wet! So it has his permission to stay for a bit, though I'm betting we'll go through the barking at it bit a few more times before it melts.

I love it when the fall color and the first snow overlap! Here is the tree from our sitting room window this morning.


I'm hoping for a few more minutes at the loom today. Every tiny bit helps! I am determined that the "January" tapestry will be off the loom by mid-November, even if I have to start staying up nights to weave. (Of course, the problem with that is that whatever I weave at night, I generally have to un-weave and re-weave by day, so not the best of all solutions! )

In the meantime, I will be on the lookout for a "November" tapestry image soon! I think I'll find an "October" one among those I took in Maine.

Moving on...

I am finishing up all the work for the miniatures exhibit at the Blue Pig gallery, which will take place through the months of November and December. I'm framing, etc., today, but will not paint anything more, though I have zillions of paintings floating through my head, especially when I'm trying to sleep at night. Too much! ¡¡Demasiado!!

I am going to move on to other things - the tapestry on the loom beckons. I have a tapestry commission I need to design. And I have committed to do a portrait of a community leader for a special exhibit for the gallery in January. I have 5 children sweaters and a Linus Project blanket to knit in the next 2 months. And Booker still takes up a good bit of my time and energy. I got up from the table to answer the phone this morning, and when I came back he was on my chair eating my cereal. I am hoping Gussie is whispering to him to 'Be Good' in the photo below, but I think he's just licking Booker's ears.


The painting above is 5x5" and is called, "Three Little Blue Pigs." It is oil on board.

"Romance"

SOLD

8x8" oil on panel. This will be in the Blue Pig Gallery miniatures exhibit, November- December, 2009.

Coming home to Autumn...

While I found Maine to be very beautiful, nothing I saw there was quite as lovely as my town, my street and my HOME when I arrived back here, after an extra unplanned day of travel (which happens to me often.) Fall had not arrived before I left. It came while I was gone, and it is glorious here on this old street with lovely old trees. My husband took the photo of our house (above) a few days before I got home. I took the one below of our across-the-street neighbor's house, with it's scarlet ivy.


Even Booker is fascinated by the beautiful leaves. He likes to nudge the lower ones, so they fall on him.


When I was a young girl, back in the dinosaur days before email and cell phones, my Grandmother would write us letters, and whenever she wrote about where she lived, she used all capital letters; HOME. It made it clear how she felt about her modest home; she loved it. It was the one place on earth where those whom she loved could always find her. That made it worthy of the distinction she gave it by always capitalizing the word. Grandma and Dorothy, both Kansas gals, were quite right: "There's no place like HOME."