The Process: Day 3

A few set-backs today. I woke up with a "bad neck" and got started later than I wanted to. I had to medicate which fuzzed me up a bit and caused me to work slower. Then this afternoon I heard a weird sound coming from what I thought was the road. As I walked up my driveway I could tell the sound was coming from my well; it was the sound of forceful water hitting the top of the cover. I turned the pump off, returned to the well and  removed the soggy insulation that I had wrapped around the well head last winter. I discovered, by way of multiple stings, that there was a bee hive buried deep inside the insulation. A nice puffy hand will take your mind off a hurting neck every time  - and I think it may have even healed me because now that I am in for the night - I feel pretty good. Or was it the delightful bath I had buck nekkid in my cool creek that did the trick? Either way, Im ready to relax and review todays painting progress.

I mostly worked on the peacock. The painting is in a very awkward stage right now, and I have written about that before. It is in these times where doubt tends to creep in, but my minds eye has such a clear vision of how this should be that I didnt panic when I had to stop for the day with so many rough areas unresolved. The tail of the peacock is a labor intensive section. I started with black which makes it look too strong for the rest of the painting right now. I will shade that down a bit in some areas, but that background will be critical for the linear work that is the part of the feather thats airy. Somehow Ive got to figure out how I am going to morph the tail into the water...it won't be under the water like Flannery's legs, it will float on top.

Speaking of floating on top, I've decided to have the forearm crutches that Flannery used to do just that. I downloaded a good clean photo of that kind of crutch from a medical supply company for reference. I think it will be tricky to have them in the water and know what you are looking at -I mean, if a viewer is not familiar with Flannery, I still need them to know there are crutches in the water.

I use my computer all day looking up photos of things. You can see a reference image of a peacock on the screen as well as my layabout do nothing Trouter.

Here we have yet another shiftless creature. Both have been in trouble with me today for chasing away the doves from the feeder. You would not believe the grooves in my deck that are from the dogs charging off after doves and squirrels and falling leaves.

Working back to front on the tail, I will refine several times the edges of green and brown and black. The black and white striping of the peacock is a lot like my own hen Vera's feathers. I like the face but its not quite where I want it to be. The body of the peacock is mostly done, it will need finessing at the end but its about right. Once all the turquoise feather lines get painted in that tail and the water is deepened and tricked out the painting will be back in balance.

Here you can see the rough underpainting of Flannery's hands. This is very "illustratory" as human hands are about as big as the face they belong to. Go ahead, try it. Put your hand on your face with the heel on the chin and fingers extended to the hairline. Open your hand and you will see it mostly covers your face. Flannery's head is about 5 times too large for reality -but I like it that way because it emphasizes the container for her incredible brain, her thoughts and her literary gift. This is a device that you see in african art often. I am also reminded of the work of Romare Bearden who in his jazz portraits, emphasized hands because they were important, making the music.

Thinking about Flannery's writing today I arrived at what I am going to do with the background. In the areas outside of the cone of grace, there will be demons and devils. They will be barely perceptible in the end. That's one of the neat things about acrylic painting that could never have happened with gouache, which was the paint I used as an illustrator. I will be able to paint the devils - and paint them fully and well - and then add layers of QNAG (explained in the previous post) until they fade into a pattern only to be recognized upon closer examination. I love the idea of the painting having a life beyond the first look -where things materialize and the content becomes as rich and layered as the surface of the wood.

I remembered today a little room in Barcelona Spain, where the great architect Gaudi slept as he worked on his masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia, the great sand castle cathedral. The little room with a single cot was located in the basement of the cathedral. It got to the point where he didnt even bother to go home at night. The work was all that mattered to him. Sometimes when I am working on a project like this and I have time pressure I feel like I am living in an alternate universe and can identify with Gaudi being so single mindedly focused.

Even though I have the well problem to deal with tomorrow, I hope to have a very productive day and be able to show you some resolution in the tail and water tomorrow night.

Thanks for joining me!

A Collection and a Status Report

I've been sick with one of the worst colds I have ever had this past week. The days passed slowly. Within minutes in the garden I was so hot I could not see straight or even stay focused on the tasks before me. So I limited each visit to one specific chore, like just collecting japanese and flea beetles.

I walk around with a jar of soap and water and push the beetles into it where they drown. In a few days, their decomposing bodies produce a most unpleasant scent that works very well to keep other beetles away. I learned this trick when, on my first year of food gardening, I bought a japanese beetle trap that used sex pheromones to attract beetles to the bag and theoretically away from plants. But what actually happened was I had more beetles than ever on my plants, even though I located the bag far from the garden as the instructions stated. On the box of the japanese beetle trap it said to be sure to change the bag after it rained because the bodies would decompose, stink, and render the product useless. When I read that, I knew what to do. The smell of death repels the beetle better than the scent of sex attracts.

The drought seems to have given way to a pattern of daily afternoon showers. All manner of fungi have sprung up on the rotting logs and in the springy damp mosses of the forest. I've noticed how much better the garden does with real rain than it does with being watered with the sprinkler, no matter how thoroughly. I have a garden toad that lives under the log of the second row bed with the asparagus, although I could not find him today. I was glad when I discovered him as I have been worried when I had not found even one salamander this season, though I have seen many snakes swimming in the creek this summer.

Yesterday, I finally threw in the towel and went to the walk in clinic and got a shot of steroids and some antibiotics and some codeine laced cough syrup. Im a little better now, still very hoarse, but in a day or two will probably have the essential raspy voice for a good outing at the country music karaoke at Donald Rays Brother's Place (no joke, that is the name of the bar) up in Copperhill TN. I have accomplished very little this past week, and it makes me feel as if the world is passing me by. 

Easter has been broody and creating havoc within the flock. She will not allow any other hen into the nest and so who knows where the eggs are. If any eggs are laid in the nest, Easter sits on them and when I come to take them she screetches at me, puffs up like a turkey, and when I toss her down she comes over and gives me a good dose of the "flying foot". I take her and immerse her in the creek where only her head is above water and hold her down for about 5 minutes to drop her body temp. It works for a little while but sure enough I find her back in the coop on the nest. This has been going on for days, and I am over it. Easter is in jail now. A pen with no comforts whatsoever. no shavings at all. just newspaper laid flat and no way to cuddle up or nest. I am unmoved by her mournful peeps and trills, however, I am trying to locate some fertilized bantam eggs for her to hatch. She wants to be a mother so badly I am willing to give it a shot even though it is no small feat to travel with 4 hens and 2 Rhodesian Ridgebacks. I can't imagine adding one more creature to this equation

Speaking of Ridgebacks, It was a lucky break for me that a rat has taken up residence in my barn. I call the rat "the babysitter". I have been able to nap some with this cold without worrying about where the dogs are thanks to the babysitter. This rat keeps the dogs busy for hours, no exaggeration, at a time. Eventually I will have to trap and kill this poor creature, but I swear, I have actually become fond of him. Its funny as hell to watch him toy with the dogs. I made a little video of it -very hard to do because I have to try and shoot while using a long piece of trim to motivate the rat. The sound of the dogs voices in slo-mo make me laugh every time. I need to sample those sound effects for future video work.

Thanks to everyone for your support regarding the Frida Kahlo challenge sponsored by Bohemia Beer. I did not win a prize, but I did receive an email yesterday inquiring about buying the painting for the Bohemia collection. I have given them a price and we shall see. If they agree, the day I spent on that project will have been well worth it.

As Per Trolls request in comments, here are the winners of the Frida Kahlo Challenge:

first place: Ernesto Cammacho

second place: Elizabeth Ortiz

third place: Jose Luis Padilla

you can see all the entries here

Meditation on: Clover

Georgia O' Keefe famously stated that she made her flower paintings on very large canvases because flowers weren't noticed, and to see a flower takes time, just like a friendship takes time. If we have become too busy to notice the tiny beauties around us, that goes double for common grasses, weed flowers and clovers. 

Clovers are often blended with rye grass as feed for pastured livestock. Vigorous clover growth is a great indicator of honeybee health in your area, so it's always nice to see great mounds of it on the waysides of roads and landscaped developments. I planted mine as a cover crop before I started my garden. The clover was turned under feeding the soil with rich green compost.

I often use clover in my country bouquets for the farmer's market. The inclusion of clovers, as well as grasses and ditch flowers, gives them the airy freshness that just cannot be rivaled by commercial floral arrangements. Its the flowers your grandmother had in her kitchen window- or at least the nostalgic idea that she might have, because they have a timelessness to them and are always in fashion. Today I made a bouquet of just clovers. I was lucky to have found a few of the crimsons. The white ones were fading fast, but the pinks were wet and plump and in full glory this afternoon.

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.

-Emily Dickenson

Clovers smell faintly and purely sweet like babies. And of course the four-leafed kind are lucky (unless you are backed-up on a highway inter-change named for one).

the best

Frosty

frosty greetings from the doomstead

I've been sick with a cold. I know i am really sick because out of 80 photographs i took of the dogs playing in the snow, not one of them is worthy of being posted. For entertainment yesterday, i tried to get out of my driveway and made it to about 10 feet from my gate. The truck just isnt heavy enough in the back to get any traction. And i cant risk Silk ending up in a ditch. Damn i wish i had a horse, i could at least ride to the country store and get some chocolate. what kind of moron goes to the store to buy pre-snow provisions and gets not one fun thing to eat? I must have had a fever my brain wasnt functioning properly.

okay well here's one of Koby in her first snow

the feeder saw a ton of action yesterday

I had enormous flocks of Pine Siskins yesterday. Flying with them were Slate-colored Juncos, Goldfinches, Nuthatches, Chickadees and Titmice. I also had Doves and Downy Woodpeckers. I did manage to get some nice video of the feeder and if i feel better later I will edit it down to something worth watching.

This one's for you, Boxer

The chicks stay under a heat lamp all day - just like fast food

This is the best time to walk in the woods

Nutty wants to go to Big Sky

It's about 8 degrees right now. The unofficial Mayor of Blue Ridge might come by and pick me up if she can get out today. If not, ive got to make do. without chocolate. *wail*

stay warm everybody!

Staying Cool: Chickory Style