That's Gneiss! #153 ~ Things are starting to look spooky around here...
Plus: smoking dogs and drinking cats, and BRILLIANT!
Hello friends,
I’m off to an early start this morning - there’s so many things I want to do today! Something is in the air (besides a hint of smoke) and I’m feeling energetic. Yesterday I put up some Halloween decorations, and today we’re putting the trailer away for the winter. It was sad not to go camping this year, but we’re glad we were able to enjoy the space here at home.
More people are starting to put up their Halloween decorations. I appreciate the effort that some folks take to be creative and creepy.
Impressive! Rowland was having a sniff around the rocks there and set off the motion sensor on that guy - the eyes started blinking red and it started making noises. Rowland leaped back in surprise, and I was laughing too hard to capture it on film.
My decor isn’t quite finished (waiting for more lights to arrive tomorrow). I do have creepy dolls in the apple trees this year!
I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone does with their decorations this year. More to come in the following weeks!
Did you celebrate Plaidurday on Friday?
Me either!
I’d never heard of it before today. Apparently, the first Friday of October is Plaidurday, and has been since 2011! I’d say they need better marketing if it took nine years to hear about it. It all started because some guy was getting a ribbing from co-workers about wearing plaid all the time and decided to start a celebration of plaid. Those coworkers sound like jerks.
I did wear my plaid comfy pants in the evening, so there’s that.
Michael and I both made major purchases this weekend of things we’ve been hemming and hawing over. He bought an Elektron Octatrack DPS-1 Sampler which will really up his music-making capabilities. He says it will give him something to do when he can no longer lift a guitar or hold his soldering iron steady. Yikes - so many buttons and knobs! Learning to use it will keep him VERY busy this winter. Very busy.
I finally plunked for an iPad.
I’d been thinking about getting an eReader for a while, but wasn’t quite satisfied with the idea of a plain black and white reader. I like to read graphic novels, crafty DIY books, and lots of other things that rely on COLOR. The only viable color readers are tablets. I had myself convinced I didn’t need a full tablet, but I’ve tried reading on my phone (too small) and iMac (I need to take breaks now and then).
An iPad was the best answer, and it will open up some new creative avenues for me. I’m going to treat it as a completely different creature than the phone and computer - no social media!
The possibilities for art are interesting.
I’m excited, but have to wait until November 5th when they release the new model. Oh well!
If you’re an iPad user, what are your favorite apps?
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Time to wrap this up! I started early but got distracted looking at art. Heh. I’ll leave you with one more thing. I found this among my photos from last October - how things have changed!
Take care of yourselves this week, and remember to look away from the news for a while. It will be there when you get back.
Tidbits
If I was going to spend time cooking something fancy, I would consider making this Apple Skillet Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting - instead I might make a simple apple crisp.
Live murder hornet captured near Blaine, but tagging attempt fails - don’t worry, they’re learning how to tie the tags on properly! Better luck next time…
Mystery Photo Contest, Super Difficult Edition - here’s something fun! The Library of Congress is looking for help identifying the people in these photos.
Many of us are working from home part-time or 100% these days. Here are some tools to help avoid burnout from Working Den.
I’m really enjoying the spooky comics from Tiny Snek
Making: Poking away at art this week with the new batch of high flow acrylics I got. Also inking a large watercolor splatter piece when I just want to do a little bit (this might take a while)
Recently eaten: cold leftover blue cheese burger AND cold pizza!
Reading: My reading funk may be over. I picked up The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and got pulled in right away.
Eye Candy Corner
Sometimes my plan to highlight one thing leads to something even better. I occasionally peruse the site called Doodlers Anonymous, and my drifting today from one thing to the next led me to today’s artist.
Ravi Amar Zupa
My introduction to Zupa’s work (this morning) was the matchbox inspired prints of smoking dogs and drinking cats. The cats were created jointly with Arna Miller (also worth some of your time).
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Every Wednesday for 75 weeks, I created an original drawing with a birdpot creature that was relevant to the news of the day in some way. Interacting with the news locally and globally to create very current art was thoroughly enjoyable and it was well-received.
Click on “Wednesday Releases” to see them all.
As usual I’m totally sucked in an enjoying Zupa’s work and having a hard time settling on one more image to post. His work is very political and inspired by artists like Jose Guadalupe Posada and Hieronymus Bosch.
Videos of the Week
Last night I said “Brilliant!” when Michael informed me he can run the very long extension cord up the side of the house and I can have more outside Halloween lights. He then thought of this silly advertisement from the UK. You’ll want to watch it at least twice to catch what he’s saying…
Sticking with the beverage theme… let’s drink margaritas with Los Bitchos!
A nice groove for early fall, when we’re not quite ready to let go of summer.
Current Temperature: 61.2F (16.2 C)
Current Humidity: 85%
Wind (max gust): 3.4 mph
Precipitation: 0.0 in
Air Quality Index: 93