These are for the annual Day of the Dead show at the Folk Tree

I’ll have a piece in that Damned Show in Detroit, thanks to friend Eve, for telling me about it!

This is the piece that will be in the show

My painting of “Ghost face” makes a guest appearance in the movie Scream 4!

We were asked to paint the image in our “style”.

We met friends in Malibu for lunch at Gladstone’s seafood restaurant today. When we arrived at noon it was near empty:

Overlooking the beach, it was overcast 63 degrees (I love that!)

By the time we left it was a glorious 75 or thereabouts, and the sun lit up the frothy ocean waves as they broke.

And the restaurant was full.

and that is:

Hope you had a beautiful day too, XOXO

I’ve been revisiting some older paintings and trying to figure out why they didn’t sell. Been re-adjusting, for more interest, this is one. I am happy I re-worked some areas.

Been sketching out some compositions for a commission, a very pretty woman and a bunny. I don’t usually do commissions, I simply can not bear someone tell me I need a little more blue in this corner, or more this, less that or or or. Nope, won’t play that. But, this patron has agreed to full artistic license, my terms, that will be fun.

one more layer to the sky then done

I was going to have her holding a racoon shish ka bob. I often think about why some animals are eaten and some are not. And then, the wearing of animals is interesting. Why don’t we have cat tail hats. Or, maybe we do.

Since there were only three entries for the poem, story giveaway and they were all so good I could not decide which I liked best, I let the randomizer shuffle the names and pick. !. Rachel, 2. Eve and 3. Nicole. So, Rachel will have first pick at the giveaway prize and Eve second and Nicole, well no pick! But a prize nonetheless. Thank you to the three lovely ladies who gave it a try!

Rachel’s story: The Monster that Swallowed a Hairball

At the last count Lucy owned 7 rabbits (2 angora, 1 English giant, 3 dwarves and an American fuzzy lop), 8 dust bunnies (of varying sizes and countenances), 3 guinea pigs (2 of which were long-haired and regularly needed bathing and brushing), 9 cats (3 Persians, 2 Siamese, 1 tortoiseshell, 2 tabby cats and a ginger tom), 11 white mice and 2 puppies (pugs of course).

Lucy would sweep her tiny cottage from noon until twilight and still she would sneeze from the wisps of fur tickling her nostrils.

She would spend the rest of her time in the garden whilst the rabbits nibbled grass with the guinea pigs (fighting over the dandelions – whose heads would grow enormous and yellow like the sun and later make the most amount of seeds which would add to the fur balls in the cottage), the cats would stalk imaginary foe along the weedy flowerbeds, the white mice would nest in Lucy’s hair and the puppies would roll around the long grass, making grass pugs(like snow angels but with less snow and more pug) and scratching their backs on tree roots.

The monster arrived one evening when Lucy’s sweeping duties were over. Her broom had swept so much it was close to spontaneously combusting from the friction of its bristles on the William Morris tiles that Grandma Flowerpot had laid in place throughout the cottage (she had been an avid gardener and “Flowerpot” was an easier name to say than “Grandma Eustacia Eulalia Eugenia” which was her name).
“Oh!” Lucy was surprised by her uninvited guest who at first she had mistaken for a piece of fudge brownie (the kind that has extra large chocolate chips and icing sugar) that she hadn’t swept up.

The monster’s tummy grumbled with the strength of thunder on a hot summer afternoon, scaring away 5 of the cats and 3 of the rabbits which had been sniffing at him.

He put his hand on his belly and the bits that Lucy thought were his cheeks flamed a cherry colour.

“Oh dear,” said Lucy. “What do you eat?”

“Marf!” he said, which Lucy rightly took to mean that he ate fur-balls.

“Excellent,” she said and the very next day he was put to work eating the fluff balls that were whipped up by Lucy’s broom.

Lucy’s cottage was swept clear in no time at all and she could greatly reduce the budget she set aside for the shea butter infused, quilted toilet tissue that she used to wipe her nose after every violent sneezing session.

I just love the story!!

This is Eve’s poem:

Monster Who Swallowed A Hair Ball

One day I swallowed a hair ball,
I just couldn’t help myself.
It tasted stringy & crunchy & gummy…
and a bit like an old bookshelf.

But I can promise you,
I shall never swallow a hairball again.
You see, although it was very tasty,
It made me feel like a big fat hen!!!

funny!!

And Nicoles:

a belly ache from a hairball dinner
seems to be twisting up his inner
maybe monster should of passed
this hairball meal has filled him with gas
burping belching and just plain gross
the disgusting smell was smelled far or close
all around fell to the ground
overwhelmed with the stench they found

haha! people are clever. thanks to my winners and I will plan to do it again!