The things we do every day form our lives.
I drive 1 (one) mile home for lunch most days.
1) I get away from the peopling I have to do for work
2) I spend time with Emily (who loves my company)
3) I generally make time to work on some art.
I can throw some paint down in many different places, on different surfaces then walk away as it needs to dry and I have to head back to the library…because SOMEONE has to earn the money for the kibble, amiright Emily?
So…back into the fray…
10 things like Effy Wild is posting…
1) painting the illustration for the book’s title song, “The Golden Heart”
2) And the full, sky background for, “Let There Be Light”
3) While bing-watching “Sonic Highways” by the Foo Fighters
4) and enjoying my farmer’s market flowers
5) While waiting to hear from the car place that my car is ready (getting detailed, Shelley is…),
6) Also, making a salad with everything I can throw in it for lunch…
7) looking forward to a potential visit from my Juli next month
8) I’m popping with ideas for my Anjo canvas (my bestie is my inspiration)
9) it’s not as easy as you’d think to think of 10 of anything
10) I’m trying to do a lot more of that self-care stuff, like mani/pedis, and regular gym runs, but also going to bed earlier and fixing up my car, as I spend so much time in it.
Whew!
…of cat sitting.
My dear friend, Judy, is off traveling again, so I am watching her drama queen, Tallulah:
For dropping by on occasion to top up his food and water, it’s not much of a chore, but my Judy made a card for me
that is so adorable
And cracks me up
Because Judy is hilarious
And THEN, she found this awesome book for me:
On top of all of that, Tallulah LOVES me so being a little helpful turns into a love-fest…
…without my own father, Rob Roy Wirt.
I was Daddy’s girl, as much as a small-town, free-range white kid in central California could be, and I had my Dad for 19 years only.
But that doesn’t matter…I can close my eyes and see my dad standing in our kitchen, cooking his steak, whistling, or telling me stories, or singing to me…
See, I remember him and think of him most every day. I remember every story my cousins told me about how my Dad was the coolest Uncle many years before I was born.
I know about how, when he was 19, after Pearl Harbor, he had to eat bananas and cream for 2 weeks to make weight to enlist.
I know he met my Mom when my oldest Brother was a baby and how he always wanted a little girl.
And I have three older brothers, two of whom are fathers themselves. Unlike with the women in my life, there haven’t been many men who have tried to be father figures to me…I had a stepfather for a time and he was nice enough…but the constant males in my life have been/are my brothers. Each one of them has stepped up for me at some time in my life, they are the best men that I know, and I am blessed and lucky that they are MY Brothers…my Brohim.
We all miss Dad in our own ways…the fact of his absence just hits harder some days, for me.
My memories are what I have now…
“And I know you’re a part of me
And it’s your song that sets me free
I sing it while I feel, I can’t hold on
I sing tonight cause it comforts me
I’m glad it sets you free from sorrow
But I’ll still love you more tomorrow
And you’ll be here with me still
All you did you did with feeling
And you always found a meaning
And you always will”
– Alter Bridge
…and it’s basically my “Friday” night. I did the just work of the library, went to the gym (why is it always arm day?) and am now sat on my queen chair with Emily on my lap, and she is insisting that I do not move from here.
My coworker/gym partner/friend and podcaster, Sabrina (of Sabrina Monet.com) and me!
I want to paint…I took out the trash because it smelled like hair color remover (worse than a perm) and I have a renowned capacity to ignore dirty dishes, so I will sit here for a while longer (for Emily, you know…) then paint in my journals, like this:
or in my Book Of Days, like this:
Or on my new canvas, like this:
OR on one of the illustrations for my friend’s book of songs:
…so the options are open…hmm….
Welp…since I’m meeting with the author tomorrow, that decides it…
I’ll eat my leftover pizza salad (you don’t know pizza salad?! Get thee to MOD Pizza) and listen to my girl’s podcast while I make the art…have a great weekend!
Edit 6/20/19:
On receiving my 8th postcard, I’m calling it on this season’s crop.
This one is from the PNW (Pacific Northwest)…
Edit 6/13/2019:
Received another postcard in an envelope, this time from Cornwall, England.
I love the foreign stamps. I save them on a page with fortune cookie fortunes…
6/10/19
I already have 6 postcards:
From the next county over (Sonoma)
From Texas:
From Santa Clarita?
All the way from Zurich, Switzerland, in an envelope:
Gorgeous purple from Michigan:
And this gem from western Pennsylvania:
That’s it.
So far…
Finished carrying this journal around:
Inside front cover. Just stickers…
“The opposite of love is indifference, not hate.”
Heh.
Sadly, this goes out to multiple people:
“But my dreams they aren’t as empty as my conscience seems to be.”
– The Who
Annie Oakley said it best:
Some times I make paint swatches for reference
This is only acceptable because it’s not a guy saying it.
OK
Real talk:
Don’t lose it
Words of warning…
Never…
Medusa coloring page:
Always…
Furious:
Song for my ex:
Playing with watercolors…
True confession:
Consequences of the previous page:
My Judy loves the bright colors:
I cover others’ art to protect them, unlike my own
Nephew the second made this and gifted me…
To Go:
Big
Cannot recommend the lobster fries enough:
Simple
Simpler
First time I tried a spread this direction:
Dylan. That is all.
Found a face in packing material
More of that old love story
Don’t lie
Outgoing, not an extrovert…
Too timely
More of that old love story crap
Too true
Choices can be hard
Autobiography
Encouragement
Dreams
It does
He spoke truth
Ain’t it tho
Doubts
Practice
Plain and simple
Woulda/coulda
Yeah?
Nope
Back cover
And that’s another book finished.
I have just the Blue and Teal books left to work in from that crop I started after I moved here to the bay area (3+ years ago). The last 2 are bigger (thicker with many more pages) so I guess it might be a while before they’re done, but my Art Bag is a little lighter with Green on the shelf now…
This spring’s crop sent out today:
Half were international, half domestic.
Now to wait for new art from afar to land in my mailbox…
Horatio and Emily 