The Webelos

Last night, I gave an artist talk to an adorable group of young men on their way to earning an artist badge as Cub Scout Webelos. Usually, when scout type groups want to earn their artist badges, they come tour the studio here, at the house. It's easy to talk when so may visual aids are at my fingertips. We tour the studio, talk about different paintings, see the mural, the mosaics, and on and on. This was my first time to actually go to a scout club house, so naturally, I brought props along for visual impact and stimulation.

Of my own work, I brought a still life, a landscape, and a portrait for show and tell. Here I am talking about painting portraits. I figured they would be interested in a portrait of a boy about their same age.

They were eager to participate. Here we are discussing  primary and secondary colors on the color wheel.

Aren't they cute? Here they are sweetly paying attention.

Afterwards, several parents mentioned how attentive and well behaved the boys were during my talk. Apparently, that doesn't happen very often. (?) Come to think of it, they did seem mesmerized. They were really sweet.

As well as the evening went, my favorite part of the whole night was at the very end. One of the little boys came up to personally thank me and in his innocent enthusiasm, gave me a heartfelt big hug. That was pretty great.

Before and After - The Quest Continues....

Yep. The Amazing Reese and I are still on a quest to find the best fried chicken in town. Here are some things we've found on our search.

Wabash Feed Store - this is what chickens look like before they are fried. Don't they look tasty?  They are available for purchase to cook and eat in all their yummy fried goodness....or raise them as pets.

Max's Wine Dive - - fried chicken served with champagne, mustard greens, other stuff I don't remember, and spicy honey dipping sauce - really good spicy honey dipping sauce.

Saint Arnold Brewing Company's new lunch service - fried chicken served with Elissa IPA (or beer of your choice on tap), mashed sweet potatoes, succotash, and an iceberg wedge salad with bleu cheese dressing and delicious bacon crumbs. Two thumbs up!

Haven - fried chicken-to-go paired with a zinfandel eaten in the comfort of home. Let's not talk about the side dishes. Apparently I'm picky about sides. I didn't know this about myself.

Richey's Country Cookin' in Pasadena - chicken fried chicken served with sweet tea, fried okra, black eyed peas, and cornbread muffins. It was confusing ordering chicken fried chicken. I honestly thought the waitress was loopy, but sure enough, it was flat, de-boned chicken breasts that were fried. It was weird.....just like it's weird that my eyes are closed in this picture. It was a very sunny day.

We've got a few more restaurants to try. It's a hard job, but somebody's got to do it.

Grandmother Oak

The last few weeks have been all wobbly. I hired a high school neighbor to help move the art studio upstairs which involved moving a lot of other stuff downstairs. And what I thought was right, wasn't, and so I've spent several days reconfiguring furniture placement to get the best light scenario for painting in this new upstairs studio space. Hopefully, everything is in its right place and creating can begin in earnest.

This painting is called Grandmother Oak. It's a tree in the back yard of one of my favorite childhood friends. She lives in Louisiana now, but for a very few sweet years, we were neighbors in the small town of Centreville, Mississippi together. We were the kind of friends where our mothers took pictures of us naked in the bathtub together.....the kind of friends where we had matching Batman t-shirts....the kind of friends where everything we did together was magical. We told secrets under the magnolia tree in the front yard. We laughed. We made promises to each other that we couldn't possibly keep. We didn't know it at the time, we were children, but we were kindred spirits. Still are. Thank you, Margaret. Maybe we're not the same silly girls we once were, giggling under the dining room table while our mothers had coffee.....but, maybe we are.

Grandmother Oak is 24" x 30" oil on linen.

Nonsense Limerick....but aren't all limericks nonsense?

I sit here and my mind goes blank
..........................yep, still blank
for what does one say
on a day like today
"Oh, look! There goes a dog who's named Hank!"

I realize that this is ridiculous
for who will read something so frivolous
remember it's spring
that must be the thing
something something something meticulous

I'm waiting for thoughts with a clue
but so far it's gobble-de-goo
what happens a lot
when my mind has not thought
is I hope for a thought residue

A thought residue gives one hope
just like Frances will be a good pope
but really it's clear
that I just want to hear
a rhyme with the word cantaloupe

I promise that this is the end
such nonsense does sometimes offend
that's not my objective
to be ineffective
I'd rather be everyones friend