Birdwoman

Yesterday I made this warbler:
The scene is based on a photo I took on Monday--that perfect blue-sky day.  I arrived a little bit early at the home of my private student, so I spent a few minutes sitting in my car, daydreaming and snapping photos.  I must have looked an awful lot like I was casing the neighborhood because the workman loading equipment onto the roof of this van was eyeing me very suspiciously.  I'm really happy with this piece--I feel like I've taken this series to a new place.  

I also like the way these two paintings function together.  I worked a little more on the cedar waxwing (on the right), and I really like how he came out.  Disarmingly sinister.

In another bit of excitement,  I have a new studio neighbor whose work is inspiring me:Cat Bennett moved into our hall a few weeks ago, and I am smitten with her work!  The series above (in progress), entitled, You Are Not Alone, has been occupying my thoughts.  Especially this one:I love it so much that it hurts a little bit.  I might actually have to buy it, economic crisis be damned!  Ack!  I love it!  

These weird roses have been kicking around my life for the past five years.  They are painted from life in gouache on paper, coated in beeswax, and cut out of their original context.  I didn't have a purpose for them at the time, but I liked them and didn't want to throw them away.  They are also a reminder of the two years I spent after grad. school, working full time as a nanny and hardly making any art at all.  These roses were one of the projects I started but never resolved during that time.  I like thinking about how far I've come since those days.  It gives me warm fuzzies.  Anyway, today I was messing around with the loose bits in my studio (in a HIGHLY caffeinated state, by the way), and I decided to make a new collage.  Here it is so far:In person the beeswax has a much stronger presence. 

By the way, I LOVE beeswax.  I keep a block of it in my studio, and unwrap it about once a week.  I smell it, pick at it with a fingernail, wrap it back up and put it away.  Because I have never been able to find an authentic use for it in my paintings.  Until now.  I think.  We'll see.

I christened my new crock pot last night/this morning!  It was a bridal shower gift, along with the Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook by Dawn J. Ranck and Phyllis Pellman Good.  I feel a little sheepish because I used it before I finished my thank you letter to the generous giver (thank you, Kathleen!).  But Charley loved this Cranberry Pork Roast (page 133) so much, that he specifically requested it's inclusion in tonight's post.  The man washes ALL of our dishes, how could I refuse him?

It was really, really, really good.  And so easy--It cooked itself while we slept!