Spring is just 2 days away...

And it's snowing...again. I could really use some warm weather. I would sooo love to get outside and walk/jog for an hour or so. Can't even find the sidewalks right now.

We do get out most days to walk the dogs on trails in the woods, with our boots on, hats, mittens, and 'creepers' on our feet. (For those of you not in cold climates 'creepers' are stretchy elastic thingys that wrap around the bottom of your shoe, and they have little metal pieces sticking out that grip the ice so that you don't slip. A necessity for dog walking in winter! They are like snow tires for your feet!)
What's that you say?  You don't know what snow tires are either? Ok I'm not talking to you anymore.

 Anyway - that is a 'winter walk'. I want a spring walk. I want a clear sidewalk, and some buds on the trees. I want to just wear a light jacket and then need to take it off and wrap it around my waist because it got too warm. I want to see other people outside! I want to be able to not wear a hat and not have my ears ache from the cold wind.

I know spring is almost here. But in Maine - 'almost here' could mean April or May, and it could mean cold weather until June! Sometimes we go right from winter to summer. Which makes the summer season feel really short.

And sometimes spring is warm-ish, but very wet and rainy. When that happens, we don't call it spring...we call it mud season, soon to be followed by an early 'bug' season. Really fun. (ugh)
But when we do actually get a spring - it is sooo welcomed and enjoyed!

Here's hoping for an early (like say..starting next week?) and dry (just a few light showers please) spring.
Here's a piece I did  hoping for springtime,

OK - time to head to work...in the snow. We're supposed to get about a foot today. Good grief!!

 

here comes the sun!

Finally! - After about twelve days of dreary cloudy weather...
bright beautiful sunshine today! It's only in the 40's - but that's warm weather here after January and February.

The dogs are ready to go out for a long walk.  (That's Boru on the left and Gracie on the right.)
 

 (Gracie says "put down the camera down...can we go now?)

Here's a little sunshine I did in my journal notebook a while ago, just doodles.

Ok - time to head outside!!

Women

Today is International Womens Day. So much of my artwork involves women. I love to draw women and 'girlies'. There are many, many wonderful people in my life...men and women, but today is a day to celebrate the sisterhood of women on this earth. There are parts of the world where it is very hard to be a woman - dangerous to be a woman. Take a moment to send a prayer of love and strength out into the universe. It will find it's way to those who need it.

Here's an unfinished piece - I think she is very strong...

International Women's Day - be thankful for the strong women in your life!

all about the hair!

I really have fun playing with hair in lots of my art pieces. Sometimes I draw the faces/heads without any hair..and then I cut out different 'hair pieces' from decorative papers, and try them on the different girls to see where they fit - as I did in the piece with the six girls in it. This was so much fun! Once I had drawn a bunch of different 'hairstyles' and cut them  out - I kept trying them on all the different girls, until I decided who looked best in which one. It was like playing with paper dolls! And then I pasted them on and continued with the artwork.

and sometimes I draw/paint the hair directly on to each 'girlie'  - like so...

I like to put things in the hair too. Really enjoying this lately - am going to do some more of these. This one with the purple hair isn't done yet - I need to do a background for her.

Ladies - whether you do artwork or not. I'm sure you agree..
some days it's just 'all about the hair'!

www....World Wide Web

I've spent a lot of time surfing around internet sites gathering information on how best to get good image reproduction of my artwork, and then how to turn that digital image into good quality prints. I can't just take a picture of my artwork with my camera and then print that out on my inkjet. That would be a crappy quality print. I need to have high resolution images, taken in good light, preferably on a high res. scanner etc. etc. The prints are made with a printing process called giclée . (Fancy sounding word that means fine art print.) Basically more detailed ink colors, and archival quality to the ink (meaning fade resistant over years), on archival paper.

OK - boring, boring, I know. Long story short - I had to take my artwork to a photographer in Portland ME, - who created the digital images and put them on a disk for me, and then I had to send those images out to another company that could create the giclée prints for me. Not an inexpensive way to go!

In all my searching and surfing around online, I stumbled upon a photography website which just happens to be my neighbor - as in, the house right next door. I know the neighbors casually, we talk sometimes (when there's not two feet of snow on the ground and humans and animals are actually able to venture outside - you know...summer.)

(By the way - does everybody know the names of the four seasons in Maine?  They are...1.Almost winter, 2. Winter, 3. Still winter...and 4. Road Construction!
If you don't get the joke - you either don't live in Maine, or haven't traveled on Maine roads in summer!)

Back to my story...So my neighbor is a photographer! I reached out to her on email and told her about my art and needs for image reproduction. We both found it so funny that we live right next to each other, and had no idea about each other's online endeavors. We are going to get together soon. Perhaps I can use her expertise, instead of taking my artwork to Portland to get the digital images I need. (Also - Sara (my daughter) is getting married next year - and will be looking for a photographer!). I'm looking forward to getting together with my neighbor and seeing her studio and talking 'print reproduction!'

It's funny that while searching the 'world wide web' - I ended up on my own street about 200 yards away!