New Year, New Art Project

So we will have a break from chemo, and hopefully the side effects will slowly start wearing off. I expected to have a lot of energy this week, but didn’t happen yet, so maybe next week. Since it is the second round, it may take just a little longer to get my mojo back, but it will come, so the next weeks are really something to look forward to. Whooo Hooo to being able to get the nasty taste out of my mouth, get rid of chemo burn and nose running constantly.

On the art front, I got one piece juried into the Glendale Arts Council Show.

Wolf Dream Catcher on Black Velvet paper, embellished with feathers, fur, leather and beads.

It is a Wolf Dreamcatcher, and will be there until Sunday, Jan 24th. The show is open daily from 10Am to 5 PM. It is at Sahuaro Ranch Park, 59 Ave & Mountain View, in the old packing building just North of the main building and rose garden.  If you live in the West Valley, you would really enjoy it, there are two rooms of great art. Speaking of Art, I have started a new project for the new year. Thinking of Christmas, I decided to make Hand Drawn Christmas Cards. If I do one a week , should have enough to send everyone on my Christmas list an original. They are 5″x7″ and will pop right into a frame, or can be matted and put into an 8″x10″ frame. SO here is a sneak preview of the first four cards.

On the pet therapy front, I got a couple of photos of Loki during our parrot therapy session. Thought you might enjoy! Oops, Loki is screaming, I mean Loki is calling me to do more parrot Therapy……Later!…..I am coming Loki……nuts, you want to be paid now…..I thought this was volunteer work……hmmmmm…

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Only 2 Chemos left! Elk WIP

China silk scarves

Sorry to take so long to blog this week, but after chemo treatment # 10, I am tired, tired, tired, exhausted. Have slept a lot this week – pretty much waking up to take nausea meds and occasionally check in on Facebook. Hopefully will have a little more energy next week and will do a little longer blog. Since this was treatment # 10, the GREAT news is ONLY two more to go!!!!! Whoooo Hoooo. Will have a new tumor marker numbers next week, as they only do them once a month, but am sure it will be good news. Cancer take that – POW!!! POW!!!! POW!!!!

Sister Debi, this photo is for you – the silk scarves from China you sent. With the hair slowly disappearing, it is nice to have something pretty on my head! You can see the port really well too. It saves me from MANY bruises!

Elk on Black All Media Board – Pastel Pencil

The elk is about finished, I definitely am liking him better on black, but take a look and decide for yourself! Nap time, catch ya next week.

Resting Week, New Elk WIP

This has been a good resting week, I have felt good, but a little more fatigued than usual. It could be due to the build up since there are only three more chemos……or it could be because the weather is rainy here, which is very unusual in Arizona. A little more hair has disappeared, but I still have enough to comb forward to have bangs with my hats. The chemo tan is getting darker, wonder how long it will last after chemo is over?

Elk – Pastel Pencils on Black

The elk is being redone on the black media board. I am liking it better so far. Didn’t get out the good camera, but will next time! SO the camera phone is Ok, but does not do justice to the colors. I didn’t get as much done this week as I would have liked….maybe it is because friends have been taking me out to eat this week, LOL. Mary, Delia and Tom, Thanks so much! It was so wonderful seeing you all and getting out of the house for a while!

The birds and cats are all napping in this wet cold rainy weather, I think I will grab a book and curl up with a nice fuzzy blanket and so the same. Feel free to join us!

Only 3 Chemos Left! Progress on ElK

Elk Pastel Pencil

Whooo Hoooo 9 chemos down and only 3 to go!!! The nurses gave me a copy of my blood-work from Monday, and the chemo markers in the blood-work are down to 51! That is down from 75 just two weeks before.The final number should be under 10, so we are getting there!!!! I slept pretty much from Monday until Thursday this week and woke up Friday with some energy! Not as much nausea this week. Thank all of you for the prayers, positive thoughts and good wishes!

Here is the elk almost done. After the black backgrounds, it seems dull, so I am going to redo him on the black multi media board. That is the nice thing about this time of experimentation, I can try different things without the worry of how they turn out. So another silver lining with the cancer. Am still loving the pastel pencils, need to do a painting soon before I forget how to do watercolor though!

Tomorrow is the closing of the Sahuaro Ranch show, so we will go pick up the drawing that did not sell, a couple of ribbons and a check. Very exciting!

Tonight is the auction for Triple time Blues at the Houston Parrot festival Banquet. Good Luck Laney, hope the painting gets a nice contribution for the Bird Endowment!

OK, i am really getting paranoid….the parrots and the kitties have been really good this week….so I know they are plotting something. Am not sure just what though. Will be keeping a VERY close eye on them this coming week…I hear Loki whispering, see something is up. Oh Hi Loki! What? Nothing, I was just blogging…No I was not talking about you…you want a nut…..Ok. Gotta go get the bird a nut, TTYL.

Good News in the Cancer War and Other Stuff

Oncologist appointment was Friday, where we got some great news! The tumor markers in the blood-work are down to 75 from 225 last month! Four treatments to go and we want the count under ten, so we are making great progress. The original count back in September at diagnosis was 2000. Hubby, George and I were both ecstatic to say the least. Take that cancer!!!! POW!!!

Three Wild Women

Saturday, I was feeling well enough to attend daughter Melissa’s play, “39 Steps”, at Mesa Encore Theatre.  Friends Noelle, Margaret, Leo, Paul, and Josh met us there. The play great. We were all proud of Melissa and laughed so hard our stomachs hurt. During the intermission we were invited up to try on costumes, so of course the three wild women could not resist. Here we are hamming it up on stage. Thanks to Margaret for the photo! Afterwards, we went to California Pizza Kitchen for a fun dinner. The day was so fabulous! I have not been out since August and just enjoyed the heck out of it, even though very tired today. 

As promised, here is a photo of the two drawings in the Glendale Arts Council – sans ribbons. The purchase Award and the second place are both firsts for me at this show. Very exciting! With all of the fabulous stuff happening this week, I am bursting with happiness! Take that cancer! POW POW!!!

Elk

Also as expected, here is a photo of the new pastel pencil artwork. The photo reference is from a trip we took to Estes Park. This guy is so magnificent, I have been wanting to draw him for a long time. Since I have been playing with pastel pencils, I ordered some Strathmore Charcoal paper, and it is holding the pastel. But still can’t wait to get my Ingres Pastel Paper to try.  Pastel pencils are working well at showing texture, and may become one of my favorite mediums! SO I haven’t been able to get out to the art store for my famous art supply shopping, but I have discovered online shopping! Who Knew?!?!?? I can bankrupt us from home purchasing art supplies! Do your worst at chewing up my pencils parrots, I am armed and dangerous, LOL.

Stay tuned…..a very special blog is coming with guest blogger, Laney Rickman from Bird Endowment!!!!

Rest Week, Squirrel Progress, Macaws tell Cat Tales

Almost done! Pastel Pencil on Black Multi media board

As the chemo progresses, the side effects build, but are still tolerable. Rest week is so important now going into the last part of the treatments. Am feeling good, but tired and if I do to much the ole body lets me know by starting the random intestinal cramping. Since it is the battle of chemo is almost done, I see the light at the end of the tunnel and am so encouraged. My good friend, Mary took me to lunch today and we did a quick run through of the City of Glendale Arts Council Show. It was very exciting to see the 2nd place ribbon there and the purchase award ribbon. The show runs through Jan 25, when the awards will be given to the artists and we pick up our work. Hopefully I won’t be as tired the next time I go and will take some pictures of the art works hanging.

Done de Done Done!

The Squirrel is about Done DE Done Done. I am liking these pastel pencils so think I will do another project since there is one more piece of the black multi media board. “Almost Done” was another phone photo, so today I got out the good ole camera and took the squirrel outside to get some good color, and you see the result….much closer to the real color rendition.

The other day, Loki started screaming, which is usually to tell me she is out of food, someone is coming to the door, or there is an animal in the yard. I looked, the food supply was good, so checked the back yard. Lo and behold our cat, Dante, had gotten outside and was just having a good ole time out in the yard! Sure am glad Loki is a tattle tale, otherwise Dante might be lost somewhere as he is not an outdoor kitty. So macaw screaming can be a good thing, LOL, even if it does some ear drum damage. Oops, she is screaming…..better go check the food supply.

Awake after chemo week, New WIP – Squirrel, and Whooooo Hooooooo!

Squirrel – Pastel on Black multimedia paper

After this week’s chemo treatment, I slept until Friday, was up a couple of hours, back to sleep and I am actually awake today. The nice part about sleeping the week away is that I miss out on all of the nausea. SO ONLY four treatments to go!!! We are 2/3s of the way through. We meet with the oncologist next week, so hopefully will find more improvement!  Last week’s learning: I learned NOT to drink a large fresh veggie juice. Must start with smaller quantities. It really played havoc with the digestion system. All recovered, hubby survived all of the gas and complaining, and everything is back to the “new” normal.

SO thought I would try a pastel on the multimedia paper, since it is so rough. It seems to take many layers, and so far so good. See what you think. This is from a photo of a squirrel we saw on one of our Flagstaff trips. Am still to tired to bring out the camera and tripod, so this is a shot from my cell phone. Don’t forget to click on it for a larger view.

Ok, for my BIG news! Two of my artworks, ‘Raven’, and ‘Pottery Hands’ were juried into the yearly Glendale Council of Arts Show at Sahuaro Ranch. “Pottery Hands” won second place in drawing, and “Raven” sold. And you watched them right here as they developed. This is very exciting for me, as I have only won “Honorable Mention” in that show, and have never sold anything in it, so these are both firsts for me. And in a year where my focus is on getting well and doing art as therapy, it was very unexpected. So I am delighted, but the parrots are all saying, “Why didn’t you enter a parrot? How did silly human hands get a prize? Who would want to buy a RAVEN?” and the cats are saying “Why didn’t you enter a cat?…..”

Day Interrupted…..

Bobcat

It was a normal Saturday….Ok, as normal as they get at this zoo, LOL! George was outside washing the car and taking care of the yard, the cats were all up to their usual catnaps and tricks, and the parrots….well…..were up their usual NOISY tricks when the phone rang. It was one of our Rescue and Transport volunteers, who was bringing an injured hawk here for triage and further transport to Liberty Wildlife. Our plans were all put on hold while we waited for the patient. The hawk arrived with a broken wing, apparently shot. Fluids were administered, a temporary wrap done, then another kind volunteer transported the beautiful Red Tailed Hawk on to Liberty Wildlife, where she is recouping nicely. It is wonderful that these folks will give up a part of their day off to transport an injured being over 100 miles to get medical attention… make that 200 round trip. A great big THANK YOU goes out to all of the R&T volunteers who drive so many miles to rescue wildlife!!!!

Here Kitty, Kitty…

Ripley , the African Grey has been visiting, so we have had a regular plethora of  parrot vocalizations…..luckily, I was not painting a bird while Ripley visited, so we did not have any strikes from the bird models or court cases involving wage negotiations. I think Ripley is negotiating with his Parront for more out of cage time……but there are no spoiled birds in this house, so you did not hear that from me!

SO as you can see, I got the Bobcat background in and now you are going to get a TWO FER!!! Yes, I finished the painting today and Candy is telling me to step away from the painting, LOL! So here it is, hope you enjoy…..just be glad you are not a mouse!

The Hurrieder I go, the Behinder I get!

Hopefully the title of this blog, tells you what it has been like here the last few weeks, LOL. The Kickstarter Project funded, YAY! Several pieces have been in shows, and I am working on getting the rewards together for Kickstarter, framing pieces for shows, ordering cards and Giclees, and the normal business of taking care of parrots and cats. OK, so the parrot – cat thing is a full time job since cats have staff and parrots have slaves…….but I have managed to get a little painting in too, and the Wilson’s Warbler is now done! Fixed a few branches, darkened the moth and fixed the tones of the reflected light on the ventral side of the bird.

The raffle for ” Mingus” is still going on so don’t forget to check out http://the-oasis.org for your tickets….the raffle goes until Nov 3.

One of the local clubs, AABA,  raffled off  “Too Much” at the Sally Blanchard talk on Saturday as a fundraiser, and it has a wonderful new home with Patrick and Linda Cravens.

Don’t forget to put the Audubon “Gifts From Nature” show on your calendar for the weekend of Nov 22-24!

The weather here in AZ has finally cooled off and we are enjoying a beautiful fall season. Ok, so the leaves don’t turn much here, but it is glorious outside, all the doors and windows are open, and I hear all the birds outside noisily going about their business. Speaking of birds, it is way too quiet in the bird/family room………hmmmmm better go see what they are chewing up now! Hope I still have a room left! Argh – not the door sill – we need to use that door…..um Loki, why is all of your fresh food now on the blinds? Ok, guess I didn’t need those blinds…..you want a nut…… wait you just had one….you want a grape…….the grapes are all over the blinds…….OK…..just a second……later!

There’s No Place Like Home….

As much as I love going on vacation, I love coming home! It is great to get out, hike, kayak, and photograph birds, but even better to come home to my flock! They are so welcoming, even though it is a little noisy…..OK a LOT noisy….but hey, it is a happy noise. Then everyone has to be petted and reassured that we are going to stay home for a while. Then they have to have their treats and some extra scratching…….even the cats are happy we are home. The cat hair and feathers have risen to a new level, as we shovel our way through to get the laundry done and get everything back in order. Our grown up kids have done a great job of feeding and caring everyone, but the birds and cats have assured us that they are starving for treats and affection. Hubby is worn out from travel and has fallen asleep, surrounded by kitties. Yawn, think I will be joining them soon. The Wilson’s Warbler is almost done!

The Kickstarter Project has closed and was fully funded, so I will be getting prints, cards and framing done over the next few weeks. Once again, a great big “Thank You” goes out to all of my project backers!