Rudy painting finally gets to Susan

When someone really loves the painting I've done for them, there is just no better feeling. I was so relieved and happy that Susan responded so enthusiastically to the portrait of her cat Rudy. She even tried to pay me for it again! I took a half-day off from work yesterday, enjoyed driving over to Tiburon in the gorgeous spring weather to drop this off. Visited Blackie's Pasture briefly too, where I intended to sketch the Blackie statue, but there was an impromptu softball game taking place right then.

Susan is such a sweetheart - very genuine and kind. I feel lucky that fate threw us together in this venture and hope I'll know her a long time.

Sandra & Karl also loved the painting of the cat I did for them, which I got to drop by to their Sonoma pad last Saturday after painting in Napa. It was funny - I'd painted it with their cat Twinkleberry in mind (since she is very sick right now), but when Sandra saw it, she was positive that the painting was of their other cat "Big Boy." So Big Boy it is! And I got some good reference photos from her to start in on her several other fur persons too. Got to meet Hoyt Smith but missed out on his wife Jackie who was napping after a very long flight from Singapore. Turns out that Hoyt is actually a bear cousin, which is fun. Makes it even more enjoyable to listen to him now in the morning as he hosts on KDFC.

More good news - it seems that Twinkleberry does have a good shot at surviving her kidney disease after all.

Super smiley India

Super smiley India
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007.

I got to borrow my sister's dog today and took a walk up from San Anselmo along this great open ridge, lots of wildflowers. India (the dog) was a very happy girl, as is evidenced in this photo!

The Paint Off

Well, as you'll see, I didn't win this Paint Off in the official sense. But I am nonetheless congratulating myself on subverting my natural tendency to run screaming for privacy and invulnerability and actually staying through the entire event.

I am so grateful to Laura, Tom, Kathryn, and Hank for showing up to give me much-needed moral support. Laura and Tom even helped me pack up my stuff at the end of the day; now that's a sign of a trooper right there. I get so weirdly uncomfortable accepting help, but if I want to be a real part of the world, not just a "wad in a box" (copyright Gary Stutler), that's going to be part of the deal.

What was great - discovered a couple of artists who I like both personally and artistically. Number one best discovery was Hwei-Li Tsao, who I knew only as "Number 36." Thank goodness she won second place or I'd never have found out her name.

Also good was to force myself into a situation where I am the little fish in a bigger pond. It was motivating to see these other talented artists at work, albeit a bit humbling too.

My key learning about the painting part itself was that I wish I'd gone slower, done some more sketching to get my composition together, been patient with creating a limited palette piece, thinner layers, and then add the brighter fun colors more near the end. Ah the delayed gratification thing.