Cat sketches

The new cats hang out with me in the studio, when they aren't playing with each other they curl up in their special places nearby and nap.
This has inspired me to get out my old sketchbook and pencil case and keep them handy. Here are some of my better efforts done on Blick 80# sulphite drawing paper, 9" x 12" with soft sketching pencils or a soft charcoal pencil with some blending done with a tortillion.

The New Year!

First snow of 2012 today! It has been a warm and dry spell for December and January. Then today it snowed about 2 inches. This meant going out and shoveling sidewalks. Luckily the restaurant next door had the front sidewalk cleared this morning so this afternoon I only had to shovel off the extra inch or so that had accumulated. The wind had drifted the snow some and was deeper in some parts.
I finally finished the Red Oak Leaf & Others colored pencil drawing. This took a long time. There were times when I had to stopped and do another drawing instead, or else I would end up rushing and doing a less than satisfactory job.

Red Oak Lead & Others, colored pencil on white colorfix paper, 12" x 18"

These are some of the other drawings I did as relief from the Red Oak Leaf drawing:

Winter Evening, Oil pastel, 18" x 24"

Old Dairy Barn, 18" x 12", Derwent tinted charcoal on homemade grit paper

Tree Line, 18" x 24", Oil pastel on Stonehenge ice blue paper covered with clear Golden pastel ground.

A drawing did as soon as I finished that Leaf drawing. Wanted to change pace, so this drawing of a horse was done in Conte crayons on blue Strathmore charcoal paper.

New kitties! and update on drawings done

Previously I wrote about the death of our Thunder cat. It was sad but it created an opportunity for a new home for other cats. The day after we got back, Don check the classified ads online and found two cats needing a home just down the street. A young couple just had a baby and realized they couldn't afford a baby and two cats. She wanted them adopted together, the male cat was very shy and adjusted very poorly to change; having his companion would help him. The problem was that potential adopters wanted the personable young female and rejected the shy male. We wanted two cats that got along together and understand the need for patience in having a cat adjust to a new home.

Along with the cats we got two large ceramic food bowls, cat food, cat litter, a carrier and a cat toy. The cats had been neutered, the male was declawed, and current on their shots. As soon as they were released from their carriers, they went and hid in separate areas of the house. After only a few hours the young gray & white female, Lily, came out and made friends with me. It was days when the yellow & white male, Louie, was seen. We knew he moved about the house while we where sleeping. After 3 days of not seeing him, we had to take action in getting Louie to accept us. I bought a kennel, set it up in the studio with a litter pan, food and water. I also set in a sleeping shelf. Then we cornered Louie in the bedroom and nabbed him. He hated that and struggled. I still bear the marks. Into the kennel he went. I spend most of my day in the studio. He became accustomed to me and let me pet him through the cage. Eventually I would let him out in just the studio and put him back in when I left the room. After about three days of this he was comfortable with me, though not with Don.

The kennel saw further use when the female cat was declawed and she was kept in there to restrict movement while convalescing.

We decided the names Louie and Lily sounded too much alike so Lily became Millie and Louie was shortened to Lou. Though sometimes I call him Louper (Lou + leaper) since in playing chase the string he would take great leaps into the air or Lanky Lou since he had proportionaly longer legs and tail than Millie. Lou, once he trusted, is an affectionate, cuddly cat.

I could on further about these cats, maybe in another post!

I did two more oil pastels after coming home. Then it was time to put them away and do leaf drawings in colored pencil.

Marsh in Flood, 18" x 24", oil pastel

Floating Leaf, 16" x 20", oil pastel

Maple Leaves on Pebbled Concrete, 7" x 10.5", colored pencil on gray paper

This drawing is an entry in the Prismacolor colored pencil contest, please go to

http://apps.facebook.com/contestshq/contests/172075/voteable_entries/37924549?ref=nf

and vote!

Backlit Oak Leaf, 7" x 10.5", colored pencil on gray paper

In progress, Red Oak Leaf, 12" x 18", colored pencil on grit primed paper.

This drawing was a tryout for a set of 12 Creatacolor Soho Urban Artist colored pencils. I bought them on sale some time ago, put them away and just rediscovered them. I took a printout of a Tang pottery horse from my "do it someday" file and did a drawing on my homemade grit paper. The colors came out more brilliant than the dull colors in the source photo.
Unglazed Tang Pottery Horse, 10" x 12", colored pencils on homemade grit primer applied to coldpressed watercolor paper.

A change in our household

It has been three months since my last post! We spent three weeks in September on a 7,000 mile trip out West. We went to Ogden, UT (the Great Salt Lake) Crater Lake, Lava Beds National Monument, Lassen Volcanic National Park, drove through San Francisco, drove on the Pacific Coast Highway, toured Hearst Castle, stopped to visit my aunt in Fresno, Yosetime National Park, drove the pass over the Sierra Nevada, saw Mono Lake, went to Death Valley, Las Vegas, Pipe Springs National Historic site, went shopping in Gallup, NM and Taos. It was quite a trip.

We started this trip on a sad note: just before leaving we put down our old black cat Thunder. She had been taking medicine for hyperthyroidism for about two years. She had little interest in eating. We would tempt her with different varieties of canned food and put the medicine in. She would like something then didn't want it anymore and we would try a different variety. She has been deaf for several years and her primary interest was lying on our laps and napping. She got very skinny and stopped grooming herself and sometimes her hind legs would give out.

For our trip last year we had someone come in to feed and give her the medicine everyday. This year she was worse and there was a fear that she would die while we were gone. So the morning we left we went to the vet, said our goodbyes and watched her as she died.

Thunder came to us at our previous house. The summer of 1992 was a wet one. One day Don discovered a black stray kitten sheltering in the van engine compartment. She knew soft touches. We fed her and after a short while agreed to adopt her. But before taking her inside to meet our other cat at the time (Blitzen), took her to the vet for a check up. This little kitty had worms, an eye infection and was pregnant. All of that was eventually taken care of. She came to us with a kinked tail and a fang bent out of place. So she had quite a time in her short life before coming to us!

Thunder tore up the old house pretty good with her claws and had an independent attitude. Unlike Blitzen who didn't seem to get enough human contact (she was a stray too). When we moved to our current home, Thunder got declawed and she also had less of an independent attitude and Don's lap was her place. She outlived three other cats: Blitzen, Brillion and Gracie.

All of our cats were special in their own ways and all had their stories. Thunder's finally came to an end.

Thunder, 1992-2011

More Oil Pastel Mania!

The weather has certainly turned very pleasant. Temperatures are in the 60s to low 80s degree fahrenheit. I got my Auto PAP machine but getting the benefit from it has been not easy; I still wake up in the night and feel tired in the morning. I went to a help forum and found out that is a common situation; it can take awhile to get used to the mask and everything else.

Here are more of the Oil pastels I have done this summer. They are all 18" x 24".
Rocky Hill

Squash Blossom

Calm Evening Sky

Root River Bottom Land

Tree On Cliff

Foggy Pasture

Pickwick Mill, in progress

Working on a new Me!

Two months again have passed before an update. This summer has been different for me. In May my left knee got very bad and painful, cortisone shots weren't helping. Finally I got X-rays done of that knee. It was become worse with bone spurs all around and being uneven. This was enough to recommend an off-loading brace. Despite being a bit larger than the largest ready-made brace, the PT opened up the top frame enough to fit my thigh. With better mobility I can move around more and combined with calorie counting I am losing weight.
This past week I also had a sleep study to check for sleep Apnea. Sunday night I was wired up with lots of sensors and was in bed by 10:40 PM and woken up at 6:30 AM. I had to get up in the night to use the restroom, which required the technician coming in to unhook me so I could get out of bed! That day at home I was very tired and went to bed in the middle of the day for three hours.
The doctor's consultation recommended a second test using the CPAP since the test showed two incidents of mild apnea. Fortunately, I could get in the next night. I used the nose mask, was in bed just after 10 PM and got up at 5:30 PM because I was awake and bored. Using the CPAP was a success! I got the very important prescription, went home and was active all day, doing extra activities, like cleaning, which I don't normally do.
Don had researched online for a travel sized Auto CPAP and we ordered it along with the mask, heated reservoir and some other accessories last night. I am looking forward to being more alert and active all day.
Because of the severe knee pain this summer, I did only the bare minimum of gardening and yard work. After the knee brace I was catching up with yard work and then the major hot and humid spell hit! It was really too dangerous for someone in my physical condition to do much work in that weather and the brace was uncomfortable in the excess humidity. After what seemed to be weeks of this the hot spell broke. Finally I partially drained the watergarden and fixed the leaks were the old and new liners joined. The water does drop slightly but that could be from evaporation or leakage from the water features.
Next post I will show more of the oil pastels I have been doing this summer.

Oil Pastel Mania!

I have been neglecting my blog this past 2 months, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy!
I started a series of oil pastel drawings, most of them 18" x 24" to make it easier to frame them. So far most of them have cooperated and were willing to be that format. The business next door has finished its remodeling and is now an upscale restaurant (Pogreba Restaurant). Don and I went over to have our complimentary meal for being good neighbors. The construction crew have been well fed since they were given the opportunity to try out the chef's creations.

There was a tornado in the southside of La Crosse last month. It tore up a few blocks pretty good.

Wisconsin Landscape II, 13" x 26", oil pastel

Yellow Asian Lily, 18"x 24", oil pastel

Marsh Footpath, 18" x 24", oil pastel

Marsh Foot bridge, 18" x 24", oil pastel

Two Wild Roses, 18" x 24", oil pastel

Goldfish & Waterlily, 18" x 24", oil pastel, in progress.

Large Tree by River, 18" x 24", oil pastel