The days of mountains of Puffs tissues growing like volcanic islands in a sea of unaccomplished household chores and and interrupted paintings sessions have finally tapered off to the occasional sneeze and cough - it feels good to be able to breath again!

And, after re-establishing my role as keeper of everything everybody else refuses to keep by cleaning the kitchen and removing said mountains of fluffy paper birds filled with dreadful disease from the livingroom, I actually got to spend some valuable time with my creative brain and a paintbrush in my hand at the easel. Ah, maaahvelous fun - made soo much better by the addition of a bit of groovy 80's music on my iPhone iPod, and warm temperatures and sunshine streaming through the window (this time I worked in the kitchen, where I use my small A-frame easel, which works great when I'm using acrylics - for oils I prefer my large studio easel, because it doesn't wobble precariously when I scrub around in the oil paints on the support).

Feeling like a new person inspired me to use a different format - one of my favorites - in canvas. It's 12" x 36", so it gives me some room to play with the composition and perspective, plus, it lends itsself well to something placed in a landscape (which, as we all know, happens to be the favorite hunting- and bouncing grounds for sheep).

So I started out with a pallette of Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics (remember: I'm painting in my kitchen - oil paints have to remain in my studio, otherwise we'll all keel over from the fumes)

I started out by blocking in the colors for the ground - I wanted to have it vibrant, happy, loud and slightly past the natural pallette of colors for fields. The sheep are happiest when they have to squint to see what they are eating - it makes the bugs and slugs go down a bit easier, if you can't see the eyeballs on them...so bright is good, you see. To keep the colors as bright as possible, I tend to not mix them very much - call me a purist, call me lazy, call me weird, or just slightly colorblind...either way, muddy colors are not what I'm into when I'm painting the Sheep Incognito pieces, so mixing is only done on an as needed basis, and then I only use colors that are close together on the color wheel. It keeps the colors vibrant and clear.

To contrast the bright yellow of the field, I ragged in some darkish, rather ominous looking clouds, with lots of varying shades of blue, gray and mauves. Something to do with the subject matter that will be taking place on that field of frolic beneath, that requires a bit of a dramatic backdrop.

That's about as far as I can show for today, so tomorrow will bring new pics of this work in progress - it was too dark this evening to show the preliminary sketch of the action.

On a whole different note, there is somebody I would like you to meet - no, not a new husband, not a new boss, but a dear artist friend of mine whose blog "A Work of Art: Raising Our Exceptional Son" has become a big part of my online daily reading list: Bennie Waddell, in Greenville, SC. He's funny, He's whacky at times, He's an artiste par excellence, and has a family that is truly exceptional in every way (in a small part because his son is an exceptional child - if you haven't met Ben yet, you really should go see their blog, it will change your perspective on many things - abilities vs. disabilities, victories vs. dispair, rich vs. poor, wisdom vs. ignorance, beauty vs. uglyness and lots of other things that challenge the way you might think about things). Bennie is a character - in combination with his son Ben, they are an outstanding team of art creators. Even though Ben faces all kinds of health challenges due to PKS (Pallister Killian Syndrome - a very rare genetic disorder), he has overcome many obstacles that no child should ever have to - and yet, he bounces back with a grin that will just melt your heart.

Bennie & Ben
Artists, Friends, and just plain ole Fun People

The paintings that Ben & Bennie create mirror the attitude for life that they share: colors that might blind the sheep, but that definitely chase away any thoughts of yucky things - bright, vibrant, and happy. Just like the two artists are themselves. If you ever get to meet their family, you most certainly will not forget them - they truly are a family to remember.

For every painting that Ben & Bennie sell they donate money to the PKS Kids foundation to help PKS families with research and support.

So if you have a moment, stop by Bennie's place to say hi to him and to meet the rest of the family - you won't regret it, they are truly outstanding people!

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