So far this week Penny has signed music, elephant, giraffe and rain - she is also decidedly enamored with Uncle Dwayne (which isn't really new news at all).
Here's a cute moment we had this morning.
THE TRICK:
Today was interesting in that it ended up being about something totally different than I had supposed it was as I had Erin slated to babysit Penny all day so I could get to some real painting. She got called in for work however so we adapted our plans.
THE TREAT:
We decided to go trick-or-treating at my old place of employment and say hullo to some friends, drop off gifts etc... Man I miss that crew. It's the kind of place where people actually dress up for halloween and you can have lots of desk flare, and frankly, it's a place you WANT to go visit after an unpaid maternity leave. Penny was shaking in her elephant pants at the sight of Dave's abominable snowman costume however so on to running errands.
Home by noon and the studio is staring me down - I'm at the scary part now where I finally have everything I really need to begin the painting part of the rest of my pieces in earnest. I've got my custom cut wood panels, all the surfaces gessoed, all the sketches ready for transfering, the larger pieces stretched on their stretcher bars and here I find myself completely parylized. I don't know where to start. I had to get unstuck somehow so I called my old studio mate John Holdway for a little critique and brain-picking session and I'm so glad I did. He did a great job at keeping me focussed on beginning on the bits I was sure about and trusting that the other unresolved bits would work themselves out in time, to allow myself a little flexibility and sense of adventure by giving myself some leeway by NOT overplanning everything to the tiniest detail. JUST DO THE WORK. It always sounds so simple but it was just the kick in the behind I needed. He also gave me some great insight into this piece and a really great concept for where I think I want to take this painting. I'm not going to spoil the surprise as I don't know that I will have time to bring this any further than it is so stay tuned.
Here are some pics and video of our Halloween night out at Sam Bond's. We had a blast. Afterwards we went to the Hill's for snacks, wine and a cozy fire. Penny was acting so silly and sweet and stayed up until 9:30 without a melt down.
