Talkin’ Trash with Trisha

While I had the camera out:

   I went down to my studio today with my camera and took some pictures of things I’ve done over the past few years.  I realized there are things stranger than  what I’d posted last time so I am going to put up a few more of them just to give a better over-view.  This is a painting I’ve been playing with for quite a long time. It’s evolved and morphed into some strange thing for which I have no explanation. 

These two are details of the painting: 

                               and         .

The following are some of my oldest projects, back when I did a great deal of papier mache sculptures.  If you’ve read my past blogs you’ve heard me refer to my alter ego as “Bob”. Well, these are the physical manifestation of my “Bobs’.  

      Bob #1

  Bob #2   and

    Bob #3 !!

Then there’s my sweet “Happy ” the Anatomically Correct Dog sculpture:  and also

one of my hardest projects, The Dragon:

 who is approximately 3′6″ long and 27″ tall!

Many of my bigger and better sculptures sold back in 1994 at one of my bigger shows.

 Here are a few more paintings, both acrylic and watercolor:

:  and           and 

  and             and

 There many, many more but I won’t bore you with the rest at this time…..LOL!

    Once again my post is prompted by my friend BetMe who is great at encouraging others.  It must be because she is so talented that she has the self-confidence to motivate others without feeling at all threatened.

   So with that said, I am posting some pictures of my artwork for you all to look at and hopefuly you’ll be honest but kind.

  This is one of my pet portaits. He’s a long-haired Jack Russell Terrier. He is a happy guy.

  Ammi Phillips was a seventeenth century artist who was never formally trained but who gained a reputation as a primitive portrait painter.  I have been a huge fan of his work since I first laid eyes on his work. I have copied a few of his portraits but this is my favorite called Girl in a Red Dress.  I have copied it several times. This is one of them. (Sorry for the lousy photo.)

 This is a painting I did three summers ago. This bullfrog lives in my little fish pond in the back yard!

Just an image I had seen in a magazine some time ago.  I wanted to try my hand at painting the ocean and rocks ,etc.  Not my best work but I am OK with the learning experience of every painting I do.

  I will post more at a later time. I think this gives a fair overview of what I’ve been doing the past couple of years.  I really don’t paint with other people’s expectations in mind except when doing commissions and even then I insist on autonomy with regards to style and form.

   My kids mostly all inherited my love of art.

  My baby girl is over at Birdpress (see blogroll). She is an amazingly talented woman. She not only writes like a dream but she can paint, draw, craft, the whole shebang. She is currently a Pet Stylist (aka Dog Groomer) so she channels a lot of her talent into her first love, animals.  They love her , too!

   My son Chris is likewise talented. He also is a brilliant writer who says everything with a wonderful self-deprecating humor.( Check him out on my blogroll at Postulates & Pasttimes). His gardens are a thing of beauty, too!

   My oldest daughter doesn’t acknlowledge her talents and has never really pursued them but whenever called upon she comes through with amazing talent. Last year she and I signed up to do face-painting at her church fundraiser and she blew me away with her freehand designs. But if you ask her if she is an artist she just laughs!

  My oldest son is another full-fledged artist. He can draw anything. He specializes in Fantasy Art and his work makes my shudder it’s so good!

  So it’s really cool to see my children stepping into their own individual areas of talent. Each is unique and wonderful and no, I’m not prejudiced!

This is me, finally playing along after li’l Miss BetMe tagged me for a Meme. Her Momma says she shoots to kill so I figured I’d follow orders so’s not to get shot!

Five Things Found in My Bag:

I don’t often carry the same bag more than a few days at a time, depending on where I’m going or what I’m planning on doing. If I’m off on a shopping trip I carry an itty-bitty bag. If I’m going away I bring the big ol’ honker of a bag, black, three compartments and it weighs as much as me fully loaded (the bag loaded, not me loaded.)

1. My wallet containing at any one time three credit cards, drivers liscense, fifty three supermarket/department store cards, (near-bouts), a wee bit of cash

2. My cell phone - Don’t leave home without it!!

3. Glasses-  Lordy, I miss the days when I could read labels without them!

4. Lipstick- sometimes red, sometimes a nice Nude to make these middle-aged lips look fuller (so I’ve heard)

5. Granola bar-  Specifically a Cliff Chewy Peanut Butter Bar.   I feel better knowing I have food close at hand all the time.

Five Things in My Room 

 I have the whole house to myself these days so I can pick any room I want, right?

OK< I pick the bedroom!

1. My fancy-schmancy jewelry box I got from my daughter for Christmas. The thing is as big as a bread box! I wish she’d filled it while she was at it!

2. My “Toy Box”.

3. Aromatherapy candles and incense.

4. “Bite Me Almo”  (Custom made by ME! You won’t find this one in stores!)

5. Antique paintings of roses ( I love them!)

Five Things I am Into:

Hmmm….. a little personal…

1. My boyfriend, D.  He makes me feel so amazingly loved and special.

2. Cooking- I absolutely love cooking. I taught cooking classes for many years and it was some of the best times I ever spent.

3. Wine- again, thanks to D. who started taking me to wineries and having me sample some incredible wines  from his own personal cellar. I am building one of my own now and have around 200 bottles! Nothing fancy or expensive, Just some good drinking stuff!

4. Painting- I hope some day to be really good. For now I am decent at it.

5. Being Nana to my grandsons. Nothing beats having grandchildren!

Five Things I Have Always Wanted to Do:

  Hey, folks. Sorry for the long bout of blog - neglect here. I have been in hiding, sort of.

  Two weeks ago my attorney and I sat down and came up with a financial proposal for the STBE (Soon-to-be Ex) to hopefully agree to accept. I know better, though. I am waiting for the screams and yells to reach me here in hiding 220 miles away. I am a bit of a chicken. I hate confrontations of this kind so I ran like the coward I am hoping that the STBE would only rant at the lawyer.

 Weirdly I haven’t heard a word from either of them and it is freakin’ me out a little bit, to tell you the truth.

 So here I am at my friend’s house for nigh on two weeks and I am dreading the fact that on Monday I HAVE to go back home and deal with all of this shit like an adult. My STBE works across the street from my house so he will know I am home within minutes of my arrival. GOD! I so want to move out of this fishbowl I’ve been living in.

 Meanwhile D. got a job so he’s feeling good again. He filled out all the paperwork yesterday for the new employer,  took care of car stuff, and we had just sat down on the front porch with a nice bottle of wine when the phone rang telling him his mother had been taken to the hospital for a fall. She’s 85 years-old and not healthy to begin with so you can imagine his reaction. No one seemed to know if it was serious, whether bones were broken, or she was stable. There was only this wee bit of info to scare the crap out of him. We waited for more info from D.’s aunt but when the call came there was nothing new to tell, only that she was still in emergency and the doctors were trying to figure out what to do with her next. ????? WTH?

  Since D.’s mom lives two-and-one-half hours from here and he HAD to show up for his first day of work, and he still knew next to nothing when we went to bed at 11:30 last night, you can imagine the quality of our rest.  I think we both dozed off for an hour around 4:00 a.m.. The alarm went off at 6:30.

  So today I stayed here at his house to man the phones in case something new came through about his mother but so far nothing. I’m glad that my selfish retreat to my boyfriend’s house resulted in me being able to be here for him when things got crazy. So some good may come of me being in seclusion yet.  We’ll see.

  I just came back with D. after sitting in his accountant’s waiting room while D. was getting his tax returns prepared. There was a man sitting to my right who immediately started chatting with me. He seemed at first to just be one of those extra-friendly sorts but after a couple of minutes of him rambling on and on ad nauseum about his brilliant and oh-so-successful son I started to shut down. I mean, there’s only so much chitchat I’m willing to put up with from bores. So I picked up a nearby magazine, a four-year-old copy of Family Circle (EGADS!) and started thumbing through it.

This didn’t slow him down. Not at all!  If anything it seemed to challenge him to even greater flights of rhetoric and so he started leaning in towards me in order to get more of my attention.  “Have you heard about Bush vetoing the next tax rebate?” he says. I pretend to think he’s talking to someone else and I don’t look up or respond. He moved one seat closer to me!
“Guess what I’m doing with my money this year? It’s really driving my wife up the wall. She says’ why do you have to do that’ but I am gonna do it any way.”  No response from me. I won’t even look up from the scintillating article on “Seven Secret Tips from the Stars on Ways They Keep Fit”.  He says “I am giving all my tax refund money to my grandchildren’s college funds! Yep, that’s me. I am one generous grandpa!”

 It’s driving him crazy that I am refusing to respond to him. He gets up and adjusts himself  !! He then turns his back to me and bends over to tie his shoes! He sits back down and he starts in once again. I finally had had enough so as soon as he said ” Did I tell you about my crazy wife? She moves my stuff around…” I leaned in towards him, put my finger to my lips and said  “SHHHHHhhhh!”

 I leaned back in my seat and for about 30 seconds there was a blissful silence as I went back to my magazine.

 But he was a tough old bugger. He stood up, walked down the hall, entered the room where D. and his accountant were working and started chatting with the CPA!

  I think I’m declaring a day of silence. The sound of my own voice is even getting on my nerves now…