Two of my latest ACEOs, one featuring Bob the cat who is sleeping and unaware that rats are nearby and one featuring Markus waiting for a friend.

It is soooo hot around these parts the last few days! It is hard to get up the motivation to do anything, like now I am in here typing this blog instead of out doing yardwork, which I swear I will do before work today.

My nephew has sent an email and is doing well in Mali, really adapting well. He is heading back to homestay today, that's where you stay with a host family and they teach you the language and customs etc. This is part of his 3 months of training, after which he will head on out to some village for 2 years. He is part of the Water Sanitation team.

Oh well I better get to that yardwork!

Hot off the Press

My newest painting features Stripey the cat sitting on a window ledge. It is done in acrylics on a Windsor Newton Canvas Board and is 5 inch x 3 inch.

In other news I hear my nephew is doing well in Mali with the exception of a heat rash.

Now I am off to make dinner and read my book.

This is my latest drawing, of my cat Fluffy when she was a kitten (can you see where she got her name?). I love the way the sun illuminated her fur and made her look like a little Fuzzball. The size is 5 inch x 5 inch on Stonehenge paper, done in colored pencils.

At the moment I am also working on another cat and rat ACEO and a 5 inch x 3 inch acrylic painting of a cat. If all goes well I will have them both finished today.

NFAC in July

NibbleFest (NFAC) started last night on eBay. This month the theme is 'Dramatic Light', so I did a rat finally finding his way out of a sewer. I had a cat I was going to list but it got too late by the time I had the listing ready so I will list it tonight. It is 5"x5" on black stonehenge paper and features my cat Fluffy with the sun really setting off all her pretty fur.

It was hard to scan the sewer rat piece and retain some of the subtle gray shades. I scanned it numerous times at various settings before I was happy with it. And then I have to hope it looks halfway decent on all the various monitors out there.

I also scan at night and my room doesn't have the greatest lighting so it can be quite a chore.

In other news it is raining here today. At least is isn't that hot so I don't mind.

Have a great day!

A couple of rats dealing with summer in their own way, one at a bar and the other looking wistfully at his neighbors pool over the backyard fence. The summer here has been decent so far, today is the first day of awful humidity so I am sure I will be cranky by the end of the day.

I am trying to think up some ideas for my rats and cats and how they can best spend their summer.

Also on the horizon is NFAC (Nibblefest) on eBay, this month the theme is 'Dramatic Light' which should be fun. NFAC starts on the 20th. I have a vague idea of what I want to do and am trying to decide if I am brave enough to list something bigger than an ACEO (2.5"x3.5"). There are a few days left to decide.

I hope this post looks OK when it is published as I am trying out a few new things with the layout.

My nephew has made it safely to Mali and is learning French.

Well, signing off now and thank you for stopping by!

Hello! Posted above are two of my newest ACEOs, the top one is based on my nephew who left this week for Mali Africa with the Peace Corps. He should be getting there today for his three months of training, then off to a village somewhere for 2 years. Ah, the exuberance of youth.

The other picture is of two rats, one pointing at something.

I am also setting up my 'new' computer, a Mac G4 with Dual 1.25 GHz processor. What a difference from my 733. I had the G4 delivered to my shop, put Leopard on him, downloaded software I needed from the web so that when I took it home I would just have to install PhotoShop and FreeHand. All went well until I went to open PhotoShop 7 and got a weird message. Come to find out PhotoShop 7 will not work with Leopard. I spent quite a few hours looking for a cheap alternative, but in the end, had to erase the disk and put on Tiger, which I would have done in the first place had I known about the PS7/Leopard issue. Arrrghhh. I should have done my homework better, silly me.

While snooping around with my speedy new computer I just discovered that you can use google as a calculator, just type a math problem (ie 700-15=) in the search bar and it will give you the answer right then and there. If you leave off the = sign and hit return it will be the first listing. You can then see more about calculator and other neat stuff Google can do. Of course this could be common knowledge but it was new to me.

Have a great weekend!

July Theme Week

This is my ACEO for the July Theme Week on eBay. The theme this month is Patriotic/American/Red/White/Blue. Search 'ACEO TW July' on eBay to see all the art.

I was hoping to get another ACEO done, but have been sidetracked by my 'new' used computer bought right on eBay. It is a 2002 Mac Mirror Door and it is so much faster than my Quicksilver. I can't even imagine how fast a G5 must be, perhaps in 7 more years I will. Long live the Mac!