"Kind Ocean Lady" 2007 Spring Bay Studio L.P.

This is one of my newer lil' pieces, with a new frame that I worked on for a couple dayz. I had a real time with the color on the frame...actually the color wasn't Really the problem. I was the problem...trying to decide whether or not I liked the results after painting and painting...truth be told..the inner critic was heavily at work, making me a wreck until I told it to SHUT UP and go sit in a corner.

Finally I got all the work done, and even if I don't mind saying so, this turned out pretty groovy. I layed out the actual collage pretty quickly. But then I had to decide how to adjust some of the color for the background and the seaweed along the bottom. That was something that took most of 2 hours. I always feel like I'm taking too long if one project takes longer than an afternoon, and this one took close to 4 days. I'd keep saying to myself, You have to work faster, 'cause I'm sure everyone ELSE does this type of work faster than YOU!! ~~ Inner Critic Once Again.

But I wanted this mermaid to have a good place to play and enjoy her friend, so I took some time getting her just right. And I wanted the frame especially to highlight her just enough, so that she had a good place to be. So here she is, with her friend, and they do look kinda peaceful, don't ya think?

The weather here has been so crazy: last friday it was very very warm, then we had a batch of thunderstorms that flooded the garden beds. And just yesterday it got up to 90 Degrees...followed in the early evening with a round of thunderstorms. Naturally The Dog had to run into the front bedroom and hide under the computer desk, shaking and making little whimpering noises. The lightening was really nice to watch, and I kept looking at it while at the same time watching the Red Sox game on t.v. ~~ Today now, you'd never know it was as warm as it was yesterday...rain and drizzle, mucky cloudy day, and The Dog didn't even stay out in the backyard more than 45 minutes. The grass is still drenched, so she just got miffed about it and came back in the house. The vege beds got a good soaking tho, and that's just what they needed.

I've spent the last 2 days turning the soil over in the larger vege bed...well, actualy both the beds are pretty big, but the larger of the 2 got worked on ~~ Got a little more mulch put on yesterday. I've had a pile of old leaves, branches and "Stuff" out in the backyard for some time, and it's just now composted enuf so that it's nice and crumbly for the garden. Got that topdressed where some of the compost from last year has already been pretty much decomposed into the soil. I like to try and keep a good amount on the soil surface, that way during the hotter summer months, we don't loose so much soil moisture. I also got some compost tea made up and poured on some of the perinneal (would you look at the horrible spelling? you'd never know I really know english...) flowers. The one flower that I'm happy about is the Foxglove. It had been growing like crazy during the earlier part of winter, getting lots of new leaves on it, and enjoying the unusual warm temps. Then it Finally got COLD, and the poor thing got freeze burned so bad, it looked like it was done for. But just in the past 3 weeks or so, it's finally making a comeback, with lots of new growth, and perked up after I gave it a nice drink of compost tea. And we have some new plants of Yarrow comming in to. That's another plant that had nearly died off, but last summer I started giving it lots of Tea, and it finally looks like it's going to make a go of it this year too.

So all in all, a very busy last 2 weeks. I've been checking the new plantings of vege seeds, and have tomatoes coming up, along with Basil, Oregano, green beans, and bell peppers. The west window in the studio is completely covered in little 3" pots, with little baby plants in each one. Makes me hopeful for a good growing season.

Lady of The Tulips -- who is now finally going to go get something to eat...had toast for breakfast and that lasted about as long as my patience at a long traffic light...with some kid behind me trying to smash into the backend of my Very Fine Automobile 'cause He's in a hurry...sigh..