Lava Beds Natn'l Monument (California)- Batty Weekend

Raid

Studio Progress

Gracias and Tumblin' Turtle

Tumblin' Turtle, Acrylic on Masonite

Gracias. Acrylic on Long-Horn Skull.
She is coming along fine.

The Gardens

Wait'n for the Sun

Oh Yum, Fresh lettuce and Spinach!!!

A little too much sun for the Peas. It went from 65 degrees to 100 degrees in a week! Ack!

Herb Garden, my first time laying stone. So much leveling!

Herb garden and all of it's tasty treats.

Zen Garden after winter.

Zen Garden in Spring, with Fence and junk removed.

Oh so nice.

Wild Flower Hike in Southern Oregon

Ted took these wonderful pictures using his macro lense. This is just some of the wildflowers we encountered on our hike today.

Field Larkspur (Delphinium)

Feild Larkspur (Delphinium)

We suspect this Salmon colored Delphinium was a hybrid of the violet one above and the scarlet one below.

Field Larkspur (Delphinium)

Husks of some flower, growing out of granite cliffs.

Unidentified, growing out of granite cliffs.

Prairie Star (Lithophragma parviflorum)

Rosy Plectritis (Plectritis congesta)

Yellow Monkey Flower (Mimulus guttatus)

Tinie-tiny belly flower. You have to get on your belly to see this one. I haven't been able to identify this one yet.

Common Brodiaea (Brodiaea capitata)

Yellow Monkey Flower and Naked Broomrape
(Mimulus guttatus) and (Orobanche uniflora)

Oregon Mariposa Lily (Calochortus tolmeiei)

Osprey

On the Trail

Hey! That's me!

Gracias

While Ted was doing some work on his sister Rita's guest house he came across this old skull, he asked his sister if he could bring it home for me to decorate in the "Day of the Dead" style. Rita raises long-horns and when it is their time to go she always has their hides and skulls preserved. I love the bright colors and positive message the Mexican holiday Dia De Los Muertos celebrates. After Ted brought home the skull I called Rita to find out what the name of the cow was and I got chills when she told me her name was Gracias because she had been born on Thanksgiving. (By the way her calf-mate's name was Danka.) I have a ways to go on this one, but I hope Gracias will love it.

Hmmm, Humanity. An Installation.

Hmmm, Humanity. An Installation. By Kim de Young

Waking before daybreak, Dashing out the door to establish my place in the pecking order of the crowded freeways, Watching the sunrise over the asphalt, Spending the sunlit hours under the hum of the fluorescent lights, Prioritizing my day between demanding emails, boredom, and the sound of the urgency in a colleagues voice before their eminent breakdown into frustration, Walking the halls of framed buzzword-morality-posters perfumed with recently burnt microwave popcorn, Rushing into the night air for my place in the pecking order of the crowded freeways, towards home.

Plainly the reality of my life for twelve years working in the semi-conductor industry was on the verge of soul sucking. Evenings and weekends were cherished times of re-energizing and creativity, until eventually not even two days off, a week off, two-weeks off was enough to balance the demoralization of my vitality. This project is a way to forever cast off the binds of that old mindset and move forward towards a new self culture and embrace my potential instead of squandering it.

Fantasy Show

I am taking a Gallery Management and Technique class and one of our projects is to design/curate a fantasy exhibit using existing artists. I chose to show the work of Beth Cavener Stichter and Milo Winter. I admire both of these artist, Beth Cavener Stichter is contemporary and her work is absolutely amazing, please click the link above and see her work! Milo Winter is an illustrator from the early 20th century. They work so well together because they both portray animals with human emotions. This is the model of the school gallery that I made using Cavener and Winter's work. I scaled it 12 inches equals 1 inch.

Snow Bunny!

Ted built me my very own SnowBunny!

(He looks a little evil.... hmmm)

So yeah, it hardly snows in Southern Oregon.

Donkey (Ceramic Pinata) is not pleased.

Not too much composting goin' on in that bin.

Sure does look pretty.

Moon Bunnies in Order

Hi Mom! Here are all of the paintings in order.

Starts with a regular bunny reading the "Moon Bunny" Book on a windy day.

Then each page will have the story in the moon like below.

First the Moon Bunnies are waking up from their long nap, approx. 28 days.

Of course just like you and me they are hungry when they wake, here they are eating their favorite foods; Thistle, Fennel and Basil flowers.

Eating gives them lots of energy so flying is their first order of business. They also like to glide and soar.


Here they are swinging another favorite thing that Moon Bunnies like to do.

Usually vigorous swinging will lead to joyful dancing, Moon Bunnies are know for their spirit and grace while dancing.

There is always time for the Moon Bunny song to be sung. Here they are singing with great zeal even though they are mostly off key.

Because they sing so hard and loud, they end up with sore throats, drinking buttercup juice will normally help sooth their voices.

Sometimes they get them selves in precarious situations, like the time they decided go tip-toeing across the pond and the rocks turned out to be turtles.

Leaping for joy is another favorite activity of Moon Bunnies.

They barely notice when the day starts to break, except they start yawning.

Just in time they reach the ground, here they are sleeping sound until the next full moon.

So, there we are. I have some work to do on the story, but it sure was fun to paint these.