Pastel on PastelMat, approx. 6" x 7".
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I guess redheads know instinctively which colors suit them best... I keep finding Fennec sleeping on blue and green fabrics!
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Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Untitled 145
Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 8".
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Kitten camouflage.
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Monday, July 25, 2011
Untitled 144
Pastel on PastelMat, approx. 5" x 6".
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If only poor stressed-out Fennec would learn to relax!
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Friday, July 22, 2011
Untitled 143
Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 7".
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Ugh. Can I just please ask the weather gods to remove the ridiculous heat? Thank you.
I just ordered a special kind of dog harness for Jazzy that he will wear pretty much all the time, with handles on the back and hips so we can help keep him upright and pick him up when he falls. His biggest problem is that his back legs, well, they don't work so good no more.
Here's Jazzy guarding Fennec. Actually, Jazzy gets nervous when the kitties do these things, so these kind of photo ops don't last long.
When Fennec reached up to kiss him, Jazzy got scared and closed his eyes. Really, he does get nervous with kitties right up in his face.
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Selling betel leaf (for paan), Hyderabad, India.
More art on my website: jalapfaff.com
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Untitled 142
Pastel on PastelMat, approx. 4" x 5.5".
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I want to give everyone out there who wrote to me or commented, a really big thank you for your emotional support. It really means a lot to me and truly makes me feel less lonely. Blogosphere been berry berry good to me.
For your viewing pleasure, I have a few little vids today (vids where Fennec was still quite small). Just a snippet of daily life here amongst the kitties.
More art on my website: jalapfaff.com
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Untitled 141 and a bit of a kvetch
Pastel, approx. 3.5" x 5".
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I haven't been posting as often as I used to. You'll have to forgive me; things are pretty nuts:
The Husband and I have long been having problems in our marriage and we are in the midst of trying to decide what to do about it (we can't afford to get another place right now in order to try a separation, for example, and what would we do about all the animals, etc.). This really eats up one's energy and makes it hard to get into a mood for painting. All the pastels I've been posting lately were created several weeks ago.
I debated about whether to mention my difficult marriage here on my blog, and finally decided that I do want to be more personal on my blog. It's about art, and animolecules, yes, but I also feel that many of you who read here are friends, even if we've never actually met. Being open in the blogosphere for me thus far has been a good experience.
We had a house guest for a week (hi, Bruno!).
Fennec, with his energy, requires a lot of time, though in a good way.
Also a good thing but a time-eater, is that I've been getting more into music lately. I am playing more guitar lately and have been learning cello since April.
The business, SLOWCOLOR, is eating up huge amounts of time and energy.
Finances are rough, what with starting the business, The Husband's MBA student loans being due, him not working a "real job" anymore since before the MBA, my many expensive medications, and I've also had several classes cancelled (that I was going to teach) due to not enough enrollment.
I'm trying to figure out what to do about the fact that I've kind of literally run out of space in the art studio--wall space, surface space, storage space... And I don't want to put any money into it because we may end up having to sell the house. I walk into the studio, feel it's impossible, and walk back out...but hoping that one of these days I'll get a sudden flash of inspiration about it.
And finally, Jazz, our very elderly, beloved Golden Retriever, age 14 years and 5 months, is really declining these days. It's taking tons of time and patience that already feel lacking.
I just wanted all my readers to know why things have slowed down on my blog. (I still have lots of stuff to post, though, all stuff that I did weeks ago.) I love being part of the blogosphere, love the people I now "know" thanks to blogging, and get a real thrill out of knowing that you're all out there, checking in on my paintings, photos, and animolecules, whether it's every day, or just every now and then.
I had to laugh when I noticed Fennec in here--he was camouflaged--and when I saw where his tail had ended up.
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Handlooming in progress, India (though not our product).
More art on my website: jalapfaff.com
Friday, July 15, 2011
Fennec's sleeping positions
Fennec sleeps in the most hilarious, absurd positions. It makes me remember that Rumi used to have oddball sleeping positions too, but nowadays he seems to sleep in a pretty normal position. I wonder if Fennec will change when he gets older, too. I hope not--I love finding him in these positions, belly up.
He also makes the most awesome, funny noises, these loud sort of vocalized sighs while he's asleep, and the annoyed grunts have only gotten more pronounced and crack me up. He's a really fun little crazy guy to have around.
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So Lynxie went to the vet for his annual checkup (he's two years old now). I knew I was going to get the overweight-cat lecture. Sure enough. Of course that lecture has to be given, but it still makes me feel ashamed, like I'm a bad animolecule guardian.
The amazing part is that we were all (even the vet, when she pulled him out of his carrier) betting he was going to weigh in at about 20 pounds. Instead, he's only 16 pounds! I was really surprised. He looks and feels much heavier than that. I thought that was pretty great, and maybe I'd be spared the lecture after all. But no. Apparently he should weigh about 14 pounds based on his general large frame. So he is technically obese, poor guy.
The vet gave me a few suggestions to try to keep him at or below his current weight to try to prevent diabetes, but I know it's going to be tough, because with six cats all eating the same thing and only one of them overweight... I think his getting more exercise will be the only thing we can do. We need to try to play with him when he's alone (or relatively alone). Because he's very passive and at the bottom of the pecking order amongst all the cats, if there's playing going on, he just watches from a distance. If none of the others are around, though, he will play.
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And now, about little Fennec's growth rate: it's insane. We got him about a month ago or so (I'm too lazy to look it up right now), at 2 pounds. Kittens (conveniently) add precisely one pound a month as they grow up. Fennec weighed in at 4.2 pounds. The vet is astonished. So am I. He already looks like a 5- or 6-month old "catten" (and he's definitely much younger than that, based on his teeth). At this rate, he's going to be freakin' enormous. And we might have the Lynxie-type weight problem, too, since Fennec loves food. So stay tuned for future news about my gargantuan kitties.
More art on my website: jalapfaff.com
Monday, July 11, 2011
Untitled 140
Pastel on UArt, approx. 3.5" x 5".
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A very relaxed Lynxie.
Fennec is getting absolutely enormous. He has doubled in size/weight since we got him and never stops eating. I think he's going to be a very big boy--probably not as gigantic as Lynx (who will be weighed next week at his annual at the vet's...I'm curious what he will weigh. I'm guessing possibly 18 pounds?), but bigger than all the rest of the cats.
Fennec is a super happy and very playful boy. He loves everyone--dog, cat, human. It was funny to see him when he first met the dogs, though. I don't know if he'd ever seen one before, but he hissed at each one of them. When they didn't react, you could see him instantly think, "Oh, okay, no big deal."
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Another shot of the aerial dancers at Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, India.
More art on my website: jalapfaff.com
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Untitled 139
Pastel on UArt, approx. 3.5" x 5".
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Fennec does a lot of impressions. You saw his flying squirrel impersonation in the last post...
Playing dead:
Baby bird in nest:
Do these positions look comfortable?
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And now for something completely different. These were an American aerial-dance troupe performing on the walls of the Golconda Fort, in Hyderabad, India.
More art on my website: jalapfaff.com
Friday, July 8, 2011
Untitled 138
Pastel on UArt, approx. 5.5" x 7".
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Fennec doing his impersonation of a flying squirrel. Apparently he needed a nap right after landing.
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I was watching one of my guilty pleasures the other day, one of those competition cooking shows. I did a double take when I saw the decor of the fancy house the contestants were staying in, because of the painting on the wall--all I could think was, Hey, wait a minute, that looks like one of mine (it isn't, unless someone stole one of my images)! Looks like they either chose a paint color to match one from the painting, or commissioned a painting to match the wall color; either way, I think it looks great. I took this screen shot on my computer.
More art on my website: jalapfaff.com
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Untitled 137
Pastel on PastelMat, approx. 4" x 7".
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Kittens are born with the knowledge that baskets were designed especially for them.
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At the government weavers' center, Hyderabad, India.
More art on my website: jalapfaff.com
Monday, July 4, 2011
Untitled 136
Pastel on PastelMat, approx. 4.5" x 4.5".
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Fennec, melting on the couch...
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Some of our early block-print experiments in India.
More art on my website: jalapfaff.com
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