Untitled 50

Untitled 50, Oil on canvas, approx. 10" x 20".  

For purchase information, please email me: jala{at}jalapfaff{.com}.

This is another of my slightly older oil paintings.

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They MUST be together...even if it means one is falling off.

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It amuses me to imagine the first (and very brave!) human to try to eat a thistle bloom, and how that experiment must have gone...

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 49

Untitled 49, Oil on canvas, 20" x 20".  

For purchase information, please email me: jala{at}jalapfaff{.com}.

This is another of my slightly older oil paintings.

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I got a flu shot a couple of days ago and it really knocked me for a loop for two days. I got every listed side effect and felt awful. Maybe I won't get one next year!

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Update on my friend who was in the motorcycle accident: great progress so far. He will hopefully even be out of the ICU in a couple more days!
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I was running late and had already left my apartment and locked my door, when I noticed the beauty under my feet and had to go back in and get the camera. This was just before the snow hit, a few days ago.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 48

Untitled 48, Oil on canvas, 16" x 16".  

For purchase information, please email me: jala{at}jalapfaff{.com}.

This is another of my slightly older oil paintings.

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 My friend Tom is hanging in there. Still no visitors allowed at the hospital though. Thinking good thoughts for him.
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During the second weekend of Open Studios, Fennec was guarding the framed pastels.

And Rumi slept on the heater vent while visitors discussed the paintings, e.g., "...the one to the left of the kitty."

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 47

Untitled 47, Oil on canvas, 11" x 14".  Framed in black wood floating frame.

Sold.

This is another of my slightly older oil paintings.

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I found out that on Monday, a friend was hit by a car while riding his motorcycle, and is in very serious condition at the hospital. He is one of the kindest, most generous, happiest, biggest personalities I know. Please send some good vibes out into the world for Tom. Thank you.

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Gadjo is just such a stunning, elegant creature. 

He's also sometimes a neurotic, obnoxious creature. But still, so beautiful.

And he knows it.

The best buddies.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 46

Untitled 46, Oil on linen, 8" x 10".  Framed in black wood floating frame.

For purchase information, please email me: jala{at}jalapfaff{.com}.

This is another of my slightly older oil paintings.

I enjoyed doing Open Studios again, although I do feel disappointed about the fact that being in Gunbarrel brought me only about 1/4 as many visitors as I used to get in Boulder. I really wish I could afford to rent studio space in Boulder.

A big thank you to all those of you who came to visit!

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Mojito has been acting weird since the beginning of Open Studios. I don't know if it's just because he doesn't like the change in routine that happened for four days (including someone else walking him, as a favor to me), and/or all the paintings stacked around the room, and/or the fact that all the paintings stacked around the room made the kitties even more insane than usual (because they thought it was a great new jungle gym). 

Mojito has always been a very sensitive dog, so I'm hoping it was just a rough period for him psychologically, and that he'll be back to normal soon. If he's not, I'll take him to the vet to make sure there's nothing physical wrong that I can't see.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 45

Untitled 45, Oil on linen, 18" x 36".

For purchase information, please email me: jala{at}jalapfaff{.com}.

Pulling out paintings for Open Studios, I realized I have some slightly older oil paintings that, one way or another, never made it onto the blog. This is one.

And a reminder: this weekend is your last chance to come visit for Boulder Open Studios 2012!

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I watched as Fennec came and sat right on top of a sleeping Gadjo. By the time I got the camera, Gadjo was attempting to escape, his back end still all squished out flat under Fennec's bulk.

By the way, I wanted to share that Rumi is doing better lately. For the first time, he has put on a few ounces instead of continuing to lose! I hadn't wanted to say anything until now, because although he has been feeling a bit more "solid" to me lately, I was afraid it was just wishful thinking that he felt a little heavier. I had bought a cat scale, but until today (when I brought him to the vet for a reweigh), I didn't know if the scale I got was accurate. 

I am really hoping that this means he'll continue to improve and that it's the single-protein diet that's finally making a difference (the assumption would be that he has IBD). Cancer is still possible, but fortunately, it's looking less and less likely that it could be FIP! Rumi, thank you for being a fighter. I'm grateful every day that you're up to your usual crazy, often obnoxious antics, and for the love you and your little best buddy share.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

This weekend is the last Open Studios 'till next year!

Well the first weekend of Open Studios has come and gone. I didn't get as many visitors out here in Gunbarrel as I used to get in north Boulder, but it wasn't bad. 

Please come by for a visit this coming weekend, your last chance for Boulder Open Studios 2012!

Here's a couple of photos of Fennec as strangers were filling the apartment. You can see how utterly terrified he was:

Noise and strangers tromping in all day... Fennec slept through it all. He was literally in the middle of the room like this, in a kitty coma, all through both days. He didn't even open his eyes when strangers came in, sat down on the sofa next to him, and rubbed his tummy. He just purred a bit, smiled, and curled up his feets to show his contentment.

(As you may have guessed, Rumi was the ambassador/Master of Ceremonies of Open Studios at my apartment, Mojito was the announcer, Fennec found it all to be one big lullaby, and Gadjo hid under the bed.)

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Last Wednesday the weather forecasters were actually spot-on, and it dropped fifty degrees or so in a few hours, to the point where I had to find the box containing my parka, wool hat, mittens, etc. It snowed. It was realllllly cold for about four or five days.

So, Wednesday, I turned on the thermostat for the first time since I moved in here in June and...nothing. No heat. Nada.

I have very bad karma for these things. The heat anywhere I'm living always malfunctions when I'm home alone, and it usually also happens at night or on a weekend, when you can't get someone to come take a look at it.

Two space heaters to the rescue. (I got someone out here late Friday afternoon and they fixed the furnace problem. Today is the first day the temperature outside got back to normal.) The kitties baked themselves near the space heaters pretty much full-time:

...And also practiced group warmth.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Finally, fall is here / Kitties as criminals

...and it is beautiful.

A reminder: Boulder Open Studios 2012 starts this weekend! 

Also, the show (one piece from each of the 100+ Boulder Open Studios 2012 artists) is now up at the Boulder Public Main Library, on the Canyon side. This Friday is the big reception, from 6 - 8pm, public welcome. The show stays up through Oct.14.
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What's going on here?:

Oh, it's just a new Rumi sleep position. Looks comfortable, no?

(He stayed that way for about two hours, sound asleep.)

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The perpetrator (one of a suspected duo with multiple previous convictions) returns to the scene of a middle-of-the-night crime...

Seriously, I love my kitties so much...but Gadjo + Rumi + a small apartment really is like living with a band of wild monkeys most of the time.

(Fennec isn't destructive. Mostly because he's generally a really laid-back dude, but maybe also because he's so big he can't jump up onto places and knock things down. Rumi and Gadjo are like circus acrobats on amphetamines during the majority of their waking hours...and then angelic little cherubs when asleep.)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com