Untitled 252 and 253

Untitled 252.  Pastel.  5" x 7"  Sold.

Untitled 253.  Pastel.  5" x 7".  Sold.

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OPEN STUDIOS BOULDER 2013: This Saturday and Sunday from 12-6 pm each day. This is the final weekend.

I am studio #15 on the map this year. Please stop by for a visit!

For more information: openartsboulder.org/openstudios

The Open Studios art exhibit in the main Boulder Public Library survived the flood (yay!) and there is one piece there from each artist (over a hundred) from now until Open Studios is over.  

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The mighty hunter (of crumpled paper balls) takes an afternoon rest between forays, secure in his knowledge that he is camouflaged.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

The Great Flood of 2013

I'm sure most of you reading this heard about the massive flooding along the Front Range here in Colorado. FEMA is even here, and people are still being airlifted out of several towns and cities whose bridges collapsed. Boulder was hit pretty hard in town, but much worse in the mountains, and really bad in places like Lyons, Jamestown, and Longmont.

A lot of places are still closed and will be for the foreseeable future, some people still unaccounted for, and pretty much every basement in every city along the Front Range has turned into an impromptu aquarium. It was really astounding. It basically rained hard for four or five days virtually without stopping. All the creeks, sewers, streets, rivers, some dams, just became overwhelmed from the sheer quantity of water.

I and my animolecules are fine. Just some water damage in my apartment, and I still haven't been able to get some of my medication because the low-income clinic shut down four days ago.

I (and hundreds of other people) went down to the Boulder creek/public library area a couple of days after the peak flooding, to check out the aftermath. 

These shoes cracked me up. Don't they look like a bronze sculpture?

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Some animolecules are smart and wanted to avoid the mere mention of rain...

 ...but of course if you have a retriever, they'll drag you out in rain, flood, hail, blizzard...

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

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

Square 1

Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 5".

Something a bit different... For the last couple of weeks, I've suddenly gotten into a groove of doing squares. Perhaps I've gone from channeling Rothko to lightly channeling Josef Albers.

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Boulder peeps, if you're out on East Arapahoe, please stop by Ozo Café (near 55th) and see my art show, which will be up all of December.

Gadjo is a curler-upper. Fennec is generally a sprawler.

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Chai break. India.

$115.00 - Square 1 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 173

Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 6".

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Things still suck here (but I am taking the good advice many of you had, though I may not write about the specifics here), but this guy makes me smile: here's Moji at Coot Lake a couple of weeks ago. I can't believe this photo came out--I had a very enthusiastic wet dog barreling at me full-speed, and a was doing a one-handed photo with an iPhone that doesn't have a very good camera to begin with.

Moji loves fetching in water more than anything in the world.

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We have had the most beautiful weather imaginable for almost two months. 

Still in shock over waking up to this today. Big branches are breaking all over town (including on our deck) due to the sudden heavy snow (first snow of the season, and it is a huge one!). It went from 80 degrees a couple of days ago and will be only 15 F tonight. Boulder never does anything halfway.

And there really is only one good way to deal with it:

$115.00 - Untitled 173 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 172 (Key Lime Pie)

Pastel on UArt, approx. 5" x 6".

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Things are still bad, as you can imagine. But...(cue dramatic music) the blog must go on! 

Oddly enough, I'm super creative in the studio right now. I have such a backlog of pastels now to post, I'm set for a long time. It's funny, I mentioned it to my acupuncturist when he asked about my creative energies at the moment, and he laughed and said another client of his who is also an artist, during the divorce process was also ultra-creative, but then once his life settled down again, his creative energy really waned. I told him he shouldn't have told me that. My take is, all the current riled-up energy is finding focus once a day, which is great.

I'm always amazed at how my blogger artist friends out there rally when any amongst us is having a tough time in their life. Thank you all. It is really helpful, all the emotional support.

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(Below) This is looking down at the floor in the kitchen while trying to cook. This is often the scene. It's hard not to step on him sometimes. He is such a total goof. He's also the only kitty I've ever had who finds the bustle of feet in the kitchen a great place to lie down, sprawl, and roll around.

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Random photo I took with my phone in the spring on the Pearl St. Mall. When I first moved to Boulder, I hung out there all the time. Now I rarely go, in fact kind of avoid it. It's just "where the tourists go" to me now.

$115.00 - Untitled 172 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 163

Pastel on UArt, approx. 4" x 5".

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Don't forget, if you're in Boulder please come visit my studio this weekend or next for Open Studios.

Thanks, everyone, for the compliments on my previous post. I'm loving seeing some of the recent pastels framed and up as a group! I sold a few things today but, surprisingly to me, none of those.

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The love between these two just kills me.

And speaking of killing, I really wish Rumi wouldn't sleep like this. It's very disturbing to walk by the couch and see this:

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In India, at the weavers' cooperative. $115.00 - Untitled 163 (Ready to Frame) More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Night moon

Pastel on Sennelier LaCarte, approx. 4" x 9".

Been a while since I did a moon. This is called "Night Moon"--redundant title? Not really, because the last couple of moons I did were Day Moons. Oh, and there was a Solstice Eclipse one too.

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I love the special bond between Rumi and Gadjo. From the moment they met, they were two peas in a pod. And they still are.

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In India, at the weaving cooperative.

Don't forget, these next two weekends are Open Studios here in Boulder. Come visit me if you're in town. I'm Studio #92 this year.

This Friday night is the reception at the Boulder Public Library, 6 -8 pm--see one piece from each of the 129 participating artists.

$115.00 - Night moon (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 146

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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On the east end of the Boulder Creek path.

$115.00 - Untitled 146 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Day 2 of Open Studios in Boulder...and some Rumi vids

The Husband is still in India and has the good camera, so this pic and the vids are just from my iPhone. (And that's just my iPhone 3, not the 4 with the good camera.)

Anyway, it's nearing the end of Day 2 of Open Studios, and I'm getting tired...but still having fun.

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Here's some videos of Rumi. I hope you can hear his snore if you listen closely with the volume at max. It's a soft, intermittent sound...and so cute. It kills me.

Then there's two vids of him being silly on a table. On the longer clip, especially toward the end of it, I wanted you to hear some of the funny sounds he makes when he's excited or curious.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com