Untitled 209

Pastel on UArt, approx. 5.5" x 5.5".

Art purchase inquiries: please email me: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com].

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Those of you who have a blog, do you ever look at the Traffic Sources/Keyword Search part of your stats on blogger? It's hysterical. You can see all the different ways people accidentally end up on your blog. Some of them are completely mystifying. Yesterday people did Google searches for angry indian woman face and don't kiss me and ended up on my blog.

I had an incredibly unpleasant weekend and am very glad it's over. 

I don't think Fennec was concerned...

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I adore his napping positions.

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Block prints for saris, India.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Block-print carving

In the government weavers' and dyers' center, the master block-print carver sits at a small table and practices his craft.

The dusty, decorated doorway to the block-print storage room.

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Back home in Boulder, and sick: persistent Delhi belly and the same bad cough I get every time I go there (a cough which develops within an hour of arriving in India); an Ayurvedic doctor I consulted said it's an allergic reaction to the vehicle-exhaust pollution and construction dust that fills all the big Indian cities. I can't believe how bad the air is, and it grows worse day by day as construction increases and vehicles on the already jammed roads increase at a daily rate. The air quality in Hyderabad is approximately twice as bad as what are considered acceptable maximum limits.

We scrambled like crazy, didn't get enough sleep, got a lot accomplished...and now it is time for me to try to recuperate. Seeing the Rumi monster blissfully napping helps immensely.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Self-portrait study 2

Burnt sienna toned ground, then a palette of burnt sienna, lead white, ultramarine blue, yellow ochre, and burnt umber. I really liked this palette (though it was strange to have burnt sienna as one's only "red"), and only barely began to discover all the different subtle combinations that can be created. Very happy with how this turned out. This was about 2 hours, alla prima with a mirror.

I have to figure out a better setup, though... I can't seem to manage a way, yet, to have the spotlight (and it's awfully hot under that thing; artists' models, I empathize!) on my face without it being either in my eyes or too bright on my canvas, or both.

Also, I'm a bit bummed that alla prima self-portraits are pretty much limited to the straight-on view. Unless I'm majorly misunderstanding something or there are some tricks using multiple mirrors, there's no way to paint one's own profile (for example) alla prima...no?

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In India. Traditional wooden block-print stamps for textiles.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com