Untitled 264

This is another older pastel.

Untitled 264.  Pastel.  Approximately 2.5" x 5."  Purchase information: jala [at] jalapfaff [dot com]

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Fennec's hair by the famous Thai stylist, Gadjo:

Go ahead, take two, they're small.

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Shadow cast on the wall a few days ago.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 64

Pastel on Sennelier LaCarte, approx. 2.5" x 5".

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Sweet old Jazzy waits for dinner. He is now 14 years old, as of this month. He's somewhat deaf, somewhat blind, hypothryroid, rather fragile, has a bit of dementia, and is quite arthritic. And the sweetest boy in the world.

He is a rescue (i.e., adopted, not purchased) and he used to be an official therapy dog at the hospital. I trained him (well, the only skills he really had to actually learn were "leave it" [when food was near him] and "wait [for me, while I leave for a while]." Everything else comes naturally to him--wanting to meet people, wanting to be pet or hugged by strangers, leaning up against people, sitting on their feet. He passed the tests very well, except he lunged at the pizza that was held in front of him by the examiner, thus failing the "leave it" command (but she approved him anyway, because he charmed her). He was best in the waiting areas, where stressed-out, worried people were sitting around waiting for news of their loved ones who were in surgery. He would go to them and sit on their feet; I think it helped them feel grounded.

The reason we stopped going was because of me. When people met a lovely Golden, what kept happening was they started telling me about the Goldens they used to have...who then died of cancer, or were hit by a car, etc. etc.  It just got to be too hard on me to be constantly hearing what I called the Dead Dog Stories.

Even though we stopped going officially, Jazz will always be a great unofficial therapy dog. He's always there for you if you cry, reaching out for you with his big paw when he sees human tears. We got caught on a hiking trail by a storm once and he leaned against me, protecting me from the rain and hail (not that wet dog is the best fragrance to be near, but I didn't complain).

The Husband adopted Jazz when Jazz was 1 year old, and I met Jazz when Jazz was 5. We even love the fact that Jazz has a strong stubborn streak. After all, without that he'd be perfect, and no one's perfect. (The main way he's stubborn is that if he doesn't feel like going in the direction you're going while walking, he'll plant his 75 pounds [used to be 85] so firmly that it's impossible to move him. You just have to wait for him to change his mind.)

A few years ago, we took him to have his abdomen ultrasounded because the vet felt something possibly suspicious. Jazzy thought being turned over onto his back and having his tummy rubbed by five strangers was the best thing that ever happened to him. I remember the technician waving the wand around on his abdomen and us asking her, "What do you see?"  "Astounding quantities of fat," was the answer. (He started his diet later that day.) And strangely, they also incidentally found that he only has one kidney. Apparently he was born with just one.

When The Husband and I got married, Jazz wore a man's blue silk tie and looked very dapper. He was Best Dog.

The look of contentment, fang protruding, and little smile on Rumi's face when he sleeps just kill me.

After a couple of better days, Gadjo had a bad evening yesterday. Sigh. Guess it's still just wait-and-see.

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At the weaving center, Hyderabad, India.

$115.00 - Untitled 64 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 61

Pastel on Sennelier La Carte, approx. 2.5" x 5".

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Miss Lemon's got everything under control.

Gadjo is about the same so far, maybe a little better overall. A lot of physical symptoms but it seems like fewer emotional ones. The physical ones come and go really frequently. Left my vet a voicemail update today, so we'll see if she has any further advice for now.

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Metal rods at a construction site, India.

$115.00 - Untitled 61 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Untitled 58

Pastel on Sennelier LaCarte, approx. 2.5" x 5".

I'm enjoying renewing my perpetual fascination with color, via these little pastels. (Especially as I'm experiencing a lot of frustration and lack of resolution in the oil + cold wax paintings lately.) These small pastels are not consciously landscapes, but the format, which seems to be the main format that excites me, has what seems to feel like a horizon line.

I like to think of these minis as little jewels, with their bright sparks of color. (And when I frame them, I always use a white mat and a thin black contemporary frame, so as not to compete with their own color identities.)

I'm currently fascinated by working on pure instinct as to color--I just grab whatever "feels right" at that moment. This applies to both the main colors as well as the accent colors. Sometimes the painting fails, but that's what's exciting--to see why it works, after the fact, or why it didn't work, when during the process it was unconscious, just a sense, an urge to grab orange, or turquoise, or what have you.

(I'm not doing a conscious analysis with color theory to see whether it "worked," or "didn't work." One--I, or you, or whoever wants to--certainly could do that, but for me often it kills the magic, whether the analysis is done before or after the painting. For me, it's usually just about how it feels. However, this is not to say that there aren't occasional times in other kinds of paintings that I won't analytically use color theory, or that occasionally I'll suddenly look at a previously done painting and realize with a shock that it had turned out to have, say, a primary color scheme even though I hadn't been aware of it at the time.)

From Gadjo's second day with us. This cracked me up--Gadjo looked to me here like a baby koala attached to its (ahem) mother.

In India. The bees seem to be enjoying these sweets (called laddus) more than the customers are.

$115.00 - Untitled 58 (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com