Untitled 249 --and-- Open Studios announcement

Untitled 249.  Pastel.  9" x 12."  Purchase information: jala[at]jalapfaff.com

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Oh, what a crowded couch...

And a quick video of Rumi getting moral support from his big brother, Mojito.   Mojito--the dog!--is providing moral support by way of being super tolerant while Rumi rubs against his head over and over. 

Rumi needed moral support because he had to go to the emergency vet this week. (Terribly expensive, ugh.) But he is doing better so far and seems to be on the mend now. He has developed struvite crystals in his urinary tract and they have been causing him a lot of trouble and pain.

(From what I can tell, the video won't play on iphone. It also appears to be running by itself, in a loop. I didn't tell it to do that!)

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OPEN STUDIOS BOULDER 2013: This Saturday and Sunday, and also the following Saturday and Sunday (total four days), from 12-6 pm each day. 

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.  The library reception is Friday evening, Oct. 4.

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More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

The bath

An all-kitty interlude while I decide in what configuration my white paintings should go.

Bath time...

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This is the cutest vid I've seen in a while. They fitted some cats with little cameras on their collars, let the cats film whatever they saw, then edited the footage into this mini-movie. My favorite parts are the whiskers, the bug, and the way it ends after the credits.

White 8

I know my painting cannot compete with either how striking this little Indian girl is (we had bought some guavas and gave one to her), nor with this awesome new kitty-pile video.

But I'll try nonetheless.

This is the last of the small eight White oil and cold wax paintings. In the next few days, I'll try to photograph them as a group and post that.

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While the big kitties sleep, our little hero Gadjo must vanquish the evil tail monster alone. He is very brave.

Extrication

All three of these photos were taken on the same street here in Hyderabad in the same few minutes.

There are no camels in Hyderabad. This was a weird sight for everyone (there's a dog on the left of the picture that pretty much went nuts). We were told later that the camel had been brought from Rajasthan for a wedding...

...to be eaten. (Perhaps as Palette Signature, or to be served with Loose Prawns.)

Poor thing.

Sad little urban tree.

Yesterday, before we managed to extricate ourselves from that lousy hotel, we had to endure breakfast, in which the idlis (Indian breakfast staple) were too salty to eat, the milk had gone sour, the cereal had been manufactured several decades ago, and our desperate words "juice" and "fruit" received only the blankest of looks.

Moreover, in my opinion, life is hard enough without having to listen to minor-key Muzak during breakfast. I'm just sayin'.

I went back to the room and ate a chocolate bar for breakfast.

We changed back to our original hotel (they had been booked up for that night that we had to change) and were put in a room near some kind of hotel-staff service area. I asked the manager if it would be noisy, and was told: "Madam [that's what they call you here, like it or not], I am one hundred percent certain that you will not find it noisy." How do you know?, I asked him. "Because I have never received a complaint from that room."

Well... The manager has now received his first complaint.

We are now packing up to change rooms. We've had to completely repack every single day on this trip. Sigh...

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And now for something completely different, a video from home...

In which our (little) hero must extricate himself from the bottom of a heavy kitty pile.

Open Studios Boulder Fall 2010 coverage

My back to the camera here, talking to two of the visitors. I love the skeptical look on that woman's face!...wonder what I was saying to cause that. On the left of the photo is my friend Paul Lander, getting some doggy love.

Jazzy took his art-guarding duties quite seriously. Perhaps we could rent him out to some of the major museums? He seemed especially serious about guarding the blue paintings.

Rumi and Miss Lemon taking a break, worn out from their greeting duties.

Below, a quick vid The Husband made while I was explaining oil + cold wax technique to some visitors. We even had Bonnie Luria doing a virtual tour via Skype.

(P.S. Does anyone know why when perfectly clear videos are put onto Blogger, they get all grainy and fuzzy?)

And below is the official Boulder TV22's video covering the opening night, where each artist had one piece on display at the Boulder Public Library. You can see a lot of different artists' work here. I'm in it briefly at 00:16, 00:36, and in a still just before the credits. This is about five minutes long.

I had a great time during Open Studios and I hope to participate again next year.

bv22.org

bv22.org/archive?vid=218

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

Untitled 24 (Naufragio con buen tiempo) (oil)

Here's the latest oil and cold wax painting, Untitled 24 or Naufragio con buen tiempo (Shipwreck in Good Weather). 16" x 16" on museum panel.

And a couple of detail shots:

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(Say in David Attenborough voice:) The wild Rumi creature, in its natural habitat, possesses an uncanny ability to camouflage itself when it senses danger. It often chooses an object like this cloth ottoman for the purpose. Alas, tragically, the bit of dark collar gives it away.

$325.00 - Untitled 24 (Naufragio) (No need to frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

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At one of the pools in town during the last two weeks of the summer (and frankly, miserably, at 99 degrees, it doesn't feel like summer is winding down at all!), they have what they call Dog Dayz. For five dollars, your pooch can go in and cool off (no humans allowed, unfortunately. That water sure looks nice and refreshing...). Here's The Husband and Mojito.

(It cracks me up that at the end, there's a guy who watches Mojito leap and seems to be trying to convince his dog to do likewise.)

Video Day

My paintings just haven't been finishing themselves lately, for some reason.
So it's video day.

Rumi dreams, Lynx has a lazy scratch, and Rumi hunts gnats at the back door.

Untitled 14 (oil)

Here's the second oil + cold wax painting, 10" x 30", finished late last night. (The title says "oil" to distinguish from my Untitled pastels.) I'm starting to get more of a handle on what happens while using this stuff, and getting some ideas for future paintings that could take advantage of this medium.
Sold.

At the hotel in Jaipur.

$375.00 -Untitled 14 (oil) (No need to frame)

It's hard to get a vid of our two dogs wrestling...as soon as you get the camera out, here come their schnozzles to investigate.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

January sun

That weak, hazy light of the winter sun trying to burn through the fog. Observed it like that, mused about it for a day, then tried to recreate it in pastel.

That's from a few days ago, when I managed to get into the studio. I am still sick. I think it's flu, not a cold, due to the fact that a fever now accompanies it. The Husband has it too. We're both shuffling around the house exhausted, dizzy, and coughing. Fun. I don't even care about any more sympathy (yeah, sure), I'm just so tiiiired of this and want to feel normal again and be in the studio.

Some more pics from India, and then a little vid of Lynx below. Bonnie, your request was heard--to know what Lynxie's been up to. Now I have a request of my own: I must see a Cloud video!

$115.00 - January sun (Ready to Frame)

Lynx in a vid here going a little nuts over a cat toy that's just a long strip of fuzzy stuff, which I call a "squirrel tail" (there's also a peacock feather there). What cracks me up is when Cleo (black cat) sashays over to investigate. Lynx is so deferential. This is because he got beat up repeatedly by her when he was little, until it finally got into his silly stripe-y head that she rules. Look closely--just in case he had any second thoughts, she actually waits a moment to see she has his attention, and then whacks him in the face with the end of her tail. A cool customer, she is.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Tree on the corner

Very loosely based on a photo we took in Ajijic, Mexico. The pastel is more vibrant in person.

Collection of the artist.

Rumi thinks The Husband's beard needs a bit of grooming...

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

In the countryside

A little pastel...

Yawn and stretch: a little skinny white ghost passing on the stairs...

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Leaf 5 / What to do with all the snow

What to do with all this snow?!

You could...

Paint a leaf:

Run through it:

Stay indoors and catch up on your blogging:

$115.00 - Leaf 5 (Ready to Frame)

Oh, and you can also eat it, roll in it, and/or wrestle in it:

Three marigolds

It felt good to get back into oils again. Trying a bit of a David Leffel approach on this one.

$115.00 - Three marigolds (Ready to Frame)

"You go ahead and groom me and I'll just sit here and look cute...and maybe bite your ears a little."

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Monet sun / She ain't heavy; she's my sister

A little sun tribute to Monet.

$115.00 - Monet sun (Ready to Frame)

I was recently an unwilling witness to this rather frightening sight on top of the couch... Oh my god, I thought, she's crushed him! I took a little video to document her guilt and her evasive (but ultimately evil) nonchalant demeanor. Not sure if it will hold up in cat court.

Chondrorhyncha amazonica

I've raised orchids for ten years or so, and when we remodeled our house three years ago, we added my dream: a little greenhouse as part of our upstairs. We've had nothing but (expensive) problems with it, though, in terms of water damage and such, so finally made the sad decision to part with (almost) all the orchids. I figure at least it will free up some more time for me.


This is one of the last ones that hasn't yet been sold or given away. This is a species from Brazil called Chondrorhyncha amazonica, painted last night from life. The flower is about 3 or 4 inches across. I love how it looks like it has wings. It will soon use those wings to take off to a new household. It's okay. I will always be an "orchid person" whether I have two plants or a hundred.


Trying out a few new linen surfaces. I ordered one yard of each of three different kinds of pre-primed linen from the Fine Arts Store in Rochester, NY. This one was great, allowed for very juicy paint. I'm not exactly sure which is which, though, of the three samples! :O

I really don't know why this video of Lynx loaded sideways. Oh well.

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Busted on bathroom security camera

The Lynxmuffin, caught on tape this evening in flagrante looroll:

Skateboard dog / Wet noodle

What do you do when you've run out of interesting little things to paint? Yes!, you go across the street to neighbor-artist-friend Sam's house and poach some things from there.

I love the little guy's shadow--it reminds me of a Lascaux cave painting. Can't you just picture all those grimy, hirsute cavepeople out stalking the fearsome wooden skateboard dog?

$115.00 - Skateboard dog (Ready to Frame)

Remember: don't be a wet noodle. Play with one instead!

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com

Virtual Lynx caressing

Temporarily out of commission due to migraines and hayfever.

In the meantime, here's a little virtual Lynx caressing for you. This is from his first few baby days with us.

Miniature jam pot and spoon

Finally had a nice loose painting night yesterday. This is a little jam pot that came with our breakfast on the plane from London, and which I pocketed (how embarrassing) in order to paint sometime...

People, it's very hot outside. Make sure you keep drinking lots of water...

$115.00 - Miniature jam pot and spoon (Ready to Frame)

More art on my website: jalapfaff.com