Art Show Prep Sunday Morning

It's my last Sunday in Austin and it's been a great visit, but I'm ready to get back to my little home studio and scratch out a few commissions. I've met up with some old friends and made some new ones in the past two weeks. That, and staying with my Austin family who have a delightful little almost 4 year old, has made me feel very grateful and loved.
Today is the final day of the Eye of the Dog Art Center home show from noon-4. I've been doing this show for five years now (dang...time going/moving and all that) and it's always a 'time-marker' for me. Four years ago my mother was being buried, back in Indiana, during the show. I always think of that and of her during this time of year. There are many reasons why I didn't attend the funeral, without going into all of the family drama, (and believe me there is some family drama) let's just say, she always taught me that 'the show must go on', no matter what. And so it did, and so it does, and so we do.
I'll be headed out for my little road trip tomorrow. I love the driving, thinking, or not thinking, listening to podcasts or wild talk shows on the radio. I've been asked if I get lonely, or if I wished I had a companion to share the ride...my initial answer is 'hell no!'
Although, I have had some past road trips with friends that are truly memorable, this driving time is my meditation. And I need that meditation just like I need my art making.
Next stop, The Little Craft Show in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I'm looking forward to a very concentrated selling event. One day, December 7 from 11-6pm. Whoo hoo-Let's go little doggies!!

Speaking of little doggies; This is Maggie. I did this commission a few months back and Maggie's people loved it. It's a 5x7 inch Ampersand Art scratchboard in a simple black floater frame. I loved doing this. I'd love to do one for you. Drop me a line here and we can make this happen.
Cheers! And Happy Trails!

Choices

Today I'm thinking about choices. I hate to simplify things down to "this or that", but isn't that kind of what life is all about? Do I want this? Do I want that? Well, that's how my life works. I've been drawing cats in scratchboard for the kickstarter Cat Scratchin' book project for the last 3 months and I'm just about done with the 68 total cats. In the meantime I also have a few dog scratchboard commissions that I need to jump on. It gives a little break, a chance to head off in a different direction for a bit. I'll get to the above photos in a minute, I just thought I'd share a glimpse into the Linda-brain with y'all. Brace yourselves...I'm about to ramble on.
I woke up feeling isolated and alone, which is how most days are for me; usually this doesn't cause a problem for me, it just is my reality. Anyhow, I thought maybe I should push out of my comfort zone and go to a big outdoor street fair,  to have some human interaction and join in with the collective human-ness of such things. I drove slowly by and promptly decided it was too hot, too many people, and not much parking, so instead went to Wal-Mart. Please forgive me, judge if you must, it just seemed 'better' to me. Air conditioning, plenty of parking and a chance to maybe find some clothes and food. Not much human interaction though, and I didn't find clothes, but made some good food choices that will reward me later.  I've convinced myself that I'll try to stop by the street fair later in the day, early evening when it's cooler. We'll see if that happens. I'll report my experiences here if it does happen. I wouldn't hold my breath, at least not for too long if I were you. Ok, enough of that, the above photos are just to give you an idea of my working process. The commission is a 16"x20" Ampersand scratchboard drawing of two dogs together, with poppies and sunflowers. I'm excited to get going on this; it will be a heap of scratching. The owner sent photos of her dogs and I put them together in one place, I'm still working on the background concept, a pulled out of my head made-up environment. I finally bought a projector/enlarger to make my life easier. I basically start with a line drawing that I then transfer to the black scratchboard using white chalk rubbed on the back of the drawing. The big fun for me is then scratching away the black to white to create textures that resemble the dog or cat or flower, whatever it is I'm trying to render.  Nothing wrong with having good tools to make art folks.
I'm also working on an idea for a future kickstarter project to produce some full color posters of dogs and cats. More on that later.
In the meantime, be happy, make art!