Bodacious Boomer

Apparently this is an old clip, once again. But I saw this yesterday and just thought I’d share.

Everybody has a store where they can kill a lot of time without even realizing it. For Doug that place is Home Depot or Harbor Tools. Doug goes to those stores and his eyes just glaze over. (I’ve always advocated they should have a lounge for the wives at Home Depot. They could serve free cappuccino or Cokes). There’s a huge electronics super store in Houston called Fry’s. (That’s probably Nate’s store of choice). If Evelyn gets anywhere near a quilt store her checkbook starts buzzing in anticipation. Everybody has their place. Mine is Texas Art Supply. Evelyn needed some silk screen ink for the aprons we’re going to do so I went there with her today as her adviser.

TAS sells to the public. However, unlike the crafts stores, this store is dedicated toward the professional artist. (They don’t have kits to hook rugs that look like clowns or posters printed with black velvet unicorns that you can color). What they do have is probably 10 different types of paint and more paintbrushes than most people will ever see. They have a wide array of hand-made papers that are gorgeous and so unique. They even have old-time art tables for the artwork done like in the days BC (before computers); back when dinosaurs such as myself roamed the earth and did illustrations for billboards and annual reports. Down every aisle are items that I’d snatch up in a heartbeat even if I didn’t need them now if I had an unlimited budget. I lost track of how much time we spent there today, but it was considerable. I could drop $200 there in the blink of an eye.

I started working with papier mache a few months ago, but got distracted. (I’ve got to get back to that before I start in another medium). The problem is these days I seem to have the attention span of a gnat. Evelyn tells me that all the stress in my life lately is adding to my scatterbraindness. (I hope she’s right). I got into batik about 4 years ago. Then I figured out that it really wasn’t something you should do in an upstairs bedroom. Why I thought it was escapes me now. Working with hot wax and dye over a carpeted floor? Duh…  I have all those materials now and lots of others too. I got into and out of a lot of a lot of other things as well. The only thing that keeps Doug from saying anything about it all is that he has so many tool that our house could be called Home Depot West.

My 1st floorcloth

Anyway, since we have 6 dogs our vets bills can be substantial. So when I went to our new vet the first time I spoke to him about trading a floor cloth for some vet services. He agreed and soon I’ll be starting another one. He couldn’t understand that people actually walk on these paintings. So instead I’m doing a painting for his office. I assumed he’d want cats and dogs. However he really likes roosters so I guess his painting will be a variation on the one to the right. (This photo  was taken with a camera phone, please forgive the quality). I used to do commission portraits but people usually don’t see themselves I see them. The roosters don’t give a damn how I paint them. That’s a good thing for me, especially these days. So if anyone wants a painting, just let me know.