Wouldn’t you know it: just when I have a free week to paint every day, I get sick! Laid up all week. And it’s hard to take care of a puppy when you don’t feel well! Fortunately I have had some wonderful friends who have helped me out: with groceries and puppy-walking. And puppy, who is growing at the rate of two pounds a week (now over twenty pounds!) is becoming quite the long-legged beauty (just like Marlene Dietrich!). But she still is has a ways to go. My friend Gwen came over yesterday with her standard poodle and next to Kiku, Lila looked so small. And my pup was in awe of the bigger/older dog. If all goes as planned, she will get into a puppy group this week. Spend more time with her own kind.
So what does an artist do when not painting? Sit around thinking about it. Some artists I know regularly spend time in their studios thinking. Looking and thinking. My usual mode is to work non-stop when in my studio. This week, not being able to work, I walk through and think. Carry images in my head. Sit there and think. Mentally paint. At least the impulse is there. The marks will come soon. Along with school and other responsibilities this week.
Some pix below of Lila attacking a rosebush (it wasn’t a thriving bush and I was planning on removing it in the spring, but it looks like Lila is doing the job for me!). It was just beginning to snow that day:
And then the bush fights back, tackles her:
