Life with Catahoulas web comic number 1

Our UPS Lady was a bit confused this Christmas Eve!
They'd both bark, if they could.
I think the goat was trying to bark anyway!

This is the first 'Life with Catahoulas' web comic strip.  Enjoy!
I'll try to update every week, Monday or Tuesday

I've been talking about 'life with catahoulas' for years, since we have five of them, all with different personalities.  Besides them, we have a German shepherd puppy, a Bluetick hound, four cats and a goat that get into the mix.  There's always something going on.

Jumpstart January

January begins tomorrow, and it is time to Jumpstart.  This year I have signed up for three things to do every day, although two of them might be accomplished at the same time.

1.) I will practice my Welsh
2.) I will find an art material, device or book each day that I have in my possession and give a review or demonstration of it, either with photos or with video, and post that to share.
3.) I will do some sort of art sketchbook or project every day even if it is a small one like my friend who does a single comic pane every day.

I did this sketchbook page yesterday, it reminds me a bit of the Farscape television show I had been watching.  And I did practice my Welsh, even though it isn't quite Janaury yet.

Materials :

This was done with Sakura Micron pens over colored pencil.
Micron pens are my absolute favorite for outlining and they come in several tip sizes, marked on the top of the caps.  My favorite size to do this sort of outlining is .45mm marked with a '08' on the cap.

My Absolute Favorite Pen
Buy a Package of 3 on Amazon to save and always have one on hand.

I am also reading this lovely book 'The Book of Delights', which is a collection of essays about one or many things each day that the author found 'delightful' and how he is more and more walking through the world feeling the delight in things around him and the joy of being alive.  Check it out below.

'Hey Diddle' 16x20 painting original acrylic on canvas
See it at Etsy Shop free shipping 

 some photos I took in Kentucky the other day have this weird steel blue look to the fields.. I want to paint something

 

a baby tiger painting on a piece of paneling Esme helped me with a few months ago

It is listed for sale at mariemeyer.etsy.com

A new thing I am trying on Twitter - #tenminutesketch Ten minute sketches of something that has caught my eye for the day.  I am Marie Lamb on Twitter, https://twitter.com/MarieLa60779033

Aliylah 's Bird painting

 

In October I met a sight-impaired little girl that blew me away, she was such a sweetheart, a talker, knew all her letters and watched the Pocoyo films on my tablet telling me about the things going on.  She kept saying she liked my glasses and climbing into my lap.  We played in my notebook, and she made a scribble that I turned into a bird with a heart in its chest (Seen below).  I came across the sketches yesterday when going through my office and said there is something here, a nice memory, too - I want to make this into a painting.'

So this is called Aliylah's bird, after that little girl.

and a sketch in paint over a colored pencil base of our cat

Merry Christmas 2019

Everyone is safe from the Yule Cat this year, new shirts and socks.  Grandma got a knitted triangle shawl I made since Thanksgiving, some socks, and a book I hope she will like.  I had a local shop embroider 'powered by redstone' on a hoodie for Esme, and she really liked the font they used.  Mark and Esme hunted down a black shirt for me and Grandma found some really cool knitted fingerless gloves and a hat that actually matched it well (without her knowing it did). 

We got Esme the game she wanted for Minecraft Story Mode season two, and some in-game perks she wanted to buy.  Overall,  we kept it really simple.  There is a tankless water heater we are going to install that will bring our electric bill way down we hope.

Revivified Workspace

IN PROGRESS

(done shots at bottom)

 this morning

 getting closer

 painting I did last night to complement the drawing from the other morning

I finally was able to get the easel  and all the paints back together upstairs and in a good spot

just have a bit more sorting out to do and  I will have a choice of three different surfaces to work at and the painting station or sewing machine or reading computer work at the desk  This will allow more than one project to be 'out' at any time and not being messed up by the others or in anyone's way

Esme's desk, printer papers, coats and part of the books we are going to be putting back on the shelves.  A crochet project out and getting progress done on it row by couple of rows, some drawing materials out to take a sketch as the thought comes, clipboards on the wall one for my remodeling program and the other for my daily to do's, the medical device side job I picked up and writing odd bits of poetry/sayings on

And the big wide space in between it all.  And the light coming in.  And no huge wall of stuff enmasse behind me.  It all really does have an effect, on mood, on productivity, and on motivation.

Little other things, that don't really 'bother' me when they aren't here, but make it nicer when they are - my covered wooden dish Bev's husband made, my cat drawing that I wanted up somewhere, the favorite camelhair brushes that were lost in the mix and suddenly showed up once I started sorting everything to its spaces...nuclear physics books and star charts and other things that although I don't 'need' them and I rarely even look at them, they are there and sometimes I used to take a break and go 'eye wander' chemical equations and math and stars and ancient art and then go back to my drawing board and have new ideas.