Monday, June 28, 2004

The Grandparents Were Here, Now Get Me a Drink!

My parents were up for a visit this weekend. There were great moments, and lousy ones. Many more good than bad, but some of the bad were doosies.

First, the good:

  • Watching my Dad grinning from ear to ear while swinging on a park swing with Mikro in his lap.


  • Dad sending Mikro down the slide.


  • Realizing the amazingly goofy faces my Dad makes to amuse his grandson.


  • Mom with the boy, who she calls an angel. She is just crazy in love with him.


  • Dad and I discussing financial matters like a couple of adults... like intellectual equals, even.


  • Dad being cool with public breastfeeding!


Now, the bad:

No matter HOW much I love them, I could NEVER EVER EVER live in the same house as my parents for more than a day and a half! And that is mostly my mom's doing. She drove me insane. And I mean run away from home and sit on a tropical beach drinking frozen margaritas to block out the pain freaking insane.

If Mikro cries for thirty seconds, she starts with the Oh my God , what's wrong with the baby freakout. And it doesn't matter if I tell her, I just took the TV remote away from him and he's mad. She is convinced that he is dying of a rare tropical disease, or has a hidden skull fracture, or something equally dire.

God forbid he actually stumbles, because then she thinks a trip to the emergency room is in order, even if he gets up, dusts himself off, and is happily playing.

It makes me nuts!

The anxiety level gets ratchetted up to the point where it seems like my head will explode, and then I will snap at her, and she will get truly pissy with me. And then she will say, in what is supposed to be a kidding around way, oh, you're being a bad mommy. And that is just the red matador's cape being twirled in front of the bull. It is hurtful, and it makes me so angry I grind my teeth. Or yell.

So, that put a rather large damper on what was otherwise a very nice weekend.

It's funny, my dad and I used to really drive each other nuts, but now we get along fine. My mom has always been one of my very best friends, but being a grandma has made her difficult...

Monday, June 21, 2004

Diversions

I'm back from my trip. We went to the Berkshires with a friend for a few days. Took Mikro swimming, and he has transformed from the Incredible Water Hating Boy into a little guppie. He loved it.

I tried doing a quick water color sketch for an oil painting I'm thinking about today. Came out pretty badly. Definitely a do-over... I took a few reference photos that may help a bit with the arm position on my figure, but I'm aiming for something looser and more abstract than my usual stuff, so we'll see what happens. I don't want to get tied down to the photos.

I am missing my little Piper, but I know I can't dwell on it, and I know she's at peace. So I am trying to keep myself busy and keep my mind on other things...

Speaking of which, here's a little puzzle that my husband showed me. It drove me nuts. Petals Around the Rose



Sunday, June 13, 2004

Rest in Peace



Piper McMutt
Sweet Soul, Loyal Friend
June 19, 1991 - June 13, 2004

I will love you forever, Piper Angel.

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Panic Button

So I'm sitting at my computer, enjoying a half frozen bottle of water in my deathly silent corner of suburbia, when I hear a car horn honking rhythmically. This is like a flashback to my New York City days, when car alarms at all hours of the day or night were just part of the soundtrack that was my life. But up here is Snoozeville? Damn, I think, that sounds like it's right outside my window. Take another sip or two. Jeez, that sounds like MY car... Oh, shit, is someone trying to steal my car?!? So out into the driveway I race, only to find The Blue Beast, sitting there by its lonesome, tooting at me. WTF? I stand there stupidly, mouth gaping, until the truth dawns on me: MIKRO HAS MY CAR KEYS! And the little (expletive deleted) monkey has hit the panic button. So I run back in and frantically scrounge for my keys, praying that the neighbors don't call the cops. Find them stuffed into the side of the couch and go shut The Beast up. Lesson in Mommyhood: Never leave your purse where the little people can get it...

Funny Bone

One of the most amazing parenting moments so far has been watching Boyo develop a sense of humor. He's not just giggling over being tickled, or having raspberries blown on his tummy these days. He flips through his board books by himself and will point at an illustration and laugh his head off. He laughs at Saturday morning cartoons, and chuckles at the antics of our silly cats and dogs. He also laughs at me when I trip over his toys and nearly break my neck...

Monday, June 07, 2004

Learning to Paint People

Mikro took a nap. And I took a risk. Tried watercolor pencils for the first time, and tried a subject at which I am not very proficient. I am not very good at people. Landscapes, still life, animals, no problem. People? Aaack. And I chose a particularly difficult photo to work from. My son has a smirk on his face which really seems to throw off the expected geometry... So, anyway, here's my effort, which does not do him justice. But hopefully I learned something (not the least of which is to do my pencil sketch a heck of a lot more lightly and erase before adding color), and my next portrait will be a little better... I would really like to get to the point where I wouldn't be embarassed to take a life drawing class... But I've a ways to go yet!

The reference photo is in the previous entry. Here's the painting:

Saturday, June 05, 2004

Just Because

He's the light of my life, my little imp boy.



Painting!

I actually got to paint today! Didn't happen yesterday, since the boy only napped for half an hour, and that wasn't even enough time to get set up... Today he sacked out for a couple hours, and I got to get my hands dirty. This is the first time I've been able to touch my oils since I found out I was pregnant at the end of August 2002! And since that is what was on my mind, what showed up on the canvas comes as no big surprise...



Now if I hadn't managed to probably break a couple of toes, today would have been one very excellent day. Aw, heck, it was anyway.

Thursday, June 03, 2004

Daydreaming Brushstrokes

Apparently, my Art Withdrawal Syndrome is full blown. I am actually noodling off and imagining the feeling of a brush moving through buttery smooth oil paint. I miss it that much. And nothing less than oils will provide the necessary fix. Watercolor just doesn't give me the same tactile satisfaction, and while I will sometimes play with acrylics, they just do not get under my skin the way working in oil does.

So today, Kev helped me navigate the over-stuffed garage (my studio, which is now a shambles) and dig out my supplies. I transfered everything from my wheelbarrow, which is my makeshift taboret, into a large plastic toolbox, which Kev somehow managed to lift and drag into the house. Then I unburied my easel, and my last work in progress, and they joined the paints in the dining room.

I had vowed to give up my oils until Boyo was older, but I am losing my mind. So I will leave him in the baby-gated safety of the adjoining living room, and work in the dining room for now. Unfortunately, I am a slob of a painter. I generally wipe my brushes on my pants... I am going to have to change my habits to keep the babe safe...

Now I just have to mount another archaeological expedition to the closet in the Boy's room, which is where my canvases are crammed...

For some unknown reason, I am burning to do large scale absracts, even though I generally paint representationally...

At this point, it doesn't matter what I do, or even if it's good or not, so long as my fingers can feel that familiar old sensation of brush gliding through oil paint...

I think I may actually paint tomorrow! (I definitely will paint tomorrow if the little guy naps!)

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

C'est moi?

PProud
AArtsy
IInsane
NNice
TTimeless
IInnocent
NNaive
GGraceful
TTwisted
OOrganic
SScary
TTough
AAppreciative
YYummy
SSmart
AAstonishing
NNerdy
EExpressive

Name / Username:


Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Or there's:

LLoving
UUseful
NNerdy
AAppreciative
CCharismatic
HHardworking
EExtreme
LLuxurious
EElitist

Name / Username:


Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Or:

CCreepy
HHairy
EEccentric
LLegendary
EExquisite

Name / Username:


Name Acronym Generator
From Go-Quiz.com

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

If I were a cartoon, I'd look like this:


Make your own here.

Too tired to post anything halfway coherent, but here is a recent picture of my little monkey: