(no subject)
I now have two paintings finished of the four we're doing for the class (a possible fifth, but that one, I think, hinges on how fast we work. My vanitas is still in-progress and part of me really wants to scrap it and start over, but my instructor said I should sludge through it.
It's not like it's a bad painting. It's actually a pretty nice one, if I do say so myself. It's just not in the mode I'm wanting to work right now and I'm having a hard time connecting with it. It doesn't help that it is a still life and ... well ... I have a special dislike of still lifes. It is a rare mood that sets me to want to draw collections of inanimate objects. I think I'll manage, though. I doubt a single painting will ruin the generally happy and relaxed tone of the semester. As well as the excessive productiveness.
I now have eight pieces in my "Resistance" series in Drawing. All about 9X12" pastel works. All but two with pastel-and-ink. I am almost out of paper though, a tragedy that must be rectified. I think I will walk to Utrecht on Tuesday before class.
In equine-related news, we still have Jinjer, the family that had first choice weren't able to take her at the moment and the other family is considering it. I'd really like her to go to one of my students' families, but if not, we'll find a good home for her. In the mean time she's still being used for lessons.
Kitt/Whim/Taffy (Chris has decided he likes the name Taffy) was worked Monday and while she's becoming more responsive longeing she's a little dead to the leg under saddle and she gets a bit annoyed as I ask her to move off. It might not have helped that I was in the roundpen, which is a bit restrictive and she probably doesn't feel like there's anywhere to go, but she should still move off my leg. We'll get her there, though. She's still quite young (four in August).
Panda's doing well. I worked her Friday at the horse park and once I got her warmed up (took a while) she did great with her trot-canter transitions. We're still working on the canter-trot transition. I've started using voice, soft rein, and if she doesn't respond, bending her around into the trot. It seems to be working and she's becoming more responsive.
Kash varied between awesome and jerkish on Friday, which was both exhilarating and infuriating. But such is the boy. Come May he, Panda, and Kitt will be getting a lot more work, which should help him tremendously.
And something entirely unrelated: were having part of a fence done along the part of our property that faces the road. We put in a culvert and threw some dirt over it as a construction entrance to save the concrete on the driveway that we paid a good amount to have put in. Said driveway involved a permit process and depositing X amount of money and going to Phoenix. The "construction entrance" is going to be temporary and just until the guy is done with the fence. We got a notice yesterday from the County stating that we had five days to remove the culvert because it was an "encroachment." Chris was rather irritable and grumpy yesterday dealing with the County people who seem to insist that we need a permit and the "new" driveway needs to have cement or asphalt over it because that's the way things are. Chris tried to explain that it was temporary and would be gone in ten days. They repeated we had five days to file a permit.
It's terribly ridiculous. We're not going to pay thousands of dollars to concrete over a TEMPORARY driveway. Asphalt's even more expensive. We're not going to spend three hours going to and from the permit office, possibly twice, as we file for a permit that we don't really need because, again, the drive is temporary and will be gone once the fence is finished.
And they tried giving us the "waterway blockage" excuse because, well, it is in a wash which flows often when it rains, but ... this is the end of March. Our likelihood of getting ANY rain before June is rather slim. Let alone the type of rain that would lead to flooding.
Whatever. It's just a little bit more than ridiculous.
And now it's time for me to be off! Going to training with Kim (finally).
It's not like it's a bad painting. It's actually a pretty nice one, if I do say so myself. It's just not in the mode I'm wanting to work right now and I'm having a hard time connecting with it. It doesn't help that it is a still life and ... well ... I have a special dislike of still lifes. It is a rare mood that sets me to want to draw collections of inanimate objects. I think I'll manage, though. I doubt a single painting will ruin the generally happy and relaxed tone of the semester. As well as the excessive productiveness.
I now have eight pieces in my "Resistance" series in Drawing. All about 9X12" pastel works. All but two with pastel-and-ink. I am almost out of paper though, a tragedy that must be rectified. I think I will walk to Utrecht on Tuesday before class.
In equine-related news, we still have Jinjer, the family that had first choice weren't able to take her at the moment and the other family is considering it. I'd really like her to go to one of my students' families, but if not, we'll find a good home for her. In the mean time she's still being used for lessons.
Kitt/Whim/Taffy (Chris has decided he likes the name Taffy) was worked Monday and while she's becoming more responsive longeing she's a little dead to the leg under saddle and she gets a bit annoyed as I ask her to move off. It might not have helped that I was in the roundpen, which is a bit restrictive and she probably doesn't feel like there's anywhere to go, but she should still move off my leg. We'll get her there, though. She's still quite young (four in August).
Panda's doing well. I worked her Friday at the horse park and once I got her warmed up (took a while) she did great with her trot-canter transitions. We're still working on the canter-trot transition. I've started using voice, soft rein, and if she doesn't respond, bending her around into the trot. It seems to be working and she's becoming more responsive.
Kash varied between awesome and jerkish on Friday, which was both exhilarating and infuriating. But such is the boy. Come May he, Panda, and Kitt will be getting a lot more work, which should help him tremendously.
And something entirely unrelated: were having part of a fence done along the part of our property that faces the road. We put in a culvert and threw some dirt over it as a construction entrance to save the concrete on the driveway that we paid a good amount to have put in. Said driveway involved a permit process and depositing X amount of money and going to Phoenix. The "construction entrance" is going to be temporary and just until the guy is done with the fence. We got a notice yesterday from the County stating that we had five days to remove the culvert because it was an "encroachment." Chris was rather irritable and grumpy yesterday dealing with the County people who seem to insist that we need a permit and the "new" driveway needs to have cement or asphalt over it because that's the way things are. Chris tried to explain that it was temporary and would be gone in ten days. They repeated we had five days to file a permit.
It's terribly ridiculous. We're not going to pay thousands of dollars to concrete over a TEMPORARY driveway. Asphalt's even more expensive. We're not going to spend three hours going to and from the permit office, possibly twice, as we file for a permit that we don't really need because, again, the drive is temporary and will be gone once the fence is finished.
And they tried giving us the "waterway blockage" excuse because, well, it is in a wash which flows often when it rains, but ... this is the end of March. Our likelihood of getting ANY rain before June is rather slim. Let alone the type of rain that would lead to flooding.
Whatever. It's just a little bit more than ridiculous.
And now it's time for me to be off! Going to training with Kim (finally).