Working hard or Hardly working?

Well, since I'm sitting in the office in Cambridge, and writing on my blog, I'm going to say that right now... I'm hardly working. In fact, I'd much rather be here:

Parker River Reservation, Plum Island, Newburyport MA

photo taken 7/15/10

I was here last Thursday ( I went out to the Dead Weather show on Wednesday and felt I needed to sleep in and go to the beach!) This has to be one of my favorite spots on the planet. With all the talk about the oil slick that's going on, I look at the beach now and think will this change in my lifetime? Should I be taking a documentary of all my favorite spots before they are wiped out by oil or the Asian Spotted Beetle or just plain human development? This particular spot is a wildlife reservation in Newburyport MA and you have to get there fairly early in order to get in as there's only so many cars to be let through the gate. It's a wonderful place to bird watch and I did get some of that in too. Unfortunately, there are the greenheads. They are the nastiest biting flies. Big and they hurt when they bite you! And the little buggers are tough! I would smack one on my shoulder as it was feasting on me, it would then fall, shake it off and fly away! Needless to say I was wearing more bug spray than sunscreen that day!

But then when I get home then I'm working hard!! People still ask me where do you find the time for all this? I tell them: "I don't have time, I MAKE the time." And it helps when I don't have a computer or cable TV to distract me.

Boylston Black and White

black watercolor 5"x7"

This is the beginning of another painting of Boylston, my friend's cat. Unfortunately Boylston passed away earlier this year. I've already done a pet portrait for my friend but he gave me a ton of reference photos so I've been doing a Boylston series if you will. I'm not sure that he or his wife is obsessed enough about this cat in order to get all the paintings that I've done, but then again, that's not why I'm doing them. Practice practice practice.

"Snackin' Duo"

Watercolor 5"x7"

This was for the winner of my gift certificate that I had donated to the Animal Rescue House http://www.rescuehouse.org out in Los Angeles. I call it "Snackin' Duo" because in the reference photo she had to hold a cookie in her hand to get the attention of both pets looking the same way. In the photo, her hands still there but of course we took that out and left their cute faces!

"Eva"

5"x7" watercolor

Eva's owner was the winner of my gift certificate donated to the Friends For Tomorrow program http://www,friendsfortomorrow.org. This is a place where both physically and mentally challenged kids can have the opportunity to experience the therapeutic benefits through horseback riding. If you've ever ridden a horse, even at the walk, you know thrilling it can be! I love little Eva's face. She looks a lot like Oliver, a dog that my family had back in the late 80s.

Speaking of horses, 10 more days and I'll be dude ranchin' in Montana. Oh my, I can't wait!!!!

Reality Check

So I think that I've always been pretty green, I re-use my water bottle at the gym, I bring my own bags to the grocers and we do recycle EVERYTHING. I'm also one of those people who believes if it works, like my cell phone or my TV, why toss it? Sure I'd love to have a iPhone or a jazzy LCD (and it would save so much room) but why fill the landfills? But then I took a quiz on NDRC's Simple Steps website (http://www.simplesteps.org) and I'm addicted to oil! We all are!

The Exxon spill that happened in Alaska, I was a senior in high school, and yes I was upset, but I still kept cruising to the beach with my friends. Unfortunately, if it's out of sight, it's out of mind. I see what's happening now in the Gulf of Mexico and I weep every time I see another image on the TV screen. The reality is we really don't know the damage yet, and things won't ever be back to normal. How could this have happened? We can sit and blame and blame and blame but it's not going to solve the problem of our addiction to oil. I remember my dad once telling me, "Chris, you can't be guilty for being a human." And I replied, "Maybe so, but I'm guilty of being an American." And you know, the Celtics lost the NBA Finals last night. All of Boston was super gloomy because of it and I'm thinking, "Really? This is the first thing on your mind?"

What can I do? I'm just me, painting kitties and puppies and listening to my music and trying to enjoy myself while I'm here. What can I do? I feel so small. What can I do? I took public transportation to work today. What can I do? I shut my computer off when I leave work and cut the light switches off that everyone leaves on. What can I do? *sigh*

I bought some Tshirts from Threadless (http://www.threadless.com) before and then saw this one:

so I had to get it. Anything to support the big ass clean up that we should all be involved in. Then I read about this woman who is running a blog of sketches to raise money for the clean up. The art work is only $10 a piece and all proceeds go to the clean up. I'm thinking of doing something similar. I know I have pictures of pelicans somewhere from my visits to South Carolina..... Anyway if you want to visit her site and donate go here: http://ripplesketches.blogspot.com . I've contacted Kelly myself and asked how my own art can be helpful. (And have donated to the cause directly).

And here's a beautiful before and after shot of a pelican. If you've ever dealt with a wild critter, you can only imagine how hard it must have been to clean this bird!

So then I read something that @charmfx had wrote on Twitter and it really hit home with me. It was: "When disaster strikes, when times are uncooperative, those are opportunities for creativity to remind all of us who we are."

Dutchess

8x10" watercolor

Dutchess' owner won my gift certificate that I had donated for the Gifford Cat Shelter. She loves her kitty so much, that she put the gc for a 5x7" painting towards a larger 8x10" painting. What a pretty kitty :)

As Obama said, "The time for change is now!" Please please please, when you leave the room, shut the lights off. When you ask for another drink at the bar, tell your server you'd be fine with using the same glass. My fear is that the oil drilling will become more dangerous, more expensive and make us behind the times with the rest of the world. If we don't change our ways, then we all suffer.

Now, shut the computer off and go for a bike ride. It's beautiful out.