There are two kinds of animals who chose to live with human beings for companionship. The domestic cat is one of them. How well we get along with each other is partially measured by how well we learn each other’s language. This little kitty is air kneading, to show his pleasure. His eyes are also half-closed, which means he is really relaxed and happy. I’ll bet he’s purring too. Everyone has had a tuxedo cat. I had one named Figaro before I was born!
Thanks for the Reference Photo, Jeannie! This painting has already sold..
How does a cat smile?
July 26th, 2010
Giuseppe Mercurio – 1942-2010
July 25th, 2010
2001 was the first year that my husband and I went to Italy together. One destination was my favorite grandfather’s birthplace Sersale, situated in the toe of the “boot”. We met a lot of family during that visit, but one person stands out in our memories, Giuseppe Mercurio, the only surviving son of my grandfather’s little sister Rossina.
One of the things we learned quickly in Sersale was that no one there spoke Italian! they all spoke an incomprehensible dialect. Fortunately, all the people our age had adult children who could speak Italian and translate for us. Giuseppe and his wife Santina had three sons and three daughters who clearly worshiped him. He invited us to dinner and we sat down with the whole family – Giuseppe taking the stage. Giuseppe had no concept of another language and was convinced that we could become fluent in his dialect in just a few weeks. To prove his point, he had us all gasping with tears in our eyes when he tried to pronounce the single word “PICKLE.”
He was a master of storytelling, of drama, of humor. Whenever he would start to spin a yarn (with a lot of repetition to make sure we understood) the rest of the table would become silent – no one wanted to miss a word. Besides his hilarious stories, he talked a lot about family and love. He remembered my own grandfather who also had a big heart and faithfully sent money and packages to his family in Sersale and because of this, he said, because we a part of my grandfather’s family, we were always welcome in his home.
He also walked his talk, as every time we saw him, his adoring children and grandchildren surrounded him. I cannot imagine how devastated that family is to have lost him. I know that my life will forever be richer having known him.
Meet one of my neighbors
July 19th, 2010 
I live in South East Seattle, and we are understandably very proud of the goodness in our neighborhood.
I’ve recently gone on a couple of neighborhood tours, and discovered that right down the street from my house a little shop where they do alterations and clothing repairs called New Holly Gift Shop & Alterations. I’d been past it hundreds of times but never looked inside. Well, the shop was on the tour, and they interviewed the seamstress, whose name is Phuong. She came out, all smiles, I was certain that she’d be shy, but she was not. When asked why she liked her job; her quick response was “I like my job because I get great satisfaction out of seeing how pleased people are when they see my work.” We’ve been back to that store twice now, she does great work!
Giuseppina – incredible lady
July 16th, 2010
When my grandmother, Lucy Melino Fressola died, she left each of her descendants; children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren some money. With part of mine, I took my entire family to Italy; my husband, my two young adult sons, and I. We decided that it was about time to go visit my grandmother’s home town, Sant’Agata di Puglia, one of many picturesque hilltop towns in Southern Italy.
There was one little lady who still lived there that remembered my grandmother, her name was Giuseppina. She was short and spry with twinkly eyes. She welcomed us to her town with smiles and told us how she was the oldest of 8 children and how they had absolutely nothing. She was not able to go to school because she had to work instead and never learned to read. She eventually married my grandmother’s cousin, Saverio Fabbiano. They bought a house with the sweat off their backs and raised their children in this pristine little village. She radiated joy as she reminisced my grandmother’s last visit. It seems that the day my grandmother arrived, Giuseppina’s daughter had a baby. I later met that baby, a woman close to my age.
There was nowhere to park our car near her home or near our hotel, so this 80 something year old woman led us around on foot, we had to work to keep up with her. Every one of us has a story about our time in Sant’Agata di Puglia, but each of us remembers this smiling old woman who shared her town with us.
Recipe for a bookmark
July 11th, 2010Last winter I made a bunch of bookmarks and they were so popular, there’s only 1 left in the house. Today I went to Susie Short’s demo for painting negative flowers for some inspiration. She was focusing on Irises, so I thought I would too. Here’s my finished painting:
Then I cut it into handy bookmark sized pieces:
The first three people that want one and leave a comment here can have their own original handpainted book mark. Leave a comment and I’ll contact you via email for your address. Thanks everyone for responding. I’ll have more bookmarks available at a later date.
A tiny glimpse of the woods
July 9th, 2010
On Monday last, we had a holiday. My husband and I decided to hike to Annette Lake and back, a 7.5 mile hike. Neither of us has done any hiking for years but although it was a rather ambitious outing, we had a great time. I found it rather amusing that while we were walking through the mists, the rest of the USA was roasting. One of the more beautiful vistas I saw on this hike was the misty shadows of distant trees covered by the mid day fog shrouding part of the mountain. This painting measures 2.5″ x 3.5″.
Liberty Bell – Mazama out and back bike ride
July 5th, 2010
Someone heading north and east on Highway 20 on their way to Twisp might never see this incredible spectacle. On the other hand, someone riding a bicycle slowly up this mountain westbound from Twisp cannot fail to see it. It vaults higher than it seems it should, and the shape is so much like a castle with ramparts that it seems almost man-made. but men don’t make things on this scale. What men do (and women too) is try to scale formations like this. This popular bike route starts at Marblemount and goes over both Rainy pass and Washington Pass (the one right past this rock formation. then after this summit, there is a screaming descent down to the Mazama Country Inn, where good food is served and comfy beds await. In the morning, after a delicious and large breakfast, the mountains await and the intrepid cyclists must now climb back out over those same mountain passes.
Negative Painting – flowers
June 29th, 2010
This is a technique that Jean Haines taught me a few years ago. You take a clean piece of paper and just splotch it all up with colors that you like. Then you start painting in the shadows. It’s a very soothing way to paint. This particular painting was inspired by the lovely bouquet my husband made for our table that day, but I did not paint any of the actual flowers, mine are all imaginary ones. This painting has been sold.
Enza Waits
June 24th, 2010
Everyone deserves to have at least one pet that stands out from all the rest; maybe it’s that they’re beautiful, maybe they have personality, maybe it’s because they are just a member of your family that you really cherish. Enza is that cat. Born out in our back yard during a very dry spring, we first discovered her as one of a litter of kittens running to escape our neighbor’s lawnmower, as he tardily tended to his tall grass. Weeks later, I finally trapped the whole litter and the mother cat; they were all completely wild. We neutered the mom and let her go, but the kittens we socialized with lots of TLC and patience; it was a rare summer, both my sons were around, and they both contributed to the effort. When the kittens were all tame, I was to give them to the no kill shelter who sponsored them. But giving up all four of them was very traumatic. Enza chose me, and I brought her back home. Enza went from being a completely wild animal to the family manipulator. She invents routines to get our attention, she does tricks while guests giggle, she launches herself between us in the middle of the bed, something she started doing when she was so small we feared for her safety. The feral cat spay and neuter project uses art for a fund raiser. They have a little lobby where the walls are covered with paintings. The more you donate, the nicer a painting you may choose. This painting was made for that purpose. It is fitting that Enza’s largess extends to her extended family of feral kitties all over the Seattle area.
Aggie’s boyfriend
June 20th, 2010
Aggie is a former feral cat and even though she was neutered at an early age, she has her preferences. She likes this big black boy cat a lot better than any of the cats she lives with. He’s neutered too, I took him to the veterinarian myself. I took him and his twin brother hoping to get a two in one deal, but it was worst than I expected, one of them had an undescended testicle so it cost a lot more than I expected. Aggie clearly only likes one of them, the other stays closer to home, 3 houses down from our house. She’s gotten to the point that she doesn’t like to stay inside at night because the boys are outside playing. It’s either put up with her howling and galloping around the house all night, or let her out and sleep in peace They know we don’t approve of their relationship and what’s so funny you can see it in their faces.
