Sarah Goes Farming: Art is a Tart

During the painfully cold days we have all been having lately (except up in Alaska… strangely) I have been trying to do as much drawing and painting as I can. The problem with this plan is that making art isn't something I can force myself to do if my brain isn't into it. I have been keeping a large piece of illustration board on my desk and whenever I can't really muster the passion to work on something specific, I doodle on it. Actually, it's an illustration unto itself- I created a basic drawing in light pencil and have been adding to it for weeks now. Pen, ink and dye mostly so far.

One of the projects I have been trying to get myself to do is a painting for my friends Russ and Jessica. They got married in October and I promised them a gift of a painting. So far, I have created 3 separate paintings with them in mind and I am not happy with any of them. Hopefully #4 will be the winner. I wish I would have promised them a quilt! Then it would have been done by now and I wouldn't feel so guilty for such a long delayed wedding gift.

For those who aren't keeping track, I work in watercolor, ink and dye now. No more acrylics. I have them, and I have some canvases that are gessoed, but I seem to have lost my touch for them. They just don't feel as satisfying as watercolors when I work with them. Maybe I will try going back to oils in the spring, when I can open up all the windows and have some ventilation. At least then those canvases won't go to waste. I'd love to do a series of the various wild birds that live around the farm. I've seen a variety of finches, blue jays, cardinals, crows, northern blue birds, robins, common grackles, red headed woodpeckers, vultures, and hawks.

Beyond art, the other news around here is that Wiley got into some sort of fight with one of the cats (I think) and he's all cut up now. He's got a big gash under his right eye and a few gashes around his muzzle. I cleaned it up as best I could. I hope he's learned his lesson. Atticus and Wiley are becoming better and better friends all the time. They've developed a game of keep away with a red ball that has had it squeaker destroyed. We don't know why this ball is special. There are tons of other ones but this one is the one that sets the game off. I watch them closely when they play this game because every once in a while it goes too far and Wiley nips Atticus too hard. That's when I take the ball away and everyone calms down.

Chairman Meow has now become friends with The Goon Squad, which I might have mentioned before. The three of them hang out together and I think that The Chairman can get Carl to play in the morning, which is really awesome. Speaking of Carl, his mouth ulcers seem to be gone, though he's lost a tooth to it. After a round of meds and some rest, he's a lot better. Brighter eyes and softer fur! The Himalayan disappears for a few days every once in a while and then when she returns, she sleeps for a long time. Aaron thinks she has a meth habit. I think she has another house she goes to. Honestly, she really should be an indoor cat. Her fur is fine for protecting her from the cold, but it's always got burrs in it that are unpleasant for all concerned to remove.

The chickens are still doing well. I'm honestly surprised that they are all still alive and even thriving. When we first saw them in the summer, the chickens were terrible looking. All scrawny and missing lots of feathers. Now most of them have grown their feathers back and gained weight. They look healthy now! It just shows you what some good food and free ranging for your chickens can do for their health. I still get about 2 or 3 eggs from them every day. Pretty impressive for a flock of elderly chickens in the middle of winter. They enjoy following me around when I am outside, so often I have a trail of chickens behind me happily clucking. They also enjoy running down the hill to the old playset that the previous owners left behind. Under the playset is a patch of dirt that works as a dust bath for them. So every day they run down the hill, have their dust bath one at a time and then they run back up the hill. Have you ever seen a chicken run? It's weird and hysterical. And if you think about Tyrannosaurs Rex while you watch them run- it adds an extra level of surreality to the whole thing.

Wanda One-Eye, for those who are fans of hers, (which seems to be everyone!) is still clucking along. She still prefers to stay in her private chicken suite next to the cats. The other chickens like to hang out in her place sometimes. I don't think she minds, but they seem to discombobulate her when a bunch of them rush into her place at once. She gets all flustered and ruffles her feathers and clucks like she's thinking, "Oh my gawd! Slow down you savages!" Wanda is a chicken with much dignity it would seem.

There's lots to tell about the aquaponics system, but I'll save that for a separate entry. I'll just add that I'm starting some preliminary seed tests and they're all looking darn good. I'm lucky I inheriated my green thumb from my Grandma Jan. So lastly, here are a few photos till I write the Aquaponics oriented blog later: