Fort Meyer Thumbnails

Next print "Biscuits n' Gravy"

2011-03-15T15:32:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone,

So here is the next Giclée available. This was such a fun one to do, and has been very popular. You can get more information at fortmeyer@aol.com . It is a watercolor painting, and its size is 14" x 19".

Today has been a beautiful day. The sun is out and practically no breeze at all! My kind of day. I do hate that wind. It not only musses my hair, but sucks all the moisture out of the soil. Since we had to have all that snow this winter, I'd just as soon keep the good moisture we got in the ground!

Today was my next to last physical therapy session. I'll be on my own soon now, and am looking forward to it. Just one more thing I have to remember, or, that interrupts my day.

Right now I'm working on a rose. Have not done a flower in years, and the progress I'm making shows that well. But it is just a lesson, so I don't have to give it undo frustration. Just getting my hand back in.

Time to feed my horses. Gizmo will come a long to help, then he gets his supper too. Hope you all have had a good day today. The next post will be the third print. Till then ... ~J~

All art, poetry and writings are copyright &; cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Didn't think I'd make it did you?

2011-03-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

Okay ... here is one of the three new Giclée prints I have out. The title originally is "First Snow," but could just as easily be "Last Snow of Winter." These antelope are enjoying a respite in the welcome sun. In Colorado, 40° feels like 20° if the sun isn't out. When the sun comes with a 40° day, it feels almost like 60°. That is, of course if there is no wind. Then all bets are off!

The original was watercolor painting and the print is approximately 14" x 19".

Today was art class. I am enjoying learning the words that describe what I have always done naturally. Won't change anything, but it has been an interesting trip for me. I probably won't remember them when I need them. Too many years painting by instinct. But the class is fun and the budding and experienced artists are great company. Nothing like a little competition.

Till next time, this is me signing out ...
~J~

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

I think it's time for me to be back!

2011-03-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! The last I wrote I was in a lot of pain with a knee that needed repair. Turns out it needed total replacement, and that finally took place November 9th. I have just been dismissed by my surgeon, and physical therapy will be over March 10th ... can't say I'll miss that! While I'll keep up the exercises at home now, it is time to move on.

I have some new prints available now and I'll start posting them tomorrow. (Really.) My biggest challenge will come this summer as I illustrate a new Elaine Marlier book, "Christmas Angels." Then next year she is hoping to have another adoption/Without a Home, series book out about horses. I will illustrate that one too, unless she is finally fed up with me. :-) It is going to be a struggle to get any fine art out in and around the illustrations, but I'm sure I'll find a way.

See you all tomorrow.

.

Stampede Art Show

2010-06-25T12:00:00.004-06:00

The Eleventh Annual Stampede Art Show had its grand opening yesterday! Many of the artists were there, and there were a host of buyers eagerly viewing and complimenting the works of art. The show is in a new building, and the set up was much better than it had been. They captured the flair of the west beautifully. There was a band, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and a wonderful meal. The quick draw artists created some wonderful spontaneous paintings for the auction. The proceeds benefit the Stampede Foundation Scholarship Fund.

As for me, I didn't sell the painting "Yellow Earrings," but my little "Sunday in Sage" did sell. I am delighted as this is my first sale at this show. Hopefully I can build on this next year. First I have to be invited back.

But even better, was being back in touch with artist friends who I admire and don't see or am in touch with enough.

"Sunday in Sage"

4" x 6" Water color painting.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Win a Mouse Sculpture!!

2010-06-15T16:39:00.003-06:00

Today I saw that Steve Worthington is holding a contest to name 3 turtle sculptures. The prize is a mouse sculpture! Since I really like Steve's mice, and his turtles are really neat, I decided to pass this along. (Besides it won't do me any harm either. I'd really like to have his little mouse Nosey!) You can go to his blog and name the three turtles, or another way to enter to win is making a blog post about this contest. So, go and give those turtles a name.

Flood

2010-06-13T15:33:00.004-06:00

Thursday, June 10
The news has been talking about the high flood waters as a result of the couple of hot days melting the snow so fast it caused the creeks and rivers to overflow. Last night they said the Poudre River was over its banks in Ft. Collins, and this morning the pasture is officially flooded. The above picture was early morning and looks like that paint was cooling his heels after the hot weather. The water spread quite a ways into the into the pasture, and the sun didn't last very long. By afternoon it was pouring cats and dogs, and the rain kept it up all night as well.
Friday, June 11
Dark clouds and severe thunderstorms today. Rain dumped twice here today, adding to the flood level, but dodged the hail and tornado's.
Saturday, June 12
Rained all day today, and all night into Sunday as well.
Sunday, June 13
The satellite reception keeps going out with clouds so thick and fully saturated. That of course means wet, and the flood area of the pasture had doubled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I took a walk out on the road to view the pasture. I'd say it looks like I won't have to water the horses for days! The water line is 18 yards from the "old" studio. The pasture and the yard won't be dry enough to mow until the grasses are almost too tall and too thick to mow! And just yesterday they were brown from the heat ...

This is from the culvert where all the water came from, backing up through all the old irrigation ditches from the flooding river. Clear in the background you can see two other little patches of water showing how far it got into the pasture.

This was taken from the corner. So this is looking south showing what I call the north pasture.

This is from the culvert again, looking more north west to show more of the pasture.

This is a close up of the picture below. Blogspot would not let me drag them into the proper positioning. Have even aquired a couple of Mallards in the deal. The gray in the background is my Arab gelding Count.

The Mallards, Count still behind the tree, and my green roofed barn in the background. This is what I call the middle pasture. The fence on the right separates it from the north pasture.

WIP - Yellow Earrings - Finished

2010-06-06T15:58:00.005-06:00

The one I've been waiting for. "Yellow Earrings" is finished. I've tinkered on it long enough, so time to quit. I had several suggestions and implemented several of them. I have been wanting to do this painting since an artist friend, Lynn Thomas of Wyoming sent me a picture of a cow with her ear tags and titled it Yellow Earrings. I asked her right off if she was going to use that photo/idea or could I get her permission to use it. She was delighted that I wanted to use it. I wish she could have seen it finished.

Below is an enlargement of just the calf. I guess it was a silly thing to put up because the calf is almost the whole size of the painting and the enlargement doesn't amount to much. But it is up, so up it stays. If anyone wants me to enlarge just the eye, or any other part, I could do that for you.

Today is pretty hot. It is supposed to hit 90° ... it is a bit over that, but now they are calling for Thunderstorm warnings. It's always something.

As I said before, this painting will be shown at the 11th Annual Stampede Art Show, in Greeley, Colorado. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by. There will be a lot of really super western art there.

Okay, time to clean up my mess from this painting, and clear the decks for the next one.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Yellow Earrings - 5

2010-06-03T18:35:00.003-06:00

As you noticed, I skipped over number 4 in the series. This is a much better idea of what it is going to be. You can see by the sketch, that I'm enlarging her right ear some, seemed to need it. The grass is coming along, although I dread every stroke. The grass will go right up to the top of the page. The sky is only implied by the reflection in the calf's eye. The shape of her face has to be deepened some more, but over all I'm beginning to relax about the outcome. I will only post one more, and that will be the finished one.

Since this is the last post before the big finish, any suggestions need to be voiced now, or forever hold your peace.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Yellow Earrings - 3

2010-05-31T13:21:00.004-06:00

Okay, time for an update. Man, this blogspot is soooo uncooperative. Maybe it's just me, but it sure is stubborn software.

This doesn't seem like much of an update does it. But the black blob is filled in, and I assure you there are many hours in all the brush strokes. There will still be more color, but the color will be more subtle. Hopefully that will show up in the next update.

Today is Memorial Day and my daughter and I went up to the cemetery for the service. There were easily 300 people there, and the program was very nice. The nicest thing happened when we ended up with two fly over's. The planes were late, but before they got there a Bald Eagle flew over. He was pretty high, and I don't think many noticed. The planes did arrive at a perfect time when the uniformed men laid wreathes on the crosses of the different wars to commemorate the soldiers of our community who fought in each war.

The tributes, planned and unplanned were perfect for a perfectly beautiful day.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Yellow Earrings - 2

2010-05-29T11:56:00.003-06:00

Okay, here is a little more.

The big black blob is neck and a little shoulder, and before it looks like a cow with hair on it there will be many, many layers of single strokes with the brush in many colors. I forgot to give the basic information with the first post ... This is a 9.5"x 9.5" watercolor painting. on Arches 140# cold press, rough, paper. I leave the sizing on when I'm doing animal hair and fur as it helps simulate the texture of fur, and the cold press rough paper helps also. Using a #4 brush.

One friend, at stage one, thought he was looking at a couple of squirrels or something because his eyes couldn't bridge that gap. I forget that some of my fans need more information, and cannot read my mind, and the photo didn't show the pencil drawing ... So, I have closed the white areas across the top of her head and under her chin so you can see the size/shape of her head.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome. ::grin:: no sense taking the blame all to myself!

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Yellow Earrings

2010-05-27T12:50:00.004-06:00

Okay, I'm back to start the work in progress for you. This is one of the paintings I'm entering into the Stampede Art Show, here in Greeley. (If I get it finished in time!) The show will be open to the public from June 24 through July 4th. This is usually a spectacular show with many interpretations of western art.

This painting will be titled Yellow Earrings. The earrings are ID tags that are put on cattle. I think I am going to leave the tags blank so should a rancher choose to purchase it I can put his own brand on the tags. So, here is the start....

I think this young calf is a cutie ...

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

"Biscuits and Gravy"

2010-05-25T12:53:00.004-06:00

I've decided to change my header to cycle some old paintings that were published on a calendar. The first one is a favorite, "Biscuits and Gravy" with a couple of rascally raccoons that got into the chuck wagon. This was always a favorite, and I am planning a Gicleé print of it later in the year.

Next entry I'll start a work in progress of the painting I'm doing for this year's Stampede Art Show. The show will be open from June 23 to the 4th of July.

Back soon.

The First Day of 2010

2010-01-01T16:11:00.002-07:00

I have already taken a tentative step into the first day of the new year. I'm in rehab for my back now, and, well, I'm in rehab for my back now ....

The most important chore is done and the new year should go smoothly now. ::grin:: You are not going to believe this story, but I learned from my mother-in-law many years ago that if you go into the new year, behind with your laundry, you'd be behind for the entire year. This lady was from southern Germany, and I don't know if this is a traditional German ritual or not, but she was adamant about it. And she should be. She was always behind with her laundry, and she would spend several days in her basement washing load after load. I'm sure the clothes all got dry, but am not sure folding and ironing made very much progress. Just before new year's eve she would appear again from her self-imposed dungeon, declaring that the work was done, and that the new year would be much better. Then, the week before the next new year, was an annual repeat in the same grand proportions.

In those days my husband and I ran the family bakery, on Staten Island, NY with the help of four very small children. So while I had a lot of laundry, I was never behind like my mother-in-law was. But for her sake I took on the hustle and bustle of getting everything washed before the new year. So here I am now, many years later, older and should be wiser, still remembering the most important of the new years rules, and throwing my two loads a week into the washing machine.

I wish for all of my friends and fans a wonderful 2010. Whether you are caught up with your laundry or not.

~J~

Time for the annual art show

2009-12-10T11:19:00.005-07:00

Thunderbird Art Gallery

1309 E. 16th Street - Greeley, CO 80631
(One Mile East of First Avenue)
Phone: (970) 352-4397
http://www.thunderbirdartgallery.com/

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE

Sat., Dec. 12, 2009 - 10 am - 5 pm
Sun., Dec. 13, 2009 - 12 noon - 5 pm

Featuring the following Artists in person:

Donald DeNoncourt, Julie Kramer Cole,
Judith Angell Meyer, Becky Johnson &
Donald Vann

Would love to see you all. The Thunderbird gallery is a wonderful place to display art.

Coming out party for an older painting

2009-12-02T15:49:00.005-07:00

This painting is one that I did a long time ago. Title: "Spirit Woman" Size: 11 1/2" X 14 1/2". It is a self portrait.

Spirit Woman is sort of the Indian name I acquired over the years. For many years we enjoyed belonging to mountain man reenactment groups. A couple of portraits I painted for the guys were complimented by saying I had caught/captured their spirit. Of course this wasn't a good thing in the 1800's. At first Indians were very Leary of the photograph, and were afraid that their spirit had been captured.

This self-portrait is my interpretation of a more positive view. The view in the painting is of me laying on my back and looking up through the lodge poles. In the back of the lodge there are some drawings depicting part of my life. The fire is going, and the smoke is swirling upward through the smoke flaps and curling itself around the moon. The smoke vaguely resembles the shape of a woman spreading her wings as her spirit takes flight.

Enjoy. I'd like to hear what you think of this one too. ~J~

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

It's about time, but I'm back ... sort of ...

2009-11-30T14:04:00.003-07:00

Hello hello!!

I finally am in a much better place now than I have been since the surgery. The lumbar fusion went very well. Up and walking the same day as the surgery. The pain in my leg from the pinched nerve was gone. I came home on the 4th day. My brother-in-law was a god-send. It didn't seem like he was doing all that much, and yet I couldn't have gotten through that first week without him. Thank you again {{{{{Tom,}}}}} very, very much!

At about 2/3 weeks the pinched nerve pain came back. The Dr. fixed what was causing that and I began to worry that I had done something to damage the fix. Turns out, it would take walking out in front of a Mack truck to hurt the fusion. Since I hadn't done that ... Turns out that when I get that pain it means that I have been over-doing it. In response, the wound would swell up which put pressure on the nerves. Sure was incentive not to over-do!

After 3 days in a row with almost no pain or noticeable weakness, I started backing off the pain medication. Which is working out just fine. Now I just have to get through the next month of limiting my actions, and at that point I should be able to get a lot more active. I have already been given the script for rehab, so will be starting that for 2/3 times a week soon. Nothing like getting through the worst of the pain, and then go back (willingly - sort of), to push the pain back to the top. For the bone to show a good start at fusion will take about 6 months.

I want to thank you all for your help along the way and your notes, cards and prayers. I needed and used up every ounce of love you sent my way. Thank you, thank you!!

~J~

Just a quick note ....

2009-10-22T02:20:00.003-06:00

I just wrote a nice note, and lost it. I'm too tired to remember what I said. Lets see. Everything is on schedule for surgery at noon today. Thursday 22nd. I'm expecting to be home by Monday 26th. Then the real adventure begins.

Can you imagine me doing nothing and at the mercy of my children to help? I'm grateful that my brother-in-law volunteered to come. Maybe he can keep them under control! :-) However, they have all been a big help so far. I'm a lucky mom.

Going to miss my Gizmo for the few days. Sigh ...

See you in a few days, or a week or two ...

~J~

Surgery update ...

2009-10-18T10:34:00.002-06:00

Since I wrote the quote below ...

"Hey, I got the call back from the Dr's office. Looks like only one to two days stay at the hospital, and at home I'll be expected to be up and around, walking a little, just no heavy or strenuous lifting, bending or twisting. Sounds like I'll be able to handle it all with no trouble. (This is optimism speaking ... don't tell me any different!)"

I have been on quite an emotional ride! I downloaded the informational material from the Front Range Center for Brain and Spine Surgery, P.C. web site, the site my Doctor is affiliated with, and promptly started visualizing myself in the post surgery requirements. OMG! So I scheduled an appointment with my Doctor, and had a very specific heart to heart.

My thoughts had become a concern for having the surgery heading into winter. While I can get help with feeding the horses, I might still have to let them out. Then snow and ice and things do come up when you are alone. Now I won't be alone to begin with. But we are talking about a two month period that has to way toned down for healing to progress without incident. And no one likes me that much!! My thoughts are too graphic ... don't remember getting much sleep at all!

By the time the Doctor and I finished, I got Doctor answers and not "generic" post op instruction possibilities. Him knowing me enough to help me understand where I might be during recovery, and not the generic public. I will still have to mind the two months of really slowed down activity, but I haven't been all that active since the lumbar region of my back took over my life.

So ... pre-op consultation with an anesthesia nurse will happen on the 20th of October. And the Surgery will take place on the 22nd of October. I will be in the hospital between two and four days depending on my stubborn gauge, then home. The batteries will be dead on all my vehicles before I get to use them again, but I guess I can live with that.

I'll write after the pre-op consult. It will be the last time for a while that I'll be able to sit at the computer. At least two weeks me thinks. I'll be back and pretty sassy soon enough. Enjoy your vacation from that!!

~J~

Buffalo cows and calf

2009-10-13T16:20:00.003-06:00

I cannot believe that I slept in until almost 9 a.m.! It was so dark in the room. The same darkness that comes just before the sun peeks out from the east and blasts the bedroom with its radient Good Morning! Only today there was no sun out blasting or anything else. The sun has come out this afternoon, which I won't complain about, but it is weak, and there is still a dark overcast look in the north. 45 degrees today, which is also better!

Here is the little 4" x 5" watercolor painting that I said I'd post yesterday. Sorry ....

"Sunday in Sage"

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

The Sun Came Out!

2009-10-11T23:08:00.003-06:00

Greetings!! I don't think it ever got to 40 degrees here today, but the sun melted most of the snow. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to hit 45 degrees. Balmy!

For something a little lighter. Here is a small 4"x5" watercolor. I spotted the buffalo on my way to Pinedale, Wyoming for an art show, and had to stop and take pictures. There is a mate to this one with cow buffalo and a calf. You have to wait until tomorrow for that one. Enjoy ...

"Serenity and Sage"

~J~

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

More snow on the Prairie

2009-10-10T10:42:00.004-06:00

I got up to 18 degrees and it was snowing. Almost an inch then, and now maybe almost two inches, and it is almost stopped. I was just sitting in the family room bundled up with a hot cup of coffee and watching golf of TV. Beautiful green fairways and greens and ... thought this is so wrong ... So, let me take you back to September 24th.

I woke up and got to my morning things. Fluffing up the bed, dressing, teeth and hair etc., and when I came out to the kitchen to start coffee, I saw two police cars in my back driveway facing the barn. Coffee forgotten, out I went to see what the heck was going on. The police cars were running but there was no one around, so went into the barn, and there was a very large, white GMC - SUV standing will all the doors wide open. Still no police, or anyone else for that matter.

I went out to the camper where my son was staying. Theresa answered the door and she didn't know anything ... said a guy stuck his head in the camper door and said he was going to do some wiring and left. She woke my son up, who, in his sleep, only heard something about wiring. So now the three of us are out back and another police car drove in.

Seems as though the first two police cars were off chasing the two car thieves who put the SUV in my barn. Probably to strip. The police had spotted them early enough to catch at least one of the guys. By now, there were a couple more officers and cars who divided the three of us up so we "couldn't collaborate our stories." Before all was said and done, there were easily 10 police cars in my yard and driveway.

Since they caught the thieves, they called the owners of the stolen vehicle and they came to inspect their car and drive it home. They were more than a little upset that someone would walk into their garage and just drive their car away. About three hours later we were down to just one policeman and car who was wrapping things up.

Just this last week I noticed that the exit port on my camper was open. Actually it looked like the wind had blown it open and broke the hinge edge. I didn't take a serious look right away, but when I did, I discovered that it had been torn open by what had to be one of the thieves looking for a place to hide. He didn't actually get into the camper, but the damage was done. Pictures below show his huge sneaker prints in the dust on the hood of my little Toyota so he could reach up and tear the hatch off.

This is the hatch torn off of its hinges.

This is a CSI thing. That sneaker was slightly over 12" long from toe to heel!

More hands and feet all over my little Toyota Truck. The camper is in my barn which has a dirt floor. With the horses, and me, in and out, dust is always kicked up. Glad it was there for a change or might not have proven that one of the thieves did the damage to the hatch!

One of the police cars. The one behind it is the second large GMC SUV that the owner of the stolen one came to claim. His and Hers SUV's. While they were scared; after all they were at home and had kids in the house when the SUV was stolen, they were lucky to get their vehicle back as quickly as they did, and with no real damages.

It certainly makes you wonder what will happen next. Thieves are getting so bold. My son had seen the one thief once, and that was all it took for the guy to know about my barn and think he could help himself to my property for his own purposes. The following week, my neighbor across the intersection had a pickup full of guys walk into her barn moving things around and haltering the horses and opening stalls. My grandson had just gone there to care for his horses and caught them. Luckily they ran to the pick up and took off. (They were his horses.)

At first I considered a security camera system, but that is a little more expensive than I can handle right now, so am going to look into a buzzer that will sound in the house when ever a car drives in or out. There was a time I would have never believed these measures would ever be necessary.

Snow on the Colorado Prairie

2009-10-08T14:42:00.002-06:00

I promised updates so I guess it is about time I got to it. I'll start with right now. It is about 38 degrees outside and it is snowing. You know, those huge wet flakes that are probably a dozen flakes all holding hands and coming down together. Like those crazy folks who jump out of airplanes and do the same thing. Good grief ~!~ It isn't supposed to do this sort of thing until the kids are all dressed up for Halloween!

Okay, I do have a date for my back surgery. Will be October 22nd. But in Loveland, not at the hospital here. While I have no worries where the Doctor is concerned, I'm not at all thrilled to be away from "home" for the surgery. Going to be more than just a little imposition on friends and family. And I have to go way out there for a pre-surgery consult on the 20th. I have calls in for information so I can make plans. Like how long will I be in the hospital, don't think this will be an out-patient procedure like my knee was, but so far no response. Would like to know what my restrictions will be at home too. Can't plan help if I don't know. However, I have a very good offer from Kansas.

My son moved out and is in an apartment now, but came back yesterday to do his laundry. And he isn't even in college. Of course he has to come here to have the space to work on his vehicles. Put monster tires on his truck the other day. I had to ask if he needed a ladder to get in it, "Not quite," he said.

Hey, I got the call back from the Dr's office. Looks like only one to two days stay at the hospital, and at home I'll be expected to be up and around, walking a little, just no heavy or strenuous lifting, bending or twisting. Sounds like I'll be able to handle it all with no trouble. (This is optimism speaking ... don't tell me any different!)

I'm going to catch you up on the current stories, one post at a time. So that is that for this one.

~J~

Cat Nappin'

2009-09-06T14:13:00.003-06:00

This Bobcat, or Lynx, is a small 4" x 6" watercolor painting. He actually doesn't look all that pleased that I have intruded on his space. But he has one ear "watching" me, and the other ear is keeping track of the sounds coming from behind him. The Bobcat has been successfully reintruduced in Colorado, after a slow start. What a beautiful coat of fur.

Good news, my brace is off after knee surgery, and I am improving. Therapy will be starting soon. Can't say I'm looking forward to that.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Rascally Racoon

2009-08-31T11:50:00.003-06:00

This is a little 3 1/2" x 5" watercolor painting. It was a commission from my sister to give to her daughter. This is a pretty young guy and fun to paint. Fur going every which-a-way, you can tell he scampered up that tree in a hurry. Once safe, he set his evil eye on you not to come any closer. Racoon's are fun to watch, but sure can be a nuisance.

This last spring we had some really nasty winds along with very hard rain falls mixed with hail. I was on the porch watching the storm when out of the "fog" of the dense rain came a racoon running as fast as he could in that odd gait of theirs, with his tail to the storm. He was literally being pushed by the wind. When it was all over, here he came lumbering back in the opposite direction.

Racoon's are fun to paint as they never lack for entertaining expressions.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

A Great photo of Lynn - Her Creative Side!

2009-08-26T12:28:00.002-06:00

This is one of my favorite Lynn Thomas photos. One she sent as we were getting to know each other. I don't have a date, guessing 1955ish, (15) but it clearly shows Lynn's creative side ... and a patient dog ...

Good bye my friend Lynn Thomas

2009-08-25T16:32:00.003-06:00

My dear friend and mentor Lynn Thomas passed away early this morning, August 25, 2009.
I will miss her.
Her husband Joe and her many friends will miss her.
Sparky and Raven will miss her.

Below is a letter I wrote to Lynn, which her daughters were gracious enough to read to her.

"A Matter of Days"

I opened your blog today and all I saw was "A Matter of Days." As I stared at the words, slowly, my tears joined Judi's and memories came out of the blur.
A matter of days __ We've only known, (had contact), each other for a matter of days. My first WAOAW show in Scottsdale many, many years ago. Then a WAOAW show at PaJo's. I was drawn over and over to your painting of a frontier woman hanging out her wash. I was in awe of its beauty and the emotion welling up in me as I folded myself into it. In awe of you, I hung back to listen as you talked, too bashful to approach.

Then I came to visit you at your house on the muddy. It was like we had visited together regularly all our lives. You toured me around your beautiful end of the world. I left as in awe of you as before __ only different. We really were friends, admiring and enjoying each other. There is no one else I am this close to. Because of you, my art is better. My poetry is better. The way I see the world around me is more colorful and more intense. What a love and friendship that developed in only "a matter of days."

I can only imagine how deep the love you share with all the Angels who now hover around you. Angels with whom you have lived and touched over many years.
Thank you my Dear Sweet Lynn for allowing me into your big heart.

Judy (~J~)

The portrait is finished ...

2009-07-21T20:31:00.007-06:00

Finally on Thursday, July 16th I got this portrait on its way to Texas. It was supposed to be there on Saturday before 3 p.m., and it did, but the folks at the address were expecting a package from FedEx, so the post office left a notice and took it back. I finally knew that it had arrived safely on Monday. And, he liked it! I am pleased. This portrait was done with graphite in a .55mm mechanical pencil for fine detail. The leads I used ranged from HB, to 2H, and a 3B, but mostly it was done with the HB lead.

Since, I have been slow doing anything else. I guess I was pretty wound up pressuring myself. The customer was not pressuring me at all. I believe he has the patience of Jobe. But sometimes that makes it even worse. Know what I mean?

Now I am working at getting an entry into the next "Small Works - Big Impressions" show at the Wildlife Experience in Parker, Colorado. The deadline for that is August 5th. I think.

I'll sign off for now to get back to work, but I promise to be back sooner than a MONTH! Eeek!

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Panther Kitty

2009-06-27T14:25:00.005-06:00

Hello all .... this entry is just for the sake of trying something to see if it works. Many of my photos will not enlarge for your viewing pleasure. Some do, however, and I had never figured out what the difference was. So ... I am trying a system suggested to me by a blogger friend to see if I can control what works and what doesn't.

This is one of the wild black cats that are around the neighborhood. It is in the fir bushes right outside the living room window. It looked like a panther lurking in the bushes, and it wasn't so pleased that I saw him/her. So I made it even less pleased and took a picture. Several in fact. Hopefully this photo will allow you to click and enlarge it.

Gorgeous day today. Sunshine and about 80 degrees. I'm sure we will have the same afternoon/evening thunder storms. Could sure do without the mosquitos the moisture has produced, but it is really green!!

The Gala

2009-06-26T18:27:00.003-06:00

Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday, but I was just plain pooped! I mean dead on my poor little feet. We were on our feet most of 3 1/2 hours, and on a cement floor. I'm really glad I wore comfortable shoes. I'm not sure I even woke up yesterday!

By the way, the picture is of a sculpture that was purchased by the 2008 Purchase Committee for the Stampede Art Show. Title, "Battle of Wills" by Jeff Gottfried. A wonderful piece of art work. This year the Committee Purchase went to Cathy Sheeter, for her "Robing Horse." It is a magnificent scratch board piece.

Beginning to sense that I didn't sell either of my pieces? Well, you are right on. No sales. But lots of appreciation.

At 6 p.m. the invited guests and buyers start arriving, and if they have a painting they want to buy they put "Intent to buy" slips in a numbered bag located by each painting. Should that one painting collect several Intent to buy slips, then the opportunity to buy that piece is chosen by a drawing between the slips. Kind of a neat and fun system. There were no slips in my bag, darn the luck. But this was the first year for me at the Stampede Art Show, so if I am invited back again next year, I'll know better what to expect.

There were 37 artists this year, and they all showed between two and six pieces of art. Some really wonderful stuff, with a wide range of prices.

After the first round of buying, the Stampede Committee served a wonderful meal. Swift and Company donated the meat, and the prime rib was to die for! There was also pork, and all the accessories you could think of, right down to the strawberries dipped in chocolate. The evening wound down at about 8:30 p.m., and I got home at about 9:00.

My gallery is The Thunderbird Gallery and of the three of us from the gallery showing, there were five or six sales. The other two artists are Becky Johnson, and Julie Kramer-Cole. Julie also won the Artist's Choice Award. So in all, we did good.

I'll see you next time, God willin' and the creek don't rise. (A real possibility around here!)

Mister cutie face

2009-06-24T14:18:00.006-06:00

It didn't take very long for me to get to the bottom of Lynn's list, so best add something for today. The Meet and Greet for the Stampede Art show was wonderful. Our hosts have the single most wonderful art collection I have ever seen in one place. I saw originals that I never thought I would ever see in person. Tonight is the Gala for the show, so I'll be sure to get back here tomorrow and tell you all about it! I'm nervous and excited. In other words, I'm already bouncing off the walls.

Till then, here is a new picture of my little guardian dog Gizmo. He'll keep you entertained until I get back.

Orchids

2009-06-19T21:13:00.003-06:00

The kids have always been smart enough not to give me live plants. When they did it was lilac bushes, and they and their father did the planting. Other times it was a bouquet or a corsage. (Or dandelions)They are going to die anyway. I just don't have a green thumb. And after all these years of training, my son and his girl bring me an orchid. A plant. An orchid plant. The prettiest thing I have seen in forever, except for my daffies. So I read the care instructions and they certainly sounded simple enough. I'm to put 3 ice cubes on the soil once a week. (My new Saturday chore.) It likes a bright room, but not direct sun. Okay, I can do that. And then the house should never go above 85 degrees, nor below 40 degrees, and I can do that! My house is pretty chilly in the winter, but seldom lower than 50/55, and thought that would be way too cold for an orchid. And so this orchid became a member of my household on Mother's day, and it is still as beautiful as the day they brought it. Prettier, because the two buds that were on it opened up and now it is full of blooms. Isn't it just gorgeous?!!

I am so tickled to have such a pretty thing that seems to like me.

(Picture a paragraph here) Well, I guess I won't be here long tonight. New pills for my knee are making me dizzy and sleepy. That will not do for daytime. And not only that, blogger won't let me use my <> key. When I press it, the cursor just goes away. I always have some problem with blogger. I'm wondering if I changed the template things might be better. We'll see.

(Paragraph here) Tomorrow I have to go shopping. Sounds like a good thing doesn't it. Well, I can't tell you the last time I bought clothing for myself. I have what I need, and over half of it isn't even washed out yet for pete sakes. But the 23rd and 24th are the opening night Gala's for the Stampede Art Show, and I just have to have something nice. Two somethings nice. With my knee hurting, it is going to be even more torturous to shop than usual. Sigh ... The price of fame! HA!

(Paragra .... wait a minute ....) Let me see if it will let me edit the html ... It worked! Aren't I a smartie! .... Going to say G'nite now, and with a little luck, I'll have something to say again tomorrow night. ~J~

Cat WIP (Rikki - short for rick-o-shay)

2009-06-18T09:25:00.007-06:00

Okay Vicki here we go. This is a work in progress of a watercolor painting. with the object of showing you how I paint fur. I'm using D'Arches 190 pound cold press rough paper. The rough texture really is a help when you are painting fur. It is, however, also my main paper choice. The branding painting was done on this paper, (300 lb) and the plaid in the shirts came out just as well. It is a matter of just the right amount of water in the brush to flow smoothly.

This is the original photograph I worked from, and this is Rikki. Doesn't she look pleased?

1.) As you can see, I have sketched in all the important parts. I have laid in black washes. The black areas fade to grey where there will be detail. Between her eyes are strokes of black, and I am leaving white paper there because there are some highlights. As a transparent watercolorist, I do not use white paint, but leave the paper clean for those places that need to be white. (Of course if the painting is nearly done and I Ooopst, I'll fix it with opaque paint when necessary. I'm an anal purist, but I am not altogether stupid!)

2.) As I move out from center, I am leaving more and more light spaces. Especially the whiskers. There is a very light wash on the right side of her face. I hope you can see that now there are more strokes than washes. I do try to get the eyes right early on so completed them. Later they were brightened and yellowed up some.

3.) Stroke stroke stroke. Building up from whites and greys to blacks. You cannot really see it here, but I am also adding a bit of Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson here and there. They are both cool colors. (She's a cool cat remember!) Actually the Alizarin Crimson will mostly be around her eyes and in the black fur between and above her eyes. I'll use the Blue in the highlights. I'm doing gray strokes over and over to build up the depth of color to the right value. Each stroke is different because I pick up a bit of other color. It is subtle, but you know it is there because it gives the shape depth and not a flat black look. Important to note, I use a fairly dry brush. I don't want puddles but even strokes. Getting some roughness in the stroke from the paper helps achieve a realistic furry look. Also I use a fairly fine brush. I want the body of the brush to hold a fair amount of pigment so it flows out a very fine point. Doing so many strokes, I don't want to have to reload my brush after every one!

4.) Okay ... I think you can see more of the strokes in this one. Always follow the shape of the animal. Each stroke has to be put down just like you were tracing the brush on a the real animal in front of you. One stroke going the wrong direction, will show up. You might not know what the matter is, but that stroke would be it. Even when you can lay down a small wash, let the paint flow in the direction of the fur. In this one, you can see the Alizarin on her left side under her eye and along the side of her nose. There is a hint of Blue on the other side along her white spot.

5.) Notice here the left side of her face, your right, that the layers of fur moving out from her eye look like they are "moving." The illusion is created by first stroking the fur away from her eyes, the next layer is curled over and in and the last layer is curled out. Creating sort of a wave flowing from her eye out to the side of her head. This eludes to motion and shape. And on that side as you go down toward her chest, you can see the layers and layers of brush strokes.

Now I have to admit here that this is a very time consuming process. I have tried many short cuts but have never been satisfied with the results. I watch the photo carefully to be sure I am moving in the same order and direction as the animal presents itself.

6.) Ears, she has ears! And too much Alizarin over her eye which will be toned down later.

7.) I love blending the white into the black and visa versa. The same stroke technique still applies for the white area. With softer grays, and more bits of color build up the defining areas of tufts with more strokes than in the lighter areas. Actually these photos, especially the finished one at the end, don't pick up the tufts of white fur, like you can see them in the original photo. But I assure you, they are there. Oh, and if I mess up a whisker, I'll take an exacto knife and scratch it clean.

8.) More and more details as she takes form. Pretty soon I have to start on the carpet barrel she is in and I am afraid of that. It couldn't be done first, so now I have to risk the whole project on a mistake in the area that looks the simplest. HA! But I pulled it off. The hardest part is laying the fur over the carpet bits. As you can see in the final picture below, I cheated and lighted out the background enough to where all you can see is the shape of the barrel, and the fur can flow freeley without having to intersect with carpet.
9.) FINISHED!

The customer was satisfied and pleased. That is always reward enough. Almost! :-D

Please ask any questions you might have. I'm sure I either forgot something important, or didn't say "it" clear enough to be understood. Happy to help if I can.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Miller Moths

2009-06-17T09:20:00.004-06:00

This year the Miller Moths have been fierce. You are going to laugh ... but I have been herding the moths. My bathroom is completely moth free now. The family room has a greatly reduced population. The moths head for the screen door in the family room. So when I go to bed, I turn on a light near that door, and turn off all the rest of the lights in the house. (Except the Xmas tree room.) (This would be my computer room with all its many electronic lights of many colors.)

In the morning they have all gravitated to that room, so I turn off the light and open the door. Many, many fly out, and the ones that don't, I get the broom and "guide" them out the door. In the bathroom I shut the door and took the screen off the window. I shooshed them and fluffed the curtains driving them out from their hiding places. I haven't even seen one in there since.

So there you have it. The Meyer Miller Moth Round Up!

Branding

2009-06-16T20:41:00.008-06:00

Boy, is it really ever time to update my blog. I have been working feverishly over the last several weeks to complete a painting that I started quite a while ago. Have the perfect venue at the Stampede Art Show over the 4th of July holiday. It was taken from a photo I took while at the McKee ranch in Wyoming. I got the title from the old John Wayne movie "Cowboys" where he said during a branding scene, "I've been doing this for 40 years, and I never got used to that smell."

It is finally at the gallery being framed for the show. Hope you enjoy!

Now I have two commissioned pieces to complete, then I can start on what I want to do for the fall Society of Animal Artists, "Small Art Big Impressions" show. I'll need the summer to do what I want to do. Maybe when I get that far I can put it up here as a work in progress.

Been a lot of stormy weather here. Hail knocked out my satellite reception for four days until service could come and fix it. It was a five minute fix but it is going to be expensive. Sigh ...

Hope all of you are doing great out there.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

My Daffies

2009-04-26T16:00:00.007-06:00

Ok Sally, here are some pictures of my blooming daffodils. The first picture shows just what I was afraid of. We got a blizzard that didn't stop until we had 11.5" of snow on the ground. Non-stop for two days. In piles here and there, so the wind kept most of the snow off my one blooming daffie. Which of course left it without protection from the freeze. However, this flower actually did finish the blooming process. Nature is a tough ol' broad!!

This is a King Alfred, AKA known as the snow king!

These are the successfully blooming King Alfred's!

This one is a Rip van Winkle. None of these did well. They were at the wrong stage of blooming when the storm hit. They did bloom, but were small and a little sickly. Stubborn though!

This pretty daffie is a Van Sion, and is a very old variety dating back to 1620

This pretty lady is an Irene Copeland. Her variety was also stunted some by the storms.

I have one more to show, but it is still on the camera. It is a Barrii Conspicuus. An older variety too. I'll get the camera downloaded as soon as I can. These are a very proud variety standing very tall and waving their blooms high in the breezes. I have one bulb that has only just started. It was the only smart one of the bunch, waiting until the spring season was well under way before coming up.

Back soon. (Again, no laughing allowed here!)

Daffodils peeking

2009-02-21T14:58:00.003-07:00

LOOK!! My Daffodils are peeking out of the ground through the leaves! I can hardly wait to see them bloom. Except I'm terrified that it will freeze and hurt them. I mean it was 7 degrees this morning, but now this afternoon it is 50 degrees. I have never had Daffodils before, and I am a known plant killer and I'm going to be paranoid until they are really here.

I should explain a little bit. These Daffodil bulbs were the most wonderful gift from my dear friend Lynn. They were for my birthday, but didn't come until it was the right time to plant them here in Colorado. My plant skills are so bad, and didn't want any of the purple to transfer from my thumb to the bulbs, that I stood and read the directions while my son did the digging and setting. Then I took on the task of soaking them as per instructions. I really soaked them too. Being in a drought area, and the ground being poofy dry, I set the water hose on trickle and really let the water soak down the 6" where the bulbs were. Apparently I did good with that.

Now, with the ground still so dry, I'm in a dilemma about starting to water them. If it freezes for several days yet, would the water or dampness freeze around and hurt the new stems? So far I'm keeping them covered with leaves and waiting a while before I start watering.

Well, it is starting to cool down again now, and in a few minutes I have to go let the horses out of the barn, so I'll put my Daffodils to bed by covering them up again. The leaves will hold the warmth in the ground from this beautiful day.

For all of you who laughed when I said I'd write again soon. It has been a week, and for me that is soon. So you can just stop your giggles right now.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T17:39:00.006-07:00

Happy Valentines Day!

Just a few sweets for all my friends out there. Lots of Valentines this year. I think someone likes me. Ya think?!

Busy with web pages at the moment. I am working with the Greeley Art Association members to each have a page of their own on the GAA web site. So far it has been a lot of fun. First off had to figure out a way to photo paintings underglass in my house. Had that all figured out when I was in my studio and knew the process there, but after setting the studio up in the house, well, boy was there a lot of reflections. The process still works, but I just have to wait until after dark. Too many windows and stray lights. But have the process down, so the rest won't take so much time, and some of the members do have their own photos.

Also busy with the PhotoShop class I'm taking on line. The picture above is a direct result of one of my assignments. I'm really enjoying that class. I really didn't know much at all about the software. Mostly just doctored some family photos as needed, and cropped and reduced the size of photos for the web. I can't say I know what I am doing yet, but am learning and having a lot of fun.

Going to run for now. But will be back with more soon. (Stop laughing!) ...

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Happy New Year - 2009

2008-12-31T14:21:00.003-07:00

After serious & cautious consideration . . .
Your contract of friendship has been renewed for the New Year 2009!
It was a very hard decision to make. So try not to screw it up!!!
My Wish for You in 2009
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.
May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words . . .

May 2009 be the best year of your life!!!

~*~*~*~

Update - And the Bear

2008-12-31T13:53:00.005-07:00

Okay, lets give this a go again. First off, I'm sorry I haven't been around much of late. I think I've been in my usual seasonal funk for one. Much shorter this year though, which is good.

I had surgery in late August. And I have been doing just great ever since. Caused a bit of fuss to begin with when the Doctors found out I had a bi-fascicular block in my heart. The anesthesiologist just threw up! It took some doing, but my specialist said it wasn't going to cause any trouble and I could go ahead with the surgery. We did, and all is well. Doctors are so excitable.

The other day my son Fritz had to return a snow blower he had borrowed from a friend, and the only way he could do that was my pickup and trailer. Since I don't loan my stuff out, I hitched the trailer and went to pick him and the snow blower up. When I stepped into the pickup, I stepped wrong I guess, (don't even remember), and really hurt my right knee. Actually it isn't my knee, but behind the knee. The bend in the back. Hurt like a son-of-a-gun for several days. My son Hans fixed me up with an ice pack, then a heating pad and some Advil. I settled into my lounge chair and was there pretty much for the next two and a half days. I'm getting around pretty good now. Doesn't hurt just to hurt, but when I step a little off, I know it is still there.

Christmas Eve was fun. Had an "open house" for the kids to come and go, and as usual, when we are all together everything gets really funny. They are such a fun bunch. (Goobers actually!) Then Christmas Day I was invited to dinner with a new friend. The dinner was in an Assisted Living Center and we were visiting her mother. My what an elegant place that was. They had hired professional chefs to prepare the dinner, and was it ever good. The place was lovely. After dinner we sat and talked a while in the library by the fire place, then went upstairs to the theater and watched "White Christmas." Very nice day.

The new friend is Charlotte, (Charlotte's Web), and she is the Web Designer for the local Art Association. I had been a member many years ago, but signed on again. Not sure why. Just to be in a more social art scene mostly. Anyway, I got to talking with Charlotte, and she was kind of at a stand still about the idea of every member having their own page on their site. I volunteered to help her and have ended up with the job. But ... I'll get paid a little for each page I do.

I really enjoyed being a part of the SAA art shows this year. The annual Society of Animal Artists was held at the Neville Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin. I was energized to complete the small cougar piece below. It was accepted in the SAA "Small Works - Big Impressions" show held at the "Wildlife Experience" in Parker, Colorado. The show will run from November to February.

Otherwise I'm just keeping busy trying to keep up with everything and keep my head above water. You might like to know that my laundry is all caught up. ::grin:: I have to tell someone! That is one of my mother-in-law's superstitions, and for the fun of it I played along. It has sort of stayed with me. She always said that you had to be caught up with all your laundry by the first of January, or you would be behind with it all year. And I'll tell you ... that was an enormous project for that woman. She really let things go. I had a lot of laundry with four kids, at least one in diapers for a long time, but the apartment was too small to let it ever pile up.

Now I have to pay the bills, and I will have everything caught up for the year end. Whew!!!

Now for the bear part. The original painting was 14" x 19", watercolor painting and was commissioned for a calander. It was a favorite. As luck would have it, I had 8" x 10" transparencies made of four of the paintings. Years later when I tried to inquire about buying them back, I haven't been able to find the company. The transparencies are very good, and hopefully this month I'll be able to have a few giclee's made.

"Fishing the Shallows"

Until next time! Looking forward to getting some poetry written down. Its been stirring around in my head for a while now, time to get it out.

Judith

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Sick and tired ...

2008-12-13T16:43:00.007-07:00

Hello all,

I pretty much view my friend Lynn's Blog everyday. She has links to my Blog, and it has been stuck on "I'm Sorry ..." for ever, and I finally got sick of looking at it there. I'm sure she has too. So ...

To begin with, the show I talked about on that post is over now, and was a really nice group of paintings. Wonderful actually. My little cougar got a lot of attention, but didn't sell. Sigh ... Then December 6 and 7th there was another opening at the Thunderbird Gallery, and as always we have a lot of fun there. Even had some sales.

I tried to take pictures of that amazing moon we experienced a couple of nights ago. When I went out to see it, there was this massive ring around it. I couldn't get the whole thing in, but at least you can get some idea from the picture I did get: The moon is oblong because I had to stand still and hold the camera still until the shutter closed.

I thought it was pretty amazing!

.
The exciting news, for me, is that I have published my first Giclee. It is a watercolor painting, 14"x19", titled "Small Comfort." The original is available, but it is so nice to have less expensive prints to offer, and they are really beautiful. The Limited Edition is only 150 prints. The printer did an outstanding job.

"Small Comfort"

After the first of the year I'll be having Giclee's made of another watercolor, also 14"x19", titled "Fishing the Shallows." It is a Grizzly fishing a small stream.

I'll say goodbye for now, with the hopes that within a day or two I'll be back with a picture of the Bear print. Time to feed the wee little dog.

~J~

P.S. Expecting a huge temperature drop tonight. Down to +1 degree they say. Brrrrr~

I'm sorry ...

2008-10-09T13:58:00.003-06:00

Hello! I think I have abused my faithful fans for much too long. No excuse really. It has been an interesting adventure through recovery though. Kind of on again then off again. However, this is the first day I have actually felt normal. I guess my body is adjusting to the new and improved me.

There still hasn't been much in the way of excitement in my life. However I have sent the cougar off to Parker for the "Small Works - BIG Impressions" show!

FYI: It will be hosted at:
The Wildlife Experience
10035 South Peoria Street
Parker, CO 80134

Opening November 15, 2008 and will run until January 4, 2009

If you are in the area, come take a look at some of the most outstanding wildlife art produced by the members of the international Society of Animal Artists. Would love to meet you!!

Now for the down home news, my son Just got himself a horse. He is getting into renaissance history, and wants to learn the horseback/warrior games. In comes Yukon. This is one big guy. He is an 11 year old registered Shire. His color and the tumor on his face made the price right. He has been very well trained. My son was trotting him out the other day, (for pictues), and when he stopped, Yukon almost came to a sliding stop. I do wish him well.

We took the picture of him riding Yukon to show his size. My son is 6' tall, and his feet don't even come down below Yukon's belly!

Okay, enough excitement for today. I'll do my best to be back much sooner!

Kittens

2008-09-03T15:51:00.006-06:00

Just a quickie for today. Thought you all might be interested in seeing what I was doing in 1960. These three kittens are all done in a soft vine charcoal. They are on pad charcoal paper, that is now disintegrating. They were all about 8" x 10". Enjoy ...

~*~

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Morning Walk

2008-09-02T18:06:00.004-06:00

This morning I went out for a while. The morning was beautiful. Cool and it had rained some in the night. I tossed a stick for Gizmo and then just walked around the yard. Supposed to walk more each day for exercise. I watched the horses graze for a while, then a small movement caught my eye. Not ten feet from me was a young rabbit. As I watched he didn't seem all that concerned and I noticed that the branch he was "behind" had a leaf that was close to his face, so he just hoovered it right down while I watched.

Since he wasn't concerned about me I moved a little closer. He didn't move while I was looking at him, but beat feet behind the tree when I turned my back. I watched for a while and decided since he wasn't bothered with me I'd go in, get my camera, and come back. And he was still there. I started taking pictures. Than didn't bother him, so went in for the "kill" and walked right close. So this is the result of my morning walk.

A Hair Cut

2008-09-02T17:42:00.007-06:00

Hello ... Well, a lot has been keeping me busy and away from the computer. So this will be a couple of entries to catch you up. After 40 years with long hair, I finally decided to cut it. I'm not sure why, but it has been on my mind to do something with it since I broke my wrist in 2002, and was helpless to do anything with it with one hand. My daughter would have to come over and wash, comb and braid it for me. Very frustrating for a person used to, "I'll do it myself," thank you very much. There was 25" to send to the cancer society to make wigs out of. I hope it makes someone out there happy.

This then is the results. It isn't a marvelous picture, but you can sure get the idea. I was looking in the bathroom mirror while holding the camera at arms length to take the picture. So, actually it isn't all that bad! I had it cut on August 21st, just before my surgery on August 26th. It did make hospital care easier to be sure.

Sigh .....

WIP - Cougar - Number FINISHED!!

2008-08-10T21:32:00.003-06:00

Well, hello all. I can't believe it took another five days to complete this "little" painting. But I do think I have it done and done. If you see something glaring at you, please do let me know. At this point I'm not seeing anything but "done."

We have had some really good rains. More today even. It is so muggy. Like Hans would say, there an awful lot of hum-dity in the air. We are not at all used to it here, but I'll tell you what, we need the wet so bad I don't think you will find one person in Colorado who will complain. In this kind of weather, I've always been glad I had straight hair anyway.

I ended up having to have a birthday the other day. I can usually sneak by it, but not this year. In the first place, I had to renew my driver's license. I really hope that additional year doesn't show up in the picture. They are so horrible anyway. I think everyone I knew around here sang to me this year. I have messages on my phone from my daughter and two grandsons desperately trying to get me to pick up and phone. They sang even when I wasn't there. When they called I was having brunch with friends who took me out for my birthday. (They didn't, however, sing!) Trudy not only sang, but she called friends and told them to call me and sing. Fritz sang on a message the day before, so I stopped by his place to get a current version, and got a tap dance to boot! Hans sent a text and an I love you.

I got an email from a friend that was quite a hoot! I'm going to share it with you. She probably won't appreciate that, but here goes anyway:

"Today is your birthday? How long has that been going on? Lordy!

OK, counting on all fingers and toes, dividing by the pinkie and multiplying by two thumbs (carry the four), I still come up with you're older than me!

I hope you do something outrageous, even it is only enjoy a long, leisurelysuper-hot bubble bath! OK, if you want to go to the bar and chase men,that's an option too...but be careful. They are a lot slower than they used to be, and you might catch one.

Have you noticed how gravity is so much stronger than when we were kids?Try jumping up and down a few times and tell me if you don't think that is true.

On the plus side, they have really improved bras, and a dang good thing (see gravity information above). We can follow ourselves around all day long,with the right bra on.

Still waiting for the Depends folks to come out with the thong version.There's a challenge for them! Their regular style isn't even as good as the pull-ups kids wear, and with a whole bunch of Baby Boomers headed their way,they better do something about style!

Now that you're all cheered up, see paragraph 2 again, and get after the outrageous whatever-you-want-to-do action. And I don't want to hear about hot milk and early to bed! At the least, a dirty book?"

See what all I have to put up with!!! Had a great day!

G'nite for now...

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Cougar Update 7

2008-08-05T22:38:00.003-06:00

Yeah! The whole 35 square inches have been covered. Doesn't sound like much does it. This does not yet mean that this little painting is finished, but it is close. I'll be taking tomorrow away from it, then will come back and "pick" at it. I have to soften the outline of the cougar more still, and have to see if the rocks need tinkering with. Some are too rough yet I believe and need some softening, while others need the value deepened. Won't know until Thursday sometime when I sit down with it again.

Let me know if you see something that doesn't look right.

Today only reached 91 degrees. One more day to the record. 24 now. But tonight is very cool, and tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid to upper 80's. Looking forward to breakfast with a friend in the morning.

You all have a good day Wednesday.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Cougar update 6

2008-08-04T23:37:00.003-06:00

Okay, time for today's update. Worked on this a long time today. I'm thinking I can finish the empty space tomorrow, then take a day off, or two, and go back and work the details. Smooth the rocks where they are too rough, or visa versa. Be sure the cougar is in its space properly. Then sign it and make a final scan for the show entry. I'll be glad to have this one off, and I have to get the small drawing that is going to the Annual show off and there like between the 15th and the 30th of August. I think. Will have to take a look. So much to keep on this old brain!

This should be the last of the over 90 degree days making the new record 25 days from the old 18. I'll certainly be glad to have the temperature go down some.

We shall see.

Good night all.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Good morning

2008-08-04T08:46:00.003-06:00

Just a quick note this morning. Last night we had a bit of rain. It didn't last long, but it was long enough to make the ground wet and even better, cool off the air. It is almost 9:00 now and it is still only about 70 degrees. The miracle is that when the sun come up and I was looking out on the yard everything sparkled. Not with dew, but the light was hitting little green blades of grass. The dry brown crunchy yard, after only a hint of rain, was perceptibly greener.

It will be another 90 degree plus day today, but that will be easy because I was granted this mornings joy with a little cool, and a hint of emerald green.

WIP - Cougar update 5

2008-08-03T22:45:00.003-06:00

Okay, another day of rocks. Did go back and anchor the cougar to the ground and darkened him enough to put him behind the rocks. At the very end I'll be putting in a few weeds, and some whiskers, but until then it will be rocks, and more rocks.

Today was another hot, 101 degree day, and 23 days in a row over 90. When I hear the temperatures south of here, or Mohave way, I have to say that I guess we don't have it so bad here. It did rain for just long enough to take the ground temperature down, and the breeze through the wet cooled the air this afternoon. For this I am very grateful.

Hopefully another update tomorrow, but won't promise. I'm going to have to get some other things done too! (I'm running out of clean dishes, and I don't have a dishwasher!)

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Cougar Update IV

2008-08-02T23:59:00.003-06:00

Okay, right off I know this is a bad scan, but you'll get the idea and I'm too tired to go back and scan it again. Also, I know that I should have waited until the last to do the tree and sky to surprise you with the color, but I gotta tell you, I was starved to do something of color and that took different brush strokes. So here you are. Enjoy and good night!!

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

A couple of days past

2008-08-01T16:50:00.010-06:00

When I opened my blog just now, at 4:49 p.m., the temperature gauge read 103 degrees. Our record for consecutive days over 90 degrees was 18. And that record was set 107 years ago. Today is day 20 of the new record. Now what should I do with this child; urge it on, or shoot it down?
.
Enough of that.
.
Since I haven't posted an update on the cougar in a couple of days, I thought I'd just give a day to day accounting. I should be posting the cougar again tomorrow.
.

A while back we had a wind storm that while it was furious, was not the micro-burst wind that I told you about earlier when the side of the neighbor's barn was peeled off by the wind. But this one was out of the west north west, and it was kicking up all the loose dirt in its path. I noticed it at first because of the yellowish light out the window, something you look for with tornado conditions. The picture shows the dirt in the air so thick that it blocks the sun to the degree you can look at it. Like most of nature, on one hand, beautiful, and on the other, frightening.
.

.Then just Wednesday I was attracted by a Robin outside of the bedroom window. It was making these very melodious tones, and as I watched, the bird was preening itself, and sounded very like it was experiencing an extreme pleasure. Just as I was feeling I was intruding, this fairly large object sailed right past me and smashed into my bedroom window. I mean he really did a nasty header into the glass. This one is a Flicker. Beautiful larger bird, but very stunned. Its beak was open and head turned sideways and he would try to shake "it" off from time to time. But every time he took a step, it was wobbly. I took a couple of pictures through the window, then went out and to photo him. That was when I knew for sure he had really addled his brain. It took quite a while, but he walked farther and farther, little by little, and finally he was gone. Really glad he recovered before the cats spotted him!
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Today the winter hay arrived. I have a barn full of the sweet smelling alfalfa. The horses were lounging by the barn gate the whole time, talking to me with soft nickers hoping to get a bite of new season hay. The trailer left quite a bit behind on the ground, so I shoveled some treats their way. Trouble is, they are typical kids. Today a treat, and tomorrow they will be at the gate expecting more, and this time it most likely won't be soft nickers.
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Have a good day. Stay cool. And don't complain any more than you have to.
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See you tomorrow. (Late!)

WIP - Cougar 3rd Update

2008-07-30T00:59:00.002-06:00

Update #3 on the Cougar.

The rocks are looking pretty solid now and am moving on to ...

more rocks.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

New settings

2008-07-29T10:52:00.002-06:00

Hello to all my friends and readers out there. I have begun to get a lot of automated spam on my blog which is most annoying. So, to help reduce unwanted solicitors cluttering up my Blog, I have activated some new settings. One of which is word verification. I never understood how this was helpful, and always found it annoying to have to type in the letters and numbers on a graphic, but now know that the step takes a human to type in the "code" and automatic spam just can't read or type.

Those of you who have a subscription to my Blog will not be affected by this, and you will continue receiving your updates as I post something new. (The subscription form is below my profile on the left side, and only requires your e-mail address to activate.) Since I have no way of knowing who all my subscribers are, You might be receiving two of these messages. My apologies in advance.

For the rest of you, thank you for taking the time to take a look and comment from time to time. It makes my day to know that you enjoy my Blog enough to say hi.

Western Regards,

Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Cougar

2008-07-27T22:50:00.007-06:00

Okay, I'm pooped. I have been working on the cougar all day. Took a couple of breaks. Gizmo instisted on it!

Except for softening the cougar's outline so he appears to be coming out of the cave and not just a "cookie cutter" effect on top of the darkness, I think he is finished.

The rocks have only begun to take form, so bear with me on this.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Happy to help if I can.

Enjoy!

~J~

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Cougar

2008-07-25T00:04:00.006-06:00

When I last wrote I was expecting to be in surgery Tuesday the 22nd. That's been three days ago already. Jeez. Anyway, that was canceled. Seems not all the test results were in, nor even completed. So my primary Dr. took care of that. By Thursday all the reports were in and I was given the okay to get the surgery. My Dr. was going to have to explain to the surgeon and the anesthesiologist, why the bifascicular block in my heart wasn't going to be a problem. He suggested that without the explanation, when the anesthesiologist read the ECG, he'd just throw up! So now I wait for surgery to be rescheduled.

In the meantime, the little piece I'm painting for the SAA's "Small Art, BIG Impressions" show this fall, opening at the Wildlife Experience in Parker, Colorado on November 4th, is finally beginning to look right. The cougar is so small that even my magnifying light is barely enough. But I'm finally getting the watercolor to mold its body.

Have done nothing but pencil illustrations for a long time, and I guess it's just taking a while to get the watercolor brush going again. Too much time away from the work I should be doing.

The whole painting is 5" x 7" making the cougar about an 1 3/4" high x 2 1/4" wide. The cougar is the watercolor start, and the source picture of the rocks and cave is where the cougar will be walking out of.

I'm pleased with the start now, took a while. Now to get it finished in time. It has to be entered by August 17th.

We actually got one heck of a thunder and lightening storm tonight and with it came this real cool wet stuff. Took me a while to remember it was rain. It was a nice one too, and cool! I took my popcorn and sat out on the porch to enjoy the wind and cool and the wonderful fresh smell of the rain.

Delicious.

Good night all.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

New Old Motor Home

2008-07-20T14:59:00.009-06:00

I have forgotten completely to show off "my" motor home. Took a while to get the engine back up to snuff, and of course cleaning the years of dust. It was Mom and Dad's since 1985, and they toured all over in it. They bought it for an ambitious trip through Canada to Alaska, and then back down the coast to Washington, then back to Colorado.

It is a 1984/5 Toyota pickup with a 1985 Dolphin camper on its back. Mom and Dad always took good care of their things, and passed that on to me, but I cannot believe how well this little camper is preserved. I know my parents, and camped with them all my childhood, so I know for a fact that Mom cooked three times a day for Dad. Sandwiches for lunch maybe, but I'm sure there was always coffee and probably soup. Then the catch of the day for supper. So, when you see the stove you will not believe that she spent years of camping trips cooking in that camper.

In this one I am standing at the door looking toward the back of the camper. The galley on the left, the bed in the rear across the back, closet over and to the right of the bed, then the bench and table on the right side.

This one looks the other way. Back to front. The driver's seats are all the way front and a step down. The overhead bunk is low, so I usually go out of the camper to get into the driver's seat. You can see the over the cab bunk bed, where I'll be storing my easel and art supplies. To the left and beyond the table is the bathroom, which has a potty, shower and sink. (Not a large space.) It is my hope that I can drive someplace in Colorado and just sit there for several days. Hiking, taking sketches and pictures. Maybe read a book. Mostly just being outside in our beautiful state. (And higher than here. It is currently 3:20 p.m. and 101 degrees.)

Of course I'll have Gizmo with me. It will be interesting to see where he will settle and call his own. It will be different. I don't plan on, or especially intend on using KOA's. Will first set my sights on the valley where Hans is and settle in there for a while.

I guess this it. Hope you like my little home away from home. I'm sure it will give me a lot of pleasure, as it did for Mom and Dad. Now if I can just take as good a care of it as they did ...

Good intentions

2008-07-19T12:21:00.007-06:00

"Good intentions just don’t get the job done, like procrastination doesn’t do the job .... " That would be me getting my blog started for the past two weeks. Still no rain here. My son mowed the lawn and took care of trimming the long tree branches. The brown "lawn" crunches!

.
My writing is off at the moment. Writing down ideas, but not taking the time to put it all together. However, I have been working on the cat portrait commission, and it is going well. Her cat was blind, so I am painting her just as she was. She is a pretty cat. I have been a long time with this commission. So, it is time. I will stop on this one for a while to finish a small piece for entry in the SAA "Small works, BIG Impressions" show. I also have a pencil portrait on my drawing board. It has been laid out and is ready to go, so I will advance on it as soon as the small SAA piece is done, and then go back and forth between the two portraits as I need a break from one or the other. The system works out pretty well, and I don’t generally get so tired of one media that I have to take a week off, say. I can just keep on going.
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I seem to be getting slower by the day. Only I’m not just slower, but the joints take longer to smooth out so I can walk more like a humanoid and not a primate! My eyes are getting old too, and I have the beginnings of a cataract on my right eye. Dr. says it isn’t going to cause me any trouble for a long time, but I have him check it once a year anyway!
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Yesterday was quite a day. My friend had called me to come help him get his printer to work. I ended up having to bring it home here to get on line to download the newer printer drivers he needed and it all worked out well. I think I got lucky. I wasn’t done with that until about 3 in the p.m.. When I got home I checked my messages. I had calls from both the Women’s Clinic, and from the hospital. I expected that the Women’s Clinic was calling to confirm my Monday appointment. One of the calls did that, but the other one was more vague, so called back and the gal said that as near as she could find, the call must have been to confirm that the procedure they were going to do Monday was approved by Medicare. So ... Then I returned the call from the hospital, which was a gal in Pre-Op. She had called to go over my medical history for my surgery on Tuesday the 22nd. I sort of asked her what surgery. She had all the right information, and while I had hoped that the surgery could be done ASAP, this was really fast. I figured that since it had been two weeks between appointments with the Dr. who would be doing the surgery, that I wouldn’t have a surgical appointment until the end of July. SO!! I will have my surgery on this coming Tuesday at 9:40 a.m. This could be changed. At the time of my call they hadn’t gotten the confirmation back from the whole surgical team, but barring any problems ... I guess I’m on my way. With this timing, I’ll definitely have the time to heal before fall/winter chores.
.

This year the cotton off the cotton wood trees was as bad as I have ever seen it. It drifted against the house, and along the driveway. I didn’t think the stuff was ever going to quit coming down. Now if I’d been 7 or 8 years old, I’d have delighted in the wind fall, (so to speak), so I could fill the pillows for my dollies! Can you believe me playing with dolls? Filling the pillows for my sister yes, but me ... ol’ Tomboy me! Well, I remember doing that none the less.
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I have finally changed my house insurance. Have been with the company for 37 years. They just did an upgrade, or reevaluation of the cost to rebuild and was able to lower the monthly payment some. I have, for the same many years, had my car insurance with the same, other, company and when I went to add the motor home to it, they suggested I give them the opportunity to price my home insurance with them as it looked like they could also lower my car payments. So I did that, and I’ll be saving right at $41.00 a month on the house, and about $30.00 a year on each of the vehicles. And, I was able to add benefits/coverage I couldn’t afford before. My insurance was already fairly low because of no accidents and because the cars are all older and, of course, because I am older and because I have enough vehicles to be under "fleet" insurance. This gives my kids a great giggle. So looks like I’m set for a while in the insurance department. Actually at the price of gas these days, I could probably take the insurance off all but one and they would become my mothball fleet.
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Best get busy. I have a few things to do before going into completely helpless mode for a while. Maybe I’ll be better at Blogging, do you think? What I’d have to say might be oatmeal, but then you never know. It might get pretty funny with me trying to do things around here, under the restriction not to lift anything over 10 lbs. (Gizmo is really not going to like that one!) (He is 11 lbs!)
.

"We are all different expressions of one reality, different songs of one singer,different dances of one dancer, different paintings - but the painter is one." -- Osho, Indian Spiritual Leader

Noisy Morning

2008-06-29T13:31:00.009-06:00

I woke up this morning to a raucous noise! Started out low, and gradually got to a pretty serious volume. Turns out a gaggle of Grackles had found the cat food bowl on my porch and were vying for positions close enough to snatch a piece. They were perched on the rail and on chairs and on the buggy, while the one bird on the bowl had its beek open screaming and screeching its head off to keep its position. Of course he couldn't eat anything when he was so busy scolding everyone else. Finally, he'd get pushed off and the next one, not having a better plan, just stood on the bowl screaming too.

I sure wish I could have gotten a picture of the scene. But the buggy, blocked the view from the french doors off the bedroom. And to come around to the family room, no matter how slow or quietly I moved -- well -- they sensed I was there and flew off. The cat food must have been really good though because they kept coming back to try again and again.

Okay already, I'm up now.

This week is supposed to get hot again, but today is lovely. Light breeze and upper 70's. My son has been here all weekend working on the Lady. (His dad's old caddy.) Enjoying himself. Yesterday we finally got an icecream cake for his birthday. I think he was hoping we'd forget since it was his 40th. Of course we couldn't be that sensitive. We're family after all. He was on the road during the time of his actual birth date. The child will soon be as old as I am.

Well, have a good week all.

It Starts

2008-06-27T18:53:00.004-06:00

It Starts

She could not understand what I was saying.
I was just telling her about my summer vacation.
Our annual family motor tour.

Mountains with snow that stops where the clouds begin
Pines that climb the mountain
until the air is so thin they can no longer grow.

Snow melting from the peaks
becoming ribbons of liquid ice,
tumbling faster and faster
polishing rocks into pebbles
until the stream becomes a river
flowing with deep silent power to the sea.

Deer in the forest and horses on the trails.
Eagles dancing on the thin fresh air.
Rocks as big as a house.

Puzzlement covered her face
Disbelief in the slant of her eyes.

I was just as puzzled.
Had she never been there?
Could she have never seen a mountain?
Had she never been out of town?
Was that possible?

I went home - still pondering
Realizing how fortunate am I.

I changed my words into a picture
so she could understand.
Her eyes grew so big.

She was amazed at what she saw.
I was amazed at her reaction.

I brought her a new world
Could I do it again?
I drew another picture, and another, and another ...

I have never stopped being amazed.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer --

The Bumble Bee Murder Mystery

2008-06-27T18:04:00.014-06:00

Hello all! It has been quite a while since I have written in my blog, and decided that while some of you have seen and heard this story, that a lot of you haven't, so here is the tale of the mystery of the bumble bee murder that happened at my house a couple of years ago. Enjoy!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once upon a time, on a day I was late getting home from work, I put the key in the lock and right away I knew there was something wrong. There were no greeting sounds from my little dog scratching to get me to hurry up and open the door, and whining to tell me all about his day. My heart jumped into my throat! What could have happened to him.

Rushing now, I flew into the kitchen, and still no Gizmo. As I started to the hall, I noticed there were some innards on the floor. What in the world ...

So I followed the trail and there were more and more going down the hall. My gosh, there were guts everywhere.

As I turned into the bedroom, the trail led right up to Mr. Bumble Bee.

Oh my gosh, there he was. Guts still coming out of his little body. Wings torn off and lying about. What a horrible death. I was about to pick up his torn and battered body when I heard a noise coming from under the bed. I continued to follow the trail ....

And sure enough, the murderer was still in the room. There, trying to look innocent and hide his involvement, was my little Gizmo. He still had guts on his head, and body parts around him. Oh poor Mr. Bumble Bee, how could you kill your favorite friend? He had no explanation, so there was only one thing left to do ...

Gizmo had to be banished to time out in his pout house. I feel so bad, but there was nothing I could do. I could not condone murder in this house. Slowly he began to look sorry for his sins, but I was hard hearted and wouldn't let him come out.

Lesson, don't bump off a bumble bee or you'll be banned to life in a very cramped pout house. No room to run. No toys. Only bread and water.

Sorry Gizmo, this hurts me more than it hurts you.

~ The End ~

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Another wild day

2008-05-23T18:55:00.003-06:00

Okay, another windy day! Today the storm got closer to me than it did yesterday. We had what is called a "gustnado" ... Sounds weird, but they say it is a wind storm that gets up to 70 mph. One came blowing through here at about 3:25 this afternoon. I went out to the porch to see if it was a tornado forming, and had to hold on to the post. When I saw a racoon running from the barn area right past me on the porch and kept on heading north, I knew he was trying to outrun the storm, and that if he was that concerned I'd better be. It passed in a total of maybe 10 minutes. I have debris everywhere, but there was no damage. The noise I heard was next door though, and the wind took off the entire west side of his barn/shop. Plastered it up against the east side of the barn next door to him. The barn is probably 85' long, and two storys high, so that is a lot of siding to put back up.

They had just gotten full bore into the project of cleaning up the area and practically gutting their house to renovate it. This is going to set them back. Right after the wind there was a complete calm which almost rattled me more, I thought, "Oh gosh, is this the eye of the storm?" But over two hours later, it is still calm.

I hope it stays that way.

This was one wild and woolly day ...

2008-05-22T23:11:00.013-06:00

Like I said, wild and woolly ... I spent the day with computer troubles ... during a rare large tornado. We had very unusual conditions. The wind was cold and out of the south east. Traveling at 30 to 52 mph, it rushed up against the front range causing an updraft forcing the air to circle around back on itself. The tornado was from 3/4 to a mile wide and traveled 35 miles. Then either formed again, or skipped over to Laramie, Wyoming and formed again. Windsor, Colorado got the worst of the storm. The photo on the right is someones house. Or was ... At the left is a photo of the tornado. You can see how wide it was, and when you think of it traveling at 30 to 52 mph, you could hardly get out of the way. I mean we're talking speed limit speed here! On the west side of Greeley it took out a dairy. They lost about 25 cows, and had a time rounding up the other 375. They had trucks come in and transport them to safer ground. But think of their mess. They are milk cows that have to be milked twice a day. They have no barn. And that is a lot of cows to deal with without the proper setup. I wouldn't want to hand milk 375 cows. The tornado took out several new housing developments in Windsor, but also some of the old historic section of the small town. It is estimated that over 100 homes were lost. This photo is from the old section of town. I don't know what business, but it might have been a mill at one time. And then there was the assorted vehicles turned over on the road. The storm also turned over five tanker railroad cars, and there was at least one grain train car that was upended. Over turned vehicles littered the highway along the tornado's full path. The most poignant picture I saw while watching the news was a young boy, maybe 10, and he was standing at what looked like curbside. He had a hold of his dogs leash, and he was hugging his pillow to his chest. His eyes were full of shock and disbelief. At least I only have to re-rake and not rebuild. I am counting my blessings.

As for my computer troubles ... thinking about how to tell you the story, it is so complicated. All I wanted to do was install software to connect two computers together for the purpose of transferring files. Sounds slick and simple. Well, it wasn't. And when I finally got to the point of printing out the instructions so I had them right there in my face, the computer froze up on me. The monitor went blank and stayed blank. It had a sort of glow in the background, and the on/off button wouldn't turn it off. Nothing worked, and my daughter and her husband are telling me it is dead. Dead Jim. Possibly there was a surge during the storm, and even though I have a surge protector, it killed my lovely new flat panel monitor. I'm told that is a problem with them. Or can be. It is new enough to be under warranty, but I so hate the hassle. At least I do have my laptop, (I haven't killed that yet), and I was able to unplug the satellite cable from the desk top and plug it right in. So far that is working perfectly for me.

It is midnight thirty and after the day today I think I'd best shut down and go to bed.

I hope you all had a much better day!

Be well and take care.

Credits: These photos were taken from the news coverage of CBS 4 Denver.com. The photo of the tornado, specifically was an Ullmann photo.

Two in a row by golly

2008-05-18T16:26:00.005-06:00

I was reading from Ted Kooser's book, "Local Wonders, Seasons in the Bohemian Alps," and got to thinking about how much I remember from my days in Kansas as he talked about the osage orange hedges, and then about garage sales. This brought me to remember a poem I wrote about 22 years ago to a boy I went to grade school with. Kindergarten specifically. I shared this with a friend, and then shared it on PoetrySoup.com so thought I really should share it with everyone. Someday I'll meet this boy again, and can let him know in person.

"His First Love"

I remember the heavy round wooden tables
Built low to the ground,
Just right for kindergartners.
He would always sit close.

I didn't notice.

Out-of-doors on the playground was a giant oak.
He made me an acorn pipe, then taught me how.
I made lots of acorn pipes, giving them all away;
Even his.

He stood quiet with little fists pushed deep in his pockets.
But I didn't notice.

The sun was goldenShining through high windows
Down on the low round table,
Particles of dust dancing merrily on the beams.

He handed me a present,
And as the royal blue paper with tiny pin stripes
Crossed the sun's raysThe stripes lit up like diamonds.

Gently opening the paper,
Careful not to lose the sparkles,
I could feel the whole class watch.
I was embarrassed.

Inside was a book about a velveteen kitten.
She was black and feminine.
She wore a pink bow,
And she was fuzzy to the touch.

I treasured that book.
As time went by I rubbed the kitty's fur
Until she was loved slick and smooth.

I don't remember saying thank you.
I'm sure I did.
Surely the teacher would have reminded me;
There in front of the whole class.

Over four decades ago - yet -
The memory of that special gift is as clear and bright
As was the sun beam that day.
And I would like you to know Jimmy Wilson;

That I noticed.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer --

I'm back!

2008-05-17T13:26:00.008-06:00

Well, I don't know how back I am, but time to at least say hello. I am finally through all the illustrations for the third adoption book. The name of the books has been revamped to "Without a Home." This made a major improvement on the books apprearance. This book is for little furry critters. There is a hamster, chinchilla, rat, (Reggie), bunny and ferret. This set was a bit more challenging, but enjoyed the work. Here is a preview on one of the illustrations:

This is Bonnie and her new friend. Or she thought it was a new friend, and then realized that she was a friend from way before. She ended up with a very special new home.

I am going to be looking into making a few prints of the illustrations so the author has something else to offer when advertising/selling the books. Also, and this is pretty scary for me, I have entered Reggie the rat into the annual Society of Animal Artists show. I certainly didn't think a domestic rat would be subject matter for that show, but was strongly encouraged to enter ... so ... I actually did. I won't hear until the end of May if the drawing was accepted or not, but it's getting to be "nervous time" already! I'll be sure to let you all know how that goes. Very prestigeous show, and I have not entered any of my art work in it for years. Mostly because I hadn't been doing much art work. So, we shall see. It has been so long since I made an entry for this annual show, I'll bet they have to look up to see if I am actually a member!! (Sad isn't it!) I have an old commission on my drawing table now, and one I want to do for the next SAA show. Wish me good luck. I'll need it.

I have been enjoying my PoetrySoup web site. It is so good to be surrounded by supportive like minded people. I have some poetry going around in my mind and looking forward to writing more again soon. But ... there is the spring raking to get done first, darn the luck.

I got a new little trailer to help me out with the yard work. Now I won't have to beg a boy to help me get the camper shell on and off the pickup just to do the work around the yard. And with the trailer being a lot lower to the ground, it will be easier for me to fill and empty it back on the burn pile. Plus, it has a ramp on the back so I can get my lawn mower to repair if I need to, or haul a few bales of hay. I'm pleased and lucky to have the new good tool.

The weather here has been pretty crazy. Wind, cold and a little bit of rain one day, and then sunny and hot the next. I really don't want to look like I'm complaining though. The cool/cold is nicer for me than the hot, and we need all the moisture we can get. It is soooo dry here. The pasture is almost to the point that it will feed the horses and I won't have to. Soon I'll be free to take care of all the medical maintenance I want to get done, and then the motor home trips I want to take. There are three. To visit my artist friend in Boulder, Wyoming, my quilter friend in Story, Wyoming, and the valley where Hans' ashes are. It is a beautiful area, and I can't wait to just hike and photo and sketch to my hearts content. Of course the trips wouldn't be right if I didn't have my Gizmo along to keep me company.

Until next time ... enjoy your spring.

"We are all different expressions of one reality, different songs of one singer,different dances of one dancer, different paintings - but the painter is one." -- Osho, Indian Spiritual Leader

"His Funeral"

2008-04-14T22:53:00.005-06:00

I cannot believe that a month has gone by already since my last post. I'm sorry about that and will try to do better. However, I'll be in a marithon for the next 3 weeks to complete the last of the third adoption book. But I'll try.

The title is odd here, but it is the title of a poem I wrote in honor of Hans' 68th birthday, April 9, 2008. It is a limerick. Actually I don't like limericks. Seldom read one I liked. However, when I started this poem, it sort of began to fit the meter of the limerick, so I ran with it. Once I checked the rules for a limerick, it went pretty fast. So ...

"His Funeral"

That he planned his funeral is factual

And being a prankster quite actual

He prerecorded his voice

So when we kneeled on the joist

He said, "Hi there! Don't I look natural."

~*~

This has been getting a lot of good and fun reviews. And the fun part is that this really was something he talked about doing. He used to laugh and laugh at the thought of someone coming up to his casket during the viewing and hearing him say that. Sometimes he would think of another phrase to add, but this one was his favorite. He never got as far as actually recording his voice, but he really enjoyed planning it!

There has been another snow or two since the St. Patty's day snow. One about 3" and very, very wet. Was the first real moisture we had this spring so far. Today was 77 degrees. Brought out buds on the tulips and the graphyesenth.

My son Hans has been working on Mom and Dad's old camper, and it is running like a top. Now for all the little nuisence quirks. Like the gas tank gauge not working. Worked fine when the engine didn't work, but not now that the engine does. Go figure. It will take a little time to find all the little stuff. Going to have to look for an owner's manual for the camper part. Hope I can find one on line. Wouldn't want to do something wrong starting the heater or the fridge etc..

I am looking forward to loading up my art supplies, camera's and laptop and go someplace quiet to draw or write. Where I plan to go probably won't have internet service, but oh well! I'll just have to "rough it." I'm expecting that Gizmo will get quite used to his new and small home. We'll have a good time I'm sure.

Time for bed me thinks. See you the next time I get around to it.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer --

St. Patrick's Day Snow

2008-03-17T12:30:00.006-06:00

Well, I guess this should end all that "Spring" talk I've been doing!

Took this from my dining room window. Not yet willing to get out in it.

This taken from the front window facing North.

I have even been working on a poem about the brown leaves, flattened by the drifts of winter and all that kind of stuff. I guess that will have to go back on the shelf until I can see the smashed and dirty brown leaves so I can accurately discribe them.

The snow started late last night, and I don't think it snowed much past midnight. The temperature is up to about 38 degrees now, so this "spring" snow won't last long. March is the snowiest month in Colorado anyway! Sigh. This is good though. There hasn't been any snow or moisture to speak of since the first big storm of the season. The mountains have record amounts, and it snows all the time, but not where I am. This will help the Iris and the Grapehyacinth's as they are already trying to peek out.

Looks like I am going to work at getting the camper fixed and ready for summer. Will be nice to have it at the ready. It is a Toyota, (1983), but I'll bet it has better mileage than my car. I'm looking forward to loading it up for a run. Get all my portable art supplies, camera's and laptop readied for downloading the pictures. I have always, so far, waited to download on the desk top at home. Have a couple of friends up in Wyoming that I want to visit again this year. Again for one of my friends, and it will be the first time I visit the other one.

"We are all different expressions of one reality, different songs of one singer,different dances of one dancer, different paintings - but the painter is one." -- Osho, Indian Spiritual Leader

Senior moment.

2008-03-12T16:51:00.000-06:00

Saturday night was concert night. I was looking forward to it. The program was the Spring Pops Concert. They were playing Leonard Bernstein's music. One of the sets is the Westside Story, composed in 1960. Should have been a good evening, but when I went to the bathroom to get ready, there was this strange noise. I finally found that a pipe had burst and water was leaking all over in the crawl space. And that is exactly what it means too. A crawl space. A Halloween decorated crawl space. The plumber found that there was a shut off valve close to the break and that worked. The line was for water to my studio, and I'm not using water in there currently, so ... done and done.

My son Hans is out back working on his car. He had bought himself a very bright yellow VW Bug. He needed something that wasn't going to cost him $50 every time he drove to his place out in the country. Anyway, he was screaming that little Bug down the country road, and hit a Jack Rabbit. I can just see this yellow blur flying down the road, and the Jack Rabbit only having enough time for his eyes to get big before the hit. Really messed with the plastic grill and fog lights. He thought that was all it was, but discovered that it dented the air conditioning coil just enough to rub up against the radiator. I think he finally managed to get about a 1/2" clear between them, without damaging the coils, so they shouldn't rub anymore. He'll be keeping an eye on it for a while to be sure. Doesn't need those kinds of problems. They wouldn't be cheap, and he cannot afford the expense right now.

Time to tell on my own self. Had a senior moment today. Well, yesterday AND today really. Yesterday I spent a lot of time cleaning and dusting and moving storage boxes out of the living room so it would be presentable. I had an appointment for 11:00 this morning here at the house. At noon I finally called to find out if everything was okay, and found out her appointment is for tomorrow at 11:00, not today. I had in my head that today was the 13th and continued with that assumption without checking it out. Like, before I made the phone call. Then, she said why don't we meet at a restaurant, and we can do our business over lunch. I said that would be just fine. It would have been dusty again tomorrow anyway!

~J~

Chicken CPR

2008-03-06T15:02:00.003-07:00

A fun video was sent to me from my friend Lynn Thomas. It is a clip from a Jay Leno show. His guests are Terry Bradshaw, and a lady from Arkadelphia, AR, to tell her story about giving CPR to a chicken.

This is hilarious, if only for watching Terry unable to stop laughing.

Enjoy!

God Bless Colorado

2008-03-02T13:19:00.005-07:00

I just have to laugh. I don't know why people have to control their lives. (And I'm one of them.) (Be quiet Wayne.) Colorado shows us everyday how futile that is. Yesterday we broke a record high of 75 degrees. No wind, just afternoon sunshine that felt hot on the skin. What a pleasurable respite from winter.

Amazingly, I must have automatically decided for my body that the day was the norm, because here I am freezing my self clear to the shivers. Today the temperature is 32 degrees, and the wind is blowing with a purpose, AND, there is snow covering the ground. I am absolutely unable to get warm. The furnaces are set at the very same setting they were yesterday, but today they too are grumbling and growling and seemingly not getting the job done.

Even Gizmo, curled up on my lap as I type, is only getting one small patch warm. When I stick my hand under his blanket, I get this dirty look as if to say, "What did you do that for, and get it out of here."

Well, I think I'll go now and get some cheese to go with my whine. Or even better, some hot chocolate, a lap quilt and a good book.

Have a good day. Til' next time ..... ~J~

"We are all different expressions of one reality, different songs of one singer, different dances of one dancer, different paintings - but the painter is one." -- Osho, Indian Spiritual Leader

Sun on my face!

2008-02-29T23:46:00.003-07:00

Good evening! It is time for bed. It is hard to believe that this was the scene out front just a week or so ago, when they are predicting 70 degrees for tomorrow. Have been getting some sun on my face for days now. Yea! Need all the vitamin D I can get.

Tomorrow is breadfast with friends at the Double Clutch Cafe. A good thing to have to look forward to each week. This last week I wrote a poem for a poetry contest on PoetrySoup.com. The "rules" were that it had to be a 5 line vignette on a book author. I did mine on Dean Koontz. What do you think?

Fear

He draws you in
using compelling mental images
of atmosphere and entryways;
state rooms; glades; soft nudges.
Letting your fear flourish unaware.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer --

Cat Story Number Five

2008-02-25T17:29:00.012-07:00

This is the one you have all been waiting for. The last one. Well, maybe it is the one I have been waiting for! :-) Okay, Remember Tasha, the mother, taking the two remaining kittens into town where she knew she could find enough food for them. Well, they are in town now, and are found, actually outside of a shelter. The mother and the two kittens were in separate crates, and when they were adopted, it soon became apparent they were all the same family. They do have the same recognizable coloring. The three of them were adopted together.

The second illustration is a different story. They are two cats who were friends and spent the mornings sunning themselves on the fence. The owner of Jelly, the one on the right, built the ledge for them. The other cat there is Justin. He is the long lost son of May.

The cat's name in picture three is May, and she is looking longingly out the window of her adopted home. She had been separated from her son when he was very young, and spent hours at the window believing someday she would again come across his path. There is a cat in the distance where she is looking and as it turns out it is her long lost kitten now grown. (On the fence shown above, and barely visible.) She can tell he has a good life and a good home, so she can now rest easy and enjoy her own new home.

I have enjoyed sharing these stories with you. Thank you for your interest. I can save up all your wonderful compliments now for a cold and rainy day when I feel "abused." I'm so abused, can't you tell!

Now, to work on some poetry, and the illustrations for book three.

Love and appreciate you all. ~J~

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Cat Story Four

2008-02-24T10:12:00.006-07:00

This is the story of Smokie. He is the one that was hit by a car. A good samaritan had picked him up and she took him to the vet. It was touch and go for a while, but he finally woke up from the surgery. Ali, the Dr's assistant wanted to take him home, but had two cats, and they were old and set in their ways. They laid around a lot and just knew that the new active kitten would not fit it, or would be shunned by the older pair.

As it turned out, with the injury to his leg, he wasn't so active and fit in well with Alexis and Athena. And he is no longer "The Little Gray Kitten," but has a new name. She calls him Apollo.

Ali had always been shy about a bad scar she had and never worn shorts, not wanting anyone to see it. But a scar didn't seem to bother Apollo, and he lived his life not caring what others thought. Watching him she thought that maybe she had been foolish and put on a pair of shorts and T-shirt and went out. The scar is there, but doesn't change who I am.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Cat story three

2008-02-23T14:20:00.007-07:00

This is the story of Lily. She is one of the four kittens who got lost. She was hiding under a car in a parking lot when she witnessed her brother Smokie being hit by a car. She ran away in fear and ended up taking refuge under a huge dumpster behind a store. She was rescued by a sweet man who took her home. But his apartment had rules against animals, and when Joe's girlfriend came over that night, she reminded him that he couldn't keep her. After a few days, he finally took her to the kennel.

His girlfriend noticed how much Joe was missing the adorable little kitten and finally decided she would go down to the kennel and see if she was still there. Her apartment allowed animals, so figured Lily could stay at her place. She was excited to surprise Joe. When she got there she spotted a kitten that looked just like Lily. His name was Grayson. He took to her right away, and she decided to adopt him for herself. The lady from the kennel, listening to her story said, "Follow me." They went to the back room where the lost and found was. There in the back was Lily.

She took them both home, and from that time on, much more time was spent at the girlfriend's apartment than Joe's. And the kittens got along great.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Story two of the cats

2008-02-22T13:23:00.005-07:00

Okay, without the book the stories are a little confusing for me to just put up pictures. The first picture today is the story of Tasha and her kittens. As you can see they are living in the basement of an abandoned house. Momma has exhausted all the local food resources, so as her babies sleep in a bunch on the floor, she heads out into the neighborhood to find enough food for herself and her kittens.

The kittens wake up while she is gone and eventually worry about being alone. As kids will do, they make a bad decision to head out the window to find their mother. This starts the adventures, and individual stories, of all four of the kittens. So the second picture is showing that Tasha has found two of her kittens, and after deciding that she will not find the other two, she heads off towards town. While she doesn't like to take them into the town, she knows she will find food for them there.

The model for Tasha was a pretty tuxedo cat I had. He was around for several years, longer than most, and actually tamed. Most of the cats here are barn cats and keep the place free of mice.

Today is a gorgeous day. It just figures. The day before the eclipse of the moon was gorgeous, and the day after. But the night of the big event, a snow storm was trying to come in, and our area was very cloudy. About two hours after the eclipse the sky had started to clear.

Have a good day everyone. See you tomorrow with a new story....

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

The first cat story

2008-02-21T15:16:00.003-07:00

Okay, the cat book was written a little differently, so don't know how will I'll be able to coordinate the story and pictures. But, will not worry too much about it. It is the pictures you want to see mostly anyway. The first story is about a Broken Tail Kitty. The girls, Ashley and Michelle are really good friends, but Ashley is from a poor family, and Michelle has everything she wants. When she announced that she had a new cat, it wasn't just a cat, but a persian named Priscilla and she came with all imaginable accoutraments.

Normally Ashley preferred her family time and didn't care to have all the stuff that Michelle had, until the cat. She asked for one knowing her mother couldn't afford one. But while Ashley was at school, her mom went to the shelter and fell in love with a kitten who had a bent tail. Apparently from an injury.

As time went on the girls loved the bent tail kitty because she was so much fun, but Priscilla was a snob and no fun at all. The picture here is the whole story, which teaches the value of love.

...

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Story five - The last of the Dog Stories

2008-02-20T13:53:00.004-07:00

Okay, this is the last of the stories in the first book, the canine series. This is the story of Sal. Over time, both his mistress and master passed away. He loved fishing with his master, and always laid across his feet at home. His master's family tried to keep him, but they were not tolerant of the new responsibility and gave him to a shelter.

The lady who adopted him had wanted a little lap dog, but fell in love with Sal and his sad eyes. It turns out his exuberance for walks and play kept her from depression. She had to get out for the dog, and this healed her mourning.

The dog that posed for "Sal" is a female husky owned by my son-in-law. Her name is Crystal and is about 14 years old now. The photo session was really funny. The sad pictures were taken with my daughter helping her get into the right positions. The new life picture with her smiling was done with her master, my son-in-law helping. She is very specifically his dog. The lady in the new life picture is a friend of mine who posed for me, separately from the dog. Her grandkids sure get a kick out of seeing their Grandma in a book!

...

All art is copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Story four is about Jackie

2008-02-19T12:14:00.004-07:00

This dog has a family, but that is not known for a while. She was found hiding in a construction site. She dragged herself there after being hit by a car.

While sick and hurting she gave birth to her pups. Her real family finds her at the rescue kennel and all is happy again. One of the construction workers who found her when she was protecting her puppies, asked if he could buy one of her puppies, and they of course gave him one.

...

All art is copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

The third story is about Yogi

2008-02-18T12:10:00.007-07:00

Yogi had a couple of families over his lifetime. He had just been dropped off at the kennel and they didn't know his background. Always thought weird looking for his very large ears. A family with two boys took him home, and they had a wonderful three years together, and then divorce came into their lives. His next home was with a student who had no idea how much activity he needed for his upkeep. She soon realized he was too much for her and he was taken to the kennel again.

His new home had a dog already. The master had lost one of his two dogs, and adopted Yogi as a companion for the remaining dog who was mourning her friend who died.

So, happy ever after!

Today the wind is still blowing! This morning for about an hour it was calm. If fact I had to look around for a minute to realize what was different. It didn't last too long.

Yesterday I enjoy a matinee at the local dinner theater playhouse. The food was edible and the play was a great giggle. ("The Little Shop of Horrors") I couldn't help wonder how they were going to do that plant on stage, but they did a super job of it. Great fun.

Have to get back to my drawing room now. Um ... to draw!

...

All art is copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

The second story is about Daisy

2008-02-17T22:45:00.005-07:00

Think Adoption First, The canine series. Daisy

Okay! The next story in the dog book is the story about Daisy. She was badly abused by a "default" master. Chained in the back yard, being fed and watered only occasionally. The chain around her neck had grown into her skin. Her new master was a gal who fell in love with her sweet nature. In spite of all she had been through.

This dog, real name Spunky, belongs to my grandson. He had his dog do his "roll over and play dead" routine for the poses of Daisy in a very sorry condition. Her new master is my daughter. Spunky had no problem "posing" for kisses.

Today was a bitter cold windy day to go out, but took in a matinee at our local dinner playhouse theater and watched "The Little Shop of Horrors." What a fun play, and the dinner wasn't too bad. On the way home I stopped at Max'ims Art Gallery and visited with the gallery owner for a while. We go way back and I hadn't seen him for a while. Was good to catch up.

Fresh sheets on the bed, and fellow poets, I am now very ready for bed. Good night, and will see you tomorrow with story three, about Yogi.

...

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

The first story is about Spike

2008-02-16T11:15:00.007-07:00

I have had a special request for sharing the illustrations I'm drawing for a "Think Adoption" book series. The author is Elaine Marlier. She is a PetCo Manager out of Golden, Colorado. The titles are, "Without a Home" Inspiring and heartfelt tales of dog, (cat, furryies, etc.), adoptions. There are going to be five books total. The first two, dogs and cats, are available on Amazon now I'm told.

The first story is about a black lab, Spike. He had a very good home and enjoyed running with his master, but his master got a new job that would take him to a city where he wouldn't be able to take Spike with him.

His story is envolved of course, but he ended up in a shelter where he ultimately found a new master. She was a runner too and Spike enjoyed a very good adopted life.

The first picture, of course, is the sad Spike, and the second picture is the happy Spike with his new master.

The books are a 6" x 9" size, so the drawings are small, all on 8"x10" pager, and they are all done with a graphite pencil. The drawings take a long time to draw, paying attention to all the details is both a good quality of mine, and an albatross. Spike took a total of 57.25 hours. Which unfortunately, with my schedule, is not a mere week, but probably a month for this set. But I very much enjoy this calling, and relish in the details.

I hope you enjoy. I'll add the second set tomorrow.

...

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

SAA Meeting Today

2008-02-14T00:12:00.003-07:00

Today was a beautiful day here in Colorado. The temperature actually got up to 68 degrees in Denver. I drove down for a meeting with fellow collegues and members of The Society of Animal Artists. This was the 3rd annual meeting, and we are sharing more and more useful information. They are an enthusiastic group who really get me excited about doing more, and compliments from them mean so much. I'll be shooting to have a piece of my own in the small works show this fall at the Wildlife Experience in Parker, Colorado.

On the way home coming east on HWY 7, I was delayed about 30 minutes because of a bad accident. It is a really bad intersection. Traveling east you come to a railroad underpass, and immediately beyond the bridge is a cross road. Colorado Blvd. actually. And at the crossroad there is a traffic light. But going east it is hard to see the light around the bridge. The crossroad is completely blind. There were EMT's and an ambulance came to the rescue. I was too far back to see much, but the driver was still in the car heading east through that intersection, and the other one was off in the ditch. Both cars were probably totaled.

The rest of the way home was uneventful until I got there, and of course Gizmo thought I had completely abandoned him. To make up for it I took him with me to get some groceries.

I'm too tired to think of anything else to say tonight. Thanks for listening, and I'll talk to you soon.

A New, Old painting

2008-02-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

This is a special treat for me. The painting pictured here, "Small Comfort," is a 20"x14" watercolor that was completed in 1983. At the time I was a member of Professional Artists of Colorado and it was prepared for our big annual show at the Regency. One of my collectors from St. Petersburg, Florida was there and bought this painting. He had four of my paintings but this is the only one available.

It has been in his home all these years until his death in 1998, and it then went to his daughter. Recently she had fallen on hard times, so she looked me up and offered it to me for sale, and now I have it back home. It was so nice to see it again. It now hangs in the Thunderbird Gallery just down the road. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Today is windy. Blowing cold and can nearly take you off your feet. I don't like the wind.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Gizmo Snow Sits

2008-02-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

I forgot the picture of Gizmo. The little goober really likes the snow, and when I called him to come in, he just sat himself down in the snow and looked at me.

"Where's my stick mommy?"

"Please lets play some more!"

The faster the time goes .....

2008-02-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

I guess it must be time for me to say hello again. Won't be much, but I'm amazed ... amused ... almost frightened by how fast the time is going. My last post was September 23, 2007. Twenty three days later my sister is gone, and I am still in Kansas for eight days. Helping her husband plan the funeral, then staying a few more days after everyone else is gone so he isn't alone too fast. I started out calling every night to say G'nite, but now that is a few times a week. We are doing better.

At the beginning of the year we were covered with snow, and what, 40 some days later the archway out front can see its own reflection in the melt off. I have to say, however, I'm happy I'm not in Wyoming nor in the mountains here. My goodness there has been a lot of snow. The state is 136% of normal here. That is a lot of snow. I wouldn't complain at all except for the price of propane. That is pretty scary.

I have been active with PoetrySoup.com lately. Even won a 9th place out of a hundred entries in a contest there. That was fun. The poem is a new one titled,
"Does He Love Me."

He loves me.
The flower sacrifices a petal to tell me so.

He loves me not.
I drop the petal and quickly reach for another.

He loves me.
With this petal I dream our time together.

He loves me not.
Do I love him? Enough?

He loves me.
I pull this petal slower ...

He loves me not.
Petals die at my feet. Expensive, love.

He loves me.
Too high the price. The flower has one petal.
It stands naked in my hand.
I take the last petal and the flower is gone.

He loves me not.

_________________________________________
All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer --

Detour

2007-09-23T12:52:00.000-06:00

Another poem with my Sister in mind. It has generated some strong comments at PoetrySoup.com.

"Detour"

Carefree childhood
School days
Wedding Day
Beautiful girls
Creative seamstress
Met Soul Mate
Daily joy
Togetherness
Forever after
Cancer
Detour

_________________________________________
All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer --

Fireflies

2007-09-02T13:27:00.000-06:00

Fireflies

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The surrounding night
wraps itself around my sleeping senses,
and awakens them.
~
Sitting on the edge of the bed,
I stare out the window
into the deep velvety darkness.
~
In the other room my sister sleeps --
Sleeping the sleep of a soul
preparing for life after death.
~
I notice a small glow out back by the trees,
then another, flashing on and off.
Fireflies!
~
I watch their waltz in the night,
against the dark trees, by the garden,
making a halo around the house.
~
My sisters light
still shines.
~
And finally I sleep.

_________________________________________
All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer --

"Hunter"

2007-08-03T11:23:00.000-06:00

Well, today I just pointed and clicked for a painting. And got this little piece. The title is "Hunter" and it is about 5" X 7" and a watercolor. I have used this one as my Avatar on most of my art website's. Also on poetrysoup.com. This particular Coyote lives in the Denver Zoo, and he was particularly agreeable to let me take his photograph. But I think that I have caught the "zoo look." I don't think that he looks like a wild critter, searching out his next meal, or being particularly interested in his surroundings. What do you think?

But he was a great study, and I collect the opportunity to photo up close for details, that which I normally only catch at a distance in the wild. I have to admit, however, where I live there is quite a group of them on the river bottom, and they come into my pasture from time to time. When they get to singing to each other over that range, it can get pretty erie out there. Super neat, but the sound still inspires goose bumps. Once they dragged a partial deer carcass up into my pasture, and each day for a while the carcass got smaller and smaller. There is only a leg bone left now.

I think it is a good thing that we don't lose touch with the wild side of this earth. At least for as long as it lasts. We certainly are driving that part of this world out fast. Enjoy it while you can!

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Pencil Drawing of Me

2007-07-28T18:08:00.000-06:00

Well, I have been asked to give some information about my Avatar. This was done a very long time ago when I was in a university non-Baccalaureate Masters program. This was my first drawing class, and I was delighted and honored to be in this program.

The actual photograph of me was taken by a friend of mine. I was in my studio. I don't remember what the occasion was that I needed a photo, but she took quite a few, and this was one of them. Remember Genie? The second photo was one I took when I was out looking for and at old buildings, specifically doors and doorways. This was a photo of a door and I just loved the peeling paint and that smooth and worn door knocker.

At the time I was at the university. I was at the end of my child rearing days, and had spent so many years feeling the door mat, that I thought the peeling paint and the door knocker added the right touch for a self portrait. So melded the two together, showing me merging out of that phase of my life and becoming my own person again. I must say that it was pretty modernist for my usual art choices. But then here, at the university, I could do whatever I wanted to do, and not have to worry about if it would sell.

I enjoyed this time even thought it didn't last too long. And this has always been a favorite drawing. Favorite of my husband too. He loved it when I took off into "left field" and drew or painted different things. He was a great support. I miss him.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Coyote - Mountain Man

2007-07-20T22:02:00.000-06:00

Well, this isn't the picture I thought I was uploading. But it will do. As a wildlife artist, I found painting mountain man reinactors to be an easy transition. This guy's mountain man name is Coyote, and he is wearing a coat made from coyote hides. Shirt is leather most likely from tanned deer hide. I think the painting caught the wild side and it took on an authentic look.

This piece was done some time ago, and the mountain man series was very popular. I am looking forward to getting back to doing new work. I have new and exciting ideas to explore, but am in the middle of a project that has taken more time than I had hoped. I'll get there. 2008 will be the year I can do what I want, and actually make it to some shows.

Special morning today. At 5 a.m. I happened to look out the window and there were two doe deer. They were stretching their necks high to nibble on the leaves of the elm in my front yard. The light was just so that you almost couldn't see them. Every thing had the same blended gray. They wandered out of the driveway and stood at the edge of the road for a few minutes. Looking and listening. When they thought it was safe, they kicked in their after burners and raced across the road, jumped the fence, and were into the middle of the next pasture quick as a flash. They safely wandered away toward the river bottom.

I am on my way in the morning to visit my sister. She is in Kansas, so will have about a 10 hour drive. Looking forward to the visit, and she sounded excited that Gizmo and I were coming. It might well be the last time I see her.

See you when I get back.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

"Four Horse Power"

2007-05-31T02:11:00.001-06:00

This painting is a watercolor and from the series from the Pagosa Junction area lumber camp operation. I call this "Four Horse Power." These work horses did a lot of heavy hauling. Without the modern equipment of today, logging was a very hard and dangerous job.

Trains were used to bring supplies into camp, and they also brought up temporary housing. They looked like railroad cars converted to housing, but were smaller. In one of the photos an engine was off the track. Possibly the rails spread from the rains and heavy mud, or just got top heavy with the load. The men got the horse teams out and managed to pull the train back up onto the tracks. Amazing what a few men and a few horses can accomplish. Without cranes!
Time to sleep. Will try to get more up soon.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

"Bless the Beasts and the Children"

2007-05-28T13:52:00.000-06:00

Enough with the snake already. Time to get out another painting. This one is "Bless the Beasts and the Children." It is a watercolor painting. My reference source is a photograph taken in about 1917, at a lumber camp in the Pagosa Junction area of south west Colorado.

What drew me to this woman were her hands. You can look at her and see a young, or maybe more accurately, a naive or unworldly person, but her hands are very worse for wear. They show an incredibly hard life. Yet she holds the kid goat with a gentleness that belies her age.

This might have been a Sunday or a special occasion as she is wearing a dress made with fabric with designs on it, and a home made shawl. Not quite a shawl, but a decorative shoulder drape to accent the occasion.

Other pictures in the series have her three sons. They have to be her children as they wear the same bowl hair cut. They are showing off new Montgomery Wards overalls, with the youngest wearing the newest of the hand-me-downs.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

A new guest

2007-05-13T11:27:00.000-06:00

Sorry this guy is a little blurry. He is a beautiful King snake who actually startled the heck out of me. I had stepped out of the barn door with a stack of hay in front of my face, (feeding time at the zoo), and almost stepped on him. At the time, he was stretched out full length on the driveway, soaking up the sun on a very warm day. It took up almost half the width. Really long, but skinny and his skin was still loose. Clearly out for the first time, and maybe hoping to pick up a meal. By the time I got back from the house with the camera, he had moved to what he thought would be the safety of the grass. I hope he hangs around. We had a King snake here before that was really large. Around his middle had to have been about 14". He was out sunning himself and my son's wife didn't see him, and she tripped over him. I'm thinking it took days for her to stop shivering after that.

Well, this being Mother's Day and all. I have things to do before I go to the kid's for dinner. Hope all you mothers out there have a wonderful day.

My Lilacs are in full fragrance!

2007-05-09T19:37:00.000-06:00

This first photo is the front of the Studio.

This is the back of the Studio. In close for the fragrance.

This one is closer yet! Close enough to draw from!!

I'm sure I have gone over board with the photos here. But you have no idea how hard it was to wait so long for my lilacs to bloom. The late frost took them at the bud for the last two years. And I just love sitting on the porch taking in their wonderful fragrance.

This of course is the back of the Studio, but you can see both of the bushes.

I got all three of them on Mother's Day as my little kids could afford to get a starter bush. It was always fun to pick out the next spot. They all took to their locations just fine. I think the reason that the kids stopped getting them for me was that we decided to start a long row of them across the front. But the front is north, and the bushes didn't do well, until they finally quit trying. These remaining three are the light of my spring!

I just have to make a comment

2007-05-04T13:29:00.000-06:00

I feel I just have to comment .. This is the first time blogspot has allowed me to sign in for days now, and I finally found a work around that worked. Usually I can go to my friends blog and click on her link to my blog, and I can at least get the sign on link. From there sometimes I can get the sign on box and sometimes I can't. Today the box came up with the error message that the page could not be found. So knowing it was looking for a different page than I was on, I did a right click on the blank sign on box and refreshed the page. It worked!! Probably only this once, but since I actually got in, I knew I had to write something. Let me add a picture for you ... hang on!

Okay, this is a pencil drawing that I did while participating in a challenge draw on WetCanvas.com I call this "The pout." I loved doing this drawing and it was a good practice for me to get back into drawing. Also, it was so well received that I ended up with the job of choosing photos and running the monthly challenge myself. I guess that was to take me out of the competition! (Not really!) The photos are copyright free donations to the Wet Canvas library.

Okay now, any questions be sure to ask.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Many Fire's Quiet Strength

2007-04-29T14:44:00.000-06:00

I decided that today I would get out an old painting, and tell you its story. You saw earlier the drawing of my husband Big Foot, the Mountain Man.

The title of this painting is, "Quiet Strength," which speaks of the man as well as the lodge.
_____________________

It is time to let the lodge work its magic. It has been a long winter this year, and it's time for my husband and his fraternity of brothers to get away for a few days. Several years ago they found a place near Chadron, Nebraska, that, for them, has great healing powers. They stop to visit The Museum of the Fur Trade and then find a site to set up camp.

The lodge goes up in about thirty minutes. There are fifteen, twenty-four foot poles that serve as its frame. First a tripod is raised and anchored, then four poles are placed in each of the three partitions. One of the back four is used as a lifting pole for the cover, and there is an anchor peg every two feet of the circumference. The dimension inside the lodge is twenty-one feet from front to back and eighteen feet from side to side. There is a lining inside that ties to the poles. The lining is from four to six feet high, and the bottom drags the ground. By placing your bedding, boxes, or some rocks on the skirt you seal the lodge from drafts on the floor. The space between the outer cover and the liner creates a flu for the fire so the smoke is drawn up and out through the smoke flaps.

My husband sets the lodge up without many modern conveniences. It works best this way. The last to be set in place is Many Fires, the buffalo skull "alter" piece where the friendship pipe is kept. There is a lot of peace derived from Many Fire's quiet strength.

When it's late at night and the fire is flickering away to embers there is a warm glow in the lodge. As you look up, the stars shining through the smoke flaps, your eyes are slowly drawn back down the poles. The poles encircle you like a protective hand. Falling to sleep without a care, complete with a feeling of being safely tucked in, is illusive for most adults today. But not when you surrender yourself to the lodge.

Big Foot and his friends will come home shed of the stress of their everyday responsibilities. They will be able to draw on the peace until next year when the promise of spring calls them back.
___________________________________________

My husband is gone now and the memories are as strong as if he were here. Then one day I got to playing with the two pictures. The drawing I made of him, and the painting of Many Fires. When I superimposed the black and white drawing on the painting, it looked like he was a part of the fire's smoke, still here yet spiriting away. I will someday put the two together in a print at least in an edition large enough for me and our kids. Then, who knows ...

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Do Not Blink...

2007-04-28T19:02:00.000-06:00

Do not blink...

A fast and sad tale
by Judith Angell Meyer

How do I pen a cliche’
so it isn’t the cliche’,
but the reality.

My skin has soft little wrinkles
that look like ripples on water.
Yesterday it didn’t.

When did I start needing naps,
that have now become mini comas.
Yesterday I was working until I got my second wind.

The mirror seems to feel the need to taunt me
with an image of someone I do not know.
Yesterday the image was 18.

When I forget and sit too long,
it takes the length of the room to work out the stiffness and pain.
Yesterday, I didn’t have time to sit.

I won’t think about this today
I’ll do it tomorrow
But, tomorrow was yesterday, and the year is gone.

I must have blinked while laughing in the face of spring,
a brief summer warmth on my eye lids as they go down,
and as they started up again, fall is turning to winter.

Hans' Birthday

2007-04-25T15:47:00.000-06:00

This is my husband Hans' birthday month, and I decided that I needed to get this portrait out again. He would have been 67 this year. I did the portrait on one of the years that we couldn't afford to buy Christmas presents for each other, saving what we had for the kids.

We were Mountain Man enthusiasts and enjoyed going to rendezvous with our friends. We would set up our lodge and enjoy a week or a weekend pretending that there was no rush hour anywhere, that the kids weren't tempted by drugs, that there weren't any bills to pay nor a hundred things pulling us this way and that each and every day.

Hans was a professional baker, and he could make an apple pie in a dutch oven over the coals that was to die for. And his biscuits! But when it came to getting the meat for dinner, he relied on my eye looking down the barrel of my .45 caliber green river black powder rifle.

I enjoy catching a person's special look in a portrait like this one done with a pencil. This one is an 8x10, but I enjoy going on to a full portrait in watercolor too. One of these days I'll have to compliment this one with a watercolor portrait.

Have a good day all. Thanks for stopping by.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Finally an entry!

2007-04-25T15:14:00.000-06:00

I cannot begin to tell you how much trouble it was to use and write in my blog today. I had to change settings in my computer just to be allowed to sign onto a site I have used for quite a while now with no trouble at all. I have to tell you, if this continues, I'll have to go back to Live Journal permanently. So ...

We have had some wonderful rain the last couple of days. This is most welcome on this desert prairie. But today dawned sunshiny and warm. Got to 55 degrees even. When I went out I discovered that the lilacs are only a day or two away from blooming, and the apple tree has begun to bud out. This just all means that it is going to hail within the next few days. It has been three years in a row now that one thing or another took my lilacs away from me. But they have a much better start now than they have had in all those years. Cross your fingers for me.

My Gizmo has something ... don't know what he got into, but he has suffered with the dine-a-rena's all day which results in a bottom bath after each trip to the tall weeds. He threw up this morning too. I'm sure this will be better tomorrow, but in the meantime ...

I'd best get to my work. Have a website to try to finish soon, and several illustrations to get back to. Should not have wasted the time here, but hey, it WAS time to say hello!

April 13, 2007 -- Known as Friday the 13th

2007-04-14T13:23:00.000-06:00

There will be no pictures with this story, it will be brief, and it started the 12th.

Friday the 13th I was scheduled for a colonoscopy. Three years ago I had a couple of very small polyps. I didn't schedule a further check then because I didn't have the insurance, nor the funds. So finally I could have it done. But the day before I could only have liquids, excluding anything with pulp, milk, or coffee with milk. Also was not to drink anything that was red or purple. (Don't ask, I don't know.) But at 4:00 p.m. I also had to take this Fleet phosphate stuff. 1.5 oz of it in 4 oz of water. Luckily the pharmacist suggested it was okay to put it into a lemonade ... anyway I got it down. It was a struggle, but I did. (I absolutely cannot do oral/liquid medicines.) Now the action was supposed to start between 30 minutes and 3 hours but it didn't. Finally at the 6 hour mark things got to going through. But of course I was up way late. I spent the time reading and cleaning the toilet in between the cannon shots. (A seriously gross event.)

Now this is Friday, and I had to repeat this grossness at 5:00 in the a.m.. Actually was supposed to be 3 hours before seeing the Dr., but gave it four considering how long it took to start the night before. And it took even longer as this time I had to stop and gag over every little swallow. I was barely through when my ride showed up, and time to go.

The Dr. gave me a sedative so that I would hopefully take a nap while he was working, but while I think I must have dozed off for a while, I was awake to watch the progress of the final two polyps he snipped off.

They called my ride, and I was home again. My ride wanted to escort me back into the house, but I felt quite awake, and off he went. It was about 11:30 a.m. so the first thing I did was make me some oatmeal with blueberries, and then lay down for a nap. I didn't wake up until 4:00 p.m.. Nice nap! But 4:00 is when I feed the horses, so out I went.

Now I still think it was just an accidental slip of my foot, and was not because of the earlier sedative, but I stepped to the gate to reach the grain to Sassy, and my foot slipped down and rolled over on itself. If I hadn't fallen, I would have ended up standing on the top of my foot. But I did fall, and I am starting some really spectacular bruises on my left calf, hip, and shoulder. I don't really feel anything on my head. Must just be too hard. I hit the gate with my calf, the cement floor with my hip, and the barn door frame with my shoulder. I have to admit, I just laid there for a while, with Sassy snorting at me because I spilled her grain, and the most of it was on my side of the gate.

The shoes I had on were my regular Ropers slip ons, but over time they have stretched out of shape, and are loose, and to add to the problem, I had thin and slippery socks on. But I have taken care of that. Today, wearing the same comfy shoes, I have on a pair of hospital sock/slippers with the rubber tread on the bottom. My shoes do not slip at all now!!

My Little Easter Story - April 8, 2007

2007-04-14T12:31:00.000-06:00

Like I said, Saturday was bitter cold. And when I was out helping some of my guests to their cars, I noticed that my three tulip buds, just about to be in bloom were laying flat to the ground and they had translucent spots on the buds and leaves that meant that they were freezing, if not frozen. I was broken hearted then decided that the least I could do is bring them into the house where it was warm. So cut them and brought them into the kitchen. I had been watching for them to open, and while two of them were ready, I hadn't held out much hope for the third one as it was still pretty tight.

I put them in one vase, but the tulips just hung their cold heads and stalks down all the way to the table. So I found a taller vase to give them some support. I poured some temped water into the vase, and that was that. Later, on my way to bed, I moved them from the counter top and put them on the table.

Well, you know me ... or maybe you don't ... and going to bed usually means that I first take Gizmo out to water the bushes. Then as I go through the house locking up and shutting everything down, I always find something else that needs to be done. Mostly checking the email one last time for the day, and of course there is always something on the computer to side-track me. The result, of course, bed time gets pretty late.

Sunday morning, in the process of starting the routine again, but in reverse, I could hardly believe my eyes when I stepped into the kitchen for my first cup of coffee. The two tulips were actually upright in the vase. Not only struggling to get upright, but they were opening their blossoms up. They were lovely, and such a wonderful Easter Morning surprise. So of course I had to take a picture of them.

Later when I was putting the photos into the computer to take a look, I saw that the cabinet behind the flowers formed a cross where the four doors came together.

What a wonderful way to remember Easter. My own little resurrection to remind me of the day so many years ago when Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.

Since Easter the blossoms not only have continued to grow, but the tight little bud, for which I had no hope for it to open, opened and is the reddest color. It has a scar on its side where it was frozen.

I guess there is always a miracle somewhere in front of us, if we only open our hearts to see it.