A Dancing Goon, Star Wars, and a Dish Towel

I'll go in the order listed above:

The Goon has been getting into the groove of the music that she's been hearing for the past month or so, and it's nothing short of hilarious. When a song comes on with a beat that resonates with her (the current song, Sufjan Stevens' slightly discordant and electronic "You Are the Blood" doesn't move her), she'll start bopping and bouncing in time. As I painted (see below), I turned on the iTunes on my computer and as I still haven't filled my still-new MacBook with too much data, the selection is sparse and consists solely of a smattering of numbers from Dark was the Night, a compilation of works from some of my favorite musicians. Get yourself a belated Christmas present, 'cause it's grand. DWN tracks, some unreleased Ryan Adams material from my buddy Carlos, a bunch of my deal pal Bruce's original songs performed by the man himself, which harken back to the early '60s with their catchy melodies and unabashed sunniness, and a song that, for whatever reason, is on the play list four times, and recently played four times consecutively: a recording that Bruce made of me playing and singing (in two part harmony) a Gillian Welch and David Rawlings song, "I Wanna Sing that Rock and Roll". I don't know if she recognized it as me singing, but she wouldn't take her serious eyes off my face, bouncing and swaying all the while. Anyway, between her bodily movement and her perpetual fixation on banging and whacking, I believe her rhythmic skills at nearly 11 months are foreshadowing a career as a sessions drummer. I think she'd like Nashville a lot; I sure did.

Okay, the painting. No photograph will accompany this because I am far from proud of it. It's not awful, but I certainly don't love it, though much of that has to do with the subject matter. The Return of the Jedi poster copy means little to me, having never seen any of those movies. Also, I was requested to do the vertical image in a horizontal format, making the proportions a wee bit off. Plus, I wasn't having much luck finding a better online image than the one from which I've been working so, blown up, the details are pixilated beyond recognition, so I'm trying to do the best with the muddled information I have. Never mind the fact that I labored to lessen the presence of Wendell's dark pawprints from numerous places on the painting. I still know they're there. Still, when I glance at it I think it's all right. Good contrast, composition, colors. I'll be finished with it blessedly soon and will mail it and the Winslow Homer oil replica off to Maine early in the week. When I can wash my hands of this double project, there are still two overdue Christmas presents requiring my immediate attention! Then 8-10 more sea lion illustrations for this book that's been over two years in the making. Boy, will I be relieved when theses things have been complete! Having an increasingly active and demanding goon make it harder to get as much completed as I like, but lately she's been cool entertaining herself in the same room as me, knowing that I'm so nearby. And I can periodically reach down, scoop her up, squeeze her and pepper her rosy cheeks with kisses and watch her grin grow wide.

And dish towel...what's this? Friday at the market was the slowest day I've experience since working there. Luckily I came prepared with one of the books I'm reading (The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, one of the most stunning writers I've read. The movie on which it's based is pretty good, I thought, if not about thirty minutes too long, but the book is wonderful.), and was able to plow through a good eighty pages during my down time. Debbie my neighbor there, who sells handmade jewelry and knitted and crocheted scarves and headbands, had just started offering needle craft lessons to the public, and I recently bought some hand-spun and -dyed yarn from another market vendor with which I'd like to make something other than a scarf. Preferably a cute sweater for Olive. I decided to sit in with Debbie and let her teach me to read a pattern and learn how to do some different stitches. Breakthrough of the day: I really didn't know how to purl. For about ten years I've been doing some stitch that I thought was a purl but is not at all. I learned about yarning over and when to not yarn over. I was so enlightened! I chose a pattern that I liked from one of Deb's books, a lovely cable-and-lace combo, then jumped into working up a little sample in the form of a dish towel. Now my little job didn't turn out like the pattern, as I wanted to simply get to where I could knit and purl fluidly, so I improvised. I was excited to present Rob with my little green handicraft, but I overestimated the amount of yarn I had left and was unable to cast it off, so now I'll have to wait until next Friday when I can take my nearly completed towel and finish it with something from Debbie's scrap bag. Rob is the dishwasher in our house, so I knew he'd appreciate it, but hey - it'll be just in time for MLK Day!