One More Family Face

Way back in history, about a year ago, I did a series of paintings that featured family faces.
http://biddybrain.blogspot.com/2009/01/third-victim-in-family-faces-series.html

This is the latest, perhaps last, of the Family Faces Series. This one's for Ben.
And that's Ben's face in the driver's seat!

He loves rhinos! He also loves Formula 1 auto racing. His favorite driver, Michael Schumacher, will be driving a Mercedes this race season, hence Ben is in a Mercedes with a rhino!

Ben also loves ice hockey! When I present this to Ben, I'll ask if he'd like a hockey stick sticking out of the backseat. I have a feeling I may be painting a bit more on Sunday. ; )

Every once in a blue moon I will become so entranced by another artist's style that I can't stand it until I give that style a try. Ben's painting is the result of discovering Ed van der Hoek, an artist from the Netherlands.
I fell head over heels for Ed's whimsical happy art.
Find out why! Enjoy Ed's art here >>>> http://www.edart.nl/new/


To view my initial sketch and beginnings of Ben's painting see my previous post... http://biddybrain.blogspot.com/2010/02/something-for-special-boy.html

Have a super duper weekend, bloggers!

LOve,
Ronnie

Something for a Special Boy

I'm hoping to have this finished today.

I'll post the finished product tomorrow!

Have an exceptional day,
Ronnie

Our 29th St. Valentine's Day together

Me and JOe
the young version.

Me and JOe
the old version!

Or is it the 30th? Time flies when you're having fun!
Here's wishing you a happy Valentine's Day.
Love and all good things,
Ronnie
aka JOe's stove operator

I Made Shoes with my ART

I know this is shameless self promotion, but I can't help myself. Making these was plan ole fun. You do it in parts. This is made from chunks of my painting called "Champion"

"Wiener National Faceoff " When you wear them the dachshunds face each other.

"Chicks Night Out" The original was a 30" x 40" canvas.

"Dad's Garden" A mandala I did for my dad. He loved gardening.

"Go Shoes!" From a painting I did for Auto racing friends.

"Just Bee" shoes.

And "Snake Boy Racer".

Now, who else has shoes like this?!
I wonder what they'd say on "What not to Wear"!??!
I don't care. I'm waiting patiently for my Wiener National shoes to arrive.
Actually, I CAN'T WAIT!!!
Get 'em while they're hot!  
http://www.zazzle.com/biddybrain*
Later,
Ronnie

Hamming it up in South Georgia

Ed Hose

I'm always looking for inspiration.
I've been slogging through artistic concrete lately.
That is, until I found Ed Hose. Gazing upon her amazing menu of art has my brain basting in creative juices!

Ed Hose is Fabuliscious!
I discovered her (yes, her) yesterday through Camille Ronay , owner of Georgia Made Georgia Grown.
I couldn't wait to share with you her crazy wild parties on paper.
She's promoting a show at Gallery 209 in Brunswick, Georgia.
Click the pic to get the full view and once there, click "press to play".
I've said enough. Enjoy the song!!!

Bacon Wrapped Double Happiness—The Song!
Composed by Ed Hose, Mike Dyche and Pilliard Dickle
Performed by Pilliard Dickle

Press to Play!

Go get 'em Ed!
Catch ya later fellow bloggers,
Ronnie

TIME

I can't believe it's the 19th of January already. Time seems to be evaporating. The older I get, time picks up speed.

The Gunns around 1960 Augsburg, Germany
me, mom, turtle, dad, andi

This is a picture of us taken 50 years ago. 50 YEARS!!!! That's Mom and Dad, me and my two sisters, me on the left. Check out that big hair. I would walk with my girlfriends every Friday to a nearby village to get my hair done for one German mark, which translated to 25 cents a pop! Those were the days. Where did all that time go?

A clock I have in my living room

made by the great artist, Sandy Mastroni

This month, much of our time has been spent caring for our mothers. Watching them age and needing more of our care has me a bit melancholy and reflective. I spent last week, along with my sisters, in a hospital, watching over our 82 year old mom who has pneumonia. She came home on Saturday accompanied by an oxygen machine. She is in good spirits and slowly recovering.

Our moms (mine on the right, Joe's on the left) at our house on Thanksgiving.

No, not that goofy guy on the left.

Joe and I gave this (see below) to each other for Christmas. We found it in an antique shop in St. Marys on Christmas Eve. We hung it on a nail in the back of a closet to give it a test, excited to see if it worked and to wait for the cuckoo to pop out.
It became a ritual by Christmas Day. As the top of the hour approached, Joe would yell through the house, "It's CUCKOO TIME!" Then we'd run to the closet to watch with great ceremony and delight as the cuckoo popped out to announce the new hour. A celebration.
I need to properly hang that clock today. Perhaps in the living room near the other two clocks. It's time to celebrate again.

CUCKOO!!!!!

Love and all good things,
Ronnie
the cuckoo time keeper

Power to the Poppet!

Skye Poppet

by Mercy

Blogging takes you places and connects you with people you would never expect in your three dimensional life. Take Mercy for instance. She is one of the most courageous people I've ever met. She appeared on my radar screen back in February 2009...

Mercy said...

Hi, i just randomly stumbled across your blog from my own.
your art is so inspiering, everything you have created that i can see makes me happy.
what are your influences?
i want a studio like yours and just wanted to let you know im gonna be your online stalker from now on.... peculiar of stalkers to introduce themselves but i thought it would be polite.
you have an eye for a differnt kind of beauty.

February 25, 2009 7:10 PM

The stalker line got me!

So I clicked to see what Mercy, this little duckie, was all about.

Here's a hint...

And Boy did she talk.
I read and I read and I read about things I'd never heard anyone express. What she wrote was startling and sad and brilliant and harsh and hopeful and she stole my heart.
I've been following Mercy's blog for nearly a year now. It has been an uphill climb for her. I am amazed at her progress and I find myself feeling so proud of this girl who lives thousands of miles away.

Self Portrait at 20
by Mercy

She stole my heart again this week, when she showed me Skye (see the poppet above).
"I made a poppet", she said.
"What's a poppet?", I asked.
"It's like a Voodoo doll, but good", she said, "You send hugs through him."

Do a Google search and you'll find lots of poppet info, but none as good, in my opinion, as Mercy's idea.

Skye is a real guy. He has leukemia.
Mercy's response to the news of his illness was to make a poppet version of Skye to send to his mother.
Skye's mom is too far away and unable to be with her son.
Thanks to Mercy, Skye's mom can now hug her poppet son and send immediate hugs his way.

I LOVE Mercy's idea.

What do you think?
I want to know!

POWER TO THE POPPETS!

Love and all good things,
Ronnie

Get Going!

Let Go Go On

by Mary Engelbreit

As the new year begins I always find myself inspired. A clean slate! That OLD YEAR is GONE!

G-O-N-E gone!

Out comes the legal pad and pen and the list begins. At the top...

Fitness:

Dust off the Elliptical trainer,

the Yoga mat,

and set the Tivo to record Gilad and his merry band of skinny Hawaiian girls sweatlessly exerting themselves on the beaches of Oahu!

It's January 4th.

So far, I have Tivoed several installments of "Total Body Sculpt with Gilad", moved the suitcases (left there after our Summer trip to Hawaii) which blocked my path to the Elliptical trainer, and literally (cough) blew off the dust from my Yoga mat.

All righty then!

As soon as I finish my first blog post of 2010, I will turn on the Food Network and do 30 minutes on the Elliptical. I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy New Year Everybody!

Love and all good things,

Ronnie

aka Joe's stove operator

Mother-In-Law

There were rumblings for quite a while.

"Keep an eye on that", I said to myself.

The phone call came the day before Halloween...

"COME AND GET ME!", she said.

So we did.

It happens to folks our age. Our parents, once strong and capable, are unable to go it alone.

I called for reinforcement to help move all of our belongings upstairs to Andrew's old room.

Then we prepared our downstairs bedroom and the downstairs in general. Joe's mom has severe Scoliosis and requires a walker to get around.

Back in May we visited Senior living communities at her request. I'm so glad we did, which put us ahead of the game.

She lived with us for the past 7 weeks. We pulled out all the stops and literally put our lives on hold to get her transitioned.

On Monday we officially moved her into a beautiful Senior community, furnishing her new one bedroom apartment from head to toe.

Mission Accomplished!

Christmas is just around the corner. Have a merry one dear bloggers!

Love and all good things,

Ronnie

Remind me that I Have The Power

I Have the Power!

I made homemade biscuits last night to go with a fresh kale and bean soup. Good way to ring in the Fall weather. Just a tad cooler here and the poplars are juuuust beginning to turn that beautiful golden yellow. I took this picture from my backporch in mid November last year. It won't be long.


I'm licking honey from my chin as I type. Finishing off the next to the last biscuit. Hey, I can multitask with the best of them!
Multitasking with a husband who is suddenly, after a lifetime, always home, is another thing. YES, LET THE WHINING BEGIN! AGAIN!
You should know by now, this is how I problem solve. Whine....process....regroup....start NEW!
I LOVE this man I call JOe. But as another fellow artist once told me of her experience trying to create with a husband in the house...."the air just feels different. He doesn't even have to be in the same room."
I'm gettin' there! It gets easier and better everyday. Susan is right. It takes time. And I've got time.

Other News: "Art After Dark" was great fun. Here I am waiting to be fed. The City of Locust Grove provided wine and shopkeepers provided the goodies.

Great turn out!
Especially nice to get person to person feedback and see what people gravitated to.

People love the Big Biddies and this makes me happy.

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

Tomorrow I'm off to St. Marys. Fall gardening and housework, but I'll be taking the paints and brushes. I have a few orders to fill and a few new ideas to try. I'm looking forward to it.

I've got to go get that last biscuit before Joe does. I'll catch up with you soon. Some fresh apple cider would be good with that biscuit. Good Grief! My body must be preparing for hibernation.
I'm hungry.
Love and all good things,
Ronnie
aka Joe's stove operator

Summer aka BLOG KILLER!

My new favorite t-shirt
"I live in my own world, but it's OK... they like me here."

Hey Lovely Bloggers!
It has been 42 days since my last blog post! This was certainly not intentional, but Summer grabbed me with the tenacity of a gator on a terrier!
A quick refresher: Joe has retired. Life as I have known it for decades is gone, vanished, kaput.
We have no trouble filling up our days, but now, every day seems like a weekend. If asked what day it is, Joe and I both glaze over... "Saturday?"
It has been fun, but I have sorely missed my art. There have been so many moments when I have been stopped in my tracks by pure inspiration, images conjured that I KNEW were destined for solid form. Dozens of ideas have simply floated away... stolen away by a cluttered mind and too much activity.
Where do lost ideas go!? I don't know, but I'm on a mission to find them!
I keep telling myself, "You need to create a notebook necklace". When inspiration hits, paper and pencil are RIGHT THERE! Scribble it down quick. Grab it while ya got it.
Today, I find myself blissfully alone. WEEEEEEEEEEE! As I type, Joe is headed for a race in Virginia (VIR for you race fans). I begged off with a kiss and a wave-goodbye from the driveway.

Here's Joe, happy as a clam, in the pits with APR Motorsports

Wasting no time, I headed off to the nearby village of Locust Grove to meet with Brenda, the owner of Old South Ceramics. She will host me as "her artist" at a local art event called "Art After Dark". I have until Oct 9th to get it together, interrupted only by jury duty on the 5th. Wish me luck that it's not a long drawn out horrible trial. I just don't have time for justice these days!

Locust Grove, Georgia
site of Art After Dark, October 10th

It's good to be back. I'll be posting pictures of two more Hawaiian artists I met during our August trip and of course all the goings on around here! See you then.
Is there a chill in the air? Are the leaves beginning to fall where you live?
Love and all good things,
Ronnie