Variance and seredipity

Just as i was contemplating hand-coloring the eyes on a few of the new prints, i discovered a loud but serendipitous lime green frame... i expect i'll have to go back and pick up a few more.

Been meaning to...

After stopping at the meetinghouse today to talk with an art conservator about a picture there that needs some care and feeding, i decided to take a short walk around the burying grounds - it was fascinating to see how plain - or not - the stones were (where there were stones), and to see which families opted for carving "4th month" instead of "April," and to look for the heartbreaks and mysteries that always crop up in old graveyards: the little boy with dates 1916-1919 (was it influenza?), the stone with no name, only "Daughter of..."

No one else was there, so i went ahead and snapped a few pictures. My favorites of the lot:

Paybacks

Lulubelle J. Fuzzbutt (it's a long story) was, briefly, my grandmother's cat, but landed here after Grandma died. She loves people and attention, and bullies other cats. She isn't actually dumb as two thick planks, but has a tendency to hurtle through life without thinking (e.g., an attempt to rub against my leg turns into a somersault, which turns into tumbling down half a flight of stairs...). She's cost me an astronomical amount at the vet's, mostly following her decision to eat a spool of thread.

I decided it was time for her to help pull her weight around here - and i was looking for something straightforward to carve in between the hen blocks and a half-hatched idea for another multiple color print - so i adapted a photo i'd taken, and sat down to carve.

I'm still trying to work out what to title the print... (if inspiration strikes you, feel free to leave a comment!)