Unlucky Break

Whew - so much STUFF happened since the last post. Sunday morning, February 22, we had a chilly rain, and somehow I managed to hydroplane on the dog ramp and landed on my right hand. Broke my radius and had surgery to put it back together. It was hard enough to take care of my creaky dog - especially getting her up and down the stairs- but I finally was able to handle it fine with my left hand. The tumor was another story, though; it got crusty since I couldn't clean it properly. My vet did find a clinic with a cryogenic probe - but I couldn't drive for an hour to get her there, and they wouldn't do it without sedation, which defeated the purpose anyway, so I hoped we could postpone dealing with it. Oh nooooo- Cassie managed to whap that tumor really good and bled all over the place before I could get it to stop. That was the last straw - I told my vet it had to go, and she had the surgery Tuesday. He did a great job and she's been a good patient so far - I wish I'd had it done months ago. Since she is really ornery about being handled and restrained, I had the vet to do X rays and an ultrasound exam while she was out. Now we have a new problem to deal (or not deal) with: a large hematoma on her spleen. No way of knowing when it happened, except it had to be in the last eight months. She's great at self-destruction; my guess is she whacked her spleen in that floor-shaking tumble she took last summer, or got hurt getting in and out of the car - always traumatic. She's been limping all week from the damage done on Tuesday. Any way, I don't know where we go from here. At least I got out of my cast yesterday and into a brace, so I can be a little more useful. Now, if I could just figure out a better way to get Cassie up those stairs, so my 80-year-old mom wouldn't have to bring up the rear...

Did manage to finish my Twitter art the day before I fell! It's already in Norway - I think the exhibit opens next week. You can check it out at David Sandum Art

Yellow Spots © Beth Stafford 2012

This postcard-size acrylic abstract came from the PiCassieO print Cabin Fever. Glad I finished it before break-time!

Orange Spot Rides Again!

Orange Spot, the painting
Acrylic on panel, 7" x 5", by Beth Stafford (aka PiCassieO)

Remember Orange Spot from a while back? Probably not - but it is one of three paintings that came from the print I call Singer & Door. That orange spot area is fascinating to me for some reason; I keep going back for more. I really liked the pendant that resulted from it, too. Then I stumbled on yet another technique for making those mini works of art - Orange Spot is spectacular as a foil-backed pendant with the new handmade glass I'm using!

Orange Spot, the OOAK pendant
(.875" x .875", digital art & handmade glass pendant, by PiCassieO)

FYI: OOAK = One Of A Kind. No two of these foil pendants turn out the same! This pendant will be listed soon on Etsy at our store for $30 plus S & H. There are more there right now if you'd like to browse! As for the painting, it's part of a project that I'm calling 50 / 50 - fifty 5" x 7" paintings for $50 each (plus S & H). Not for sale anywhere but here at the moment - contact me if interested!

Really Getting Into My Art!

Singer and Door is one of my favorite PiCassieOs - I have pulled out many tiny abstracts from the original to use in our pendants (at our store). Sometimes when I start the abstraction process, it just keeps going because new compositions are constantly appearing - it's very exciting! One pendant square came from the upper right corner; the bright orange spot reminded me of a sun in a far-out alien landscape. I had intended to do one of those Painting-A-Day projects with some 5" x 7" panels and thought it would be fun to paint some of my "jewels" in a larger format. That project has become more like A-Painting-Once-In-A-While, but at least there are now two PiCassieO paintings! No. 1 is below.

When it was finished, I did some random photos up close (similar to what happens on the computer with cropping) and found PiCassieO Painting No. 2 (below).

During the painting process, I also started playing with design possibilities from the pendant square, and that resulted in Orange Spots and Green Xs (below) which I hope to eventually have printed on fabric at Spoonflower, where there are two other PiCassieO designs already!

Next time you hear "abstract art", just remember that it all starts somewhere! Have you found my source yet? Look again!

PS. A bit of irony - Spoonflower is located in Mebane, NC - which is where Cassie and I found each other!