More Graffiti, Same Rescue Dogs (and one cat)

I continue to follow the rules...draw things that are naturally messy, like dogs. Draw things that are irregular, like this enormous cat-like creature that came to stay and has never gone away. (For an idea of scale, pretend that the flowers are the size of car tires) Embrace impressionism.

Jonathan Qualben's Biggest Fan

I volunteer for a group called Living Art. They help people who are going through life-changing trauma...loss, cancer treatment, a terminal diagnosis...using art, music, movement, and nature. They help over 300 people in a year, and charge nothing for their services. I came to them in a roundabout way, not because I'm terribly involved in either therapy or the arts. I am, however, a girl who can't say no when asked to volunteer.

As worthy as this group is, this isn't really about them. Once a year, they hold a fundraising dinner and auction called The Light Show. It is a fabulous production with amazing food, a fun atmosphere, and a live auction of lamps and mirrors that have been made and donated by various artists here in Missoula and also beyond. It is the most intriguing collection of work you will ever see. You can see some of them here: http://www.livingartofmontana.org/Home.asp

As amazing as this event is, this isn't really about that, either. This is a tribute to Jonathan Qualben, an artist who uses concrete to create soaring, sweeping figures that look as though they are about to take flight. I won the auction at the Light Show for this lamp, titled Another Bright Idea. It may be the most down to earth, solid work of Jonathan Qualben's that I have ever seen, and yet it still has that quality of movement...the top of his head, a lot like a mortar board, appears ready to eject with the force of his idea...light pours from his eyes and mouth and cheeks and ears, as if he is about to shed his mortal skin and become his true self, a being of light and intellect.

Sometimes people who see this for the first time are taken aback (I always turn the light on first) and even think he looks frightening, or spooky. He does have a sort of Frankenstein aspect when you first see him, a squareness; he's not smooth and regular, he's cobbled together, layer on layer, made, not born. But I live with the guy, and here's how he really looks...he's joyous. He's handsome, with great cheekbones and a strong jaw, and a mouthful of big, white teeth open in a gleeful shout of "Eureka!". I'm ideologically disinclined to love possessions, but he is more than a work of art...he's a personality.

Qualben's other works include many figures that hang on a wall, a Moby Dick of a trout that swims in the Dana Gallery at present, and my personal grail, towering figures in Caras Nursery that make me think of angels...not the ones with harps and simpering blue eyes...the angels of the Apocolypse, the warriors of God and Nature, the guardians of the world. I really really need one, so please call me right away the minute you're ready to buy or sell a house. I figure I only need to sell about 40 this year to get an angel. You can see more of Qualben's work at his website: http://www.jonathanqualben.com/

Birds in the Belfry

Crows rock. The first time my mother called me to come and see why there was a noise in her chimney, we were so careful. First, we made a tunnel of sheets from the fireplace to the door to the deck. Then, I opened the flue. The bird flew out, straight through the tunnel of sheets to the door, and out the door, perfect execution of plan. We relaxed, dropped the sheets, and then the MOTHER crow flew out, up to the second story window (my mother has a vaulted ceiling) into the window SMACK leaving a perfect soot crow print on the window, fell to the floor, shook herself off, and flew out through the door.

I was so impressed that the mother crow had gone down the chimney after her baby and have had an increased respect for crows ever since.

And here's the thing about crows...they talk to each other; in nine years, she has never had another crow in her chimney. However.

Recently she called...there was a bird in her chimney, actually, in her fireplace...she and my daughter had both seen it hopping around in there. I went over, and no bird. I finally opened the glass doors and then the mesh screen, and no bird. There were, however, several bird skeletons, birds who were not lucky enough to be heard.

Mom did say that at one point she had closed the flue so it would be easier to get the bird out of the fireplace...I opened the flue and out the bird flew! (I'm sorry). We had been so interested in the skeletons we had completely forgotten about the tunnel of sheets, but it was a very small bird and it let me pick it up (I have a bird thing;totally unrelated story) and take it outside.





So, back to the chimney full of bird skeletons....there were only four, if you don't count the dehydrated body. Apparently wrens don't talk amongst themselves like crows do. There was a glass door as well as a metal mesh screen...my mother travels a lot...and here's the thing...bird skeletons are extremely cool. There is no doubt in my mind that birds are dinosaurs.

We kept the complete skeletons and preserved them in miracle water.

New Old Dog

I've said this many times before, but thank God for dog rescue people, most notably Lynn and Cindy. If you are thinking of getting a dog, and you just watched a dog show and saw the coolest/cutest/greatest dog ever, please take the time to find out what the particular DRAWBACKS of that breed might be. Every breed is different, obviously, but the differences are not always as apparent as the visible differences and they are absolutely essential to how the dog will fit or not fit into your life...and here's the thing: when a dog comes into your home, he or she is part of your family, and you are part of his or hers. You wouldn't get rid of Grandpa for incontinence, would you? OK, maybe you would, in which case you shouldn't be in charge of a dog either. Our personal obsession is afghan hound rescue, but every breed has a rescue group, because every breed has a pool of people who think of dogs as accessories, instead of thinking, feeling, emotional beings. I'm being a little harsh and preachy, aren't I? OK, I'm going to lighten up, thank Lynn and Cindy, and showcase the amazing, sweet, darling, funny, smart, doofy dogs that we have been lucky to have as part of our lives.

Olivia isn't really this scary, but she is a strong, bossy, in your face kind of girl. She runs the other dogs, although it looks like Amigo is going to mellow his way through her force of will.

Milo came to us through a newspaper ad...my husband's nickname is Milo, so it caught his eye. Milo was a pet store purchase...the guy said he was giving him away because he wasn't breeding material, plus he had started to have seizures and the guy didn't want the vet bills. I should have known from the smirk on his wife's face that the REAL problem with Milo is, he's untrainable. Fortunately, he's tiny and so are his mistakes. And now that he wears pants in the house, problem solved. And he loves his big, blind buddy Neo.

Beau is the biggest heartbreak and the most wonderful rescue story...he was the first rescue dog we were given, although we ended up with Neo first, long story long, which I will skip here. Beau was a dog that touched the soul of everybody who met him, and stole the heart of everybody who got to spend any time with him. I can't explain his hold on me; we just had a connection that was a once or twice in a lifetime kind of thing. Afghans live 8-10 years...Beau was nearly 13 when we let him go...until the last few months he was gallumphing around like a puppy and just as happy to be here as, well, a puppy.

Afghan hounds are beautiful, smart, independent, quiet, non-smelly (no fat, no oil, no drool) and loyal. They are also high maintenance grooming-wise, sometimes neurotic (Beau couldn't go through a doorway that was partially blocked, even if only visually), aloof, willful, and have short life spans. They will always break your heart. If you loved your labrador retiever, please don't get an afghan hound. But do get in touch with the rescue organization of the breed of dog you love; every day someone realizes they made a mistake and another beautiful dog needs a loving home. Even more tragically, someone loses their home or becomes infirm and has to give up a loved companion, usually a dog that is old enough not many people want to adopt him. While it is heartbreaking, it is also incredibly rewarding to be the loving family for a dog in the last few years of his life. To learn more about rescuing dogs of all breeds, go to http://www.akc.org/breeds/rescue.cfm

Hooked on Graffiti

I joined Facebook recently so I could stay in touch with my Kalamazoo friend Denise, whom I miss terribly, and stay vicariously in touch with my son, who recently left for school. Have you joined Facebook, or a similar site? There's just nothing like getting your page all set up and seeing there, in writing, for all the world to read: "You have 0 friends."

I spent some time getting silly with all the different applications...here's a hint: don't send your college freshman a flair button that says 'I heart my little boy'. He won't respond with glee. In fact, he won't respond at all, to anything, ever. Which is as it should be.

I really got sucked into the graffiti, however, which is just Paint, basically. I studied the posted graffiti and spent a ton of time figuring out how to upload images, because obviously some of them were photographs. Turns out none of them are photographs, they just look like it. AND some of the most impressive ones are done solely with a mouse, although a lot of people use wacom tablets. So now I spend my evenings obsessively trying to mouse draw something that doesn't look, as my friend Denise puts it, 'like something a second grader drew'. Frankly, in my case, that's insulting to the second grader.

This is one of my first efforts. It's my dog, Neo, or at least the top half of his head. You know what is even harder than drawing in graffiti? Writing in graffiti. Here's a more recent one...I haven't gotten better, but I've learned a few tricks...draw things that are naturally messy, like sunflowers. Have a dramatic background...people will look at the colors and not so much at your drawing. Draw things that are made of circles...graffiti will do those for you. Draw things that are tiny and hard to see, and probably moving anyway, like bugs. Draw things that are naturally irregular and crooked, like tree branches.