Another cat painting.

 Here is a painting of my friend’s cat, Lucy. Lucy got lost outside, but she came home and that is the best news ever. So, I painted a small portrait for my friend. “Lucy,” 5”x7” acrylic.

The frame came today and another painting.

 

 

Cat Portrait

 

My son asked me to paint the cats. He picked out an 18” x 24” canvas. This is the biggest painting I’ve worked on since college in painting class.

Freshwater

I have three Cory catfish and a rabbit snail in a tank.  It took a bit of time this summer into fall to get the water just right and for these creatures and the plants to thrive. 

When it was time to carve a linocut for a holiday card, I thought about my love for the aquarium, the fish and rabbit snail.  It really brings me so much peace.  I love watching the fish swim and explore and the rabbit snail lumbers along like a magical beast.

I decided to print on rice paper this year with water-based ink. I wanted the prints to be fragile just like the creatures.  I forgot how much I used to enjoy printing on rice paper.  I will likely get some more paper to print on in the near future because it was so fun.

I always like the way the blocks look too.

Happy Winter Solstice!  Wishing everyone, everywhere a peaceful season.

 

in other words vol 3: a collaboration

 in other words vol 3 | Colin Seven, Tricia Lane Forster | Colin Seven (bandcamp.com)

Pinellas County
 
Orange juice factories and Spanish moss.
Glass bottom boats and mermaids in tanks.
Mornings spent playing solitaire in the sunroom.
Skee-Ball and shuffleboard.
 
Lessons in how to pass the time.
It seems so endless right now.
 
“The chrysanthemums bloomed.”
A comment made in passing
to distract from the fact,
your heart will break at least a thousand times.
 
Walks in the humid evenings,
watching for frogs with yard long shadows.
Eyeing up underpasses,
searching for post-apocalyptic shelter.
Tiny birds tucked into rows
on the backs of corrugated steel highway signs
like sweet invitations into envelopes.
 
If we’re lucky,
we'll meet again under the pear tree.
I will teach you how to sew buttons
back onto shirts.
How to wash a glass.
How to carry your story
because these hexagons will scatter.
They pull apart
and come together.
They shift,
right now,
under my feet.

For Anna May

The spearmint and dirty buttercream awning,
a little bit dry rotted,
rattled softly in the light rain.
 
I looked out for you,
but all I found was an empty Coke glass
with runny condensation
and two stale ice cubes lounging around,
unwelcome at the bottom.
 
There are no windchimes,
just the tick, tick, tick, tat of the ceiling fan.
No rabbits either,
just old, wise bulbs and seeds
waiting like monks to bloom.
 
First will be the daffodils,
then wild violets,
redbuds, dandelions, buttercups,
forsythias, tulips, azaleas,
wisteria, lilies of the valley, roses,
irises, dogwood,
clover, poppies, daylilies,
and rose of Sharon.
 
Soon, the crickets will be square-dancing
and sleeping in matchboxes under the hostas.
 
We will play checkers again,
won't we?

 

Paintings of Zinnias from My Garden

 

September 25, 1993: Spastic Cracker @ the Loft

September 25, 1993

30 years ago, I was 17, in my first year of college, and the singer in a band called Spastic Cracker. I recently found a VHS tape in a box and I took it to get digitized.

The lady who transferred it to a flash drive had a lot of questions and a lot of apologies. First, she said, “It’s very dark and so loud. I tried to brighten it and I can’t do anything about the sound.”

It was a show at the Loft in Baltimore. As I was standing there, I was thinking to myself, “Sounds about right.”

Then she asked, “Is that you singing?” “Yeah, I was 17.” She then said, “Well, this is nice to have then. Do you stay in touch with your bandmates?” “No, sadly, we’ve lost touch, but I can share it with them on social media I guess.”

One of my favorite songs we wrote, “Thistle,” is at about 10:30, followed by “Level 3” where I scream a ton (a fun song to sing).

Looking back, one of the best things about being in Spastic Cracker was all of the great people I met at the shows we played. It was also really cathartic to be able to create and perform with friends at that time.

You can view the video here:  https://vimeo.com/858998170

In 1994, we released a split 7” with Big Heifer from Chattanooga, Tennessee. (Big Heifer / Spastic Cracker - Big Heifer / Spastic Cracker | Releases | Discogs)

Photo by Brian Storms. *I’m not sure who filmed this, but thank you.

*My friend Mike has written a tremendous amount in incredible ways about this time period.  You can check it out here:  The Retarded Dogs, Spastic Cracker, and the first underground concert in Glen Arm | Towson-Glen Arm Freakouts (wordpress.com)

And here:

Think Baltimore Music Is Weird? In The ’90s, Towson And Glen Arm Music Was Even Weirder. | Bandwidth (wamu.org)

You can hear “Thistle” here: 

https://nunsliketofence.bandcamp.com/track/spastic-cracker-thistle