"Gazing Globe" -- oil on canvas -- 48x48"

Last fall I trekked over to my neighbor's house and borrowed her purple gazing globe to use in a painting. Spring's just about here and I figured she'd want it back, so I got on the stick and did a yellow and purple-themed still life. Bright colors are my personal antidote to the dismal, sour-owlshit colors of Michigan winter. When I'm painting something with bright colors, listening to Diana Krall, it takes my mind off the factory or the frozen tundra outside. I imagine it's almost as thrilling as being in Key West, sipping a cold one under a palm tree.

It took me a good 2 weeks to do this one, slugging away on it on weekends and in the afternoons, after work. Pretty challenging to do. I work in the spare bedroom upstairs and it's pretty cramped, but manageable. The deep purple fabric is really a jacket. The yellow fabric with the purple and black squigglies is actually a dress I own. Life's too short for beige, honey! The red pieces are red tissue and a red plastic bag. My ascendant (astrologically-speaking) is Cancer, the Crab -- and it's been said that we just love packages and bags. They say that we tend to love the package the present comes in far more than what's inside -- and I'd agree! You should see all the boxes in my garage! But I digress. I found that great, gnarly glass vase at a consignment shop. I got to an estate sale in the last hour, expecting all the cool stuff to be gone, but I thought if there's anything I'm meant to have, it'll be there. And there it was, waiting for me: the iguana, marked down from $20 to $5! My lucky day.

The very first thing I painted in (or "nailed", as we say in the trade) was the canary melon. Waste not, want not. I quickly painted it in, then took it down to the kitchen, cut it up and ate it while I worked on the rest of the painting.

Notice the cat in the lower right corner? That's my dear Elvis, checking on me.