My final picture for 2006 was finished Wednesday evening for an online art show. It's a horse done in pen & ink, the old-fashioned way with pen nibs & a bottle of peat colored ink. That's a toned calligraphy paper it's on, to resemble an antique engraving. Titled "Sable Stallion", it's a simplistic drawing, but isn't intended as a major work. I had to start it over 3 times when various things would go wrong. Pen & ink is an unforgiving medium, as you can't hide your mistakes. That makes me nervous, leading to even more mistakes. All of the details aren't visible in the scan, but you get the idea.

    Next year will be full of art projects; I've already got 3 commissions, plus there's the Cold-Blooded Creations show in summer & the craft show in Nov. to plan for, in addition to online shows. It's reassuring to have events on the horizon as well as hope for new venues. I'm feeling artistically optimistic about 2007.

    Turned out to be a pretty nice Christmas. Not the weather. With the rain, late afternoon fog & dropping temps, it wasn't anything close to a white Christmas. My sister had to work(she's a nurse), so our celebration didn't start until evening, when she & I sat down to our mother's roast beef dinner. I hadn't been looking forward to the menu, but the roast was extremely lean & everything was cooked through & very tasty. My sister was chatty & my mom was making an effort not to be grumpy.

     Then we moved to the tree to open gifts. My sister loves to shop, it doesn't matter who for, so I got a ton of stuff from her. Books, pajamas(dogs & penguins), a CD, all placed in cute gift bags with puppies on them. My mom gave me lots of nice things too; DVDs, slippers, a German Shepherd pup calendar, etc. It was a great haul, if a little heavy on apparel. My mom is difficult to buy for, having no interests or hobbies, but she does like word search puzzles. So anytime I saw a book of them, I grabbed it, ending up with 6 of them to give her, some nearly as thick as telephone directories.She laughed as she opened one after another. My sister loves castles, so each year I buy her a calendar of them, pairing it this year with a thick book on Gothic architecture that she wanted. She likes old movies as well, so she found  Fred Astaire & Judy Garland DVDs under the tree.

    Everyone stayed in a good mood, there were no arguments & we had a nice holiday for a change. The novelty was almost as pleasant as the day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RALPH ! ! !

   It's the 44th birthday of my favorite actor, Ralph Fiennes. Best known as "The English Patient", he's played everything from a horrid Nazi ("Schindler's List"), a shy tattooed serial killer("Red Dragon"), an Olympic fencer("Sunshine") to my absolute favorite, a wimpy priest in "Oscar & Lucinda"(see Cornerstone at left) .Plus, he does Ibsen & Shakespeare plays between movies. In 2007 he will return as Voldemort in the next Harry Potter film, as well as at least 2 other movies & a play in Australia.

  He is certainly blessed with both intelligence and good looks. No one else can do intensity and passion the way he can.

  That's why he makes my heart go pitter patter & the reason I'm celebrating today.

                                          The holiday decorating was finished last week, later than planned, but still earlier than usual. The tree is artificial, because I refuse to murder a live one just to have in the house for a few weeks, it's such a waste. A wide variety of ornaments adorn it; dating back to the 1950's when my mother set up house to some I bought last year. They range from glass pine cones(50's), swinging snowpeople(60's), felt drums(70's), toy soldiers & wooden moon(80's), arctic animals(90's) to a candlestick holder ('05). There's a German Shepherd, Tweety Bird, Care Bears and even a biplane which looks like the one Ralph Fiennes flew in The English Patient .

   The Nativity set is from Germany in the early 1960's. The animals are very realistic and the Wise Guys really do look as if they came from distant lands such as Asia and India. Each year I try to set it up a bit different, but always make certain each animal has a clear view of the Baby Jesus, since they welcomed Him when humans had no room.

I string tinsel roping around a couple doorways & loop it across an overhang above the tree. A few years ago they had some that had amusing little snowpeople attached to green tinsel, which makes me laugh as I put it up. All of my cards are taped up to the door by the computer, so I can enjoy them. The only thing left is to put on an album of Christmas music to complete the festive mood.

     Yesterday I was at the post office buying stamps & they had a big red mailbox in the corner marked "Letters to Santa".  I wondered what happened to the letters put in it, are they sent somewhere to someone posing as Santa? It reminded me of the old movie "Miracle on 34th Street". My favorite version is with David Hartman & Jane Alexander.

   This weekend is my big push to do Christmas preparations. The plan was to start putting up the tree, but I'm not feeling well enough for that, so I'm postponing that till tomorrow. Today, I'm concentrating on finishing up my cards. Some have been sent already, but I'd like to get the rest ready to go on Monday. Sending & receiving cards is one of my favorite things about this time of year. A dreaded trip to the mall early in the week will wrap up my shopping & then I can sit back & enjoy the holiday season.

My local newspaper recently had an article on the search for the new Seven Wonders of the World & the website where people can vote for their favorites. You may recall the original list with the Egyptian Pyramids, Hanging Gardens of Babylon & other ancient edifices. All are gone except for the Pyramids. The website proposes forming a new list made of modern marvels, all of which are manmade, as were the old ones. Suggestions range from Stonehenge and Machu Picchu to Angor Wat, the Great Wall of China & the Eiffel Tower. There are 21 to choose from and all are presented with photographs & a brief history.

   At the website www.new7wonders.com      you can tell them what 7 you think ought to be on the final list. You have to register to do this, but be sure to have your choises ready at that point, because you cast your only ballot immediately after registering. The decisions will be announced next year.

   With December's arrival, I had to admit that it's really winter. The temperatures outside are doing their best to convince me too. So I changed my blog background accordingly. That's an elk laying in the snow. It's also called a wapiti by Native Americans and is a little different than the European elk, but still a member of the deer family.

   As always, my profile pics are my own paintings, unless they are photos of my widdle guinea pig, Rufus.