Welcome to September, the back-to-school month! August was a hot one, and it is nice to think about things cooling down a bit, although September can be pretty warm as well.
Lots of things happened in August...I hooked up with my Sonshine in Portland. We met for lunch while he was up in the area visiting friends. I also had a wonderful visit with one of my dearest friends. She helped me add many steps to my FitBit as we explored Seaside, Oregon (with another high school buddy,) ran around Mt. Rainier, and took the train up to Seattle.
In between the fun, I began my series of horse paintings. It started off rocky...I have a "fail" that could possibly be redeemed. We shall see. It's at a "What do I have to lose?" stage, so I am going to experiment and play and see what it will turn out to be. I paint more than one painting at a time. It keeps the paintings fresh. If I feel I'm getting bogged down with one, I will set it aside and turn to another. Therefore, I've finished up two other horses, and one of them is this month's offering.
MONTHLY OFFERING
I sure had fun painting this spirited buckskin. I have been experimenting with incorporating the paper itself as part of the piece....meaning not just as something to put paint on...so there is lots of texture. And I used a different color palette than my normal to make my darks and lights.
The original has been sold, but you can find it in the prints section as either an 8x10 or an 11x14. I am also planning to make it into a notecard.
PLEASE REMEMBER...we take special orders and provide you with many different sizes, as large as 40x60 or as small as 5x7. Just ask.
ROADTRIP!!!!!
Mr. Al and I are going on an adventure!!! We are leaving our fur family in capable hands and taking ourselves down to the canyon lands of Utah. We have been yearning to see those beautiful red rocks and explore the area, searching for Pictographs, Petroglyphs, and inspiring rock formations. Plus, I have a new color palette to immerse myself in. Oh, I cannot wait to see the stars at night!!!!!! Hopefully, we will have some clear night skies.
FOLLOW ALONG...
For fun, I am dusting off the cobwebs of the blog I started back in the 2010s era when Mr. Al and I were traveling more. If you'd like to come along on this road trip, here's the link to my Chronicles of Cammy blog.
I've talked enough...HERE'S MR.AL
In the early stages of fall, my thoughts turn to designing carvings that will occupy the winter months, as well as anticipating and designing protection for the Huldufólk Haven dwellings to withstand the harsher seasonal factors. *We certainly want to avoid devastation, such as we experienced last year in the windstorm!* See: https://www.alchemyranchstudios.com/post/mid-winter-s-tales. It would certainly be a shame to have the Yeagerson's new home destroyed again! It would make us wonder if there were dark conspiracies afoot!
Speaking of which, I've taken many photographs of HH. In almost every single one, there appear some weird anomalies. Could they be lens flares? Streaks on the glass when taken through a window? Or something much more mysterious?
We've considered getting a movement-activated, night-vision trail camera to see what happens when we're not there. At the very least, we could get some interesting terrestrial night visitors. Let us know if you think we should try to capture some of them.
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Aside from that, I am using the cooler days to build a retaining wall to plant some related redwood friends close to our already-established redwood tree, a transplanted living Christmas tree one year that seems very happy. I'm sure buddies will inspire more growth, as the new kids will be inspired by their strong predecessor.
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Meanwhile, we're getting ramped up for our road trip to find more talking stones in Utah. We are excited to be 'on the road again' to the Golden Circle to wonder at the etchings left by the ancients. Were they depictions of what they actually saw? Were they visions captured in their mythical quests? We'll let you be the judge. I'm sure we'll be posting a plethora of pictorial prospects for you!
In anticipation and an effort to inspire some good 'ju ju' for our Petroglyph Discovery Road trip, this is my 'depiction' of stone stories of some we have seen near Dinosaur National Monument in Utah. In a departure from my regular carving, I employed a rotary burr to try to
capture the hammer and stone pecking techniqueI imagine was employed in their creation. Allow me to present:
'Listen...and the stones will speak."
I hope you like it.
This Piece will be available for sale in our online store sometime this month.
And there you have it...may you all stay safe, happy, and cozy. We'll catch up with you next month!!