Fumbling

Yesterday, I found myself simply at loose ends. I woke up feeling off, and sort of fumbled about the house, reading, drinking tea, warming up in front of the fireplace... but not painting. It turns out I have a bit of a cold setting in, but I'm hoping it won't be a big thing. I'm shooting for "just annoying" and passing quickly!

It was also election day, and so I knew I had to head out and not only get my painting and print shipments out, but also stop in the town hall and vote. It doesn't matter what your politics are, if you know your history, you know what a big deal it is to be able to go and vote - and how cool it is that a little peon like me is worth just as much as the most successful person in the voting booth (although, I would imagine they have a much cooler car to drive off in! One that probably doesn't make that weird knocking-wobble sound which I'm certain is heralding my impending doom...)

See? I voted and got my sticker. Stickers are the best. I love stickers. I used to collect them when I was a kid on the back of my bedroom door. I have no where to put them now (my husband would frown on the whole door-thing), but I still like to get them! Stickers are just fun!

Anyway, knowing I had a bunch of errands to run also threw me off a bit. I paint a lot better knowing I don't have to be anywhere, than I do when I know I have to "stop at * time and get ready to leave." I think I fear getting into my groove and having to stop. It really is awful when that happens!

Once I returned home, I brought up a minion studio helper to hang out with me.

This is Chester. Isn't he just fabulously fluffy? (for those keeping count, we have 1 giant cat, 3 dogs, 2 rabbits, and 25 chickens. It'll get worse in the spring when we add geese and pheasant to the flock. My husband keeps lobbying for alpacas, and my daughter for horses, my son wants a pig, but I can barely keep track of what we have now!)

I was able to paint a bit more and actually made some progress for a relatively small window of time. I worked solely on my Halloween kitten painting because I really need to finish it. I managed to finish the sleeping kitten:

I'll add whiskers to him tomorrow, but other than that he's done.

But now I'm a bit stumped on what color to make the kitten in the boot. Originally he was to be grey, but I'm worried that will be too dark what with the hat and boot right there. The sleeping kitten ended up basically brown, even though it's meant to be black because it's just too dark to show proper values otherwise.

It's a bit blurry, sorry about that.

Maybe sticking with grey is the way to go. Hmmm... Well, anyway, I'm hoping for a more productive day today!