Raccoon?

This is my temporary home, Dad's studio. Cruiser has taken up sleeping on the drafting chair and Spit on the bed. If Sophie is around, Spit sleeps under the covers, and sometimes Cruiser, too, two lumps under the quilt. I've been leaving the outside light on for Spit (and so I can see lurking animals), it attracts bugs and Spit spends the whole night looking out the window at them and whatever else she can see that I can't. We listened to a loud animal fight through the window above the bed the other night, I could not identify the animals (the outside light is on the opposite side of the building and all I could see was darkness) except one animal sounded like a large screeching bird. It sounded right outside the window, but considering how empty it is out here, it could have been far away. The next day we could not find any evidence of a fight, except a bloody paw print in front of the feral cat's food bowl that looked like a raccoon print. Dad was worried about the feral cat, until he emerged from the garage at his usual time that evening without a scratch on him. Now we have a raccoon, in addition to the coyote and the bobcat.


I finished this study of Hazel and it was one of those paintings that starts to look good and I was excited about right away. Today I'm starting a larger painting of Mark and Hazel, next is a larger painting of this one.

The next Wisdom of the Ages topic is from Jesus and fits my painting, Being Childlike,

Except ye be converted and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

There is a purity and joy in children that we loose as adults. When I paint that in children, I get some of it back in myself.

I explained one of my ideas for creating a market for my paintings of children and Dad asked me why the painting would be better than a photograph. Dad knows perfectly well why it's better and is playing part Devil's Advocate and part telling me this is something I need to be able to articulate, but really, how do you articulate this? The painting has an emotional quality that the photo does not, and I do not know why, although here I have to give deference to my brother John, the photographer, who can take a photo with the same qualities as a painting, but he is a professional.

Dad is making Sunday breakfast, more later.