So long away from the blog

The holidays are over, the decorations are down and packed, the duldrums of January are upon us. What have I done while not blogging for a couple of weeks? The whole Christmas thing which was quiet but nice. A rip-roarin' New Year's Eve on the couch waiting for the ball to fall in Times Square and then falling myself just for a moment or two into slumber just long enough to miss the once-a-year, seconds-long dropping of the ball. Huddled indoors with not one, but two of the three Stieg Larsson trilogy books--The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  I'm holding off on the third book because the first two were so captivating, I hardly moved from start to finish except to turn the pages with great anticipation, to go the potty or, finally forced by starvation, to the kitchen to fix a peanut butter sandwich one hand on the book, elbow on the bread, knife in my teeth.

Through all the days we watched the snow, fed the birds, made new recipes (apple strudel from scratch!) and ventured out reluctantly when cabin fever encroached upon us. A few trips to the swimming pool to work off Christmas calories. A trip to the grocery store to stock up on more of same. Through it all my mind keeps bouncing back to art...what will I paint next? What art book to look at? When's the next drawing session at Mish Mish? Can I do one more re-draw on part of Adrian's face without destroying her forever? Anything to put off the boring other things that nag at me on my desk, in the kitchen, the laundry room, the vacuum cleaner.

A new piece of watercolor paper went down yesterday. It sits with wet background colors wrapping around the frisket and masking applied over my sister's face, my unsuspecting victim for a bit of a funky portrait. I approach the next step with trepidation, but at least it is a step forward into the new year.

P.S. Sunday, Jan. 16, 6-8 p.m., Mish Mish in Blacksburg, live model drawing session, $10 steve.miller@mishmish.com for more info.