River Gods and Zip Lines

River Gods and zip lines...
two things you might not think go together, but in my world...
I am the queen of multi tasking, the empress of creative mothering, and heiress to the throne of put-it-off-till-later-so-we-can-do-what-we-want.
My house isn't too clean, but everyone is happy.
So Benjamin plays monopoly (rolling for both of us- "do you want to buy Boardwalk?"), while I work in the garden. And an hour of building a platform for a zip line is followed by an hour of wiring paintings for the Castle in the Air show. I rather like it. How dull it would be to do just one thing. Though I often do long for simplicity I soon find it dull when it occasionally shows me its serene face.

River Gods (framed)
based on Manet's Luncheon on the Grass (did you guess, dear reader, from my last posting?)
uh...14"X20"?
Did you know Luncheon on the Grass was Manet's version of an even older Roman artpiece called River Gods? (and that one was a version of an even older piece as well) It makes me feel like what Im doing- ripping off these antique portraits is more justified. MANET did it after all. And I actually didn't even know that Luncheon was based on this older piece until after Id choosen and find ref for Racoons. So how perfect to call mine River Gods. More odd intuiting.

Meanwhile, in the backyard....

Fearless Phineas getting ready to jet down the zip line. Parents, are you quaking in your Mommy boots? 12 feet off the ground, the line dives across the lower yard to only about 5 feet. BAM! They get going pretty darned fast. The beginnings of our future Ewok village?

Knight, Stuck, and Benjamins Interior Design

Knight
10"H-oil on wood
almost done almost done! The show goes up on the the first, opening is the 14th. I want to wrap up these last few pieces so I can get to the hellhole of matting and framing. I have the supplies but I need the quiet space of no children, the soft tap of rain on the skylight to keep me company while I measure and cut angles.

close-up of Knight


Stuck
I was stuck for awhile on stuck. I had boring grey walls and the piece was lifeless. Im not usually a fan of metalics but this pseudo-gold sure did the trick. I think I might go back into the hand/key and bring it out a bit. The tiles were a makeover course in perspective. Yikes. I didn't get it perfect but hell- YOU try. yeash.

meanwhile, in the intersection of art and home and child...I had woven curly willowbranches into my lamp shade with teh paln of hanging paper cranes all over it. But my six year old snuck in and tagged it before I could. He, of course, choose to have Bionacles (Lego Robots) crawling and climbing up it.

But his best stab at decorating took place weeks before I even noticed it- and I happily left it in place, for its whimsy. A Ferby riding my guardian dragon.

and finally- a sneak preview of the final piece. Can you name the painting it's based on? Come on- its a classic- right at the beginning of Jensons History of Art book.