Mountain Lion Paintings

I've been busy painting this week, after being inspired by visiting a wild cat breeding center this past weekend (expect a photo-heavy post on that soon!!). I follow updates from the Mountain Lion Foundation. Check out their website here: http://www.mountainlion.org/index.asp

They do some amazing work and I am hoping to be able to donate some artwork to them. Mountain lions, like so many apex predators, are often feared and misunderstood. People fear them because they see these sensationalized headlines about attacks on humans. However, those are very few and far between. I've spent much time in nature and the outdoors and mountain lions exist all over California. I spend every free moment looking for them and I've NEVER seen one (I have heard one, though). They are shy, secretive cats that are a rare treat to glimpse in the wild.

Here are a few practice paintings that I've been working on.



Mountain lion cub:



Mountain lion mama:

An Update on Random Things!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I have lots to say, so that's not the problem! I have a couple trips and photojournals to post on here, so stay tuned over the next couple days for those.

I've had headaches and sinus problems for years, and over the past week, ended up in the ER for a horrible migraine that got progressively worse through the night. See my Facebook page for a lovely gruesome photo of my injured, IV-pricked, bruised arm!

I had the pleasure of visiting the absolutely amazing Exotic Feline Breeding Compound in the Mojave Desert of California: http://www.cathouse-fcc.org/. They had their summer Twilight Tour on Saturday and it was every bit as wonderful as I'd hoped it would be. I took almost 400 photos on that trip, so they will be posted soon!

I had to euthanize my two new goldfish over the past couple days, so that was upsetting. I had hoped to bring them both back to health but wasn't able to, unfortunately. Rest in peace, Pumpkin and little blue fish.

The highlight of the last week was rescuing a tiny kitten! He is a beautiful lilac-point Siamese, and he showed up crying in the middle of the night in our yard! It took a couple hours, but I finally was able to grab the little guy. He was feral, dirty and terrified. I'm sure he was abandoned, one of the hordes of kittens born in the low-income neighborhoods nearby. Two have been hit on the busy road by our house and I cringe to think of this little guy crossing that road. One of our kitties was killed there in 1995.

The kitten is so adorable that I'll dedicate a whole entry to him, but for now, bask in his kitten adorable-ness!



Finally, I tore a ligament in my thumb yesterday, and am in a splint. No sculpting for awhile. I hope I'll be able to paint left-handed!

See you all soon, and thanks so much for reading!

~Jenny Swartzbaugh

Calico Goldfish and New Art!

I've been fascinated by fancy goldfish since about 1989. I remember the day I first saw egg-shaped, multicolored fish with big, flowing tails. My best friend Melanie had them in a little aquarium in her room, and I decided then and there that I must have them, too!

Over the years, my goldfish obsession has progressed to the point where I've had as many as five or six aquariums of them at once. I've kept just about every kind, and currently have nine in a 100 gallon aquarium.

A few quick goldfish facts: despite what culture would have us believe, these little critters CANNOT survive in bowls. They do not grow to the size of their tank, and they do not die at the drop of a hat. Healthy goldfish require a very large tank, heavy filteration, light feeding, and regular water changes. Goldfish can and should live ten years or more. My oldest fish died at about nine years old, and she was considered young.

Goldfish have inspired my artwork throughout the years, and I even designed my own tattoo which features two goldfish.

Goldfish have been specially bred throughout thousands of years, with their roots beginning in China. These beautiful animals have inspired my artwork, and enjoy capturing them in watercolor and polymer clay.

Here is a cute little guy that I just listed on Etsy:







Here's what one of my goldfish looked like before I oven cured him. He was made with multicolored polymer clay. Calico goldfish often have blue/violet undertones, and I achieved this with blue polymer clay under a thin layer of translucent clay. In the before picture, you can see how bright and opaque the clay is. After, you can see that it is translucent. I often use a blend of the translucent and black clay on goldfish fins.



Here you can see the same little fish next to another one of my recent pieces, a calico ranchu. (A ranchu goldfish is an egg-shaped fish with no dorsal fin).



Side view of my ranchu. I haven't put him up for sale yet because I've gotten ridiculously attached!



A big-eyed telescope goldfish sculpture from a few months ago:



Watercolor of two goldfish in a pond. I've always thought fancy goldfish were more attractive in ponds than koi, since they have big round bodies and multiple fins!



A few of my real babies!











As always, thanks for reading! Signing off for now.

~Jenny Swartzbaugh

San Francisco Road Trip

Last weekend, we went to the Bay Area to visit my grandma for her birthday, and we decided to head up to San Francisco, too.

I kept seeing these strange SNAIL garage sale signs all over town, and was very amused by them!



I had no idea what it was but I was fascinated. Finally my grandma informed me that it was the name of a neighborhood group and SNAIL was an acronym. I still thought it was funny, especially since I have a thing for snails.

I felt the need to post this picture of a pretty lily, too.



Note to self: do not take your sister's boyfriend's huge, four-door, lifted Silverado to the tiny, winding streets of San Francisco! Everywhere we went, our large, lumbering beast of a truck was a spectacle to be seen. I felt I should be waving out the window like I was on a float in a parade.



J.D.'s amazing parking job. He's used to parking a tiny truck.





Yeah, we couldn't fit the truck into the parking garages!!



House on a hill:



Yep, this was a tour of people on Segways! It made me laugh, so I kept taking pictures of them!



We always end up going to Chinatown, where they have some great pet stores. (At least for me, because they cater to goldfish owners there). I ended up coming away with a couple snails, including this beautiful nerite, and a new baby calico fantail goldfish.




On the way back, we saw a sign advertising a two for one wine sale at Casa de Fruta on Highway 152. Well, being the group of wine lovers that we are, we couldn't pass up a chance to go wine tasting! We ended up coming home with two bottles of Pacheco Pass Appellation Black Muscat Blush. If anyone is traveling that way, I'd really, really recommend wine tasting there! It was free, low-key and fun, and not too crowded when we were there on a Sunday evening.

Today's Projects and Adventures

As most of you know, my favorite sculpting medium is polymer clay. (Someday that will change when I get a kiln and can play with regular clay too!)

I have been concentrating on getting existing pieces sold before making new ones, which is one of my challenges. But I had a custom order to make a goldfish sculpture as a memorial to a friend who recently lost a goldfish. His name was Gabriel and he was a beautiful calico fantail. This is the progression of creating him with polymer clay.

Here's how he started out!




Here he is just before I put him in the oven. The white clay is actually translucent, so it looks much brighter and more opaque before it's cooked.



After being cooked! Unfortunately, in trying to make the fins more thin and delicate, I broke the dorsal fin.






I also made a smaller calico goldfish, too.



So that's been my day. While dinner is cooking, I need to start on my other custom order, a koi watercolor! Signing off for now.

~Jenny

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition--The Tom Family

I am not one to sit and be glued to the TV for two hours, but I somehow found myself doing just that last night.

I hardly watch the show anymore, even though there was an episode filmed in Fresno a few months back. But the opening of this particular episode really caught my attention. It started out talking about a woman who had adopted several special-needs children, and one had just passed away. As some of you know, I have been considering adoption for several years now. I'll write more about that in a separate post, but I've felt really led to adopt from Russia. A couple of the girls on the show last night were adopted from Russia, and what was more, they were born without legs and walked on their hands.

What struck me about this family wasn't all the obvious disabilites (or different abilities) and physical features. It was their overall attitude. It was a house full of girls, a family still reeling from the loss of their older brother just before Christmas 2004. But their attitude was what really struck me. They were all happy, cheerful and positive. It was hard for the girls to get around, and they had to climb the stairs on their hands. But none of them were bitter, none were depressed. They had an amazing aura about them.

Of course, the TV show sent them someplace fun. In this case, it was Disney World. They then set about completely demo-ing the old 70's house. In its place they built a beautiful, Craftsman-era, three story home!

First of all, when you're from California, you're used to one or two story ranch, stucco homes. A three story home is unheard of, which is probably one reason why it was so exciting! They also built this beautiful, classic-looking, but completely modern home. They even included an elevator, which was great for the wheelchair-users, and the others who still had trouble getting around.

And of course, when you're from California, what do you need more in your backyard than a pool? The crew even put in a pool, complete with cool water fountains.

In the end, the house was just completely amazing. Of course, the family just loved it. Each bedroom was perfectly tailored to their needs and tastes. Two of the girls in wheelchairs (the ones from Russia) got to claim the entire third story as their own little "apartment." What teenage girls wouldn't want that!?

What struck me the most was really everyone's attitudes. No one whined, no one complained, and no one felt sorry for themselves. It really put into perspective how I've been feeling. For over a year, I've been suffering with chronic headaches and sinus pain. The pain never really completely goes away, and though I try to maintain a positive outlook, it does get me down. It's a struggle to even get to the laptop on days like today. But seeing how these kids deal with what's been given to them--things that are much more challenging than pain--has really opened my eyes.

The whole show was really moving for us both to watch. I've never, ever seen JD cry, so that was a big deal. If you get a chance, see if you can find some of it to watch online. If you're interested, here's a link to some more information.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/04/NBG8FFF0TP1.DTL

Information about special needs adoption:

http://special-needs.adoption.com/

http://www.adopting.org/Family_Builders.html

I've Just Been Featured in a Treasury!

Thanks so much to Heather with DalkullanJewelry for featuring me in her beautiful treasury!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=62216

Take a look and help support my fellow artists!

~Jenny Swartzbaugh