charlottehoffman.com Blog

I’m painting again for the Sierra Art Trails Open Studio Tour after seriously hurting my neck/shoulder a week and a half ago.  Hint, make sure you have good leverage when trying to open a stubborn window….and that your shoulder isn’t already messed up.  Friends and family suggested I should just lay down for a few days but that position hurt more than standing up….so I puttered around and tried to find comfortable ways to sit.  When I tried painting the back spasms would start so I avoided activities with those types of movements.  I still hurt but the spasms are gone.  Yay Advil and aspirin!….but I’d have gladly taken something stronger the first few days!!! 

Downsizing made the clouds look gloppy but in reality they are smoother and detailed.  This little acrylic is 6×12, on a wrap around canvas with sides painted. 

This little tree was somewhere in Yosemite and has been sitting in the back of  my mind for a while.  Wrap around canvas with sides painted, Acrylic  8×10.

A month ago we had the bob cat that got one of my chickens.  In 12 years I’d never seen a bob cat in our area.  This week we had a coyote visit the neighbor’s lot a couple of mornings and twice at our fence looking at the chickens.  I used to hear the coyotes at night but had never seen one.  Now I’m constantly looking for the coyote and the chickens are let out later and locked down earlier.  Today Dave saw a road runner down the street at our neighbor’s place.  The numerous deer have disappeared and been replaced with new critters.  One of the jack rabbits was on the hill behind the house yesterday.

Dave brought home ‘critters’ for the chickens this afternoon.  He was splitting wood when he found some grub inside the log, which isn’t unusual.  What was unusual was the SIZE of these grubs!  The chickens were thrilled and treated us to a hilarious game of ‘grub-ball’.  At one point Lacey had one of the grub.  Weezie tried to snatch it so Lacey took off running full speed across the yard, dropping the grub in such a way that Weezie didn’t notice.  Lacey stopped a yard or so past the discarded grub and Weezie looked at her like, ‘What the heck?”  While Weezie searched the ground Lacey ran back to the grub, grabbed it and kept going so that Weezie didn’t see that Lacy now had possession of the grub.   Two points for Lacey!!   Don’t kneel to close when the chickens start bashing the grub…you get splattered with grub juice!                      Below, Dave’s gloved hands,  my hand.