Update, Dec. 18, from Gina Spadafori at Pet Connection: I just talked to Chambers Williams of The Tennessean. If your dog or cat ate the recalled food and got sick or died, he wants to talk to you, especially if you’re in Tennessee:. 615-259-8076.
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I’m interrupting Mongolia Monday because this is an emergency. This was posted on the Pet Connection blog on Dec. 18. Kroger’s did what is called a Friday night “dump and run” recall. Companies do this knowing that the news media is winding down for the weekend. Obviously, their priority is NOT to get the word out to people whose pets might be affected.
Reports of dead dogs, cats and ferrets have been posted in the comment thread. Here’s the start of the post:
This weekend it’s the grocery store mega-chain, Kroger, recalling dog and cat food sold in Kroger, Dillons, Gerbes, Baker’s, Food 4 Less, Jay C, Hilander, Owen’s, Pay Less, and Scott’s stores. From their release:
The Kroger Co. said today it is recalling select packages of pet food sold in some of its retail stores because the products may contain aflatoxin, which poses a health risk to pets.
Kroger stores in the following states are included in this recall: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
The recall also includes Dillons and Gerbes stores in Kansas and Missouri; Baker’s stores in Nebraska; Food 4 Less stores in Nebraska, Illinois and Indiana (Chicago area); and Jay C, Hilander, Owen’s, Pay Less and Scott’s stores in Illinois and Indiana.
Stores the company operates under the following names are not included in this recall: Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, Smith’s, QFC, City Market, Foods Co., and Food 4 Less stores in California and Nevada.
Here are other sites you can go to for information:
Veterinary News Service site. (VNS)
American Veterinary Medical Association
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
From Wikipedia, this information about what aflatoxin is:
“Aflatoxins are naturally occurring mycotoxins that are produced by many species of Aspergillus, a fungus, most notably Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Aflatoxins are toxic and among the most carcinogenic substances known.”
And the result of exposure is:
“High-level aflatoxin exposure produces an acute hepatic necrosis, resulting later in cirrhosis, and/or carcinoma of the liver. Acute hepatic failure is made manifest by hemorrhage, edema, alteration in digestion, and absorption and/or metabolism of nutrients and mental changes and/or coma.
“No animal species is immune to the acute toxic effects of aflatoxins including humans”
Essentially, some ingredient in the food, possibly corn, is contaminated with high levels of this toxic fungus, which causes severe to fatal liver damamge.
Please pass the word to anyone you know in the the affected states who has pets.
One last word– some people think that somehow the attention given to pets is wrong and should go to people instead. But this country only has one food supply, so faulty practices that kill dogs and cats can potentially affect people too.
We’re having a lovely weekend with family. This is Niki, our rough collie dog, after a day of running around and playing with six cousins, all of whom are ten and under. He was one tired pupski by sundown.
The propanels are up and covered with paintings. The studio is about as clean as it ever gets. There’s new prints and cards. I’ll be baking oatmeal cookies tonight. And, at 11am Saturday morning, it’s Show Time! The 12th Annual North Coast Open Studios .
If you’re out and around in Humboldt County this weekend, consider checking out a few studios. Our county has an amazing variety of artists and the community is very supportive.
I’ll be open on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm. This year I’m offering a selection of small, affordable works ready to hang on your own wall or to give as a special gift.
For more information on this great event, here’s the link to the official website, which includes a directory of artists with examples of their work. maps to all the studios, photos of many of the artists in their studios and more.
In the meantime, Niki is resting up for his big socializing opportunity:
I’ve gone back and forth over whether to add some way of shooting video on the upcoming trip to Mongolia. I looked at “real” camcorders and finally decided that another $600 and hauling a third thing that is bigger than a Nikon just wasn’t in the cards. But I was very skeptical of the little Flip camcorders. Many times it’s better to skip something rather than settle for the minimum and then just be frustrated.
But I’ve watched a couple of people use them and saw how compact and light they are. Hummm. I went to Amazon over the weekend and poked around. The second generation of Flips are out and the price was too good to pass up, so, for $129 I got a Flip UltraHD and I have to say, I’m really impressed. Here’s my first ever video that I shot last night, all nine seconds of it:
I’ve already learned one thing and that is to let the subject go all the way out of the frame before stopping the shot.
This Flip will shoot 120 minutes of video and has 8gb of built in memory. It has a flip-out USB port that plugs into your computer. I also got the rechargeable battery pack and the padded case. The case was returned today. It was a $15 rip-off. Cheesy and no way to even get the camera in it since it was effectively sewn shut.
I have no idea what kind of wildlife footage I’ll get since there’s really no zoom to speak of, but for the national Nadaam events, especially the horse-racing, and domestic animals like the horses and camels, it will be interesting to have images of moving animals to work from when I get home instead of only stills. It’ll all be a big experiment and a fun one.
I’m running a little behind, so I’ll cover the art stuff that’s going to Mongolia with me next week. In the meantime, I think I’ve solved the hot-water-in-the-ger-problem with a nifty little “stove” that uses solid fuel cubes and is specifically ok for use in tents. More later once it gets here.
I thought that I would share a few images of the creation of this study.
As usual, there was a cat working hard, right near by:
It’s one thing to see and appreciate how other artists use techniques like “lost and found” when viewing their finished work. But I thought it might be useful to show a couple of step-by-step demonstrations of how I go about it. First, one in charcoal and then a second in oil paint.
Here’s a selection of my drawing stuff. I used a 6B Extra Soft General’s charcoal pencil for the following study, which I think just might make an interesting painting. The “stumps” on the left are used for blending. I’ll be sharing a book on sketching next week that really showed me what the stumps are good for.
Also, here is my computer set-up. My husband, bless his heart, built the platform it all sits on to my specifications. We fastened it to the IKEA desk with an office chair swivel to ensure that it could easily support the off-center weight of the iMac, which has a 24′ glossy monitor.
Using the image on the monitor, I did this value study-
The drawing is done and now I’m starting to lay in the shadow shape on the left as one mass.
All the shadow shapes are done. Notice that I haven’t put in any detail or features in the shadow, except an indication of the nostril and some of the mouth.
The finished study. The shadow area is treated as one big shape and I’ve “lost” all the rest.
Here is a second demo done in paint. The same principles apply.
The starting image; a white rhino I photographed at the Lewa Downs Coservancy, Kenya, in 2004. The light side and shadow side are very distinct.
The initial drawing. Why red? I could make up a really cool explanation, but actually I picked it up from Scott Christensen. Sometimes I use other colors depending on what I have in mind for the painting, but I tend to fall back on the red for these quick studies. One less decision to make.
Once again, I’m laying in the shadow as one big shape.
I’ve added color to the light side and also used the same tone for the background. Notice that I have left brush strokes showing for visual texture and that there are four different color temperatures in the shadow.
I’ve now covered the background with paint and picked out the lightest areas on the rhino.
The finished study, which took less than two hours. I lightened the background to pop out the shadows, added a darker tone on the left to pop out the side of the head and added some final brushstrokes at the bottom to suggest grass.
A little tired after all this? You’re not the only one:
Take Care of Yourself!
Even in the best of times, and this ain’t them, it takes energy and decent health to put in the hours needed to paint and take care of all the other parts of having a career. It’s also easy to get down, if not depressed. You know you have to nurture your art, but you also have to nurture yourself. And that’s a guy thing, too.
I’ve learned this the hard way having dealt with chronic sinusitis for ten years. It manifests in a low grade fever that leaves me too fatigued to do much of anything. I generally have it under control, but always need to be vigilant about getting quality sleep, eating right and exercising. I also get a massage every three weeks to keep me tuned up. I accept that I’m going to have to work at staying healthy and that it is as much a part of my routine as getting to the studio in the morning.
Exercise is really important, especially if you sit or stand all day at an easel. “Studies have shown” that the two most effective forms of exercise are walking and gardening, so you don’t have to join a gym or run marathons. We walk our dog 30-40 minutes every morning unless it’s pouring rain. Longer walks on the weekend. Nighttime walks too, which are fun because sometimes a couple of the cats come along (Fortunately, we’re on a dead end street with very little traffic).
I do like to garden. I just planted some primroses, pansies and tigridia bulbs. This year we plan to do a serious vegetable garden and see how much of our own food we can grow. (Wish we could grow our own peanuts. What will they recall next?)
You need to find what works for you. But being physically active will make you feel less tired.
I do yoga at home, too. It feels so good to stretch, especially my shoulders.
Eating well seems challenging sometimes, but try to have good quality, quick to fix food around. Maybe popcorn for a snack instead of chips. We keep sugar-free pudding cups, Laughing Cow cheese, string cheese and nuts on hand. I have half a protein or energy bar in mid-morning and afternoon so I don’t crash. My evening treat is a few squares of 80% very dark chocolate. We usually have a glass of red wine with dinner. I stay low on the glycemic index to keep my blood sugar stable. We just made our first soup stock from a chicken carcass (new Joy of Cooking) and added wild rice, celery, mushrooms and carrots. We’re still putting raspberries and blueberries on our cereal from what we picked last year and put in the freezer and there are still three bags of apples in the frig for Waldorf salad, cobbler and just eating. As with exercise, see what will work for you.
Even if you don’t have space for regular vegetable garden, you might try salad greens on a sunny window sill or blueberry bushes in containers.
Feel free to post comments to share your own ideas and thoughts and what works for you.
NEW PAINTINGS!
Drawing and painting animals has come relatively easily for me. It’s what I seem to have a knack for, not that I haven’t put in a lot of work at it. But landscape, now that’s a whole other challenge. I finally decided that I was going to get this “tree thing” down. I’ve been hacking away for the last few months doing small studies of trees in interesting light with cast shadows and I believe there has been progress. More next week.
CONTINUING FROM LAST FRIDAY-
Strength in Numbers! If you think about it, one could say that the ability to be alone and self-motivate are prerequisites for being a working artist. In a sense, painting is a “solitary vice”. So, it may take some conscious effort, in planning the marketing of your work, to consider the multiplier effect of joining with others. This hit me two years ago when I was offered the opportunity to have a solo show at a financial management company. (I should note that where I live there are really no commercial galleries as the term is generally understood. Most spaces, some of which are very nice, are “piggybacked” on another business. However, the community is very supportive of its artists and finding a place to show art publicly is pretty easy. Sales are uncommon, but, boy, do we get fussed over.) I’ve had a few solo shows here and have always gotten a gratifying turnout. But it occurred to me that if I invited some of my animal/nature artist friends, it would not only be more fun, but that then their “fan base” would see my art, too.
I invited four colleagues and they all said “yes”. The reception was packed, I sold two giclees, another artist sold one and a good enough time was had by all that we decided to do it again. Last year we added a couple of new artists and moved to a different venue. We also invited the local wildlife care center folks to attend with a couple of their birds as an added attraction. Once again, a great turnout, both for the reception and during the month that the show was up.
The next show, Wild Visions 3, will be in October and we will have a nationally known wildlife artist as our Special Guest (more later). While, in a sense, it’s “my” show, we all pitch in with ideas (one of the other artists came up with the name) and work the reception. We’re exploring various ideas for “growing” the show.
Should you consider finding a small group to show with whose work is complementary to yours? With the right people it really is “the more, the merrier”.
What’s Your Story? There’s a lot of artists out there. Good ones, too. How do you make your work stand out? One way is your Story. What is it that sets you apart? If you’re going to successfully get local or national editorial coverage (back to last week’s “spend no money”), you have to have a hook to get the attention of a reporter or editor. Not to mention collectors. They are buying your story along with your art.
Now, you can’t just make something up out of whole canvas, so to speak. And you don’t need to. You’re an artist. That gives you a leg up already since people in general are really interested in what artists do and get a kick out of knowing one. Find something particular that you do and why, test drive it and see what the response is.
I like to travel and it’s a necessary part of creating my art. I happen to really like Mongolia, which has a certain cachet as a destination. So, for me, it’s kind of a no-brainer. My story is my travels to Mongolia and the paintings and drawings that are the result.
Filtering how you present yourself and your art this way can simplify your choices, too, since there’s never enough time to do everything you want/need to do.
To be continued…
NEW WORK IN PROGRESS!
I’ve been fighting off a sinus infection for the past three weeks and haven’t gotten in much easel time, but I have made progress on this new painting from reference that I shot year before last down near Cambria, California. There is a huge elephant seal colony right on the beach next to Highway 1 and they really put on a show. Lots of male posturing.
NEW CAT UPDATE!
Just for fun, here’s a few photos of Alexander, who’s doing great. He’s gotten nose to nose greetings now from two of the three other cats and one is now willing to play with him.
Susan Fox, American Artist 