Strange bathers

On Friday around noon, my WiFi and DSL went kerflooie. Don't know what happened, but the gateway box started flashing all yellow and red lights, and that was it. I tried resetting the box several different ways (the reset button, obviously, and the old unplug and plug back in magic) but no dice. I called AT&T, sat on hold for 38 minutes, and was told to do the same things again, which still didn't work, and then the nice young man said "My first available appointment for someone to check the lines is Tuesday at 10 a.m." Four days without the internet or television? WHAT? But, AT&T customers can't be choosers, so I settled in for the long wait.

Friday night, deprived of "all that," I decided to produce the next idea I had for a Deb Weiers special. I started at 6 p.m., and kept going until I finished at 10:30, only then realizing I had failed to eat dinner. So I had some cheese and crackers, bewailed the impossibility of posting my artwork, and went to bed.

Saturday I did fiddle about on Facebook on my phone for about an hour, but was otherwise productive as one can be with no distractions: Watered all the flower beds in the yard, wrote (and stockpiled) two blog posts for my book review blog, revised a powerpoint for my readers' advisory class, and cleaned up/swept/hosed out the patio. Then I found an old lamp in the garage, set it up with an extension cord, and read my book from 9 to 12:30 on the patio where the weather had finally "cooled down" to 85 degrees! (It was 106 at noon.)

This morning, in the course of backing up my phone (while hooked into the computer) I somehow managed to glom onto someone else's WiFi in the neighborhood, and temporarily got the use of my computer back. Still no TV, but at least I can post and communicate. What did we do before the internet?!

Anyway, here is the result of my productive Friday night. The inspiration for both are real: Yes, that is a real bird (a rusty egret), and the woman is modeled on one of the actresses on the show Fleabag (google "I look like a pencil"). Since the egret was standing in water (his natural habitat), I plunged her into the pool as well. I call this "Strange Bathers." I'm flailing around a bit, trying to find my way to using the skills and techniques I have learned from Deb Weiers's class but turn them into my own artwork. I feel like I made a start here.

Pencil, watercolor, Daler Rowney inks, collage, Uniball, gel pens, on Fluid 140-lb. watercolor paper.