More crabs?

"I paint my nails"

  I participate in an Art show called Peter Anderson in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

 It happens the first weekend of November and is put on by the chamber. I love this show, this year marks my 8th year and it is always exciting. It is a hard show to set up for, because we have to be up at the crack of dawn, in the cold, in the dark, with people driving by so close you move equipment before it gets run over. I have seen tents have to be moved. Boxes pushed out of the way by impatient artists that got that extra amount of sleep. Those same artists are now so far from their tent they may never get in! I have heard about people getting bumped by the mad rush of cars, and more than one fender bender has occurred during this set up circus.

In the middle of this, I threw my mother, eager to help, but clueless as to what to do. She needed guidance with every step of the way. Those were the days after my easy up tent, opting for the tinker toy, behemoth, monster, HEAVY, vinyl tent. This is the tent that has so many parts and bags you have to rehearse setting it up the week before so you don't want to kill each other in the pre-dawn hours. We brought head lamps, tossing them after the first three minutes. We got finished with the set up and finally sat down for a few minutes. My mother asked me,

Will you ever get tired of painting crabs?

I replied I don't think so, there are so many things about them to like. They have the most interesting, creepy faces, They have so many different poses, defensive postures, attacking, swimming, and just plain resting.  Then you start looking at the variety of crabs, Blue crabs, ghost crabs, hermit crabs, and new to me this summer, speckled crabs.
The blue crabs are by far my favorites to paint. The claws range from brilliant reds to muted rusts on the females. Pthalo  blues and incredible ultramarines so rich and dense they are hard to depict on the males. They can be bright white or pale creamy yellows. Then you look at the shell on their backs, pea greens and muted greens, to drab and dull greens. The points on their shells go anywhere from dark brown to almost black, then to rusty reds. Add the shine on the shell and you have virtually any color you could want in the rainbow.

Will I ever get tired of painting crabs?

I don't think so, mom they remind me of you! The nails (claws) my mother had, thick nails so strong that she used them as screwdrivers. Nails you did not pass on to me with my paper thin, but better now nails. Nails that were invariably painted with your favorite color, OPI "I'm not really a waitress". Your nails that you would use to pick the crab meat out of the shell as you happily ate them.
Happy memories of my mother,

I think I'll keep painting crabs

"I'm Blue too!"

I'm blue too! , I painted my nails! both 12 x 12 acrylic on canvas, paintings 7 & 8 of the 100 paintings