In my pantry

In-A-Can Brand Evil Spirits. Read the label here.

In-A-Can Brand Benevolent Spirits (adults only!) Read the label here.

I made these product labels for my art group, Night of the Radish. We meet quarterly, every time with a different theme. Artists show paintings, poetry, sculpture, and “other” art, such as this one. The theme for this time was espiritu.

I have been having a particular challenge with this scene of gnarly trees along the Guadalupe River in central Texas:

Photograph of cypress trees along the Guadalupe River.

I had already painted the scene three times, attempting to put onto paper what I saw in my mind.

Christine asked me, “What do see in this picture that you want to convey?”

It was an “Aha” moment. I thought, I didn’t really know and I was flailing about, trying to figure it out. Now as I paint the scene again, I am trying to answer that question as I experiment with the paint in hand. Here is the painting I worked on in class.

Cyprus No. 4, Watercolor, 7×9″

In class we decided to work on just the two trees on the left. This is not what I really wanted to say about the picture, but I’m still asking myself, “What is the message?” I have done three more paintings since this one and I’m still searching.

Click here to learn more about Christine Lashley.

Thinking about all this, I realized that people who grew up where they don’t have basements might not realize the importance of the lowly sump pump. Here’s the bottom line: When you have a basement, the sump pump runs automatically to keep water from flooding your basement. They build a pit and the water from around the house foundation all goes in the pit instead of onto your basement floor, and the sump pump pumps it out. The catch is, if your power goes out, the sump pump doesn’t work. And if it keeps raining, the pit fills with water, overflows, and floods your basement. It’s a mess.

We are expecting power outages all over the city with this storm. We still have power and I can hear the pump running about every five minutes. Yikes!

Here’s Drawing #65, Sump Pump. Ugly hole in the basement floor, emitting mysterious motor noises.

Day 65. What’s in that ugly hole in the basement floor? The sump pump, protector of the basement.