Jesse and Drama

First the drama. After Katie left yesterday I slept for 4 hours. Exhausted after so much energy output in the form of painting, visiting, catching up, all the things friends do who have so much in common. When I finally did wake up and get my wits about me John came and asked if I'd seen Hermanito anywhere. For the next 4 hours until after dark we patrolled the neighborhood calling and searching for our cat. We knocked on the doors of strangers' houses and trespassed on private property as we scoured the pastures and hedgerows for our friend. Finally we returned home where we drank wine and cried; my eyes are so swollen this morning that I look like a prize fighter.

John went out again at the crack of dawn and came back to the house to wake up a hung-over me with hopeful news. He had heard weak crying from a blackberry thicket at the end of our lane. Hermanito is so old, so arthritic, so weak and blind that I don't know how he made it so far but we ran to the brier patch with our gloves and loppers and started hacking our way through the canes and sure enough, there was our boy, disoriented and weakened.

He is home now and all I can do is croon to him and lay next to him as he purrs and talks to me of his adventure. I feel like nearly losing a loved one puts my life in sharp relief; priorities are clearer and I must say more than ever John is my hero as he persisted against heavy odds and would not give up looking for our very helpless little guy.

End of personal drama now and on to Jesse Reno - a very nice man who just happens to be a world class teacher and painter. Generosity. That is what I look for in a teacher. Jesse holds nothing back. Here be the man.

He told us exactly how he got where he is today. He had just gotten the news on Friday that he will be travelling to Mexico City to paint a mural with some other awesome well-known artists. He is a painting machine; he seems to live to paint and with a passion like that it is no wonder he has become so good at his art.

Here we are with our big 2 foot by 4 foot boards laid out and our paints at the ready. Many of us I dare say had never painted so large. That's Jesse. He does things in a large, fearless way and we all caught his energy.

He likes to paint on the floor.

This is my finished ginormous painting. I also painted on the floor and under a table where I was out of the way. I loved it under the table. So cave-like and private. But I need to get some knee pads.

I adore this picture of Jesse. If you get to take a class from him he will give you as much personal attention as you desire. He was 100% present for every student. Fabulous.

My amiga Linda Womack with her beautiful painting. She hasn't painted in acrylic that much but I really think she should. Her color palette was amazing. I think most of the people in the class had original palettes and ways of expressing themselves. The work that came out was our own and not like Jesse's. That was a good thing.

Here he is again, this time showing us a detail from some of his finished paintings.

Katie and Jesse, lookin' good. Very energized at the end of the day we were and very very happy too.

Here are a few of the somewhat finished paintings by katie and I. She wants to do more to hers but I like it as it is.

Whew, that was a long post! Now I have to catch up on the emails and all that I've neglected. The days are simply barreling by; summer is really much too short.