Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.

Yes, the word "buffalo" written eight times with a period at the end really is a grammatically correct sentence. It seems the word "buffalo" can be used as many ways. Annie Kalow taught me this when she commission this tiny piece giving only the buffalo sentence and a Wikipedia link as a guide for the painting.

The sentence means something like a buffalo buffaloes(bullies) another buffalo in Buffalo. There is not a lot of occasion to use it in daily conversations.

I was excited and intimidated by the vagueness of this request. I got stuck for a little bit, which I can't do in this project. So, I just plowed through and approached it literally. Two buffaloes getting Buffalo with one another in front of the Buffalo, New York skyline. Only I decided to put them on a rooftop because it brings them closer to the recognizable tops of the buildings, and because I thought it was funny.

I finally changed my pallet (though all the paint was miraculously still wet)because things were getting too messy. I still had a lot of pink on it left over from the aquarium painting. It's nice to have a clean palate.

However, I had trouble keeping my lines clean because my trusty #2 round brush is getting raggedy from all of this tiny painting. I'll need to replace it. The smallest brush I've been using is a 0000. It looks like one fat hair. I originally bought it to make the needles on an acupuncture painting I did a couple of years ago. Now it comes in handy.

Here is more linguistic info about the buffalo phenomenon that Annie linked me to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

My next commission has an even vaguer request. I'm preparing my brain and I'll post it on Friday.

The Lucky Tree from which the Devil Hanged his Mother?

When Leann Keenan wrote and asked me to paint a rowan tree I immediately agreed but had no idea what that was. I turns out that the rowan tree is indigenous to Northern Europe and is particularly prevalent in the British Isles. It is said to possess mystic qualities in Finish and Celtic Traditions among others. In England, to according to Wikipedia (which I trust?), it was said to be "the tree from which devil hanged his mother". (I'm not sure how to process that one, never thought of Satan as having a mom). It seems that several cultures have the tradition of keeping the rowan tree around to drive away evil spirits.

Leann's daughter is named Rowan and I would imagine that she must have been named for the elements of goodness and protection that are attributed to the tree. I decided to make two trees, I thought it would be more interesting. One for Leann and one for her daughter. (Her husband can fend for himself.)

The Rowan tree is visually interesting in that it has a lot of poky branches with few leaves and berries that sit seem to sit mostly on the tips. When seeing photos, I immediately thought of painting in 19th century french pastoral style. I thought about Jean Francois Millet. I think the reference in my painting is there but I got a little angular.

Leann also suggested that I might put Celtic symbols on the painting but I chose not to do this for two reasons. One, is that I think the rowan tree is beautiful enough to strand on it's own. Two, is to avoid what I will call the "Deformed Man Toilet" factor. "Deformed Man Toilet" is a deplorable translation for "Handicap Accessible Restroom" that I saw in a book about bad English translations in China. There is a similar book about poorly translated Chinese tattoos on Americans. I didn't want to make this painting "happy lucky super cat wish tree" because of my ignorance.
Anyway, I'm quite certain that the protection is still there.

I've started using a new pallet that is made to keep acrylic paint wet for long periods of time. It is a shallow square container with a lid. In the container you place a big flat sponge and cover it with a piece of paper that you have to boil before using. Really. It's called the "Sta-Wet" pallet (no "Y"). It seems to work well but is kind of like storing paint on swamp bread. I'm using the same paint I set up a week ago! No mold yet.

Please leave a comment if you've had any experience with this strange product.