Duma in a Contemplative Mood

I used a bit of poster edges in Photoshop to bring out the texture in this portrait of Duma the Wonder Cat. He was nibbling on his toes as he often does when he's cleaning himself. But he stopped a second to look at me taking his picture as I so often do, before going back to the job at hand, or should I say at paw. He is such a handsome fellow. Here is the large version.

Today Arvin and I took three of my paintings and three of our friend Helen's down to Studio UFO for entry into a show of past Bellingham Plein Air Paint Out paintings. I took mine from 2007, 2009 and 2011 as my three entries. It was fun to see the paintings that were already there for the jurying tomorrow. We met several painter friends while we were there. After we did a few errands before coming back home.

Raven was here doing the yard and Ric came to do a few repairs for us. It is so great to have great helpers who are also good friends which is true in both of these cases. Ric has been our handy man for years. And Raven has been our gardener for a few years and she worked for me at WCC when I supervised the tutors. She was a math tutor who was exceptionally good for returning adults who feared math. Her daughter joined her and they did a bunch of yard work for us. Since they've been working on our yard (garden to folks in the UK) it has gotten so much neater and healthier. Yay!