Is That A Piano in Your Driveway Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

There is a yellow piano in our driveway.
I know this because I painted it and put it there.
It has caused far more confusion and befuddledness than I ever thought possible.
This makes me very happy, indeed.
Here are a handful of the comments we have had in the past two weeks from dozens of different semi-professional piano commentators:
There is a piano in your driveway!
Did you know there is a piano in your driveway?
Who put the piano in your driveway?
How did the yellow piano get in your driveway?
What are you going to do with the yellow piano in your driveway?
Why is there a yellow piano in your driveway?
Can you play the piano?
Are you going to have driveway concerts?
Is the yellow piano for sale?
What happens if the piano gets wet?
What if someone steals the yellow piano!?

Some of these are terrific questions and I have come up with some terrific answers. My favourite thing has been sneakily watching people who think they are not being sneakily watched as they walk up to the yellow piano and pretend to play it like Rowlf  the Dog from The Muppets. Who knew it was so hard to resist a yellow driveway piano?
It seems to make people laugh and the songy sound of people laughing is the loveliest tune I know.

Rabble Rouse The World!!

Thanks SO much to Luke from "Rabble Rouse the World" who wrote a fabulous article about our gallery and work. Click the link to sneak a peak and check out their awesome blog!
http://www.rabblerousetheworld.com/2012/05/16/the-grumpy-goat-gallery/

Please Don't Bug Me Any More....

This is a true story.
Last week I had a cold. Coughing, sniffling, wheezing, whining, wine-ing and weeping. On Monday, a Lovely Lady stopped by the gallery to pick up a picture she had commissioned and when I walked her outside I started to sneeze. While I was at the "inhale-a-great-big-gulp-of-air" part of my sneeze a bug flew into my mouth. The Lovely Lady did not notice and chatted on about the weather. I coughed and gagged and wretched and choked and then I coughed some more.
The Lovely Lady stopped talking about the weather and said "Wow! That's a nasty bug you've got there!"
The End
Image: "Safety First". We are developing a Safety Home Security Plan for the outside cats. Honey The Cat is in charge of crowd control.

Caution......

For insurance purposes we thought it only right to give customers and visitors
fair warning.
Thank you so much to William and Nan Capra who picked up this sign during their time in the States. The next time you are here I will do my best to live up to it!

Keep Your Socks On.........

Image: "Sophia Petrillo", Rosie's new baby sister!

On Mother's Day I got the best surprise since time began! She left in the early afternoon to pick up what I thought was an antique wagon wheel for the garden. Little did I know that She, Pinky Darling and the Mrs. from the Love Shack were off on Mission Impossible 3. What a shock I had when the three of them turned up in the back garden, smelling of barnyards, carrying a tiny white goatling who was wearing a very smart Polk-a-Dot bow. Rose now has a baby sister and they seem to be getting along like peaches in a pie!

The gallery will be officially open this coming weekend but we've had quite a few visitors already.
My second favourite remark so far.....
Lovely Lady  is looking at the teeny "Naked Nan" paintings:
"Didn't your model get cold while she was posing for these?
(I am not sure if she is serious...)
Me: "Um.....well.......she DID get to keep her socks on."

My very favourite remark....
We had a school group visit from Bonavista for a studio tour...
I overheard one of the students saying to her teacher:
"Miss, if I lived in this house, I would never be sad."

What a lovely thing to hear.

A Font of Knowledge......

Last night SHE was at Her desk working on graphics and I was at my desk painting.
Her: "Can you please come and choose a font for this text?"
Me: "Okie Dokey Smokey Pokey...."
I put down my brush and look at Her screen....
Me: "I think I like the one called SAMPLE the best...."
Her: "Which one?"
Me: "The one called SAMPLE"
Her: "But there are fifty to choose from!"
Me:(very exasperated... how hard can this be?) "The font called SAMPLE! Why don't you type a sentence using it and see if you like it too?"
Her: "Yes, ok. Come and see if you like the font called SAMPLE." I don't have a clue why SHE is exasperated....
I put down my brush again and walk over to Her screen.
In big, unattractive letters ( not my SAMPLE) I read....
"Sometimes I wonder how someone so grounded can be such an airhead"
Me: "Well, I don't like that font at all...."

Get Well Soon.....

Drats! My model is currently suffering from the Gout and won't be back for weeks. Get well soon "Nan", get well soon!
Images: The "Naked Nan" Sessions, series #1.
Acrylic on Canvas by Cara Kansala
1 inch by 2 inches each

Stairing Problem?

I never use the directational terms North, South, East or West. I never have. If I am forced to do so, I must recite the "Never Eat Shredded Wheat" poem and do the hand actions that go with it. That's just how I roll. She knows this about me and we travel very well together. I am the bomb at mapping and giving directions.
Her: Can you look at the map and tell me which direction we head for Montreal?
Me: You got it Pontiac... (I check the map...) Up Left.
Her: Thanks.
Me: You are very welcome.
Easy peasy.
Things get a little more complicated when it comes to my left and right hands and feet. I have to check every time. I hold the world record for losing at "Simon Says".
Curious then, that She built ultra-funky stairs in the new studio that require more thought and co-ordination than an octopus trying to do the Hokey-Pokey.
She calls Her crazy stairs European "space savers". They ARE gorgeous and very well made. She did an amazing job. But you have to start up on the bottom stair with your left foot. Always the left. To make it easier, She marked all of my work shoes "L" and "R" . ......East and West...... so already I have to start paying attention to which foot goes into which shoe.
I don't believe in fortune tellers but I am going to go out on a limb while I still have two unbroken ones and guess that it is just a matter of time before I get it wrong and end up with two broken ankles. I wonder if She will label my casts too.