I’ve been in a slump, aggravated by a faint and neck injury. Okay now with a C collar. And here is my holiday wish. Stay safe.
So here’s some progress
Scoliosis. When I was drawing this, there were no words. It was two days before I could see it as a sort of selfie.
Rain in pain

It’s Sunday and this is my WIP. Peace. Watercolor on paper.
Several



One
Watercolor on paper. For sale.

I read the news today, oh my

Ahem
#staythefuckhome
Thank you
I see you people. And I’m disappointed.

I’m not getting together in person with very many people these days. I connect with all my professional friends on social media and email. And you …
I see you people. And I’m disappointed.
Staying safe
I’ve been self isolating and particularly focused on color while also staying sane. Watercolor on Yupo,

Future painting

Random thoughts in a restless time
“First do no harm.”
First, do no harm. Governor Cuomo of my beloved New York state, just quoted the oath taken by my dad and grandpa.
It’s the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors, you know, the medical folk? Please listen to that guv. Mine is an idiot.

Buckle up
It’s about to get even scarier out there.
I am painting a little. Two little 10” squares, watercolor on Fluid block.

Been painting
It’s been a week, hasn’t it? Here are a couple starts.

Wondering
I wonder if Pence can spell scapegoat yet.
WIP
Today is day three of back and forth. As soon as words interfere with my right-brain exertions, I’m done. Would love critique, thanks. Martha@marthakeim.com.

Handshakes
The Speaker of the House, Rep Nancy Pelosi offered a handshake to the Prez Trump when he handed her the written State of the Union speech and he waved her off.
I’m gonna sound old now, but I was taught handshake rules. A man who refuses a woman’s handshake is a boor.
Considering what a rough few months she’s had, and that the camera was on her all the time, I’m declaring her an Iron Lady.
Birthdays
I seem to have reached 74. Painting helps.

WIP
On my easel. Watercolor on Fabriano cold press. Thinking to do just one more color. About 14” by 20”

Yesterday and today


Yep
New stuff
On my board. Comments please. 15 by 22, watercolor on Fabriano cold press.

ICE’s arrest of landscaper on 1999 deportation order devastates family, employer
Please read these words.
Justino Vixtha’s May 22 detainment by ICE has been rough on his wife, Melissa Vixtha, and the couple’s three daughters. Melissa poses for a portrait with Rubi, 14, left, and Priscilla, 10. Korrina, 15, wasn’t available. “I just want him home,” Melissa said. “I want our family back, our life back. My kids were happy. We were happy. This has put us straight through hell.” Photo (c) Michelle Gabel.
It was bad enough, Carol Watson said, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested the head of her landscaping crew in May, the busiest time of year at her greenhouse near Syracuse, New York.
But what two ICE officers said when they told her they had arrested Justino Vixtha made it worse.
“They told me they didn’t have to arrest him,” Watson said. “He has legitimate documentation. They said it was just ‘their call.’ ”
Vixtha, 44, has been in the
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So Fuddy Me No Duddies; I’m Going Back to Read My Book
Wordsmith

When people care enough to recommend a book, I find, it always pays to read that book. Then I get the benefit of the writing, the knowledge, and the imagination or the exploration, of the author. And I learn something about the recommender and what she cares about, or what he finds fascinating.
So just now, I am reading a wonderful book, A Gentleman in Moscow, at the suggestion of a wonderful friend.
Amor Towles wrote A Gentleman in Moscow; it follows his debut novel, Rules of Civility, which was a New York Times bestseller. That was a great read, too, but A Gentleman in Moscow is very different. It’s set, of course, in Moscow—in one hotel in Moscow,—and it spans the time from 1922 until 1964 or so. I haven’t finished the book yet, but I believe that, within its pages, our hero, Alexander Ilyich Rostov, former poet and…
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Birthdays


Finally
A new one on my board. I haven’t liked a thing I’ve done lately until yesterday.
Watercolor on Fabriano cold press, 14 x 20
It’s the bees’ knees
Hi there. The painting I’ve been struggling with is finished and signed. “It’s the bees’ knees,” watercolor on Fabriano coldpress paper. 14 x 20
On my board
Here are assorted swirls and splashes. I’d love some comment or suggestion. Thank you.
Half sheet watercolor on Fabriano cold press.
Lotsa
So, I had lotsa words all lined up in my head. Good words gone.
But, I am painting, if not writing much.
So here’s yesterday in Florida.
Watercolor on Bee paper. QoR, DS
Losing it over
It’s its its are officially sending me round the bend.
Apostrophes unite!
And here’s a new one. Snails’ race.
Many Latinx voices, one amazing bundle of stories
Woo
Award-winning author and editor Silvia Moreno-García has put together a remarkable StoryBundle full of speculative fiction by Latinx authors in the U.S.
You decide what price you want to pay — for $5 (or more), you receive four books in any ebook format:
- Virgins & Tricksters by Rosalie Morales Kearns (you can read what I wrote about this book in Putting the I in Speculative: Looking at U.S. Latino/a Writers and Stories)
- The Haunted Girl by Lisa Bradley (read Lisa talk about her writing at the Nuestras Voces/Our Voices series I published at my first blog )
- Lords of the Earth by David Bowles (read my Q & A with David here)
- The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santería by Carlos Hernandez (you can read more about it in my article Latino Lit is Alive and Well and Living in Queens and Nebraska)
If you pay at…
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WIP day three
Day 2
First schmear, DS iridescent ruby
Gray scale image.
WIP
First schmear with Daniel Smith iridescent ruby watercolor, 20 by 14. Fabriano artistico cold press block.
Just because.
Presently, cobalt teal, yellows
I think I’m channeling Pittsburgh
It’s Christmas Day
And here’s my Christmas offering. I started out to paint a colorful Christmas tree, but my brush got away from me and the tree turned into a gator. So, here is my third Florida Christmas Day painting. Watercolor and inktense pencils on Fabriano cold press.
Thanks given
Skeezer napping in the winter sunshine. I wish I had the original.
Crazy times
This is what my brush did. I held it vertically and painted my crazydance. Unfinished, I think. Vote!
One year today
Hot weather
Keeps me inside, so I’m painting on my iPad.
Finch, digital, Procreate
Today’s birthday
He would have been 74 today. Still not much easier to go on.
What Does Your Wife Think?
Just read it
That is the most commonly asked question. There is an alternate phrasing, usually posed to Ellen – how can you let him do this?
Her answer – do you think I could stop him?
And then there are those people who ask straight up if my wife thinks I am crazy, to which I reply, as does she, that this has been known for quite some time.
I’ve been talking about this trip forever. Any time Joe comes to visit or we see him for any reason references to the summer of ’78 come up. It was an opening up to the world for both of us. And as I’ve watched the world change in these many years, I’ve always wondered if it was still possible to take such a journey. This I know for sure – I couldn’t do it without such a supportive partner.
Ellen and I have…
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More wet paint
Happy day late you mothers.
REVIEW: “La Gorda and the City of Silver” by Sabrina Vourvoulias
Review of Sabrina Vourvoulias, “La Gorda and the City of Silver”, Podcastle: 506 — Listen Online. Reviewed by Heather Rose Jones
I participated in a discussion on facebook recently about defining subgenres of speculative fiction, and the question of comic book superheroes came up. In practice, superheroes can draw from fantasy (X-men, Dr. Strange), science fiction (Iron Man), mythology (Thor, Wonder Woman), “realistic” (Batman–at least for the Batman character himself), or any number of other subgenres, but what they have in common is a fantasy of agency and justice, even when justice sometimes fails. This multi-focal genre has been adopted as speculative fiction by popular acclaim, regardless of the specific mechanism of the hero’s powers.
“La Gorda and the City of Silver” is clearly a superhero story. The world of masked and costumed luchadores is deeply rooted in the genre regardless of the apparent lack of overtly fantastic…
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(No words)
Woman
March flowers
Yesterday
I poured all of my cobalts blue , as well as phthalo turquoise, the only two-pigment mix in my pallet. There was a starters wash underneath. It’s a half sheet watercolor, with a few crayons, high flow acrylics and tears thrown in. This is dedicated to my late husband, James Michael Pensinger.
The shells are just weights.
Here are the dead paint tubes.
On my board Jumbo Shrimp
Three days
Wet, then dry
Then done. Flying fish. Watercolor on Legion paper. 10 x 7
Day 3 done
I think I see flying fish