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Friday, April 30, 2021

paint party Friday...flowers, owls, and turtles

 

It's all about watching paint dry today! Spring is springing from snow to heat around here, the pollen count is high and I painted four small floral scenes to send to friends

Joann in the Netherlands do you see yours?

so much fun to paint on this shape paper (fluid, 140 lb) and I love my #8 silver black velvet brush

I wanted to remember how to paint this owl, so I painted a companion, and here they are in the studio. When I feel safe again, I'll get someone to frame them for me! (click any image to enlarge it for detail)

one morning I felt like exploring light, and using my long narrow paper, and these happened.

I like them so much I don't want to mess them up with more stuff! I used prismacolor watercolor pencils and my waterbrush to blend colors, the white gel pen to paint a pattern on the hanging pot.

I was surprised to turn the page in my Joanna Basford coloring calendar to see this week's sea...


and have been having a good time coloring painting and inking these

this is last week's page and I just love it! She's an amazing illustrator!

it's interesting to me to come and go adding a touch here or there, and seeing how colors look together. 

I thought at first, it says a lot about a painter, which colors are being used the most, but I also know that prismacolor pencils tend to break in a sharpener so you might grind them down more from that. Still... I seem to turn to gold and orange, to lime and turquoise a lot although I am liking the gray and purple to create shadows too.

I think from looking at my artwork you can see I like saturated color!

For my non painting friends, these pencils are easy to use, with sharp points, and if you color a line of two colors next to each other, then dab with a waterpen they will blend in front of your eyes. If you have gone over a color with water, you can recolor on top of dried paint, then dab with water to see a blending that is really pretty.

our new hanging solar lights! Saturated colors

linking to

https://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/







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Thursday, April 29, 2021

I Like Thursday #242

 

It's Thursday and I'm starting my list with coloring in my Joanna Basford weekly calendar. I am using my watercolor pencils this week, even had to resharpen them! For the non painters out there, these look like pencils but when you dab water on the colored page the paints disolve and mix like any watercolor paints! Just an easier application.

I color or paint, shadow and highlight on that week's pic all week long!

these white balls turn all the colors of the rainbow when it gets dark, thank you to Rebecca for featuring them on her Friday Likes page (https://www.knitbygodshand.com/)

they constantly change color !!!

 

I tried a new recipe last weekend...

 er... we've been whittling it down daily since Sunday. It's so good, made with sweetened condensed milk cream cheese and chocolate! I used graham crackers to make the crust https://www.backtomysouthernroots.com/sweetened-condensed-milk-chocolate-pie/

did you say pie???

I'm LOVING the audio book playing in the studio this week

set in England during WW2, mainly a story of women and their relationships to each other. 5 women compete for a cooking show, but it's about sisters, and friends, and people you'd be surprised to become friends with. I'll look for more Jennifer Ryan books now.

 I'm enjoying watching this show, taking three families back in time to experience life anew

spring cartoon

I like that I can now see the top of my kitchen desk

 

I love how Milo looks (and smells) after we finish grooming him

Milo: I would like pancakes too Mama, your cooking tastes so good!

Milo's pancakes (what's left) on the small back plate
 

Mama: I gave you a whole one honey. It was just cut into four pieces and you ate it standing up not on a plate

Milo: right, you and Daddy had a plate of food and I had no plate of food so I want one!

Mama: well you had one already and you're not as big as us

Milo: hmmm maybe you should not have so much

Mama: oy... and it had sugar and butter in it, while your dog food has vitamins and protein.

Milo: sugar and butter have vitamins. Vitamin S and Vitamin B!

Mama: uhhhhh not so much, they just taste good

Milo: yes taste good = good, I'll have more please! 

please visit these fine folks keeping lists of likes and join us if you do a list too

https://quiltschmilt.wordpress.com/blog-posts/    
 mmmquilts.com/

Linking to these parties!

 

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Tuesday, April 27, 2021

t is for Tuesday

 

Welcome to T is for Tuesday... or chooseday as I say... where we talk about our lives, cooking, drinking and art! 

The above pic is my coloring of Joanna Basford's weekly calendar (little by little it gets colored in thru the week, I'll show the whole scene on Friday!

as to my featured "drink" this week, it's buttermilk that was used to make lovely whole wheat pancakes and a wonderful chocolate cream cheese buttermilk pie!

listening to Kitchen Front while working this morning

whole wheat, cinnamon sugar buttermilk pancakes

I've been sewing and painting, and grooming the poodle this week as my creative work.

Mama did you call me to come have my pancake?

 I found the recipe online for whole wheat pancakes using buttermilk. Do you look at what supplies you have then google what to make with them? I do... and I usually combine several recipes, like the pancakes, I drop in some brown sugar/melted butter/cinnamon crumbles that caramelize in the pan. 

yum

so have a good week, and enjoy this lovely song

 spring.... enjoy this lovely song from the show South Pacific

linking to 

T stands for Tuesday... like a "drink' post
 

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Saturday, April 24, 2021

sewing Saturday three finishes

 

Blue Moon #1 13" X 18"
I sewed a lot this week, and finished three items. Let's start with the one above, made for my husband's bedside table. I want to use my scraps to make a table topper for Joy's "Table Scraps" party each month this year. My husband loves blue, and the color of the month at RSC is blue, and Angela encourages us to use our scraps so I got out skinny strips and got busy!

 

I knew I wanted to insert a circle of strips, and make something like the moon on water. 

I sewed light blue strips, then cut out a circle for a full moon. Then started sewing lots of odd sized and uneven strips. My original plan was to embed the circle into the side like that. 

I changed my mind, in two design decisions

1) applique moon instead of insert... I placed thin fusible interfacing on my circle, sewed all the way round, snipped the interfacing and turned the moon RSO.  

2. Decided to keep it rectangular, and pieced some cool water/sky fabric scraps for the backing, layered it and began quilting with the threads you see above. Mylar, rayon, variegated cottons. Around the moon I went a few times with silver metallic halogram thread that shimmers!

I think all the different threads add a lot to it!

 

hand stitch a binding while listening to books on audio. and try to decide which way I like it oriented

moon on top?  Moon on bottom??


or the way I showed you at the top?? This one will lay on a table however DH likes it, and be slightly covered up with his glasses, water, ipad and lamp. But...

I now want to make another one, larger for the wall... I really love this one. I might just do a vertical one like at the top of the page!

Linking to TheJoyfulQuilter's Table Scraps party!! HERE!

I kept sewing with blue strips and made 4 uneven improv log cabin blocks which I just sewed together!

 just for fun I laid them on a background... I kind of like this, for a pillow maybe?


 

I took up my hand sewing this week too, and made blue tumbling blocks... I have enough to start putting the blocks into order and sewing them together soon.

I finished this project too...

hanging in our stair well

this long banner was done last year but I couldn't settle  on what applique to add. I made three fused poppies and some tiny white flowers but just couldn't commit...

til this week,

 when I added on some broderie perse tulips

cut from a scrap of benartex fabric from my first ever challenge quilt made for their traveling show

(it pays to keep stuff) 







click on any image to make it bigger

I didn't fuse them on, just placed and started sewing... a lot of stitching. The quilt was finished some time last year including binding so this was the final step since I do not plan on adding beads.

and one more finish that I'll share next week

I was quilting the borders here, using tape for line placement. It's done including sleeve and label but I have to save something for next week, right? 

linking to these parties: 

oh Scrap Sundays 

https://thejoyfulquilter.blogspot.com/ 

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com/








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Friday, April 23, 2021

paint party Friday.... watching paint dry

learned from Tamara LaPorte

 At first I thought, maybe I won't share my paintings... but I feel I've learned so much from the Sketchbook Revival artists that I want to remember. Plus the two week lessons got me painting again. 

Isn't she pretty??? The lesson was taught by Tamara LaPorte and I like her style a lot. Of course it's got my own details, and brush strokes and reflects all the tiny decisions made when creating artwork.

I am so grateful for teachers who are generous with lessons for us, not just on Sketchook revival but all the time like Tamara, Shayda Campbell, CeeCee creates, and Joanna Basford, who teaches me to simplify when drawing

I enjoy using a variety of materials to color in her weekly calendar pages!!

teetering in front of the computer while it plays podcasts

Not finished yet but then the week isn't over either!

at first I thought I was just wasting time coloring but y'all, I'm learning shading, highlights, how watercolor pencils blend together, how fineliner pens accent and how they look different on the page. How one color looks next to another, how to create depth, and it's just plain soothing to color

this lesson looked very different from my work, but I wrote some bullet points right on the sketchbook page to remember the leader's suggestions. I learned the importance of horizon line, and graying out color to suggest distance. I also like the look of words over a painting. I'm becoming influenced by living in Colorado I think 

the lessons sound unappealing in the synopsis but I have learned something from each one. This one was labeled clothing for characters. When I got there I realized she was teaching us how she creates the concept of checks, plaid, quilted etc and I feel richer knowing what to do to my quilt art to give the illusion of clothing now. 

There is so much to learn isn't there?

I cannot remember who taught this, and I didn't respond to her teaching style at all, but... but... I like my bird and the composition and the approach. I'm not saying I'll remember the lesson but I'm saying each time I stretch to learn, it changes me and adds new ideas into the creative pool. That image is washed out but the real page is subtle but quite dynamic at the same time. I can't get this new software to do what I want for the blog.

Again, I didn't love this lesson but while she spoke and demonstrated I played with the watercolor paints... enjoyed pressing the black velvet #8 round brush in different angles to make the wild garden scenes here. I painted the top one, then went back to try painting it again to send to a friend... I enjoyed the differences in the two, and the second one was much faster to paint. 

I love to go back with gray, black and white pens to add little extras... sometimes I'm afraid to mess something up but that contrast always adds to the composition... no worries! 

all the sketchbook presentations included free follow up lessons (some time limited) by each person. I am hoping to follow up on those in the following weeks. 

Mainly I encourage you to find an online resource to help you stretch during our alone time. I also watched Elizabeth Gilbert talking about creativity this week. One sound bite was that we all have fears.You can't totally get rid of it.

The challenge is that if fear is riding along your journey, put him in the backseat and turn up the radio. Don't let fear drive.

linking to

https://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.com/




at 14 comments:

Thursday, April 22, 2021

I Like Thursday # 241

yep still snowing here!


 Welcome to this week's list of likes... let's get this party started shall we???

I like coming out of the studio, looking down and seeing my puppy having a sun bath


 

 I like painting and put a couple on the last post but Friday is usually the day to show drawing and painting

I liked my Tuesday post LINK and the two cool videos mentioned there... go see? It was for a group called T is for Tuesday and they are so nice and talk about their lives and drinks they enjoyed each week

I sewed a lot this week finishing two items and working on two others! story on Saturday!

blue wine bottle blocks

I like....

on tv: 

American Idol and the voice, housewives on bravo, Brokenwood, Murdoch mysteries is back, Firefly lane, The good doctor, This is us said it was new but it was a repeat...boo

on video: 

sketchbook revival lessons (only available til Sunday!), people with otters as pets in Japan, Mandy Patinkin and his wife, Absolute History time crashers

I like reading:

audio: I started and returned two books, one by Nora Roberts the hideaway which is about a young girl who was kidnapped but they said it was a romp through rich LA... oy
another one I have already forgotten as it was kind of boring
I'm now listening to

 Ebook for bedtime reading

Fine Dining

see how big they are!

 I enjoy trying new recipes now and this week I had some apples drying out so I grated them, and made this recipe for apple muffins with struesal

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/glazed-apple-crumb-muffins/ 

A messy recipe with a lot of steps, and she says it makes enough for 13-14 muffins... what?!? my muffin tin is 12... so they were really overfull, and I had to make the last one by putting the paper liner in a shaped aluminum foil holder so it would fit in the oven. They were good, but not very apple-y

 tired of your kids? this guy has the patience of Job, I liked the patience of this daddy and how he gently told the kids to knock it off:

Milo's Moments

just sittin' around in my arm chair

Mama: Milo, this bowl is not licked clean! 

Milo: oh, it's a one hand assist situation Mama

Mama: wha???

Milo: I can't really clean it til you hold it up for me to really get at

Mama: are you a dog? why can't you use that sniffer? And I know you're not blind because you bark at neighbors four houses down when they come out to the mailbox..

Milo: it is just one of those things that takes teamwork Mama. While we're talking yummies... I like cooked carrots and apples and cabbage, not raw. And, I'm not your average dog Mama....

you're welcome

Please visit these people with lists for the week too!

https://quiltschmilt.wordpress.com/blog-posts/     

 

Linking to

 

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