GONE FISHIN'!!!

Well, tomorrow in the VERY early a.m. we leave for our fishing trip. Finally! Why is it that four or five major things always come up in the two weeks just before vacation? Or is it that everyday life is that busy all the time, and we just don't notice?

Anyway, in the meanwhile, while looking under the bed for a suitcase I found this old watercolor that I did probably 15 years ago. I've never been able to decide if I like it or not -- I mean, I like it, but can't decide if it is hangable. It's kind of moody, don't you think?

Well -- I'm off to catch the big one and do as much drawing as I feel like! Be back soon!

Books: EDMWC

I could only take a few minutes to sketch the EDM challenge for this week -- draw a book. We're busy packing for vacation, and I have this stack of sketchbooks and watercolor pads sitting on the table, ready to go. We're going to the true wilderness and have a weight limit, so I have to trim down my supplies quite a bit more!

Ode to a Tomato

My first tomato in the patch out back, ripening on the bush, drawn for the Everyday Matters Weekly Challenge. It was pointed out by another EDM group member (who also drew a tomato for the vegetable challenge) that tomatoes are actually fruit, not vegetables. Oh well.

I was really taken by the play of light and shadow when I saw this, and did the underpainting very quickly in the back yard. The rest of the sketch was completed later on in the week at the breakfast nook table, and I think I lost the freshness of what I'd originally intended. It looks incomplete to me, but it also is beginning to look muddy and overworked, so I quit painting and am now just, well, considering things.

Meanwhile, this tomato in real life was viciously attacked by hungry non-human creatures just as it turned truly red.

Other stuff this week: We finally got high-speed internet. I've spent more time than I care to tell surfing around the net and reading old e-mails from friends who send links to sites with funny videos. I could never watch them before, so now I've caught up.

I read The Painted Garden, a great art / gardening journal sent by L, and am truly enjoying the inspiration. Thank you so much!

We found a great peach ice cream recipe -- very easy to make, fast, and light in texture since a custard isn't used in the making. Not the recipe for you if your favorite ice cream is a heavy Ben and Jerry's flavor ... it will be more to your liking if you tend to think ice cream is just a bit too rich.

2 1/2 pounds peached sliced
3/4 - 1 cup of sugar (to taste)
1 pint half-and-half cream

Puree the above in batches in a blender or food processor (I like the food processor -- it leaves better "chunks"). Pour the peach mix into a gallon ice-cream freezer container, and add:

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 - 3 cups whole milk (as needed to fill to the fill line)

Freeze according the ice cream freezer instructions.

Sunflowers

DH brings flowers home from the grocery store every weekend. This weekend he got a bunch of sunflowers, which I dumped into a blue pottery vase. I feel very VanGogh this afternoon ...

Glassware: EDMWC

Attempting to paint glassware for the Everyday Matters weekly challenge. I obviously need to do more work! It seemed like a good exercise to work on mixing greys for the clear glass, although scan seemed to separate the colors so that the "stuff" on the left side of the top glass turned out blue. I haven't a clue what that is all about. I'm also taking this scan as a lesson on a way to check for mistakes -- the inward WOBBLE on the right side of the wine glass was not at all obvious to me when I looked at the page -- on the scan it jumps out at me like crazy! I shall try to correct it, but am really tickled to see that the scanner is such a good composition, etc tool. The light also kept changing, which made the reflections, highlights, and shadows change -- perhaps glassware is best done from a photograph or under artificial light. I refuse to move further away from the window though, so there!

I'll admit, also, that my heart just isn't into this challenge since my mind is still focused on fruit. Peaches and cantaloupe are calling my name still, as are the sunflowers DH brought home from the grocery store last night. Serious study of glassware will just have to wait.

Best glassware I've seen so far from the EDM challenges just HAS to be Laura's at Laurelines, both her stuff for the challenge itself and her post a few days earlier about her gourmet husband's breakfast cooking. I keep asking her if I can borrow her DH one weekend for Sunday brunch, but she refuses. I guess I'll have to keep living vicariously through her blog!

Meanwhile - other stuff from the week:
We got to spend last weekend on the boat - Just Loverly - and I haven't drawn much since the rest of the week was spent catching up on neglected chores.

A friend and I were talking the other day about our southern phrases, and we were joking about how in the south you can say anything, no matter how terrible, about someone, and then finish the slam with "bless her heart", which makes it all okay. That's a long standing joke about southerners, but it is really and truly true! The phrase is sometimes used to imply deep sarcasm.

The coffee maker blew up the other day, and at the big electronics / appliance store we saw a refrigerator with flat screen TV in the door. Yes. You read it right. In the door of the refrigerator. This means that you don't even have to get up during commercials to get a snack. For some reason, this just blows my mind still.

I reckon some people probably feel like they NEED a refrigerator with a TV build into the door, bless their hearts.

New CD for this month: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole "Facing Future" It's a fun summertime listen -- wa-a-a-y mellow!

Another Peach

A quickly done little peach sketch. I didn't let the washes dry before proceeded to the next -- the peaches were turning brown before my eyes and they smelled so GOOD!

Fruit: EDMWC

Peaches, which are a naturally good subject for practicing with transparent watercolor. I got these to paint (yeah, right -- only to paint!) and then lucked out, because the Everyday Matters weekly challenge this week was FRUIT! I set these guys up on a shoe box covered with a white dinner napkin and a black notebook propped up behind them to get rid of background distractions, and went to work. For once I'm on time on a challenge!

I'd wondered in the previous post what advantage there could be in using non-staining (lifting) pigments for glazes. I think it works pretty well for peach fuzz, although I did a final layer in Alizarin Crimson, which is staining. I don't really care for the napkin folds, although I didn't really focus too much on them; I especially don't like the yellow on the bottom left fold. The background is layer after layer of staining pigments, and I'm considering doing another layer of ACrimson, but I'm not sure. Anybody with any ideas on that?

Dunes Experiment

Experimenting with lessons from Jeanne Dobie's book, Making Color Sing.

I read this book about 20 years ago, I guess when it first came out, and remember it being one of the most instructive watercolor books I'd ever seen. The other day, I checked it out from the library again, and, after re-reading the whole thing, decided to go through the lessons with a watercolor pad one at a time.

At the beginning of the book she really emphasizes using transparent non-staining pigment (aureolin, rose madder genuine, cobalt blue, and viridian). I tried doing this in pretty much those colors alone, but have had trouble in that the underlying layers of paint lift off anytime I try to darken any of the passages. The horrible blue on the side of the little building was supposed to be a nice cool grey glaze, but it kept coming out whatever color I glazed on top. I never could get the grasses on the dunes right, and finally, in utter disgust, mixed in a little quin gold. I won't say this is the worst watercolor sketch I've ever done, just the worst I've ever let anyone see. My question is, what is the point of glazing with non-staining pigments if you aren't planning on lifting off, and how in the world do you keep it from lifting off when you work the subsequent passages???

AARGH!!!

Foot: EDMWC

This week's challenge for the Everyday Matters group is to draw your foot. Not the prettiest of subjects in some cases, mine included!

All the responses to the challenge were good, but Deborah's at "It Was This Big" (her July 14 post) was my favorite, and she wins the best perspective prize as far as I'm concerned!

Clothing: EDMWC

Catching up on old Everyday Matters challenges. This one was to draw an item of clothing. My blue jeans were lying on the table, folded, just out of the dryer -- what better item of clothing to draw!

Old: EDMWC

Everyday Matters Weekly Challenge: Draw something old. I have a very old quarter-sawn tiger oak writing desk that is just one of my favorite pieces. These are a couple of details of a drawer handle and a bit of the carving on the drawer. I kept getting distracted by a vase of hydrangeas sitting nearby, and decided that since they were an old fashioned flower after all, it would be okay to add it to the page.

The photo is from a scrapbook of my grandmother's dated from the autumn of 1925 to the spring of 1926. We found the scrapbook several years ago after she died, tucked away in a closet. She and my grandfather were dating at the time she made the scrapbook, and the book is full of photos of their "gang" of friends. I don't know why she never shared it with us -- did she think that she and her friends acting up and having fun would have made us take her a little less seriously? Did she just forget about it? Did she think we wouldn't be interested?

I have to admit that scrapbook has been on my mind and taking up my time lately. I'm working to reproduce it, which has turned out to be a tougher job than expected. But with photos like this:


Who could resist?

Possum Love

I imagine it was several years ago that the first possum crept into the crawl space under our house. Generation after generation has probably used our crawl space as a safe hiding spot, but it wasn't until this year that somebody decided to nest in there. Not only did the ole' girl decide to nest under our house, she decided to rip into the heat/air ductwork, climb into the center of it all, build a nest, and proceed to have a litter of babies. Possums are generally quiet folks, so we didn't realize they were under there, until one of the young ones (nearly full grown -- a teenager, I guess) had the poor manners to pass away. IN the ductwork. I repeat ... IN the ductwork, which created a most pungent notification of their presence. Sheesh.

We were fortunate that it was unseasonably cool that first weekend. We were able to cover the vents downstairs where the smell was worst, and open the windows. We got under the house, and during our poking around heard something large moving through the ductwork. Now, not knowing exactly what was causing the, um, aroma, much less what to do about it, or what to do about the invader, whatever it was, we called in several experts. Nobody believed me when I told them there were animals INSIDE the ductwork. Nobody. It didn't matter how explicit I was, they all assumed I was exagerating and the animals (and carcass) was just under the house. And every single expert we called out was shocked when they came by for a look and discovered that I wasn't kidding.

Anyway, very long story short, we ended up having to hire a varmint exterminator to come out and try to trap the animals and get rid of the "d.o.a. possum" (that's what it said on the invoice), and then get a heating/cooling company to come in and REPLACE the ductwork. Possums are not kind to man made structures, by the way; they had torn it up all through the downstairs system. What they hadn't torn up they had lived in, and possum babies are like human babies when it comes to the matter of continence. We were VERY fortunate that our insurance company covered possum damage, since the total cost of the job to date has been ... hold onto your seats ... $5900.00.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, we live in the deep south. There have been days when the temperature has been in the 90's, and the humidity ALSO in the 90's with barely a swish of a breeze. We were completely without air conditioning for 3 1/2 weeks. I did NO artwork during that time! Paper stuck to whatever surface you laid it against. My skin stuck to whatever surface I laid IT against. Misery. So, you see, the tale of possum love is my reason (or excuse, if you so choose) to be SO behind on the EDM challenges!

True story.

A couple of interesting possum facts:
Dead possums Smell Terrible.
Live possums Don't Smell That Great either (kind of like a mix of musk oil, old garbage and wet dog).
The average life expectancy of a possum is one year. (according to a friend of mine)
The average size of a possum litter is thirteen. (according to the wildlife extermination expert)
I used to think possums were kind of cute.
Now I don't.

By the way ... does ANYBODY ever actually say "Oppossum"??? I don't believe I've heard anyone anywhere call them anything but "Possums".

"A's" first snow

Little Miss "A" in colored pencil - work in progress (approx 16" x 11"?). I had a hard time getting this to photograph clearly, so it is really very blurry. Hopefully, this gets the general idea across. Her skin is probably 20 plus layers of colored pencil, and her coat is already that much and more in some places. Still a whole lot of work to do (notice that I haven't started her scarf or shoes!) I think I'm going to keep the background sketchy and vague, to keep the blurry feel of a snowfall ... we'll see!


Closeup of her hand and coat - a lot of work still to do just on the embroidery! Colored pencil is very slow work (for me) although I find it to be the most relaxing of all the artwork I do. I may have it finished in time to give it to her as a wedding present or something :-D

Tool: EDMWC

This is my favorite gardening tool. It digs, hoes, loosens dirt, chops, transplants ... you name it! If we have one rule in this house regarding tools, it is that DH keeps his hands off this one - it's MINE! :-)

Challenged!

In the comments section of the previous post, Chuck asked about the Everyday Matters Weekly Challenges, and how they work. There is a great FAQ somewhere on the Everyday Matters List site, but I thought I'd also take a shot at the answer, just in case anyone else is wondering.

Chuck -- we get an art "challenge" thrown out once a week. The goal is to do that week's challenge by Friday or Saturday, but there isn't really a time limit, except that doing them on time keeps the momentum going for the entire group. A lot of new members will go back to the challenge list and do several in a row, just to have a list of things to draw when inspiration is otherwise lacking. It isn't uncommon for folks to say, "hey, I finally did Challenge number 3, go take a look" no matter how far in the past it is. The point is to get out and draw.

I have found them to be a really good way to stretch myself out of my comfort level, and draw types of things I would bother to do otherwise. I mean, I NEVER would have drawn my glasses, or desk lamp, or messy desk if left to my own devices. I actually wouldn't have thought that I could enjoy drawing green beans, but ever since the "draw your dinner" challenge, fruit and vegetables have had a different type of attraction for me. I actually bought a blood orange the other day JUST so I could paint it. Of course, like most food, once I cut it and took a taste it didn't stay around long enough to make it to the painting stage, but that's beside the point! I never feel like the point of the challenges is to do a "finished" art piece, either. My personal challenge is to learn to work more quickly and with more spontaneity, so I have the goal that it can not take longer than 20-30 minutes, and preferably just 15. However, I guess if my tendency was to always work fast, my personal challenge might be to slow down and be more detailed. I wonder if others impose similar "rules" on themselves? It would be interesting to find out.

This week's challenge is to draw a tool. I decided to find and draw my little hand trowel, which, of course, I'd left out in the yard. Beside the trowel was this six pack of yellow squash plants that got sketched instead. I wonder, would I have looked at the squash as an art opportunity if I hadn't been looking for the trowel with the THOUGHT of art in my mind? I doubt it.

Thank goodness I didn't go looking for the mop. We might have had drawings of dirty floors here now if I had...

Tree: EDMWC

The weekly challenge for the Everyday Matters group this week was to draw a tree. Now, I live in East Tennessee, probably one of the greenest places in the country, and have upwards of 30+ very tall hardwood trees in my yard alone. Still, I couldn't find a tree to draw! It was a matter of not being able to see the trees for the forest, if you know what I mean. Today we went out on the boat and I brought my handy little sketchbook along, thinking I could sketch a nice tree or two while DH did some fishing, but found that every time we settled to one spot the wind or current would move us long before I finished any drawing. Sigh. Oh well. I did this little postcard watercolor last night from a photo in a book, so I guess it will have to count! I tried to work fast and wet, as the experts almost always say to do, and muddled it up a bit. The little dirt road on the left isn't TOO bad, but the mess on the right is supposed to be a creek ... use your imagination, people!

Foxglove

We spent part of this weekend in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Saturday, while DH was in a day long conference, I headed up to the Chattanooga Nature Center and Reflection Riding, just to check it out. Expecting a small 1-2 acre area with formal gardens and greenhouse, I was surprised to find a really wonderful and well maintained area with comfortable walking trails through the woods. Although the plan was to spend a couple of hours there, I ended up staying for 5 hours, and walked about 7 miles in all.

A litle past midway on a 3.4 mile loop, there is a pavillion with a cute little herb garden. I sat under a huge honey locust tree and began sketching this foxglove. After a few minutes I began hearing a strange tap-tap-tap sound, which turned out to be a light rain shower. The honey locust tree was so thick that I hadn't felt a single rain drop, but I stopped the sketch midway and quickly bagged pencils and sketchbook back up into their giant zip lock and into my little back pack. The rain stopped shortly after, but the sky was so grey that I decided to head back in. Of course the sun was back out within 10 minutes. I got a couple of photos of the foxglove, so maybe I'll do a little watercolor study of it one day.

Flame Azalea

At one point on my walking adventure Saturday, I found this gorgeous flame azalea blooming. No way to catch it on film or paper -- it actually glows like flame!

Arrowwood

Walking around the Reflection Riding in Chattanooga Saturday I saw this Arrowwood bush in bloom. Some of the leaves were on the ground, so I used one to make leaf prints with watercolor.

Treehouse

The treehouse on the Blue Heron walk at Chattanooga Nature Center. I want one!!

Treehouse door

The back door of the treehouse at CNC. Beside the front door is a Shel Silverstein poem which reads:

A treehouse, a freehouse,

A secret you and me house,

A high up in the leafy branches

Cozy as can be house.

A street house, a neat house,

Be sure and wipe your feet house,

Is not my kind of house at all --

Let's go live in a tree house.

I couldn't agree more.

The Rhodies Hit the Stage

The rhododenndron bushes outside the living room window are covered with blooms. They stand about nine feet high now, and I'm always thrilled with how well they bloom. I'm thinking of doing a large painting of them, as usual -- hopefully this year I'll get around to doing it before the blooms fade!

Happy Mother's Day

A quick watercolor of part of my Mother's Day bouquet. Here's hoping all the Moms out there have a wonderful day! And to my mom -- I love you so much -- thanks for all the support, even back in the day when I wasn't bright enough to realize that's what you were doing!

Phone: EDMWC

The Everyday Matters weekly challenge this week was to draw our phone. I wish I had a lovely antique phone to draw, or even a modern one with some character. It was hard to get excited about it, but then I really warmed up to the page when I decided to draw an ear to go along with it all. The plan is to write down all my important phone numbers on the white spaces on this page -- that way I have a backup list, and I'll remember where it is!

Its been a busy week, but I have gotten in a bit of art, although it isn't anything anyone would really want to look at. I bought a new shade of yellow watercolor -- Winsor Yellow, which I'm thinking will compare to Hansa Yellow, a shade that I've been advised to get but can't find in the local art supply store. If this yellow doesn't suit me I'll be sure to order Hansa Yellow when I next place an order through Jerrys. I also picked up a nice deep staining purple, since I really only had one purple and it seemed a bit reddish to use to deepen the shadows on my greens, as advised by Jim. I know, I could have just "blued it up", but then what would I have gotten to BUY this week???