Heat Wave

keepin' it cool, man, keepin' it cool...

I love being a Nana.
(I'm just sayin'...)

Happy First Day of Spring, y'all!
:-)

Be Square, Man

I got the bright idea a while back to create a photo wall over the little table in the kitchen where we spend most of our time.  My thought was that I have TONS of photos, and I could change out the photos as the seasons changed, or whenever I felt like it for the fun of it.  Great idea, right?

SO -- I got a bunch of photo frames.  I got frames with mats that accommodate an 8" square format piece.  I recruited my dad (who is a perfectionist and so is THE PERSON I knew would be sure that the frames were hanging exactly right) and we hung six of them on my wall -- three across and two high.  Okay.  He hung them and I just handed him things.  Still.

That was in early December.

This is March.  SOON it will be mid-March.  And the pictures in my frames are still the same black and white photo that was in them at the store.  Yes.  You heard me right.

At first, it was just that Christmas got in the way.  Then it was trying to make the time to find a set of six photos that I could crop down to the right size -- plus I needed a new printer so I could print them out myself -- plus THAT was not working well so I needed some new photo editing software -- plus ...

You get the picture.  (pun)

So now I'm going through my photos and finding out that my favorite photos quit being my favorite photos as soon as they are cropped down into a square format.  Logical, but the logic switch in my brain must have toggled off at some point in, oh, November.  So I've been playing with photos that AREN'T my favorites to see if the square crop helps them.  In some cases it does.

Now, because these frames (with the black and white photos of identical sailboat rigging or something equally confusing) are INSISTING that I fill them PLEASE before 2013 rolls around, I'm trying my best to figure out what makes for good composition in a square format.  I'm thinking there are some different rules than with a rectangular format -- there must be.  It looks like we can break the rule that says not to put your subject in the very center, for one.  I suspect that we may find much higher or lower "horizon" lines work in square format, too.  Anyone out there have any ideas/rules/thoughts, etc on square format?

For now, I'm going to just play it cool and work at being square.

What?

KnitWit

The weather here is cold and icky.  My drawing plans have been (only very temporarily) interrupted while I finish a little project -- a shawl and hat for a friend who is going to need a little support on Monday.

Do YOU have a little bit of spare time this weekend?   Why don't you join me and create something special.

Make a hat from headhuggers.org for someone who really needs it.

See you in a day or two!

Oh 2012!

It's been a while.
Things have changed -- some people have grown.  Some people have learned to walk and talk and run and chase things.

I tend to think certain people have grown cuter and cuter.

But that's just my opinion.  (Even if I am right.)

I think about this blog every now and then.   Not often enough and usually just to feel guilty that I haven't posted.  

The truth is, time has just rolled on, along with lots and lots of obligations, and I've let the time I allow for creativity/art dwindle away.  Things -- and by that I mean actual THINGS -- have piled up around my art area, and at the end of the day, when I'm most tired of WORKING and most need to be playing, I can't use my art space without WORKING even more to clean it up.

I need to spend a day (or two or seven) to clean up and sell off / give away / throw away a lot of these things that are hampering my creativity rather than feeding it.  I've started doing just that, but it feels like it is going to be a major project.

HOWEVER -- in the meanwhile -- Diahn and the New Year's Resolution Fairy have come to my rescue to help pull me out of my rut and put me back on the path.  

Yes, I'm starting back -- simply and the way I started back some years ago -- by drawing a little something every day.  Just a LITTLE something.  

We have committed to drawing on a theme every month -- and this month's theme is Coffee.  My first couple of drawings have been, um, well, terrible.  I will warm up and get better.  I'll post the first few in a group in a few days.   I'll stick with it -- I promise.

And maybe we'll both grow a little this year.

Time Flies

Hard to imagine that so much can change in 10 1/2 months...

His mama tells me he took two steps yesterday. It makes me want to jump in the car and make that ten hour drive right now. I will have to wait a few more weeks, though, if I can possibly stand it!

Meanwhile, when not working-working-working, I am still purging & fixing up the house a bit, playing in the yard, and generally planning to enjoy every minute of summer.

And, for June, I've given myself a little task that I will share later. See you soon!

Thanks Dan!

I'm still here, spending a lot of time working and catching up on things and running back and forth to Florida to spend time with the grandbaby.

But I found something tonight that I just had to share:

THIS wonderful drawing here...

Does it remind anyone of THIS?

Yep, I'm smiling.
:-)
Thanks, Dan! I love it!

Visit Dan Kent's great blog here:
http://danscanvas.blogspot.com/

Zelma's Give away!

My friend Zelma is one of the most amazing watercolor artists I know.  Her sense of color is clear and true, and she has this incredible way of doing detail without overworking the painting.  I absolutely love her work -- go see for yourself, and I guarantee you will love it, too.

A much as I HATE competition for this, I must let you guys know that Zelma is giving away a painting.  To register to win, just visit her HERE, comment, and make a little note on your own blog.  You will not regret this at all, I promise.

Good luck to us all! ;-)
Love,
Linda

How Long?

I haven't updated here in HOW LONG?

Oh, my goodness. Life has been very busy. We're blogging regularly (Diahn and I) over at Quirk, where we are doing food and recipes for the month of November. Kind of our way of keeping up our photo practice, acknowledging that the month of November becomes All About Food Anyway by the second week of the month, and giving a nod to all of the brave people out there doing NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo and NaWhateverElseMo.

Miss you guys. Off to see what the rest of you have been doing out there in Bloggerville.
Love,
Linda

Tomato

I've never had much luck growing vegetables in our yard. We have too many trees that compete for the sunshine and the water to have a successful vegetable garden. Still, I try.

This spring at a local nursery I found a nice sized patio tomato plant that was already off to a good start. Our deck gets a good amount of sun, so, even though the plant was a bit pricey, we figured it would be worth a try.

We planted it and watered it.

We pinched back the suckers and weeded the pot occasionally.

Then, we had a new grandbaby. And we traveled a little. And we went out onto the lake on the weekends. And we kind of forgot about the plant, which had, by August, flopped over out of it's pot and was lying on a deck chair's footstool.

Not a sign of a tomato, though. None.

Today, doing some pre-fall cleaning, I went out to the deck with the plan of pulling the plant up so we could at least get to the chair. AND...

...and...

and, there on the footstool, positively GLOWING, was a tomato.

So, just in case you've never seen one before, ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me proudly to present...



THE NINE DOLLAR TOMATO.

Yippee.
(sigh)

Doll Face

I just noticed that I never gave details about our new little fellow!

This is A.J. -- he was 6 lb 12 oz when he was born a little over a month ago, and is now 9 lb 10 oz at his one month check up.

He likes well built women, quiet evenings at home, and long conversations late LATE into the night.

Finger Lickin Good

I tell him if he keeps that finger in his mouth people will start calling him "that nine fingered boy."

He doesn't care...

First Morning at Home

You know how it is when you wake up in a new place and you're all, like, "whoa, what the..." and then you're like, "oh, yeah, I remember now."

It was kind of like that, but with an, "aaargh, matey, the name be AJ and I be squintin' my pirate eye at ye'..." thrown in.

Dudes

There's just something about great big guys holding little bitty babies...

Unexpectedly arriving this afternoon via the fastest emergency C-section most of the nurses at this hospital have ever seen... we are all still just stunned and thankful at how blessed we are.

You people, however, are about to be subjected to many many MANY baby pictures. And I'm not apologizing.
:-)

Shadow Shot Beach Chair

Still in Florida waiting for the baby to arrive.
So, since it's Sunday, here's a shadow shot ... just for the heck of it.

still waiting

in Florida ... still waiting

Totally Excited

I'm off to paint this morning ...
then to work to finish EVERYTHING on my desk...
then to the store to exchange my brand new (malfunctioning) camera...
then home to clean house and do ALL the laundry...
then to gather my kit for on-the-road sketching and watercolor...
then to pack my clothes...
then MONDAY...after much anticipation and excitement...
after what will be a VERY long day at work (even though I will leave early)...

I'll be off to Florida, to be with my daughter...

and await the arrival of my FIRST GRANDBABY!!!

Believe me. You guys are going to be just SICK of baby pictures when this is all said and done with.

Wish us luck and keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Talk to you all soon!