Watercolor at last

I signed up to take Cathy Johnson's Online watercolor class. It started this week and it has taken me all week to get paint to paper. Our first exercizes are simple. Learning about our brushes and paints and doing simple washes. I loved doing the variegated washes. To see my humble beginnings you can check out my flickr site.


We head to Boise tomorrow for the Tartan Ceilidh. I am not sure what to expect but I think it will be a fun time. I won't be able to dance with my sore foot. I am planning on taking my sketchbook though. Maybe I will have time to draw, but at least I will get some good pictures to share next week. I am hoping to check out some art supply store along with some yarn shops too. The art supply stores are not that great here so I am hoping to find some items in Boise.

I bought some Faber Casteel Pitt artist pens on the net. I got them a few days ago. I love them, they have replaced my microns as my favorite pens. I wich there were more sizes but they write so well. Oh I found my waterbrush too which is good since I might have bought one in Boise. It was in the strangest place, in asmall ziploc bag with some of sarah's travel items from when we went to Scotland. The bag was stuck in a basket. No wonder I could not find it before. .... Dancing a happy dance.

I can't believe I left the Moleskine at home

Yesterday afternoon I took my 17 yr old daughter to get her Senior pictures taken. Earlier in the day I received a small order from Daniel Smith. I was anxious to try out my new Faber Casteel Pitt drawing pens so I threw them in my purse before leaving for the appointment. Now I always carry a journal so I didn't bother to check. Mistake no 1. To be at the portrait studio for 2 hours with no paper to draw on was awful. There were so many wonderful props there that would have been so much fun to draw.

So I was forced to sit on the sidelines and watch Sarah interact with another adult. She laughed and giggled and posed and twirled for all the pictures. All I could think was my she is beautiful. She was so full of life it was fun to see. Now this is not the first time I thought I had a beautiful daughter. It was more like seeing her as an accomplished woman now. She'll be going off to college in September and on to all the new adventures that life offers. I felt like I got a glimpse of the wonderful person she will be. Of course throughout it all I thought, well you know Kate you did a pretty good job after all. What a gift the day was.

I did get to play a little with the FC Pitt pens later that night and I love them. I bought a set of black and sepia. I look forward to using them.

I am hosting an ATC swap and some of the cards have started to arrive, what fun it is to see everyones art. I will post them when I receive them all.

The Owls have it

I was on the net last night or I should say early this morning and I thought I heard the hoot hoot sound. My husband Dave got up to use the bathroom and I said I think we have owls, listen. Of course at that point a train was going by down the street so we had a wait a little while. He agreed it sounded like a Great Horned Owl

So being the adventurous soul I am I go outside with a flashlight which of course was useless. I did discover we have two owls and they were calling to each other. It was really neat. I guess I will have to get up a dawn and see if I can actually see them. We saw one a few years ago so it would not be unusual to have them again. I thought it was pretty awesome, maybe we'll see babies one day.

I went to knitting group and enjoyed the time working on my socks. This is such a diverse group of women that the conversation is always interesting. Amy and I stayed after and talked about how we thought our girls would do when they go to college this fall. It is interesting to speculate upon their choices and wonder where they will end up.

New Stove has arrived

 

My new present arrived today, not until 4 pm did the installer arrive though. Anyways she looks beautiful to me. I am putting the old one in the garage to use for dyeing.







 
After some inspiration last night from Violette I sat and made 37 of these creative play cards. They will be a gift for a friend. After doing these 1 x 3 cards the 4 x4 are going to seem huge.


It started when we had a downy woodpecker at our beed feeder. Birdwatching is something that I have always wanted to do. I have all these books that I bought years ago. I have this great Birders Journal made by The Nature Company and my last entries in it were in 1996. That's bad, it is time I started doing the things I have always wanted to do. Dave and I went up to Market Lake, a bird refuge not far from here. We managed to see quite a few birds. The migrating Snow Geese is what we came for and we saw plenty of them. I managed to identify a Northern Harrier, bufflehead, mallard, American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Ring billed Gull, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail. It was quite the successful day. The next day we found a Swainson's hawk in the tree in the pasture. We looked at him through a scope and got a great close up view. I am excited to take on this new hobby.


I did this drawing for EDM challenge to draw a sign of spring. New birds on the feeder fit the bill I thought.

Try Again

Blogger has been weird all week so I have not posted. Its not that I had anything grounbreaking to say so its just as well. I had 2 different Dr. appointments this week. I am glad that is over with. I am now walking with a cane. It is still pretty painful. My Orthopedic Dr said it may take 2 more months before I am back to normal. My friends say that's asking a lot that I may never be normal. ha ha.

I have knit a little this week but sore hands are preventing a lot of activity. I think I got the tendonitis from using the crutches. So maybe they will get better now.

Yesterday it was beautiful, a blue sky and all. I sat in a chair in the front yard and drew in my journal. The birds were singing so loudly that I felt like I was in the Rainforest or something. I drew just what I could see. A flower pot, the dog, field across the street. I need to take pics and then post them.

I think today I will go out an look for a new stove. We need one badly and I have just been waiting to get my income tax check back before looking. I need to do that before I spend all the money. I swear having a graduating senior in the house is really expensive. It seems like every time I turn around she needs something new or some money for some other thing.

The daughter is on Spring Break next week. We have no plans to do anything. There were going to be college visits but then she decided she really just wants to go to the University of Montana so we do not need any other visits. I am thinking a little trip out of town might be nice. Maybe head up to Jackson or Salt Lake to do some shopping or something. I guess it will depend on the weather.

Signs of Spring

I tried posting yesterday but blogger was having its problems. I wake up to snow every morning, not much but enough that I am really craving the sun

These flowers I received for a late birthday gift. They are so pretty.


flowers 

I bought a cane and tried walking with it with not much success. It hurt my foot too much. So it was back to the crutches. Today I tried the boot again with the cane and I can do that ok. Foot hurts a lot but some progress is being made.

I tried weaving today and wow that felt great. Its been way too long. I can easily weave with just the right foot. Knitting still hurts my hands. It looks like my tendionitis is flaring up once more. I hate that. I want to be able to do everything and anything.

I am reading The Last Templar a new book in the Da Vinci code style but the premise is different. Its really just a thriller and I can see I will be staying up late finishing this one.

Sarah gets home from Boise this afternoon, she was attending the state championships for the Scholastic team. They placed fifth. She got information from University of Montana on orientation for next year. It is starting to get real that she really will be going off to college in September. I am trying to prepare myself but I know it is going to hard for me.

Top of the Morning to You

Top of the Morning to You. now the proper response for this Irish Greeting on St Patricks Day is ..And the balance of the Day to yourself... A Grand Happy St. Patricks Day to all of you.

Tonight we are going over to a friends house for game night. We just get together a lot of people to play board games, poker and whatever. It makes for a fun night. We all need to bring something "Green" in the form of snacks. I was going to do avocados and green chips but then another friend is doing the same. So now we are going to pick up some Mt. Dew and see what else the store has that we can bring. It should be fun.

I was sent flowers by a friend. A beautiful boquet of pink and fuscia colored flowers. Mums, carnations and tulipsits a beautiful spring bouquet. I will take a pic and add it later. Maybe even draw them too. Oh they smell heavenly.

I tried drawing a hat for the EDM challenge for this week but it looked like crap.... So I won't post it, I will try again later. I have other drawings to share, maybe tomorrow since I don't have any pics taken yet.

Just another Day

I didn't get to sleep until about 3:45 So I ended up sleeping till noon. Since it is only 3 pm I have not done much today at all. Spent time reading blogs and email and scanning letters. I am on my 6th now so that is good progress. For those of you new to my blog. These are love letters that my grandparents wrote to each other from 1901-1910. At times she was in the US and he in England or sometimes she was in Ireland. Very rarely were they together.It wasn't until 1910 that they married and immigrated to the US. I am scanning them into PDF's to share with my cousin Norah and others. Someday I hope to write a book about them. There are over 200 letters.

Oh the UPS driver is here, I wonder what it is. Oh my knitting book on Viking patterns just came, oh fun. This book satisfies several interests at once, Of course first there is knitting the second is architecture and ancient cultures. The author Elsebeth Lavold has taken the patterns seen on ancient ruins and so forth and coverted them into cabled patterns for knitting. I really want to make the sweater on the cover. I will post a pic later since my scanner is flipping out right now. I hate when equipment doesn't work.

Snow

I woke up this morning to 4" of snow. That meant I could not go to my knitting group, its too hard with crutches in the snow. Here is a pic out my front window. It actually looked quite pretty.


snow 

Down in the basement I found some old sheets of drawing paper from when I had taken classes years ago. They had gotten water damaged, or at least part of the pages had. I decide to cut them down and make journals out of the paper. I got those cut up and then found this scrap of cardstock while cleaning up. I was going to toss it when I thought, I should make a book mark out of it. I thought I would end up stamping on it but added japanese paper and ribbon and more. I think its nice, almost too good to be a bookmark. Now I am all set to make those ATC's. Check it out. The pic is a little blurry, sorry about that.


bookmark 


I moved my computer back to the desk so I can start scanning my Grandparents letters again. I can do that while I write here or read my mail. I think that is a good solution. I had hoped to have them done long ago.

Yesterday Sarah and I went to Dillards to look for a dress for her Commencement Dance. She had liked a white one but the ended up having similar ones in blue and maroon. We ended up with the blue one. It has spaghetti straps, a swirl of sheer fabric at the bodice and a shimmery overskirt. The back has flowing pieces of fabric that she thinks look like wings if she pulls them out. She looks quite nice in it. Now I guess we need new shoes and more. We still have not had pictures taken or announcements printed so we need to start getting that done now. Commencement is in May and that is not that far off. Wow time sure has flown this year.

New Project

Yesterday I went to see a friend who is a healer and she worked on my foot. It is much better today. I can put more weight on it so at least that is some progress. I ended up giving her one of my handwoven shawls as payment. Its funny how you never know where something that you have made will end up. I looked at it yesterday morning and thought it would be perfect for her and it is. She loves it. Sometimes its a perfect world.

Here is a pic of my new project I started. Its is a hat in Noro Silk Garden. Its a basket weave pattern and it is very easy and soothing to knit. I will be sad when I am done with it.



my new hat 

I signed up to host a ATC swap so now I really do have to make some. The theme is Spring so I think it will be fun to do. I have also signed up for an online Watercolor class with Kate Johnson the author of the book I just bought. I am hoping it will get me started and a little more comfortable with the medium. It starts at the end of the month.

I was going to say I need to do some drawing which I do but I do have this little drawing from my table when I ate out at Perkins. Just a water glass, ketchup bottle and the chicken figurine from across the room. Then I colored it with my portable cotman watercolors that I had with me. That was fun.


At Perkins 

Lying in the Mud

I spent the morning in town. I went over to Roberts to use to use my 50% off coupon. I have been looking for the water brush that I had taken to Europe but I have given up on it. So I thought I would get a new one. I could not find it anywhere in the store. I did come across this though.




It a book by Kate Johnson who is in my everyday Matters group. I have been thinking of taking her online watercolor class but am not sure if I can do it this time around or not. I really like her stuff and the book is great, she really explains it well for newbies like me.

Then I met my friend Ginger for tea at the Villa. We sat and talked for a couple hours and that was nice. Then I headed home.

I made it all the way to the top step and somehow lost my balance and fell off the porch and hurt my good leg. As I am lying in the mud grabbing my other leg in agony I just did not have the oomph to get up. So I sat there for awhile and then found my phone to call Dave and have him help me but once again he did not answer the phone. I could not get up to ring the doorbell or anything else. There were no rocks handy to throw at the windows or anything else. I called Sarah but she was 15-20 minutes away and I thought by the time she got home I might have found a solution. Then low and behold Dave comes outside and sees me in the dirt. Then I got help and got my wounds attended too. A big bruise on my right leg and then a cut on my thigh on my left leg in addition to my sore ankle hurting like hell. I had something to eat took a pain pill and went to bed. I am feeling a little better now. I see now that this is the third incident for me. First the actual sprain, then losing balance on the porch and now really falling off it. Things happen in threes, I hope that is the end of it.

I have just discovered bloglines. Its a way to know when all your favorite blogs have been updated. So I have been busy adding all my blogs to the list. It is really neat, it will save me a lot of time.

Last night I went back to knit on the purple socks. Plus I started a new project. What a way to jump start knitting again. Its a hat that I am doing in Noro silk garden. The pattern is a basketweave pattern. Pics will appear as soon as I get around to taking some.

Edm Challenge - frame

The EDM challenge for this week is to draw a frame and the picture inside it. It was not as easy as I thought it might be. The frame is simple but the watercolor painting in it is lovely. I did not do it justice, but did learn once again that I can not draw a straight line. I just bought a pack of Micon Pigma pens and tried them out on this piece. I also used Prismacolor colored pencils to color in the painting.

 













The Foot

Somedays I get really frustrated about the progress on my ankle. Today I decided that I would try and put on a regular sock and shoe. I managed ok, although my foot feels really cramped. I then put on the aircast for some support. I still have to use the crutches but its doable I guess.

I have been wanting to do some collage, stamping etc but with most of my supplies downstairs that has been difficult. So I went downstairs on my butt and collected a sampling of supplies to bring upstairs. I probably brought all the wrong stuff but at least it is a start. I want to make some cards and do some ATC(artist trading cards) and do some visual journal pages. Throughout this ordeal I try to see the blessing in it. Lately those thoughts lead to the word Opportunity. I am not sure what the opportunity is yet but if I look as all this time just sitting around as a gift rather than a burden I can bear it better.

I went to my knitting group on Wednesday and found out that they place we meet is closing down, so now we need to find a new location. Just when I thought that it was the one thing that I could depend on every week now that changes too. All I could think was I HAVE HAD ENOUGH CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess I need to work on letting go of attachments or something.

For some reason I am having trouble getting back to knitting, my heart just has been in it this week. I took a sock to knitting and left one of the needles at home. I had to borrow one just so I could knit... silly me. 

Happy Birthday Mom

Today is March 6 and this would have been my mothers birthday. She died in 1998 so lets see she would have been 88 if she had lived longer. I miss her. I wish I could call her up for a chat or go visit her and have a cuppa. I always think of her when I am having tea.

She would be amazed at all the drawing that I have been doing. I toyed with art a little bit when I was 18 or so. I had oil paints and did a few paintings on canvas board. They were not very good, I really needed art lessons but never went that route. I guess you never get away from certain things. When she visited one time she fell in love with the Tetons. I remember her saying she could not understand living here and not painting. Maybe she had some secret desires that she never fulfilled. I had a baby then and art was really on the back burner. Over the last 10 years I have taken various classes, drawing, watercolors, colored pencil, acrylic. One of my favorite instructors was Colette Brooks a local artist. Hers were the only classes that I did not feel intimidated in. My favorite was Drawing on the Right side of the Brain, I actually did very well in the class. I took a acrylic class to and I loved doing that. I just never did much beyond the classroom. Right now its like Danny Gregory's book gave me permission to draw any way I want and to just do. I am so grateful for his book. It has freed me creatively in ways I am only beginning to see.

Here is EDM# 45 My Medicine cabinet



This was fun and easy to draw. The other interesting thing is discovering what really is in your medicine cabinet. It looks like mine needs a cleaning out.











Fiber Pursuits

Time to get back to all this stuff I have waiting for me. I have turned the heel on the purple sock, and am ready to pick up stitches for the instep. It is time to finish those and move on. I have not done anything for the Mara Kal. I have my basket sitting here all waiting for me. I am ahead of everyone so its not crucial yet but I would like to get going so I don't fall behind.

Weaving

I know your shocked ..weaving content, it is about time. I decided that maybe I could weave with one foot. I have a warp for a silk scarf on the Baby Wolf and I tried weaving with the right foot and it did work out ok. The treadles are just not set up for that though so I convinced Dave to retie the treadles for me. I have them all lined up left to right so it should be easy to weave now. I'll post a picture as soon as I have something to show.

Remember the Tartan Sample I was weaving for the Sheriff over in Caldwell. Well the pattern was submitted to the Royal Tartan Society in Edinburgh Scotland and has been approved. The remaining piece is being framed as a gift for the sheriff's department. The Scottish American group in Caldwell is holding a ceilidh for National Tartan Day. They will present the Tartan to the sheriff at that time and I will be taking part also. This will be April 1st, I will let you know how that goes.

Finally I did it

Moving to a new host has its problems. First you need to figure out how things work in relation to how your old system worked. Sometimes there is a big learning curve and a lot of frustration. I have spent the last several hours trying to get a picture for my profile posted. I ended up downloading 2 programs, 1 to store photos and one to transfer and still it was a problem. Man I am glad that is finished. I think I want to change the background to a color but then I need to change all the text and link colors so I think I will save that for another day. I think I need a nap.

Self Portrait

Here is my attempt at a self portrait for the EDM challenge #56, now of course it looks nothing like me. I guess I need to try again sometime. It was a fun but hard challenge to complete. It is a weird feeling to look in a mirror and draw yourself. Its quite an experience. I am ready to move on to someting simpler now.

I have been down with the flu so I haven't done much of anything this week. I need to get back to all my knitting projects, not to mention weaving. I wonder when I will be able to do that again.

After hearing about Twinkling H2O's on Violette's website I had to order some. It took over 3 weeks to get here and now they have sat here for a week too. I need to come up with a project ti use them on. Maybe I will have to try making some ATC or using them on one of my drawings. I bout a 12 pack of the small pots so I would have lots of colors to choose from. They really do look pretty nice I can't wait to use them.

Looks like I'll be moving my blog over here to Blogger. My last host seems to have too much down time. We'll see how this works.