When Life Gives You Roses...

eat them, of course!

 

The petal your partner is eating is always better than the one right in front of you.

 

And if she gets the last one, try to sweet talk her out of it. Notice the laser eye? I don't think Jensen's charm is working.

It's Been a Very Warm Day

Would you like some refreshment? An iced tea, cola, wine cooler, water?
No? Then perhaps you'd like a nice, refreshing, and always exceptionally cool, Butter Beer?

 

As Mr. T might say, "I pity the fool that don't want a Butter Beer."

Looking for Inspiration

Ugh. Snowing again. I had really hoped we were done with that. The gray weather was really effecting my mood today, so I went searching for some color on the 'net. Came across this video on YouTube. No idea what she is saying, something about painting intuitively? Watching her paint with these luscious colors was just what I needed. I hope you enjoy it, too.

Still Snapping

So remember that Project 365 photography journey I had started on? Well, I've managed two whole months plus now. Here are a few of the shots I've taken recently.

These three are from January. See how bare the ground was on January 22? Then the snow started, and just kept falling. That picture of the gate to the veggie garden? That day, January 28, may well have been the last day we saw it. The side rails have started to re-emerge only during the last few days.

 

Of course, winter was a double whammy this year. Besides record snow fall, we had record cold. Some days I only went out just as long as it took Knight to do what he had to do. On those days, the basement with The Husband's tools and assorted junk came in very handy.

 

When Knight and I had finally had enough, and really wanted to go for a good walk, we jumped in the car and headed to N.C., to hang out with the Southern Daughter. Her city has a wonderful downtown, and I got some pictures there. Her cat Socks had some photo sessions, too. We did bring a bit of the snow down with us. Not much, just enough to get her a snow day from work, so she could walk the dog.

 

Some days it is harder than others to figure out what to photograph. During my hotel stay on the way back north, the only thing that looked halfway exciting was a light on the wall.

 

Sometimes the photographs  don't turn out very interesting. Maybe because he was missing Buttercup, who was in the hospital, these Jensen pictures were just lackluster. So, I posterized him in Photoshop. Buttercup is now home, and doing much better.

 

On the display of my camera, I can't see well enough with my bad eyes to tell what the pictures really look like. One day, all I had were some blurry photos of collard leaves. Generally, I like to keep alterations of my pictures to a minimum, but since all I had was a mess, I decided to go wild. The vein on the leaf was slightly altered, the picture solarized, colors enhanced, and then a fabric weave pattern was added into the veins. What do you think?

Getting bored with snow pictures? Me, too. With any luck spring will arrive soon, and the budding flowers and trees will re-energize my photography. Read my lips, Mother Nature. No new snow! Please?

Enough Already!

Well, this is turning out to be quite a winter, isn't it? For a while, it seemed like winter wouldn't happen, and then, BAM! We were buried, and the temperature dropped like a rock. I took a few pictures outside this morning so you could see what our house is looking like Not too many, though, as the temperature was still below 0°F.

There should be an entire row of shrubs visible at the front of this picture. Instead, all you can see is one juniper reaching an arm up, hoping to be pulled to safety.

 

The young maple and our crazy whomping willow both have their entire trunks buried.

 

The snow is almost up to the bottom of the bay window,

 

and would be halfway up the front door, if not for the Husband's diligent shoveling.

 

There are two things that I am very grateful for, and they are the snow blower we got last year, and our very steep roof. Now if only the snow would stop before it reaches that roof....

Just Because

Hey, everybun! Just wanted to let you know we are still here.

 

I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what that creature is that's attached to the back end of The Dog. You know the one I mean. That long-haired creature that won't stay still long enough for me to get a proper sniff. What has Mom been doing? Not vacuuming, that's for sure!

 

See you again soon. Nose bonks,

                                        Jensen (Buttercup, too, even if she is calling me a nitwit)

 

The Quilting Begins

Remember all those drawings that I made on fabric with Inktense pencils waaaay back in November? Well, I've finally gotten back to them.  The holiday season always throws me for a loop. I also find it hard to work with other people in the house, as I feel like I should be doing something for them. Do you have this problem, too?  Now the Husband is back to work, and the Curly One is back at school, and I am digging my way out from under.

This is the stack of 30 quiltlets all layered up and ready to stitch. Each one is about 6 by 9 inches. (Do you like the tray on the wall? It's an old TV tray from , what would it be, the 1950's?)

 

I tried to get bunny approval. Here you can see Jensen looking at the stack suspiciously.

He approached, sniffed, and kept right on going. Buttercup kept her back turned the entire time I was presenting these. It seems the little quilts are not up to bunny standards yet.

I guess I'll have to try harder during the quilting phase if I want the nibble of approval....

A New Year, A New Project

My camera is nothing fancy, a little Canon Powershot, several years old. I've always just used it on automatic, letting the camera do all the figuring. This year I want to (finally) learn how to use the programmable settings. Downloading the instructions was a start. To make sure that I actually used the directions, I signed up for a Project 365 group on Flickr.

You may have seen some of these groups on-line. There is the original Project 365. Most of the social media sites have groups with the same type of daily project. Some have more rules than others. The group I've joined is fairly laid-back and welcoming.

Since we are already 2/3 of the way through January, I thought I would show you my photos so far. Most of them were taken while walking Knight. These are in no particular date order.





The top left is rocks in my yard, using the vivid color setting. The Christmas lights used the night setting. I think the other two were automatic. A squall was coming in over the hockey players.




The picture in the middle doesn't look like much, but in real-life it was very interesting. A nearby pond had frozen, thawed, and refrozen, causing these star or snowflake-shaped holes to form. There were a bunch of them, but to get any detail at all, I had to zoom way in. They were about 2 feet in diameter. Does anyone know if this happens often? I've never noticed it before.






On the right,  another snow squall makes my neighbor's shed look like a Christmas card. In the middle, a cheery bit of green. On the left, one of Knight's favorite things. I keep telling him not to be such a cliché.

 

Speaking of Knight, here he is in dragon slaying mode.

 

On days too cold to go outside, I photographed a stack of papers with the corner of a folded up bunny tunnel. Also, some clamps in the workshop. The last one is my parking spot at the MFA, with some Photoshop lighting effects.

You may have seen the pictures above on Facebook. It's amazing how good zooming in can make things look. Just like in the garden in the summer!

 

Of course the bunnies haven't been left out. Here is Jensen, looking regal.

 

And finally Buttercup, grooming. Or maybe plotting. Not sure. What I do know is that she has gotten the most views of any of my pictures for this project so far. But then, that is the way it should be, right?

I Bet You Are Wondering

if I managed to finish out Art Every Day Month. Well, amazingly, I did. Even with some travelling thrown in. Luckily this project was nice and compact, an easy one to carry along. I was able to sit at The Southern Daughter's table and play while she cooked!

Thank you all for the nice things you said about the last batch of fabric pictures. As a bonus, one of my brothers even left a comment. That really warms a sister's heart. Also, I'm so happy that shell and RG think the one of shell looks like her. I wonder if I will ever get to the point where I'm not surprised that someone recognizes what I've made?

Here is the final batch.

Day 20

More positive feedback. My husband recognized that the fish was supposed to be a tuna.

 

Day 21

 These guys look like trouble....

Day 22

See Jensen hiding in this one?



 



 Day 23

I have no idea how this one with a large reptile happened. I'm not really a reptile person.

 

Day 24

This one was done after spending an afternoon with shell and the Buns. 

 





 Day 25

My Southern Daughter says this will be her house some day. She loves a porch. And horses.

 

Day 26

The owl showed himself in some splotches of paint on the fabric. 

 

 Day 27

Another llama appeared, and I think maybe those women are the faces of Fate. Or maybe the Triple Goddess. Or both.

 

 Day 28

Took a long trail walk with the family and dog, and saw a bluebird. That's not a bird that I get to see very often.

 

 Day 29

My goofy dog, aka my Knight in fuzzy armor..

 

 Day 30

A catbird to finish off the month. Some summers we have had catbirds that would follow us around the yard, scolding us if we picked their berries. 

 

That's the lot. I have already done a little stitching on these. A "red thread of connection" has been sewn across some part of each one. Now I need to layer them up with batting, and begin the actual quilting. The hand stitching should be a good stress reliever as Christmas approaches. I am definitely not ready for it. Are you?

One last thing. I want to offer apologies to Mr. Mick for only getting his likeness onto one piece. I promise to make amends for that shortcoming in the near future. Maybe I should send him some rum, too. Think that will do the trick?

More Pencils on Fabric

Well, I haven't been good about posting for AED Month, but I have been doing the artwork! Here's a round-up of what's showed up.

Day 8

Shell on her recycling bin goat. 

 

Day 9

Silly bird. 

 

Day 10

Going nuts. 

 

Day 11

Space mouse. 

 

Day 12

Owl.  The sheer fabric did not cooperate with the camera here.

This looks better in real life. 

 

Day 13

Spooky cat. 

 

Day 14

His Majesty. 

 

Day 15

I had a squiggle on the fabric, and someone asked if I was drawing a stick figure.

 So I did. Sort of. 

 

Day 16

I was thinking about a hawk I had seen that day.

May need to revise this if it triggers Jade's inner 10-year old. 

 

Day 17

A fine day.

 

Day 18

Started with paint blobs, found a polar bear.

He was golfing. 

 

Day 19 (Today)

Made some squiggles with the pencils, sprayed them with water,

 and let them spread. This is what I saw in the result. 

  



This drawing project has turned out to be lots of fun. It's hard to believe that so much of the month has already passed! Since I prepared my fabric pieces ahead of time, I've managed to keep up with the drawing. I like several of these more than the others, but that may change once they are stitched and quilted. Do you have a favorite?