A Better One

I only saw one bird again today but it was a better bird, in my humble opinion. A Downy Woodpecker, one of my favorite birds, flew to the suet pellets for a little peck this morning just before I started doing my daily yoga and I have to admit that I would have stopped yog-ing to take the picture if I'd have had to.

One of the squirrels also enjoyed a suet pellet snack today. I'm surprised that they've left it alone for days since I refilled it.

I spent most of the day playing with watercolors. First I fixed the ferret, er, bird that I painted yesterday. I kept looking at it and it finally occurred to me how I could fix it with a few simple brush strokes. I think it looks much more bird-like now.

Then I practiced painting birds freehand. I painted two of them and this one turned out the best. I liked it so much that I cut it out of the paper so that I can collage it on another page in the sketchbook.

I learned today that I am not so good at freehanding things in paint. If I pencil draw a basic outline I can paint inside the lines and add some embellishments. When I painted these birds in my sketchbook I had simple outlines for the birds' bodies and just a curving line where I wanted the wings to go. That worked much better so I took my little 4HB pencil (which draws very light lines) and worked on some more pages to paint over the next few days. I confess that a couple of them involve fish. I ordered some craft punches that punch out different size circles. I'll use them to cut out circles from the sheets that I've painted to enhance pages or designs. (My enabler friend, MH, sent an email to a bunch of us saying that Domestika had nearly all of their classes on sale for $9.99. I might have signed up for a few of them.)

I drew a lot in my watercolor sketchbook and some practice designs in a drawing sketchbook first but I also drew a lesson out of the Draw Squad book. I realized today that I'm having less trouble making lines where and how I want them so I don't want to stop my daily drawing practice.

Tonight I knitted on the Black & White Sock while I watched TV. I need about another half inch before it's time to start the toe decreases then I'll have to find another knitting project.

Today's toss was a weird-ass vegetable peeler that Durwood bought that I could never make work. It slips over your middle finger and rests at the base of your fingers and you stroke it over the carrot or potato. It never worked for me. Then I found an old meat fork that belonged to my mother-in-law that I've never used and don't know why I've kept for thirty years. I should probably remove that whole drawer of gadgets and go through it. I bet I'll find all kinds of interesting things to toss.

I found a "lightened up" recipe for Pad Thai the other day on The Pound Dropper's website that has me drooling so when I went to the food store for my refilled Rx I got the ingredients that I need to make it, maybe tomorrow, on the weekend for sure. It makes 6 servings so I hope that it keeps well. Guess what I'll be eating for six straight nights.

--Barbara