Thawed

I opened the patio door drapes this morning and was astonished to see that the birdbath glacier had thawed overnight. Amazing. It was frozen nearly solid yesterday and today there's open water. The snow's melting too. This has been one crazy winter. I keep waiting for it to start snowing and not stop for a few days leaving us buried but so far, not so much, but then there's a lot of winter left to endure.

Today's Daily Practice was to paint a flowering plant. Once again I was grateful for her loose and flowing take on painting. She uses the picture or the plant as inspiration and doesn't focus on replicating what she sees which is a relief to me. 

I rewound the Beginning Watercolor lessons again and took another run at painting trees. I think I did okay this time. I like the colors and I like the shapes of the trees. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this. Watch, the next time I'll fail miserably when I try to paint a tree.

Drawing went okay today too. First I found this miserable worker/writer buried by a pile of papers in Sketching. It wasn't until I was editing the photo that I realize that my table is slanted. Turns out I have problems drawing straight lines.

Then in Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals I found bees. There were birds with the bees but I kind of ran out of time. I think my bees have lots of personality.

I knitted a bunch on the Ara Cashmere Cap this morning and again this evening. In the morning I knitted in a short piece of the same yarn in white. I like the way only the thick parts show. There was a lot more of this orange and yellow yarn than I thought there was so there's no chance that I'll run out of hat and yarn at the same time. I have a lot more yarn in the next ball. *sigh* I'll make the hat taller but don't think I can make it tall enough to knit up all of the yarn. Oh well, I figure out something to do with it.

Tonight was the meeting of the GB Area Writer's Guild. We touted our Market on Military success and talked about the possibility of having a booth at one of the summer farmers markets, not every week but every once in a while. The cost is reasonable and a lot more people go to the summer markets than come to the winter one. It's worth thinking about.

--Barbara

Yarn Up!

You know that I always say that I'm a big yarn-big needles kind of knitter. Well, the Limited Edition Wingspan shawl I just finished was knitted in fingering weight yarn (the bottom one in the picture and the second smallest size of yarn there is) on size US4 needles. Then on Saturday I cast on a Toe Cap using worsted weight yarn (the middle and most common size) on size US8 needles. This evening I succumbed to temptation and cast on an Ara Cashmere Cap in kind of super bulky weight yarn (the top one and the thickest yarn that I made up by holding bulky and worsted strands together) on size US13 needles. The size 4s felt like toothpicks in my hands, the size 8s feel normal, and the size 13s feel like fence posts. Who says knitting isn't an adventure?

I gave in to temptation and taped a smaller piece of watercolor paper to my board and tried my hand at the bigger floral painting that was yesterday's Daily Practice. I'm much happier with today's effort and might just do it again on a postcard. Lately I've been thinking of getting back to painting on a postcard every day. Maybe.

 

Today's Daily Practice was another Contour Play where you sketch without peeking at what your pencil is doing. I did a little better today. Then we painted the same plant this time looking at what you were doing. Once again I like the loose and free style of the painting I made. I'm still not sure about the marks that I make following her directions to add accents with watercolor pencils or maybe I'm picking the wrong colored pencil.

The next bird in Draw Like an Artist was a Warbler. I don't know if I've ever seen a Warbler at the feeders but I like the way this bird turned out. Even its feet look bird-like.

Speaking of birds there was a lot of activity at the feeders this morning. A flock of Mourning Doves was pecking through the rabbit raisins under the round feeder while a pair of Sparrows flung seed down on them but the coolest picture is the one I lucked into of a House Finch coming into a landing at the platform feeder. You can see that the snow is starting to melt in squirrel footprints on the hill at the back of the yard in the sunny days we've been having. We had a mix of sun and clouds today. I don't mind that so much as the all-over clouds that we had almost all of January.

I added a few rounds to the Toe Cap last night and tonight. I really like the colors and the way they're stacking up.

Then here's the ribbing of the new Ara Cashmere Cap I cast on tonight after texting with DD about the difference in feel of knitting needle sizes. I don't know why that made me itch to start a hat, but it did, so I did. I had a ball of yarn that I wanted to use but it was about 10 grams short of what I needed so I had to scrounge around for a reasonable substitute for that yarn but I lucked out and found some of the same yarn in a different color in a bag in the "leftovers" bin. Woohoo! I'm hoping that I can knit a hat and run out of hat and yarn at about the same time. It won't happen but I can hope.

I tried my hand at the first animal in 10-Steps Drawing: Animals this afternoon. It's a cheetah. I'm happy with the way the body and legs turned out but I think that the head is too small. Although I know that cheetahs have a small head I think that this one is just a little out of proportion. Ah well, not bad for a first stab at the animals book.

Today was the monthly St. Agnes Class of '65 lunch at Applebees. I had my usual, a chicken quesadilla. It's from the appetizer menu and I can't imagine then having a lunch afterward although maybe you're supposed to share the quesadilla with your tablemates. It's tasty and satisfying and it doesn't come with fries so I can eat it all, skip supper, and feel like I didn't blow WW too bad.

--Barbara

Not Much

You know, I can't really tell you what I did today because the day is kind of a blur and I don't know why. I got up earlier than usual and just when I was getting ready to do yoga and step aerobics on the Wii my friend MW called and talked for an hour. No, I really mean that he talked that long, I could barely get a word in edgewise. He's a knitting friend and hasn't been at Friday Night Knitting in about a month so we were concerned. Turns out that the cold was getting to him and since he doesn't have home internet he'd have to go out to log on so he stayed home. Then Lala called and I got to talk to her for half an hour or so. That time I got to talk some.

I did the Daily Practice. I'm semi-pleased with how the bigger floral painting turned out although I suspect that I'd have been happier with it if it had been smaller. I was tempted to tape a smaller paper to my board and start with that. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

While I had the paints out I took another run at painting a tree. I think I'm getting better at it. I like this one better anyway. Looks more tree-like.

It's time to gear up for Investment Cooking again so I pulled out 8 or 9 recipes and made my shopping list. I'll go to the grocery on Tuesday and start cooking on Wednesday, that way I'll be able to have all of the raw meat packaging in the garbage bin before next Tuesday night when it's time to take out the trash.

After consulting with Lala, I signed up for an online 3-session critique group. It's been so long since I've done critiques I'm nervous that I won't be able to figure out what to say.

I got to spend the evening with the small people. We played with Magna-tiles, then they took showers, and read for a bit before lights out. They've gotten to the place where they don't ask for me to read to them anymore. I kinda feel a little useless but fortunately they still want me to sing them a lullaby.

I didn't make time to write or draw today but I did stay up late last night designing and ordering bookmarks on Got Print. Can't wait until they arrive. I'll tuck one into each book and have a stack of them on the table at the market.

It's late again and I'm tired. Nighty-night.

--Barbara

To Market, To Market

Today was another Military Ave. Market, or rather Market on Military which is what it says on the signs. The same authors were in attendance but today it was FP's day to sell a lot of books. I sold 2 of The Seaview and traded LW one of his for one of mine. (good trade) So that's 3 for the day and since my continued goal is 1 per market, I'm happy with that. This time I wandered around and bought a dozen farm-fresh eggs for only $5, a bag of apples, and some Crimini mushrooms. I was hoping for some acorn squash but didn't find any. Guess I'll have to get some at the grocery store.

Being at the market from 8am until 1pm seriously curtailed my art activities. I managed to paint the Daily Practice mini floral studies and I just love them. Here's hoping that I can translate the loose, easy painting to a larger one tomorrow.

Then I hurried up and went through the trees lesson and the leafy wreath lesson in Beginning Watercolor. The tree turned out okay and the wreath is alright, not great. I'll have to try that one again. Maybe with a different brush.

After supper I cast on another Toe Cap this time using worsted weight yarn instead of the bulky I used yesterday. Progress was much slower but I like the colors of this yarn. The name of the colorway is Watercolor. It reminds me of a Monet waterlilies canvas.

Then I felt guilty because I hadn't drawn anything today so I hurried up and turned to the next picture in Seuss-isms. It's trees, Seuss-ian trees that are leading up to a very intimidating picture of a long-necked creature and a three-seater unicycle. Yikes! I'm already dreading having to draw that, although in truth I don't HAVE to draw anything I don't want to, but I'll give it a shot.

I went to Michaels on the way home from the Market (it was only a block out of my way) and bought the supplies that I'll need for the Line Drawing Class that I want to take next on Creativebug but, cross my heart, I won't be starting it until I'm finished with the two watercolor classes that I'm already taking. Really I won't. Honest. Buying art supplies is addictive, like buying office supplies or back to school supplies. Or is that just me?

--Barbara

More Flowers

Painted ones, that is. It's too blamed cold for real flowers. Not even the hyacinth in the corner by the front porch is poking its nose out into the polar vortex that is Green Bay these days. Not for long though. They're talking about us being in the 40s midweek next week. !!!!!

All I had time to do today was paint the Daily Practice which was to glue pressed dried flowers onto a piece of tan mixed media paper and then paint flowers and leaves around them. I did it three times and I'm not sure about any of them. This is the first one...

 

and this is the second one. We're not going to talk about the third attempt. Not a satisfying exercise but it's taught me what I don't want to do again.

 

This morning there was a female Cardinal at the platform feeder for quite a while. She sat there poking and pecking at the safflower seeds while I snapped her picture. It was -8 degrees out there. Poor bird out in the freezing weather and without open water to get a drink. I had to go out and pour a little water into the birdbath just to keep the heater covered but could only add about a cup of water because that's all the space there is. Most of the water is frozen solid.

 

Amazon delivered the "Autographed Copy" stickers that I ordered the other day so I was able to put them on the signed books in my box. I tucked a sheet of them into my purse so that I can put them on the books at the market tomorrow. Since I had to leave early last time one of the other authors packed up my books and took them home with him. I offered to pick them up so he didn't have to deal with them but he was willing to bring them for the next market. Nice man.

 

I had time to draw the first flower in 10-Steps: Flowers this afternoon between Zooms. I think it turned out all right, at least you can tell it's a rose. Tomorrow I'll try out the 10-Steps: Animals book to see how I like that one.

After supper I cast on a toe cap in bulky weight yarn and finished it at Friday Night Knitting. I'm a slow knitter so it was a surprise that I got it done in 3 hours.

I wore my warmest sweater and my longies today. It was so cold this morning that I could feel it radiating through the patio door when I was doing yoga. I'm planning to wear the same thing tomorrow to the Military Ave. Market since our booth is near the door and it's supposed to be in the teens in the morning. They're saying that it'll be 30 by the end of the day but I'm not taking a chance on freezing.

--Barbara

Clean As A Whistle

Since it's Thursday I went down to the Central Library after lunch (and a stop at the bank) to sort books. As I was signing in another Barbara, well, a Barb actually, came to sign in too. We found a couple tables of boxes and bags of books so we dug right in. We chatted and sorted. I tackled the boxes and found a lot of books about yachting, yacht racing, and captain's rules so quite a few of them went into the Transportation bin. Just as I got a notification that my parking meter was running out (I use an app so I don't have to scrounge up coins) we put the last books in the bins, leaving clean tables. Woohoo! That's the first time I've sorted and cleared the tables.

Today's Daily Practice was more flowers. We had a sheet of paper with random blossoms and leaves scattered on it to paint from. I love this teacher because she isn't locked into replicating the flowers exactly. She just paints the colors and some of the shapes which is so freeing for my inner-German, you-must-do-things-exactly-right, self. I also like the size brushes she uses. They're smaller and easier to make do what I want them to.

When I cued up Basic Watercolor, I went back to where I'd left off the other day and painted a sheet exploring what my brushes do and then repainted the page with the branches and leaves. I figure the more times I paint those things the better I'll be at them. I used my new bigger round brush. It's going to take some getting used to.

While I was drawing I saw a squirrel leap up to the top of the suet cakes feeder, then onto the top of the peanut wreath crook, and finally across to the leaning-over crook with the suet pellets dangling from it. I hadn't seen anything on the pellets for a long time and was glad to snap a photo. You can see in the background that the sun was out in the afternoon. It was warmish in the morning (23 degrees), it's 8 degrees now, and is supposed to bottom out at -8 below overnight. Evidently there's another Polar Vortex bearing down on us for tomorrow. Oh goodie. But it's supposed to be back into the 20s on Saturday. Whew. I'd hate for there to be fewer people at the Military Ave. Market because it's too cold to go out.

In Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals, the next page had a picture of a crow in a hat and coat. (It rhymes with the pig and goat on the previous page.) He has such a smug smile on his face, don't you think?

Then I turned to the next page in Drawing Cute, another book I forget about, to find an ice cream cone and a pie. Fun to draw and color but my cone's a little wonky.

Tonight I finished binding off the Limited Edition Wingspan shawl and sewed in the tails so that it's finished. Done. Finito. Now I have to figure out what to knit tomorrow night at Friday Night Knitting.

I was looking on Creativebug (where my 2 watercolor classes are) to find more watercolor classes and instead I found a line drawing class that segues into a watercolor sketchbook and drawing class. I solemnly swear that I won't start that class until I'm through with these watercolor classes. Cross my heart--although I may go to Michaels on Saturday to get a few supplies. Just a few, I have most of what I need. See, I've got another voucher to spend and you know how bad it is if those things expire. (Rationalize much, Barbara Sue?)

--Barbara

Stocking Up

I have unreasonable hopes that I'll keep selling four books a time at the Military Ave. Market so I ordered 10 more copies of each book so I'll have enough. They came today. And also today I ordered stickers that say "Autographed Copy" to put on them. The stickers will come on Friday. That makes them more valuable, right?

It was another sunny day but today the temperature got up to 21 degrees. Heat wave! Instead of my usual backyard photo I thought I'll treat you to the view of the house across the street since that's what I see out my living room window.

Today's Daily Practice painting was the only painting I did today. It's three flowers and I love the way they turned out. At first I thought that the Ranunculus in the upper left wasn't so great but I left the sketchbook open all day so it would dry completely and now I like it too. My favorite is the Sunflower but the Tulip's leaves are nice. I sorted out a bunch of tubes of watercolor paint that I think are a very low grade, lower than student grade, and put them in the Goodwill box. I wish there was a way to clean the paint out of some of the wells in one of my palettes but I don't know any way aside from just painting all the paint out so I confess that I ordered yet another palette which I am going to be very discerning putting paint into.

I came to the last picture in 10-Steps: Nature today. It's pebbles and they were surprisingly fun to draw. Now I have to decide whether to crack open 10-Steps: Flowers or 10-Steps: Animals. I'm leaning toward the animals one but the same artist did the flowers book and the nature book and I seem to have luck following her directions. I don't know what to choose. I'll pick one. Maybe I'll draw the first figure in each one and decide that way.

There are two evening bunnies! One bunny showed up around 5 o'clock and then when I was eating supper about twenty minutes later I saw movement and another bunny showed up. The second bunny didn't stay long and didn't make it any closer to the first bunny. Maybe they're not friends.

I joined the Wisconsin Writers' Association today. They have online critique groups and writing contests and send information about writing stuff. I want to get it first hand instead of hearing about it too late to do anything about. Right now I have information about 2 essay contests and 1 novel competition. I think I'm going to pass on the novel competition as the entry fee is $75 and they ask for 2 copies of the book. I have a funny essay that's short but I think it's good. I'm considering entering it in one of the contests as the entry fee is $22, that I think might be worth the risk. This authoring thing is work!

--Barbara