Another Sunny Day

But, oh man, was it cold again. My phone said it was -6 degrees when I got up this morning around 8 o'clock and the temps rocketed up to 9 degrees for the daily high. I did not go outside today. Well, I kinda did. I went out for the mail and to throw things in the recycle bin in the garage so I had some experience with the bitter cold. It was enough.

One of the reasons I went outside was to nab my package from Cheap Joe's Art Stuff because I was watching out for the mail carrier so that the tubes of paint didn't freeze. Now my new, much smaller third paint palette is filled with the same colors that the Basic Watercolor teacher uses so that I can paint just like her. Yeah, right. I can use the same colors that she uses anyway.

Today's Daily Practice lesson was to paint the same vase of flowers that we painted yesterday only using all blue paint. I was relieved that the teacher didn't try to make her painting look like the picture. She just used it as an inspiration piece and went her own way. Now I'm not that big a fan of blue but I painted along and it doesn't look too bad. This is my first attempt (there were two more) and I think it turned out okay, not great, just okay.

In the second attempt one flower stood out from all the rest. For once something looked art-y instead of kindergarten-y. This flower pleases and amazes me. Now if I could only figure out how I did it and do it again. I'll keep practicing, I have lots of paper and can get more. I only live three blocks from Michaels.

The next bird in Draw Like an Artist was a Kingfisher and it really doesn't look like that. It looks like a bird but not a Kingfisher. Instead I'm showing you the pair of roller skates that I drew from 10-Steps: Everyday Things. I keep forgetting to draw from those 10-Steps books but I'll try to do better because I have such luck with them.

My hands were so cold when I was drawing this afternoon that I took a break for a mug of hot chocolate. I had enough fixings for one more mug so I whirred up a new batch in the food processor. I had just enough cocoa powder, non-dairy creamer, and powdered milk for the batch. I ordered cocoa from Penzeys spices and put the other items on the shopping list. I don't have to hurry to buy them but if I don't put them on the list now I'll forget until the next time I want to mix up a batch and then be frustrated.

I have an evening rabbit. This bunny comes hopping over every evening around 5 o'clock to check out the fallen birdseed. I don't know how it sifts out the seed from the snow but it must get something out of it or it wouldn't come back again and again.

The cleaning lady came today. I love it when she's come because the house smells so clean for a while. Once a month is the right amount of cleaning since I'm just one little old, not very messy woman who gives the kitchen and bathroom a once-over at least every week so I don't have to worry about the Health Dept. stopping by.

--Barbara

One

I just got home from DS's house and my car thermometer said that it was 1 degree. I was very glad to have my hat, mittens, and long underwear on--with my regular clothes and coat, of course. Look at the birdbath. I went out this morning to top it up and there's barely any open water. I hope that not too many birds or squirrels want a drink.

I really enjoyed the Daily Practice painting today. First we were to use one color and keep our eyes on the example photo trying not to peek at what we were painting. That was pretty messy. But then we painted again using the same photo but working to keep the same loose and easy style as in the first one. I'm happy with what I ended up with. It isn't great art but it's about the loosest I've ever painted.

These are the last four figures from How To Draw People. I really enjoyed drawing through the book and I might just go back to the beginning and take another run through it.

In Seuss-isms the next page had this seated boy with a dog under his chair. I see that I made the dog a wiener dog, it wasn't one in the picture. Oh well.

It was sunny all day today with wide blue skies and no clouds to hold in the heat which is why I had on long johns. I wanted to go to Joann and Hobby Lobby looking for tan art paper and some pressed flowers to use down the road in the Daily Practice lessons. Nobody has dried pressed flowers. I did find the tan art paper I wanted, big sheets of it so I had to cut it down to size, but I was just glad to find it. I ended up ordering a packet of dried pressed flowers on Amazon. *sigh* It was a good thing that I was bundled up because it was bitter cold and windy out there today but the stores were all busy. Nobody stays home when it's cold. They mostly stay home when it's a blizzard or icy. And I went to the grocery--bananas and red grapes again--I buy a lot of those but they're healthy and zero points on WW.

--Barbara

And I Forgot To Draw

The sun shone today! I wasn't planning on going out because it was so cold but then I realized if I went out and scraped the tiny bit of snow off the driveway I could be in the sun for a few minutes, soak up some Vitamin D. So I bundled up and went out to shovel. It wasn't too cold, only 18 degrees, but sunny and not windy so it felt bearable. Tomorrow it's supposed to only get up to 3 degrees so I'll definitely be wearing my longies when I go to the grocery for bananas. Darned bananas, I can't buy too many at once because they ripen so fast so I end up having to get them every week or so but I couldn't get them yesterday at ALDI because I still had 2 bananas left and didn't want the new ones to get too ripe too soon. I know that I can put them in the fridge when they reach my preferred level of ripeness but I'm not a big fan of cold bananas. I know it's picky but I prefer my bananas at room temperature.

I tried my hand at painting circles sitting down today and it worked out okay. My back liked it better, that's for sure. I decided to go back to the earliest lesson in Beginning Watercolor to practice painting circles close together so that they bleed into one another. Because I'm so slow at it, I agonize over where to put the next circle, my paint is too dry and won't bleed. I was better at it today, faster. I did one painting with blue/green/yellow paints.

And one with red/yellow/orange paints. Beyond all understanding I think I like the blue one better than the red one. And I ordered a different paintbrush today because I watched another segment by the same painting teacher and she gave the brand name of her favorite brush, I looked it up, and it's very pointy so I want to try it. It wasn't too expensive. I love ordering things online.

I managed to capture this picture of a quartet of Mourning Doves pecking at the fallen seed this morning after the sun came out. Of course they were in the house shadow but I was just happy to see birds.

Because the sun shone all afternoon I kept my eyes peeled and managed to snap this picture of the sky at sundown. It isn't a breathtaking sight but I'm still happy to see any color but gray in the sky. And I saw an actual star in the sky when was closing the window shade. A star! That meant the sky was clear. Which means it's bitter cold but we need sunshine.

Instead of drawing I sat here and read through my latest NaNoWriMo manuscript, all 176 pages of it, the one that I thought was so dull and boring. Well, it isn't as dull and boring as I thought it was. There's still a lot of work to be done but it isn't quite as craptastic as I thought it was. Makes me feel better.

Evidently there was a burglary someplace on my street last night. Two friends messaged me this morning with a "Crime Report" posting by the police. It wasn't here and I didn't hear any sirens or anything although I was probably asleep when the excitement happened but you'd think that I'd hear it if it was that close by. I made doubly sure that my doors and windows are locked and latched.

--Barbara

Sore Back

My back has been sore the last few days and I couldn't figure out why until I realized that I've spent the last week hunched over the kitchen table painting for at least an hour a day. Aw man, that's not fair. I'm enjoying painting and now it has to hurt? Not fair. Maybe I'll just slow down, not stop. Maybe I can paint sitting down? I'll try it.

This morning I went over to the library in DePere to attend a talk on how to be a better writer by Patricia Skalka who writes a mystery series set in Door County. She didn't really say anything I hadn't heard before but she gave vivid examples that really made her points. I took a couple pages of notes and came home to reread them and decide whether I was doing what she said or not. One thing that I don't do is outline the whole book before I start. I'm what they call a "pantser" writing by the seat of my pants, rather than a "planner" which is self-explanatory. I'm not changing. But I'm glad that I went.

I painted trees again today. I figure the more I practice them the better I'll get at them. I'm happiest with this sheet of two trees, foggy trees she calls them because we use a paper towel to blot away the paint where the fog is over the tree. I like these trunks better too because they're more rooted to the ground than the other ones she paints.

 

I also painted Day 2 of the Daily Practice watercolor class. We're still exploring what our materials do. I like the watercolor and acrylic inks. I can't wait to see what we do with them. I could totally sit down for this class. I think the teacher sits for it too.

Here's the goat from yesterday's page in Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals. It's a happy goat. I like it. (and I sit down when I draw)

From Sketching I drew this happy, friendly spider from the page where you were supposed to draw your fears. I decided not to draw another set of stairs. I'm tired of them and I'm sure you are too.

The squirrel was back after the peanuts under the snow this afternoon. The funny thing was that it would root out a peanut, shift it around in its mouth, and then scamper about six feet to bury it in the snow again!

It's supposed to snow a little tonight, maybe an inch, but the southeast part of the state is getting 4-6 inches. So glad that they're getting it and we're not.

My only other accomplishment today was emptying the dishwasher which takes about five minutes. Oh, and I knitted one row of garter stitch on the Wingspan shawl.

--Barbara

How Late Did You Sleep?

It was 10am when my eyelids peeled open, drifted closed, and then opened wide. Ten o'clock! I guess that's what happens when you have a busy day and don't go to bed until after midnight. Sleeping that late made my morning routine that much later but I still did yoga and step aerobics.

I saw the first squirrel I've seen in days this morning when it was burrowing under the new-fallen snow for one of the peanuts that I'd flung out there the other day. You can see by the birdbath glacier how much colder it's gotten and how much snow we got overnight. I did not clear the driveway because, well, because I just didn't have the time and I didn't want to. It was windy and cold and I didn't want to go out. So there.

Painting went okay today. I revisited the leaf wreath painting part of Beginning Watercolor and tried out the new brush I got from Amazon. It's a size 14 round and it's just too big. I painted the branch in the lower left with it. I don't feel like I can control it and even though it's a "good" brand of brush it doesn't form a point when it's wet. That makes it hard to control and hard to make nice lines. I think I'll stick with my size 12 round which looks like the one that she uses anyway.

I have a 1:30pm Zoom with women writing friends that ran for a couple hours so that ran into my painting and drawing time. I managed to finish the painting lesson but only got this pig drawn out of Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals. There's also a goat on this page and I have room for it in my sketchbook. I'll draw the goat tomorrow.

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I (finally) finished triangle number 8 on the Limited Edition Wingspan. All that's left to do it knit three more rows of garter stitch along the curved edge, not the jagged one. I got the setup row knitted and the first garter row, only three more to go. Then what? I have no idea.

I'm going to wrap this up quickly and hit the hay because I've got my alarm set for 7am (ugh) so that I can do my morning routine and take a shower before going to the DePere library for a lecture on how to be a better writer. I've got a notebook ready and made sure that there are pens in my purse. I hope I learn something new but even a reminder of things I already know will make it worthwhile. G'night.

--Barbara

Trickle Down

I looked out the kitchen window this afternoon and saw that the snow on the gutter had drip drip dripped down the hanger and onto the wind chimes. I don't think I've ever seen it iced up like that. If you look closely you can see that the icicle goes all the way to where it's dripping off the low side of the wooden disk. Guess it wasn't windy enough to shake off the drips.

I went down to the library this afternoon to sort books. There were three tables of books that looked pre-sorted that I was able to put into boxes and onto the paperback shelves in my hour of sorting. There were plenty of books left to sort on other tables but I felt like I got a lot done in a short time today. (The boxes in the back hold books that have already been sorted.)

The next bird in Draw Like an Artist was a Nuthatch, one of my favorite birds to see at the feeders. This one turned out alright, even down to the foot. I guess I'm finally getting better at drawing bird feet.

I found a "daily practice" watercolor class on Creativebug to play with along with the other watercolor class I've been taking. The first day's assignment was to assemble the supplies and play with brushes in a watercolor sketchbook. My book's pages aren't as big as the pages in the teacher's sketchbook but it's what I have so I'm going with it.

In the Beginning Watercolor class we painted trees. I ran out of paper when I was painting the top left tree and ended up with leaves lapping over the tape so the tree looks like it had a haircut. Oh well. I like the foggy tree alongside it and the autumn tree isn't too bad. I'll take another stab at them, maybe tomorrow, maybe Saturday.

Yesterday's snow flurries ended up being a couple inches of wet snow so I fired up the snowblower and cleared both mine and the tenants' driveway. I'm glad that I did because it warmed up just enough to dry the pavement which is a good thing because the plow never came and it's supposed to get a lot colder over the weekend. Oh goodie. Now where'd I put my long johns?

The ham and Swiss sliders that I took to knitting tonight were a big hit. I've only had sliders like that one other time and these seemed particularly buttery. They didn't go to waste. CS had cheesy potato with ham soup and bean with ham soup all heated up for us to have with them. It was the perfect way to warm up the evening. DM brought little cakes--lemon raspberry, red velvet, and confetti. Yum. We didn't starve.

--Barbara

All the Making

I had a very productive day in the making department. But first, I managed to snap a picture of a Chickadee that's in focus. Yay, me! I was in the middle of my yoga practice and this Chickadee landed and stayed on the feeder long enough for me to complete a pose and snap this before time to get into the next pose.

I went to the birdseed store the other day and hadn't put the bags of seed out in the cans so I did that this morning and while I was out there I tossed a scoop of peanuts onto the snow. I was too lazy to put them into the wreath but figured that the squirrels would appreciate the ease of acquisition. Well, not one squirrel arrived to get a peanut. Not one. It got up to 34 degrees this afternoon so over time the nuts began to sink into the snow. Silly squirrels.

On to making! First I sat down to write. I had an idea rattling around in my head for the next scene and didn't want it to flee so I snatched it out and put it down on the screen. Eleven hundred seventy five words later I was happy with what came today.

After lunch I got out my paints and taped a couple sheets of paper to a board. I rewound the beginning watercolor class to the mark-making and painting leaves lesson and painted along. I still have trouble getting the paint to bleed the way hers does but I'm willing to sacrifice paper until I manage to get it right. Then I painted some branches with leaves. I like them, especially the one with the little berries on it.

Then it was time to draw. Out of How To Draw People I drew the next four figures on the last pages. Oddly enough the fence gave me the most trouble, making me erase time and time again to get the slanted picket right and it's still not right, but I gave up and moved on.

Next in Seuss-isms was this picture of a mama and baby kangaroo wearing collars that the Cat in the Hat made for them. I used an ink pen to outline them and then erased the pencil which made them much tidier since the pen didn't smudge under my hand as I drew like the pencil does.

I even had time to fold the basket of clean laundry, mostly socks, and put it all away before supper but there are no photos of that drudgery.

It started snowing ever so lightly around noon, stopping and starting until about seven o'clock when it began to snow with more vigor. I tried to take a picture of the snow that I see in the parking lot light behind my house but it didn't work so all I have is this shot with the tiny little flakes reflected in the flash. I don't think we'll get much accumulation but it'll be enough to make the roads slick. Thank you, winter.

 

I'm still doing step aerobics after finishing yoga every morning. My legs don't ache quite as much as they did yesterday but I look forward to the day when they don't ache at all. Keeping on keeping on.

--Barbara

Gotcha!

The sun peeked out again this afternoon so I went out the front door with my camera at about 3:45pm and snapped this picture. I know it doesn't look like it but the sun was blazing between the tree branches across the street. It was short-lived but I loved it. It really lifts my spirits when the sun comes out.

This morning I went down to Zambaldi Beer to see what DS was up to. He was sanitizing one of the big tanks in preparation for transferring a batch of Yard Games IPA into it. I'm amazed that he gets all the hoses connected and then reconnected keeping his process in mind all the time. I got to sample the new coffee amber beer that will be on tap next Monday too. It was pretty darned good and smelled great. I got a surprise when I was about a block and a half away from the brewery. All of a sudden I could smell beer brewing in the car. There must have been a south wind carrying the aroma of malted barley up the street.

After lunch my first order of business was to take LC's dress downstairs and figure out how to close up the button placket. She wore it on Saturday and said she didn't like that it didn't button all the way to the top. I found an uncut buttonhole for the second button that I opened but there was no way I could make another buttonhole for the top button. First there was just too much fabric that would have had to be gone through and second, the placket edges tapered outward so trying to make them overlap made it gap and bulge untidily. I ended up drawing the pieces together as much as I could and sewing the edge down so it doesn't open anymore. I hope that this works for her.

Then I pulled out my drawing things. First I paged through Sketching to find this globe flying an airplane with clouds with peepers in them hovering overhead.

Next in Dr. Seuss's Book of Animals I found this horse and cow. This has to be the world's worst horse picture ever. The body isn't bad but the head is pathetic. The cow's a little better, at least it's walking away, but the horse is looking right at you and it looks so sad. I couldn't bear to color them although that might have made them look better. I'm sorry, horsie.

I took another stab at painting a tree. This one has its own piece of paper so I didn't have to worry about it crowding another painted object. I painted the trunk the way she showed it but I'm not sure that I like that it doesn't go all the way to the ground. Maybe I'll try another tree tomorrow. Or maybe I'll move on to a leafy wreath. She goes so fast I have to keep stopping the video and rewinding it to keep up.

It's supposed to snow tomorrow and then get real cold. Yippee. Maybe I'll fold the basket of laundry tomorrow. However, I still have a few pairs of socks in the drawer...

--Barbara

Sunshine!

Well, filtered sunshine but it was definitely brighter this afternoon. Ahh.

I painted a bunch again today. I redid yesterday's painting and then tackled another of her examples. This one was triangles that were supposed to bleed into each other but I either had my paints too dry or too wet, couldn't seem to strike a happy medium. But then we painted a sky with blotted out cloud shapes, a branch with leaves, and a tree. My tree grew taller and got into my branch but that's okay. I think it all turned out okay. I'll try again tomorrow.

I only drew one picture today (because I painted so much). It's a Wren from Draw Like an Artist. I'm a big fan of Wrens and my Grandpa Stephan was an even bigger Wren fan. I remember him talking about the Jenny Wrens that came to his bird feeder. He liked their spunk and their song. I'm especially happy that its feet turned out better today.

Since it was a sunny afternoon I kept my eye peeled for sunset color in the western sky and was rewarded with this little glimpse of orange through the trees over TS and MS's house. It wasn't much but I was sure glad to see it.

I fired up the Wii again today and did a couple rounds of step aerobics and, I gotta tell you, my thighs are killing me but I'm not giving up. It's too icy on the street to walk and I have to do something. I sit around too much so it's back on the Wii with me.

--Barbara

Yawn!

When you stay up late on Saturday night you get up late on Sunday morning. That's a fact and that's what happened to me today. It was after 9 o'clock when I rolled out of bed and only then because I got a text notification on my phone. Thinking it was someone interesting I jumped up only to find that it was my weekly phone usage report. No, thank you. Anyway, I watched CBS Sunday Morning which I had DVR'd and then fired up the Wii and did some step aerobics. By then it was almost noon and I was still in my jammies. I thought about staying dressed that way but then realized that I wanted to go to the grocery (out of bananas and grapes again) so I got cleaned up and dressed. And after lunch I went to the store for a bunch of things which cost way more than just fruit would have.

Birds discovered the filled feeders today. There was a small flock of Sparrows that flew in, pecked around, and flew away. Then a trio of Chickadees tag teamed between the platform feeder and the round feeder. This is not a great picture of a Chickadee but it's the best I could manage. They're so fast.

I got out my paints today and painted along with a beginning watercolor class I found on Creativebug. I taped a bunch of smaller pieces of paper onto my lucite boards and tried to paint what she did. Not very successfully but I tried. I'm happiest with the last painting I/we did. We made a color palette from a picture she showed and then used those colors to just make marks on the paper. I tried to copy some of the movements she made and was successful part of the time but I'm happy with how it turned out.

I'm happiest with this little scrap of paper that I use to test out paint colors. I've always been pleased with the way it looks and today I realized that it kind of follows the watercolor teacher's demo.

It wasn't until after supper that I pulled out my drawing things. First I drew a few items from the second to the last page of How to Draw People. While I was drawing these I got a text from SIL1 saying that IM was worried that I was having a tornado and wasn't safe. Seems they had a tornado warning this past week and so he's obsessed with them. I assured them that I was safe and that it wasn't even particularly windy. DD says that his plan is to come to my house and hide in the basement the next time a tornado comes. Good plan. I said that they're always welcome, tornado or not.

Then on the next page of Seuss-isms there was this complicated looking illustration. I took a deep breath and plunged in. It didn't turn out too bad. Next time I'm inking the final lines of the drawing and then erasing the pencil lines before I color it in to prevent smudging. 

That's all of my late-sleeping, foreshortened day. Once again it was thick overcast so it looked like dusk all day. That is no help to feel awake and alert.

Today's the first day of the lunar new year, the Year of the Rabbit. I was born in the Year of the Rabbit, Durwood was too. I should have gotten Chinese takeout today but didn't think of it until just now. Oh well.

--Barbara