Family Time and Summer Schedules...

Well we have had a busy week around here, graduations to attend, family visits, friend visits, my birthday and Father's Day kept us jumping all over the place. Our work load, both at home and outside, hasn't lightened any at all.

Mr. How2 is wrapping up his construction project, and that means some of my days are spent doing detail work at the job-site. Cleaning, hauling, grouting tile and final creative approval is my prerogative, and some adjustments had to be made, including knocking out a wall and expanding the master bedroom. (I wish we would have thought of it before he hung the drywall and painted!) But everything is coming together beautifully, and it will be a lovely home for a small family.

 My time in the studio was limited, but I had to finish this 8" x 10"canvas, the image was just calling me;

I was a bit conflicted about the gold swirls in the petals of the leaves, and here is a trick I tried to "test drive" the idea. I simply printed out a color copy of the painting, and drew the swirls on the copy first, to see if I liked them before I committed to their addition in the final piece. I liked what I saw, so went ahead and added them. I wasn't trying for a accurate representation of a sunflower, so the whimsy of the swirls appealed to me.

The garden is continuing to grow, I am picking the first handful of fresh strawberries this week, they will be in full production as soon as we get a few sunny days in a row. We are already getting tired of lettuce, spinach and assorted other greens, and the radishes are trying to bolt. I am very pleased with how the flower boxes and planters are filling in, but am especially delighted with the pot full of violas, they are volunteers from last year, and I have never seen them get this lush!

I may just have to paint them!

Our week has been full, but we will hopefully get a chance to slow down soon, and enjoy a bit of the summer. I keep telling myself that summer hasn't officially started yet, and I have plenty of time, but...I don't seem to be listening! Until next time...enjoy!

This week's theme for Every Inchie Monday is "animal" and I decided to paint Storm, my Tabby Point Siamese. Since she won't sit still, I used the photo of her that appears in my page banner;

When we first got Storm, she was quite a handful, and I blogged about her introduction into our family in a previous post called "Summer Storm", go take look if you would like to know more about her.