Sweet Rewards...

Just a short post this morning, to show you my latest little canvas; "Sweet Life", the second in a series I started a couple months ago, the first being "Sweet Dreams"...

They are designed to hang together as a grouping, I have the background ready for the third and final piece. and hope to work on it over the next couple of days...

which leads me into my next subject, it is finally time to celebrate! As of yesterday, Mr. How2 and I have finished up all the projects we needed to do, both the rentals are cleaned, painted and ready to live in, and we are planning a short get-away to reward ourselves...
Now, neither of us are big spenders or high maintenance, so our idea of a vacation consists of going up into the national forest for a couple of nights in the RV. But we both love being up there, where it is quiet and peaceful, and because we live so close, it is a more attainable trip than say... Hawaii or New York! So  I will be packing up my art supplies and smore fixn's and heading to the woods. First I need to inventory the motor home, and stock it with supplies...

In the mean time, here is my creation for Every Inchie Monday, the theme this week is "tourist".

Please hop on over there and explore the other inchies, and do consider trying them out yourself! Until next time...enjoy!  

More Storms Means More Studio...

Oddly enough, we keep having these amazing rain storms, so unusual for this time of year. This last one resulted in a 3 hour power outage, flooding in the streets and a new addition to our family.

During the worst of the storm, Friday night, my good friend went outside because she heard something, a cry she thought sounded like a baby. Out in the rain, in her nightgown and with a flashlight, she looked and looked, following the pathetic mewling. Then she spotted it, at first she thought it was a rat, but quickly realized it was a tiny scrap of a kitten. The poor thing was soaked through, and had managed to wedge itself between a fence post and the side of my friends shed. She was stuck. All her struggles only drove her tiny body deeper into the opening. My friend pulled on the fence post and was able to release the pressure just enough to slide the bundle of sodden fur out of it's trap. She brought the kitten inside, dried it off, and fed it. 

 My friend knows me like a good friend does, and brought the kitten to me the next morning when she came for our daily walk. I determined that it is indeed a female, and decided to name her Serendipity. She spent the first day hiding in my bedroom, under the bed, which upset Storm to no end. Besides the studio, my room is HER domain.
That night, Serendipity climbed up into bed with me and slept through until morning.

  She is a lively little thing, and is slowly becoming used to our household.

She gets into everything, as only a kitten can do...

The other cats hate having her here, and I am really not sure if she can stay. If Storm can learn to accept her, I believe they can get along as playmates. Storm seems lonely to me sometimes, and does try to engage Bandit and Angel in chases around the house. But they never respond in fun, just deadly serious. So I am hoping she can learn to play with Serendipity, they are both young enough to learn. For now, she growls and threatens, and the kitten has started to respond in kind. Sometimes these rescues are temporary and I am just a stop off point until they find their true home. Only time will tell. 

During all this, I spent some time in my studio and finished a canvas I started a while back, and also created my inchie, for Every Inchie Monday, the theme this week was "glass". 

Until next time...enjoy!

A Little Nonsense Now and Then...

I had the chance to catch up in the studio over the weekend. I have been setting the alarm for 5 am, in an attempt to get the outside projects finished before the sun slams me into a small melted puddle. The theory is, if I work early enough, I can then come into the air-conditioned comfort of my home, and continue to work on sorting boxes, and cleaning house. The reality is that after working from 5-1, I am done in. There is nothing left, even if it is cooler. Sigh..."The best laid plans..."

  But I had the unexpected pleasure of a summer shower yesterday, not really a shower, more of a deluge. One of those storms that makes you anxious and has you calling loved ones to make sure they are undercover. The kind that throws you into a primitive mind set, staring out at the mercilessness of nature, wondering if the world is ending...

The storm sent me in early, and I was able to work on my last Inspiration Deck. As you may remember, my Fly Tribe online has decided to make and exchange these decks, and somehow the due date slipped right past me. But they are all packaged up and ready to go. I am looking forward to receiving my three decks, one mixed deck for everyone I submit. I plan to keep one, give one to a friend, and use the third one as a giveaway either here or on my Facebook page. What do you think of that plan?

I also got a little silly, and painted a small canvas based on a comment made in jest in our Facebook group.

I had a lot of fun with this one, tried not to take it very seriously and painted the whole thing while standing up, because the storm frightened Storm, and she claimed my studio chair for the duration...

...but the sun is shining this morning, and I still have a carpet to clean in one of the rentals, not to mention pulling about a million nails and staples out of the walls so that I can patch and paint. So back to work I go!

Oh! Last, but not least, the theme for this week in Every Inchie Monday is "black", and, due to yesterdays gloomy weather and high drama, I was feeling very Poe...

Until next time...enjoy!

Sweet Summertime...not so much

Yes, I know, late late late... I actually did try to get my post in on Monday, despite the crazy schedule we are keeping, but, believe it or not, there was a local fire that took out not only the internet, but also almost all our cell phone carriers in one fell swoop! It took the fire department and the repair crew a couple days to get everything back up and running, in the mean time, things were pretty quiet around here!

 We are finally done removing garbage and junk from the rental houses, and one is cleaned up and ready to rent. The other is empty, and awaiting a carpet cleaning, scrub down and a new coat of paint, before it can be advertised. We hauled a total of 2300 lbs of garbage to the dump between them, and basically fried our brains in the hot sun. I will have to finish the clean-up on my own, as Mr. How2 is off on another couple of projects for assorted family members.

 We are experiencing triple digit temperatures, and I have to say, I miss the cold, rainy days...(I realize making that comment may just get me lynched). Everything in the garden is 8' tall, including the weeds, but I think there may be some produce hiding in there somewhere. The strawberries came and went, I picked a couple dozen quarts, and the raspberries are so loaded the branches are touching the ground. I have invited everyone I know to come and pick, and a few have taken me up on the offer. There are sweet peas, sugar snaps and still a ton of lettuce, and there are finally little peppers and tomatoes coming on.

  Mr. How2 and I, after clearing and repairing the rentals, took some time to do a tile backsplash for our dear friends, something they have been patiently waiting for all spring. I am so pleased to have that done and out of the way. They chose a marble and glass mosaic tile, in natural colors. It turned out beautifully!

 As for me and my art, I have been so tired and uninspired, it was all I could do to finish up my four ATCs for this month's swap. The theme was "Sweet Summertime"

which, given my current, crazy long, to-do list, was very hard to get excited about. But in a calm moment, I asked myself, what is it I really love about summer, and imagine my surprise to find that three out of four things were garden related...Now what does that say about me, with all my complaining?

  This weeks theme for Every Inchie Monday was "mountain" and though I was late, I did get it done and submitted...finally!

"If it weren't for small art, I'd have no art at all!"

Until next time...enjoy!

Experiments in Watercolor...

I was afraid I wouldn't get a chance to post this week, my life has become very complicated suddenly. I have two rentals that have gone empty this month, and they both need a lot of work to get them rent-worthy again.  We are finishing up on a house flip as well, which we can soon list and quickly (hopefully) sell. Our other rental is having plumbing problems, and tomorrow Mr. How2 and I will be digging the new lines out to the city sewer, with the help of our John Deere backhoe.

 But I was able to slip in to the studio this evening to share the results of my first watercolor class...

These three poppies were what the instructor had us paint,

 and this single poppy was a little extra sketch I did, because I was stressing out so much over trying to copy the instructor's style exactly.

   I found it complicated, fascinating and had a few "Ahh ha!" moments when I really "got" what she was saying. I found that it is very difficult to work with student grade supplies, and that you should buy the best that you can afford and still be able to eat that month...and that I wanted to keep trying. After I returned to my cousins house where I was staying, I tried again...

I know his expression is a bit odd, but he is close to what I wanted. It seems so backwards to work from light to dark, and it is hard to remember that the paper is your only white, so you have to think in a completely different way than when working with acrylics.

   But it is a very portable art form, supplies are easy to carry, and with my new Yasutomo Niji Waterbrush, I don't have to bring a water jar along. The class was a whole lot of fun, and I can't wait to wrap up all this building and cleaning so I can play some more. Until next time...enjoy!

The theme this week for Every Inchie Monday is "border" and I, of course, painted a flower border.