Spontaneous Painting

Spontaneous  painting...no drawing.  I used Bristol board for this one (small...about 5 x 7).  I think a slicker surface is nice for it. It seems to work better for landscapes or outdoor scenes where you can kind of "dream up" the scene.  

I am just trying it out. This is "sort of" the view from my studio window down by the lake where our boat house is located.  
The watercolor is just loosely painted on first...I used pretty large brushes.  Then let it dry and go back and "interpret" it with ink.

I used Sakura pens...mostly a .01 size.
My friend Susan sent me an video that inspired this. Thanks Susan.

Sidetracked temporarily

I follow a number of wonderful blogs.  But when people stop posting I sort of lose interest.  Well, I figure they are off doing other things and the blog gets left by the wayside. 

That is sort of what has happened to me and I wanted just to chime in and say I am still here but not "art-ing" very much right now, unfortunately.  Don't give up on me!!!

I just got done with the Manitowish Waters Art show and that was fun.  I didn't sell anything or win anything this year but it was a good show and nice to get caught up my art community.  The rain and cold up here has prevented me from connecting with my outdoor painters group!  (Am hoping to catch up this Thursday).

And it seems as though we have been distracted up here since arriving (in a good way) with visitors and other commitments.  Living in the Northwoods for the summer has it's ups and downs.  If you've followed me through this before you know what I mean.  You weigh the joys of living by the lake and all the beauty and peace that can bring against the mosquitoes, rain, cold and inconveniences.  

This year... arriving late with my knee rehabilitation on going and Greg's back problems AND the well problems... art takes a back seat for awhile.  I am hoping that after this week I can get back on track again.  

Oh...and I made my goal in WW this week.  (Weight Watchers).  THAT is a very good thing.  I started on this project on September 26 and worked on it ALL winter.  35# off.  I feel SO much better.  The program now is called "Life Time" for a reason. 😉

So now the goal is to keep at this weight or slightly below it.  This is a challenge...for your lifetime.  As I said at the meeting last week...you can easily celebrate the loss of weight because people can see the difference and offer encouragement.  But then once you arrive, people sort of forget and take it for granted.  So you can slip again.  (called the "yo-yo" syndrome).  There is some financial incentive built in to WW as you can continue to come to meetings and use the app for free as long as you keep on track.  They insist no more than 2# over goal weight!  So wish me luck on that!  

I hope to send some "art" in the next blog post!  

  

Tangling Birthday Cards Again

4 x 6 Greeting Card

Seems as thought the birthday card art is a theme these days!  As I mentioned this keeps one rather busy.  Not all my cards are as personal.  I sometimes take out my paints and do some generic ones and make cards ahead.  I just can't bear to buy off the rack.  

Zach will be 14.  

He is our 3rd youngest of the 9 grandsons.

Hoping he'll visit yet this summer.

This is the week of the big Manitowish Waters Art show.  

I'll post some photos of that later this week.  It's always a wonderful show and lots of fun.  The open reception is Wednesday.

My First Great Granddaughter: A picture worth a thousand words

Violet Virginia Bhavnagri

July 12, 2018

7#1oz

She is just about an hour or two old in this photo.  Is this not the sweetest face???  She is responding to her Aunt Abby.  Who is apparently fascinating!  And is telling Violet her first story.

I don't think any other words are necessary here.

Love, Great Grandma Virginia

Another Zentangle Birthday

When you have 12 grands it seems as if you are making birthday cards all the time!  We have two birthdays in July.  

And now today we are getting our first GREAT granddaughter.  She'll be born (C-section) at 5 pm (Pacific Time) in CA.  We are SO excited.  Now another birthday card!  OH my.  Stand by for more on that!

So this next week it is Nate's birthday (in Madison, WI).  He is 22.

Below is a photo of us with our two youngest grandsons, Mike and Pat from Lemont, Illinois. (11 and 12) This was Monday evening.  They were here a week (with their parents) and left that evening.  We miss them. It's SO quiet.  

We are standing in front of the "back side" of the cabin that faces the lake.  You can see the loft windows that all the kids love.  They climb the ladder and it become their world.  We rarely go up except to vacuum and make sure the mattresses are blown up.  The kids have drawn pictures on all the rafters up there.  

Life Begins at the Summer Cabin...sorta

View from where I sat at the 4th of July parade

15 minute sketch of our old fishing boat from the deck

Summer has never started quite like this.  

First off we are a month late getting here (due to the knee surgery saga that all my blog followers have heard about for months.)

Then we got here to the cabin only to discover our well has decided that 50 years was all it was going to give us. And this about 3 days before our company was due to arrive!!! (It was also 97 degrees which is unheard of in the north woods of Wisconsin!)

No water at the cabin is a lot like no power.  

You are really "camping" out at that point.

Needless to say the estimate from the well guy was not good news and that he couldn't come until the next week.  Oh my.

But, it was an adventure and the new well DID arrive eventually with better water and more pressure.  AND the local internet company DID finally arrive (on the same day) and put in the "real" wifi connection which I hav NEVER had up here.  Wow.  Things are looking up!

AND the company..my son and daughter in law and two grandsons (11 and 12) were spunky and fun and of good humor through the whole thing.  AND were delightful guests AND helped us so much with the opening.  The weather dropped back to 80 degree days and 50 degree nights (like perfect) and although we had one rainy afternoon the rest of the guest days were perfect...full of games and swimming and fishing and wine.  

We now are taking some real deep breaths and looking forward to some "more" normal times here...with time to paint, time to canoe, time for wine on the pier and visits with old friends.  The birds have found our feeder again and the smell of the pines is nice.

More relaxed news to come.  Right now I am counting the minutes to Thursday (July 12) when my first great granddaughter will be born C-section in CA.  Photos to follow.