Remodel Blogging Break

By the title of my post you should know what I am going to say.  We are ripping up our living room carpet and putting down a new floor. Since this is going to take a lot of time I will not be blogging for a little while. I will be ripping out carpet and those awful tack strips and trying to remember how beautiful it will be when its finished. Soon I'll be back with pictures of the finished project.

Hot Wax

After talking about it so long I finally got out to my garage to do some encaustic painting.  Instead of more samples I decided to jumo in and make a real piece.

So here is the first one. I wanted to do something totally different but as soon as I laid down my first layer of wax I knew it would not be what I had planned. The wax was not hot enough so it became a texture piece early on. I thought it would be like a sampler. I would try out several things, like adding a color stripe, toning down that color. I tried a stencil that didn't work, did some carving and adding down oil paint in the grooves. I used a napkin for the focal point and just built around those colors. Despite all my mishaps I kind of like my first piece. I have a lot to learn about this new medium. Oh by the way the new torch worked fabulous. I am so glad I purchased it.

More Jewelry

I have been editing a book for a friend this week so that has had most of my focus. There still has been time for more jewelry making. I like to do this while watching TV in the evenings.  I have been watching Foyle's War on Netflix and really enjoying it.  The actor Michael Kitchen is a favorite of mine.  He seems to portray such a gentle man in a difficult era. The series is based on some real stories so it is like a real lesson in the history of lives of those who lived during that time.  I highly recommend it.

Some glass bead earrings.

These yin yang earrings are some kind of bone or made to feel like bone most likely.

This necklace I started awhile ago but ran out of one of the beads, so I couldn't finish it.  Finally I found the bead at a local craft store.  I was happy to be able to finish it.

These stone chips in this bracelet have such amazing colors in them.  It was fun to make.  I know when I wear it I will be twirling those chips around and marveling at their color.

Writing Wednesdays - Not

Work in Progress: I hate to say it b ut I have done zilch on writing all week but this is what I have been up to instead.

I made this little painting using gelato's on watercolor paper.  Water was added to bring out the color. I used charcoal for outlining.

Next I made this 6 bracelets. They are done on stretchy cord and were easy to make.

Then these 4 pairs od simple earrings came about.

I think the hummingbirds are so sweet.

This was a bracelet I ought in Paris and it had fallem apart so I worked at re-making it.

The following two piece were dyed using old rusty pieces I found in my barn. This fabric was offwhite muslin when I started.

This one was white cotton fabric.  The rusty item was wrapped in the fabric and then sprayed with vinegar and water and left to set overnight.  I plan to use them as backgrounds for encaustic wax paintings.

What have you been doing in your spare time?

Making Order out of Chaos

This past week I have been making jewelry which resulted in all my bead boxes becoming a disaster.  So this is just a little bit of the mess of my reorganizing.  I had piles of colors all over the tables in the house. I worked on organizing for 2 days but now everything is in its place.  Sometimes I can handle only so much disorder. I can get such pleasure of putting things in little piles of color and shape and making order out of chaos.

 

 I found this video on twitter this morning. Its an advert for these silicone tools that look really great. I also liked watching this artist and her philosophy about using the tools. They also have wedges that work well with encaustic painting and would be great for mixed media. I may have to get some of these, yes Dick Blick has them.

This little guy should be arriving at my doorstep today.  Its a self igniting torch for encaustic painting.  I have been re-watching all the video's from Judy Wise's encaustic painting DVD.  I am looking forward to doing some of the exercises I didn't do while the class was live.  I hope the UPS driver comes early rather than later.  I want to play.

Hawk Flying School

We have some Swainson Hawks nesting in our yard and today they were having what I call flying school. I attempted to get some pictures which is not easy, even with my 300mm lens. Here are two of them in the field behind my house.

This one I caught in flight.

I like this upside down view even if it is blurry.

There were actually 2 hawks on this telephone pole.
                                                                              

Another hawk in flight.  I like how you can see its little feet curled under him.

This was my best pic you can at least tell its a hawk.

Addition:  here are a couple more shots.

Writing Wednesdays and Charts

Writing work in Progress.  There is really nothing new to report today. I  am still reading up on writing technique and practicing archery.

I decided I would report on something else that I am doing.  I've got about two weeks where I have no obstructions on doing what I want to do.  I have some ideas on how I want to spend that time.  I am very cognizant that I could whittle the time away doing frivolous things and I don't want that to happen. With so many choices where do I begin first. Or how do I remember what it is I wanted to do. So I made myself a chart on the back of a huge calender.

I listed some categories of what I wanted to do and then sub categories.  I'll mark these off as I do them, not in the way of a usual list but more in the sense of celebration. I started with just one color marker but had to go get some others to make it more colorful. Its on my fridge so I am reminded of what I want to be spending my time on. When I have a lot of unstructured time I find if I create some kind of structure it helps tremendously.

Now having a chart really does not help in the decision of what to do in any given day but I can see all my choices on one piece of paper.  When I am having difficulty choosing an activity I choose the task that I feel a little draw of energy to. I am washing fleeces today because I started them yesterday and I really want them finished. Then I will move on to something else. I don't always do what I think I am going to but that is ok.  I can make different choices at any time.  The chart help me keep my focus and that is a good thing.

A Page at Midnight

I made this page late last night. I used gelatos for the whole page and added some stamping on top.  The background and dress had water added to them to bring out the color. The face and hair I blended with my fingers.   I had another journal page to show from last week but blogger doesn't seem to like to file.  I have tried uploading several time and it errors out each time. It was not any spectacular so you haven't missed much.

For the next couple weeks I am going to have a lot of time to do art and other creative pursuits. I will be blogging either a little less or just have small posts.  I want to use the time to really work on some projects.  Hopefully I will have lots of fun stuff to show soon.

Sunday Sketches August 12

Here is today's sketch. I used graphite  in 2B and 8B for the sketch and some Graphitint pencils in the background.  You can check out what other sketchers did here.

A Diversion of Sorts

It's Friday already and time for another blog post. Usually by now I would have done some art but not this week. Oh I think I started a journal page but its not complete.

So its time to throw an animal into the post.  This is my kitty Boromir, isn't she sweet.

I saw this duct tape the other day.  It really brings a smile to my face.

Yesterday I had some plans but the hubby gave me other ideas. I threw all those plans out the window and decided to go here instead. It was a little hazy but you could still see the mountains.

The Grand Teton has a glacier this year. I love these mountains, they are so majestic. You can't help but feel good when you are there.

We stopped at the Menor's Ferry area.  Dave hoped the ferry was running but it was not.  Sometime when we go its going to be working and we will ride across the river.   The general store is still in business. It has all sort of fun stuff inside.

This is Jenny Lake, one of my favorite places to go kayaking or hiking. We didn't have our kayak's with us so we went on a short hike. It was a great escape for the day. When was the last time you spontaneously threw out your plans and did something fun.

Writing Wednesdays

Work in Progress:

I finished reading Characters, Emotion and Viewpoint by Nancy Kress and I found it very helpful. I am still reading Writing for Dummies by Randy Ingermasnon.  It has a lot of basic stuff that I am skipping over because I know it already. I found some good ideas too so I will stick with it.

I have been doing other kinds of research too.  Some of it involves this.

and this item too.

Yes, its archery.  I decided since my character was going to be an archer it might help if I could get a idea of what it feels like.  I talked to my husband who used to bow hunt, and he got out his old longbow for me to try out. I always thought that archery would be a fun sport to get involved with and I was right.

Day 1 - I could not pull the string back far enough. I also could not put the string on the bow
Day 2 - I practiced some more at pulling the string back.  I got it a little farther each time. It's a 40 lb longbow in case that interests you.
Day 3 - Pulled the string back and shot some arrows. Set up a target of a paper towel on some straw bales.  Shot too high or low but still had fun.
Day 4  - I was able to put the string on by myself.  Shot lots of arrows.  I managed to hit the paper towel once.
Day 5 - I couldn't get the string on by myself.  Don't know what happened there. Set up a target and shot some arrows.  Not too successful again, getting tired but tried one more shot, Ah success is sweet. the result is below.  I am happy about that this last shot. So I am getting better at it and will continue to do so.

So what have I learned this week you may ask. One is that research can be fun. Two that I like doing archery. Three that archery is a lot like writing, it takes quite a bit of practice before you can be good at it.

Travels Continue

In our campsite was this log. We both thought it looked like a dinosaur head.

When in Nehalem we saw this little store.  We thought it might be the usual tourist shop but we went in anyways.

We were surprised to find medieval helmets inside amongst everything else.
























I love this eagle on top of one of the buildings.

Here is Sarah at Hug Beach.

Once we got to the beach we looked to the right and saw this beautiful waterfall.

This rock reminded me of one we saw the day before  Sarah suggested we walk out to the rock to see what was growing on it.  It looked safe but of course when we got there a big wave came in and we were soaked.

It was a bit colder this day.  I loved all the colors in the rocks.

There were lots of rocks and the beach was virtually empty.

I liked this little alcove.  It wasn't big enough to hide in but maybe in another 100 years it will be.

Oh the shore all the rocks were covered with these litte guys. There were a lot of mussels, the black ones.

I thought these gooseneck barnacles were fascinating.  The look like dinosaur toes to me.

Then I saw this one with long extention coming out.

Then we touched the end of it and these things came out of it.  It was fascinating. We saw more of them like this., when you touched some of them they came out to see what was going on and others were scared and pulled back in.

After time on Hug Beach we headed up to Cannon Beach again. We walked among all the shops in town.

Don't you just love the idea of this place.  It started raining and then we got really cold so we headed into here.

It was wonderfully warm inside.  The oven for the pizza's gave the place a wonderfully warm feeling.  We felt like we were in a protective cocoon. Plus the pizza was fantastic.