nanke's stuff

We spent this past weekend in Nashville with our son, daughter in law, and our wonderful, 2 year old grandson.  It was Hot and Humid and we had a Great Time!!  CC, our grandson, has taken to running full-tilt boogie up and down the sidewalk.  Since it's right next to the street, someone has to be with him every step of the way.  I ran and ran, back and forth, every now and then trying to coax him back up to the porch.  Finally I spied 2 sticks that had blown down in a storm - one his size and one my size....Walking Sticks!!  Of course you can't run with a walking stick, and he was completely taken by them.  So then we spent a lot of time walking up and down, discussing many things.  It was fun, interesting, and oh so much easier than running in the sun.  He's so cute I can hardly stand it.

OK, enough grandma talk.  I took a wee bit of time to do a rather quick watercolor of a lovely plant holder that they have hanging outside next to the door of the porch.  It's a very cool piece, and Sarah had put hydrangeas in it cut from one of the many lovely flowering shrubs they have.  I'm so out of practice and still struggling with the inner beast, but I'm happy that I did something, at least!  Oh, I recently bought the book The War of Art, but I haven't had time to start it yet.

I had a wonderful birthday, thanks in part to all of you who so kindly and generously sent me your helpful and supportive remarks.  You are just the best!  When my sweetie and I got home from having a wonderful dinner at The Common Grill in Chelsea (Michigan, that is), we sat on the porch and I made good on my vow to do something arty.  It had cooled off considerably so it was very pleasant outside.  I got out a watercolor block, pencil, and my trusty, old, watercolors in the tin.   I made a start .... I did a bit of a drawing of a few things on the porch, and did a bit of painting.  It's not complete (and may never be), but the thing is, I did it!  I'm trying not to be unduly critical of it (but the truth is, I can't quiet that voice completely), and  it's about as simple as it can be, but maybe I'll sit on the porch again tonite and have another go at it .... or not! 

So, thank you again, to all you special people! 



P.S., it's called, Warts and All

Today my good friend Vicki and I went to the warehouse sale at USArtQuest. The owner, Sue Pickering Rothamel is just a wonder. Besides her art supply business (she sells many products that are made right there), she is a fabulous artist. Her creative ideas really amaze me. She paints, invents and develops new products (think Perfect Paper Adhesive and Mica Magic Watercolor paints), and thinks up the most interesting and fun projects. Soon she'll be having a class on making, among other things, checkbook covers using cloth similar to canvas (sorry, Sue, I forgot the exact name of it), paint and paper napkins, of all things! I've seen them and they are really great.
So, anyhow, Vicki and I spent a good deal of time there, and I got some super treasures at super prices (great unmounted stamps, Light 101 Artist's Cement (I'll use it in a future post), some very unique stickers, and lots more. The best part, though, was a chance for a visit with Sue. She's so warm and welcoming - I just wish all of you could meet her. Check her website (usartquest.com) to see (and maybe even order) some of her things. There may be a schedule there of places she'll be around the country. Go see her if you can!
Vicki & I also hit an estate sale on the way home where I bought just a few cool things. After I got home I wanted to do some art, but was completely blocked. I just sat down with my art journal and this is what happened. It's pretty silly and not well done, but then so am I much of the time!
P.S. Don't forget to leave a comment on the "Give-away" post - tomorrow's the last day for a chance to win the goodies!

Well, we went to Luddington over the weekend to visit our close friends, the Burkes. If you hold your right hand up like a mitten, Luddington is just about a tad above the knuckle of your baby finger. I love living in Michigan - you can tell anyone where you are just by holding up your hand! We took our dog, Abby, (drugged with Dramamine so she didn't throw up), who was a wonderful house guest ... well, almost. Jim and Lynn, their good friends from Luddington, brought their really cute, well-behaved, dog Moses. He may be the sweetest dog I've ever met. Abby treated him just awful ... growled at him every chance she got, especially if she thought he was getting more attention than she was. We kept her on a leash the whole time he was there. Other than that, she was very nice .... of course, the Burke's doted on her and let her do whatever she wanted - including get on the furniture to lounge around. A definite no-no at home.
We got back Sunday - my fever came back and I wasn't feeling so very merry. I took it really easy yesterday and am much better today. I sat on the front porch today and did a quick watercolor sketch of a hanging basket of begonias. I didn't like the way the pot looked, so I ended up using Titanium White acrylic paint to try to fix it. I have trouble with backgrounds, and this sketch is no exception! The colors are kind of washed out in this - they're much more vibrant "in the flesh" so to speak. I wonder why sometimes the colors in the downloads seem to be pretty true, and sometimes they are so bland you wouldn't know they were the same painting! Just another one of those mysteries of life, I guess. Hope to be back soon! Bye bye

Well, I'm still somewhat recovering from my bout with pneumonia, and I did this wee painting in my sketchbook. I'm not pleased with it - it's just too ..... well, it's too .... let's just say I'm not happy with it. BUT - the thing is, I did something other than crossword puzzles, eat, read, eat, roam around the house, and did I mention eat? I wouldn't mind sitting on that swing today, but it's kind of rainy, damp, and cold today - not at all good for hanging out on the porch. So, without further ado, here it is.

I've had a pad of Yupo (synthetic watercolor paper) for a long time, but I've never used it. It isn't really paper - it's made of 100% polypropylene. I don't know what polypropylene is, but it doesn't sound very earth friendly to me. My friend Kathy, artist extraordinaire, has been painting on Yupo for a long time, and she loves it. The thing about it is, because it's so slippery, you have very little control over the paint. Having been called somewhat of a control freak (I won't mention by whom, Michael), I've been avoiding trying it. A few weeks ago my sweetie and I were killing time in Royal Oak, having taken 1/2 hour less time than we thought to get to my son's house, and we discovered a wonderful art supply store right there on Woodward Ave (it's called Utrecht's, I think). Anyway, they had these really cute little "towers" of watercolor paints for $3 or $4 dollars. They're made by Koh-i-noor, and I couldn't resist getting them. Since I wanted to give them a go, I decided to try the Yupo, too.

I cut a piece of Yupo into 4 pieces - a whole sheet seemed too daunting to begin with, and I began to paint. Now the painting is nothing to write home about, and I didn't use anywhere near all the colors (there's 24 of them), but I found that working on the Yupo wasn't quite as difficult as I thought it would be. I couldn't help but fiddle with it, trying to gain more control than it was giving me, but now that I've tried it once, I'll try it again, I'm sure. Kathy says that if you don't like what you've done, you can just wash it off and start again. I didn't try that, but I did try to remove some paint that had gone outside the lines I had drawn to work within. While the paint came off, it stained the surface. I used plain water, then I tried Windex, which got a bit more off than just the plain water. Maybe soap would work better, but I didn't feel like getting up to try it.