GoodMorning.......

 

Sitting here having my coffee... hubby is puttering around making himself breakfast... I'm trying to come alive enough to get ready and go to Eldest GrandLittle's end of year Award Ceremony...  Above pic... remember the cast iron fairies i found at the huge outdoor fleamarket a little while ago?  After cleaning up and clear coating here is where they ended up... thats Moss Rose or Portulaca flowers... 

Eldest GrandLittle's Birthday is coming up  and i made her a card... This design is my 'go to' Birthday card this year... they are so fun and easy to make.. I even used an edit tool to erase her name... Hubby would be so proud... lol 

Driving around town the other day we came across this 'windup' car... HAD to take a pic...lol 

My latest Grandma Day with the Littlest GrandLittle was spent at the International Water Lily Park here in town... The man who collected most of these and made the park happen passed away a few years ago. Its good to see its being taken care of...  i was worried about that... 

This made me think of a doodle.... CJ if you visit... wouldn't this make a great doodle??? or little 'PacMans'...lol  

And last but not least .... this is a weed i found in my yard when we first moved here and i've kept the photo and forgot to share... Now tell me doesn't that look like little tiny watermelons??? lol I tried looking it up and i found suggested it was something called a Buffalo Burr or Creeping Cucumber... but the pictures don't look quite like what i have so i'm not sure.. I know i could use some app called a Plant ID but i don't have it but if anyone knows what this is please share.. Well i better go get ready.... ya'all take care and thanks for stopping by... Hope all is well in your World.. Hugs! deb

Rainy Visit....

 

Good Morning !!!  I'm sitting here having my coffee ..... caramel macchiato ...  I have my big , green , comfy , long sweatshirt on, old , holes in the knees , work around the house jeans on... Its 50 something degrees outside, misty rain... cloudy AND its the end of April in Texas... LOVIN' it!! Ofcourse its making my weeds/grass grow but i'm choosing to ignore that fact this morning.. 

We had Chinese Buffet this week... and i just love the two dragon statues they have out front.. For a long time they had large fabric bows tied around each one that were faded and ratty looking . Just recently they finally took them off and you can see the statues in all they're glory!

Even before the rain arrived the Octatillo around town knew it was coming.. Normally they just look like brown sticks... But let there be a little moisture in the air... even just a rise in the humidity level and they let you know.. green leaves sprout and the most lovely orange flowers...  I want to draw/paint my version of this ... stay tuned.. Right now i'm painting plates... show you next time.. Thank you for stopping by and if you leave a comment i double thank you!! :) Hugs! deb

Its Official!............

...........  Something of mine has officially been in a Gallery!!! Woot woot!!!  They asked me to put a minimum bid on it ... $75 was suggested so i went with that.. i mean i had no idea what to put... and one person bid $80.. whew... it sold... Hubby was prepared to bid the minimum and bring her home..  Just think she is hanging in someone's home right now..  :) 
 

Here is the little Coop Gallery... It was fun ... we got dressed up and hubby and daughter and the two GrandLittles we all went to see Grandma's art on the wall.. :)  Will i do it next year?  Time will tell.. 

 Thanks for stopping by... Hope you had a nice Easter if you celebrate... The Grandlittles had a blast... Grandma made them baskets... :) Hugs! deb

A Weight Lifted....

 

I have worked this to within and inch of its life... i so wanted to do a good job... and now here it sits with its clear coat and its done ... a little more than a week early... I quickly put the satin clear coat on so i would leave it alone...lol

                    Some close ups........

                     There are some things i would change but pretty much ....once you burn it your done... 

           I look at it now and i'm proud of it.... So i think thats a good thing to be able to say... 

Sometimes i think back to here... when i just had the flies and the lightbulb... this has its merits too... but at the time... my heart just wanted Mmmoooree...! lol So you could say i followed my heart.... and i hope somebody besides me likes it at the auction come April 3rd...  Hope all is good in your World.... thanks for visiting mine. :) Hugs! deb

Sometimes......

 

...... you just need a break from what your working on and do something else... I'am knee deep in shading the SkateBoard and nearing the finish line... where decisions on stain and clearcoat and hanging apparatus will need to be made... turn in is April 2nd... on display and silent auction April 3 at the Coop Gallery in San Angelo, TX ... any art not sold that day will still be on display and open for bids April 4th...   Soooo... I made a Birthday card in a style i've never done before, where you make the candles and put a piece of tape through the middle for a place to write Happy Birthday and perhaps the name ... i made one and loved and enjoyed it so much i made two.. !Have you ever made this type of card ? I used acrylic paint and markers... 

Hubs and i took a three day trip to Fredericksburg/Wimberley Trade Days/ and San Antonio... Such a great time... TX Mountain Laurels are blooming everywhere... and even though we are expecting some temps in the 30's next week Spring seems to have Sprung here...I had to run the mower today... uugh...  

We had our usual fried mushrooms in Fredericksburg and shared a plate of delicious baked chicken breasts and did a little window shopping up and down the streets... i enjoy that so much... 

Then on to Wimberley Trade Days... you could walk for miles on a curved pathway going up and down with stalls of people selling their wares everywhere... i belive 450 vendors... fabulous... food and stuff... and i found these two fairies for $5 each almost immediately.. 

               And i scored a coupld books.... $4 each... 

Then we drove our tired selves into San Antonio...now thats a harrowing experience if you don't normally drive in traffic like that but thankfully Ms. GPS got us there safe and sound.. This light picture is from the RiverWalk... i thought they were beautiful.. The RiverWalk was lovely but so so crowded... seems like anything we want to do anymore places are so crowded... And it doesn't matter if you go early or late or off season... just people everywhere.... and it does steal our joy of going places...  As much as we try not to let it.. 

I took this pic from our hotel balcony... Ever since i picked up drawing again what ? 20 years ago now.. what!!!!   architecture has always captured my attention... little details... curved surfaces... any way i just liked the shape of this building.. :)

And last but not least we had to bring home a souvenir for the Littles ... they are really into Hotel Transylvania cartoon... if you know you know.. this is Maevis... lol  ! They loved it ! Hope everything is alright in your World and thank you for visiting mine. Hugs! deb

Shading Begins.........

 

If your tired of the SkateBoard updates.. bear with me.... We will get back to the regularly scheduled program soon... not that my blogging was ever very regular...lol .. I have everything i wanted burned in... and now i have some very judicious shading to do... 

My family points out to me that its hard to see some of the flies... i'm hoping some shading will help that a little but honestly i'm ok if you have to hunt for some of them a little.. For me it was always 'only put flies and the light bulb on there' or 'load it up'.. I can see the merit of both options... As the 'artist' i had to make the decision.. and i leaned into it and Loaded it up!  I'm a little worried for the finished product... worried how the stain will take ... etc... But thats part of it right?!  I hope somebody will like it at the auction.. But either way i have to follow my heart... If nothing else i have learned THAT over my artsy/craftsy years...  Hugs! deb

Burning....

 

I'm done with another round of sketching... today it will smell rather burnt in the house.... i might open a window a bit.... cross your fingers for me...I'm still very much a rookie with woodburning... but i learn a little each time... I just don't need any 'hard' lessons if you know what i mean... lol  Hugs! deb

Popping in...........

 

...........to show you what i'm working on.... I've started shading but thats not shown... Here all the major parts are burned in....Love to know what you think..,    :)   Tax day.............   oy vey......... Hugs! deb

Doodling....

 

Coming out of the deep freeze... snow and ice is about gone... tonight we stay in the 30's F so i'll get a good night sleep tonight...last night low was 20 F so got up and ran faucets a couple times... tonight i can sleep like a babe.. .lol     

Porcupines are in the oven... haven't made that in ages but it will be good with some spaghetti noodles.. I hope i got it right... i tend to make adjustments to the recipes without noting it down... sigh... 

They adjusted the rules for the Stock Show Art Competition... they just now reposted the 'new version'... and i can't find one thing different... sigh ... I don't have much to enter this year... maybe the 'Magic Beans' just for giggles... I want to participate because my GrandLittle wants to.. :)  I really hope to get and keep them involved.. Take care... stay warm... Thanks for dropping over for a visit!!! Hugs! deb

'Knock on Wood'

 

We still have power.... the water is still flowing... and i'm tired.... setting my alarm and getting up every couple of hours to flush toilets and run the water then set back to drip... That system has served us well in the past... so we'll see... 

Now if TX will still do their job and keep my power on... Since about 5:30 am the power keeps flickering.... just for a couple seconds and then once or twice for a couple minutes...just long enough for me to worry and breathe a sigh of relief when it comes back on...  

I still see people out the window driving... Our road looks like a sheet of ice to me... We are staying put...We got anything and everything we could possible need.... not moving till maybe Monday afternoon but more likely Tuesday.. 

Still more weather to come or so they predict and more cold... This is not over by a long shot... although i will say the daylight makes me a little more optimistic for some reason....temp still headed down... 

The above picture i water colored while painting with the Littles... and i have enjoyed doodling and stamping on top of it... Great entertainment while your sending all your good thoughts to keeping the power on... LongJohns and oatmeal is the order of the day... maybe some tortilla soup in the crockpot...  i better get busy... Take care... stay safe! And i'll be checking back in here.... Hugs! deb

My First Try.....

                                     ..... playing with the fly....I have lots more ideas.... I think i'm even using them for Valentine's Day.. lol  Worst thing is to let an idea or drawing... sit in a drawer or sketch book... I like to see them out in the World... 'fly little one fly away!'lol 

My ArtJournal is almost finished!!! Maybe 10 pages left.... I wanted to touch on Halloween and Christmas before i finished... 

We are having our coldest night of the Season tonight... 20 F !!!! brr... nice warm up tomorrow in the 60F's... but i think i'll leave the water dripping tonight... Thanks for visiting!!! Love and Hugs! deb
  

                    

Happy New Year!

        Can you stand one more Christmas image?  :) I sat and watercolored a drawing i made of a pointsettia... there's some gold in there too that doesn't show up... It was fun... Its in a handmade sketchbook that CJ sent me a few moons ago.. The paper in it is nice for water color i'm finding out.. I used different brands of water color pencils... fun and relaxing after a crazy Holiday season.. 

Christmas is getting packed away... tree is down.. now all the bits and bobs i will work on today and hopefully get done today... and if truth be told there is alot of bits and bobs... my little village of houses , my snowman collection,.. stained glass votive tree collection.. But... they bring me joy and probably long after maybe the tree has been downsized i will still have my collections.. 

The weather here has been crazy warm.... windy... dry... They say last year we had 6" over our normal rainfall... couldn't prove that by me.. I think what it was is when it did rain... we got ALOT at a time... but there were loooong stretches between...so it didn't feel like that much... 

So sorry for the lack of pictures in this post... Wanted to make a post but hadn't taken alot of pics... The GrandLittles had a wonderful Christmas.. Sleepovers at Grandmas with Christmas all around.... Eldest GrandLittle has almost found her balance on her bike without training wheels.. Woot woot! The expression on her face is priceless when she gets a good stretch of balance going.. :) 

Wishing you all the best for this new year. Lots of whatever brings you joy... :)  Thank you for stopping by.  I so enjoy when you leave a comment,say hi... wave... lol  Hugs! deb

Amaryllis , Cards and Santa....

 

                                    This.... 

                         Has become THIS... but no flowers....will have to think how to remedy this for next year... Either A... they need more light during the year....(totally possible) or B I'm not letting them be dormant long enough .... Either way it will be fun to make some adjustments and see what happens... but bummer... 

I made a sketch of an Amaryllis in a vase since i LOVE them so much and decided to make it my Christmas cards.... 

I painted each one individually so they are all a little different and unique... i did some gold embossing.. 

Used a wood inspired scrapbook paper for the background......

This was waaay more involved than last years triangle Christmas trees..lol! so .. i should have started waaay earlier .. but apparently i can't produce unless i'm under pressure... lol go figure.. So maybe it got a little tedious near the end but really i enjoyed it.  I probably ended up doing about a 12-15 cards.. It was fun to see how i loosened up as i went along... i found i was willing to add more colors a ,especially in the bulb... and just be more experimental.. 

I wanted to share Mr. and Mrs Santa with you.. They are 39 years old this year... i painted them while pregnant with my daughter...  the GrandLittles enjoy putting on the little light up pegs, you can see here they are still working on it..lol  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!! So glad you stopped by! See you next year!!! Hugs! deb