Catch up.........

Sorry, I've been absent from my blog for so long.  I've gotten little caught up in yard work and maintenance but we are moving right along.

We've rebuilt a fence and have more to do.  Also, refurbishing our little garden shed.

 

Thanks to son #2, we have the lattice replaced and I have to stain the shingles and paint the trim this week.

I took a fun watercolor plein air class, last week.

 

Today, Father's Day, I bought myself a present.......a beautiful framed 32 x 24 print by Katherine Dunn of Apifera Farm!  I love it and the colors are perfect in our living room.

 

 



Katherine is, not only, a fine artist but also an accomplished writer and the rescuer of misfit animals.  If, you go to her blog link above you will read all about life on the farm with her rescued, abused, elderly animals.   She and her husband live on a small farm on the west side of Oregon, in the Willamette Valley, where they take care of their brood and nurse them back to good health, grow several acres of fragrant lavender and create amazing art, among their other pursuits.

Every year in June, they open their farm to the public and serve homemade pie so today, Father's Day, we made the trip to the farm with our Granddaughter, her husband and daughters.   Where there were goats, donkeys, sheep, pigs, chickens, llamas and a dogs....OH, my!

The girls loved it.......so did the adults!

This little pony, who's Mom is in the shed in the background, is a rescued pony.  The mother is blind, hearing impaired and had her ears chewed off by a dog.  Most of the animals on the farm have suffered similar mistreatment and now, thanks to the Dunns, are thriving.

Emma enjoying the view from the garden at Apifera Farm.  We pet the animals, ate some tasty pie, toured Katerine's studio and bought a painting.......nice day.

Then we topped it off with lunch in Carlton and a splash in a few mud puddles!

Happy Father's Day to Lucy and Emma's Dad, Ed, and Great-grandpa Ron!  Memories are made of this.

All work and no play..........

you know the rest! 

I've been buried in bark dust, weeds, moss killer, gravel and paint!  It's called "spring" at my house and for some strange reason, I love it!

My easy to maintain chickens........very low egg production, however!

Seriously, things are a bloomin' and the weeds are a growin'......let me show you around my garden.

 

Crown Princess Margarita climbing rose.

Sorbet peony.

 

 

Funky yard sculpture.

 

 

Come sit a spell.

 

 

Herb garden.....chives and lemon balm.

 

 

 

I am one of those crazy people who enjoy pulling weeds and trimming shrubs.  I like the silence, the fresh air, and the sense of accomplishment.  This week we are going to refurbish and paint a fence!  That will spruce things up!

 

I did find time for some sketching..........

 

 

I love this quote and Marcel Proust eyes!  Quote reads:  Be grateful to the people who make us happy.  They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.  Nice, huh?

 

 

 

Yarn Bombing 101

Not everyone knows about yarn bombing but it is usually done on public buildings or parks or bicycles or even buses and cars.......it is sort of graffiti with yarn, instead of paint!

Yesterday, with the help of six knitters, two sons and a granddaughter......we "yarn bombed" the tree in front of the art center.

 I say, "101" yarn bombing because it was the first time for any of us to try to figure out how to keep a tree trunk or an arbor covered with long scarves.  So, with some fishing line, wire and staples holding it in place we will see how long it stays up.....it is not intended to be permanent.  We are hoping for a month.

We are working with private property and have the consent of the owners.....that is not usually how this type of yarn graffiti is done.  An example is: in downtown Portland someone knitted caps and scarves for several public statutes, put them in place and they were gone in a day or two.

So, we've done our bit to add a little color and a lot of fun to the neighborhood, even if it is only for a few days!

New Year's Resolution.......

Yep, it is almost May 1 and I'm finally going to make my New Year's Resolution!  That Resolution is (drum roll, please) .........work out of only ONE sketchbook/journal at a time! 

I know you were expecting something more challenging, well, it depends on your perspective....I seem to find this one very challenging.  Many of us, who like to make art, end up with several tablets or journals of various weights and types of paper and I seem to have a need to make marks in them all.




Sometimes the marks are playful.........

Sometimes they are studies of people's legs  and trying to figure out the foreshortening.

Sometimes it is actual class planning or trying to figure out a page design, sometimes they are good ideas, sometime they are just scribbles.













Problem here is.......these are three different books out of about eight, or nine, that I do this kind of note making, scribbling, and sometimes, decent work in.  However, I never, never use up one whole book at a time.  I may have used half the pages in one book and six in another.  I suspect I'm not the only person who does this, but, it makes it very difficult to find something when you want it.  You get this great idea, write it down and sketch it out.......you know you did!   So, why can't I find it again?

That's it my New Year's Resolution!  Pick one sketchbook and stick with it, in the hope you will be able to find those ideas again.

In the meantime, I just finished this week's DLP page.  This was easy, I love quotes and I need to practice lettering. 

You know how they have e-cigarettes?  Maybe, someone could come up with an e-organizing system, one that DOES NOT involved a computer tho', rather something that would organize things in a puff of smoke!

 

DLP week #17

Finally, I have followed the Document Your Life Project rules......not rules, really, more like suggestions!

Each week, the Art to the 5th ladies come up with a prompt to use to create our page for our DLP journals......this week's prompt:  Draw your favorite pair of shoes.

So I did.......

The writing, done in pencil, did not photograph well.  It reads: walking, gardening, shopping favorite.

These are Keen sandals that I wear year around for all but the most formal occasions!

I used a Gelli plate print for the background adding some stamping, a few scraps of paper for texture, my sketch and some lettering.  Fun and simple!







Most weeks I've gone off on my own and made whatever art appealed to me.....this week I played along and followed the "rules"!  Can't wait for next week's prompt.





 

Discovery and Easter eggs..........

Happy Easter to all on this beautiful morning of Redemption!

For the past several years, our family has celebrated Easter together on the Saturday prior because of a huge community Easter egg hunt that is held in the park behind our house.  The little kids would hunt for eggs and we'd followed it up with a day of food and family.  Well, I've noticed something, those little kids keep growing up.  That means outgrowing things like egg hunts, so we have had to adjust and get creative......which is what we did yesterday.

We do still have one young grandchild and he came in time for the egg hunt.  We were joined for lunch by other family members and then we drove to Salem, for a delightful afternoon, with one of the granddaughters and her family visiting and playing at the A. C. Gilbert Discovery Museum. 

BTW, A.C. Gilbert is the man who invented the Erector set!  He was born in Salem, Oregon attended George Fox College and went on to earn his M.D. from Yale.  At the turn of the 20th century he invented, and went onto build a business empire around, the Erector set and a multitude of other toys and household appliances that he invented.

On the front porch you are greeted by this huge rocking chair that, in this case, is full of the Tomb family.

Inside we had tea and learned about China with Emma and Lucy.........

Emma and her Dad played store...........

 

 

 

 

Then we were all captivated by this truly "mesmerizing" room with a big screen and fun camera that produced these images.......................

 

 

 

 

This is Emma, Lucy and I.......

 

 

 

In this picture, Hubby had his walking stick with him and when he moved it....the stick created the lines and the hula hoops the kids were playing with made the circles on the bottom.  Fascinating!

Examples of Mr. Gilberts original toy.....and some of the things that could be created with the pieces.

Toy manufacturing was not enough to keep Mr. Gilbert's employees busy year around, so he went on to design and patent 150 other items, that would create full time employment in his New York City facility.

These are the play structures outside with the squirrel sitting on the table.  In the middle photo you can see how hard it was raining but much of the area is covered...so the girls got to enjoy this area, too.

 
I wouldn't overlook the art......this watercolor was painted by a 10 year old!

If you live in Oregon, or are planning to visit, I would recommend taking the kids to Salem's Discovery Museum because this is just a small sample of all the entertainment offered and the kids will love it!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Easter weekend. 



Sunshine makes me happy......

Spring is popping up in every corner of my world.....happily!

 

From our backyard to a Camellia show and festival we visited....................

Here are just a few of the amazing varieties I photographed in their judged flower show.

This is a flower I have never grown, they are beautiful but their fragile petals do not hold up well to Oregon's rainy spring weather, they turn brown and mushy soon after they bloom.  That doesn't keep me from admiring their beauty.

This is a collage, with stitching, that I completed this week.  Sometimes an idea comes to you and it goes together easily and you're happy with it when your finished......this was one of those rare experiences!

I finished off the cover for my nature journal, this week too, and have the book assembled.....I am thinking about adding four more pages.

I used a piece of linen towel that had been eco dyed for the cover then added a large black velvet medallion and a piece of embossed paper that was a part of an old manicure set, it would have held the nail files, tools, etc......I filled it with twigs.  I covered the back with a beautiful piece of eco dyed paper done by my friend, Jeanne.

Black book cloth covers the spine that I stitched with a five hole pamphlet stitch using gray waxed linen thread.

This is a brief glance at the inside of the journal.  I am pleased with how it turned out.

With spring and sunshine comes the dreaded.......weeds.  This time of year I think weed pulling is a relaxing activity, not so much in the summer when it is hot!  Guess I'd better put on my garden gloves and get to work.

Enjoy whatever signs of spring you are seeing pop up!