OLD PROJECTS--NEW FINISHES!

My oldest son bought two oil paintings almost 30 years ago and they needed some repair and cleaning.  I glued the canvas onto its board again (it had curled off;  dried out)  and replaced the board to the back of the frame again.  I cleaned and polished the frames and had to admit, it perked them up nicely!

On the back was written the artist, Howard Brandt, and the date they were painted, 1970, and the price originally asked, $480.  I will admit, my son did not pay that much for the pair at a garage sale in 1994! I will be packing these up and mailing them to Washington State to him--they are out of my storage finally!

Do you see the glass bottle bottoms that I rethreaded into a windchime?!  They were threaded with cotton string which had rotted long ago but I knew I could fix it and enjoy it when I saw it at the thrift store but I let it stay in the box for way too long!  No longer.  It is now hung up in the newly created corner of the lanai and it catches the breeze and lightly tinkles beautifully!  

The sock that I ripped out is knit again and I like it tons more!  I will be beginning the leg in another inch, I will be knitting it in the k3, p1, which I enjoy knitting and wearing.  I also made a change to the gusset numbers and will do it like this from now on-the heel fits much better with a bit more room.  I'm feeling pretty good about the sucesses, I must admit!

 

UP AND AROUND!

I couldn't believe how much better I felt today!  What a welcome gift!  I cleaned and puttered and ended up in the sewing room!  I added the two skinny borders and pieced the bottom pieced border.  My goal today is to piece at least one more side!

We've been cleaning in the garage some more and I ran across this original ink drawing by a real artist-Alba Zaiser!  Here is her obituary article which is an interesting read.  Now this isn't worth enough to retire on but it is a cool find.  There is a bit of discoloring on the watercolor paper (she is better known for her watercolor paintings) but all in all it is in good condition.  I cleaned the frame and glass and promptly hung it on the wall!

Bill was the recipient of some warm blacktop that was left over from a job a friend of his did--he had to drop everything  and spread it-along the edge of the driveway, the ends of the porch, etc.  It's a good thing he has a new tractor and could hook up his heavy lawn roller to smooth it out!  We each enjoyed adding rows to our projects!

 

FIRST DAY FRENZY!

I actually made some time for the lathe! 

 The bowl went pretty smoothly, though the wood is still very green and soft but I was more prepared this time. 

 I'm hoping there will be no surprises in the way of cracks

 over the next few days!

This is what the log looked like when I started out!

Some birthday Fellici to start out the year with sock number 1 !!!!  I worked until I had gone through all of the colors

 in this striped yarn!

I am going to be playing with a theme for this month with watercolors;  I am going to paint moon gates and gateways into the future!  This one is drawn and painted in my notebook to try out shapes and colors and when I feel good about it, 

it will go on 8 x 10" quality paper for framing.  

I am going to work on patience

 and enjoy all of the elements of my subjects! 

 (well, that's the plan!)

 

Weeding and Flowers

 Before I forgot, this is the old calendar that I am drawing/painting from for the recent artwork.

 This is the original illustrator. 

 I would've enjoyed talking to him, I think.

I wonder if he was good at gardening? 

 Did he weed his own gardens-sweat hard to keep it

looking as good as his artwork.  I wonder....

 Here is a glimpse of the flower for March;  painting will happen  today.

No weeding for me today-I am still sore from yesterday's labors!

 I've also been doing some spinning every morning on the linen.

  This bobbin now holds 4 ounces so I'm ready to begin the second bobbin.

 But I am being tempted by this fiber!

It has the interesting content of wool, linen and silk--

the fibers that have clothed the world for millennium!

But my own drive to finish one thing first is going to win out!

I only have four more ounces to go-I will do this!

ART-Just Do It!

 I started with an idea of replicating a photo a friend took of an abandoned and decrepit

stone house in a state park in Oregon.  I was going to do a water color but decided I liked

the idea of a line and wash instead. (permanent ink pen and watercolor wash)

 I began the watercolor.  I find watercolor so much more difficult than acrylics!  

You have to think so much because there is no hiding an error!

I tried a bit more shading than I usually use with watercolor and I liked the results.

The ink shading gave life to the pale colors.  

The photo was taken in the winter and the landscape was as desolate as the house.

The moss was alive and well which makes a nice contrast.

 Framed and finished!

I'm pleased with what I learned with this artwork.

And I dug out my little sketchbook and decided I need to stop with all of the YouTube watching

and do some more of my own sketching.

This is a landscape from of all things, WordScapes, which I play on my Kindle!

Pen and colored pencils.

I'm going to try to do one a day.

Exercise is good for the brain!