Lake Photos and Updates

Just after I splurged on pretty envelopes I was excited to find matching paper in the mail today from one of my sister's along with  a lot of fun pens,papers, note cards, letter papers notebooks and a clipboard so that things won't blow away if I decide to write my letters out in the garden.

I got a better fitting wheelchair and although it's rough going in the grass it will get me into my driveway container garden and that's a start.

My husband has been picking some of the raspberries and strawberries while I work on plans to try a few bushes and plants in my container garden next season so that I can take care of them myself.

I still haven't gotten my studio area of the dining room set  up well enough to work in but that's in progress too.

We're also investigating whether or not I can handle a riding mower to get me out in the yard and garden again.

A lot of us are facing challenges in the garden these days so I'll keep you posted if I find ways to make things go easier or better to grow your own personal food supply.

I'm evil, instead of staying home to weed the garden I took advantage of the perfect weather and headed to the lake.

Here are a few photos:

This duck was headed over to our table which was a few feet behind the gals on the bench.

 There were a lot of ducks in the park today and this one's stroll was interrupted when a couple of little girls came running up to it.

As you can see, midweek things are pretty quiet here. I'm planning to bring my paints to the lake soon.

Memories of Summer 2010 at First Lake

Trying to capture the reflections on the water has been the biggest challenge so far. The difference in these images was because I shot a photo first and then stuck the actual painting into the scanner attempting to get a more detailed view of the brushstrokes and knife work while deciding what I should do with it next.

Progress, or lack of it on the lake painting

I'm moving the shoreline higher and in the process of adding more water to the area where it used to be. If it looks rough it's because it is. The rocks I'd painted on the distant shore had been done with knives and left the panel a bit lumpy so I actually tried scraping a bit of the excess paint off. I'll get back to working on it sometime in the next day or two and will post pictures as soon as I get them.

Forest Lake Acrylic Painting

I've done this little section of the lake in oils, watercolor and colored pencil so of course I needed to try it in acrylics as well. The gals in the painting group I go to suggested I stop here as I was beginning to worry about overworking things. This one is 11 x 14 inches and will be going to the sale at the Senior Center in October. I may start another smaller (8 x 10") and "play" with the idea a bit more. It will be fun showing some of the small paintings at that sale, even more fun to sell a few so that I can move on to other projects. Wish me Luck!

Floral Fun

It looks like I've been busy but actually these photos are 3 or 4 years old. I'm looking forward to posting pictures of new work but just haven't gotten to it yet. Meanwhile I thought you might enjoy seeing these projects. All but one or two of them are gone now so it was fun to think about them again and to notice how very fond I seem to be of blue...or at least I was then, I don't seem to be using quite as much of it thse days (which could be more of an economic than a style choice because the blues I tend to favor are generally the more expensive ones). At any rate I'm thinking about painting today and thought I'd share that with you.