Painting a background to photograph fresh flowers against

Here's what I have for this project:

A blue and white pitcher given to me by a good friend

A bouquet of carnations given to me by my sister in law

A canvas panel from another friend

Old, natural sponges

An assortment of acrylic paints in shades of red, ochre, and black

I think this will work out well as I attempt to build a finish that will resemble the side of a barn.

I've stopped for tonight to let the first layers dry but plan to get back to it at first light tomorrow.

I arranged the flowers and we shot this the next day.
I'm back at work painting the background to look more like old barn wood.

Parting shots

Here are a few photos of the first Dala Horse I ever painted. It was nice to have it visit the studio again and I'll be returning it to the current owner later this week.

I think I got some much better photos of it this time, in a number of different angles and I may be able to create something interesting with the pictures as well.

I was surprised to see how long it's been since I've posted here but that letter and number project turned out to be much larger than I expected it to be and I did SOOOO much drawing that I ended up with several pencils that were too short to put into the pencil sharpener anymore. I used up several colors of pencils and went through three marking pens which was a bit of a surprise because I hadn't realized that I was so fond of outlining so many areas of my drawings.

I never did get around to the series of drawings or paintings that I wanted to base on this horse but it was nice to have it around for a while and I can always work from photos if I get in the mood for it.

You just never know where life will lead you and it's nice to look up from your work once in a while and see where it's gone when you weren't looking.

I'm cleaning off my worktable now and sorting out my art supplies as I try to decide what I'll be working on next. As always I'm excited by the possibilities and looking forward to the adventure. Running out of a lot of colors doesn't worry me, it just forces me to try new combinations and see where they'll take me.

Finished Painting of the Swinger Camera

I may continue to work on this from time to time but I've finished with it for now.

A new look for an old Iris painting

This is how the painting scanned and doesn't show how it actually reflects the light when hanging on the wall.

I ran it through a photo program and lightened it so that you can see it the way we do here.

Today's Sunflowers

 This is my favorite of today's photos. I plan to base a painting on it soon.

 Yes, these are the sunflowers I planted next to that new cedar box. They got so big that you can barely see bits of the trellis through them.

You won't believe how many pictures I took trying to get this shot with the wings open!

Today's blooms

The birds outside my window at breakfast

I was enjoying breakfast so much that I shot this with one hand from the table.

After coffee I got up and tried to get a better shot of them. It looks like we've got a few squirrels this morning too.

too hot for pictures and too busy to take them

The last few days only the shady corner where my table sits would be good for the camera and there's been far too much work to do in other parts of the garden to bother with it.
It's surprising how fast the plants that you don't want can spread while you struggle to get the plants that you do want want to grow started.
There seem to be volunteer trees everywhere and some of them are getting pretty tall. I've tried to find people that want the bigger ones while I remove the small ones when I can.
Lunch yesterday included lettuce, radishes and pea pods from the garden in salads.
The last of the sunflowers have finally been planted. I had thought they were all in but found a handful of seed left in the kitchen where I'd been shaking it out of my pockets at the end of the day. Yesterday we removed a tiny strip of sod next to the flower bed at the front of the yard so I planted them there.
There are an entire pound of sunflower seeds planted here, there and everywhere in the front and back yards. I can't wait to see how many of them bloom this summer!

Red Dala Horse photo shoot taking the designs to the next level

I really enjoyed finding different ways to paint each shape and love the way that they look together.

As I was photographing these and arranging the horses I was thinking what a nice still life they would make in a number of different media.

I'm starting with the photography but plan to move on to drawings in pencil and ink and then to paintings in watercolors and acrylics.

I wish I could share the way I'm feeling about these right now, it goes beyond words.

New Fallen Snow

The roses ran wild in the back yard. I'd trimmed them back on the other side of the fence but hadn't gotten to this side yet.

More heart designs

I clipped these from a photo of a painting that I did last year. I'm looking forward to exploring new ways to use and improve them while using them as part of other projects. I  love it that old work becomes part of new projects. Everything just keeps growing and changing...including me!

My projects have projects

After I finished with the mail yesterday I finished crocheting the scarf I was working on and started another one, packed those up for crochet group and then I started a crochet hat and packed that up too. My favorite hat pattern only requires counting for the first 4 rows so I find it easier to do that part at home so that I don't make mistakes or get distracted while talking to everyone  at group.

A friend sent me more card making supplies today and I spent a couple of hours on those and now I'm headed to Zazzle for finish designing a few products I've got in progress there.

After that I'm putting together information for a freelance writing job at a local newspaper.

Between all of this my husband and I scanned photos for a local group and put the actual photos in an album before moving on to making a computer CD. We may even take it a step further and make a collage and video so that they can access their event in any way that they want to in the future.

As I always say "my projects have projects" and that's just the way I like it.

Photographing the snow and planning the garden

The snow seemed to show up better when shot through the kitchen window but doesn't look nearly as amazing as it does in person.

The main thing I notice in the pictures is the fact that I never got my wheelbarrow put away before winter hit.

I'm also enjoying a pile of garden magazines and making plans for this summer. The only thing that I've  decided so far is that there will be lots of poppies and sunflowers to paint. I'll also be moving a lot of the raspberries and roses so I guess I'd better relax , put up my feet and rest up while I can. It's going to be a busy year.

Some of today's projects

This scarf is easy but a bit boring so I'll just do a couple of more rows and set it aside so that I can move on to some photography that will kick off a new series of projects in pen, pencil and paint.

Oh, back to the scarf. I'm using a size K hook and started by crocheting a chain as long as I wanted the scarf to be and then taking it from there with a half double crochet stitch (you can look that up in any crochet book or just leave a comment and I'll be happy to shoot more pictures to show you how)
I chain 2 at the end of each row and turn. It goes pretty fast but the paints are pulling me and I want to get back to some acrylics.

Edit your world

This is the less than inspiring view from the top of my kitchen window.

This is the way I CHOOSE to look at it.

Triple Project Tuesday