Renovation complete!

It took a few hours of photocopying, cutting and pasting, but it's finished. I didn't worry about the pictures being "to scale". I just looked for colorful illustrations that fit the room. For instance, kitchen scenes for the kitchen, and animals sitting in living room chairs for the living room.  Audrey loves it, and that's what counts, right? ;)

 

Bert and Ernie think it's pretty cool!

 

 

 

So does Snuffleuppagus!

 

 

 

Since I covered the windows with the illustrations, I added other pictures you could see from the outside as if you're looking in.

 

For my next project, and this is a long-term one, I'm making a photo album for each of my kids.

 

 

I'm thinking of these as "starter" albums that the kids can add their photos to. I'm going to include pictures of ancient ancestors along with some biographical info, pictures of Bob and myself from childhood through the present, and a carefully chosen selection of photos from the kids' lives. I can't afford to print every photo ever taken, and wouldn't want to if I could. I just want to include some of the best photos taken in each phase of their lives and they can add their own recent photos. I also want to include some of the boys' writings, some things written by their grandmothers and some philosophizing of my own. This is my chance to pass on some of my thoughts I'd like them to remember throughout their lives. This will take a while, but hopefully they'll be ready for birthdays coming up this spring and summer.

 

That's it for now! Shalom! :)



WOYW this W? A little renovation work...

About 15 years ago my daughter played with this Sesame Street "doll-house". It has some little furniture pieces and some SS figurines of Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, and Snuffleupagus. It was stored in an old shed when she outgrew it and it got pretty filthy over the intervening years.

I've been scrubbing on it and it's fairly clean, but the inner walls, which were made of thin cardboard decorated with illustrations, had to be torn out.

I'm planning to use the old cardboard pieces as templates to cut out some new pieces from cereal boxes, which are about the right thickness. Then I'm going to find pictures from children's books, photocopy them and glue them onto the cardboard. It's challenging to find pictures that really work for this, but that's part of the fun! When I'm finished it will be ready for grand-girls, Audrey and Hazel to play with. :)

So that's what's on my workdesk! (Or, rather, strewn all over the place!) To see more desks around the world go to Julia's Stamping Ground!

Odj and Hazey...

 

Audrey loves this big copy of "If You Give a Pig a Pancake"!

I saved this book from my Child Lit class and Audrey inherited it. :)

A pensive Hazel...

 She actually has blue eyes.They look brown here.

 

 

Nice sunset...

 

Goodnight and shalom!

 



WOYWW!

Not much!

I've been immersed in homework mostly, but I do have a new room just for my studying and art (if I ever get around to doing art again!).

I'm really enjoying all of this space and it's a pleasant place to spread out and study. The little old sofa sleeper works more as a desk than a couch, but it's very convenient for the present needs. My old art desk with some of my supplies is in the corner ready when I find some time. I would love to find a large poster with a beautiful nature scene to hang above the couch. Something soothing to contemplate as a break from nursing study. Any ideas where these types of posters can be found?

One of the biggest projects was moving the bookcase and all of my books from the room next door! We had to move everything out of the room so we could turn the bookcase on its side so it would fit through the door. Of course, my books were set in stacks all over the floors of BOTH rooms, so there was a lot of shifting of stacks to get this accomplished. It just wouldn't have been "my" room without the bookcase. My hubby is creating his own space in the other bedroom. We're having fun!

I'm squeezing my beloved slant-top desk between my desk and bookcase. It rolls easily so I can use it to spread out my schoolbooks if I need to.

I leave you with a lovely sunrise that I found residing in my camera. If you'd like to see more workdesks, go to Julia's Stamping Ground and follow the links to snoop around!

Shalom, all, and have a great week!

Just for the record...

I was deleting photos from my camera and came across these. I sent these to Pom Pom, so just for the record I'm posting them here so I can remember that I painted them once upon a time! :)

 

This is a rook in Pom Pom's garden. I used a photo from Pom Pom's blog for the flowers and added the rook just because I was fascinated with the idea of painting a rook at that moment! Actually, I had looked up pics of crows, then the word "rook" floated across my mind, probably picked up on my travels through Jane Eyre. So I looked up rook pictures to see just what they were and this is what I came up with. He's kind of large...

This was painted from one of Pom's vacation pictures...

I must have deleted the picture of the owl bookmark. Oh well, I have a copy of it somewhere. Maybe I'll post it later.

Not much going on painting-wise here. School takes a lot of time! :)

Shalom and happy fall!

Keeper of the family sketchbooks...

I just realized that I seem to be the one who is safeguarding the discarded sketchbooks of my family members. I really enjoy looking through them.

My sons, Jordan and Josh, kept sketchbooks when I was homeschooling them MANY years ago. Here are some samples:

JOSH'S WORK

(He's now 28 years old. These were from probably 18 years ago!)



 

JORDAN'S WORK

I think I put these side-by-side to compare his earlier work with some he did in his older teens.

 

 

These are some greeting cards he made when much younger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some more of Jordan's character studies...

 

 

I'll probably share more of Josh's later. I don't think he drew as much as Jordan, but he was pretty good!

 

Last but not least, my mom's sketchbook has been added to the collection. She only drew a few things in it, but I'm glad it has joined my cherished collection. (And I'll be glad to fill it up!)

 

 

The grand collection...

 

 

Shalom...



Study break! :D

Yesterday I gave myself permission to visit a couple of blogs during a study break. One blog I've added to my list is Ian Sidaway's Fine Line. His beautiful cross-hatching (or just hatching?) has really caught my eye. I'd love to really scrutinize his work and learn a thing or two, because this is the sort of thing that attracted me to pen and ink in the first place.

I hope Ian doesn't mind if I post one of his drawings here. It will hopefully attract more attention to his blog!

While looking at this series of drawings I also read the comments. One of the gals commented that the clipped yews in his drawings reminded her of The Children of Green Knowe; a story she had read as a child. Well, I just had to investigate that! Of course I found a video version of the story from the '80's and proceeded to spend an hour watching the first two episodes. The story is of a young boy who is taken out of his English boarding school to go live with his great-grandmother in a castle. He discovers that the castle is being haunted by the ghosts of some of his young relatives who had died of the plague many years before. That's as far as I've gotten with the story, but I'm hooked just because I love these stories more for the glimpses inside of interesting old buildings and the beautiful English countryside than anything. So if you're interested, here's where to go...





Enjoy the fall weather. It just keeps changing back and forth between fall and summer here!

Shalom!

God's latest masterpiece...

Our newest granddaughter, Hazel Jane, was born at 12:30 a.m. on September 5th. She weighed 6 lb. 7 oz. and is 19 inches tall (long?).

And heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere she is!

Smile, Hazel!

We await her arrival home this afternoon to join big sister, Audrey. We look forward to many delightful days ahead for this dynamic duo!

This is the only artwork I've had time for lately. Too busy with school!

God bless all and shalom to your households!

A little virus trouble...

I picked up a little virus on my laptop Saturday morning. I'm using my dear daughter's desktop for checking up on my classes. I'll run to the college tomorrow and the techy guys there will hopefully have me up and running very quickly. Meanwhile, I'll do a little homework in the library.

Y'all watch out for those cyber-boogey men and retain your shalom no matter what the circumstances. Vaya con Dios!

WOYBW!

In my case, it's What's on Your Bathtub Wednesday! Today is my second day of college this fall semester and right now the bathroom is the quietest place to study. If you've looked at my workdesk before you might not realize that the living room is just to the right and through some double doors. And the TV is RIGHT THERE. No way! So, I dragged my chair, computer and books into our bathroom (which is pretty spacious) and it's really working pretty well.

 

 

My daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter have been staying with us for a while, but they're planning to move into their new place next week. At that point I'll take over one of the bedrooms at the far end of the house from the living room. I will also have a much larger desk! I look forward to that, but I kind of enjoyed this setup today. With the window open I can hear birds and crickets chirping and feel a nice breeze.

So, no art taking place, though I did mail off a package to my art buddy today! I won't post pics of what I sent her until she receives it.

One of the things I did for Microbiology class was to write an introduction on the message board. We were supposed to list three of our favorite songs, among other things. Here is one of them. Hope you enjoy it!




To see many more artistic desks around the world, jump on over to Julia's Stamping Ground and start clicking on links!

Have a great week and SHALOM!

WOYWW!

I just noticed that I haven't posted since the last WOYWW! With school about to begin and my daughter on the verge of giving birth to her second little girl I guess I've been distracted. ;)
Well, today is a day off from work, so I sat down at my little desk to paint something for an art exchange buddy.

Hey, are any of you involved in the Sketchbook Project? I've been debating whether it might be a fun excuse to draw during study breaks. Can you still join for this year and is the due date in January 2013? Still debating.

Anyway, in an attempt to keep my water away from my computer I've relegated it to my lamp table...along with my usual glass of iced tea. In case you're wondering what's in the big blue bag on the floor (it's been sitting there for a YEAR!) it's my nursing kit, which I will be using this year...finally!

Ready to begin my drawing...

The slant top desk is just sitting there...

How is this picture different from the last one?

So, that's what I've been up to today. I've got a hankering to draw some owls, so I've been collecting images. I also want to do some painted backgrounds in my scripture journal and some actual writing.  Not sure I'll get around to all of that. I do have to interact with the family, after all!

Everyone have a great WOYWW and a great week of creating art! To see more desks visit Julia's Stamping Ground. It's tons of fun! :D

Shalom!

WOYWW!

Well, it's time to trot around the globe once again (virtually speaking) to peep at desks! If you'd like to join in the fun go to Julia's Stamping Ground and click on some links!

I must admit, I'm not doing much at the moment except getting inspired. I'm doing this by watching Danny Gregory's collection of YouTube videos!

Danny wrote "An Illustrated Life" which is a book full of pictures from many different people's sketchbooks. It's on my wish list! But the videos are so much fun to watch! (See my previous post for easy access to his videos!)

Besides that I've Mod Podged a few more dried flowers on my scripture journal. Now to spend some time writing in it! :)

I'm not so happy with the dried hyssop right under the word "journal". It looks too much like a moustache! But it can't be helped now! I really like the tiny grape leaf right above my name. It's transparent!

I had to rescue my latest piece of zentangle inspired art from my new, and very cheapy, Walmart sketchbook. Here I've cut it out of the new sketchbook and pasted it into my older sketchbook where it will be safe.

And here is the accursed cheap Walmart sketchbook which has been relegated to a dark lower shelf, never to be used for anything other than scribbling, heh, heh... (I mentioned this sketchbook in a previous post entitled "A Lemony Sketchbook". The paper is so inferior that it's falling apart after just a few uses. Bleck!)

So, I hope you all have a great WOYWW and maybe you'll watch some of the aforementioned videos!

Shalom, all!

Jane LaFazio Interviews Danny Gregory...interesting!

I found this really interesting and I plan to watch more of his videos on YouTube! :D



I found this video on Danny's YouTube channel. It's a two part video about Danny Gregory and Richard Bell whose Wild West Yorkshire Nature Diary blog is on my blog list! It sure was fun to watch these two talk about their sketching. And, Pom, they exchange drawings in the mail just like us!! Who knew other people did that? Hee, hee! ;)

Just wanted to share this new gold mine of sketching videos I plan to savor in the future!

Shalom!

A lemony sketchbook...

I think that I shall never again purchase one of these sketchbooks at Walmart...

It wasn't even really cheap...$8. That's more than my other large sketchbook which I bought at Ben Franklin's...I think. I don't remember the brand of this sketchbook and I removed the label, but it's their standard brand of art supplies. (Would it be Daler Rowney, like the tube watercolors I bought there?) Anyway, the paper is soft and mushy like construction paper, and after turning the pages a couple of times they begin to tear and want to fall out. I'm not sure I want to put a lot of time into sketching in this book! Just wanted to sound a warning. Back to Ben Franklin's!

Okay, finished whining...

Shalom and happy sketching/painting/collaging or whatever your passion may be! :D

Building a better phoenix...

When Zach commented that my drawing of a phoenix in this post looked almost "happy" and "huggable" I took it as a challenge, heh, heh... We all know that a happy, huggable phoenix is not a real phoenix at all, so I did my best to build a better version. And here he is.

I took pictures of each step as I colored it so I could remember what I did...

Close-up to see details...



Probably my last phoenix drawing. There are too many things to draw in this world to do too many do-overs. :D