Tuesday-7am

Had a dusting of snow yesterday. Nearly gone now today.

My plans to work on the sketchbook were put on hold. Yesterday was my day for damaged goods--hehe! I felt badly that Donn's order arrived from Florida and it was a mess! He's never had that happen before. I tried to send him these pictures, but his dial up service wouldn't allow it. So--Donn--here are all the pictures.

I went to take things out and absolutely everything was coated with a clear liquid. As you can see, the box was soaked!

Thank goodness the bottle of ink only leaked inside of that bag!! The clear liquid had even gotten inside of the bags of paint tubes, the bag of brush pens--on everything. The bottle of green paint (sitting in front of the ink bag) had also leaked and green acrylic paint was splotched here and there.

There was blue paint leaked inside the bag of the Daniel Smith tubes, too.

I finally found the main culprit. This bottle's cap was half off and the bottle is just about empty. Like mineral spirits--for oils. Wasn't coming off well with just water.

Meanwhile, Leah's order from Cheap Joe's also came yesterday afternoon!! The ArtBin containers--the catalyst for the complete reorganization coming up over here--hehe!

But--there was one slim container that had been in a box by itself and had apparently had a rough trip! Every corner and the back was damaged! Looks like some UPS employee was dancing on the box--hehe!

I didn't finish looking at every single container inside and out until this morning. The rest of them are fine. I'll have to call Cheap Joe's today.

Karma was in seventh heaven! I could hear her playing last night in the dark! hehe!

I felt badly that here Donn had sent me all these extra things for free (I had only ordered the tubes of Daniel Smith and M. Graham) and then it had been such a mess! Chuckle! Isn't that the way it goes sometimes? Most of everything will be just fine. I spent quite a while last night cleaning up the items with soapy water. I got this far.

This is still sitting on my counter--hehe!

Donn--there was a hole in one of the blue tubes of Daniel Smith. You know how they are metal and can get a hole in a crease--well, it had one down at the bottom of the tube and that is where all the blue paint came from. I wrapped and wrapped the tube with clear packing tape and that has seemed to corral it. :)

Of course, I couldn't resist filling the small palettes I had ready.

It will take a LONG time for the M. Graham's to dry--if they ever do--as they're made with honey! :)

And, Donn, I see you sent two tubes of American Journey greens from Cheap Joe's, too!!! That's another brand I had wanted to try! It really was so very kind of you to send all the extras. Maybe zip-lock bags next time? Or avoid sending liquids? Not sure why I had all the troubles, but I can clean them up. Could have been the freezing temperatures up here? Looks like being frozen could have caused the leaking with the green acrylic bottle? Who knows?

Anyways, I have Caroline coming today, so I have to get moving here. I had a lot of trouble uploading pictures today on Blogger. This has taken me two hours to post! So--off I go! :):)

Monday-6:30am

Yesterday I cleared off half the table, got out Ann's paste paper & the rice paper she sent, and found some cover cardboard. Yup! This week I finally plan to work on the sketchbook for Ann!

First I have to try out using the paste paper as the outside cover. Have to see if it bends and folds around the cardboard nicely or not. That is what I plan to do today.

I have been working my way around the clock. Might actually be back on regular days here pretty soon! :) Feeling pretty decent today. Good day to make something, eh?

I don't know how well you can see it (you can click on the picture to enlarge it), but they have been hauling in dirt by the truckloads all summer--trying to fill in the wetlands and pond that were there. They were really dumping the black dirt last week! Trying to beat the snow and frozen ground, I imagine. My little miniature nature reserve has been basically destroyed.

When I moved here that field was all grassland/wetland with a very small pond. When you laid in bed at night with the window open in the nice weather it sounded like you were out far away from civilization--reminded me of being up at a cabin in northern Minnesota. I'd go to sleep to the sound of frogs, geese, ducks, and crickets in the spring and fall. The frogs and crickets were around all summer, of course--and I could watch the rabbits all year round as they changed from white to brown to white. But eventually--all that will be left will be the crickets. You can never totally get rid of crickets--almost like cockroaches! Crickets are pleasant singing in chorus, but can be annoying in a solo--hehe!

I will miss the lake sounds.

Well, happy Monday! More tomorrow. :)

Sunday-7am

Karma says hi. :)

Saturday-4:45am

Okay--here's what came yesterday--book and cards!! :)

I saw on Serena's blog that she was doing this book with an online group during the month of November. Here's Serena's blog and her Esty shop (she's such a talented artist!):

http://artbyserena.blogspot.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5958969

This is the online group's blog that a lady is running:

http://tnc-soulcoaching.blogspot.com/

I even found the author's online daily meditations that go with the book!

http://promos.hayhouse.com/baron-reid/052108email/linn_soulcoaching.php

I thought this sounded like a great way to start the new year in 2009! I have not been attending to my spiritual side as much as I could be. So that is my personal plan--to start the book in January. I do have a sacred space already...

...but it is not a meditation spot.

My knees do not allow me to sit or kneel on the floor anymore--so I will have to pick a sitting spot for meditations. :) Maybe, if I am lucky, somebody will start up an online group again for this book in January? But, if not, I will do it on my own. Serena also combined daily sketching in a journal, too! I'm not sure I could be quite that ambitious, but I know I could try to blog every day about it. Something to look forward to!! :)

Happy weekend!

Friday-7am

This is the "magic paper". I was trying to practice the ribbony technique to make grass--thick and thin. As you can see, it evaporates so quickly that I have never used more than three sheets so far. As you can also see, it is hard to even catch a photo! :)

I tell you, some of the strokes I have seen Haiying do so many times on her YouTube site--are really difficult! She makes them look so easy. :) I bumble along. I think it is quite a challenge for us westerners to get used to holding the brush upright. I was trying to do one of the first techniques Haiying was showing us in a recent video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfhQx9rAAvA
I think I need a lot more "zen" time--hehe!

And here's one about how to hold chosticks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b6KEazLWj4
Karma loved that one! The dropping of the beans and clicking the chopsticks got her all excited and pawing the screen. Karma loves to watch and listen to Haiying. :)

It's a balmy 36 degrees here in Fargo. Which means no frost to scrape off the car windows and the puddles are liquid again today. I have a book and deck of cards supposed to arrive this afternoon from Amazon! I'll show you pictures when they arrive and fill you in. :):)

Thursday-6am

Actually 35 degrees right now. Stayed warm enough that we had rain instead of snow during the night. I've been going to sleep in the afternoon and getting up late at night--working my way around the clock. Caught up on all my catalogs tonight--the Dick Blick and the Art Essentials being of particular interest. Been playing with the Zen Board a little and now I'm washing clothes--and still puttering about. Walked a bag of garbage out at 3am and discovered that I wasn't the only apartment that had lights on in the middle of the night--saw three others? They are more likely up with babies, I would imagine. Insomnia is not contagious as far as I know--hehe!

Leah will probably be able to make it over for crafts next Wednesday. She had something come up and that was okay with me--with my crazy hours right now, I might have been nodding off while she was here. Not too polite, eh? Maybe I will have made it back to some semblance of decent hours by next week--I hope!

Have a great day! :):)

Wednesday-4:45am

I bought some slightly used watercolors from Donn in Florida (from the Chinese Brush Painting and EDM Yahoo groups)--seven Daniel Smith and five M. Graham. I got a couple of my little tin palettes ready for them when they arrive. The one on the left--I used milk carton caps. :)

No real snow to speak of here yet--frigid and grey. Just ice...

...and frost on the windshields.

I had to laugh--saw on Conan these guys who were doing a documentary on the RockAfire Explosion animatronic band! I remember bringing Dagan to see them when he was quite young--and how we used to wait for the gorilla's eyes to light up and turn red--hehe! They were really kind of creepy when they were silently sitting there in the dark inbetween songs. I looked them up on YouTube and they have made videos of the band doing all these newer songs. I really don't care for most of these newer song versions, but I guess you can contact him and make requests? The band used to sing Beatles' songs and more family friendly tunes at ShowBiz Pizza in Minneapolis. Dagan remembers them, too--hehe!

Here's a link to the guy who invented the RockAFire Explosion:
http://www.youtube.com/user/fanprograms
This is the band I remember--with the sun and spider and baby bear in the log, etc. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc-Jg-pWQ78

Anyways, what a hoot! If you ever saw them in the 70's and 80's--enjoy!!!

Tuesday-7:15am

Karma has been loving the super soft and squishy sage throw that I folded up on the chair for her.

Been her favorite place to sleep for the past several days. And she sleeps hard--really conks out there--hehe!

I finished the current flower & bird painting! The real copy from the Internet is on the left and mine is on the right. I was happier with this one than that last one I did.

I still don't get the colors right or the various techniques, but I am learning as I go along. :)

I have really been having fun playing with the Zen Board lately. Hard to show you what I am talking about, but I'll try. You just use a brush and water--and you play!

There is no color variation really--just black.

The strokes can become grey as they dry. Here--you can watch how it will evaporate over a few minutes. :)

And when it is all gone--then you play some more! I keep doing this while I watch TV actually--hehe! Just to practice strokes--to discover what the different brushes can or can't do--and to get used to holding the brush correctly. It is quite meditative!

23 degrees and we may get some snow this afternoon, I guess. I won't see it--hehe! I'll be sleeping. Later! :):)

Monday-8:15am

This is my Zen Board and my Zen card that I can paint on with water--and then it just all evaporates! Fun for practicing--just like the magic paper from Haiying. :) I had gone looking for it quite a long time ago--forgot that I had lent it to Leah. She brought it back to me after she found it unpacking a while ago. I've been playing with it here and there lately.

This time I replanted with some real grass seed for Karma. A lot of it!

It is very thin and harder to get a hold of with her teeth, but Karma likes it okay. Not as well as she likes the oats, tho--too bad, eh? Hehe! We'll see how long the grass will grown when I trim it. Maybe it won't die so quickly? How do I always manage to kill it? Maybe it just dies of cat fright? LOL!!

I wore her out completely last night--chuckle! But this morning she was all ready to play hide and seek!

But I am winding down and getting ready to sleep pretty soon--hopefully. :) It is 19 degrees and still cloudy. I finished three letters last night that will go out in the mail today. Been doing some planning and figuring in my head last night--on how to shuffle and reorganize all the bookcases and the craft supplies--and what to pack away and/or move to the garage? I took a series of "before" pictures--but want to get pictures of the storage area, too, before I post them. Going to be a big project that Leah and I will eventually be doing together. :):) We have more ArtBin containers coming that Leah ordered. They'll be arriving pretty soon. Yup! Always feels so good when you get done with projects like that, doesn't it? Ahhh! I can almost feel it already--hehe! I guess I am visualizing, right?

Have a happy day!! :)

Sunday-7:30am

Here's a sampling of pictures I requested that Leah take--from Valley Con. I finally got to see what Dagan and Leah do there every year--hehe! I love their door they put over their suite door!! I forgot to ask which hotel the convention was held at.

Not sure what they were doing with the microphones--but the tables are where they set up for the campaigns/games people sign up for, I think. Thought I'd share with you. I had not much of a clue what it actually looked like. Now I do. They love it. Dagan has been a "gamer" since he was about 10 years old. I think I'd rather be painting or stamping or reading--chuckle! But that's what makes the world go around, right? We all love doing different things. And I love them! :):)

Thought I'd post this morning before I go to bed. As long as I am on such crazy hours I can choose, I guess. It is 22 degrees and no additional snow. I've been puttering around cleaning my desk area--trying to catch up on emails and letters--watching movies/DVDs. Watched the new Get Smart movie with Steve Carell last night--cute. Not really like the old TV Show--at least not like I remember it, but that's been a lot of years. And I am still working my way through nine seasons of The X-Files. I'm only on season four. Some are real goodies!! :)

Anyways, good morning to you! Goodnight pretty soon for me. :)