Saturday, March 10, 2012

Saturday-10am

Karma's been snacking on her tiny bit of cat grass that's still growing. Next time I repot I want it to be nice enough for her planter to go out on the porch where it can stay till fall. May be sooner than I expected. Supposed to be into the 50s Sunday and Monday and into the 70s by Tuesday!! That's just crazy!
The other two packages did arrive yesterday--tada!
The Dick Blick one...
...had half sheet (15" X 22") watercolor paper. I got a dozen 90 lb. student grade (.37 each) and a dozen 140 lb (.48 each) of Dick Blick's brand. Plan to make my own journals with them later on. Can't beat the cheap prices and will, therefore, be hopefully less intimidated when it comes to slapping paint on them. (I am easily intimidated by blank paper and new journals.)
Then the other Amazon package arrived via UPS in the late afternoon. Snapdragon socks!! Whoohoo!! I am just in love with these Solmate socks!!
I got these two cheap plastic boxes for organizing embroidery threads.
Each has 50 flat plastic embroidery spools.
Why? To help organized this mess.
I use embroidery thread to sew together my bookcards and for embellishing cards. Such a mess in this satchel and tired of digging. Been eyeing these for some time, too. They definitely are cheap and on the flimsy side, but I am happy to have them. Already started organizing while I watched TV last night.
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Biggest purchase was a new iron!!
I can't ever remember owning another iron but my plain old one we've been using for crafts the past ten years. A cheap iron I got back when I got the sewing machine 37 years ago and the steamer broke shortly after I got it. This new one looks soooo fancy with all its gadgets...goodness! This is going to take some getting used to. I'll have to read all the instructions, but now I have a new iron for when I start sewing again.
I am still working on lesson one of Cathy's WC class. Am behind. I'm not done with lesson one and two is already posted. I need to get busy this coming week, I guess.
The drawing with a water soluble pen and then using a brush and water was the next project. Well, I needed help if I wanted to make my first attempt to draw Karma. (I have always admired Cathy's cat sketches and wanted to try.) Drawing animals, people, faces--all have been failed attempts over the years. And drawing from life is neigh on to impossible for me if my subject can move--and if Karma even senses a camera aimed at her while she is sleeping, I'm lucky if I get one shot off before she wakes and stretches and asks me what I am doing. So I printed off both color and black and white photos I had of her. I read someplace that a black and white photo can help with shape and shading (not that I did shading).
I drew a pencil sketch and then used two colors of ink pens (Private Reserve Chocolat and Pilot Iroshizuku Yu-Yake) to draw Karma lying with her back to me. (Not only "people" faces scare me--LOL!) I couldn't add her back foot that you see in the photo because it looked like a growth on her hind quarters--ROFL! But I didn't think it turned out too badly...even if I did gave her a raccoon tail--duh!
Anyways, I might even try her face sometime. :)
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Well, let's see. Monday I have a visit with the regular lady's intern for Caroline's cleaning services. Wednesday is a trip on the senior bus to the dentist for a checkup. This weekend I plan to catch up on Cathy's class and have a couple Netflix DVDs to watch--Julius Caesar and In Time. Might be nice enough to open the porch door tomorrow and sleep with the bedroom window open by Tuesday! Not that we can't still have freezing weather or more snow, but you catch as catch can, you know?
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Have a fabulous weekend!! :):)
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"All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today."
Indian Proverb

21 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

wow! from snow to 60 or 70! i know you'll enjoy that! but, yes, winter may not be through for you there, yet. :)

Desiree said...

How do you find time to pursue all of your hobbies, Rita? You have boxes and boxes and drawers and cupboards filled to capacity with so many arty crafty necessities. I'd find that intimidating! I honestly would be so overwhelmed at having to decide which of the many options to do, I'd get nothing accomplished. Yet, you seem to keep adding to your stockpile :) From where I'm sitting, it looks as though you could be busy from dawn till dusk forever and ever and never run out of supplies! Everything is so neat and tidy and orderly. You must have a very organized mind!
Your latest pair of socks is as gorgeous as the other pair! Happy ironing when you get to testing it out :)

Beth said...

The weather here today is just beautiful with 70s for next week. a little rain mixed in there too but what the heck, spring is just around the corner.

Dee Ready said...

Dear Rita,
Please accept my apology for not commenting on your past few postings. I got behind because of a project I was working on. The only way I can catch up is to visit all the blogs that speak to me and comment on the latest posting.

I hope to resume my old schedule on Monday.

The watercolor you did of Karma is lovely. I hope it finds a place of honor on your walls.

Peace.

carol l mckenna said...

Wow! Your pen drawing of Karma is excellent! Bravo! And look at all the fun stuff that arrived in the mail ~ Wow! An iron ~ for crafts I hope ~ I try not to iron anything unless for 'creating encaustic paintings' ~ LOL ~ Thanks for coming by and have a wonderful week ~ namaste, Carol ^_^

carol l mckenna said...

PS ~ don't forget to set your clocks ahead tonight ^_^ LOL as if you wouldn't

DavidShag said...

I thought I was the only one who was intimidated by blank paper. i have sketchpads that are thirty years old, still waiting for something 'worthy' enough to go into them. And of course, worthiness is never apparent until afterward... And as for the raccoon tail, it looks to me like Karma HAS a raccoon tail. Really nice sketch!

ChicagoLady said...

I think you should be very pleased with your drawing of Karma. It's a very good likeness of her.

Serena Lewis said...

Isn't it always exciting when orders arrive? Love your socks!

Those embroidery spools are great. I used them when I was in my cross-stitch phase. A good idea to use them for your bookcards.

You know, I can't even remember the last time I used an iron. lol My clothes are pretty much wash and wear. Actually, I tell a lie, I did use the iron when I made the baby quilt for Mikayla in 2010. :)

Rita, I think you did a great sketch of Karma! Yep, a black and white photo can be great for getting values right. A wise move to leave off the back foot.

I've watched the video for the first week of Kate's class but I haven't done anything yet. It's been a tough week with migraines and my Pre-Op appointment which didn't go so smoothly, not to mention the fact that Aaron broke his arm at school. Crazy week, in fact.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend....it's Sunday evening here.

Love and hugs,
Serena xo

Harvest Moon by Hand said...

I'd be excited when the mail is delivered if my mailbox was yours! What fun things you've ordered. The socks are so colorful and look very comfortable.

Great idea about making your own journals. I really should do that once my composition notebook is done for the embroidery journal I'm keeping.

The weather has been crazy, hasn't it? It's the same here too. Went out yesterday morning wearing a hat, coat, and gloves. In the afternoon I wore the same thing and had to take all 3 off - ended up being in the 60s. Shorts would have been more appropriate!

AliceKay said...

I think you did a very nice job of drawing Karma. I bet she approves. :)

Lots of goodies in your mail these days. I need a new iron, too, but I very rarely iron anything anymore, so why bother? LOL

We had snow showers and snow squalls Friday afternoon and night. Yesterday was cold and windy, but today is supposed to be warmer. The wind is still blowing like crazy, tho.

I need to get out of this chair and finish getting ready for my grandson's birthday party. My hands are raw from all the cleaning the past week or so. (i'm almost done with spring cleaning...yay me!) :)

Sorry for the short comment, but I lost an hour this morning and I'm running behind schedule. I hope the rest of your weekend is going well.

*hugs*

Anonymous said...

Hi Lady! I hope you get your spring soon. I can't wait! I love spring! Also I really like that picture of Karma you did. Well done. As an artist myself, I say try and do faces. They may suck at first but the more you practice the better you'll be.. In fact look at yourself in the mirror and draw what you see. It won't be good at first but it will be great the more you do it.Big hugs my friend!

Rebag said...

Good Morning Dear Lady!!

Ohhh Spring...does that not sound awesome for us?!! I know I am looking forward to it!! I need to work on our poor kitties grass too...its about seen its better days....

I love your drawing of Karma... You are so talented....Hope you share the progress of the classes as I love admiring the works of others... :)

Hope you have a blessed week!!

DJan said...

Nice job with the Karma drawing! And yes, those socks are delightful, hard to look at without smiling. Your weather seems to be the opposite of ours: we are getting cold coming in tomorrow and Tuesday, with wind and (you guessed it) more rain. :-)

Trixie said...

So a few.things. one I cut watercolor pages to make my own journals and I use the cover and backs if they are hard enuf fo4 cvrs. I wanted to tell u I also use front and back of cereal boxes. I keep nylon cards or anything hard like even cardboard Amazon boxes for covers for my journals. I hole punch them and either tie them off with ribbons or jump rings.
Great job on the drawing.
Also I bought a rowenta iron and I love it.
Soar now has less stuff and I wish u were doing it.

Anonymous said...

I love your sketch of Karma! Great job :O)

Intense Guy said...

Your sketch of Karma looks fabulous - she DOES have a raccoon tail! Hmm... a raccoon that moo's...

I used my last (and only) iron about four times... three times to smooth and melt wax on my skiies.

Toriz said...

Flimsy boxes you have to be careful of are better than nothing; at least things can be organized so you can find things!

Deanna said...

I really like the painting of Karma - racoon tail and all!

Keep having fun.

Furry Bottoms said...

I love the sketching of Karma!! Reeow to Karma. Have fun, Rita!

Karen Smithey said...

Okay. The painting of Karma is terrific. I have trouble drawing my dogs--something about the irregularity of the shape or something--and you nailed it.

My solution to not being able to draw something is to draw it over and over again, noticing what I like as I do. And I've really tried to emphasize to myself that if I wanted an exact replica of 'whatever' then I would take a photo. I tell myself it's supposed to look like my drawing of whatever it is...