a card for my brother

My brother and I have a strange kind of relationship, if you can call it that. We grew up in a dysfunctional home where there wasn't much emotional connection between any of us. As adults, he and I never see each other though we only live about 30 miles apart.

I wish we were more connected --- I have always looked up to him with a sense of awe. He is so good at so many things, and has so many interests . . . . hunting, fishing, motorcycling, leading boy scouts on adventures. He is in fact, awesome!

I masked the edge of the deer to paint the background washes.

But our relationship, or lack of one, simply is what it is. A few years ago, I started sending him hand-painted birthday cards, just to see his reaction. He's never said anything to me, but I think he likes getting them. A sort of secret connection between us --- like when we were young kids left home alone while Mom was at work and we made homemade biscuits together.

I did a bit more growling last night . . .

. . . but I'll stop whining now.

garden bits

I can't seem to stop trying to garden in spite of neighborhood thefts. This time I tucked herbs into the old rose bed instead of the pots that seem to "walk away", and replaced some border perennials that were lost -- echinacea, bee balm, and catmint.

The rose moss was added to south window boxes, where it can take the heat reflected off the brick. It even self-seeds. I did plant tomatoes in larger pots, adding marigolds for bug control, but there are bricks in the bottom to discourage easy theft.

a couple of grandkids . . .

. . . sketched from photos since they live so far away.

Since I would like to learn to draw people better, maybe I should start with all the photos our kids send us. It seems much harder to capture a likeness of those we love, so the challenge would be good practice.

Quen loves wearing button-down shirts, REAL ties knotted loosely, and cool hats. Don't know where he gets it but he has very distinct ideas regarding fashion, but it certainly fits his love of musical instruments. Maybe he'll be a cool jazz musician someday.

Jayna has had long hair "forever" --- she was born with a full head of it. But she wanted to give it away to Locks of Love, like her mommy did last year. So Carrie cut it off for her --- just in time to start gymnastics! Probably much easier without hair in her face.

tulips from a friend

Hearing the funny trials of our tulip thefts, my friend Ginger surprised me with these tulips from her yard Sunday. I keep them where Bill and I can enjoy them every day but well out of reach of my "Ferdinand the Bull" cat, Bear. Like Ferdinand, he loves to smell flowers --- but at 22 lbs. with that enormous Maine Coon tail, he is clumsy.

Bill's tulips

Unlike the tiny "wild" tulips in our yard, I planted these especially for Bill --- he loves red tulips!

Four of them came up this year . . . . true to form, our "tulip thief" stole one --- this person only takes one at a time over several days.

So last week, I cut the remaining tulips and brought them inside so BILL could enjoy them instead of the thief. And later the same day, a wind averaging around 60 MPH came up --- it would have torn them apart!

* the rest of the story:
Sometime this morning, Bearcat jumped on the table (where he is not allowed) to sniff the tulips (he loves flowers!), knocking the vase over and breaking them apart! I just had to laugh.

up and downs of life

Ceilidh insisted on tackling the front steps by herself after the first few times, running from me before I can pick her up. But she is still wary of coming down them.

Sort of like us. In life, it's much more exciting to go forward when we are feeling "up". Harder to function on the down side.

sketchercise from last week

This time I painted these grape hyacinths with gouache w/o pencil first. The background was was done before leaving the house, with a thin wash.


This and the sketches below were done after taking Ceilidh on one of our small daily "walkabouts" --- she is slowly getting the hang of walking on a lead. I'm looking forward to longer walks with her but until her third shot we are avoiding other dog's areas.





And this is what happens to the 7 wild tulips in our yard every year. We may dig them up this time and place them closer to the building.

("wild" in that we didn't plant them -- they are placed very irregularly in the side yard --- they have unusually short stems of only a couple of inches.)

75 day challenge is finished!

Not a very exciting sketch for the final sketch, but I'm really looking forward to getting back to this art journal pictured above and using watercolor!

I am very glad I took the challenge from Brenda Swenson (to do one ink sketch a day for 75 days with no pencil under-drawing first). I have noticed a "lightening up" in my attitude -- I'm not as concerned as I used to be about the finished product looking exactly as seen in my mind. Now it's more drawing for the joy of it.

busy Ceilidh

I find it very hard to even do quick gesture sketches of a puppy that is NEVER still and NEVER returns to the same pose twice. These were sketched from photos taken the first 2 weeks of her coming to live with us.

I'm also having a hard time getting just the right black mixture to use for her. Here, I've tried various blends from ultramarine, burnt umber, lunar blue, or burnt sienna.