Red Rugosa Rose-hips with long Sepals

This is week #2 of my online class with the theme Autumn.
I love this weeks assignment. As soon as I saw the big red hips with the long skirt-like sepals I knew this was the picture I wanted to paint.


I did some color swatching. I also tested my inks for bleeding:


Then I drew in ink for 30 min.  This is how far I got. It was fun using the ink.
I used my TWSBI 540 pen and my free Noodlers pen. The ink is Noodler's The Heart of Darkness.


I worked on my center of interest first. I tend to paint the thing that catches my eye. Those rose hips really caught my eye. I have learned that if I am interested the painting will be interesting. If I am bored the painting will be boring to look at.  So that is why I will paint the thing that gets the juices flowing. I just love the long sepals on these hips too.


I wanted to get that glow that I saw in the photo and my watercolor paints didn't have that for me. So I took out my little glass yogurt jars that I got in France and put some ink, since this was an ink project after all, and diluted it with some water. I had one little jar that I let it be watery mud.


I continued to work from the center out. I did more ink work in black and then added some white ink. I would work a while and then set this painting on my mantel for the evening. Then I would just look over to it now and then. It is helpful to me to do this because I can see what my marching orders are for the next day when I will paint. I have to back up and view my work from a distance to really see what it needs.


So in the end I took the painting outside and took her photo. I tried different places in the yard, sometimes with the painting laying flat on the lawn, and sometimes sitting up on a table. It's strange how the colors change depending on the lighting of the yard. I can see it when I upload the photos.


I painted a black ink border around the painting too.
This was a fun assignment. I really enjoyed it.

Painting Autumn Leaves

I decided to use a photo that I had taken of leaves from my tree. I took this years ago.  These are maple leaves of green, red and yellow.


In the first 30 min. I sketched out the leaves and started to paint.


Here is my painting set up:


I didn't want to paint the main leaf as red as the photo since we were working on Gold. Yet I wanted to keep the contrasts of the 3 leaves.  I have to say, the camera doesn't pick up the lights and darks of the red colors. In person one can see more values in the colors.
I spent the afternoon painting. I was enjoying getting back into painting again. It was so peaceful and relaxing.


The actual painting size is 6.75" X 5" on cold press watercolor paper.
This photo came out much brighter (neon) than the paint is in real life.



Then I took a black and white photo of my painting to see the values.

This is the time to PAINT

What am I working on?  Well I am painting on a large oil painting.  A few years back I painted a watercolor of a lady dancing which I really loved. I don't have this painting right now. It was given to a friend in Mexico.  I wish I had the original but I do have a photo of it. I love the bright colors.



So from this photo I decided to paint this again but larger and in oils.  Oil on canvas 36" X 36"

CLOSE UP

ON THE EASEL


I'm also painting an abstract.  This is fun to paint. I can paint for an hour and then leave the work for a month and still be able to come back to it. The size is 14" X 10.5" This is in progress......


Above the whole painting, below a close up of the picky work I love to do.


Speaking of picky work. Below is a drawing in pencil and ink that I have been working on for a couple years. I love doing the small detail drawing. I'm the same with my knitting, cross stitch and even as a dental technician. I like picky work. 

This drawing is 14" X 11"

So that is what I am currently working on.
Today I begin some new watercolor painting. I will share this soon.
Happy Painting!!!

A post from the Past: May 27, 2008 - My History

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 27, 2008  First Blog post on Live Journal

mmm...my first post. I am still figuring out how this works. I am familiar with posting blogs on MySpace. But I am having problems figuring out how to insert photos. I tried for an hour and no luck. It shouldn't be this hard. I love to see lots of photos on a blog.
I will try again right now.................



This is my daughter Sierra. I lost her a year ago. She was my only daughter and I do miss her so so much. She was 23 when she died by a gunshot to her beautiful head. It's so sad. Her little daughter Peanut is living with me now. We are taking each day one at a time. Life is certainly changing for us. Here we are...



We were dressed for Halloween. On this night 10/31/06 my daughter was taking the photo. Then my daughter Sierra, Peanut and I walked around my neighborhood to trick or treat. 
Sierra and I had several good times like that before she died Jan. 2007. 
I miss her so. I do not understand why she was the one person out of hundreds or thousands who would die by a gunshot. We are not gun people. I never had handguns in the house ever, never in all my life. She only had that gun in her house for 3 weeks before a fight broke out between her and her boyfriend. No one is sure what happened. The police think the boyfriend is responsible. The coroner put gun shot wound to the head.  But it is the boyfriends word of what happened on that day. Peanut saw and heard the fight. She was watching from her room when the gun went off. I think her dad was blocking her view of the gun so she only knows what he told her happened. She was only 5 years old. What a horrible tragedy to have in a young girls life.



This beautiful granddaughter is living with me now. I am in a guardianship case trying to get full custody. For more than a year I have been in and out of court. I finally got Temporary custody on 10/30/2007. What a long wait.
It is not an easy road. Peanut is in therapy now. We are both grieving so much. But we are having good times. We took a trip to Idaho 2 weeks ago. My son Dustin, her uncle, got married. He lives in Idaho. Peanut and I have a goal to move to Idaho before the end of this year.

My new love is WOOL and KNITTING!!!!! more on that in the next blog.

Today and everyday, I thank God for carrying me this far in my grief journey. He has taken my burden. On days that I have a very heavy heart is usually when I have not looked at the LORD to give him praise for blessing me with my children, Peanut, a home, food, clothing, love and good friends. I have a lot to be thankful for.


Seven years ago my handsome, wonderful, hardworking husband died of cancer. I miss him so much. He never knew his grandchildren. He was my high school sweetheart. We were married 28 years. I was 45 and he was 47 when he died. I believe he is in heaven holding our daughter in his arms. God bless my family in Heaven.

So there is my first POST on Live Journal.
Yeah.....I'm glad to be here!!!!!!

A post from the Past: May 27, 2008 - First felted Hat

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 27, 2008  First Felted Hat

I am very new to knitting. I began at the end of March 2008. I jumped into "Wool" with a hat I made. It was not knitted, it was crocheted.
I wanted to see if I could tackle felting. So I stuck to crocheting since I have been doing that since I was about 7 years old. I crocheted this hat our of Paton's wool.




I crocheted it larger than I wanted the finished product. Here is it before felting on my 6yr. old granddaughters head.





Then I washed it in the machine on hot inside of a pillow case. I then let it dry stretched over a glass container since I didn't have any other form to put it on.





When it was dry this is how it looked.





I liked it a lot. My daughter in law Anne loved it so now I am crocheting her one too.







I'm going to make it bigger than my first hat since I think my hat is too tight. I don't look good in hats but I am going to try to get over it since I plan to knit a bunch of them and I want to felt more hats.
My granddaughter Peanut asked for a hat so she is next on the list.

The yarn in both hats is Patons Classic Wool- merino, 100% wool
The red/mix color stripe on the second hat is recycled silk from Nepal.
It is handspun by women's cooperatives from silk weaving mill waste.
It is very soft and has bright vibrant colors. I will put more stripes in the hat and I know it does not shrink so it will stand out. Should be interesting when I am done.

A post from the Past: May 27, 2008 - First Socks ever

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 27, 2008  My first socks ever

I am addicted to Sock Yarn. I have to admit I will spend hours looking at blogs or yarn store websites just looking at SOCKS. I love the self striping sock yarn. I only want to knit them in wool or wool blends since if I am going to put in the time I want these puppies to last.
Here is my first attemp at knitting a pair of socks.
Ahhhhhh don't look at my dry legs!! we are in winter in this pic and boy do I need lotion!!!!!



This is before they were washed. I didn't know about SWATCHING so I just measured my guage after I had knit the ankle part. I was off but I said "I love this yarn and kept on knitting."
I later did stop and knitted a swatch, it was off a little so I learned a lesson. Always always Swatch!!!!!
These were knit on 3.25mm DPN's. See 2nd pair of socks below knit on 2.75 DPN's and story.

So here they are on my feet.

They are a little droopy at the ankle. They have to be the most comfortable socks in the world. I knit them with Felici Self Striping yarn from Knitpicks.

Now I am on my second ever pair of socks. I am almost done.
They're are for my daughter in law Anne for her birthday (7/1) yeah I'm early but I didn't know how long it would take to do 2 pairs of socks and a hat.




I am using Austermann wool yarn with Aloe Vera and Jojoba in the yarn to make your feet soft. They make your hands soft to knit them.
I don't like the color much, I am a bright color kind of gal, or an earthy kind. So I showed them to Anne and she loved them. She tried one on and loved it. But I let her look in my "Stash" (yes I already have a stash) and she picked another yarn for me to make a SECOND pair!!!
Well it's ok cuz I am having fun.
Yes I swatched this pair. The swatch came out a little small so I thought "I'll knit a little looser". LOL.
I am using size 2.75mm DPN so what I did was order a set of 3.00mm DPN's for my next set of socks. That is because I already swatched the yarn she picked out and I was still knitting tight. The yarn for the next pair of socks is ON-LINE Supersocke 100 and the color is Tropic, very pretty. 
I like how these socks are coming out. I think I solved my droopy ankle problem with doing the ribbing all the way down. 



This sock has a different pattern for the heel. It is a K1 S1,repeat then on the wrong side you purl. The turn of the heel is a triangle shape where the Felici sock had a retangle shape heel (bottom). I am not sure which I like more.
I was able with this 2nd pattern to close up the holes when turning the heel. See my first sock holes.



I will continue with this pattern for a few more pairs and then watch out, I am going to try a cable or some kind of interesting pattern (easy). Any suggestions????

A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Knitting Books

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008 Knitting Books

So the mail came yesterday with a box full of goodies!!!!!! I received the books I had been waiting for. Here is a pic of the books plus some of the others I have been collecting.



Some of the books I have had a while. Of course when taking a photo of the books I am reading I must have my Bible there. I read it almost everyday. It's on the top right. My son gave me it for my birthday several years ago. It is a Life Application Study Bible. I used it so much that the cover was falling off. So I took it to this little book binding shop that restores books and especially Bibles. I had them recover it with a pine green lamb skin leather. It is beautiful and feels so soft.

On the left edge is a reference book on stitches. My grandmother gave me this book probably 30 years ago. It has a lot of information.
Other than that there are a lot of pattern books and then the reading books by the Yarn Harlot. I love her books. The Yarn Harlot first book is not in the pic because I loaned it out to my sister to read, It is just so funny.

A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Socks & Sun

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008  Socks Enjoying the Sun



So I finished the "Step" socks for my daughter in law Anne today. They wanted to take a little sunbath so they spent some time on the grass and........................ then they wanted to view the pool.




They were afraid of the water, a little cool. So they just watched my granddaughter lay on a HammerHead Shark while eating ice cream.





The horse tried to entice them into the pool. But these socks haven't seen water in all their life and they are waiting for their maker (me) to put them in gently for a nice bath before being wrapped up as a birthday gift.





The Step socks wanted to try a few steps so they ran in the house and jumped on my feet just to see if I knit them comfortably. The answer is yes, they made me put my feet up and boy were they cozy. 

A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Notions

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008  Notions

So the box of books and a few more notions came yesterday from Knitpicks. I put all of the needles I own on the floor to check out all of the beauty of these wood needles. I do have some straights that don't fit in the little box.



Then I put them in their Striped Box. I love Stripes and the box is metal and I wrote in the lid all the sizes I have in DPN's and Circulars.
I know you can hardly see my writing but it is there.



So I started the next pair of socks for my daughter in law. Her birthday is July first. I am starting early because she will get 2 pairs of socks and a hat/felted. I have started the hat, see other blog. 

I cast on the new socks while sitting at the plaza, outside at a table, in the sun. It is a beautiful day today. Warm but not hot. 




I'm using Harmony's size 3.00mm DPN's this time. I think the step socks were too tight, they fit but they are snug. The swatch was asking me to go up a size too. Well ok, it was yelling at me to go up.





That is my new sock cast on and a few rows done. And that is my knitting bag with all my Notions, Lovely Lovey NOTIONS.
I have the pattern, notebook, Ipod, pencils, etc. in the bag.
I keep my ball of yarn in a plastic bag so that it stays clean and doesn't get all fuzzy. I embroidered my name on the bag. You never know....

Now for the bad news. I timed myself on the last sock I made. For one sock it took me 3 weeks and a day. There was a wedding for my son thrown in there during that time but I did knit at his house in Idaho while we visited. I think I am slow. I hope I speed up with each pair of socks I do. I read that some people can whip out a sock in a day or two. How do they knit so fast?
I have been knitting socks since the middle of March 2008.

A post from the Past: May 28, 2008 - Fairy Wings

I am transferring my blog post from Live Journal over here to Blogger. I will start with the newest first so that the last post I post will be the oldest one from LJ.  That way you can scroll down and read it in order. 2008 to 2009

May 28, 2008  Fairy Wings



My sister and I worked on our costumes together at my house. It was so much fun. 




We did this for Halloween 2006. That was a special Halloween. My granddaughter came over in the evening....



This turned out to be the last time my daughter Sierra and I could take Peanut trick or treating, because Sierra died 3 months later.

So regarding the fairy costume, I bought the wings at Walmart of all places. First I tried to put holes in the wings with a flame but that was too harsh so I got some incense that was a stick. I lit it and then it had a burning coal at the end. A cigarette could do the same but I don't smoke. 
So I burnt holes here and there. The burning melts the edges so they don't unravel. And it looks cool. Then I got out my watercolor paints and I painted the wings with violets and blues and reds. The wings were a light green color.
After they dried, I put some fabric paint from a squeeze tube with glitter around each hole that I had made. Then when that was dry I sprayed glitter on all of the wings.

The costume is a skirt made with soft fabric of purple and greens. I had a long ribbon waist band and sewed petal shapes to the ribbon, then tied the ribbon around my waist. Under the skirt I had on the tights and some exersice shorts. For the top I wore an embroidered tank top that had little roses on it and a sheer long sleeve shirt and then over that I wore a purple vest that laced up on each side, front and back. 

I made my wreath for my head with wire and hot glued ivy and flowers, then added a dragonfly, bird, and lots of ribbons down the back.

So that was my winning costume at work. I won a gift card to Home Depot for $50. I liked that.

Then I kept on the costume and wore it to trick or treat around my neighborhood with my granddaughter, as me and my daughter Sierra took her around. We had a nice visit as we walked that night.