Apr30Art

Sad day for us today... lost another of our much loved little dogs... Unfortunately, all our dogs are getting very old... I feel lucky to have had them for so long.... but still it leaves a hole in your heart.

Stonewall Jackson - Stoney Feb, 1999 - April, 2013

Stoney

THE BEST PLACE TO BURY A DOG

"There is one best place to bury a dog.
"If you bury him in this spot, he will
come to you when you call - come to you
over the grim, dim frontier of death,
and down the well-remembered path,
and to your side again.

"And though you call a dozen living
dogs to heel, they shall not growl at
him, nor resent his coming,
for he belongs there.

"People may scoff at you, who see
no lightest blade of grass bent by his
footfall, who hear no whimper, people
who may never really have had a dog.
Smile at them, for you shall know
something that is hidden from them,
and which is well worth the knowing.

"The one best place to bury a good
dog is in the heart of his master."

--- Ben Hur Lampman ---

Apr29Art

Rainy morning, stayed gray all day and thunder storms and all evening...  I hate driving in the rain... so the drive to and from Columbia today was nerve wracking for me.
A local watercolor artist here in Charleston (Helen Beacham) has been giving watercolor tips every day in April.  She is a wonderful teacher and a very accomplished artist...so if you want some tips on watercolor check out her April blog entries helenkbeacham.blogspot.com/2013/04/tippette-1-bricks-ston...  .

Apr28Art

I LOVE Quentin Blake's drawings... I kinda copied these birds from a screen saver he has on his website to download for free.  There are great videos on there too, very interesting to see him draw and paint.  Amazing set up he has for his watercolors, looks like a very large board with full size pans glued to it, with the color name labeled beside the pans of color.  He uses little strips of watercolor paper to check his mixes... and keeps his water in a coffee mug.

Apr27Art

Worked in the yard this morning, Ron mowed the lawn, I did the weed whacker and bathed one of the dogs. It was a gray and rainy morning, but cleared up and turned into a beautiful day.

Apr26Art

George Jones... stopped loving her today.... I still love that song.  Rest in Peace George.
I was going to draw a Palmetto tree and at the last minute drew a tall skinny pine tree.

Apr25Art

I saw this yummy looking recipe on the internet... and for some reason I've been craving strawberries... so I may have to try this one. zoomyummy.com/2012/06/03/cheesecake-stuffed-strawberries/

Apr24Art

Painful getting the IV seated for the contrast... I have terrible veins in my arms so the only good veins are in my hands.  Blood work earlier this week... blew out the veins on my left hand... so they used my right hand.  Not complaining... been a life long issue for me.
I got my first MRI in the late 70s... the machines have changed a lot, they are quieter, more open, and the whole process seems to take less time these days.

Apr23Art

The new roses are called 'amber' in color, kind of a yellowy orange color... lots of buds and now four flowers in full bloom.
Still haven't planted the pink ones yet... maybe tomorrow.

Apr22Art

Two hundred mile commute today, not the way most people celebrate Earth Day.
Blind contours... always fun... and results always wonky... have to label them so that people will know what it was.
The roses I transplanted on Saturday bloomed today... I really like these I hope they do well.

Apr21Art

Sunday... getting ready for the week ahead.  Lots going on this week... Ron goes on day shift tomorrow so has to be at work at 5am... then Tuesday he's back to night shift for two weeks, then day shift.
For me I drive to Columbia SC tomorrow attend face to face meetings... then the rest of the week work from home... and sometime this week I'll head over to Mt. Pleasant for another round of MRIs...

Apr20Art

I have some fake snakes in my flower beds.. one of them scared a door to door salesman today... good snake LOL.
Worked in the yard today, planting more flowers and some new rose bushes.  Off the dinner with friends tonight.

Apr19Art

One bomber dead last night the other in custody tonight.  Well done Boston PD, FBI and everyone involved.
No monsters roam the streets tonight... only the monsters in your head remain... send them to bed with no supper.

Apr18Art

This page was painted last night with Daniel Smith's Cobalt Teal... a wet wash that challenged this 90 lbs paper I'm afraid.  Painting over the blue was interesting, I thought about getting out my gouache but lazy took over and I pressed on with my regular watercolor.  Drawing on the pre painted paper had an odd feel to it, and it seemed to make the ink pen skip and not lay down a nice line like it does on un-painted paper.
It was an interesting exercise, not sure its a technique i'll be using much... set in my ways already YIKES!

Apr17Art

Enjoying Week two of Cathy Johnson's ink and watercolor class.  She drew a swan as one of the demo drawings... we don't have many swans around here, plenty of egrets and herons though...  so an egret it was for my daily drawing.
For tomorrow a pre-painted page... now to choose a background color.... hum?

Apr16Art

Made a gallon of lemonade tonight, one of my favorite drinks.... tried some lemons going straight in with paint... no pencil... no ink... turned out ok... but then again... lemons aren't too tough to draw LOL.

Apr15Art

Bomb attack today at the finish line for the Boston Marathon... things like this make me want to scream and/or cry... what is WRONG with people?  My heart goes out to the families who lost a loved one today... most of them probably young and fit and finishing a goal they'd worked toward for years... lives snuffed out for no reason.... brothers, sisters, Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters... pray for the people of Boston tonight.

Apr14Art

Spent the day with TurboTax... and finally wrote the checks printed the papers, and took it to the post office... so this year I got it done a day early.
Only an arm and a leg this year... my effective rate is higher than President Obama... he paid 18%  Ron and I paid 25%.

Apr13Art

Got a new LAMY JOY calligraphy pen from Goulet pens today... I'll use up the blue cartridge that came in the pen before using the converter to load bottled ink.  I'm trying to teach myself Calligraphy... I can do an E, F, and T so far... anyway I like this new pen and the size on the nib is perfect for my learning.
I must wax poetic about the other pen... about 6 months or so ago I ordered a large bottle of Noodler's Lexington Gray ink and with that ink I got a free fountain pen.  I also bought an Noodler's Ahad I think it was... but I fell in LOVE with that free pen... in fact every journal page I've done over the last 6 months that little free pen is the pen I've used... well a couple of weeks ago I cracked the pen cover (didn't break completely) so that the pen cover wouldn't snap on and stay closed... well you can't have an uncapped fountain pen full of ink bouncing around in your purse... it gets really ugly really quick.  I made a temporary fix with some tape to make the cap fit a little tighter... but I knew I needed to find out what this mystery free pen was... to buy another or find a cap to fit it... well NONE of the pens I have  (and I have lots of fountain pens) had a cap that fit... so I went to the Goulet pen site (which is where I got the pen) and there, watching a video I discovered the NAME OF THE free pen... a Platinum Preppy... and amazing discovery that this pen I LOVE is less that $5... so I bought a Medium pen... it arrived today... and as you can see the medium isn't exactly the same as my favorite... but it's cap fits perfectly... so I'll be placing another order for these cheap pens to replace the cap on my favorite pen.  For you that don't use fountain pens... once you use one for a while it becomes YOUR PEN... the nib wears based on how YOU write... and is as individual as your finger prints... so my favorite pen will get a new cap...  and that's the saga of my free pen.

Apr12Art

Rain, rain and more rain today... with some thunder and lightening to scare Gracie out of her wits thrown in this afternoon.
Our hockey team is all done for this season, the Gwinette Gladiators swept them 4 games in the first round of the playoffs.  The last coach we had that had a record this bad, wasn't coaching anymore... be interesting to see what the owners do about this.  This coach has had 3 bad years in a row, with this being the worst of the three. Lots of individuals with great talent on the team, they just never played together well as a team.  In my opinion that is the coach's fault.

Apr11Art

Whoops.... late uploading this one.
This is the blue jay that lives in our dogwood tree he fusses at me when I'm messing around under his tree.  Got the beak too short and he looks a bit 'green' on the scan... not sure how that happened?

Apr10Art

Our hockey team lost their 3rd playoff game again tonight, if they lose Friday night they are finished for the season.  

Got all my impatiens planted tonight before the hungry mosquitos drove me back into the house.  I'll try to finish the begonias tomorrow... then I've gotta tackle the taxes... UGH!! 

Picture of my model...

Apr09Art

I signed up for Kate Johnson's Ink & Wash mini class found here www.cathyjohnson.info/inkandwash.html
This is my sparrow for the first exercise.... ran out of room on the page so his tail got chopped off... probably should have used Hansa Yellow instead of the New Gamboge for his yellow spot... which looks too orange ..  other than that I think he turned out ok.  The suggestion she gave on a book by John Muir Laws on drawing birds... will be going on my wish list as I do love watching and drawing birds.

Apr08Art

So sad to hear of Margaret Thatcher's passing this morning on the way to work.  She was a great lady, the world will miss her.
The wisteria is in full bloom now... the trees and bushes and power poles are dripping with lovely purple flowers.

Apr07Art

Spring cleaning... interesting things you find cleaning out drawers... this wooden barrette that I bought ages ago at a craft fair, the colors caught my eye.  Never used it much because the clasp would pop open, even on my thin wimpy hair.
Never got back to my flowers... maybe tomorrow evening.

Apr06Art

Worked in the yard this afternoon... almost got all the flowers planted. Fire ants stopped my progress... evil little buggers... should be able to finish planting tomorrow (if my back recovers).
Took a LONG nap... hope I'm able to sleep tonight...

Apr05Art

Birds were singing big time this afternoon when the rain finally ended and it warmed up a little bit.
Azalea festival, Bridge Run and Family Circle Tennis tomorrow in Charleston... going to be a pain in the neck getting around town tomorrow.

Apr04Art

We lost Yeti our big six toed cat today... so now we have no cats... this hasn't been a good year for us, lost 3 cats and 1 dog... and frankly, we're going to start losing more dogs all of our dogs are over 10 years old... so it's just a matter of time now.  Breaks my heart losing them... makes me hug on the ones still here.  Rained all day today... which suited my mood exactly.

Apr03Art

Out working in my flower bed... and broke my 'claw thingy' tool.  I hope Ron can fix it.  I looked on the internet and I don't think they make long handled ones like this any more.
Met my new neighbor while I was out in the yard... Myra is her name.  She's moving in next week some time.

Apr02Art

My dogwood tree is blooming... not quite fully open yet...  but I see dogwood blooms in my journal one day this week.
Election appears to be won by former governor Mark Sanford, so he will face the Democrat Lulu Busch.  Personally, I think the voters chose wisely... between those 2, Mark was by far the better choice.

Apr01Art

April Fool's Day... I think most of them were on the roads today... traffic was horrible today.
I had fun drawing this 'FOOL' ... no pranks that I'm aware of at work today...  I miss the young guys I used to work with they were always pulling pranks on each other... even when it wasn't April Fool's.