Hello From Henry on Animal Wednesday!

Henry loves a good mug shot!

But then again

he does not always approve of my shooting him with my camera

 but he will pose nicely if I beg

 but he'll also let me know when he's done for the day and the photo shoot is over!

Wishing you well on Animal Wednesday.

We are sad today too over the loss this past week of our friend "Sunshine" the sweet and clever little bird who belonged to Terri C. the water colorist of beautiful daisies, post mistress of TMC and lots more. Henry and I send warm thoughts and caring hugs Terri's way.

Knitting Problems Solved!

My grand daughter asked for PINK.

I chose a pattern I was sure I could master, however it had a few twists and turns that set me on my head. First you do the back.

With the aide of Knittinghelp.com on line I learned to do this "horizontal lace" pattern that

was NOT easy! But with verbal helpers and videos on that site I was able to master it after a fashion.

 The top called for a hood! That did not look so difficult, but I swear the written pattern is wrong; or I am completely dense, as after many readings and re readings and attempts I finally decided to lose the hood.

Instead I designed a very different top. I added a small rolled collar and found a pattern for knitted flowers and proceeded to make them in several different sizes for the display below:

 Cute?

I found an adorable striped long sleeve shirt in shades of pink, rose, red and black that looks so cute under this sweater vest!!! I can't wait to give it to and see my grand daughter wearing it at Chanukah time.  Size 8. Child.

Now I am knitting cowls; finished one last night for my daughter in law; and started a second one tonight for my 18 yr old grand daughter. They are great in cool/cold weather for keeping the neck snugly warm. I may make one for myself too!!! Super easy!

***********

I met up with my friend Diane today in Davis. We went by the Pence Art Gallery to see the holiday market. Two of my pieces were missing, so I assume they are sold!

We took in the art show there that was incredible.

I didn't take my camera! Me, with out a camera? It happens.

Then we walked a few blocks to Lilies the cute dress shop where I met the Israeli owner

last week. I got a second sweater like the first one I loved and bought. Do you do that?

Get two of something that you know is so practical that you will wear and wear them for ever?

Now I have a brown one plus the olive green first one!

It was fun connecting with Dina again too.

Then Diane and I stopped in at a cute little tea shop and had lunch and tea!

We had little girls on our right having a birthday party with their dad; and college girls on our left chatting away over their tea and crumpets.

I guess Diane and I were the elder generation in the middle!

Fun!!!

We made one more stop at the SPCA thrift store where we both came away with a stack of books.

Both agreeing that we had way too many books already and would never

catch up; but hey they are only a buck...couldn't pass up the good deal.

A fun way to spend a Sunday Afternoon.

;-)

It was a GOOD DAY!

We were late getting to my daughter's house because I HAD to bake the yams in the morning, but when I saw them in the bowl I HAD to draw and paint them first. I just did!!!

My grand daughter asked why we were late! (It was only an hour, but sweet of her to notice)...she quickly found my paints I had brought and got to work creating her own Thanksgiving painting!

 Grand son found a game to play...

 My daughter and son in law are both excellent chefs. The kitchen smelled wonderful. The black bird in the foreground here is a duck made on the rotisserie out doors. I am still raving about how good it tasted. I took some home for today and it was THAT GOOD all over again. The turkey was nicely done as well.

 My grand daughter set the table beautifully using her great grandmother's china that now belongs to her mom (my daughter).

 It made me very happy to see mom's good dishes laid out so nicely for us to use and enjoy.

 This turkey got from my house to theirs on some previous Thanksgiving...and now he wears a sign.

 She was such a good helper the entire day and evening from set up to clean up! And of course all the gals were in the kitchen and by then the guys were downstairs watching football!

 I asked the kids to point to their favorite pies.

Son-IL made the big apple pie with apples from the tree in their backyard.

My brother brought a pumpkin and an ollaaberrie pie from Fat Apples in Berkeley.

Always delicious...and DD made fresh whipped cream w/out sugar.

NUMMY!!!

 I'd like to say I only ate this much; but later I snuck a second piece of pumpkin. I'd practically been fasting all week in readiness.

 Thank you dear daughter and SIL. You did yourselves proud. We all enjoyed it so much. Also in attendance were his mom, step dad and two step brothers and my brother and husband!

 After dinner, football and dessert DH played guitar and sang and Grand son accompanied him very well I might add on his drum! DH said he kept perfect time.

We have so much to be grateful for.

And I include all of you my dear friends (blog and non blog) as part of my blessings that I appreciate so very much. Thanks for coming by here when you do, when you leave comments, when you share and inspire, listen and tell, encourage and support.

                                                                              YOU ROCK!!!

Sunday's Art Class and Making An Art Connection AND Happy Thanksgiving AND Happy Animal Wednesday

Sunday was a fun day, even though I was a bit tired out from the night before when we went to the Concert in SF. (see previous post).

But the rains had stopped and the roads were clear so driving to Lincoln was a piece of cake (using GPS...that godsend device that now gets me everywhere without getting lost).

The theme for the art class was Thanksgiving. Terry had a few photos for us to use as guides

and I had fun doing them all.

My "worried looking turkey" joins me here in wishing you a

Happy Thanksgiving!

He was most fun to do.

 These candles in the fall leaves are okay...I tried to give a little light shining off the tops of them in yellow.

 The horn of plenty was a first quick painting with little effort and a few swift strokes of color.

 This second candle picture was done on a light weight paper that I realized late was there to protect the watercolor pages under them. So it warped. But I almost like this one better than the first on the better paper.

And then I did another one. I just work fast. Some people spent the whole time on just one or two paintings, but I just kept pumping them out. Maybe next time I will learn to spend more time on just one and see what I can produce that way.

 This man worked on his two the the entire three hours. And his turkey shows great detail. I was very impressed with is work.

 After class on the way home I stopped in Davis to do a little retail therapy shopping. I came across this tiny shop called Lilies. The owner, Dina Furman, seen below, was most gracious. I noticed she had a lot of art on the walls. She also had an accent and I asked her where she was from. She is Israeli. I happened to be wearing the necklace Mim made of the map of Israel and Dina noticed it and liked it a lot. She said she'd love to sell such necklaces in her shop. So I connected her up with Mim. How sweet is that?!  She said she is also interested in seeing my art so I gave her my blog URLs. Who knows it could be a new selling venue for me too!

I bought a real cute sweater there to wear to Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday! I will look smashing!

Dina in her shop.

The dress she is standing by is full of beads and just adorable!

And so was she!

Day and Night Out!

Big Day

yesterday...dropped my art off at the Pence Gallery (will show that later)...then we took off for San Francisco, as we had tickets to hear Dick Holdstock and Allen McCloud sing

on the tall ship: The Balcutha at Hyde Street Pier. Dick is English and Allen is Scottish and their two voices blend beautifully together to tell stories of sailors gone to sea long ago.

 After a dinner of  hot clam chowder and sour dough bread we walked to the  Pier in the rain.
We sat in the belly of the ship across from the port holes looking out onto the bright lights of the City.
Listened to the songs as the audience sang the choruses. DH once sang as back up to Dick and Allen's first CD years ago. He had gone to Dick's home earlier in the week for a group sing. And thus found out about this nights program. We were glad we went... They all sang and I drew in the semi dark.

 They met and began singing together  30  years ago at the Shanty Sings aboard the CS Thayer, another  Tall Ship docked at Hyde Street Pier (and in restoration process now). We'd go every Saturday night in those days to sit in the bowels of that ship and sing our  hearts out all night long. DH would sing solos in turn with many others interested with these old sea songs.

 We've all aged a bit since then...but voices are the same. And it was fun to see other's we'd known at those other musical evenings all those many years ago. In fact, those Shanty Sings still go on today.

Dick's wife, Carol, sat a few rows in front of me...so I could sketch her from this view. It rained yesterday and last night, and it was drafty and cold sitting down there, and we got wet walking back to the garage where we'd parked our car. But it was worth it. I think we'll do this again!

(My pages look yellow due to the lighting in my house where I took them, but maybe the yellow aged look just goes along with the mood here too by coincidence.)

Now I'm off to an art class! Who said 70 is old???

Knitting and Crocheting: Some completed pieces

My 7 yr old Grandson's sweater is done at last.

I love how it came out. Soft to the touch, colorful, and embellished with buttons that look like they were made to go with the pattern!

 It's knit on #8 needles. It's just knit and purl but in a pattern that gave these ridges with knit rows (brown) in-between. Vanna White Craft yarns in fall colors. And it's machine washable. I used a crochet hook to make the row down the front mostly to cover dragged along threads, but to give it a more finished look too I thought.

 I think it will be more like a jacket than a sweater...It has bulk and warmth...He chose the pattern if you'll recall. He saw a sweater I had made for the new baby with similar color and design and he said to me: "Grandma you can make me a sweater like that just leave off the flower!" (I left off the flower!)

 I also finished a set for my 18 year old grand daughter. There are 2 mitts (fingerless gloves) and a hat. These were crocheted. A cute pattern. The hat is long so it goes over her ears (something she wanted for snow boarding) and the mitts something I thought cute and decided to add to the mix. The buttons liven it up making it quite stylish don't you think? These are made with Fisherman wool yarn for the colder climes in Oregon. (left over yarn from the diaper bag I knit and felted). There is still more left so someone is going to get a wool something or other! ;-)

Last weekend the reception was held for the current non-juried art show at our local gallery.

I went for a short while to see what was hung and found some of the art to be very good indeed.

I was proud to see my "Sunflower III" art quilt to be hanging just above the

musicians heads. A few days later I was back at the gallery and had the joy of being told by a woman working there how much my quilt was being enjoyed by people coming into the gallery. It felt good to hear her praise for it too. I guess there is nothing better than to know your work is enjoyed and appreciated by others!

I drew this in my office this week. It's a 21 year old chair that personifies all my  years in private practice as a therapist. The stories this chair could tell but won't, as it is all held in strictest confidence.

Have a good weekend!

Pence Gallery Holiday Gift Faire: Let me know if you see anything you want! CAT is NOT for Sale!

Hey, Henry snuck into this post to wish you all very Happy Animal Wednesday even if he can't stay awake for it!!!

SALE ITEMS! GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE HOT!!!!

(cat is NOT for sale!)

This Saturday I'll be taking these hand made 70" scarves made from re purposed T-Shirts to the Pence Gallery in Davis for the holiday market faire. I have eight scarves in various color mixes: black, red & gray; black yellow and red; black red and gray; black, gray and lime; black gray and turquoise; and two in black and gray.

 These are priced at $25 each.

 I also have four fabric "holders" which can hold paint brushes, pencils, knitting needles, crochet hooks, or whatever else you can fit into those many spaces you can see on the unrolled holder. These are also priced at $25 each.

 And then there are the hand made quilted "Pockets". One "Four Pocket" on top for $40. And three "One Pocket"s for $20 each.

 I sold many of these pockets last year at the same faire. My daughter likes hers for holding jewelry when she travels. You have four pockets to put whatever you like as a wallet or holder of affirmations and dreams.

 I use a pocket like this one for all my credit card, library card, health card, auto service card, and cash.

If you see something you'd like let me know quickly and I will take it out of the mix for Saturday! Email me or leave a comment on this blog post and we can discuss shipment. In fact, just because I am getting into the holiday spirit I will send them to you with no charge for shipping!

I also plan to take many of my photo cards (owls, flowers, etc); and many of my new water color paintings on blank card stock with envelopes, and on postcards as well.

Art Class: The Grid

I took another class today from Terry Banderas, this time in Rocklin, California (about an hour from where I live). An easy drive up the freeway, especially since I got a GPS!!!

The assignment/lesson was to learn how to use a Grid to line up a subject to draw/paint and get it perfect. You can only imagine how every bone in my body rebelled about doing anything

per fec t ly! Oy Vey!

Talk about tension.

The idea is to draw a grid using pencil, T-square and paper and then to copy one square at a time the contents of that picture on top to the grid on the bottom.

I did it and according to Terry I did it well enough.

But it is not about being in the zone, let me tell you.

Then as if that wasn't stressful enough we were then

to create a larger grid on our paper (1.5" squares)

numbered 1-7 across and A-E down the paper.

And THEN to transfer again square by little square of content onto our grid.

 The class was full of really nice people; artists from very beginners "doing this for the first time"; to very polished painters from whom I can learn a lot!

 See the woman standing in the green sweater below? Her name is Karen, and she sat next to me. She was so helpful, informative and generous! She offered to let me try her Daniel Smith paint brush expounding on it's merits of how it holds the water etc.; how to lift off paint to leave a highlight on an object (with clean water and paper towel, and with an ex-acto knife!); she gave me tips on color mixing on the paper; (see side of my page above); adding water to wash out the color more for the background; and MORE. Thank you Karen.

 That is Karen's huge paint palette. She also taught me that with this pallete which has a lid her paints can be kept and not wasted. Making me rethink using paints in the tubes again.

 Here is stage one on the grid on my large watercolor page...

 and close up. Painting was done quickly at the end of the class time. Some people only did the drawing. But you know me and speed and wanting to do the whole thing NOW.

BTW those are marbles in the bowl, not Easter eggs or colorful jaw breakers!

I loved the day...getting myself there; meeting the other artists; learning something new; challenging myself to do something outside my box!

...and shopping for yarn in the Craft Store where the class was held: Beverly's!

________________

My apologies to any Chinese people who might be looking at this and wondering what my words on the bowl mean. I just sort of ad-libbed what I saw quickly. ;-)