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Showing posts from November, 2015

Doodle Jewels

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There was a perfect storm this long Thanksgiving weekend; a bunch of tangle artists with extra time on their hands discovered several  'Jewel' tutorials that started popping up in Facebook Groups last week...Voila! There was a 'jewel storm' on the boards all weekend long, and the results were amazing! I had such a good time looking at everyone else's work, that you know I had to try it myself! I suspect this is exactly what caused the storm! While I love color, I'm not very good with it... but I gave it the old college try. I drew a bunch of circles and just started trying the different techniques and color combinations. I'm still not satisfied. I have wicked 'jewel envy' from looking at other's work, but it was fun.  Practice Sheet (tone on tones)  Practice Sheet Two:Sakura shadow technique (Note-paper was two thin and it totally warped) Practice Sheet Three:Trying to throw an odd color in every now and then.  Purp...

Guys On Ice

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As a present to myself, in celebration of my 50th successful mission completely around the sun, I bought myself a ticket to see the play Guys On Ice  in the Stackner Cabaret at The Rep in Milwaukee. I saw this play about a year ago in Madison at the Barrymore and fell instantly in love. It's a sweet, simple story about two guys who go ice fishing, but it has a deep current of philosophy and life lessons running underneath.  I can't really fully explain my fascination with this play, but I feel a deep connection. It makes me happy and homesick all at the same time. It evokes happy memories of snowy, Northern Maine afternoons spent in the smelt shack with Daddy and Poppie and makes me long for those days where we were all together and times seemed so much simpler. I had never been to The Rep before and won't drive in Milwaukee for just any old reason so you know it has to be pretty special! I found the theater with no problem and even bumbled into the right parking pla...

Diva's Challenge: Hollibaugh

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Thanksgiving for The Turkeys 2015

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I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer at this year's 'Heartland Thanksgiving For The Turkeys' on Sunday. It snowed on Saturday and when I got to the farm it was a balmy 15° but gorgeous at the farm! These three little pigs were not interested in leaving their snuggly bed! The goats were in coats. But the turkeys were all excited about their Thanksgiving feast.  They even invited some of their chicken friends. I wish I had gotten a picture of Reggie (the larger chicken in this pic) when he was standing dead center in that 'pie' looking all proud of himself! After Thanksgiving was over and the mess cleaned up, I fixed a Thanksgiving feast of cranberries, stuffing and sweet potatoes for the new mini pig, Percy. He is the dearest, furriest little thing. He tucked into his dinner like it was his job; making the cutest little grunting and chomping sounds! Since it was so cold, I dug out my box of woolies for the first ti...

Diva Challenge #244: "Tripoli Triptastic"

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Two weeks in a row! Now that summer and autumn are winding down, I have a little more tangle time on my hands. This week's Diva Challenge was to use the tangle pattern : Tripoli .  This isn't one of my fav tangles. I want to make it way more perfect than I have the ability to draw it. It's a simple concept-a grid of triangles, but I lose control of it very quickly-especially if I draw it small, so I thought I'd make it big for this one, Didn't make a difference-still got wonkey triangles.  But I had fun anyway-doing something different with it that using it as a filler. Thanks for another great challenge, Diva!

Hornet's Nest

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I've been watching this beautiful wasp's next all summer. It was in a tree outside my office window, As soon as we had had a few cold nights, I checked to make sure it was empty.  Yup! Nobody home. [As a side note, I KNEW it was empty, but when I was cutting it down, the tree showered down all these little leaves and when the first one hit me, I admit I did the light fantastic, flailing and slapping, for a minute.] So I went out with my pruning shears, a trash bag, and an elastic, I put the bag over the nest, clipped the branch , and wrapped the elastic around the top...just as added insurance that there weren't a few sleepy stragglers in there.  Oddly enough, when I unwrapped it later, there were no hornets, but there were numerous Asian Ladybugs. Kinda felt bad about commandeering their winter lodge.  I find nests like these miraculous. Hornets and wasps just have an overall bad attitude, and yet they create this delicate paper structure, in...

Northern California

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I was fortunate to be able to visit with family in Northern California recently. I've been to central and southern parts of the state, but the northern part was an a wonderful adventure in new flora and scenery You know you're not in Wisconsin any more when the palm trees start showing up...   And the prickly pear cacti are more than a foot high and bear huge fruit... This looks like desert, and it is I suppose. Because of the drought, this part of the American River Parkway biking and walking  system, which is usually under water, is dry.  The river's levy is more than a mile away from the river's edge right now.  And the next two photos are of Folsom Lake. This is usually a huge thriving lake with boaters and swimmers.  Now it looks like a big puddle. The water normally comes up to where you can see the earth tone change in the bottom third of the photo. If we had had more time, I would have loved to go stomping around on the lake bed. Th...

Diva Challenge: Just a Tiny Taste

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I haven't done a Diva Challenge in a gazillion years. Life has been moving pretty fast around here this autumn, but now, as winter approaches, maybe I'll have more time to sit a spell. This week's challenge really intregued me. It's called Just a Tiny Taste because the goal is to leave the majority of the tile blank. This is a real challenge for me as I tend to fill up every available millimeter of space available to me. But I gave it a shot; a couple of times really. I like the concept but they just feel unfinished. Baby steps. The first one doesn't leave enough of the tile blank and it still looks 'naked to me. This second one is more in keeping with 'the rules' and it's killing me to not add more pizzaz somewhere! LOL! It was a good challenge because I need to leave more space in my work for the eye to rest.  Here are some of the latest doodles from my sketchbook.  See?!?!? Every inch of space.  Way too busy! ...