Artful Journey

of our Christmas in pictures  Lasso Fans Charcuterie with Onz and Deets I love my girl  Me and Onz Sisters before Misters And peach Prosecco Sista and Broha Chilling after a great Christmas dinner   Finally finished Years in the making  Cheers to that! And a happy and healthy New Year to all. Wicked comfy, Boston style

 I really don’t know clouds at all… Wow, there’s a prism in that cloud As we were walking up from the beach, I noticed this prism in the cloud. I did a little research when we got home on thoughtco.com  The prism is known as a sun dog, which occurs in colder temperatures when sunlight interacts with large, flat hexagonal ice crystals. As sunlight hits the crystals, it is refracted bending and creating the spectrum of colors. Theories about the etymology of sun dog include Greek mythology ~Zeus walked his two dogs across the sky and Norse mythology (solhund) ~constellations of two hounds hunting the sun and moon.  The ceiling at the Boch Center Fi and I went to Brett Eldredge’s Glow Christmas concert at the Boch Center. It was a great show and our first time out at an event since COVID hit. Proof of vaccination, identification and masks were required and while we will continue to limit our indoor activities, it was nice to celebrate the holidays at a fun event and feel saf...

We have been working on watercolors and experimenting with limited color palette and playing with shadows. This one is  8 x10. It’s easier to get a loose effect if you are working large.. The next one is on a greeting card Karen gave us to use for potential Christmas cards A red cardinal for a pop of Christmas color  Some imagination may be required  Our next assignment was another exercise in negative space painting or painting the background and filling in the shapes. Karen painted white poinsettias for her Christmas card last year and challenged us with that.  The pink one started out white, but the shape of the shadows got really confusing. Changing it to a pink/red brought the shapes back together to find the poinsettia. The white came closer, but it’s another one that I may try larger to get the loose effect.   Live and learn and paint again.

 We are still working through our apple inventory and trying some new recipes in the process. Apple Rosettes This is a pretty easy recipe that Fiona found on Diane Morrisey’s  IG account. The apple and puff pastry was delicious and best served warm. Luckily we have plenty of apples for a second try and also to experiment with some other new recipes. In addition to trying a new recipe, I tried a few different watercolor techniques which I incorporated into some fall cards. Some paper piecing  Goodbye November.

 For healthy meals Oregon summer salad with salmon from Run Fast, Eat Slow I have been reading a lot about the MIND diet, a combination of the DASH  and Mediterranean diets, which is shown to slow brain aging by 7.5 years. Although this recipe isn’t from a MIND cookbook, it includes the right ingredients :  salad greens, blueberries, salmon broiled with olive oil, grilled asparagus, pecans, balsamic vinegar dressing, and goat cheese.   For nature’s beauty just out my front door Vibrant leaves Berries in abundance Bittersweet   Time to make some cards and mail off to friends

 Fi and I have been taking a watercolor class on Monday nights.  Watercolor painting is fun and addictive. I am at the beginning stages of trying to master color mixing and glazes. Patience is required as you are layering the colors. Beach scene in winter from a photograph This was completed over a few weeks of class. Overall I felt happy with it when I finished although there was a lot of head scratching during the process. I have a few more that I am working on so I will post them on Watercolor Wednesday.  They were easier in some ways - no snow, ice or crashing waves, but there were a few different challenges. It’s certainly a learning process! This is a pretty straightforward book that I ordered. It will be interesting to see what I come up with it using 3 colors and 3 brushes. Happy painting.

Last week was a beautiful week of unseasonably warm weather, so we headed off to do some apple picking. Our favorite orchard was having a sale - buy a bag, get a second bag for free. Hard to resist since we love strolling through the orchard and picking the very best apples. Plus we had just finished the apples from our first trip. Wide open spaces Good advice, eat more apples… Drink more cider Apples in abundance. They told us this was a great year for apples and there were still a lot on the trees.  The weather hadn’t been as good for veggie growing, and they said pumpkins and gourds were scarce.  There were pumpkins in our future though. Fi and I are taking a watercolor class and the last assignment was negative painting with pumpkins as the subject. . In negative painting, you paint the background first and fill in the shapes, not trying to paint the subject but it emerges as the painting goes on. Very challenging. Orange and ghost pumpkins This was a fun exercise and is s...

 I just participated in a calligraphy recipe swap with ink and wash techniques. I used pigma micron markers for the vegetable drawings and water color pencils to color and wash. Procreate practice with a chisel tip brush. The recipe that I chose to exchange was a go to chicken soup from Shalane Flanagan’s Run Fast, Eat Slow.   This is a well used cookbook here with tons of healthy recipes. Shalane has just released a new cookbook which is filled with great recipes to start the day and exercise tips as well. Just like Shalane, who just completed 6 marathons in 42 days all under 2:47, it’s a winner!

 Matt Haig is one of my favorite authors.   The Midnight Library is in my top 21 of 2021 and I was excited when this one came in to the  library.  Full of comforts Matt Haig has been very forthcoming about his struggles with anxiety and depression. This book is full of his thoughts, ideas and quotes about finding hope during difficult times. I found it equally about finding joy in the everyday moments. Despite a self imposed moratorium on buying books, I ordered one for myself and a few for gifts as soon as I finished the library copy.  It’s a fabulous book to flip open to any page and have a feel good moment. I am inspired to start my own comfort book. This book may be my number 1 this year.  I am around 80 books so far, but this was the one I want to share most. Such a wonderful, positive read. Love, love, love.💕

 Here’s my Halloween Beverage card for my favorite G and T fan Mill River Festivities  The Halloween Sangria with Apple Cider and Cinnamon was delicious. This Halloween concoction made with wine, apple cider and cinnamon is my  T for Tuesday beverage of choice.  The atmosphere was great too even with social distancing. Haunting hello from Frankenstein  and a thumbs up from Ted Lasso Believe  Loved the Halloween atmosphere, weather, decorations and Ted Lasso. It’s worth the apple subscription for that show alone. 

 In my quest for some Halloween inspired reading, I happened upon this audiobook. Sue Black, a world renowned Forensic Anthropologist wrote a comprehensive nonfiction book including gruesome crimes, serial killings, police investigation, legal systems in Scotland and England, forensic science and bones.  The macabre portions of the book were disturbing but interesting. The descriptions  on bones from head to toe, skeletal analysis and investigation were fascinating . While the book was not what I expected, it is one I highly recommend.  Fans of the television show Bones by forensic anthropologist and crime writer Kathy Reichs would really enjoy this book.  The stories bones can tell. Skeletons in flight via USPS And may you keep your bones strong, your heart filled with Hope  And your soul filled with Joy.