Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Supposed to be a Sunday Evening Post...

This was supposed to be "The Sunday Evening Post"... like a Norman Rockwellian play on words... 
but alas, I ran out of steam on Sunday night to get it done, still kinda amuses me though.
  Any way, here I am on "Leap Day" instead! 


This is my Grandfather's wheel barrow, parked next to Hazel (the Witchazel tree), who as you can see is blooming nicely! It was brought out for a photo shoot (for upcoming art), it doesn't normally sit outside. 
One day, it will be a display in my "real" store...
 
Of course that has nothing to do with the mugs.....
These are the next two who got baked! (so to speak).
I must confess, I do rather love the tree hugger bunny...
My cats on the other hand need some practice!
There she is up close...
Good advise, unless it's a cactus...or a particularly prickly conifer...
Meow?
Prrrrrrr... prrrrr....
Plain white pottery shard you don't know what to do with? (you all have that problem, right?)
 No problem.  Just dress it up a bit!

Speaking of pottey bits....
We had a REALLY low tide over the weekend, it went WAAAYY out... and it never seemed to come all the way in?
The fun part of this extra long exposure is that the mud contains treasures!
O.K., t reasure to me.... trash to some.


I think it's just the neatest stuff!


After the pottery painting, I moved in by the fireplace to do some drawing.  Drawing, when I am not needed for scratching a giant furry tummy that is.


Sure, peek over my shoulder....

Late Sundy afternoon, everyone was out in the yard with us while I cleaned and Husband Guy carried heavy bales of hay around. 
He looked over and said, you should get a picture of that. 
 Ava , White Chicken and Kippy; were just kinda hanging out there.... as soon as I moved towards the door, the "hen party" was over.... So this is my "photo",  to capture the moment in time.

It was a fun weekend... though they are never long enough.

I have one final question....
Do you ever feel like you are being watched?
Sometimes you REALLY are.....

Monday, February 20, 2012

Painting Thrift shop mugs...

It seems I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to all crafty things.... I want to try it all.  I become like a woman possesed when I see a new intriguing art form just waiting to be tried.
So today we have my latest art trial...
Firstly, I took me to the thrift shop, second hand store... what ever you call it in your corner of the world.... and gathered some plain white, gently loved, previously owned drink ware.  Exhibit A just below.

Then we have my bargain of the month.... I looked the paints up on line to check them out... how to use them and read people comments on their success/failures...
I went to the craft store, assuming they'd NOT have them... but I figured I'd check. Not only DID they have them, the entire display was on clearance! Yeah!, so I paid about a third of what I thought they would cost... Needless to say I got quite a few yummy colors!!

Then I drew on the mug with one of my art pens... as a test. 
 I wasn't sure it would write on shiney china, but it DID!  (sorry, no picture of that phase)  I did my best to draw on a curvy surface and let the ink dry a little...
Got my paints out, and with my tiniest paint brush, I tried to out line what I'd done with the paint.
I normally draw with a 005 Micron pen, so trying to paint on the lines with a brush, however tiny was like writing with a phone pole to me... but I pressed on.
This is the mug number one... it sort of wraps around the little mug....

The test mug is drying now for 24 hours... awaiting it's 1/2 hour stint in a 300 degree oven.... When it emerges, assuming it doesn't shatter in there... it is supposed to be a perfectly usable mug (still)?
You will have to stay tuned... to see what happens next!
Got to decide what I want to paint on the next one????


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Monday, February 13, 2012

Valentine's Day Eve

Remember the art I did for the Winter theme, posted back in January?
Well, I thought it was only right, since I FINALLY finished it, that I share it with you good people!

Here's a little bit more of my Sunday afternoon....

On the left we have my Christmas gift ~ a real live Emma Bridgewater mug for my tea.... and on the right we have the tea cozy I made from a sweater that didn't fit, and a couple sheets of wool felt. (o.k., i confess, my Mum stitched it together for me on the sewing machine, but it was my idea - if that counts? She tried to have me use the sewing machine, but I immediately panic when I get near it, she said I (in this order) stopped breathing, stomped on the foot pedal, sewed a big knot of stitches, broke the thread.  NOT much of a seamstress I'm afraid... but I'll keep trying. I hate to have a art/craft get the better of me.)
Moving on....

Cat's eye view of the afternoon...

Tools of the trade....

Aren't they pretty colors? :))

Work in progress....

Ta - Da !

You know it's a chilly day when your stuffed moose puts on his Maine Guide outerwear and then stays inside... O.K., he actually borrowed it from Kippy. Kippy didn't want to be out there either.

He says we should just move on to spring... he's ready.
I can't totally agree, as I'm not done hibernating yet; but he's pretty cute, so I let him have his say....

That's it for tonight.... Marley will be thinking about what we want to share with you next...

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Coming to you from the couch.

So what's that supposed to mean you ask?  Well, a couple of things actually.  Firstly, it means I finally decided to get a lap top, and I am literally sitting in the living room, on the couch, under a blanket.  I can see the birds on the feeder out the window, the river if I stretch up a bit... I'm across from the fireplace, the t.v. and surrounded by my furry family. (this also means that the husband can look at ponies for sale on the computer in the cold kitchen... while I'm over here!) It will take a while to get used to typing on this funny flat keyboard... but sacrifices must be made right? 
This all began about 3 weeks ago, when my Internet connection became about as reliable as the weather in New England...  Changeable by the minute, and fairly unpredictable.  After numerous fruitless and frustrating calls to have it made right, I decided to change companies.  With this change came a free wi-fi box thingy... and so it seemed the time had come!  Off we went, Mr. & Mrs. Untechnical, to get a laptop.  Long story short, here I am! (I think the young and technically savvy at the store were amazed at how stupid we are when it comes to this modern world... so what if I don't "text" or know what GB means exactly... "giggly bits" or something?  Just tell me how many pictures it can hold and how to connect to the Internet ~ and take that look off of your face!)
The other bonus to this new cordless world, is I can take it with me when we go on the road!  I can play with my pictures, and type letters on the road ~ so that could be pretty fun right?  Annnd, assuming I could find a coffee shop with free wi-fi, maybe i could even blog from satellite locations!
But that's down the road a piece.... baby steps. 
In other news, we have a rather chilly, yet sunny day going on here at the moment; it's 22 degrees - with some wind to make it feel colder!  I'm not going to complain, it's been an incredibly warm and sunny winter. The lack of snow is mildly disappointing, but it makes the lives of our outdoor animals a lot more pleasant, and that makes me happy!
So that's it for the moment, just wanted to make sure you didn't all think I'd fallen off the face of the earth; I've just been a little "disconnected" is all!