Transparency Studies

The Doodlewash watercolor prompt for today is "Transparent."  That was a great topic for me, as I have struggled with portraying clear glass.  I purchased a poster called "Painting the Illusion of Glass Vessels"  from Robert Burridge studios,  and spent the afternoon trying to follow his suggestions.

Transparency studies, Robert Burridge lessons

                                    
I was not wild about any of these studies, but one of my favorites was the martini glass.

Martini

 Here is a clear vase of bright flowers.

Flowers in clear vase

 And a clear glass of something clear.

Clear Glass

Clear Vase of Flowers 

I think I should practice doing a transparency study every day until I get the hang of it.  Great prompt!

We ended up with seven inches of snow yesterday, and the power off for seven hours.  Thankfully, it was restored before dark.  We had a nice Gator ride across the mountain in the snow.

This is our dog Kasey and my sister's dog Daisy enjoying the snow in their fur coats.

Our neighbor across the road has a couple of horses who came down to visit.

It is supposed to snow again tonight.  I am done with it...don't want any more!

Bible Art Journaling

 Here are two new journal pages in my interleaved Bible.  The pages with the dove may be my new favorite.  We surely need more messages of peace in this world.

2 Thessalonians 3:16

The current series at my church is on "finding your cave" and communicating with God...and listening for his answer.

1 Kings 19:13

Our pastor says that the sound of God's presence at the cave was like the sound of snow falling.  

We can relate this morning!  Five inches of March snow so far.  I was supposed to head out at 8:15 to go to physical therapy for my ankle, but I canceled.  No need to break my ankle or wreck my car trying to get to rehab!

This is what it looked like when I got up.  That is my driveway going down on the right...and if I slid off, there is a pond on one side and a creek right below!  Nope, I am not enough of a mountain woman yet to venture out in this mess.  But it is beautiful!

Quilting in the Snow

I braved the cold of our unheated basement to quilt two small projects last weekend.

The first one is the scrappy baby quilt with white washings and borders all around.  I decided to do a freehand Feathers All Over motif to counteract all those straight lines.

I stitched curvy stems from side to side the whole length of the quilt, and then created feathers and outlined them.  Where there was too much space between the rows of feathers, I quilted in some ribbons and flowers.

The other one is a little smaller.  I did a leafy meander with some posies here and there.  Nothing like dreaming of some actual foliage and flora in the middle of winter!

This is my setup in the basement.  If you look out those double French doors, you can see the world of white outside.

                              

Two of these babies helped a little.

 It was really beautiful outside.  It snowed about ten inches the weekend before, and there was lots of fluffy snow left for us to enjoy outside.

It is amazing how much color is in the winter landscape.  I took this picture during a late afternoon walk along the creek.

 This time next week we will be leaving again for Florida.  It is hard to imagine.

More Lettering Practice

I downloaded Volume 3 of Joanne Sharpe's Lettering videos from Interweave.  This time the topic is decorated alphabets.  The inspiration comes from historical illuminated letters such as those often seen in ornate Bibles.

Here is some of my practice work.

Here is one from the Volume 2 video.  I used watercolor to add color and dimension to the bubbles or pebbles.

This morning we woke up in the mountains to a surprise snowfall.  There was about an inch and a half of accumulation. 

The u-shaped road is our driveway, a true switchback road on a hill.

It runs right next to this pond.  It was a little scary going down the drive and over the bridge to cross the creek, but we made it!

We had a wonderful three weeks at the cabin, and it did our souls good after a difficult year.

Today is our youngest granddaughter Charlotte's third birthday.   We sang Happy Birthday by Face Time on our i-Phones.  Saturday will be her party.

Sure do love this little monkey!  Here we are with some of cousin Lily's plastic hair extensions.  It is fun having girls in the family after being a Boy Mom for so long.

Not Armageddon...Just Raleigh

ABC-11 News

It started snowing in Raleigh yesterday afternoon.  It came down fast and piled up quickly.  Apparently, everyone left work at the same time...and this scene took place just five miles from my home.  If my husband had come home from work on the Interstate, his truck may have been abandoned next to all these other ones.

Once  he got home safely (taking more than two hours to go about ten miles) I was able to enjoy the afternoon.  

First it snowed for about four hours.

Everything got so pretty!

Then the ice started to fall.  It coated everything.  We woke to a winter wonderland.

This morning all was still...but this afternoon, giant snowflakes fell again, and it is still snowing now.

Charlie has been keeping the wood fire burning in the fireplace.  Kasey likes the snow, and is glad of her fur coat!

I made a bunch of Valentines for my kids and grandkids, but they are probably still sitting in the mailbox getting damp.  I picked up another old project from a Pamela Allen class and have been stitching on it in front of the fire.  A bright summer scene, LOL!

Hope you are warm and safe, wherever you are!

Snowy Week

It is rare to get a snowstorm in Raleigh, North Carolina.  But it happened this week!  We got several inches on Tuesday night, accompanied by frigid temperatures.  Life slows down to a crawl as everyone enjoys a snow day at home.  Even my intrepid husband with the big pick-up truck stayed home yesterday.  Loved it!

I actually did a lot of cooking over the last few days...hamburger soup, baked butternut squash, barbecued chicken, roasted veggies, and focaccia bread!  That's not like me at all, but it was very satisfying to fill the house with delicious aromas.  I am trying out the Wheat Belly diet, and am using recipes from the cookbook.  So far, so good!

Here are some more sights from around our yard.  If you live in an area that gets a lot of snow, you probably aren't excited about it like we are here in the South!

 This afternoon I get to visit with my grand baby Charlotte.  Usually I babysit on Monday and Tuesday, but I only went on Monday this week.  Now the parents are back at work and the two grandmas are tag-teaming today to take care of our little snow angel.