Family Reunion

Such excitement these past several days!  Brother D will now go by the moniker of B2 (brother 2) because I have another brother whose name begins with D (hereafter known as B3 for brother 3), and let's not forget my dear husband whose name also begins with a D (who will continue to be known as D).  Having cleared all that up, I will now explain what has caused all this excitement.

B2, E, D, and I are going to go to Florida some time in the fall to visit B3.  In a phone conversation, B3 and I determined that it has been 12 years since we have seen each other.  That is unbelievable, right?  Anyway, we are going to get together, but that's not all.  It gets even better.  We will be able to visit with his daughter and her family (husband and three children). And better still - his son, wife, and two children are going to fly in from the mid-west in order to join the fun.  

How is that for a roaring good time?

Caladium, Hellebore, and Shadows

While I did work a bit on the Venice painting today including drawing the railing behind the figure on the bridge - I agree with you, E), what really captured my attention was our Stonehenge.

When we returned from our walk (rather sweaty and bedraggled), I decided that I had to plant the hellebores before they decided I had totally lost interest in them and sulked themselves into a fit of the dismals.  Fortunately, I have only three of them and was putting them in soil that had yet to be compacted so it went quickly.  And fortunately again, we had rain this afternoon which cleared up about dinner time when we were sitting in the Garden Room.

Here's the view we had:

The caladium leaves backlit by the sun are just lovely, and the hellebores, albeit still a bit droopy, with their sun splashed green leaves make such a pretty oasis of color for us.  Especially welcome as we have a broad stretch of sand in this general vicinity.  Don't overlook the circle of light behind the tree and its border of shadow as well as the shadows of the beech leaves on the ground in front of Stonehenge.  Finally, the play of light and dark on the stones . . .  All together it's a treat to see and savor.

Almost There

Yesterday was painting day, and while much work was done, the painting still isn't finished.  BIG sigh.  So, since life is a little bit calmer, I decided to work on it a bit more today.  

Today I added the iron work on the upper floor of the pink building and on the bridge over the canal.  On the building, I made the ironwork relatively Italianate (in this context that just means moderately ornate) and on the bridge completely spare.    

So here are the questions I have for Sharon: Should I make the railing on the bridge more characteristically ornate?  Or would that take too much attention away from the figure?  I do think I need to make the head a bit more defined and slightly brighter colors on the shirt.  Anyway, another question would be: Should I draw the railing on the other side of the bridge?  Or would that detract from the rather simplistic drawing of the background buildings?  Or would it balance the more ornate detailing on the pink building?

Anyway, I still have to paint the edges of the bridge while I ponder what I think might be best.

White Blossoms in July

Today I took a few photos around the yard.  I was concerned about the Stewartia tree which is nearing the end of its blooming period.  It's a bit odd because the blooms are scattering around the tree with empty spaces with no bloom between.  It has an extended period of bloom because of this little trick.

That is a bonus for me.  We planted this tree in 2002 or 2003 because it has beautiful, multicolor bark.  At the time we planted it, I had no knowledge of its flowers or how lovely they are.  Possibly because they aren't crowded together, the blooms seem more special to me.  In the photo below, you can see two buds near the opeining bloom.  One will open when the bloom you see is gone, and the third will wait until both are finished before its petals unfurl. 

And then there is the white hydrangea at the corner of the house.  Beautiful large, round flower head, but they don't hold up well if cut.  So I've learned to enjoy them where they are and cut a different flower if I want to take it inside.

And thus you see a few of the lovely things I took time to enjoy today - white blooms on our 47th wedding anniversary.

Appropriate, I thought.

End of Another Quilt Show

The quilt show at the Pine Bush Discovery Center was taken down today.  I'm so very glad we did it.  It gave quilters a chance to have their work seen by a new and different kind of audience which I think is a good thing.  It wasn't an overwhelming amount of work.  Some different quilters won "ribbons" (Karner blue butterfly pins) than won at the Guild.  I made some new acquaintances at the Discovery Center.

Now I have to decide if I'm going to enter the other Guild's quilt show because if I do, I have to fill out the paperwork tonight.  

Hence the very short entry.

And, yes, I won a "ribbon" -  first place in the public opinion poll.

Thanks, Caleb!

Colorful Clouds

Lately I have been checking out the sky.  What catches my attention most are clouds.  Not only are they amazingly beautiful, they are also amazingly difficult to paint - no matter what color they are.

Here's an illustration of what I mean:

This photograph is from June of 2015.  D and I were in D.C. and had gone to a Nationals' baseball game.  If I remember correctly, the game hadn't even started when a severe thunderstorm started rolling in from Ohio (I think).  With the storm, as usual, came clouds, but these were made remarkable because of the color.  

So if the question of clouds is accepted as within the normal range of difficulties painters face, then imagine this.  If you were looking at a realistic painting that included clouds this color, what would you think?

Gardening Realities

No weeding today!  Instead I put in many (seemed like hundreds!) perenniels. Over the course of years of gardening in the same site, some plants naturally reach the end of their attractiveness, health, or appropriate size, color, what-have-you. Multiply that by the random and infuriating incursion of any variety of animals, and replanting becomes necessary.  In our case all of the above are responsible for the multiplicity of plants I put in today.

Plants but no wire.  By this morning, I had become really concerned about my ability to cut any amount of wire hardware cloth as well as the appropriateness of the kind of cloth I bought.  So I did the smart thing and asked D to check it out for me.  He confirmed both of my suspicions.  I wouldn't be able to cut the wire (nor did we have wire cutters that would make the job possible), and I bought the wrong kind.  No wire for this garden (I'll have to become creative and think of some way to use all that hardware cloth).  But at least that made my day easier!

Easier, certainly, but worrisome.  All those wonderful plants . . . There's always the chance that some will not survive.  That percentage goes up with the number of desperadoes (i.e., critters) lurking about drooling over the new edibles in their salad bar.  No hardware cloth, no protection for the plants.

I just hope that it won't be as hot the next time I work in the garden!

Day 2 of Weeding Excitement

The weeding was finished today, oh joy, oh rapture!  Also because there may be rain tonight or Wednesday,  I put down a weed killer.  With any luck, I won't have to do any more major weedpulling this year.

The down side?  Nothing was planted.  So that means that tomorrow I will be outside working on cutting hardware cloth (hope my hands are up to it!).  The hardware cloth will surround the underground portion of the plant, and therefore, save it from the voracious appetite of chipmunks.  I'm just tired of spending money on plants that have roots completely devoured, tired of dreaming of the beauty that particular plant will add to the garden only to be disappointed, tired of the work it takens to plant and coddle new flowers only to have them disappear before our eyes.  

No pictures of what I did today, but I have two pictures of the garden area that I like.  This one is a photo of a favorite birdhouse; the wrens vacated it yesterday so it's for rent again.  But what I like best in this picture is the Mary Todd daylily.  It's such a rich yellow and is one of our earlier daylilies.

Yesterday I posted a photo of  D's Stonehenge.  ME wondered if it would create magic.  My answer is, Yes! Just look at the wonderful shadow on the ground and the color of the leaves with the sun shining through.

1. 

  Beauty is magical, don't you think, ME?

Outside is Tidier

Yes, today was the day I made it out to the garden for weeding!  D continued the work he had started on the right hand side of the big garden while I started on the left.  We worked until lunch time and have only th doable patch in the center to do tomorrow.

Here's my side.  I only made it to the path between the birdhouse and the table and chair.

This is D's part.  It may not look like much, but it was quite a big area.

And this is what is left.  It begins from the right side of the plant stand to the left of the photo.  Working together we should be able to get it done rather quickly.  Then, the plants that have been waiting patiently in their little cardboard mailing boxes for a month and a bit.

Finally my favorite part of the outside work done this weekend.  D made a decision to make a moat around the big beech tree right outside the garden room.  When I called him in, this is what I saw.

Isn't it a wonderful "Stonehenge"?  His plan is to put come decent soil inside so I can plant flowers in it.  Right now I'm planning on hellebores and daffodils.  Hellebores because they're so early, and daffodils because the bulbs are poisonous (chipmunks might  leave them alone) and because they are a breath of the coming spring.  We'll have a clear view of the flowers from the new room.

Things are coming together.

Unique Rose

Today there wasn't much in the garden except a few early day lilies.  I thought I'd have the time to work in the garden, but that didn't work out.  Instead the desk drawers found their way into hiding and some of the drawers were sorted through.  By lunch time I was finished, but it was hotter than I like for working outside.  

Instead, I worked in my studio and selected bags of fabrics to donate.  Doing that made me feel good so I thought I'd share this pretty rose with you.  It's one of the old ones which don't last long but tend to be more fragrant.  What attracted my attention though was the fact that it's a bi-color

  

Pretty, isn't it?

Trivial News

Still working in the family room even though things have slowed down for us as the construction crew is off doing another job.  Almost every day I spend some time in that room, and almost every day I say to myself, "Well, my part is done" only to discover there is something else to do. Tomorrow I will move the drawers of my desk to the garden room's closet where they will be out of the way as well hidden.  Maybe then I'll be able to move on to something more interesting to do.

At some point there is also the garden to contend with.  Make that the weed beds.  Nothing has been done there yet, but I don't think my plants can wait forever!

The good news of the day is that I do not need new orthotics!  They may look a little scruffy, but they are still in great shape.

A good note on which to end this entry!

Another Day Closer

A painting day, hurrah, hurray!  Since I wasn't able to paint last week, today was a special day.  To top off my pleasure, most of my painting friends were in class also.  Then, I was able to do some good work or at least what I thought of as good work.

This is what it looked like on May 3rd.  I show earlier versions to remind myself and to be able to think about where it was in the early stages and where it is now.  I loved the storm cloud and the bridge - or what there is of it.

Here's how it looks now.  I notice that the roof of the most distant building isn't straight.  I need to turn it upside down and work on that as well as seeing what I can do about the windows on the main building on the left.  They are in need of straightening, too, but it may be too late for them.  Another  building collapses due to my determination to see what I can do without any preliminary drawing. 

But, on the positive side,  I am proud of the fact that I have been able to do so much that is decent  without preliminary drawing.  So caught on the horns of a dilemma?  No.  I have learned that I can do some things free hand but that there are certain things that really cry out for more work, i.e., preliminary sketches of buildings.  

Now the pedestrian on the bridge, some revisions on background buildings, the water in the canal, and all the ironwork have to be worked on.  There is no class next week so I will have to find time to do what needs to be done.

It is time for this painting to be finished.

Hindsight on a Glib Response

"Another Chapter for Girl with a Pearl Earring" did not ribbon at Vermont Quilt Festival.  I was not surprised.  When people asked (there were many at the show I knew), I'd tell them it didn't earn anything, but that I was okay with that.  I said I was looking forward to the evaluations of the judges and hoped to learn from that.

All that was true.  But as I drove home, I thought about my answer and realized that I had given the answer I prepared in advance. As I said, it was true but . . . It didn't go far enough.  Here's what I should have said:

"I didn't earn a ribbon, and I am disappointed.  It would have been wonderful to have this one recognized because I challenged myself to make a design that would require trying methods new to me," and then go on with the rest.  

Hindsight is twenty-twenty.

Lemon Meringue Pie

When life hands you lemons, make lemon meringue pie.  Lemonade is all right, but to my way of thinking, homemade lemon meringue pie is the bee's knees!  

Today was that kind of day.  I had an appointment at 7:45 for the car, and I emailed Sharon yesterday to let her know just in case I was late to painting because of it.  It shouldn't have been much because it was only for checking the air conditioning and the tires.  Well, you can guess already what happened.  It turned out that all kinds of things were wrong, and after a brief wait (during which I was able to write one-and-a-half letters), I was given a ride home.  No painting today (but I did finish the half letter when I got home and got both of them out in today's mail).  No errands today.

Instead, I spent the time I needed to make the labels for the quilt exhibit at the Pine Bush Discovery Center and make them properly . . . or rather, re-make them properly.  I know how to make two columns and to make sure the final result will be exactly 3.5" wide.  What I don't know how to do is find the middle of the paper horizontally.  It's probably on Google somewhere, but I used the old fashioned way of figuring out how to "wing it".  All but one came out perfectly, and that one is only slightly off.

Then I turned one woman's educational idea about her quilt into a matching game for youngsters who might be at the show.  And typed up my own "find it" game for my quilt.  Sent those off for approval by the Discovery Center with a plea that they print them if they approve of the ideas.

A chariot came to pick me up around 12:30 and took me back to the dealership to pick up my repaired car.  Yikes, the work they had to do came with a much heftier price tag than I had anticipated!!!  But thinking of lemon meringue pie, I paid it and remarked that it was because they did such good work that I have a ten-year-old car with 241,000 miles on it rather than a car payment every month.

Back home, I did some more work in the family room before calling it a day at five o'clock.  Made myself supper and watched some recorded Calling the Midwife episodes and now off to bed.

One of these days I may actually make some lemon meringue pie!

Weekend

I feel I should explain and apologize for being so unreliable in my entries of late.  There have been quilts that had to meet deadlines which are now met, thank goodness!  Also, as you know, we have been busy with the construction of a new room so even though we are not doing the actual work, it does take up some of our time.

What has now added to the complexity of our lives are two major items.  The first was expected.  D is off to D.C. for a week of meetings.  That's the trip on which I usually accompany him, but this year I am headed in a different direction.  I'm off to the Vermont Quilt Festival.  Then, on top of those interruptions of our usual schedule, we are trying to remove everything from our family so it can be painted.  Arghh!  Anyone who has visited that room will know that packing everything up would not be either easy or quick.  But I am working at it a couple of hours (or four) each day, and it's getting there.  Since we haven't received the quote for that painting job, we do have time.  We just don't know how much time.

Then there's the garden which hasn't been touched yet this year.  It will have to wait until after the patio is poured because there's no point in doing it while heavy equipment is wandering all over the yard!

There are oil paintings swimming around in my head (good thing there's plenty of room!).  Those have to wait until the dust dies down.  However, that leaves more time for more quilting so there is an "up" side to that issue.

And to take the occasional break, we run errands, poke our noses in places we haven't checked out, and revisit sites around here we enjoy.  Here's one D took me to on Saturday:

He knew I would love to see it again and that it would be just the kind of site I'd want to paint.  So he hustled me over here after our morning walk when, as he said, "The light will be right."  And he was too!

Garden Room Closer to Completion

Whenever I have the time to dash into the Garden Room to take pictures, I invariably walk smack into two or three workmen who are busy working or find the light is impossible or the phone starts to ring.  So as you can guess, there are no picture today.

That's really too bad because it is truly a lovely room.  It's sunny and airy just as a garden room should be.  It's a lovely, light-but-bright blue with white trim.  I walk in there and can imagine sitting with D, a cup of coffee in hand, looking out the glass doors no matter what the season.

However, that will still be a week or two away.  The floors are down in room and bathroom and most of the framing and baseboards are in.  But some painting still needs to be done and heating vents put in.  And details . . .

But it's close - really close.

Post Pine Bush Challenge

Laziness is my middle name of late!  After "Another Chapter for the Girl with the Pearly Earring" was shipped off to the Vermont Quilt Festival address, I hurried home to finish work on "Pine Bush Dreamscape".  That was finished in time for the Guild show.  Then there was getting ready for the show for which I was primarily responsible.  Fortunately, several very good friends did yeoman's work  helping with the check-in and hanging of the two categories (art and traditional) so all went reasonably smoothly thanks to those friends.  After that there were some unpleasantnesses to take care of afterward so it wasn't until Sunday that I was able to put it behind me until the big show at the Pine Bush Center.

It felt wonderful to take it easy these last couple of days - or relatively easy, anyway.  I was able to find time for reading, spending time with D, and finally today spending two hours at Verizon to buy new phones . . . Whew.

I promised to show the quilt here on the blog once the show at the Guild was over:

The quilt:

In this section, on the left you can see a fisher and lower left is a woodcock on a nest.  On the right in the middle is the wood turtle.

There are Karner blue butterflies through out, but in this section you can see the ones I drew as well as the Swarovski crystals that represent the butterflies also.

The red-shouldered hawk soars in the sky.

The only animal of which I do not have a close up is the prairie warbler who is perched in the biggest pitch pine (on the left).  He's on the highest bare branch on the right.

But my favorite part of the quilt is the waterfall (shown here before bling).  The idea for this feature was what turned the ordinary landscape I was thinking about creating into a dreamscape.  The other improbabilities merely gave me chances to have more fun.

Basic Report

While there are no photos today and maybe not for the rest of the week, it was a reasonably good day.  I was able to go to painting class today.  Much of my time was spent in thinking about how to paint what I needed to, and then, once I had it figured out, I had to practice my solution.

What I needed to figure out is probably simple for many others, I had to figure out how to paint the negative space between some balusters/spindles. It took me a few attempts before I realized the problem was in my thinking.  I needed to paint the negative space as though it was positive.  Basically, I had to trick my brain and act on the trick.  It worked.  Now I'll have to see if my hands can make the right images.

The rest of the day was up and then down and then up - the way it goes some times.  There were disappointments in embellishing my Pine Bush quilt, but there were positives in knowing the Girl with the Pearl Earring quilt was sent and off to the Vermont Quilt Festival.  

And then there was the painting of the Garden Room..It's beautiful!

Life in General

The only thing left to do on "Another Chapter . . ." before it is sent to the Vermont Quilt Festival is repairing the pearl necklace, adding the key, and replacing the pearl earring (taken off during the second quilting phase).  Once those things are done, I can take the quilt to UPS and have it shipped to Vermont.  The deadline is June 11, and I am sure that, barring any dreadful confluence of planets, it will arrive in time.

And I can breathe again.

As for the other quilt that has taken all of May to begin and finish, well, that needs some embellishment (what, you thought I'd leave it "nekkid as a jaybird"?).  I think that after "Another Chapter . . . " is mailed off, I may want a day to relax, but I also know that I can't afford to do that.  One never knows what unforeseen issues may arise.

Like the contractor not purchasing the tile I chose when I gave it to him weeks ago.  When he went to pick it up, it had been pulled off the shelves.  He couldn't find it anywhere.  That meant that D and I had to spend to two days finding tile which was quite different from our first choice.  Because of that we had to choose different flooring.  

And around and around we go.

On the really positive note, our peonies have no ants this year!

Another floral photo:

The bouquet of peonies, light blue amsonia, pale pink kolkwitzia, and Japanese iris (tight buds you can't see in these photos.

Close up showing the amsonia in the upper left. And peonies without ants!

I love this pink peony and would like to try painting it - someday.  In the upper right is the almost white kolkwitzia.

A Bit of a Joke

Four construction workers are standing on ladders with their arms stretched straight up as they hold a huge piece of sheetrock over their heads.  A fifth man screws the "rock" onto ceiling rafters.  

The foreman standing below shouts up to one of the men, “Say, Joe, you must be about fifty now, right?”  

Joe replies with a grunt, “Forty-eight.” 

Foremen asks, “So, Joe, how’re you feeling about your job choice now?"

I had to walk away quickly and as quietly as possible as Joe began, in very colorful language, to tell the foreman precisely how he felt.