How to capture a moment.....(or "giving equal time to "pears", after my post on "indigo"...)



Step one, buy a handmade pottery pitcher from a local artisan.
Step two, roam the yard/garden searching for somethin lovely to fill the new container.
Step three, arrange everything on the new table runner.....and add a pear!




Step four, grab your camera to record this from a couple of different angles. Trying to hold the camera steady, but it is not too important as these photos are just for general reference when I (hopefully) start doing a watercolor based on this moment.

Step five, wait a day or two....the pear is getting ripe! Still no time to paint. Grab sketchbook and make a loose pencil drawing directly from the still life, not the photos....(go over this sketch with India ink pens when the pencil drawing will not scan properly for this post!)

Step six, eat the pear for breakfast.....perhaps pausing to sketch it after slicing,.... or NOT.

Hope for time to get out the watercolors while the arrangement is still on the table....

A warm sunny day AND (which we forgot!) daylight savings time begins!
So after sleeping in later than we thought, we spent the day out in the yard.
I still have my kitchen garden dream....illustrated here in a moleskine watercolor sketch.[click on the pictures to enlarge].. In planning our garden bed, we followed the "Lasagna garden" idea as best we could.



Deciding to put some muscle behind the dream, I laid out a 5'X8' rectangle with rocks and bricks. I chose an area which gets morning sun and hopefully a lot more.
The first layer was newspaper, followed by water, peat moss, more water, leaves, water, compost, water, peat moss, water, soil, water, mulch. Sometimes, I sat and supervised, Steve took direction pretty well, LOL!
It is now covered with plastic until we are ready to plant. [of course, that will have to be researched and negotiated too!] Whatever we do end up harvesting, we know we have had a good day preparing and making ready!

[Scan of the last 3 tags.....still need to be quilted and embellished!]

An "art day" for me!
These are works in progress, small collages on tags.
I'm having fun on this cold, cloudy morning with
snow in the forecast for tomorrow.
I have to overlap these a bit on the scanner, there are four tags started here. [ Click on the photo for a closer view.] When finished, they will be posted to
my ARTY Collages and Dolls blog.

Can't seem to keep my mind on New Year's Eve!
I have been back to work this week which means being immersed in the world of sewing.
It is my job to come up with classes and projects for customers who buy sewing machines. Fun!
Also, Hancock's has a sale on Simplicity Patterns through tomorrow.
I think some of these retro aprons will make great projects. They have rick rack and bias tape and thread on sale too...so of course I had to stock up....[sometimes I think this job is costing me more than I earn!]

After finding the wonderful collection of aprons above, I found this little gem! It is a pattern for miniature aprons......for the Christmas tree or wherever....they are too cute...will sewing them be proof of insanity??? When will I ever get back to my other creative pursuits???

note: click on the photos to see enlarged aprons....LOL!

More bright rose color for a gray world today.....(though the sun was shining when I started this!)

A collage on a watercolor pear background. Pears are in season all winter so they end up posing for me a lot before I eat them! We continue to dream of bright flowers even when they are scarce so I added some to keep company with the pear. I finished this collage off with some gold glitter glue which doesn't show on the scanner.


After yoga class yesterday, I met a friend for lunch at our wonderful public library! Yes, there is a coffee shop in the lobby!

Then I found some traditional books ["I Capture the Castle" by Dodie Smith] to read and some audio books to listen to as I hand quilt [ "A Year of Wonder" by Geraldine Brooks, and "Kingfishers Catch Fire" by Rumer Godden].

I can also listen on my drive down to Mom's. She is having hand surgery on Friday and I will be going down to be with her for a few days....not sure how long.

Now I must go pack and organize my projects for the trip!