The Wreck of the Pocohontas

Last summer we were practicing painting with greys and our assignment was to paint a lighthouse using tones of grey not using black or white. Creating grey out of colors only. We a were given a lighthouse because of the typical grey days you get - of course - the purpose of a lighthouse.

Well. I hate lighthouses almost as much as Pears and Shells (sorry, Valerie) but Valerie told me about a lighthouse that Celia Thaxter grew up on and I had fun researching her - I love her writing and art and was thrilled to hear that when she lived on the Isle of Shoals lighthouse with her father one storm was so bad that they had to bring the cow into the kitchen and the chicken coop floated away! There is also a poem about "The Wreck of the Pocahontas" which describes a terrible shipwreck off the Island one night.... well it all came together for my lighthouse painting.

Person in a Pear

During this winter session of The Garage School of Art we are working on Composition and the figure. In the first week we had to tone a piece of paper with graphite, sketch a pear, and then go home and draw a portrait of ourselves within the shape of the pear. Last week we were asked to complete the same assignment using watercolor or acrylic. I must say - it was an intriguing assignment - although my kids thought it was weird that I was sitting on the hamper in the bathroom drawing a picture of myself in front of the mirror. Valerie had told us to close the door when we did this - I guess that is why!!! I used my New YARKA watercolors that Santa gave me for Christmas. The colors are yummy.

Clowns Amok

Wilton Course I Class #3 and we worked on clowns and roses - Daisy chose to stick with the roses and so I got to use most of our clown heads. While I usually get the creeps from clowns like this it was actually fun and I went to town with clowns last night - This weeks lucky (???) recipient of the cake is Sandy, another neighbor with a snow blower who very kindly blew away the additional ten inches of snow we got this weekend. I hope he likes chocolate cake and butter cream frosting...ALOT of butter cream frosting. I must say - I have no desire to eat any of this because frosting is way to sweet for me and I usually just eat the cake part anyway.

Daisy's roses were fabulous - she made he cake for the Dixon's who took her skiing last week. Next week we do a very pretty rose cake - hmmmmmm.....who would like a feminine pretty cake? Any birthdays coming up?

365 Days To Create

I've decided that this year I am going to create SOMEthing everyday. Whether it is sewn, painted or cooked (that makes it too easy, doesn't it?) I will try to post the things I make that are blog-worthy. I spen t this wonderful snowy winter weekend making aprons for the whole family! U sed a Simplicty pattern which was very easy:

I made a smaller version for Daisy with this yellow fabric with animals all over it and green rick rack. Dan and I get his and hers editions of the same fabrics - the only difference is that Dan gets green with a bunny pocket (or a bunny-in-the-pocket!) while mine is the allover animal pattern with a green pocket. I also added fabric flowers that I learned how to make from surfing the blogosphere!

NoteBook Covers!

In the spirit of reorganization and renewal in January (Don't you just love nesting in the cold winter months?) I re-covered my address book and Recipe notebook. I learned how from a great blog: http://spoonfullofsugargirls.blogspot.com/2008/03/tutorial-quick-notebook-cover.html that gives you a tutorial on how to make a cover - it was easy and fun - I added the salt dough Bunny labels on the back which were leftovers from the Christmas Dough ornaments we made for the kitchen wreath. I think I will make some more! I also made new labels for my studio which I will post at a later date when the whole studio is whipped into shape. Today- Will make aprons for Daisy and me to bring to our cake class.

Oh Baby It's Cold Outside!

It is 31 degrees under my desk here in the studio - that is what the electric heater (under my desk) said before I turned it on. I think it is now up to 44degrees after the heater being on a little while. Whoopee!It is 8 degrees outside. The birds have gone through quite alot of seed these past few days - I am thinking we need to make some peanut butter balls for them too.
The fat puffed up Robins are glorious - doesn't this one look like she has eyelashes? I think she is quite the glamorous Robin. This weather calls for some fresh baked cookies , hot tea and a fire in the fireplace. That means I need to walk to the woodpile and refresh the supply....

Mercury is Retrograde -or - MY DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK!

We gave Daisy a Cake Decorating Class for Christmas which means Daisy and I get to go to AC Moore every Tuesday Evening for 2 hours and learn how to decorate cakes! This week we were instructed to arrive with two cakes. Daisy a 9" round, already iced in white, me a plain "Shaped" cake not iced because it would be completely #16 Star Tip decorated.

I made the cakes in the morning. I made the buttercream frosting.... I carefully wrapped up the cakes in two separate cardboard boxes.

Kids home from school - met Dad at Petco to look at Fish and Hamsters.... Arrive home at 5:30 ...Have 1/2 an hour to get kids fed and homework finished before leaving for class...

Open Door...

Cardboard cake round on the floor....Box under table.... Dogs look happy.... Rufus especially!

Quickly whip together another cake, another batch of buttercream, pull hot cake out of oven at 6:35 arrive at class 15 minutes late with hot cake stil in pan... realize that I have left shaped "Fish Mold" cake at home in the rush of re-baking.... So Daisy makes her lovely 3 flowers cake and I mix colors and hang with George who came along becaus Dan is out with clients. Daisy finishes cake. It is lovely. She has written "Mom" on it.

Get in car...Start driving home.

Here THUD

Where is the cake?

Cake has flown backwards and landed upside down in back of minivan. Bad Mommy gets mad.

Get home. Need to decompress -at least the fish cake is still safe. Spend next hour decorating fish cake. Give to neighbor as thank you for snow-blowing driveway. Hopefully next week's class will be different - except we are doing clown cakes. I do NOT like clowns....

The Matisse Project

The assignment was to paint a room, and a scene based on a Matisse study - I chose his family portrait (you know, the one where the boys are playing checkers?) Well - it grew and grew and I spent most of the summer Monday morning painting classes working on it - It turned out ok! I love how personal it is - Dan with his striped socks beneath his father's portrait and the Myopia Cigar ashtray - Daisy with Sohpie - when she was still small! George working on Legos and me, writing, drawing, watching. The Goldfinches are eating the sunflower seeds outside the window. Only Tally is aware of the viewer outside of the frame.

Breakfast with the Birds

My art class is going well - our homework for week two was to paint from a black and white copy of a Gabriel Munter painting using only primary and secondary colors - no browns or muted colors (so if the hair or tree is brown, well -wht other color could it be?) This was a really fun excercise - like a coloring book for grown ups! I decided the woman at the table should have long hair instead of short. It makes me want to paint my own version of "Breakfast with the Birds". Oddly enough - I got the curtain color dead on from Munter's without seeing it. I saw more birds than she included. What can I say?

Sophia Tasha Flopsy Daffodil

We call her Sophie for short. She is divine. She came home with us a week ago Sunday from a New England Regional Rabbit Show held in Taunton Massachusetts. We went early Sunday, expecting to just LOOK at Rabbits and, well, we (I?) couldn't resist and she came home. rode home the 2 1/2 hour car ride snuggled on my lap. She is the most snuggly floppy lovely bunny I have ever met. She loves to snuggle. Will stay in your arms for hours. Her tummy is soft and warm like a puppy's and has that wonderful puppt fullness and roundness. Her fur is like , well, baby bunny fur! She is only 3 months old. Weighs 5 1/2 pounds. Will grow to 14 pounds (that's even bigge rthan Charlotte!). She is truly a gentle giant. Henrey doesn't seem to mind he rbut Josephine thinks it was a bad idea. Hopefully this will change in time. I have them taking turns being out and about. She is very clean in her litter box habits! Check out those hoppers and fur. She is amazing. I love her so much. She makes my heart ache in a good way. Like the grinch, my heart grows exponentially when I am holding her. Yum.