Slow Summer Wind

Kind of an odd week as I look back and am not sure of how I filled the time. Knitting, of course. I do two rows each day on the Watermark cardigan, first thing after breakfast, a little reading, and every other day some yoga. I've learned that this is how I actually get things done creatively rather than plopping down in front of the computer first to check mail and favorite sites. It takes 20-30 minutes to complete a row, depending on its complexity and if I have to track down where I'm missing a stitch. I'd completed row 58 I think when I took this picture. All that pattern lace makes this look and feel so luxurious.

There were days when I could have squeezed in some studio time, but I've put the tote bag on hold as I think through how I want to construct it. Questions like should it have a lining, and will it be deep enough if I create a bottom by sewing across the bottom of the sides? Straps too need contemplating as well as how to finish around the top. I'm almost there. In the meantime, I finally got over avoidance of seaming the crochet cardigan together at the shoulders. I'm always uneasy when facing a technique I've not done before. In this case, it was suggested to use a slip stitch for the join. Ok, it can't be that hard. I used those Clover Wonder Clips to hold the pieces together. Boy, do they work slick for something like this.

I don't think I've ever used this method to seam my knitting or crocheting, but it work like a charm. It left a perfect clean flat finish on both the right and wrong sides, and it was easy to line up the stitches on the panels and run that slip stitch through them. Sides seams are next, clipped and ready.

It's been very hot here, smokey too. and that smoke really has an affect on my overall mood which starts leaning towards feelings of doom even though no forest fires are threatening me. I've only gone out after the sun has gone down and it has cooled off a bit, and had to resort to wearing a mask a few evenings when I wanted to get a walk in because the air quality was in the high moderate range or unhealthy for people like me range. Several days I just skipped it. I do have air conditioning but have been trying to use it sparingly because I'm pretty sure it pulls in outside air without a lot of filtering, and I've discovered that I am quite comfortable sitting in front of a fan most of the day as long as I've cooled off the house overnight. So not any sitting on the deck time. However, I can look at my container garden blooming from my livingroom, and out beyond that, everything looks fairly lush. I'd noticed a while back that one tree - the one the arrow is pointing to - had developed some small green berries on it, a first. I wondered if it was a mountain ash tree which is common in this area, showing off red berries later in the year that often make a mess of sidewalks when they fall off!

However, the berries have now turned purple, and I'm getting a laugh watching the robins and even a squirrel land on the long bouncy branches to feed. I'm thinking it may be an elderberry tree. My mom always got a faraway look in her eyes when elderberries came up. She had fond childhood memories of picking them for jam. What do you think they might be?  

 

A Little Gardening

How was your Memorial Day weekend? The day itself here in northern Idaho was unusually warm - 80 degrees! We generally are cold and rainy with those who go out camping relegated to their tents or campers playing cards. It was perfect though for me to get the plants I'd picked out put into their containers on my deck and the big pot out front. 

But first, the neighbor girl who frequently brings me a bit of her baking showed up with not just a yummy still warm chocolate chip cookie but also added a rose blossom to the plate. Oh my! It reminded me of the sort of thing my late husband might do. My mother would call this a wild rose, although it is growing next to the duplex next door.

So beautiful with that big yellow center of stamens that I had to pause and try to draw it in colored pencil while I feasted on the cookie.

But times a wasting! I knew that tall plant with the purple flowers was destined for the pot out by the front steps. It already has some beautiful volunteer violas that have been coming up for several years.

I'd been giving thought to where what I'd chosen would go. Always, three geraniums go in the big copper washtub. This year I picked a red, white and kind of tangerine colored one.

I'd been pleased with the marigolds I added last year so picked up another pony pack with two going in the same pot as I'd used last year (you can just see it to the right of the geraniums in the previous photo). The third one went in one of the long planters in between the two dianthus plants toward the back that have wintered over. I'd picked up a pony pack of lobelia and decided to put two in the front of this planter. They are already blooming lovely purple blooms. The other two went in a separate small pot.

I also picked up some dahlias. I remember having some one year and really liking them. We shall see how they do and what colors they are. I'm protecting them at the moment from the possibility of our rampant feral cat population deciding to dig around in the freshly turned soil to use it as a litter box. They had done that last fall when I'd dug up the begonias in it to bring them inside. I'd quickly taken these same lattice pieces to cover the ground to keep them out. Once they are more established, I'll remove the protection.

Finally, I pulled the weeds out of this big barrel tub that sits on the ground at the corner of the deck. Long ago, a woman that lived a few houses down gave me some shoots of snow on the mountain plant she'd thinned out. I'd seen this plant in a nearby park so knew how big it could grow - too big for my deck containers. However, I'd never really put anything in this tub that I'd grabbed when the next door tenant moved and did not take it with them. This seemed a good place for this plant. To be honest, I've not been very good at keeping it watered and weeded. Some years I think it has totally died out only for it to come back in spring. This year it looks mighty healthy so I'll strive to take better care of it and enjoy its blooms which I see are coming on . . . a first!

So there you have it. I'm all set for some deck time to enjoy my flowers, and also to view them through the patio door as I sit on the couch. A lot of bending over that I'm not used to so I am paying for this with some stiff muscles! 

Not Much To Share

I think my body has finally adjusted to the time change, yet I don't seem to be getting into the studio to get going on anything. I realized I still have threads to bury and a label to make and attach to the Joy Banner, but I'm sure any of you who quilt in a way that requires burying threads would understand why I'm still putting this off. There are also a handful of what I think of as 10 to 15 minute projects in there like mending some socks that although I could get them done relatively quickly, I keep passing them by - an old and apparently unbreakable habit. Mainly though, I also realized that I needed to get serious about finishing my taxes, so creative time has instead been used to work on those taxes (not to be confused with working on those taxes creatively). Federal taxes are done and I've downloaded what I need to do the state taxes so those should go quickly.

Fortunately, work on the socks always takes place while watching certain TV programs. I'm ready for the first increase to "grow" the leg to fit over the calf. They are the beauty rippling through my life right now while still waiting for traditional signs of spring. The lawn maintenance crew have been out this week, blowing dead leaves away from foundations and off the lawns and running something over them that aerates the ground I think. And I'm beginning to see tiny leaves pushing out on some of the trees. Still didn't spot any bulbs blooming the several places I stopped at in town, but they must be somewhere . . . Has spring sprung in your part of the world?

Filing, Shredding, Organizing

Yes, I'm still wrapped up in watching the Olympics, but looking around, I see so many things I've set to one side, each that would take a few minutes, 15 minutes, certainly no more than 30 minutes to tend to, or could easily be broken up into small chunks of time. Take shredding. I'm determined to get my taxes done much sooner than I did last year so have started the collecting of papers for 2025 and shredding of unneeded documentation for the oldest tax file I keep. In the process, I came across more shreddable, or at least tossable, papers from as long ago as 2022 as I filed away the most current insurance policies information. Yes, I am quite bad at putting things in piles for later or keeping things longer than necessary. But I am making great progress, by working on these in short stints before landing in front of the computer.

The studio always needs tidying too, another task sometimes best done in short shifts. I spent several stints sorting and putting away everything from the Collage Breakthrough class, including storing the various square size templates in the back of the sketchbook I used. I do intend to work more collages in that book. Once that part of the table was clear, it revealed a corner of the table where fabric from that major dyeing project of last fall still sat (why I hadn't moved it the few feet from table to stash cubes is a mystery) and that I hadn't put all away from working on the Joy banner (which btw still needs threads buried). Pattern pieces, fabric left out to make a label and small fabric scraps to glue to a documentation file were scattered here and there. So out came the most recent documentation binder. Oh dear. In another pile of "must file one day", I found the pattern I developed and made notes on for the last baby quilt I made. Hmmm, when was that? Ahh, two years ago. But I only found a few small pieces of the pink fabrics that were used in it on the table (so far - piles exist). I may have a little trouble fully documenting this one but at least I can print off pictures and note who I made it for. I still have some catching up of adding some things to my gratitude book and putting back in its place a big stack of Christmas fabrics, but I am getting closer to being able to get out one of several quilting projects that are niggling at me to get going on.

Looking out back

In the meantime, we got some snow! This has been such a warm winter for us, only a couple of other snowfalls amounting to no more than nine or so inches total. This one was a good 4 or 5 inches followed the next night by an additional inch. While the east coast is getting slammed, our Pacific Northwest mountain snowpacks that recharge the aquifers and lakes that supplies our water desperately need this and more. 

From my front door

It probably won't stick around long on the ground down at my lower elevation; the weather report is for another warming trend with rain in the upcoming week, but I am enjoying its beauty while it lasts. 

View From My Back Deck

Well look at that! We'd gotten a dusting of snow the night before but I thought yesterday was supposed to be rainy. 

It snowed lightly all day but with not much accumulating - only a couple of inches. Definitely helped put me in the mood to finish up writing on Christmas cards.

But today it has warmed with gusting winds. All this is melted off the trees, roads and lawns. Beautiful while it lasted.

Can you believe it? My deck plants are hanging in there still! On closer inspections, I can see that the local deer that pass through have nibbled some leaves off the geranium but otherwise it is holding up.

I think it may be because we haven't really had a hard freeze yet. Just chuckle at that lovely yellow snapdragon bloom.

Still dawdling on sewing together my sweater but did get as far as to realize that these quilting clips might be perfect for holding the sections together as I sew. I may have to get another package because these are working great. With most of my holiday preparations taken care of, I think I can convince myself to focus on finishing this up now.

How are your holiday preparations going?

Oh Look!

I got another trinket bowl made, using up the last of the blue ark fabric and what was left of the pinks. But that raindrop fabric - it will go into many more bowls, it looks like. That strip you see is four double layers  that will take 3 swipes of the rotary cutter across its width. Many more long lengths for wrapping around clothesline. I'm not as happy with this one as the others, not liking my decision to just go as far as I could with the first inner pink which made that second round short, and wishing I'd had some blue, even if a different fabric, as accent around the top to balance the blue in the center.

And we got our first snow over the weekend - only a few inches that quickly melted off even the lawns, but more is due in tonight and tomorrow. Oddly enough, my deck garden doesn't seem to mind. Small excitement on the home front: a new refrigerator got delivered today. The old one was starting to make some disturbing clunks when the condenser shut down. As a renter, appliances are included so getting a new one doesn't cost me a thing. Ditto with new sets of blinds for the upstairs bedrooms. Those bedrooms facing west get the afternoon sun and the plastic clips holding the vertical blinds in place started snapping from deterioration. Now I have working blinds again and really appreciate having a great maintenance man to install them. In the meantime, I've noticed that the new refrigerator sounds slightly different when running, causing me to cock my head to figure out what that sound is. Shouldn't take long to get used to it though.

Signs of Autumn

Spotted on a recent walk

From Joy Williams essay, “Autumn”:

There is no such thing as time going straight on to new things. This is an illusion. Okay? And clinging to this illusion makes it difficult to understand oneself and one’s life and what is happening to one. Time is repetition, a circle. This is obvious. Day and night, the seasons, tell us this. Even so, we don’t believe it. Time is not a circle, we think. Spring screams the opposite to us, of course, and summer seduces us into believing that we’re all going to live forever. Winter couldn’t care less what we think about time. But fall cares. Instructive, tactful, subtle, fall is a philosophy all its own. Occult, secretive, taking pleasure in sleep, in rest. Fall’s comfortless, honest rot. In the beginning in most places it’s showy, the better to mask its melancholy: raging leaves and spanking breezes, edgy with the real cold. And that special, solemn light. For fall is for melan- cholics and those in love. The torchy sort of love. Forget spring. Spring is nothing but promise, a reproach to melancholics. Spring makes us forget the deal, whereas fall is the deal. The unutterable, unalterable deal.

Fall is. It always comes round, with its lovely patience. If in the beginning it’s restless, at the end it’s re signed, complete in its waiting, complete in the utter correctness of what it has to tell us. Which is that we’re transitory. We’re transient, we’re temporary, we’re all only sometime. We will pass and someone else will take our place. Our pursuit of living founders each time we remember this. Fall is the darkening window, the one Hart Crane had in mind in his poem “Fear,” the window on which likes the night.

Found in Ill Nature: Rants and Reflections on Humanity and Other Animals.

 

Call of the Wild

Round Lake State Park

A case for vacation: “A lot of writing consists of waiting around for the aquarium to settle so you can see the fish. Walking around muttering seems to hasten the process. Taking public transportation nowhere helps. Looking out the bus window lets the back of your mind move forward. Don’t listen to anything but natural sound. Don’t look at anything you have to turn on. This is about the pleasure of silence. This is not meditating; this is reacquainting yourself with yourself. Something interesting might enter your head if you let it alone.” Abigail Thomas

I don't think that only refers to writing, but to any creative outlet. I have the luxury of being able to do this often, tap into this "pleasure of silence". Today was one of those times.

Goldilocks got her "just right" weather today so off I went and this is where I spent some time. I was surprised that more water wasn't flowing through here and what was didn't make a sound, even though some flowed over and around rocks. I was wondering if something was wrong with my hearing it was so quiet, if not for the very loud woodpecker. Up on the upper trail I spotted a deer browsing in the trees. I stood stock still while it tried to decipher what I was. When I finally moved on, it took off but not far. Turns out there were two or three more in those trees, just calmly watching and chewing. It was a day not to grab for a camera but just take in the sights and smells and the feel of the breeze against my skin and its sound through the trees. Refreshed.

Not Much To Share

It's been hot. There was motorcycle racing to watch. I had to drive to the semi-big city yesterday in 100 degree heat. I've gotten hooked on the Smithsonian channel's Air Disaster series, newly discovered by me but in its 20th season so lots of catching up. My lassitude feels typically summer so not too worried as long as it doesn't continue into fall! I think my deck flowers feel the same as they struggle to maintain blooms in this heat. I've finally started on the first sleeve of the sweater knitting project while watching tv that doesn't require full attention; otherwise, creativity a bit stalled. Hand me my iced coffee as I relax with a good book . . .

Helen Wells sent out a video addressing this very thing, how a change in season shifts our energy and can make one want a change in approach. She lists a lot of things she'd like to do in this time, "carving out" a little more space for them in this time when she wants to retreat a bit: "A time to retreat into creativity, a time to replenish, a time to be more introspective...."  She has keyed in on 4 things to consider in how she wants to spend these summer days. 

• What do I want to START doing?

• What do I want to STOP doing?

• What do I want to do LESS of?

• What do I want to do MORE of?

 I realized that this is what I've been doing for awhile now as I've felt a need to adjust a routine I've fallen into but want to get out of or at least modify. I just haven't written it down in list form as she suggests. There are things I know I want to stop but why is it so difficult to do that? Reading and knitting definitely fall in the do more of, and I have. Am trying to do less on the computer starting with not reading every single thing I come across, doing a better job of "curating" what's important and what doesn't really apply to me or is not new info, letting quick scans gather up what I need to know, passing up things I don't. As for what do I want to start? I'll have to give that more thought. I have so much going on, so many interests I'm already pursuing, I can't imagine starting something new. Then again, maybe I'm looking at that the wrong way. More thought!

You can watch the video here or read the transcript version below it. Let me know what you think. Does any of this resonate with you?

Some Nice Things From Last Week

Our weather has been so up and down, but Friday was what I would call a perfect day for being out and about. Sunny, temps in the 70s and a light cool breeze coming off the lake made for a delightful walk at City Beach. Tourists have started arriving and the beach was bright with colorful umbrellas, towels and bathing suits.

The marina is full of sailboats and I saw several people out on paddle boards and small boats. Motorboats were being backed down ramps into the water. A few younger people braved the water which is still quite cold to swim and splash around. Summer is here!

Man With Turkish Coffee by Daniel Gill

I made a stop at the library having finished another book and ready to pick up the next from an author I'm catching up with (Lisa Unger) and was pleasantly surprised to see a new exhibit in the lobby cases. A local watercolor group was being featured and this painting by Daniel Gill caught my eye. Definitely the best of the lot, and in talking to one of the exhibitors learned that he is a local illustrator and indeed better than the rest in this group which lost its teacher to retirement but decided to stay together and share their knowledge with each other - sounds just like the quilt guilds I've belonged to. Daniel has occasionally given demos and I can see that the group would benefit from his expertise.

Also by Daniel, I took this photo of a still life not so much because of the painting but because of the shadows being cast across it by the brackets holding the glass shelves. Abstract in nature, they almost look like part of the presentation, the one shadow over the painting itself looking as if painted there.

Another pleasant surprise: I got a phone call from the yarn shop owner who promised to let me know when her next order of mill end wool yarn arrived if it included more of the lavender yarn I'm sure I will be short of to complete the sweater I've been working on. Four skeins were included in the order, all the same color number and lot number of the yarn I originally bought - woo hoo! I think two more skeins will do it but heck, why chance still being short, and one can always find something to make out of a skein or two, so just like I used to say," heck, just give me the rest of the bolt" when buying fabric, I said, heck, just give me all four! They are so inexpensive, why not? I'm nearly done with the front so I'll start the sleeves knowing I have plenty of yarn to finish them.

Lastly, after getting all the bedding plants transferred to pots, I did move two of them - the extra marigolds and begonias, out front and they are doing marvelously along with the snapdragons in the big pot alongside the stairs. The sun may have been out when I took the picture but you can see that the concrete is still wet from quite the thunderstorm that drenched everything shortly before this.

The rain was so hard that dirt splashed up from the pots and covered the side of them. But the plants themselves were undamaged. This is such a lovely sight to enjoy when I leave and come back from my walks.

There was one not so nice thing that happened though. Even though all the windows and doors were shut, I was awakened one night by the smell of skunk! They do occasionally wander through my neighborhood and it always astounds me how strong their scent is and how long lasting. It must have checked things out under my deck because days later, after the smell had left the rest of the neighborhood, I still get whiffs of it when I step out onto the deck. I don't know if repeated rains are reactivating it or what, but I'm at a loss as to how to get rid of it, except with time.

Scenes From This Week

We've had so much rain in the past week, including one particularly rainy day leading into the Memorial Day weekend. So much so that when I walked through the nearby park, there was standing water in places I only see it when the snow melts.

I tried to find out how much had fallen in the 24 hour period and one place said a little more than half an inch. It sure seemed like more as it pounded down all afternoon and late into the night. I canceled my walk that day!

One thing for sure, not much swinging is going to get done til it drains away.

I usually exit the park here and follow the path around the dog park back to the main street. When it's like this, I need to detour across the grass if it's not soggy.

I checked out the decorative plum trees to see if they were still blooming.

Oh yes - and every open bloom is so pretty.

The lilac bush is still blooming too, but along the fence around its yard, some roses are now blooming, putting forth so much scent.

And drawing this bee which was flitting so fast between blooms that I could barely catch him on camera. Just a few seconds after landing it was hurrying on to the next. Hard to see how it could be picking up any pollen at all at that speed.

As proof that nature always prevails, once home I notice this little viola blooming in the crack in the driveway. You might remember my surprise when last year I discover the pot by the front steps was suddenly full of these blooming away, me not knowing where they came from. This little guy must be from that pot which now may not have any in it this year. I've planted snapdragons in it after removing a layer of moss and digging up the soil to aerate it. But we shall see.

I also made a trip to the library this week and noticed that their outside water feature was up and running with flowers blooming around it. 

Doesn't really show in the picture but there IS water gently cascading from back to front, its sound one I crave. I've sat before it when I didn't have a sketchbook with me but would like to try sketching it sometime.

Knitting continues, ready to shape the neckline which takes only 6 rows. I put an inscription on the opening page of the second butterfly binding book and sent it off as a graduation present to the daughter of one of my late husband's students at his very first teaching job. Making me feel even older than I already do and reminding me of the special relationship we developed with his whole family. Haven't seen him in years but do the "keep in touch by Christmas card" thing with the arrival in the mail of the graduation announcement being proof it has been worth it. 

It rained overnight - of course it did :-)

Otherwise, having one of those not much time in the studio weeks, but finishing a riveting novel, watching interesting shows on TV and doing some extra holiday cooking including recreating my mom's potato salad. Memorial Day weekend probably would have meant dad taking us off camping and fishing, and that potato salad plus baked beans and hot dogs to roast over a fire would come along too. My husband and I only did the camping thing once (his favorite saying was "I consider Motel 6 roughing it"), trackside at a motorcycle race, tenting it with few supplies (everything had to fit on the motorcycle), but he did enjoy barbecuing, so among other things, I miss that on these holidays. However, there was racing to watch and that always makes me feel close to him. How did you spend the holiday weekend?

Hoping to get a bit more on track during the upcoming week, but you never know. Ran across this quotation and thought it rather sounds like me, how I've always been, why I somewhat flit from interesting thing to interesting thing a bit like that bee and recently find myself thinking that I have too many interests:

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney

Busy & Cold!

Hope the above does not offend anyone, but when I came across Dorothy Parker's short poem, I had to laugh. Oh yes, exactly how I feel as I find myself in denial, listening to talk of MLK day coming up and thinking, surely that isn't THIS Monday. But it is and we are at the mid-point of January already, leaving me wondering how did that happen. Well, keep on making organizational and project progress!

And I have, though I have no photos yet to prove it. I'm continuing work on another gratitude journal, this a belated Christmas present, and just like the one I made for myself, I am having great fun with it. And as I work and also move around my house, I am remembering a couple of key things about organizing. Most importantly, you don't have to do it all at once. Even dealing with a single item out of place RIGHT NOW rather than throwing it back on a pile for later is progress making me feel better. More and more is slowly being put right. And as I looked for magazine pages to use in the signatures, I got through two past issues of quilting magazines that I'd set on the end of the worktable until I felt I had time to go through them and pull any articles or pictures worth saving. Now there are two off my table and ready to go to the library where they have a magazine exchange section.

I'm still feeling pretty invigorated and diving into my studio with more energy and direction than I've felt for quite awhile. Could it be the ultra cold weather we've been experiencing? Like much of the country, we have been affected by that Arctic Blast. Thursday I hustled between snow squalls to pick up meds, groceries and a battery for the garage door opener and do a quick shovel of my short sidewalk to the front steps as that very day the temps were predicted to drop from high 20's towards single digits. And indeed, by Friday we were in the negatives, windchills leaving no doubt that my daily walks would be on hold. For two days we did not get above zero with our lowest low being around -18, but yesterday and today our high has been 8 degrees and the lows have been edging closer to zero. The forecast shows a steady rise in temperature the rest of the week but also a storm coming in tomorrow night or Wednesday that may dump up to a foot of snow on us. Well, it IS winter in the Pacific Northwest, and I have to admit, the super cold but sunny days have brought me a bit alive! And more snow? Just gives me more excuse to stay inside to work in the studio and knit in the evening.

How's the weather in your neck of the woods?

#INKtober Continues As Does Color Challenge

Here is the latest page of #INKtober sketches, giving you a glimpse into my life last week. You might spot some urban sketching; looking ahead, the weatherman warned of a severe drop in temperatures this week so get out and enjoy the last few days of 70 degree weather at the end of last week and over the weekend.

So I grabbed my architecture sketchbook and headed over to the new houses across from the park on one of my walking routes to do two things. You might remember that the last time I was sketching at this location, I looked at my results once home and couldn't believe how off my roof was. I always take a picture of what I am sketching, and in reviewing it, I suddenly realized what was wrong. I'd been so focused on getting the eaves right that I totally forgot to add the peak lines of the roof. So that was the first thing I fixed. Then I moved a few houses down to sketch a straight-on view of a slightly different  house. I don't always do a pencil undersketch before inking in and adding color to complete the drawing but for these two I did. You can just make out the images on the toned paper. A youngish man (20's?) stopped to chat, and we soon were discussing angles, perspective and shading, him mentioning that shading is what he struggles with. How fun to interact with another sketcher.

Do you ever feel like you need a pep talk to get moving again on your art projects? As I felt myself continuing to resist working on the Abstract Color Challenge, I ran across this blog post by Daniel Sroka entitled Stop whining and make some damn art which was just what I needed! I've experienced the sort of self-doubt he describes and he is right: the way out to feeling good about yourself and your work again is to get back to work. Time to turn my awkward teenagers into something I could at least like and feel I'd made some good progress on. I added a few more pieces of collage, some ink and colored pencil highlights, some pink stamped on with bubble wrap, some pail pink paint in light areas and a bit over those strong pink pieces to knock them back a bit, then spattered each with brown ink. Ahhh, so much better (here's the "before" picture). I may add some handwritten text on at least one of them but I think these are pretty much done. I'll take individual pics of them when I'm sure.

I definitely like the pink glow they have now (not so obvious in the photos unfortunately) after applying this Fresco Finish chalk acrylic in Blush to the white areas and lightly across the strong pink. You might remember my epiphany about struggling with blending since all my paint colors on hand are strong and darkish and I never think to play with lightening them up by adding a bit of white. If only I'd think to add some pale paints to my collection. Enter Joggles.com having a sale on these very paints that were recommended to me by an internet friend years ago. I invested in 5 pale opaques: this Blush, Seaglass (which is a minty bluish green), Periwinkle (a lovely lavender), Eggshell (a nice off-white) and Buff (which is a bit sandy). That should cover all the bases.

While I feel better about these pieces, I know I have a lot to learn about collaging. I want to be successful on day one, have my pieces turn out looking as good as the teacher's examples, not be embarrassed to share them with the rest of the participants of this challenge. Not there yet. And then Helen Well's weekly blog post arrived in my mailbox, right off addressing this feeling of inadequacy in her Art Making Manifesto.

The more art we make the better our art becomes. The more art we make the more likely we are to develop skills and ideas. The more art we make the more confident we become in our decisions.  

Stop whining and make more art! It will get better and better with experience and experimentation. As she says, "Art-making is a skill, developed by practice and not an innate talent which we either have or don’t have. . . The idea of art being a ‘practice’ is right, we do indeed have to practice." Helen has a total of nine items on her manifesto list, all interesting and worth considering. Give it a look.

And right on cue, the weather took that plunge overnight. We didn't get much snow, just a little on the lawns that eventually melted as the day wore on, and we never got out of the 30's. I looked out the dining room window this afternoon, trying to make sense of the white on the tips of this small tree, looking like flowers or decorative lights.

A closer look and I could see that somehow, the snow had settled between the needles forming a ball that stayed while snow elsewhere had melted off.

I don't think I've ever seen this on this tree. Worth taking a picture.