Spring Fever

I drew this for DD... I told her a story last night to calm her down... of a cool glad in the woods with fairies and toadstools...

Updates and More Drawing

OK So school hasn't been going so well this week. I would have said it was the full moon, but that was LAST week. This week, for some reason, it has been uphill battles ALL the way. Thank heaven for Librivox! They have the most awesome selection of audio books, many of which I downloaded, and the kids have been listening to them this week. I actually feel like we accomplish a lot despite Rebel NOT doing his work on time, BECAUSE we listened to numerous chapters of Burgess' Bird Book, Robin Hood and An Island Story. Not to mention Alice in Wonderland and some other fairy-tales courtesy of StoryNory.com, which also provides great audiobooks and a PODCAST. M'Lady just LOVES Natasha!
We have definitely covered history and literature this week :)

I also started a new series on my Gardening Blog. I am aiming to Journal the year of gardening in Central Va. Partly for my own benefit I admit ;)

But back to the artwork. Yes, So far I am doing well there... this week for the simple I am TRYING to drink enough water again. Simple? You say. Yes... remember the SIMPLE is just ONE thing at a time. I need to work on making 'to-do' lists more though ;)

More garden planning... from the seed catalogue :) This is one of my favourite pages so far!

Made a few shading mistakes, but cured it by switching to pencil ;) I later figured out what I SHOULD have done and plan to try it another time!

This picture came right out of my gardening seed catalogue again. I thought it looked pretty good ;)

The Antique Oil Lamp in the Living Room. I love the round, bowl-shaped, lower half of this lamp :)

And finally, the candle. It sits above the oil lamp, and was really a lazy choice. I think it would have looked better more off-set.

Dreaming of the Garden

Dreaming of the Garden
Originally uploaded by spinneretta

I totally forgot about drawing on Tuesday, so with the inspiration of the seed catalogues in hand, I drew some of my garden wish-list for this year :) I hoped the number of pictures and the two page spread made up for my deficiencies in forgetting a day!

Votes on the Flickr application? Well if there were just ONE picture, I think it might be better ;) I'd have put all of these in a single post normally!

EDM #21

EDM #21
Originally uploaded by spinneretta

I did a terrible job on this one... I was rushing too much and yet not enough... that is to say I didn't SKETCH it as I should have when rushing :/

EDM #21, draw something old, vintage or antique.

EDM #3

EDM #3
Originally uploaded by spinneretta

Draw bags, wallets, purses.

EDM #33 and #53

EDM #33 and #53
Originally uploaded by spinneretta

Draw your eye, and draw your mouth and journal about speaking out or holding your tongue. O.K. so I really didn't do much of the journalling part ;)

EDM #40

EDM #40
Originally uploaded by spinneretta

Draw something with folds. A nice washcloth was handy, so I dropped it, then drew it ;)

EDM #144

EDM #144
Originally uploaded by spinneretta

OK I am trying something new... Flickr is letting me post these from *their* site... I may have some tweaking to do ;)

Draw Something Square. A handy blog did the deed.

A note Regarding the Music

Many people have asked me about the Veni Veni Emmanuel version playing on my page. When I chose it for the music, I just liked the original song, this was the only version I managed to find on my music player.
My friend Jill managed to set the record straight however :) It is a tune on this album by Mannheim Steamroller. I was most surprised, this is not a group I usually like... BUT their latest stuff has the sound of mediaeval music. I like THAT ;)

So for those in the camp wanting to know, there you go :)

EDM #23, #8 and #154

Continuing one with my drawing, I decided that in my bed was a good place to draw. Which is why my nighttime water glass became the subject of EDM #23: Draw a glass. It's a shame really, this one would be lovely in colour, the glasses are cobalt blue :) Maybe I'll do it again another time...


I finally got up enough gumption to try some watercolours. I don't have the best quality set, but I really want to start practising and getting used to the medium. This is the second of the two new media I have decided to try and master this year. This subject is actually this week's EDM... EDM#154: Draw a lemon. I think it look vastly better in the photo ;)


Finally, there is yesterday's drawing. EDM #8: Draw your watch. I don't have one, so I drew DD's freebie one, which just so happened to be lying around there! It is an interesting design :)
As you can tell, we don't think much about time here :o

The Loveliness of Planning

Like many of you out there, I have been in planning mode these past few weeks. I have hopes of updating my Home Companion amongst other things, but today, Sarah over at Plainsong has set up another Loveliness Fair. The Loveliness of Planning.

Go take a look for yourself and garner some ideas!

More sketching and Drawing

Apparently the bug has hit my family. Everytime I pick my pencil up, so does M'Lady. This morning, she even insisted I take a photo of HER drawing!

She tells me that the little ones are taking over. Whatever that might mean ;)

The first drawing of the weekend (Friday night) was my camera, sitting right there next to me while I drew.

It was my first Pigma Micron 01 sketch, and I vastly preferred the extra control it gave me. EDM #32, draw something metal.

The next day, I decided to draw our rocking chair. It has rocked at least three, if not four generations of the family... just not all in a straight line ;) Or as babies :D I really liked the way the arms and legs came out, but I messed the back up when someone interrupted my train of thought as I drew. This too was with the Pigma 01 (I think that is 0.25mm but I am not sure!) and coloured with the Prismacolor. I wanted to add the colours then and there, but would have liked to use watercolours. EDM #30, draw a chair.


Finally I drew my view as I watched Jane Austen's Persuasion. I did NOT draw during the show, but rather AFTER the show! My book hid my other foot ;) Another Pigma 01 picture. I am determined to get pen sketches down. I need to work on the shading aspect now...
EDM #23, draw your foot.

Along the Serendipitous Path with Elizabeth and Katherine

Elizabeth tells us she is lonely... Katherine is busy taking care of her family while her father is desperately ill... but Elizabeth has been trying to hold down the fort over at Serendipity… very well I might add.She wanted to know, for a small fairy fest, what others are doing with serendipity.

In all honesty, we don’t use it as written YET. M’Lady is just a little young, at (almost) 4, while Rebel is a little old at 8… but we use parts of it :)

Until Serendipity, nothing I had used with M’Lady to teach her the alphabet had worked. She wanted to learn, but her attention span seemed a little weak. Along came Michael and Mrs. Applebee, and suddenly she can recognize ALL the letters we’ve done so far!

She loves the book suggestions to read (when I can get them) and has been working on the alphabet -although I think we need to redo these a bit thinner than we’ve made them so far…luckily she’ll need something to do this week while Rebel does schoolwork ;)

Tea time… well you KNOW tea-time is a hit around here. I love the food suggestions :) Sometimes I actually get to make them because I have PLANNED it properly.

The lovely art work provided has made great attention holders while I help Rebel with his schoolwork, and the math gnomes… oh those gnomes.

All our math gnome supplies. Minus one red gnome which I had to hunt out and the story binder, which Rebel has hidden.

M’Lady calls them ‘Gnomens’. The seven dwarves are now ‘gnomens’. Anything small with a beard is a ‘gnomen’. So is anything with a pointy hat. The ‘gnomens’ are played with constantly. Indeed I had to make TWO sets just so each of the kids could have one!

The two sets of 'gnomens'

Rebel LIVES for the next installment of the math gnomes, running off and reading it as soon as I place it in the math gnome binder. THAT is how much he loves it. I only wish it went a little further (you know I’d write the stages for him if I could LOL).

Here is the 'fairy house'. Rebel was most disturbed that we had not put it outside for the fairies BEFORE winter started! I told him it was for decorating and putting INSIDE. This is part of next week's plans ;)

I have plans with the botany. Like starting in spring ;) And I have saved EVERY plan these wonderful ladies have made… JUST so I can use them with M’Lady in a few years… this being right up her alley. I MAY even work on some of the lessons with her come Septemeber, when she’ll be a rising 5 and more ready for ‘schoolwork’. And then I may wait an entire other year until she is nearly 6 :) It is all dependant on her age and skill set!

Elizabeth and Katherine, this is SO appreciated in this house.

EDM #4

Draw your mug or cup.
I did. it is a metal mug that Mum and Dad gave us a few years back and the kids are always using them! This time, I used the Pigma Microns to draw it. I preferred that to the cartridge pen, and once I get used to the medium, I may well go on a search for dip pens :) Pen and ink has a much different technique from pencil, because you can ERASE a mistake in pencil ;)



I managed to take this photo early, so the light is SO much better! And it was a relatively quick drawing to do. Probably because I sat down with my iPod on so I could NOT hear the kids who were getting ready for bed :) Luckily Jacobite was there to take charge ;)

EDM #10

Draw your hand or hands or someone else's if you like!
Well, it is my hand. And my first complete ink composition. I started to draw it in pencil then go over the lines like I normally do LOL, when I decided to change it in the middle. Probably because I moved my hand ;) So I continued in pen. I liked the 'woodcut' effect I got from the calligraphy nib, but will try my pigma microns next time. I don't like drawing too much with my calligraphy nibs ;)


One of these days I'll remember to photograph at noon when it is sunny ;) and get a much better picture :)

The Complete Jane Austen

I was VERY excited to see the advert this weekend on PBS, about their forthcoming Tribute to Jane Austen. My Sunday TV viewing is set for MONTHS!!!

Which Jane Austen Character Are You?

You are Eliza Bennett from Pride and Prejudice! Yay, you! Perhaps the brightest and best character in all of English literature, you are intelligent, lively, lovely-- in short, you are the best of company. Your only foibles are that you stick with your first impressions... and your family is quite intolerable. Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Junie Moon has a complete set of resources for you to check out!

A lovely way to get ideas for integrating Loveliness! :) Speaking of which, the 4Real Ladies are setting up their loveliness fairs again!

Two EDM Challenges and some fun...

Monday began beautifully. The weather was warm, sunny and definitely worth going outside for.
I took along my sketchbook and pencils and doodled.


Jacobite took Rebel to some Archery Lessons with the local homeschool group, while M'Lady and I enjoyed our time outside. M'Lady fell, of course, but she loved it otherwise! Then I remembered the EDM Challenge (list can be found here) #34: Draw a fall leaf. Well, it is not autumn, but there are certainly leaves to go around!


Terrible photo, of the thing, but then again, it IS a photo ;) rather than a scan!
Yesterday we took off out. Jacobite's birthday was on the 3rd, but he refused to take off when the weather was so cold, especially when he knew this warm front was coming! We took off to one of our favourite little towns, where I had no chance to draw because our scheduled stop was closed :( Oh well, we enjoyed the day anyway! I picked up some pecans to draw, and took a picture of the tree they came from :)


I figured the nuts will count for the EDM nut challenge ;)
I did a doodled picture journal of the day while I attempted to watch Law & Order between primary results.

And then I took up the EDM Challenge #51: Draw your TV with your favourite show playing and journal about why you like that show. My favourite shows are numerous... all the CSIs and PBS' Mystery! show... how can I choose (not to mention the gore factor!). Instead I drew a show I rarely miss... the evening news :) Last night was all about politics (Jacobite's favourite) and I drew that. I truly would have preferred something else, but my pencil was itchy! :D


I had to add the picture of Hillary later, from the web (the news just doesn't sit long enough), and my personal dislike of her definitely made me NOT so careful with drawing her (nothing like a subject you don't care for LOL), but the TV looks OK. Now if only I had one of those nice widescreens... ;)

All plans are subject to change

So it started out that this week I was planning on working on "Kitchen Organization" for that ‘simple’ part of my theme.

It isn’t going to happen that way! Our dishwasher gave up the ghost over the weekend, and now I have to begin a new habit… that of “Kitchen Routines”. See, normally I would be loading and unloading the dishwasher. NOW I have to figure into my life, the cleaning up of the dishes. Being as we have VERY little side to devote to a draining board, we were forced to improvise with a tiny drying rack and draining board. Why? Because the dishwasher will take at least a WEEK from us ordering it to get here.

Oh well, I had wanted to work with the kitchen routine idea, I just never thought it would be like THIS.

I was somewhat inspired though, when Dawn posted her list of daily chores. I figured that I might do the same :) Some of these chores are those I am TRYING to get working ;)

Unlike Dawn, we are not early risers, being instead more Night Owls. I am in pink, DH blue, the kids are orange, and those we ALL do (or more than one of us at least) are not coloured :)

• Get up, shower and dress (DH then Me)
• Make bed
• Serve breakfast and coffee
• Eat breakfast
• Empty dryer and fold clothes
• Reboot dryer and laundry if necessary
• Prayer
• Put dishes away
• Kids up/dressed
• Kids breakfast
• Wash up/Brush teeth
• Clean kitchen
• MORNING LESSONS (9am-12.45pm)
• Lunch Time
• Tidy Kitchen/ wash up
• AFTERNOON STUFF (either schoolwork or fun)
• Computer time
• Daily/Weekly Chores
• Start work on dinner
• 4pm Afternoon Tidy (kids help)
• Kids TV Time
• Finish Dinner
• Wipe Kitchen
• Lay Table
• Eat Dinner
• Wash Dishes
• Kids bath/shower
• Clean Kitchen/Sweep Floor
• Kids Brush Teeth
• Wipe downstairs bathroom
• Kids Bedtime
• Read/TV Time
• Load Laundry
• Prayer
• Check To-Do List for tomorrow.
• Make Breakfast for Morning
• Make coffee and set delay timer
• Get Ready for bed
• Brush teeth
• Bedtime Reading/Computer (I read, DH computer!)
• Lockup and Lights Out.

There. Strangely enough, Dawn and I actually share some things without me copying her -like the 4pm tidy time ;) Honest to goodness, we do this daily, in order to keep the house in order!

Daily Drawing #4 and #5 and #6

Daily Drawing #4: A Sock. I was not feeling too inspired, but then, my eye fell upon the sock on the floor. I took them off earlier after stepping in a puddle from our ailing dishwasher (it died later that day BTW), and left it to dry in front of the heater! Later it caught my eye, and I drew it.


This tiny sketchbook lives in my bag. Prior to now it has not been used, but since I decided to do a daily drawing, it saw a lot of work this weekend!

Parking lot (carpark) drawing #1 and #2. The second one caught my eye because I liked the way the light stood out against the dusky sky. It was just beginning to get dark, so the light did not shine much light around itself. Later they did, but we were leaving ;)

Recalling another diary entry from another of the art pages, I had to draw the shaker I saw in the Cracker Barrel when we ate there. I was a little discomfited drawing in public, so the proportions are not right :o
Then this morning I drew rebel practising his archery, for which he has a lesson (the first) tomorrow. He was breaking in the bow today :) I added some colour later with my watercolour pencils as an experiment.


M'Lady was watching out of the restaurant window for Daddy, and I quickly sketched this. It was hard to do as I sat right next to her... but I felt a bit more confident drawing here as there were BOOTHS ;)

Carpark drawing #3, waiting for DH when he said he'd be only 5 minutes. He was about 35 minutes at least, but I had a new book and this sunset to draw! I wish I had done the colours heavier, but it was getting dark and I had to rush to make sure I got the colours at all. I always love the shadowy silhouettes that trees make against the sky at night. They often look inky black, and the brilliant oranges and pinks of the sunset back-light them beautifully.

Secret Santa

I was recently part of a group where we were Secret Santa to each other... a tradition that was in it's second year last Christmas (yes that one just gone). To prove how wonderful she is, my Secret Santa, sent me a gift that will be ongoing throughout the year.
She knows how much I love to do 'teatime' with the kids... so when this box of special teas came in the mail, I was surprised Especially when the Santa turned out to be my friend JULIE who was Santa to me last year too!


Julie gave me an extra special Christmas present this year too... she had a beautiful little girl baby, right at the beginning of December! Frankly, I am surprised that she even managed to get my present to me BEFORE Christmas... I KNOW I would never have been so organised!

THANK YOU JULIE!! (I wish I could link her, but she doesn't have a blog!)

When my Secret Santee posts her things I'll link it here ;)
Our Secret Santas:
Brooke
Dee

Drawing of the Day #3

In order to let my friend Dana (and probably accountability partner LOL) catch up with the EDM Challenges (you will notice the ones I am using are an old bunch, but they are still valid!), I decided to make another Nature Journal entry in my art book. You can catch the little post about it here at my Nature Journal Online!


The picture was sketched with pencils, before I went over them with a micro-fibre 0.3mm pen, and colourized with Prismacolour Pencils. I tried using a technique I had seen on their website, wherein you blend using an alcohol dipped Q-Tip (cottonbud to us Brits ;)). My success was varied. The colour worked on some, but not others. I captured the shapes of some, but not others. I blame the time of day, I unfortunately chose a busy time of day... both at the feeder and outside, where people passing by all the time (cars or pedestrians or skateboarders!) disturbed the birds frequently!
Lessons learned... sketch earlier in the day, use a piece of paper to try out the colours first.
PATIENCE my friend ;)

Drawing of the Day #2

This is from the EDM challenge #1: Draw a Shoe. Please pardon the quality of the photo, it was getting dark when I took it, and that posed a challenge!

B and 4B pencils.

Blogging Without Obligation

I had to admit, when I saw this on Kerry's site I wondered what it was.... but I really like the idea!

Welcome 2008!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

One of the steps I wanted to make this year, 2008, was to increase my artwork, this is to work on the 'beautiful' part of my theme.

My daughter on Christmas Eve.

I loved art as a child and teen, and followed it so far, only to stop because I did not see its ‘usefulness’. Someone should have told me that a God given talent need not be on a par with the sciences in its uses, but rather be something that it is imperative to explore as far as I could.

So now I will.

I have subscribed to some art blogs, with the idea of being inspired. And I will make some art aims for the year…

My Art Aims 2008

1. Draw every day. Even if it is just a little thing.
2. Do at least one of the EDM challenges a week.
3. Diversify… learn to use the watercolours and acrylics more :)
4. Make a sketchbook. Maybe even a travel sketchbook… but at least a nature one!

Four simple, little aims. I think I can manage that! I’ve already started!!

Drawing of the Day #1

Images from the feeder this afternoon.

A few of the art blogs I like:
Laurelines
Sketches by Fiz
A Bowl of Moss and Pebbles
Brush and Baren
Danny Gregory
Drawing the Motmot
Val Webb
Cathy Johnson

and a website with a nature journal on it!
Richard Bell