Calla Lilies in the morning sun . . .

Shall We Paint?

The pantry before applying paint to the walls . . .

and after, partially done . . .

and I plan to paint sunflowers to match the shelf paper on the left wall!

Some Color and Heat Protection

The "main" picture is in our west-facing laundry room. I really like the colors. (This is the window where I intend to paint a peacock, but I am too busy right now!)

So I have been busy this morning getting windows ready for the summer sun on the west side of the house, as well as two windows on the north side of the house where we would rather have light coming in and so I just took the blinds down! (Note: The left small piece is part of an experiment. I wanted more blue, so I colored some of the stones blue. I think that the blue might be a little intense, but I like it better over all.)

I am experimenting in the garage -- you will see three windows. The left window has colored window film plus special heat-reducing film, the middle window has only the colored film, and the right window is "au natural." Then you can see the outside view, where, unexpectedly, the reflective quality of the heat-reducing film has brightened the colors of the colored film on the one window. Hmm!

We went to see Inkheart and . . .

the film burned up right at the scene where the girl is about to read Shadow into the world and the fire-guy rubs his hands together to start a fire. As he rubbed his hands together, we saw the film burn and stop. After about 15 minutes of trying to get it going again, the theater sent all of us on our way! How does it end?!

PS We found this cool table on our way to the theater (in the Sunrise Mall) so it came home with us!

Jennifer & Gramcie Play "Sisters"

Developed January, 1990, but probably taken in the summer of 1989, when Jennifer was three and Gramcie was 63.

Gramcie's note: Jennifer & me -- She wanted me to be her "little sister" -- thus matching hairdo's!!

Two Cool Art Ideas! Why not?

I found these on Craigslist. They are done by the same artist who did the California exhibit for the state fair this year, "Rainforest." (Yes, I am anxious to bring some color into our home!)

Chemistry Rocks! (ha ha) Wolfram's Periodic Table

http://www.periodictable.com/index.html You've got to check out this page from our friends at Mathematica that shows pictures of actual elements! It's interactive on the internet!

I know more about Chemistry now than I probably did in high school, thanks to studying it diligently for 8 hours on Friday while Barry was working, and again on Sunday for a few hours just to refresh my brain!

Gramcie in Seventh Heaven!

Step 2 - add some water and more color

Still lacking leaves on the oak tree and the peacock is only 2-D ---- hey, it's my first try!

Step One of a Watercolor Painting - Hard to See!

This DID scan on Mom's scanner -- and I could see it on my blog at her house...obviously I have to return to improve things. I hope this original will show up, it's gone now that I have applied the water.

This is a fanciful drawing of one of my favorite sights in Nevada City -- the dominant male peacock sitting on our neighbor's rock column and showing off his beautiful feathers!

The drawing is done with dry watercolor pencils on watercolor paper. Next I will use water and a paintbrush to see what will happen! (I am guessing that I need to be bolder with my original pencil work -- that's okay, this is a learning process!)

A Blast from the (rather pastel) Past!

Taken in May, 1978. Shellie, 20 1/2, Karen 26, Gramcie 52 --- about the same age as Shellie will be this November!

Art in a Yurt!

The mother of one of my tutoring students is also an artist and has classes twice a week. We are trading my tutoring time beyond two hours per week for free art classes -- and I LOVE them! If you look in the background of the pictures, you will see there is a lot of freedom and color. This is already a great stretch for me!

I have begun a secret new project that I will share as soon as it is complete!