A Little Painting

I finished with making masks, at least for now.  I made 62, I think.  Worked outside yesterday power washing the outdoor furniture and did a little weed eating outside today.  Such beautiful days we've had lately.  It's hard to believe so many are struggling in other places in the world, where here, if the TV wasn't on, we'd never know anything was wrong.

I can't help but get frustrated seeing so many people going here and there.  I ran yesterday at the track and at times there were what looked like multiple kids being together, not staying the 6' apart like they should. Saw a car load of kids driving. The hubby was going to go by Lowe's to get something if it wasn't crowded and he thought he could get in and out without being close to anyone.  Nope.  He said the parking lot of full and there were people everywhere.  Definitely not practicing social distancing.

Yesterday when I went to the track to run, I hid a couple of "wash your hands" rocks.  I belong to the Roane County Tn Rocks club and the Rock Around America rock club.  Both paint rocks to spread encouragement and kindness, and hide them for people to find.  They can keep them or re-hide.  We just ask that you post on facebook to the appropriate club.  These are my two I hid.  And yes, I sanitized them before hiding them. We all need to be reminded to wash our hands often, but someone also might want a reminder of this time in history, when this virus caused economic disaster, and death.  I have no doubt this time in history will be written about for years.

On a lighter note, I have a friend who is helping to raise six of her grandchildren and providing a home for her oldest grandson, his wife, and their new baby.  She works full time and is no spring chicken at 68 years old.  She has now been allowed to work from home. She has a great sense of humor and I must share the text I got from her today; names have been changed to protect their identities - :)  I had asked her how it was going at their house.....

Struggled while working and maneuvering kids.. "Mimi come wipe my butt..( a constant declaration ) I’m hungry.. what time is lunch? .. so and so hit me.. can I watch Peppa pig?? .. Hadley pooped.. I smell it.".....I may write a book😷

There will be many books written about this time in our history.  I hope she really does write one.  I think it would be a best seller in the comic relief category.

I worked on a few painted things the last couple of days.  I am obsessed with water.  So I tried a new one yesterday....

 Hubs said I needed to make it look more like water so I used a watery white and a slight hand to try to make the background have just a touch of white. Not sure that really did what I desired.  Below is how it looked first.  I also changed up the fish colors, several times. I like these colors and the 'clear' water, but the shadow on one isn't right.   The next is when I thought the colors needed to be darker, but still the background is clear.

So, as you can see I added the white in the background and lightened up the fish colors.  To be honest, I think I like the first one better,  Once that white is on, you can't get it off, unless you paint the whole rock or sand the whole rock.  I think I shouldn't listen to my in house critic, and just paint the way I see it.

 Another simple water puddle and drop....

 Then today I tried to actually paint on a small canvas.  Not sure I am finished.  I think the blue bonnets maybe should be a bit bigger, and maybe have more greenery. I love that I can start something, lay it down for a while, then go back and change it up or improve it.  It's all about learning through doing, I think.

I did get some good news yesterday.  A quilt I submitted for a magazine last year is finally going to be published.  The design is based on a barn quilt I commissioned a friend to make for me several years ago.  It is supposed to be in the November/December 2020 issue of Love of Quilting.  

Maybe in my next post I will actually have some quilt making to show.