Unexpected

When life throws something unexpected our way it is usually a curveball, running the gamut from a big financial bite to devastating illness.  But a few nights ago we were surprised by something unexpected that has turned into something wonderful.  I must start this story by telling you we live in the historic district of the capital city of our state.  Granted it is a small city, we have no skyscrapers, but we are just a few blocks from downtown, and a few more blocks from Legislative Hall.  (lest you imagine we live in a regal, grand historic home I should clarify that although our house is about 100 years old, I would call it "vintage" rather than historic! :) 

Our daughter was playing with a neighbor and when we went to pick her up they were at the end of the street under a thicket of shrubs.  When we asked what they were doing they said "We are trying to catch a chicken!"  A chicken??!  And they did.  We asked around but no one seems to know where it came from.  In fact we flagged one woman down who had driven around the block several times and asked "Are you looking for a chicken?"  She laughed a lot and replied "I don't think anyone has ever asked me that!"








So now "Rosie" has entered our lives and our hearts.

She is a very friendly chicken.  I think she is beautiful too.

We have checked city ordinances and hens are allowed.  So I think we are the newest members of the urban chicken farmer craze.  She is going to be an "only" chicken though.  We will wait a while longer to see if anyone claims her, and if not we will convert half of our shed into a coop and build a run.  Rosie has made herself right at home, she is crazy about her dried mealworm treats, and I finally found a place that sells Purina chicken scratch.  I was puzzled this morning because she seemed a bit out of sorts, she seemed to be complaining.  I made a quick trip to the grocery and when I returned.....

I found a perfect little yellow egg!  I will let you know if it is a double yolker.

Hope your world is Rosie too!!!!

PS.   This is why I haven't been posting art, been shopping for chicken supplies!

Cherry Blossoms

A sun shiney day at long last!  I have been working away at my little sketches but I haven't had a nice day for shooting photos in ages.  I was finally able to get outside and now I have a plump folder full of edited pictures ready to post.  The cherry blossoms (neighbor's tree) are long gone now but I am happy to have their memory preserved in my scribble sketchbook.

The city has planted a new tree in our front yard; the city claims the little patch of dirt from the outside of the sidewalk to the curb, but I still consider it to be "our" tree.  My husband says it's a cherry, but I won't be convinced until I see blossoms next spring. We used to have a beautiful maple in that spot but it was taken out by a drunk driver.  The new tree is doing very well.  Our nextdoor neighbor who has the cherry tree I sketched, is outside at this moment polishing his brand new jeep.  His pickup truck was recently totaled in front of his house by a different drunk driver!  Our street is actually fairly quiet and we live in a sleepy little town, so I hope our new little tree can grow in peace.  I hope it is also peaceful in your little corner of the world!

New watercolorist on the block

Just walked into my daughter's room and found this cute little scene.  Makes an artist Mommy's heart sing!   He has seen me paint at this lap desk and I guess he went looking for it. 

Blogger ate my post. Bad Blogger!!

Weeell, I've said my piece about this one.  I guess it is wafting around somewhere in cyberspace.  Don't know if it will ever come back, but here is my tiny painting again.

Plastic wrap background

I started this sketch by laying down some colors with the vague idea I would paint flowers.  So I put purple and pink on the top half and greens on the bottom.  Then I covered it with plastic wrap until it dried.  I've been meaning to try this technique for a long time and finally got around to it.  I think I might have used more pigment, it dried very pale.  I decided to practice delphiniums as a warm up for a large painting I am doing.  The background colors muddied my flower painting a bit which I thought was a little (okay greatly)  frustrating.  If I use this background technique again I think I would draw my subject first and mask, and then lay down the background colors. 

Sketch Du Jour

Another scribble sketch for the archives. It was a glorious day today and this depicts my happy mood.  It was sunny and 75 degrees with no humidity, a day for driving around with the windows down (I could smell flowers), painting outside, and sleeping with the window open tonight.  Hope your day was glorious too!

Sketch of the Day

This is one of many little floral pincushions I made.  Unfortunately I don't have a nice little story to go with it; I was just looking for something to sketch and I thought it might be fun to paint the details on the fabric.  The center of the flower is a pearl and a clear button.  The clear button was very difficult, I might have to paint a whole pile of them before I begin to learn how.

Speaking of learning, because yesterday was Mother's Day I got to choose the family activity, and I chose to go to the batting cages.  It was a blast!  I'm working on medium-fast baseball, and I'm pretty good if I do say so myself.  In fact, I had so much fun I went back today while the kids were in school.  I thought I even might try fast-baseball but I quickly discovered my left hand is bruised and my right shoulder is sore.  Maybe batting gloves would help my hand.  I wonder how fast those baseballs are flying, I know a MLB fastball is in the mid to high 90's (mph), so maybe around 75mph for the medium-fast machine?  I also don't know how a pitching machine compares to an actual pitcher.  I do know I am in pain so I will let my hand rest a few days before I go back.  I will let you know when I succeed at hitting a fast ball.  I am determined!