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| Our Paintings! |
Today, in the evening, daughter and I took an art class offered online by one of the craft supplies stores! It was a free class, probably sponsored by the company producing the acrylic paints they were using for the class, which was fine with me. I have bought their paints before, although daughter and I used the cheaper store brand acrylic paints we already had on hand, today, mixing colors to get what we needed (red and white to get the pink, for example). The class was good, but, just a tad too fast paced for me! It lasted one hour and I worked on my painting for another 30 minutes or so before I was happy with it. But, it was fun to do, especially since I was doing it with my daughter. I have signed up to take another painting class, next Monday, but, that time will be without my daughter as she has an exercise class at the same time.
The painting is supposed to be of birch trees against a sunset sky! The technique being taught was reverse painting, using painter's tape to block off the areas we wanted to be our trees, then, painting the background colors. Once the background was painted, and before the paint dried, we were told to remove the tape and paint the trees, using the edge of a plastic card dipped in paint and scraped across to get the lines. We used cardboard and while daughter mastered the technique well, I struggled! In the end, I cheated a bit and used my paint brush to get the markings on my trees! LOL.
Can you guess which painting is whose? I'll give you a hint - daughter is better at blending her colors than I am! Yes, that's her painting on the right of the photo (closer to the back cushion of the sofa) and mine on the left (closer to the edge of the seat).
Daughter placed them together and we discovered that they fit together nicely to form one painting! I just need to practice my blending a little more!
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| Together They Make One Picture! |
In addition to painting, I cleaned my bathroom, did a couple of loads of laundry, and ran the dishwasher, today. I also walked in the drive way for 15 minutes (a shorter length of time than yesterday, but, at a slightly faster pace while being very careful not to fall!). Afterwards, I walked around the garden, taking some pictures and picking a few things: two oranges, three lemons, five peapods, and a handful of Japanese purple mustard greens:
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| Today's Harvest |
Daughter and I had the oranges for a late afternoon snack. The peapods were added to the bag I have in the fridge to make a stir fry, tomorrow. Daughter cut up and sauteed the mustard greens in a little sesame oil, soy sauce, and mirin to have with our dinner. Daughter had quinoa with the last of the chicken she had cooked earlier, and the sauteed mustard greens; I added the mustard greens to my bowl of spaghetti and meat sauce. I've remembered to put a chicken breast to thaw for a chicken stir fry, for tomorrow's dinner.
Today, I am grateful for:
- The new pharmacy notified me that they have mailed one of my medications and provided me with a tracking number
- Free online art classes
- Working appliances
- Garden harvests
- Not falling when I walked!
Today's fun activity was taking the painting class with my daughter!
Plans for tomorrow include - taking down that Christmas tree! If I keep it up any longer, I might have to decorate it with hearts and call it a St. Valentine's Day tree! LOL! M will be here, tomorrow evening, and I will have him take the Christmas bins to the garage for me. Other than that, it will be a relaxed day.
How was your Thursday? What are your plans for Friday? Have you taken any online art classes?
Both yours and your paintings are so good. I don't believe you can cheat with art, however you choose to do it it's the end result what matters and the paintings do fit together well. A St. Valentine's tree sounds good to me haha. I've been looking after Tilly following her operation so doing nothing but have her cuddling up to me is no hardship :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; I had fun doing the paintings, but, I need to work on my blending of colors! :) Well, the tree is down, so there won't be a St. Valentine's tree, but, maybe I can do up the mantel! Aw, you are a good mummy to Tilly; I'm sure she appreciates you keeping her company while she's feeling so poorly. Heal quickly, Tilly!
DeleteThose paintings are both beautiful! What an amazing technique. I love how they fit together - it's a lovely picture. It sounds like you have an incredibly busy day. The harvest is looking pretty good.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lyssa; I've propped the paintings up, together, and every so often, either daughter or I will look at them and exclaim how well they fit together! :D It wasn't that busy a day, but, doing laundry and the dishes always make me feel like I've been productive! :D I love harvesting the garden produce. :) Hope you've had a good day, today.
DeleteWhat fun doing the same painting together & still getting different results. You both have such a talent. I read that paint by number sales have increased 100% during the pandemic. I'm also thinking of a Valentine's tree (col).
ReplyDeleteThat was something we marveled about, too, Mary-Lou - how we both attended the same class and still ended up with different paintings! :D My daughter got to choose a paint by number kit, recently, and she has been enjoying painting it.
DeleteWell, the tree was taken down today, so no St. Valentine's tree, over here! I might do a Valentine's day mantel, instead!
I often see two or three paintings hanging together with a space between them. Your birch trees look perfect for that. I know that both you and your daughter are artistically talented, but I'm impressed!
ReplyDeleteThank you, June. :) It was a fun thing to do and I like how the paintings turned out. We have them propped up on the sideboard for now, but, we will hang them on the wall above the sideboard; it is becoming our "gallery" wall! :D
DeleteI do like your paintings ... well done both of you and extra fun because it was a shared activity.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting in for a parcel to be delivered so have had to change my plans again. Hopefully I will still get to see J later on but if not we will rearrange for next week. Also considering entering a music festival in the adult beginner piano category ... possibly a new adventure for me to perform solo 🤪
Thank you, Eileen; it was fun painting with my daughter. :)
DeleteSorry about yet another change of plans for you, but, flexibility is the key these days, isn't it? Oh, taking part in the music festival sounds like something fun and definitely a new adventure!
How nice to learn a technique for painting recognizable birch trees. Excellent work from both of you!
ReplyDeleteYou will be ahead of me if you take down your Christmas tree. I am stubbornly hanging on to ours but I must admit is did give me pleasure to look at the lights yesterday evening. It was brutally cold again overnight, -22°C (-7.6°F) in the morning, but we needed to go out. We had our booster shots today and since we had no previous problems with Moderna, we were told we could leave after 5 minutes and since we were chatting with the pharmacist it was already time to go. Now we hope for minimal effects later, like the last time.
Thank you, Bushlady. I'm glad the trees are recognizable! :D
DeleteWell, our tree has been taken down and put away for another year. I still have the Christmas cushions, etc., out, but, they'll get put away over the weekend.
Well done getting your booster vaccines! I hope you will have minimal side effects and you'll have a good weekend.
The painting class sounds fun and together both paintings do make a lovely scene. A birch forest! I took a collage class on zoom through a local art center last year, it was a lot of fun even though my picture isn't very good! It has been snowing all day here. I envy your garden! Your veggies and oranges look wonderful! Celie
ReplyDeleteThe painting class was a lot of fun; it was through Michael's, if you are interested. I signed up for the Monday painting class, too! I don't envy you your snow! I'm just watching news and they are saying there is a major winter storm in the mid-west and north east. Stay warm and safe!
DeleteI think both pairings are great! What a fun thing for you and your daughter to do together.
ReplyDeleteI will be curious to see your next masterpiece. :)
That's a very nice little harvest from your garden.
Thank you, Debra. The next masterpiece is a floral painting, according to the website (Michael's).
DeleteI was very pleased with my garden harvest. Today, I picked another handful of red chili peppers, 5 more peapods, and two oranges. :) Oranges don't ripen after picking, so I like to leave them on the tree until I want to eat them. :)
They are both beautiful Bless and it sounds like you had a nice productive day. It's nice to be able to pop in again more often to see what you are up to. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Martha. It's good to hear from you, as and when you can! :)
DeleteThe painting look lovely. My daughter and I took a wine and painting class at a local shop once. I must admit that neither one of our paintings was great but we had a fun time and we both display the paintings in our house lol.
ReplyDeleteOh, that must have been a fun class! I really enjoyed painting with my daughter. :)
DeleteNo, I've never taken an online art class. My father, sister, brother and niece are very talented in that department. Me, not so much. I liked both pictures actually. Great that you and daughter do things like that. I can't get over that you can just go outside and pick oranges from your tree. Especially since have you seen the prices of oranges lately? LOL I went to the pharmacy drive-thru to pick up my prescription today and wouldn't you know the entire pharmacy is closed until Sunday. We're thinking someone has the virus so they shut it all down. Luckily it's only a refill and I still have plenty of the old prescription. Have a good weekend! Denise
ReplyDeleteThank you, Denise. The art class was fun. :) I am very grateful to have an orange tree in my garden. It's not a very big tree, but, we get enough oranges for us not to have to buy any for a few months of the year. This is the season for citrus. I'm sorry the pharmacy was closed, but, glad you have enough medication to last you until they reopen. Hope you have a good weekend, too, Denise. :)
DeleteThe paintings are fantastic! The art class sounded a lot of fun, and a lovely way for you and your daughter to enjoy some time together. X
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jules. Yes, it was fun to take the art class with my daughter. You go on walks with Lily; I sit on the couch and paint with my girl! :D
DeleteThe paintings are great and both heaps better than anything I would produce! I don't know about "cheating" but I prefer your tree trunks of the two. :o) Love the fact that they fit together so well.
ReplyDeleteAll this talk of homegrown oranges! Really Bless, didn't your mother ever tell you that it wasn't nice to boast? Next you'll be bragging that you went out without a coat!! :oP
Thank you, Lady Ella. I have seen birch trees, but, I think the only time my daughter saw one was when she was about 5 years old and too young to notice or remember (her piano teacher at the time had a birch tree in her front yard).
DeleteHa, ha, I did go outside, yesterday, without a coat! It was in the mid 70s (F), yesterday! Today's high is supposed to be 70F (but, only 63F right now, as I type this; I'd probably need a coat if I were to go outside, now). :D
Both paintings are lovely!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'll take that as a very high compliment since you are such a talented artist, yourself! :D
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