This part of my blog is all about the things I collect or the things I make myself. I love so many things, I paint and draw and want to learn oils and pastels. I knit and crochet but want to learn tatting. I embroider and can turn my hand to most things given a chance. So much still to learn and do. I live in hope of some day reading all my books, learning all I want to learn and now I am learning to blog. You will often find my original poems, poor as they are I offer them here. I also appreciate other people art and will feature things I find that I have enjoyed. That includes pictures of fairies and fantasy or maybe just anything beautiful.
I try to use my own photo's as much as possible, sometimes I borrow from the web. If I inadvertently use your picture without giving credit, please do let me know and I will either credit or remove it, I hope you will do the same with mine.
If you wish to leave comments on my blog you can do that by joining google if you do not have a blog yourself, please comment if you can I appreciate that.


Monday, January 30, 2012

More rough drawings.............

I am sketching at the moment in the hopes of doing something I can paint. I am not sure yet what I want to accomplish. I am working on composition and proportion and perspective. Not quite getting things right but here are what I did yesterday.
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Fairies are what I am doing most it seems
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This one is a bit scary.

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I tried a nude its easy to see the errors once you post the picture haha

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I am quite happy with this one however

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All my drawing is done freehand. I may look at something, another picture or painting, a photo for an idea, but I draw without the use of anything else. When I took one watercolour class I was shocked to find some of the local artists (and good ones) trace or use a light box to project their chosen picture onto their paper. To me that seems like cheating. However, one person had a point......when doing a building, in order to get the proportions correct, one should use a light box. I have never yet done that. So these drawings that I show on this blog will unless I say otherwise me freehand.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Tristens bear.....................

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I was in a hurry with this bear. First of all it was cut out and the head was too small. I sewed it up anyway as it was. Tristen wanted it and kept taking it away before I was done.It is not my best effort. The embroidery stitches are bad, but he does not care, he loves his bear. I have another already cut out and will do that one too. Hopefully doing a better job of it. At least I got it done.......it was one of my January projects. I also completed his 2nd hat. Same as his other one only in blue and brown.
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The first picture I was going to do it without the pompom but in the end he looks so darn cute with a pompom so I added one. It reminds me of the poodle pups tails.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Works In Progress.............

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Not sure yet how I want to finish this. I drew from a picture I liked but changed it by reversing the image and changing it a bit. I also drew it freehand and a different size so I hope when finished it will not resemble the original.

This one is a true story.........when I had my horse Lady

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Not at all sure where to go with this one

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Then there is this
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I need a good photo editor program that is easy to use and not expensive. I want to play around with images whether photos or drawings.

None of these are finished drawings, just ideas put down to work on
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Monday, January 9, 2012

Cross Stitch............

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I am not a cross stitch person. Well, I don't do counted cross stitch. I used to enjoy it when I lived in England because they had the patterns printed on the fabric. Not a whole load of guessing to do there. So.........i saw these little kids and grabbed them. If I complete them (sigh!!) I may do more. I am putting them here to sort of hold myself accountable.
I have completed the 4 hats that I had intended to do at Christmas plus one extra so maybe it works? The one I have not finished was the loom. Still working on that one.
So...........I will let you see the progress as I begin this project and hope I have finished and framed items to give next Christmas.

I made a start yesterday on this one.

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What I like about this cross stitch is that the pattern is printed on the canvas, so no counting. I like that a lot. I will try to do some every day and see how it goes.I know it will not be up to my previous standards because I have lost the sight in my right eye. It makes it difficult to have perspective but I can at least still sew. Threading a needle is a laugh to say the least.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Snacks anyone?................

Do you like hot and spicy snacks? Well here is an awesome recipe for you. It is very quick and simple. Well maybe not quick because it does involve waiting for it.
Let me explain.
You will need a container that will fit the crackers in with enough room to keep turning them.
I use an icecream container, my friend used a large plastic mayo jar.

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For the recipe you will need.
One box of saltine crackers
1 1/3 cups of Canola Oil (I tried other oil, stick with Canola)
1 pkg of dry Hidden Valley Ranch dressing
2 - 3 table spoons of Red pepper flakes.

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Empty the 4 envelopes of crackers into your container. Sprinkle the dry Ranch dressing and the Red pepper flakes over them and then pour over the oil. If you want to mix that all together first and pour it on that works too. I always forget. You can make it as hot as you like by simply adding more or less red pepper flakes.

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Put the lid on the container and keep on turning it to cover all crackers. This can and should be done over a period of days. Just keep on turning when you walk by the container. That way it covers better. You can also dive in and move them by hand to get those in the middle. Anyway, when you have done tasting them every day to see if they are just right. You might have a few left to enjoy with a nice cheese.