Tantivy

We were busy for us, that is. I find that as I get older, it takes less and less to seem like a day's work.T This was my night stand early this morning. You might not believe this, but that is much better than it sometimes is. Sometimes the books are piled four high on the top and the bed steps below are just useless for getting into the bed. I decided to clean.  I started with the drawer which was a hodgepodge of all sorts of things. If I can keep from filling this up again, I think this is good. Handkerchiefs, eye shades, shea butter, pills, reading light and extra glasses, foot files and smoothers, and bookmarks. Not bad.  Here it is after I finished. Extra magazines dealt with, books ready to read (on bottom step) iPad(red) sketchbooks, thirsty stone for my water and/or coffee cup, lip balm, and the ever handy flashlight to check the clock when I awake at unreasonable hours. Our bedroom, by the way, is pink. Meanwhile, Dean was busy on the stairs. He remov...

We went to Sara's house for a long weekend from last Friday until Tuesday. We had wonderful meals (check out the recipe for salad on Pinterest) and did some interesting things. We went to see the topiary garden of Pearl Fryar. Now I don't generally like topiary except for a few forms that are really formal. Mr. Fryar is a self-taught topiarist and his forms are neither formal, animals, or other objects. They are abstract art forms which are mixed in with his sculptures made from found objects.  I love this pot bellied stove and tea kettle.  His bottle tree is aluminum. What nice colored bottles he has on it.  Another fountain but we couldn't decide what the parts were from. Mr. Fryar began his work with plants that the nurseries in the area were throwing out, and went from there. He now provides scholarships for C students who show promise. Coca Cola was so impressed that they installed a restroom on the property. His neighbors have also taken up topiary....

Don't you like it when you do something that you know isn't great and later you figure out how to make it better? I am talking art here, but it could be cooking or cleaning or whatever. I drew a girl. She wasn't good and I knew it but she stayed this way for a while. Finally today, after messing with her on and off over several weeks I think I made some headway. She still is not a beauty, but then again, some of us are not, and at least she looks better. This photo is cropped rather tightly but her whole head is in the painting. Pastel on watercolor paper. Here is something else I did today. I spent quite a while having fun in the studio. I will never be an award winning artist or make a living selling my paintings but I do enjoy making them. The center of this one was painted about two weeks ago on deli paper and today I mounted it on watercolor paper and finished it up. I like it, but I don't expect that everyone will. Acrylic on deli paper and watercolor p...

Here is the greatest summer breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, supper, or whenever you choose to have it. Tennessee grown tomatoes and scrambled eggs courtesy of Dean. Every bite was yummy. The tomato had jut the right acidity and the eggs came from a local farm. Just a little salt. But here is what is left of the fallen tree down the street. A crane came to lift it off the house but then they cut it down. Maybe it was too damaged.  I hate to think that someone would say "cut it down" just because it was easier or cheaper. It had been there so many years.The house looks so bare and I am sure that the people in the upstairs back apartment feel exposed to the world without that tree shielding them. I do hope that they (I don't know who is in charge here, just THEY) will remove the stump and plant another, but things don't always work out as we wish. (bet you knew that already!) Out to the studio I go to have a wonderful afternoon. I hope that yours is wonderful ...

The papers have been gathered from the porch, opened,  stacked and are in our recycle bin ready for transport to the recycle center. A big check mark on the to do list! Yea me! Now it is onward and upward. What about scraping peeling paint off the porch ceiling? Straightening the linen closet? Tackling that storage room upstairs? There are many from which to choose. No dearth of projects at this house and there is always the house in the mountains to tackle. I need a nap just from thinking about all that needs to be done. I also moved my "nest". Do you have a nest where you sit and read or write or draw or watch the TV? Mine was on this sofa but the dogs wanted to share it and got in my way so I moved to the chair.The flowery box is my art supply box for the evening fun time. I do the "serious" work out in my studio. "Serious" is here a technical term for "other". I thought that I had killed this lucky bamboo when I gave it a dr...

We are having a long slow, soft rain and it is wonderful. We have lately had our share of hard winds, hard, rain, and hard heat.  Gentle is a nice change. So far the ground isn't saturated, but it is getting a good soak. The leaves on the redbud outside the dining room, gather drops. The leaves are huge and heart shaped and the effect is lovely. There is no breeze so the drops cling until the rain is harder or gravity finally pulls them to the ground. Out the front door the street is all shiny and the air is clean. The porch could stand some paint but that will have to wait for another, drier day. What you can't see here is a stack of newspapers that accumulated while we were gone and forgot to stop delivery and which I put off dealing with while it was so hot. They have to be freed from the plastic bag and rubber band , flattened and put with the recycling. Maybe I should just stop taking the paper, but It is good to keep up with the local happenings. All of you w...

Last Thursday evening we had a sudden sustained wind of 50 - 70 MPH. Power lines and trees were downed. Three power poles were snapped. We had only twigs and leaves scattered around but a huge old sycamore split and part of it fell on the house about two blocks away. The large old house has been turned into apartments;I don't know if the owner lives in Cleveland or not. Dean surmised that a crane might be needed to remove the tree without further damage.  Part of the roof is pushed up and there appears to be a hole in it, covered by a blue tarp. I think that this tree was once three trees growing so close that they grew together. It could have been much worse, but it is still sad to see for bother house and tree. Here are some more small works on paper. They are about 9" x12" or so. Vicki says they look tortured and I have to agree. You never know what will come out when you begin to paint. I am still considering getting my nerve up and having a small "showing...

Here it is - the new haircut. I think I like it but it will take frequent haircuts and I am not sure about that. I might be able to spike the top. What do you think? I think that snapping your own photo with your phone rarely produces stunningly good results, but this will have to do for now. Here is something that might be a bit better. A new piece in the "small works on paper" collection. I have the next begun and will go work on it now. The blue is actually a little greener and the violet just a touch redder. The next one is similar (I am making a series that is related) but quite different to me. Stay tuned to see its unveiling . Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to comment.

Here is my temporary library. The stairs are used for books to read, books just read, books that need to be passed on, books that I need to find a place for, books that have overflowed the nightstand. Today I remembered a book from my childhood called Those Plummer Children  written by Christine Noble Govan, a Chattanooga author. I am sure that the book is no longer available; it was very regional as well as non-PC. The Plummer children had a black woman who took care of them and the "N word" was probably used. This and an article I read on the Huffington Post site made me think about the "colored help" of my childhood. We weren't allowed to ever use the N word, but at that time, to call someone black was not a compliment, nor was African American used, all citizens being just Americans. People of color (and we knew or saw no Latinos) were called colored people or sometimes Negroes, pronounced Neegrows so it wouldn't come out Nigra and sound like that...