No Sewing Photos Today

Instead I'm going to show you my homework.  You might remember I'm taking an art class on color.  There have been assignments and there have been projects.  Using colored pencils and water colors paints so far.

This is a close-up of my color chart where I mixed each of the colors. I'm not terribly fond of the the white showing, but I like the shades.

This is my intensity chart. We could only use blue or red.  

This is the color chart we made by glazing.  I started over twice.

The following are only 3 out of 5 compositions we had to make using three items of fruit/veggies.  We had to draw 5 different arrangements. Then pick the one we thought was best, draw it five times on 7"x 10" papers. Then we had to paint them in five different color combinations.

This one is local color which means it's painted as it really looks. A red pear, a butternut squash and a green chile pepper, see the real pepper?

This one is color tetrad. That's four colors from the color wheel making square in the center of the wheel if you draw a straight line from one to the next. We had to also used the neutrals made from mixing those colors. That's grey on the background.

And this one is cool colors only. We had to use all the cool colors. 

So that's what's been happening on my dining table this week.

I want to thank the Lord for the rain and cooler temperatures.  It's helping with the firefighting. The King fire has consumed more that 95,000 acres of El Dorado County.

See you next time.

Sapphire

Who remembers Amos and Andy?  When it was on TV, I was a little kid.  I liked it. There was a character on there called Sapphire. (I mean women have had gemstone names for centuries like Ruby and Pearl, Jade, Coral.)    Here is a photo of the actress who played Sapphire both on radio and television. Her name is Ernestine Wade. (photos from Wikipedia)

And here she is as Sapphire.

Love the hat.  I had a telephone like that for a very long time even when more modern ones were available. The folks said no reason to change as that one worked fine.

This is all leading up to my decision about naming the car.  Pierce and Lapis were in serious contention, but I've decided the Subaru is a female persona.  So, you guessed it, I'm calling her Sapphire. Partly for the gemstone and partly for this wonderful character.

Although many people later thought her role negatively reflected on black women, she found much praise from people both black and white for her performances.

Now I'm wondering. Shall I name my new phone?  Ah, come on, why not?

I Want to Name My Car

When cars first came into being and people bought them, they named them.  Perhaps this happened because people were used to naming their horses, i.e. Dobbin, Trigger etc. This morning while making the bed I was struck by the desire to name my car.  The reason being that it sounds nifty to say 'I'll pick up you up in  Old Betsy at 1000"  instead of  " in the Subaru".  Or "Old Betsy needs detailing".  You see what I'm talking about, eh?

This is the best photo I could find of my car.

This is from the internet. Mine is the same year and color, but no scoop and no luggage rack.

I thought about calling it Pierce after one of my favorite actors.  Or the Peacock after one of the ships in the Exploring Expedition of 1840.

Suggestions anyone?  Monet? Miro? Sapphire?

I value your opinion.  There is no prize, however, for suggesting the name I like best.  You'll might enjoy the knowledge that you contributed to my joy.

I Really Needed a Zipper

Howdy

It's true, I did need a zipper.  That is all I have left to do on my sister's vest.  Oh, I bought a zipper when I bought the fabric, but I altered the pattern and the zipper I bought is too long.  When it comes to separating zippers, I'm a novice.  But I was being bold, yes, me, I was being bold.  I thought perhaps there was a way to shorten a separating zipper.  YouTube to the rescue. Number one and number two.  Both good.  So I tried.  No luck.  I could not pull the teeth off like both presenters said.

You must believe me,  I tried because I didn't want to go to Joann. (Secretly, I always want to go where there is fabric for sale). I really needed the zipper.  I contemplated going to Walmart (closer, but I dislike it intensely) for about 5 seconds.  So I gave myself a talking to and left.

You know what's coming, don't you?  Yes, I did get my zipper. And, I confess, that zipper cost me $51. That's not including gasoline.

See the finished vest very soon.  I'd like to get a picture of it on my sister, but I may not be able to do that for ages.  I'll get a model.  Ahem, me.

                                                          

My grandson is going to a party in October where costumes are desired. He's going to be 'The Dread Pirate, Roberts' and for this year's pirate costume, he's going to make it himself with help from his mom.

He was much younger in photo above.

Stay tuned.

Wandering to Fall

 I found this beautiful photo on the internet so long ago I don't even know where it is from except that it was taken in the Cotswalds, UK.

A poem of today and tomorrow.

 Summer morning cool and quiet no one up but me, sleepy eyes adjusting to dawn;

Sleepy eyes that awaken to a shadow of light creeping up the foothills sharing days;

Sharing days and mornings like this one with a silent creature , a spotted fawn;

A spotted fawn, a doe nearby to teach that it's okay to eat the roses that look that way;

That way are the roses but leave the daffodils and sage.  Ordinary tastes of  the garden;

Tastes of the garden for me are red like tomatoes and strawberries, cherry peppers small;

Small and round and spicy like an afternoon in the sun wandering its way to Fall.

Take a bit of a wander today.

path photo from internet, wallpaper place

Going to School

 Rio Tinto,Spain ( from Bing)


Did I  tell you I was going to school?  Of course I did. Don't I tell you everything?  I was taking two classes. Art: Design Principles Color Theory and Art History: An Introduction to Art.  I really wanted to take both of them, but I forgot about school in the 15 years since I last went.  (I got my RN degree in 1999.) I missed the second day of Art History because I went to Arizona. It turns out the class was cancelled, but she assigned a library project due the following Thursday.  She did that on the internet at something called D2L.(Desire to Learn)  So I knew about the project while still in AZ.

The assignment said to to the college library look at 3 different art magazines and write about them.  To make this story short, let me say, the library had only one art magazine and it was for artists not about art.  I tried to buy an art magazine at both the stores in our small city alas all about painting not art.  Public library had one.  So  I thought,  why am I stressing, taking art is not supposed to be stressful over 60.  Really.  The second assignment was the topper. Online again.  She told us to follow the rules in week four folder, but week four folder would not open. 

That's it.  I dropped the class.  Ahhhhhhhhh the relief.  I'm still doing the color class which is a different kind of stress.  But first more Rio Tinto.

 

Can you believe that river?  What color!
(Also from Bing)












There is homework.  Most people who do homework want to do it correctly.  I'm sure I'm right about this. Particularly the over 60 crowd.
So yesterday I prepared to do mine.  That is not wine. Honest. Ice water.

It looks like I'm ready.

I'm using water color and I'm going to make a color wheel using glazing technique and also an intensity chart and a color chart.

Dear Readers, I have suddenly realized how uninteresting this may be. So I'm skipping ahead.  I had taken about four hours and several restarts to do these things.

The color chart, glazing. Still need to do another in mixing technique.

This is the intensity one. I'm not absolutely sure that's the correct name.

My color wheel.  And there's a shadow in the photo. It's me.  Anyway.  This is far from well done, but after 3 tries I said. . .

"Remember this is for Fun and not for a grade."   There will be grades, but they won't matter in the long run.  It is fun.

Started my sister's vest at last and will post some photos about sewing soon.  

Have a colorful day.

Three positive things

A couple of weeks ago, my oldest, Elizabeth, decided to post (on Facebook) 3 positive things that happened each day for a week.  I did not participate in that although my other daughter, Alex, did.  About a week ago, Elizabeth explained how hard that was as she was having very challenging days.  She also said that being thankful for positive 'things' was not quite as difficult as pinpointing positive happenings each day.  After thinking about that,  I decided I would try it starting with yesterday.

1. My wandering cat, Zeke, came home again.
2. When I watered the very droopy plant (I'm not sure what it is), it perked up considerably.
3. I lost a pound.  This was on purpose, not an accident.  I would prefer to never find that one again.

A few years ago I read an short article about the good effects of being thankful has on our minds and spirits.  The article suggested writing down five things you're thankful for each day.  Try not to say the same thing every time.  I remember one suggestion was "I'm thankful for pepperoni pizza."  This idea has not been hard for me as I am thankful to God for so many things every day.

So with a promise to post some sewing and/or art photos soon,  I close with this one.

I am thankful for my piano.

Back from Arizona

I had a lovely time in Arizona with my daughter, Alex.  We spent 2 nights in Tucson and 2 at her home.  Unfortunately, I did not get to visit SAS fabrics as I only read the suggestion from Mary after I was in Sierra Vista. And it was closed on Labor Day when I was back in Tucson to fly home.  But looking at the website, I know I want to go there on my next visit!     SAS Fabrics

We did visit the University of Arizona Art Museum.  There were wonderful things to see.  I was taking photos for my art history class (which I just dropped today, but will take again in future) for a project we were supposed to do towards the end of the semester.

This is one of my favorites.  I curse my photography skills. The chrysanthemums on the casket are exquisite.  Also the mourners all seem so sad in different ways, the fourth one can't help but look at the coffin.  Apparently a musician has passed away. Alex and I both found it touching.

We went to the movies and saw  " The Hundred Foot Journey".  Very good, but warning: you may be  hungry when you leave the theatre.

You might want to go to Gringos Restaurant and have this.  I didn't have this after the movie, but I did my best with it the night before.

Do you see the little stack on top? Olive, pickled pepper and pickle.  There is bacon, black bean spread, lettuce, tomato, onions, and 1/2 pound of range beef inside.  I think I might have left something out.  I recommend they make a smaller version as it was yummy, but HUGE.

We actually did go out to eat after the movie.  We went to Grimaldi's Pizzeria.  It's near the university.  They are a chain from NYC, but alas, are not in California as yet.  I failed to take any photos there. But this one looks tasty.

This photo is from the Grimaldi's Coney Island website.  I'm getting    hungry again.

We also did a bit of shopping, watched Joe VS the Volcano while having homemade curry, played Yahzee and talked a bunch. 

Sad to leave, but we'll meet in Salt Lake City in October with the rest of my family. It will be the first time in 3 1/2 years we'll all be together.

My homeward flight. What do I see?

Lake Tahoe. Almost home.

Enjoy being home today if  and when you get there.