YUPO PEONY

Well, folks, I never said I couldn’t paint on Yupo, just said I don’t like it.
To prove to you that I’m capable, here’s a Yupo demo utilizing what some call the “batik look”. This painting is my first experiment with using tape on Yupo.
To see another painting I did on Yupo – with watercolor - see my post here on ------ yet another painting of a peony!

I’m using fluid acrylic and my trusty peony photo for this project.

My first step was to get “high” on the alcohol fumes! You use alcohol to wipe over the surface of the Yupo to rid it of any smudges or dirt. I have a feeling this is more crucial if you are using watercolor instead of the fluid acrylics.

Using a watercolor pencil, I drew the flower directly onto the Yupo. If I made a mistake, I “erased” the line with water. The next time I do this I will probably wet the tip of the pencil first to make it a bit darker, since I kept losing my lines and had to redraw several times during this process.
The beauty of using this photo is that I can probably screw up the drawing and it will still come out looking like a peony!

CUTE CARTOON

My friend gave me this cartoon – said it sounded just like me – and, sadly, this IS ME!

I must give credit to “Pearls Before Swine” by Stephan Pastis

SYCAMORE LEAVES - 3 - HELP!

Well, I have finished the leaves - but now am thinking about the background.  Which I don't want to work on until I decide which way to hang it - and I need help with that - from YOU!  (Yes, I'm talking to you there behind that computer screen!)
So . . . here are all 4 ways -

Leaves 1





Leaves 2

Leaves 3

Leaves 4

Let me know which you like best so I can get this thing finished!!!!

SYCAMORE LEAVES - 2

I gradually – s l o w l y !! – work up the colors on each leaf. At this point I’m wondering if I need something else in the right open space, but think I’ll wait until the painting is farther along to decide.

SYCAMORE LEAVES

Finally, I’m back with a painting!

This painting was started as a demo, some time ago, for a fluid acrylic workshop.

When I do a demo, I don’t usually think of trying to get a completed painting. I just take an object or scene that I can use as an example in order to teach the class the specific technique or concept. If the painting works out, it’s a bonus! 

Since I was doing  more than one demo that weekend, this painting was started to simply show how I glaze with fluid acrylics.

The sun was backlighting some sycamore leaves one afternoon so I took a photo. There were more leaves in the photo, but I liked this diagonal line, so I left out several leaves. As usual, I began by glazing on some color.

EMBARRASSING MOMENTS . . . .

My daughter and I were going to Ikea (for the umpteenth time!) and when I got dressed I located a pair of slacks to wear that hadn’t fit for a while (yippee!) which prompted me to locate a pair of shoes other than my usual black loafers. A nice looking pair of brown Easy Spirit that were a few years old, but only worn a few times. I was lookin’ snazzy (or so I thought!).

After putting on the shoes and walking around a bit, I found some dark dirt following me. I looked at the bottom of the shoes and thought I must have gotten dirt on them the last time I wore them; swept it up and left the house.

After getting to Ikea and walking a while, it felt like there was something sticking to the inside of my right heel – a quick check showed no such thing – but after a few more steps that just didn’t feel right, I picked up my foot and looked at the bottom – and part of my heel was gone! W H A A A T? I told my daughter, we shook our heads and shrugged our shoulders and trudged on. A few minutes later my right foot felt flat. When I looked behind me there was a huge chunk of my shoe – the rest of my heel and part of the front sole - laying on the floor behind me!
We were shocked, but also got a bad case of the giggles. I felt like a total dork! But I kept on – what choice did I have?
The farther we went in the store, the more shoe parts I left behind, and the left shoe also began breaking down. Another large chunk – the left heel this time. Next time I looked, the fronts were beginning to crack so I was trying not to walk any farther than need be – sort of scouting out the terrain ahead and sneaking through the aisles in a more direct route to the checkout aisles and keeping very flat-footed.
I managed to get outside – to find the rain had set in! My daughter went to pull the car around so my feet wouldn’t get wet and we scrubbed the rest of our shopping day to go straight back to her place. I helped unload the car and tracked more shoe parts around her house. When I got home I took off what was left of the shoes – and here’s what they look like now!

I’ve got another pair with similar soles, also older and unworn, so I’m going to get them out and wear them around the house and see what happens! My husband says they dry-rotted from non-use! Who knew!?!?
I guess I am a dork, telling stupid stories on myself, but I just had to share yet another embarrassing moment with you! This did prompt lots of laughter and tears on the way home, since I then had to tell my daughter the stories of the toilet paper and the train!
She may be reconsidering asking her mother to shop with her again!

WINTER COWS - and mouse update . . . .

Just had to take a few cow pictures again. The calves are so wooly and fuzzy with their winter coats – and don’t they look stylish with their big purple earrings!

My husband “invented” something to hook onto the back of the tractor to unroll the big round hay bales. I got to see it work for the first time – and it really did! He cuts off the strings that hold the bale together and then drives – either forward or backward, whichever way the bale begins to unwind. (Apparently it’s hard to figure out which way the hay was rolled up, but it doesn’t seem to matter since he can either go forward or backward and the bale will unwind either way). It lays that big bale out into a flat swath of hay – and the cows go for it immediately!

I nearly froze my fingers off driving the Gator up to the field. By the time I got back to the house it was time for a cup of hot chocolate, bundle under the blanket and warm up – and it WAS above 20 degrees (I checked before I went out!!!)

* * * * * *

And now for the mouse update . . . . .
You may recall that there are (were?) mice in my car. 
When I cleaned it out I discovered that those little suckers . . .
      "And now class, for our vocabulary word for the day, change one letter in the word 'suckers' to make a  
       new word" . . . .
. . . had chewed a hole in the top of my left rear seat and chewed most of the way through the seat belt.  OMG!  There was no way for me to open that panel without tearing the car apart, so I placed a glue mousetrap around that area and hoped for the best.
Guess when I take it in for service next time I'll ask them to see what they can find down in that hole - wonder how many times they have been asked to become exterminators - and then get a new seat belt.
It's amazing to me how much damage such tiny little creatures can cause!