Sometimes it’s the Little Things

Hope you all had a good week, it  was a pretty low key week here. We had an another heat wave here in Oregon so it was a good week to stay close to home in the air conditioning and paint.

It’s been awhile since I have made new cards. I ran out of the handmade paper I was using and haven’t been able to find it so I have started using  card blanks by Strathmore that I am liking almost as much. It is a folded 5×7 card instead of a flat 4×6 card so the formatting is a little different. Since I have been working in more detail also on my larger works, I decided to try that technique on the cards too. I am pretty happy with it and I am doing some in watercolor and some in pencil. Here are some of the cards I have made this week. If you’re interested just let me know.

I am finding all kinds of little natural artifacts here that I am saving for source material. Things like Scrub Jay, Flicker, and Crow feathers, seed pods and twigs with lichen as well as pinecones, leaves of various kinds too that I will keep to work on later.

We did make it to the Beaverton Farmers Market and while we were downtown, we visited the location where the Night Market event was happening. They had chalk painters doing some sidewalk art. This one was particularly spectacular, done by Pam Rindell and her husband, it was done is a format so that when looked at through a camera lens it became 3D. It was so colorful and fairytale like, sadly we didn’t get to go back to see it finished, but Im sure it was even more wonderful. It was my favorite one of all.

Today, has been cooler and as I was sitting outside this morning, I was able to capture a little squirrel activity. Lisa and Mick have what I am just going to have to call a spa for the squirrels and birds with various feeders, a swimming pool, birdbaths and massive trees for their use. Plus many flowers which make the bees happy too. All of this also creates great entertainment and exercise opportunities for the 4 dogs. We make sure the wild critters have a heads-up before we release the hounds so we have no unfortunate incidents. This morning I was able the get a little video of my dogs and a squirrel. Which you can see on my Youtube channel here. 

Video 1 The Squirrel and Bird Spa

Video 2 A Game of Keep-away

It is so funny how easily entertained I can be when I am surrounded by new stimulation! Enjoying it all.

Have a great week, and don’t forget to write!

Cheryl

P.S. I read a blog today about reducing your carbon footprint ( it’s not just corporations that need to think about it, we humans can do a lot all on our own.) This is one of my favorite bloggers, she is knowledgeable and very entertaining. Enjoy!

The Art of Doing Stuff