January 30, 2013 Innocent and January 31 Grow

January 30th Innocent Rosie as I first brought her home at eight weeks, so small and innocent:

Rosie now, at seven months, still innocent, but she has quintupled her size! She has grown....a lot...

 

But, with that sort of worried look on her face, I guess I would have to ask "What have you done now?"

This is the face that happily leaps on whoever is still in bed after she goes out in the morning, and wakes up with her really, really cold and wet nose.

January 29, 2013 Red

Today's word is red. A tour of my kitchen yielded these red items.

A silicone handle for the cast iron frying pan:

A red fire extinguisher:

Something we didn't have the year Clyde started an oven fire cooking the turkey at Thanksgiving.

My red purse:

The time on the coffee maker (Although, the numbers are red and the background is black..so not sure why the numbers aren't red and the background is.  Must be something to do with the camera.)

January 28, 2013 Inside

Inside. What a good topic for today. While it was warm (50's) earlier, the temperature took a sudden nosedive to 30 by 4pm, and it's going lower than that tonight. And it's snowing some. Such a good time to have all our plants inside where they can stay warm.

January 27, 2013 Outside

Today's topic: Outside

 What better to do than to go to the duck pond and feed the ducks! Especially when the weather is nice.

January 26, 2013 Guests

Today's word is guest. And tonight I have three very special guests:

Three of my grandkids. I wish the other two could be here also. So much fun when they are all together.

January 24 - 25, 2013 Faux vs. Real

Thursday's word was

 Faux (pron.: /ˈfoʊ/) is a French word for "false".

When manufacturing faux objects or materials, an attempt is often made to create products which will resemble the imitated items as closely as possible.

However, some products are intentionally made to look "faux", for example, faux furs made for prospective buyers who want their fur to be recognizable as imitation due to controversy over the use and manufacture of real animal furs.

Well, I am not discussing fur today, but the faux trees that occur along the forested parts of Colorado highways.

 I am uncertain as to whether these are faux trees created to resemble trees as closely as possible, or if they are faux trees that are meant to be recognizable as imitation trees.

Take, for example, this one on Highway 83 north of Northgate road.

See the rectangular "tree" sticking up above the treeline. Could you possibly mistake this for a real tree?

Another picture, see how the "limbs" are all the same size.

These look like alien trees.

 Real (the word for Friday) trees look like these (taken from my back deck)

So, if you're in Colorado and see these strange looking trees rising above the treeline, you are more than likely looking at a cell tower.

January 23, 2013 Transparent

Word for the 23rd of January: Transparent

There are many ways of viewing transparency: windows are transparent (you can see thru them), you can be transparent, in that you are open and honest, layers in Photoshop can have different levels of transparency, depending on what/how much of the layers below you want to show thru (like the post here), and you can have transparency in paint, notably in watercolor, where the light is reflected back from the paper thru the paint.

The hollyhock painting below has a lot of transparency in the flowers. They seem to glow.

I think I caught the effect that I wanted, the flowers are bursting with light, as if they were in the sun.

Out of order January 21, 2013 Dream

Today is the 22nd of January. Yesterday's topic was Dream, which I didn't have a clue. Clyde read today's post, and commented that I should have said something about Dream Pastries. That falls under Dream. And the pastries are to die for! And the sandwiches, soups, and salads are really good too.

Today, I made arrangements to hang some art up there for display, and for sale if someone wants to buy it. I didn't hang mine, because, frankly, I don't really have anything ready. But I have artist friends that did... So I put together a show for them, and Clyde and I drove up this afternoon and hung the art.

The pictures are lousy, the place is small, and I had to hang the art high because that's where the wall space is. But you can see what I hung.

I arranged for photography by Alana Thrower, fiber art by Linda Pavian Roberts, handmade paper sculpture by Wilhelmina Steenbergen, and acrylic abastracts and impressionism by Julia McMInn Evans and Margarete Seagraves. I asked them what they had, on the small size because the place isn't large, and what I got went together really well.

So Dream Pastries, on Perry Street, north of the fire station, in Castle Rock, has new art on their walls until the end of February.

January 22, 2013 This makes me smile

Sorry, I missed yesterday's topic, Dream. I'll have to find something and post it later.

Today's topic is "this_makes_me_smile",  and she does. Here she is at the top of the stairs waiting for me to come up. She follows me around, and tries to go everywhere I go. Of course, she tries to go everywhere Clyde goes, too. Which can be difficult because we don't go the same way. That's because we're married!

I suppose I could label this Dream also, because I can only dream of the day when she is quiet and well behaved. Usually she's a bundle of energy that wants to play. And she's good at Fetch. Guess that's because she's a Labrador RETRIEVER!

 But I think the kick she gets is chasing the ball, stick, toy, pinecone, whatever...

January 20, 2013 What I'm currently reading

Today's topic is "currently reading". So I took a picture of what I am currently reading:

These are by no means easy reads-Mismatch is totally dry, and I've only made it into the second chapter. It is written by a progressive (liberal), Rick Sander, a white person who was a community organizer in South Chicago. This book attempts to deal with the 'racial preferences' for college admission as opposed to 'affirmative action' and why it hurts the students affected. However, what I've read so far has been interesting.

Mugged is by Ann Coulter, and I'm part way thru it.

The Financial Crises and the Free Market Cure --haven't started it yet.

How Children Succeed-  I've glanced over, and it looks very interesting.  I'm not a teacher, but I am interested in child development, and how I can encourage my grandkids.

Why these books?   I try to keep expanding my knowledge.  And my favorite authors, like Tess Gerritson, Kay Hooper, Catherine Coulter, Iris Johansen, and others, do not put out enough books to keep me busy.  Plus, their books typically end up being one day reads, they are usually real page turners.

January 19, 2013 Style

Today's topic is style. Well, I've been talking about my painting style, so what else is there?

Oh, wait! I know! I have style in the clothes I wear, right?

Since the weather has recently been so cold, I thought I'd show you what the well-dressed ranch woman wears in 10 degrees and below:

See the knitted cap, the scarf, the jacket, the gloves, and the overalls?

Aren't those overalls to die for?!? I mean, everyone wants a pair of those. Don't they?

I am just the most stylish in the winter when I want to stay warm. I could show you my fuzzy pajamas, but I think I'll let you absorb the warm clothing first....

January 18, 2013 News - good and bad

Good news, bad news.....or maybe this should be called "a day late and a dollar short".

The photo has nothing to do with the news.

 I went to the doctor this morning. Saved up 3 things to have checked. Might as well, one visit, 3 things. Economical, especially time wise.

 So the good news: the mole is not cancerous, the sore hip is probably bursitis, or some muscle inflammation that exercising is helping (because it sure has gotten better since I went back to the nordik trak).

 Bad news: apparently when I had my surgery last summer, the incision in my abdominal wall didn't heal properly, because I have a hernia.....oh, joy. Now I have another appointment with a general surgeon in two weeks to discuss how we are going to fix this.

But there is some good news in the bad news. Doc said absolutely no heavy lifting.

 "Clyde, can you bring in the groceries please?"

 "Clyde, can you dump the manure bucket please?"

 "Clyde, can you haul the kitty litter bucked downstairs please?"

 "Clyde, can you drag the garbage out to the curb please?"

"Clyde, can you take the vaccuum down (or) upstairs for me please?"

 I plan on milking this for all it's worth!

January 17, 2013 This_is_so_me

Sometimes, I have found, trying to follow the words in Project 365 are pretty hard. Today's topic is This_is_so_me. So what do you put up?

 Sometimes I get stuck, creativity flees, and I have no idea. Plus, sometimes it's just too much work. So, today, I went back to a digital photography class that I took, and the assignment to do a self portrait. So, this was my self portrait, and it still pretty much fits.

This has the horses, portraits I did of the grandkids (when they were only 4) and the horseshoes from a painting in watercolor class.  And I had to take the picture of me in the lower right corner.  Then I had to fit them all together with photoshop.  There are many layers to this photo, and they've been made transparent so that everything shows thru.  I don't remember which order they are in.  Can you tell?

If I had to do this again, I would have to add Wyatt the youngest grandkid, and Rosie the puppy.
Maybe I'll try another one after I update the portraits, and do some more painting.

January 16, 2013 Sign of winter

This shot may be a sign of winter, but in Colorado you never know. This was taken on May 19, 2011. So does that make it a sign of spring? or summer?

This photograph is called "Frosty Cold" and will be on exhibit at the Wisdom Tea House, 65 Second Street, Monument Colorado from Jan 29-Mar 30, 2013.  If you are in the area, stop by and look at all the paintings that the Palmer Lake Art Group will have hanging there.  They are open Tuesdays thru Fridays from 8AM-5PM, and on Saturdays from 8AM -4PM.  In addition, there will be artists there to talk to on Saturdays 9-11am and 2-4 pm.  There will also be jewelry artists there with their wares to sell.

And you can have some tea!

January 15, 2013 Confusing

Today I took a jpg file to Mike's Camera to have it enlarged and printed for an art show. It would only take about an hour for them to accomplish this.

 Since I was in the area, I went to the ARC Thrift Store where we buy flannel shirts for Clyde. I mean, really, the most expensive one was 6.99, whereas the ones I got him at Walmart last year were on clearance for $5, but originally they were $25. So, good deal, right?

These shirts are like new, and heavy and warm.  I wasn't paying attention, but the two on the left have pink tags, and the one on the right has a yellow tag.  (Like I would have known the difference anyway.)

At the cash register, the clerk rings it up and tells me that it's a total of $20 and change.  Then she looks at me and asks  "Are you a senior?"

Now, I am a senior at some places and at some places, I'm not.  But nobody asks me if I'm a senior.  So, I was confused.  "Does it make a difference?" I asked her. 

"Yes," she replied.
"Ok," I said.  "I'm 64, does that count?"
"Yes", she replied, and guess what?  I got 50% off on the shirt with the yellow ticket!

I asked her if I would get 50% off anytime I bought something with a yellow tag, but apparently that's not how it works.  Somedays it's yellow tags, other days it's a different color.  So, I guess it's random, if you're a senior and you go shopping there.  You just have to guess which color tag is 50% for that day.

January 14, 2013 Temptation

Pardon my lousy food photography...it's not my thing.

 But tempting? Oh, yeah. Banana cream cheese muffins and Lindt chocolate truffles.

January 13, 2013 Forgotten

The topic for today is forgotten.   All I've really forgotten today is what a temperature warmer than 10 feels like.  I'm wishing for summer.  It's a -2 outside right now.  The high was supposed to be 18, but by 3 pm we had gotten all the way up to 11, so I think we didn't make 18 today at all.  Tomorrow is supposed to be 19.  Not a whole lot better in my way of thinking.  I am SO over winter.  We're not even getting any snow, just this bitter cold.

Since I'm not getting a vision of what I could do for this topic, I give you Garfy.  Garfy is really an orange long hair cat, although he doesn't look it here.

 Sometimes, he looks like a lion with all the long hair around his face that looks like a mane.  I haven't forgotten what he was like as a kitten.  He would sleep in the bed, and crawl under the covers, all the way down to the feet to get warm.  I sure could use him down there tonight!!

January 12, 2013 Mini

Today's topic is "mini". But something I learned to today is big!

Our art club meeting was today, and afterwards, Irmi gave a demo on painting in guache.  I've used this before, but in a design class, not a painting class, so I really didn't get the full effect of the medium.

The painting above I did today on mat board and used guache paint.  This paint is a watercolor paint, but it is opaque, like acrylic.  But the big difference is that when acrylic dries, it's dried, you can't rewet it.  When guache dries, you can take a wet brush and soften the paint so that is can still be moved around and changed.  And it doesn't dry as fast as acrylic.

I can put the paint on in washes, like watercolor, or I can apply it so that it's thick and has texture, like acrylic and oil.  And I can paint on colored backgrounds, and still have whites.  In watercolor, the whites are the white of the paper, so that area has to be carefully painted around to not destroy the white.  Wow!

So, hooray for mini workshops and demos, especially when I learn something big!

January 11, 2013 Signature

The word for today is signature. So, do I just sign my name and scan it in? Or does it mean something else?

 From Wikipedia, another definition of the word: The term "signature" is also used to mean the characteristics that give an object, or a piece of information, its identity—for example, the shape of a Coca-Cola bottle.

So, I've been told that I have a signature characteristic of my paintings, and that is the bright, clear colors.

 This painting I did at the "Becoming Van Gogh" exhibit at the Denver Art Museum. It is done from the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) with white and black. I did this quickly, and in the most part, the colors are bright. There are some muddy colors, but remember, to get other than the 5 dabs of color I was given, I had to mix. The palate got all mixed together pretty fast.

This painting, I did in a workshop with acrylic paint and some collage. Again, the colors are pretty pure, but again, I was mixing colors. Also this is a heavier application of paint (I'm not used to acrylic) and isn't transparent like watercolor (probably because I'm not used to the medium again).

This last one is a watercolor that I did recently. I'm not really happy with it because the flowers are supposed to be in silhouette, and I can't get them dark enough without making mud out of the paint. The bright clear colors are in the sky even if they are watered down some (not straight out of the tube).

So, there you have it.  Bright colors.  Clyde says that is what defines my paintings.  What do you think?

January 10, 2013 When you gotta go......

When you gotta go, you GOTTA go!

Doggie Doo, the hit game of the holidays.  It even includes doggie treats that you feed the doggie, then the doggie goes.....that's right, right out the back end.  Everyone gets a shovel, and the fullest shovel at the end wins!  Oh, and you can even force a trade of shovels, if the die lands right, and you don't have enough in your shovel.  Gross, Gross, GROSS!  And just made for a 3 and a 5 year old boy!  They liked it!

January 9, 2013 In a Drawer

Today's subject was "in a drawer".  This is one of 2 junk drawers in the kitchen.  You can find a lot of things in this drawer.  There is a full set of phillips head and flat head screwdrivers.  There is a butane grill lighter.
There is super glue, string, a tape measure, various nuts and bolts and screws, pliers and a whole slew of other things.

The funny thing is, there is a larger drawer just like this in the laundry room.  These are the first places to look for tools, etc.  However, when I need something, I can never find it in the drawers.

So, do you have junk drawers?

And, sorry, I missed yesterday.  The topic was front door.  And, mine is a terrible mess, and I need to find the tools I need to fix it.  Maybe they are in my junk drawers.

January 7, 2013 Simplicity

Today's topic is "simplicity".  So what can be more simple than a horse's life.  They live to eat, drink, sleep, and play.  They are such beautiful animals.  This is Little Chic (TR Bearcat is his registered name).  Today, since it was cool (we've finally made it up to 45 today) he was all rearing, and bucking, looking for more hay to eat.

Little Chic is one of Kat's babies.  Kat was my beautiful black quarter horse.  She was good to ride, she made good babies, and she was a cutter.  She's been gone for almost two years now.  We had to let her go because she had a crippled front leg, and it was getting too dangerous for her to try walking on it.  It was going to be broken if she landed wrong, because of the way it was deformed at the knee.  I loved that horse so much, and she never had a black baby for me.   She did, however have Little Chic and Peppy).

Little Chic has a leg problem too.  He hasn't been ridden for several years because of it.   So he's been resting.  I think it's time to get him out and put him back to work, but I want something not too stressful for him.  Clyde and Robert want to do working cowhorse with him and I think that's too stressful.  So we'll see.

Little Chic has a younger sister that looks exactly like him, but shorter.  Robert is riding her and she's doing ok, I think.  Her name is Peppy  (TR Peppy Please is her registered name).

They are nice horses, just like their mama was.

January 6, 2013 Dog Differences

We have two dogs, with different temperaments. We have Gnarly, the older (about 3 1/2 years) Newfoundland. He's pretty laid back, until Rosie, the six month old Lab gets him going.

 Gnarly waits for his dinner, lying quietly on the floor:

Rosie sits right underfoot, waiting expectantly:

You can almost see the worried look on her face, as if she might not get fed!

January 5, 2013 Deceptive sunshine

Bright and busy today. Started with a walk in the park with the dogs. They truly love going on these walks. Me, they're ok, but Rosie sure has some learning to do. I thought I'd take my camera and get some pictures of the frozen lake, and the trees and snow.

 Rosie was all exuberance on the end of the leash. You'd never know that she had surgery two days ago. On the walk, I was constantly calling her so she didn't run to the end of the expanding leash and hurt herself, or worse, pull me over and hurt me. (Note to self: we need to start learning to heel.)

 Found a place where I wanted to take a picture, all trees, snow and shadows. So I called Rosie, told her to sit, and held the camera up. The leash was in the right hand, the "take a picture button" was on the right side of the camera. And luckily, I had the strap around my neck.

Just as I was about to take the picture, Miss Exuberance bolted to the end of the leash, jerking my hand holding the other end of the leash, and the camera. I got a good "thunk" on my cheek. I also learned a lesson: when walking Rosie, with the camera, hold the leash in my left hand, and the camera in my right hand.


 This is a picture of Fox Run Park in the snow. Another one that I did manage to take
.

The sun in this picture is pretty deceptive. You would think it was warm, but it isn't. We're at 30 degrees, one of our warmer days this year so far. The horses are like solar panels, they just soak up the sun and stay all cozy warm.

So, now I'm inside, the sun is going down in the west, and I think I'll stay inside and have a mug of hot tea.

January 4, 2013 Cats

Not so easy to figure out what to take pictures of.  So here are Calico, Cleo and Garfy (short for Garfield).  They have their place on top of the entertainment center in the basement.  Before we got Gnarly, they were upstairs cats.  Garfy slept with us.  Then Gnarly showed up, and the cats took off for other parts.

While we kept them isolated downstairs since, we have recently started leaving the door open so that the cats can come upstairs.  I have seen Calico, Garfy, Cleo and Cream all upstairs.  They have knocked things off the counters and tables,  They have upset plants so that I'm cleaning up potting soil.  But they have not caught the mouse that is in the kitchen somewhere.

And every morning, when I get up with the dogs, the cats quietly go back downstairs and to their respective safe places.  The dogs know where those places are, and try to climb into the back of the entertainment center to get to them.

In fact, when I go down to clean the cat boxes and feed and water them, Rosie and Gnarly race each other down the stairs in the hopes of catching them.  The dogs are very optimistic that they will catch a cat, but since Gnarly and Rosie sound like a herd of elephants stampeding down the stairs,  the cats are out of reach, and look distainfully at the dogs, as if they were fools.

Maybe I can get a photo of the dogs doing their thing downstairs.

January 03, 2013 and a big day for Rosie

The third day of the year. And a big one for Rosie! Well, maybe she doesn't think it's such a big day. She had to go to the vet. It was her day to be spayed.

 Here she is this morning, looking all soulful and pleading "Please, PLEASE, feed me!" But we know the rules, no food after dinner last night. Such a sad thing!

Rosie was six months old on December 29, so it was time for the big trip to the vet. Besides the spay, she got her chip so we can always find her, and she had her nails trimmed (a very calm trimming this time since she wasn't awake). Now she just has to recover, and we can go to puppy class. And believe me, we need the training!

January 2, 2013

One of the things that we do at this house is decorate the windows. Ever since I found Crayola Window Crayons. The kids love them, and we write on the windows for special days. Birthdays were the first, but now each grandkid gets part of a window to color. Here's Cordelia's window for Christmas.

The one thing that I believe in, is to let the kids explore with crayons, pencils, and yes, even paint! Anything goes, and they can do as much as they want.

I like color, especially bright colors, and I can see Cordelia and Molly liking that too. That's why I keep them supplied with paper and whatever.... Just to let their imaginations run free.

New Years Day 2013

Today is the first day of a new year. What's going to happen this year? How will it look? What am I going to do this year?


This is not a resolution post. Well, except for attempting to post a picture a day for the entire year, this is not a resolution post. I have decided to take on the Project 365 which is to post a picture a day. They have suggestions for topics, and for today it is "resolution", which I'm not doing, except for this.


Father Time (aka Grandpa Clyde) making lemon blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

See you tomorrow, hopefully