Tuesday

I've seen a few photos converted to drawings lately. Photoshop has a filter to do this, Photoshop users are notorious for experimenting and coming up with different ways to do this.

I knew I had a tutorial on my computer for this, so I looked it up this morning.  It involves about seven steps, layers, applying guasian blur, etc.  I used an old photo of Barrie (because she was even more photogenic than her daughter).  I kind of like the results.

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I'm getting sick of sorting through magazines.  I can't make myself get rid of them without looking through them first to see if there is something I want to save.

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 After finishing the book, I watched the movie "Lost Horizon" last night.  The person who wrote the screenplay pretty much made up his own story, as it sure didn't follow the book at all.  Kind of disappointing.

Magazines

I finished "Lost Horizon" last night.  I hate it when I finish a good book.  It's the kind of feeling you get when all your company goes home.  You want don't want it to end.

I tried starting a new book last night, but couldn't get into it.  So I decided to continue in the futile attempt to clean and unclutter my house.  This is my rope basket.  I think it was made by a guy in Riverton.  It has been in the living room, full of three year old photography magazines, and covered with a pile of Kasey's toys.  I  have most of the magazines in the pickup ready to recyle.  Now I am going through all the art magazines I have upstairs.

I will keep some, but most of them will go to the art room at Rendezvous Pointe, where people can borrow them, keep them, or tear pages out of them.

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I am always amazed at the silly and useless research is being done by someone.  Our grovernment probably, or at least paid for by government grants.  Here is one of the latest:

People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults.

This is one of those things we all know without having someone do a study on it.  People who are racists and predujiced are dumb.  Just saying.

Sunday

Tracy sent me this picture of Daisy tunnelling in the snow in their yard in Colorado.  That's one happy dog!

A little 4" x 6" painting I did yesterday.  This is the view out  my upstairs bathroom window.

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I ordered a George Foreman Grill this morning.  I've looked at them for years, but never got one.  It has several interchangeable plates, and I'm getting rid of three small kitchen appliances, a waffle iron for one,

I've never liked the waffle iron and never used it much.  It might be because of the way I got it.  I found it in the Target Store in Silverthorne CO while visiting Paul and Tracy.  I tried to buy it, but the guy on the floor wouldn't sell it to me because it was the display model.  I was back a couple days later, and the guy wasn't around, so I put it in my cart and took the plastic tag from the edge of the shelf with the price on it.  I checked out and had my waffle iron!

When I got back to Tracy's house, I thought I should make sure it heated up before I left for home, so I brought it in.  I looked at my receipt from Target, and the thing wasn't even on there.  For some reason, it didn't ring up, and I got a $50 waffle iron for free!  I didn't go back to Target and tell them of their mistake.  Guity conscience?  Is that why I've never liked it?

On the same day, I found a ball point pen in the snow outside the Bed Bath and Beyond store.  I looked at it when I got home, and notice it was engraved with someone's initials.  It was a Cross pen.  I got on the Internet and discovered I had found a $50 pen. 

That was SOME shopping day!



Saturday

This is my handy snow guage.  I can tell at a glance how deep the snow is. That is, if the wind doesn't blow, and we have had very little wind lately.  Thank goodness.  I think it was 10 below zero last night.



Here is Kat, having a cozy nap.  This is what she looks like most of the day, between bursts of engergy and destruction.

I'm watching a live video on my computer this morning on how to paint skys in watercolor.  I watched one last week, and it was pretty good.

Friday

Now playing on my iPod Paul Simon, "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard".

Sunny day, and the icicles hanging outside my window are sparkling.  The wind is starting to come up.

Maybe this guy is far enough along for me to post a picture of the progress.  The hat and face are pretty well finished, but the shirt is still just a figment of my imagination. 

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Roger wanted the link for the free Ebooks.  I get it on Facebook, but you should be able to find them here:    

http://ereadernewstoday.com/

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I continue to laugh at weather forecasts.  This was the forecast for yesterday on my Yahoo page:

Pinedale, WY

SEVERE WEATHER ALERT

Forecast Details:

Periods of snow. High around 35F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.

Light wind, one inch of snow.  Just what makes this a "severe weather alert"?

 

Thursday

Maybe you remember the pencil drawing I did of the cowboy some time back (on the left).  I gave him a "makeover" today using charcoal (on the right).  I think it's a big improvement.

The calf roper I am working on in charcoal is progressing.  Today I am working on the rope and his hand.  Hard!  His shirt won't be any easier.

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There have been a lot of free ebooks for the Kindle on Amazon lately.  Someone (?) has been searching the freebies out and posting it to Facebook.  I have downloaded about 15 free books in the last couple of weeks.  Some of the more catchy ones are "Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun", and "Bubba and the Dead Woman".  Wow, can't wait to read those.

But I also got "The Picture of Dorian Gray", and several other good titles.

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I just read in an artist magazine that Leonardo da Vinci was famous for not completing projects.  Way to go Leonardo.  We are kindred spirits.

Wednesday

 This is to show Vicky how we cope when she's not at art group to bring us delicious baked goodies.  I brought cheese and crackers and a can of mixed nuts, and Dorothy brought some trail mix.  So we survived.

Lenore finished her painting of a fire and matted it today.  I think this is a very striking painting, one of her best!

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I worked on the Papago church painting this morning, but didn't accompish a lot.  I have a feeling this is one of those paintings I will still be puttering around with six months from now.

I put the painting back and got my charcoal pencils out when I got home.  Wonder why I've never used charcoal much in the past?  I can't get the details I do with graphite, but I can get nice dark darks so my drawings have contrast and value changes, which I haven't been able to accomplish.



Tuesday

 Last night I heard Barrie coughing downstairs.  I called down, “are you sick?”  She says “yes”.  I say, “Well, knock it off, you’re supposed to be healthy.”  Kasey says, “Oh, let her do what she wants to do, Grandma.”

Before I got my Kindle Reader last year, I had a few new books from Amazon that I hadn't read.  I decided to read a "real" book and give the Kindle a rest.  I am reading the book "Lost Horizon" by James Hilton.

This book was assigned reading when I was still in high school, about a hundred years ago.  I resented being required to read it, and didn't expect to like it.  Instead, I was fascinated by the story.  This is the first time I've read it since then, and it's hard to put the book down.

On the cover, it says this was the first paperback ever published.

Also found the old black and white movie on Amazon, so of course I had to buy it.  Shopping and spending money is just too easy!

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A friend posted this on Facebook.  

In honor of Hostess declaring bankruptcy, this week we're eating a sandwich that is also morally bankrupt: The Twinkie Hot Dog. Turn the Twinkie upside down, slice it like a bun, slide a hot dog in there, and act as if you've done nothing wrong.



Sunday

 I still don't know how to paint sagebrush, but I think I'm a little closer.  I'm tired of working on it.

The wind has come up a little today.  So the little gobs of snow stuck on the branches will soon be gone.  The sun is shining so bright that I am tempted to wear sunglasses in the house.

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Here is my horoscope for today:

Follow any new urges you have to do something unexpected today. Early in the morning, if you feel like doing something other than what you had planned for the day, then do it!

The "Early in the morning" part is what tripped me up.  You see, it was almost 10:00 this morning before I got up (late night reading).  Too late to change my plans, and besides, I didn't have any plans.

Saturday

Beautiful day. We got more snow overnight and it is still snowing. I watched Kasey walk up the front walk this morning, struggling in snow up over her knees and giggling every step of the way.

Barrie left her with me when she went to the dog lot this morning.  She said she might not make it in and out, and didn't want to have to snow shoe out carrying Kasey.

Kasey went with her Mom plowing snow yesterday.  She had a great time, loved plowing snow.

I don't have pine trees any more since the beetles killed them, so I took a picture of my neighbor's pine trees.

The snow is piling up on even the little twigs of the willow outside my window.

 And the branches of the quakies in the yard.

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I'm making a little progress on the pen and ink elk.  Slow going, all those little dots.  Just keep dotting, Duene.