Thursday Art Date: Abstract and Paint Party Friday!

Hello Friends! 😊😊

Welcome to Thursday's Art Date, today our theme is Abstract. I decided to do a Picasso-esque portrait of Bugs Bunny this week. He's very versatile with his facial expressions! 😊

At first I had no idea what to do for this theme, but I do get a lot of inspiration from other Bloggers...this week, I got inspiration from Sue over at Elephant's Child blog. She has a weekly Wednesday post called Words For Wednesday - it's a post encouraging people to write. Her prompt last week was about keys opening doors and what would be on the other side: "...What key will you use, and what is on the other side of the door."  

That was my inspiration! Here is a pen and ink abstract key and door piece. I really enjoyed doing this one! I have a feeling that if you used this key to open that door, you would fall into another dimension!

Another fun piece involving keys, this is called "trick art" or "3D art". I followed a tutorial for this using markers and pastel pencils.

I tried another trick art piece, my hand, drawn with graphite pencils and Sharpies. I had no idea I'd have so much fun with this week's theme! I hope you did too! I think more trick art will be in my future!

I'm also linking up with Paint Party Friday tomorrow!

Things are moving along at home, we're doing so many things...Alex found a great big salamander while he was cleaning up behind the shed. I think that the dots on these creatures are so interesting! I figured this fell under the abstract theme!

I feel as though I'm living my dream life right now! While walking Charlie and Jack, I discovered a trail in the woods! I walked for a good 20 minutes, but it was like a rain forest in there, oi the humidity...so we turned back. I have no idea how long this trail is, this country goes on for miles and miles. 

Here's a fun gif I made from photos. Charlie and Marlene cooling off in the stream. Jack won't go in though, he doesn't like to get his tootsies wet!

Beautiful Summer!

Today is monthly shopping day, ugh! I'll catch up with everyone on the weekend! That's all for now folks! Please check out the widget below to see more Abstract art! And join me on Sunday for my food, pets and home post! 😊

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Wisps of fluffy clouds are swiped across the beautiful blue sky!

August 13th: Next Thursday's theme is Swipe! Click on the link for ideas and inspiration! Remember it's all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! 🎨

Thursday Art Date With Rain. Click on the link for a description of the art date as well as a list of upcoming themes. 

Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! The link gadget expires Sunday at noon (EST).

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Foggy Mornings

Happy Sunday Friends!!  😊😊😊

How is everyone doing? How's your weather? We're still having beautiful summer weather here in the Maritimes of Canada. It's quite foggy and humid in the mornings when I wake up and take the dogs for their morning walk.

Usually by about 10 or 11 am, it clears up and we have sunny skies. This is the Forks Stream, it runs for miles and feeds into a larger river in this county, people around here call it the stream. My neighbour told me I could cut through his property to access it. Isn't it beautiful? Alex and I checked it out a few times, we are on the lookout for a second hand canoe now! It's not even a five minute walk from home. I'm so thankful for finding this place!

Bill, Mike and Alex moving cement blocks

Bill and Mike came back the other day to finish up the heavy work. They finished sawing the concrete wall that was putting pressure on the house. Mike also sealed the crack in the foundation and it took all three men to move out these large cement blocks that were just hanging around in the backyard.

Mike cut up the concrete from the old wall to make us stairs for the front door. I have a few ideas on how to decorate them, and I'll post the before/after when I get all of that done. 

Of course my job was very important - supervisor! 😁

Actually while the boys were doing the heavy work, I was making a picnic feast for them. Pinwheel Sandwiches with my Homemade Cheez Whiz, potato salad and Coleslaw with Old Bay Seasoning.

Jack always has an eye on me!

I spend many hours a day walking the dogs now. At my last place, I had to drive to the woods because people would leave their dogs loose all of the time so I wasn't motivated to go out walking too often. Here I'm blessed. Actually on a sad note, I can't walk Marlene (right of Jack) with the others anymore. She is really slowing down and she can't handle the long walks. I'm sad about it. I walk her alone just around the property, then I grab the "black and whites" and walk them along the logging road. We all have to age don't we? 😡

A rare photo of the three cats hanging out together! (The photo is a bit bright, sorry about that!)

It's blueberry season so I made Blueberry Pancakes for dinner last night. The blueberries that are growing in the backyard are tiny, so I bought a few pints of local berries. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can harvest from the blueberry fields next season!

I hope you all enjoy the rest of the weekend! And please join me on Thursday for our art date, the theme is Abstract. 🎨

Thursday Art Date: Descent and Paint Party Friday!

Hello Friends! 😊😊

Welcome to Thursday's Art Date, today our theme is Descent. I have a funny feeling that Bugs Bunny's descent is going to be a rough one! 

But have no fear, Bugs has none! I asked him to rappel down a rock cave so I could draw his descent and all I had to pay him was a bucket of carrots for his time. 😊 I did this drawing with graphite pencils (4B, 2B and HB).

I followed a tutorial for my lovely Betta Fish, gracefully descending into the ocean. I really love the colours on this drawing! I used Prismacolor pencils and a white acrylic gel pen for highlights. 

I'm also linking up with Paint Party Friday tomorrow!  Why not join in next Thursday for our art date? Or check out Paint Party Friday to join in on their weekly art challenge!

It's been a beautiful summer! I love the heat and humidity! Of course I can say that because I have an air conditioner and a big fan cooling the house down! 😄 After all of the challenges that Alex and I have faced over the last few months, I feel like we're finally getting our lives back to normal. It's such a relief! It's also hard to believe we've only been at our new home for just two and a half months! Boy does time fly.

Speaking of time flying, that's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more Descent artwork!

If you're on Instagram, let me know so I can follow you!! Click on the images to link to my Instagram accounts! One of the reasons why I re-joined Instagram was to motivate myself to create art daily. It's fun to share and to see what other people are up to every day as well. 

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"Abstract Love" (Watercolour: February 14, 2018)

August 6th: Next Thursday's theme is Abstract. Click on the link for ideas and inspiration! Remember it's all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! 🎨

Thursday Art Date With Rain. Click on the link for a description of the art date as well as a list of upcoming themes. 

Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! The link gadget expires Sunday at noon (EST).

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Blueberry Fields

Charlie, Marlene and Jack - Charlie's feet are SO dirty from the red dirt!

Hi Everyone! Happy Sunday! 😊😊😊

I nearly forgot what day it was...time is flying by, we've been really on the go! Despite the busy schedule, I find time at least twice a day to walk the dogs on the logging road. I bumped into one lady and her dog yesterday. It's funny, she said "are you the new neighbour?" I said yes and she told me she lives a ten minute drive from my place. People here consider you a neighbour if you live within 20 miles of them!

I met another neighbour who's been living in this area for 40 years. He told me that all of the land that borders the logging road is acres and acres of blueberry fields. 

Every other year, the company that owns the land brings in their machinery for 3 weeks to harvest blueberries. They were here last summer, so there won't be any harvesting this year. That leaves lots of snacks for the deer and coyotes.

Speaking of coyotes, I decided to get some pepper spray. I'm armed now to the point of feeling comfortable. That same neighbour who told me about the blueberry fields also told me that he rarely sees a coyote, just hears them and that I'd be very safe walking the dogs along that road. That gave me comfort! Becki, I have more protection now!! 😊  Becki was concerned about the gunshots I mentioned that I'd heard last Sunday. I want everyone to know I won't be walking the dogs in that direction anymore. One neighbour told me who it was and that he lives quite far up the road, so I am safe from any stray bullets! Thanks for caring!! xx

Bill and Mike came by the other day to finally haul away that ugly staircase! They were going to do some work, but discovered Bill's backhoe had a flat, so he had to bring the tire with him to get it filled.

More bad luck...Mike started sawing down the cement wall and his saw crapped out! They'll be back another day with a more powerful saw to finish removing that wall.

We had an electrician come in to install the dryer outlet - we officially (FINALLY) have all of our appliances set up and running!! While he was here, we asked for his help to put up our ceiling fan. This beast has a diameter of nearly 5 feet and weighs a ton, but boy does it move air! It'll be very helpful in the winter to keep the house toasty!

Alex and I were supposed to treat ourselves to the entire weekend off, until we saw a wasp nest in one of the maple trees in the backyard. We didn't have wasp spray so yesterday we had to go to town and get some. Alex sprayed the nest last night. I hope that did the job, we'll have to knock this down when we're sure the wasps are all dead/gone.

When I got back from walking the dogs this morning, Alex was up making us brunch. We never eat in the mornings, we're just hot beverage people, but this was fun. Alex said he woke up with a memory of summer breakfasts at his grandparents' cottage. We really are living a rural cottage life...I love that!

See you on Thursday for our art date! The theme is Descent.

By the way, I'm back on Instagram if anyone wants to follow, and I'll follow you back. I have two accounts:

RainFrancesGarden: this will be my personal account where I post photos of my life in rural NB; and Rain.Frances.Art: this will be my artsy account. 

Thursday Art Date: A Face On An Object

Mount "Sass"more

Hello Friends! 😊😊

Welcome to Thursday's Art Date, today our theme is A Face On An Object. This week's theme was a challenge for me! Firstly, none of the Looney Tunes wanted to pose for very long. We've been in a heat wave and they were complaining the entire time about it being too hot! 😊 

Secondly, I only had a few hours this week for my art - not having time to paint and draw, or even think about my art...it kills my creativity instantly. I tried my best though, I can't wait to see what you came up with! It was a little challenging wasn't it??

By the way, the power company came by on Sunday afternoon and fixed the defective water heater. We have hot and cold running water now! I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders...we've been struggling with our water for over 2 months and it's finally all in place, I feel so grateful! 💐

Here is my "Face In The River" watercolour painting. This piece started off as a cloud shaped as a rabbit actually! I hated it and decided to paint over it and let the watercolours do their thing...I'm pretty happy with the result!

These are my haunted potatoes from last year's Halloween dinner! I already have ideas for this year's Halloween feast!! 🎃  Here is a selection of photos I've taken over the years that show faces on objects, all trees and clouds! Do you see what I saw?

Bear Face

Evil Grin

Eye On You

The Grinch

Peak-A-Boo!

Moss Mask

The Scream Tree

Laughing Zeus

Frugal Landscaping:

Alex and I have been walking around our acreage searching for spruce saplings that we can transplant along the front of our property for privacy. We were so pleased to find a few dozen blue spruce saplings scattered around the acreage! We marked each one and when the time comes, we will transplant them. 

I'm imagining a line of these beauties bordering our property...they grow about 1-2 feet a year.

Time to put on your glasses lol! This is an example of what I see each morning when I walk the dogs on that logging road - a family of deer. Hard to see but there is a mom and her two fawns. They prance about in the pasture, it's such a beautiful sight!

Last month I contacted a food distributor in a town about an hour's drive away. I asked them to save me some of their food-grade barrels that I could use for harvesting rain. They have a waiting list, lots of people want these barrels! They sell them for $5 a piece. The other day, the lady at the company told me there were four barrels waiting for me! Blue is food-grade, white is cleaning-agent and black is toxic stuff. I think these had some kind of barbecue sauce and maybe vanilla extract in them. We just have to clean them out and prep them for rain harvesting. I feel so lucky to have these. I put myself back on the waiting list for four more.

That's all for now folks! Please check out the link widget below for more A Face On An Object artwork!

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Looking at the tree tops under my feet as I descended Mount Orford by ski lift back in 2009.

July 30th: Next Thursday's theme is Descent. Click on the link for ideas and inspiration! Remember it's all about creating. You can showcase your paintings, drawings, photography, sculpting, baking, poetry...whatever you like! 🎨

Thursday Art Date With Rain. Click on the link for a description of the art date as well as a list of upcoming themes. 

Don't forget to add the URL link to your post (not your blog) to the link gadget below to share your wonderful creations! The link gadget expires Sunday at noon (EST).

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