HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

Just want to wish you all a lovely Memorial Day. I hope you have sweet memories of the loved ones who've left this world♥






Thank you to all the veterans who've given so much to so many!

Darla

89 Degrees and just put this in the freezer!

It finally feels like summer! Yeah!!!!!! I just made a batch of Rhubarb Slush and it's off to the freezer. Wish I had it frozen already :)

I was outside this morning pulling weeds and picking the last of my first crop of rhubarb. I gave so much of it away this year because usually it goes to waste. I'm hoping a second crop sprouts up soon because I still wanted to make some jam.

I had a nice little birthday yesterday :) Dale and I joined some very good friends of ours for supper and drinks at the local pizza shop. Quiet night, but at my age......that's a good thing! ha

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'm loving the 3 days off. Happy Memorial Day!

Darla

Can you tell?

I'm enjoying myself with this new found love of watercolor painting??????


'Summertime"



'Welcome Home'



'I am blessed'


Have a great week everyone!

Three 5 x 7 Watercolor 'find-a-face' paintings

I call this one 'Don't Look Back'

No title yet......but I did see a baby bird egg last night that had fallen out of the tree so it's odd how this image of a 'thoughtful (sad?) bird' appeared to me ♥


This is my escrow fairy that made sure I got the check I talked about in the last post. haha!

Off to shower and get ready for the air show!

I got the Bodybugg!

For any of you who watch The Biggest Loser, you'll know what I'm excited about :)!!
After my boss and his aerobic instructor wife sang the praises of this weightloss gadget, I just had to treat myself! I LOVE IT!
I recently received a check from my mortgage company for excess funds in my escrow account and I really should have purchased new carpet for my bedroom, but.........nope! New toy! A new toy that I'm hoping will help me lose the last 12 lbs and learn to keep it off. I've lost the same 20 lbs. many times over and as soon as I get within 10-15 lbs of my goal I start to slack off. I'm hoping this time, things will be different.



Here is a sample of one of my days. After plugging in all my personal data when signing up, the BB program told me I needed to lose 12 lbs and I would reach that goal by 8/8/10 as long as I maintained a 500 calorie deficit per day. I'm told to burn 2500 calories and consume 2000. I couldn't believe it!
I thought that was a lot of calories to burn and much more to eat than I had expected! This particular day was a zumba day :) You can see in the graph that I sit behind a desk most of the day and then got busy! ha

I'll definitely keep you posted and give further reviews of this program as I go along. So far, I think it's great!

Today there is an airshow at the air base about 40 miles from here. My son and I plan to drive up and see the Thunderbirds do their routine. I LOVE the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels. So very impressive! It's sprinkling a little outside now so I hope that clears up by this afternoon! It's been 4 years since the air base has had their 'Friends and Family' day.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

What is it?

It's an ANGEL fish dahling! haha
Odd images came out of this one but I still had fun playing with color!

Thank you for the wonderful comments about my new little addiction of 'pulling faces' out from painted backgrounds! It's so great to have blog friends who 'get it'......this fun, fun, FUN kind of art play! My friends and family think it's quite bizarre! ha

Another 'pulled' piece

This is the final piece (9 x 12) watercolor


This was how it started - lots of blobs of watercolor and some drippy, watered down white paint dripped from the edges


The face came pretty easily this time. If you click to enlarge you'll see my penciled in lines before I began painting.


This is SUCH a relaxing way to paint! There's no preconceived notion of 'what to paint'....it just comes. I LOVE it!

Hope you've all had a spectacular weekend!!
Darla

Pulling a face out

It's so chilly in my basement right now since the furnace isn't running anymore (thank God!) so I decided to quickly do a background in watercolors and then I took it upstairs for awhile, sat in my recliner and looked at it every which way until I found her! Check out those eyes! They were THERE! Irises and pupils, all I did was outline them in pencil. It was kind of eerie!

Then I brought up a cute little set of watercolors in a plastic case, 1 brush and got myself a little tupperware container of water and brought my FLOWER CHILD to life. It was SO relaxing to paint in a comfortable setting for a change!


I played a little more with markers and here she is. Funky huh? :)

I love this technique that I learned from Sharon Tomlinson. Please give it a try, it's SO fun!

2nd post today........wow! THAT hasn't happened in a long time! ha

Journal page

Happy weekend everybody!!

Going down memory lane :)

I was looking through some pics of older pieces from my EBAY days and I seriously miss some of the painting styles and designs I used to do. I LIKE painting whimsical girls now, but I think I might take a little break and switch things up again.


This is one of my favorite pieces I did. It's a metal desk lamp that I painted roses on and then did a mosaic base. So shabby chic huh? The lamp shade reminds me of a helmet from Hogan's Heroes but, oh well :)


This is a wooden plate I did around the holidays. Lots of magical glitter and sparkle♥


A burlap decorative pillow.


Oh, and these little guys!!! I did many of them and I couldn't believe how well they sold on Ebay. One actually sold for over $60! They were painted on vintage electrical insulators (those glass things on top of old electrical poles!)

They were such fun!

I think I need to find some inspiration and paint!

Happy Mother's Day!

Miss you Mom!


Wishing all you moms and grandmoms out there a beautiful, love filled day!♥

Do you remember?

The excitement? The pure joy of receiving a Crayola Box of 64 (yes! SIXTY FOUR) beautiful, crisp, delicious new crayons????


It's raining here today and one of the memories of being a little girl that I will forever have is snuggling in with my fresh new crayons and a coloring book that awaited the bursts of color I had in store for it♥



Awww, the magic awaits! The possibilities endless!

I found this wonderful quote by Robert Fulghum:

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.

What a brilliant idea, don't ya think?

Sitting at work, wishing I was at home, curled up on a couch with a tv tray, 64 colorful friends and a new book to adorn :)

Have a great weekend!
Darla

Some sketch time

I decided to sit and sketch a little before heading to bed last night. I hadn't done that in a long, long time! Nothing fancy but I thought I'd share SOMETHING with you since I've been so inactive lately in the art world :)

Last night I started on an actual painting....a 10 x 10 canvas :) Not sure when I'll get around to finishing it though! It's just been crazy busy with birthdays, spring concerts, programs and my traveling regularly to Zumba classes! But I'm lovin' it all♥

It's been cold and damp here this week and my lawn is crying out for some attention. I'm hoping I can find some time, with weather permitting, to get it mowed.

Wishing you all a fabulous day and fun weekend ahead!

Darla