Painting – Equipment for Acrylics

On By TimelessladyIn PaintingLeave a comment

I have not painted extensively with acrylics, but I have enough experience with them to know that they will dry out and become unusable faster than you can brush them on a craft project or canvas. A good way to counteract this problem is to use a moisture retaining palette. These work great, but as with all art supplies, they can be expensive. The solution: They are very easy to make with inexpensive household and yard sale items.

I found the above Tupperware lunch meat tray for twenty-five cents at a yard sale. I bought a packet of large-sized sponges at the supermarket. As soon as I opened them, and while they still retained their slight moistness, I cut them in half lengthwise, and then into smaller pieces and fitted them to the tray. (A serrated knife works best) I filled the bottom of the tray with a small amount of water and then cut pieces of tracing paper to size using the lid as a template. Along with tracing paper I have used wax paper. I have read other artists and crafters use freezer paper with good results

At this point I placed the tracing paper on top of the sponges and lightly sprayed it with a coating of water. The tracing paper, or other suitable papers, acts like a wick and keeps the acrylics moist. To give myself even more time to work I also added a touch of acrylic extender to the paint before I began to stroke it onto the canvas.

This technique worked perfectly for me. The paint stayed moist, and when I was finished, I placed the lid on tightly and the next morning the paint was ready to be used once again.

For more information on how to set up your own moisture retaining palette for painting and crafting click here:

 Moisture Retaining Palette

Painting – Poppies/Tweaking the Composition

On By TimelessladyIn PaintingLeave a comment

Using the same technique of copying reference photographs, converting color to black and white, and then using the edge filter, I enlarged five of the poppies once again to fourteen through sixteen inches. The pods were enlarged to about four inches across.

I was pleased with this composition, although I am thinking of removing the bud in the right center. My eye seems drawn to it, it is in the “golden ratio,” and I am not sure I want that to be the focal point. I might switch places with the pod in the upper right corner and let the bluish-green of the pod take center stage, but who knows…on second look, the perkiness of the bud ready to burst into bloom is beginning to intrigue me…hmmm…what to do. I’ll update as I progress on this project.

Paintings- The Beginning/Poppies

On By TimelessladyIn Painting3 Comments

I am redoing my outdoor porch. I want to replace a tattered poster of Van Gogh’s Irises that graced the inside wall for years. I am hoping to paint a large acrylic canvas using my bread seed poppies as the inspiration. I have removed all the color from my reference photographs and used the “Find Edges” filter to show the outside lines. I have enlarged them to fit the copy paper.

I printed seven of these along with several pictures of pods to lay on the canvas in hopes of developing a perfect composition. The pod copies are large enough, but I think I have to make another attempt with the poppies. I want more of the canvas to be covered by the blooms and also have some overlap. I’ll update the progress.

Plants, Plant Tips and Perspective – Growing Poppies

On By TimelessladyIn Perspective, Plant Tips, Plants1 Comment

Here is a picture of me standing alongside one of my Square Foot Gardens admiring my Bread Seed Poppies. I stand about 5’4″ tall. The poppies are a bit hard to see, they are white and blending into the background. Here is a closer look.

I have written the word poppies in blue right under their petals.

The flowers are gorgeous, and the seedpods are pretty grand too.

I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of seeds I will reap when they are dry.

Plant Tip: Don’t let anyone tell you poppies don’t do well if they are started early and transplanted. I sowed these through the winter in milk jugs, a process known as Winter Sowing. The resulting poppy plants are over four and a half feet tall. I would say my transplanted poppies are thriving. These bread seed poppies are joined by other smaller varieties throughout my garden. All are doing well.

Double Petaled Poppy

Moral of the Story: There are some tried and true ways of doing things in the garden, but always be open to new ideas too.

Pleasures & Problem-Solving – Invasive Plants

On By TimelessladyIn Pleasures, Problem-SolvingLeave a comment

I love my trumpet vine. Gorgeous golden blooms will adorn it soon, and the hummingbirds will visit once again to sip the nectar. Along with the joys of the trumpet vine come a few problems. When I purchased the vine I was forewarned about the runners it would send out. In order to thwart the reproductive determination of the vine, I planted it in the ground in a large plastic pot. This preventative measure worked for years, but the trumpet vine has never given up, and in the last few years it has won. There are dozens of runners coming up throughout my gardens and yard. Some are as far away as twenty feet from the mother plant. Hmmm, I am going to have to get out there and try to root them out. That’s not a job I’m hankering to do in the high heat we have been having this week. Pleasures and problems, why are they so often intertwined? Bah!

A few examples of the unruly sprouting runners.

People – Good Neighbors

On By TimelessladyIn People1 Comment

My neighbor gave me a big bag of green beans from his garden. The joy of receiving such a gift is only surpassed by the joy I feel when I can also share flowers or vegetables from my garden. I hope to refill the bag one day soon with some cucumbers or other vegetables from my Square Foot Garden and leave it on his front doorstep. Good neighbors are a blessing from God.

” No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”  1 Corinthians 10:24

Pleasure – Update/Praying Mantis

On By TimelessladyIn PleasuresLeave a comment

“Look Nanny!” My grandson said, “A praying mantis.” Sure enough on the peeling wrought iron of the porch railing strolled a lime green baby mantis. It has to be one of my babies hatched in the kitchen. I feel so uplifted. The ones I put on the weeping cypress by my front porch were the babies I had to gather off of the ceiling and the wall…agile escapees from their glass home. I was afraid as I picked each one up that my clumsy fingers were crushing the life out of them. It is so uplifting to see that at least one survived…and where there is one, there are bound to be more. The mantis has tripled, maybe quadrupled in size, and instead of being translucent is a brilliant green. I’ll post more photos as I run across them in the yard.

Plants and Pleasures – Volunteers

On By TimelessladyIn Plants, PleasuresLeave a comment

Ground Moss

 I am not a gardener who uses much mulch. In fact, this summer the only mulch I have is around the beds of my Square Foot Gardens to keep the weeds away. I like the way dark mulch sets off the colors of my flowers, but I love the way the absence of the mulch allows many “volunteers” to sprout in the hot month of June. I have ground moss, spilanthes  (toothache plant), coleus, perennial blue lobelia and many other little sprouts showing amid the weeds that need to be pulled out. Before I put my gloves on and pull out the pesky weeds, I will first gently remove these small plantlets with my trowel and place them in bare spots in my garden beds. I love volunteers.

Coleus sprout in between sidewalk squares.

Another coleus hiding among the leaves.

Coral Nymph Salvia sprouting in a between porch steps and sidewalk.

Paintings and Projects – Big Huge Labs Color Generator

On By TimelessladyIn Painting, ProjectsLeave a comment

This amazing photograph was taken by my nephew. What a great eye he has for color and composition. I hope to paint this one day. When I do I will use the newest tool I have found to come up with the proper colors to use in my artwork. Big Huge Labs Color Generator is a free site well worth joining. Creating a free account allows you to download photographs, push their easy to read “create” button, and immediately see a detailed color chart with html symbols included too. This is an invaluable tool for painters and crafters alike. Listed below are the names and html symbols for all the colors in the photograph above. What I couldn’t show is the color chart that was also included. Take a look. I’m sure you will enjoy experimenting with your own photographs.

These are the html colors Big Huge Labs gave me for the photograph above: #351b32 plum, #63825f axolotl, #8b8c9b amethyst smoke, #493145 loulou, #2c1229 blackcurrant, #3e6525 green house, #a0a8a8 hit grey, #91a595 pewter, #9dab9e robins egg blue, #506933 green leaf, #c8d2c5 sea mist, #627c58 axolotl, #625776 comet, #c2d0be paris white, #5e7c34 dingley

This is also a perfect site to use to compare the colors of an online purchase with what you already have in your house or closet.

Click here to visit the Big Huge Labs Color Generator.

Play – Shake, Rattle and Roll, or, The Pleasure of a Big Box

On By TimelessladyIn PlayLeave a comment

Joe brought a big, empty box home from work. Our grandsons were spending the afternoon and quickly took charge of the box.

Papa closed “the doors” and shook the box all around the yard. The grandsons spilled out laughing, and shouting, “Do it again, Papa!” Papa complied and spun the box again, and again, and again.

Our oldest grandson’s pronouncement on the fun, “It’s better than a carnival ride.” What a FUN afternoon!

Papa, happy too, but all tuckered out.

Perspective – Decimated Dill

On By TimelessladyIn Perspective1 Comment

My Dill plant has been doing incredibly well…until…yesterday. The plant is being decimated, and instead of me doing my usual stomping about and muttering about insect and animal pests I am doing a happy dance. Why you may ask?

Because under the umbrella of blossoms I spotted a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar. Oh Happy Day! On closer inspection I found five more, and I am sure there were many more in the surrounding garden that I did not see.

The caterpillars are small, only about an inch long at most, but they are voracious, fast growing, and I am sure in a few weeks I will be seeing many Black Swallowtail Butterflies flitting around my yard. I must have my camera ready at all times. I can’t wait.

People – Ronald Reagan

On By TimelessladyIn PeopleLeave a comment

Please take a moment to watch this amazing video of Ronald Reagan. You will be uplifted, and perhaps as I did you will wonder how we can find a man of the same kind of values to fill the office and to follow in his footsteps.

 

Plants – Lily

On By TimelessladyIn Plants1 Comment

The first of my lily plants are beginning to bloom. The Stargazers will be along later in the season, but this beautiful pink variety is one of my all-time best performers.

I love the anticipation of bloom when the buds begin to show color through the green.

The white lily I bought at the end of last year’s Easter Season has done well. It is blooming long after Easter, but I don’t mind, the purity of its petals reminds me again of the glory of the resurrection.

Last, but certainly not least, are my orange lilies. They are amazing, bright and vibrant, they capture the heat of the sun and reflect it back for a few short weeks.

Pots and Pans – Blueberry Tea Cake

On By TimelessladyIn Pots and Pans1 Comment

This is one of my oldest recipes. I have made it many times and never tire of it. This is the best time of year to make my blueberry tea cake. Although I do use frozen blueberries when fresh are not available, the tea cake tastes better made with room temperature berries.

Blueberry Tea Cake

2 C sifted flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C butter (softened)

3/4 C sugar

1 egg

1/2 C milk

2 c blueberries, fresh or frozen

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and milk to butter mixture, beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients, fold in blueberries. Spread in a greased and floured (or use non-stick spray) 8 or 9 inch pan. (I use a 9 inch glass pie plate with high sides) Mix the ingredients below for the crumb topping and spread on top of the tea cake. Bake in a 375 preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes.

Crumb Topping

1/2 C sugar

1/4 C flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 C butter (cold)

To make crumb topping cut butter into dry ingredients until coarse crumbs are formed. Use pastry blender or two knives.

Pleasure and Perspective – War Horse

On By TimelessladyIn Perspective, PleasuresLeave a comment

Finally, almost six months after the release date, I saw the movie “War Horse.”

I wish I had not waited so long. The story was heart-touching, a movie I will never forget. I know I will sit down and watch it again one day.

What I liked most, beyond the amazing storyline, was the way both sides of the conflict in World War I were shown. So often the portrayal of Germany, its soldiers and people, is stereotyped and cliché. In this film the goodness and heart of many of the ordinary German soldiers was shown. I appreciated that. If you haven’t seen it, make sure and rent the DVD. A great film. Hats off to Steven Spielberg for another wonderful story.

Projects – Clothespin Bag

On By TimelessladyIn ProjectsLeave a comment

Yes, it is not very pretty, and yes, it will never win a “best crafter” award, but it works, it was free, and it will save me from stooping and bending to pick my clothespins out of a basket on the ground. It was very easy to construct, a few stitches whipped the top of the towel over the edge of the plastic coated hanger, a few more whip stitches up the sides and “Voila,” a clothes pin bag that works.