Birmingham Child Care Examiner: Share this poem with preschool parents: nothing in my bag today

Birmingham Child Care Examiner: Share this poem with preschool parents: nothing in my bag today

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I have an account on a site called morgueFile that I share my photographs on. A morgue file is a place where publications keep photographs and other related resources they used or may yet use in articles or for publication. The site is a photo-reference bank for artists, authors, journalists and others looking for just the right image without breaking the bank to pay for it. I have about 1,200 photos listed and catalogued there and, someday, I will add the references I've gotten there to my portfolio. It's neat to see my work used to illustrate articles on childcare, charity, women's shelters, books for increasing happiness in your life. I feel useful and like I have contributed to Society with my photographs. This columnist emailed me her article link this morning!

A Bottle of Ink

My favorite inks are Noodler's Bulletproof Black and Lexington Grey...it's a love-hate relationship, though.  I bought myself some Lamy Safari fountain pens last year for my birthday (?) and the inks were highly regarded by other sketchers and Moleskine enthusiasts.  They are waterproof on cellulose materials and wash off of others, making them good for mailing addresses, checks, important signatures and pen and ink sketches...if you're patient.  Those who know me know that "patience" isn't my strong suit.  If the conditions are humid, it takes a while to dry enough not to smear or run when painted over.  I love to write and draw with it and the pens, so, I wait.

At the top of the label in this tiny sketch, you can see where the ink smeared when I tried to wash a tiny bit of blue over it.  It had been drying for an hour. 

Last night, I got out my bundle of Sakura Pigma Micron pens, my first favorite pens before I got the Lamys.  I'll carry them around for a back-up when I'm out and don't want to wait for the ink to dry.  In the meantime, I'm going to check out my sketchbook papers, maybe the sizing is interfering with the ink absorption?  Maybe some of the paper isn't cellulose?  I used two new types in this sketchbook, made for Utrecht by Canson, I think.  In the process of testing my pens (there were some older ones in the bunch), my kids decided they liked them, too, my daughter wants her own, to buy with her Christmas money.  We'll make a pilgrimage to Utrecht this weekend...and maybe stop off at Creative for a tube of Daniel Smith watercolor along the way!

EDM #7 - Draw a Container From Your Kitchen

Glass jars are fun to find in different shapes, sizes and colors. I have picked up interesting ones since I started getting allowances. I don't say I collect them, I don't buy them for any particular reason other than they're pretty or I have something that needs a jar...but I do have a few. These (I have four) are just small, 8 oz or so, clear jars with plastic gasketed lids for bulk spices & herbs, this one has parsley, another has thyme. There's a World Market store up the street that carries them for about $1 each.

Art and Trains

We finally got to see Art in the Age of Steam at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art!  Wonderfully represented works in different periods of art and stages of steam travel development!  When my money order finally gets to Flickr, I'll organize my albums a bit and you can see some of the wonders of modern rail equipment that I've captured over the years.  In the meantime, enjoy my rendition in miniature (about 1 1/2 x 1 inch) of Monet's Gare d'Argenteuil in pencil and ink. 

Claude Monet, French, 1840-1926
Gare d'Argenteuil, 1872

Oil on canvas
Unframed: 18 3/4 x 28 inches (47.63 x 71.12 cm) Framed: 34 3/4 x 36 1/2 x 3 3/8 inches (88.27 x 92.71 x 8.59 cm)

Musée de Luzarches, Conseil Général du Val d'Oise, Cergy-Pontoise, 106.2008

Argenteuil was about eight miles northwest of Paris. By train it was only a short journey from the city center. Monet lived at Argenteuil from 1871 to 1878, and this is the first of several views he made of the station. He painted it not long after dawn, probably in one sitting, and applied the paint in broad and vigorous brushstrokes.

<a href="http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/Exhibitions/AgeSteam/CollectionDatabase.cfm?id=55012&amp;theme=Exhibition">www.nelson-atkins.org/art/Exhibitions/AgeSteam/Collection...</a>

New Year

My first drawing of the year!  Let's see if I can get back in the habit!

5 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, cp wc, 4 x 4 grid, pigma micron &amp; noodler's in my hand-bound sketchbook.

I grew up around rodeos.  My parents kept their horses at and my dad worked at Benjamin Stables in KC.  As a kid, I went to the Kansas City Rodeo, state fairs &amp; the American Royal.  Usually during the event, there would be some cowboy or rodeo clown riding a trained Brahma bull (that's BRAY-mah), similar to riding zebras or other wild animals, completely a novelty.  Brahman cattle, natives of the Indian sub-continent, are used to cross with beef cattle for leaner meat (correct me if this is wrong!) and for their ability to withstand drought conditions.  This fellow (properly, a BRAH-mah) is a Schleich toy, about 3 inches tall at the hump, waiting for his new brown coat on top of my monitor.

Noodler's Lexington Grey in my Lamy Vista on cold-pressed wc paper, gridded.

Catch-Up!

Whoops!  I've been busy with the model horses and other stuff and not blogging, again!

I have remembered to draw something every once in a while!

Excelsior arrived this week from Kim Ford Hoffman in Tennessee.  He's a Breyer Mini Whinny Stock horse who's been repainted as a Leopard Appaloosa with peacock spots (they have a slight halo around them).  This little gelding is only 1 inch tall and packed with details!!  I'm in love with him already!  Look at that face!  There are also loads of photos of him if you click on the journal page to go to my Flickr!  This sketch of him was done in pencil first (I wanted him to look like him!) and then inked and painted, except that I got impatient with my ink and smeared it erasing the pencil lines on his croup...silly mom!  He has a wee parade saddle Kim started and I'm to finish, so you may see bits of that here or on my other blog, Beneath The Mothertree. 

Last week, we spent some of the cool weather playing outside.  One day, after viewing the ArtsKC exhibit, art/work, Creativity from the Cube (which includes the works of several of my husband's coworkers and bosses) inside Union Station, we went out in front, the kids wanted to play on the large bronze plaques commemorating the restoration of the building.  They are raised slightly on granite risers and at an angle that is fun to walk on and jump off of and not dangerously high.  They played nicely enough for me to capture lots of the scene in front of me, the Bloch fountain on Pershing, the Liberty Memorial and it's parkway, the trees lining Main Street, an office building (an Advertising agency, I believe), and the old Channel 5 tower, now used by KCTV, the public television station.

The day before that, we played in Washington Park, across from Crown Center and Union Station.  There is a statue of General Washington on his mount at Valley Forge, looking very regal and cold!  The horse is massive and very muscular, as a warhorse should be, and could be either Old Nelson or Blueskin, the two the General rode in the war.  Blueskin was the less favored of the two, however, as he wasn't as tolerant of cannonfire as Old Nelson.  Breed? 

Washington’s horses included Arabian, Andalusian, and Chincoteague ponies, but, since few formal breeds were established in colonial times, most were noted in records simply as “plow horse,” or “carriage horse.”

  -http://www.mountvernon.org

A little less time to draw inside, two days before. because the kidlets decided they needed to do all the dangerous things they weren't supposed to do while I tried to draw the chandeliers in the main hall at Union Station.  Some days are just like that!

EDM #069 - Draw a Beverage

EDM #069 - Draw a Beverage
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I like coffee and tea. I tried Mom's cup when I was young and found just the right ratios of sugar, milk, creamer and honey to make each kind palatable and enjoyable. This week I wandered into a shop that sells Chinese teas. The owner let me have some samples and told me what kinds they were and where they were grown. The next day I went back and bought some. This is White Peony King whole leaf tea--without sugar, cream, milk or honey! The cup's a bone china with a wheat stalk design on the other side (not sure why the cup was turned backwards, I'm right-handed mostly) and very shiny. We found a set of four at our old recycling center. They had a table for "treasures" that we donated to and found new additions at. Better than a garage sale!

Watercolor and Noodler's ink.

Getting Ready & Getting Old

We leave for Ramsey, Minnesota in the morning.  It's the third Welte Family Reunion since 2002 at Uncle Carroll's house.  I bet Aunt Fran cringed at the thought of 100+ people & kids trampling her yard and carpets again...we're not that bad, really!  Everyone pitches in to help with dishes and meals and cleans up after ourselves.  Donations to cover expenses get taken and everyone loves her house!  She has a huge yard and woods and a lovely house with a park and playground across the street.  There's a links-style public golf course that Ron likes to have a round at during the weekend (I would, too, if I'd get off my butt and get to the driving range once in a while.  The kids'd love driving and putting!).  We won't get to go visit Midwest, the big Arabian horse farm across the way, they'll be at their family reunion, too, this weekend, but they were sorry they'd miss us!  I have my fingers crossed that Sunday we can go to St Paul and be-bop around a bit.  Wet Paint is open 12-5 and not too far from Como Park.  We won't go to the zoo this time, but will go to the Lock and Dam on the Mississippi River near the old Ford Plant.  Ron had gone there to work on the conveyer some years ago and I went up to visit and watched boats locking through there.  The kids'll love that!  Also, we'll try to get to Ft Snelling and the park along the river near there.  We'll try to see what else is close.  As much as I would love to, I know I won't be able to "schedule" a time to meet with Roz, if she should be available.  Time has to be flexible around the kids and the DH (who's very unpredictable whims can throw off a whole weekend!).

So, the glasses.  I'll be 43 this year.  About 2 months ago, I noticed that I couldn't focus on things closer than 12-14 inches from my eyes.  So, I had these glasses from when I had eyestrain issues at work and school.  They get used a lot, but they are just a touch too weak for me now.  When we get back from our trip, I'll get the eye exam done.

Drawing People - I Don't Stink

As a reply to a thread on Everyday Matters, I said that I stink at drawing people, so I'd end up drawing things around my Aunt's house next weekend at the Reunion.  Well, Ms Kate set me in my place about that!  I went back through the sketches of my kids and did one of my Cub last night.  I don't stink, I just need more practice!

19th Worldwide Sketchcrawl - Our Second!

The kids and I set out yesterday at midday and pointed the car toward Ward Parkway.  I got to the Plaza and turned to go through and the kids said they wanted to go to the Cancer Survivors Park on the Western edge of the shopping district.  The kids played a bit, letting me draw the view from my bench of the sculpture and the new building across the street.  We moved up the park to the front and it's new sculpture, a symbolic flame of hope.  I'll get a photo of it to get the colors in it.  It's really beautiful!

I didn't get to sketch this one as long, little attention spans grow shorter, so I'll add color another day.  I did manage a quick 'nother sketch of the kidlets checkin' out the acoustical properties of the parking garage that abutted the park!

We wandered into the Unity Temple on the Plaza, a church in the Beaux Arts (or is it Arts & Crafts?) style that I had attended once upon a time with my mother.  On around the corner, I took them into the McDonald's in the lower level of Seville Square and showed them the Bas Relief Mural of Seville Spain that my husband helped design while he worked for Art Works in Chillicothe.  I have an original ink on illustration board scale model of the final piece that he drew that I plan to frame when we get into a bigger place. 

Home for some rest and refreshment as the temperature climbed to about 85, then off to meet Daddy at Union Station for ice cream after work!  Some wriggly squiggles later, we headed out to Washington Park to run some outside and watch trains.  I worked on my perspective with the balustrade and park lamps.  Home, exhausted and sleepy!!

Still Drawing!

Really!  I did this today while the kids were playing at the Loose Park Spray Park.  The sun came out right after we were done with our other adventures and warmed the day up just enough for them to enjoy the water and me to enjoy drawing without sweating too much!  There was a red tail circling, scribbled him in, too.

 

Over previous weeks, I did a few sketches here and there.  The sketchbook's full and I need to make another, but have other things demanding my attention.  I committed to spending less time on the computer and more time with kids' activities, so we're doing stuff together, more than we used to.  Last week, we enlarged our model horse stable.  I built box stalls out of foam board and the kids each have room for over 100 small models now.  This week, Rianna and I are making leather halters for our larger models.  She's seeing how they are constructed and learning to handle glues, wire, and a craft knife.

 

EDM #019 - Handmade Tack

EDM #019 - Handmade Tack
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Poor Gisa! This is the worst drawing of a horse I've ever done!! I'm posting her anyway...to remind myself, it can only get better!! She's a wee thing, an inch at the withers, and the tiny Native Show halter I made is extra-tiny! The headstall is a four-strand braid and the throatlatch is three strands, braided into the four at the poll, of cotton embroidery floss. So is the lead rope.

My eyes are normal, middle-aged and not as good as they used to be for close work like this, so, yes, I used a magnifying lamp and reading glasses for the details. The braiding - I have an idea that people think I braid tiny, short lengths of floss. That would be daunting...even to me! No, I use about 14-18 inch lengths, folded in half, and braid about half of it. I tie a knot at the end of the braid, so I can lengthen it if I want, and can make lots of halters out of one four-strand braided piece. I didn't learn to do the four-strand flat braid this small...I started with crochet cotton, just a little meatier and I have gobs of it. I got good with that, nice and even, then went smaller. So, with learning a new braid and scaling it down and trials...this took about 6 months to make, off and on.

Native Arab Show Halter
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I'm still tweaking it, though. The tiny "jewels" are Balger blending filament French knots and one is pulling out already (I gave it to Rianna on Tuesday last week), so some Super Glue Gel is in order for those and the tassle knots. Halter number two will take about a day, using the pre-braided floss.

Slide

Slide
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

This was all I got to draw yesterday, having sliced a thumb open fixing my daughter's bike (it's minor and the bike got fixed!) and witnessing her riding without training wheels for the first time!!! While my DH was helping her, my son needed my help with the monkey bars and they both made lots of progress in playground skills! She fell, of course, and skinned a knee and bruised her little self. We got home and iced and cleaned and stung and kissed and had celebratory cheesecake!
BTW, this is the only time I've ever changed the date on a post. I'm posting a drawing a day in May and wanted the drawing on the date I made it...such as it is!!

Enreina & Eight Belles

Enreina & Eight Belles
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

One of our Stablemate foals. The horse racing world lost another filly today. Eight Belles broke down after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby. She had broken both of her front ankles and was put down on the track. We are all deeply saddened by the recent deaths there and at the Rolex Three Day Event last weekend.

Friday at School

Friday at School
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I'm jumping on the Everyday in May bandwagon, drawing something everyday this month. A bench and a Black Locust tree getting it's new leaves at my son's school in Noodler's Lexington Grey ink and Prismacolor & Graphitint watercolor pencils in my sketchbook.

Nelson Sketches

Nelson Sketches
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Geordan's class went on a field trip to the Nelson today and had a workshop in Shapes. They went around the Modern art galleries and identified different shapes in artworks and went back to the classroom to make their own collages with shapes and colors. I tagged along and sketched while I waited and along the way. After they went back to school, I went back down the ramp to the Noguchi sculpture garden and worked on one of the sculptures a bit more.

Shapes Collage Demo
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

They listened very well!

Shapes Collage Cub
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I drew Geordan while he was working on his collage. They got to use some watercolors. When they were done with them, I used them, too.

Fremont's Leather Flower

Fremont's Leather Flower
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Young Naturalist
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Rianna was home sick yesterday, but it was too nice to stay in. We went to the Anita Goreman Discovery Center (MoDNR) and did some field sketching. We took Cathy Johnson's Sketching in Nature and looked at some journal pages she did, the details she included and notes, and did our own. I painted mine at home.

Fremont's Leather Flower is a Missouri Native, preferring dolomite glades where it blooms in the spring. The leaves last through Fall, when they become filigree ornaments gracing the Autumnal splendor.

Rianna's sketchbook page from yesterday:

"I was out drawing with mom and saw this Flower. I think its fun to darw. It is very prity and a Bug was on a leaf. Ther was tow of them."

She really tried hard to draw what she saw and get some identifying features included, we had talked about doing that before we started. We also worked on not disturbing each other and using the available time (while Mom was still drawing!) to fill in more and more detail.

I did as much of the pencil detail as I could and we ran back inside the center, worried that the rain would catch us (boy, the clouds sure were threatening-looking!). In the bookstore, we found some infor about the flower. We also found Peterson First Guides: Butterflies and Moths and Don Kurz' Trees of Missouri Field Guide that really wanted to come home with us...so they did!

The Fountain of Lamy

The Fountain of Lamy
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The Lamy Safari has been one of the be-all-end-all writing tools of Moleskine fanatics next to the Pilot G2 pens. Loaded up with a bulletproof Noodler's ink in a converter, they are a pleasure to draw with on smooth papers. Once the ink is dry, it can be painted over with my watercolor pencils or paints without smearing. To date, I have 3 pens. The Vista, pictured here, loaded with Noodler's Lexington Grey with an Extra Fine nib, produces a fine enough line without being heavily dark, but still neutral enough to work with many other colors. My Charcoal Safari, also sporting an Extra Fine nib, is loaded with Noodler's Eternal Black, mostly used for writing, though some subjects beg to be drawn in stark black. The third Extra Fine Safari is Blue, filled with Lamy's blue ink. It's water soluable; a property I love to expoit and use. I'll use a water brush to wash a sky or set a background for more blue linework. I smell garage sale season, may have to look for hidden treasures this summer...

EDM #158 - A Kernel of Popped Popcorn

EDM #158 - A Kernel of Popped Popcorn
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Popcorn is a tradition in our family (the Weltes). Dad would make some in the cast iron skillet almost every night and we would eat it out of round cake pans with salt (no butter at home). Sometimes we would lie on the floor with the pan on our bellies watching TV. We don't eat it that often now, but it's a favorite still and is featured at every Welte reunion. This is some Topsy's Old Fashioned popcorn from Crown Center. I like it ok, but it's missing that frying pan taste.

EDM #074 - Clouds

EDM #074 - Clouds
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

It's thunderstorm and tornado season here. Towering, anvil-topped Cumulus clouds have been moving through all day, dropping rain, off and on. Tornados almost never make it this far into the city--but it's possible--so the kids and I talked about what we should do and where to go--in case.