This one's for you, Fresh!

In my last post I was wondering whether I should stick to my favorite medium for orchids - watercolors - or try doing some in my other favorite medium - acrylics - with which I've never painted orchids.  My dear blog follower Fresh suggested I just have a go at it, so I did!  Here's looking at you, kid!

This little chunky canvas was sitting around that the BabyBot and I had previously covered in pages from a vintage, actually antique, book, a deliciously decrepit copy of The Canada Book of Prose And Verse, published in 1927.  I would have hated to tear sheets from this book if it hadn't already been falling apart.

So, anyhow, there's a story there by Archer Wallace, called The Great Physician, and it contains a verse with the line "I have loved no darkness".   It was entirely by chance that I had these lines right on top, so that's the part I left unpainted.  It just seemed appropriate.

I think it came it came out pretty decent - but I hope the next one is better!

Warming Up For The Orchid Show

Working in watercolor feels so good!

The show is in early November and I haven't yest decided if I'll make my five pieces in watercolor and frame them, or do acrylics on stretched canvas that I don't have to bother framing.   The thing is, I've always painted my orchids in watercolor - I think they just shine with the delicate translucency that medium offers.   But I think I'll do one in acrylics next see how it turns out.  Afterall, it's great to try new things, and who knows, I may be able to do a mix of both types!

Eat this!

I used what I had. Do share what you made with what you had!

Happy eating!

Ocean In A Box

When we lived close to the sea, everytime I went to the beach I had the wild thought of somehow capturing the sea, the breeze and the atmosphere in a box to take home with me. That way I'd always have the sea with me, especially the pink and orange sunsets!

Once again, I started with a photograph of an acrylic painting I did on stretched canvas.  Then I digitally manipulated the colors and added several elements like the text (Korean - and I wish I knew what it means!), the blue and green bars, the turquoise fragmented area in the bottom, the circle and the hazy shapes on the right.  As well, the lovely vinatge illustration of the flower. 

I got a test print done, and it looks good enough to eat!  The pinks and the oranges together with the intense blues - yum!

Get it in my shop!

A Few Small Treasures (we ate the rest)

We have a little patio.  And in our little patio we have two little(ish) planters.  And in those two planters?  Oh - tomatoes, both roma and beefsteak, and peppers (banana and jalapeno) and squash (yes, squash...which is actually, um, quite squashed in there, and we have one in each planter) and weirdest of all, a purple cabbage, which I didn't realize until recently it was one, and now I can't figure out if it's done and ready.  Or not?

I really like the idea of kitchen gardens, but I also have the uncanny ability to kill a plant by looking at it.  So when my dad, who was visiting two years ago, wanted to get me some plants I really wasn't very enthused.  He still went ahead and bought us a whole bunch of flowering plants, some of which were annuals, so when they eventually died I wasn't wracked with guilt.  Some were perennial, like a little silvery shrub thingy, and another plant called Autumn Joy (if I'm not mistaken), as well as a lovely honeysuckle, that were kind enough to survive on me and COME BACK THIS YEAR!  We already had a few pretty mature bushes of Rose of Sharon, so the patio did look very nice when everything was blooming.  Plus we get hanging baskets each year filled with assorted blooms, and little pots of geranium, and well, yes, it looks very pretty.

But this year when my parents visited my dad got adventurous and got us the afore-mentioned greenery for the two planters that had been sitting around with only soil in them.  And now the tomatoes are hanging in bunches, and the peppers seem to be endless!  There's a basil plant too, bought especially at my request, coz I loved the idea of eating a panini sandwich with fresh mozzarella, tomoatoes and basil (yum!), but this basil plant doesn't seem to know when to stop.  It's just getting bigger and bigger, and I think I'll have to hand out bunches of basil to all the neighbors soon.

So not only did I succeed in not killing them, they are thriving! 

OK, enough talk.  Look at our latest pickings!  And notice the bite marks on the tomato?  Thank you, Mr. Fuzzy, our friendly neighborhood squirrel.  It's going in the guacamole anyway, so there.

A New Day

And not ordinary, by any means!

Ramadan is over, and we are celebrating Eid.  The end of Ramadan is always bittersweet for me.  I feel good about having had one more year with this wonderful month in it, but I also wonder if I did justice to it.  Could I have spent it in a better way?  The answer to that is invariably yes, but it comes with the hope that next year I'll have one more opportunity to live it, Inshallah.  Meanwhile, it's important to hold on to the values of patience and generosity for the rest of the year and build on them.

So today is Eid, and we will meet a whole bunch of friends this evening - should be fun!  I'm also hoping I'll overcome my shyness about my shop and hand out some business cards already.  *shaking my head in disgust here*

And new listings in my shop!

Do check them out!

Ask The Sun

How long before we need warm woolies?

Yesterday on my walk to the park with BubbleToes I couldn't help noticing the advent of Fall.  The coolness in the air, the big clusters of cumulus clouds, the vivid blue of the sky, and of course, the leaves turning.

This painting is cherishing the memories of summer, while saying hello to Fall!

Look for it in my shop soon.  (I hope.)

Is This For Real?

My friend Zeenat sends me weird funnies, and today I got another gem from her. This is what it said:

Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one. Reassurance for those of us who fly routinely In our jobs.


After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, And then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never Let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance Engineers.


Below is taken from Qantas maintenance logs for 2006.


P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.




P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.


P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit


P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.


P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.


P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.


P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.


P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.


P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.


P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.


P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.


P: Aircraft handles funny. (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to: straighten up, fly right, and be serious.


P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.


P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.


P: A loose nut behind the steering column.
S: But they still let them fly Aeroplanes.


And the best one for last...


P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

A Squirrel Ate Our Peppers??

Hmm...I didn't think these guys could do that, but I'd been wondering about the disappearance of some lovely banana peppers that were sprouting in our little container garden, until I caught the thief...in action.


Behold, Mr. Fuzzy's fuzzy pic:

And other gems in the patio:

This tomato went into some guacamole.
Avocado + onion + tomato + lemon + garlic = YUM.

Another pepper here, Mr. Fuzzy!

The tag on these says they are Plantain Lilies.  And I thought it was a hosta the whole time. 

Or maybe they're the same?

Foxgloves:  Our very first ones.

And geraniums.  Love their intense coloring.

The new blogger is not easy to align pictures with, or I don't know how to do it yet!

Hope you liked these still!

New (old) Work

I made these a while ago and ...forgot about them altogether.

They're in the shop now.  There's a whole bunch of other stuff that should be in the shop as well.  I think I need some sticky notes!

Anyway, these are a mix of ink, fused plastic, crochet and hand stitching on oil paint paper.  Nifty!  And here's my post from way back about how I made them.

P.S.:  They really are MUCH nicer in person.