". Arranged Words: April 2016

27 Apr 2016

Calla Lily





Calla Lilies are so pretty.  Since I have a plant on hand, I couldn't help but paint a few.  What's great about them besides the obvious: the blooms last a long time and although I haven't compared, they must last almost as long as an orchid. They make great outdoor plants too, so I bought bulbs to plant.  Actually, I bought several packages of bulbs to plant in containers this season.

The greenhouses will open soon. Always, it seems, in time for Mother's Day.  I can't wait to see what they have this year. In the meantime, and even though they were just setting up, I managed to sneak into Walmart's greenhouse. I left with a few pansies.


Pansies symbolize merriment, thoughts of you. The Calla Lily symbolizes magnificence and beauty.
The Victorians were very conscious of the meaning of flowers. And they had flowers everywhere. I've noticed that a few flower shops are, once again, emphasizing those meanings. How lovely!

I am also fond of air plants. I'd love to have a red one. Hopefully, I'll to find one when I go to the city.

Enjoy the week...



19 Apr 2016

Knitting Projects ~ Tulip Tree Shawl


The tulip tree shawl has been in my knitting basket with just three rows left to knit for a long time, so hurray to a finish.  I had hoped to make it larger, but I didn't have enough yarn. Raverly page here.

Enjoyable, meditative, and patience enhancing are just a few of the things/qualities that knitting brings to me and probably a whole host of other knitters, although I can't speak for them. I wish I could do more of it, but about three years ago arthritis struck suddenly and with it came tendonitis, so I was forced to put my needles aside. On the bright side, I've still managed to finish a few projects, including my Rosetta Mitts pattern in 2015. And I've nearly finished knitting another pair of those mitts in yellow, but I've put them away for now.  

Drawing and painting are so much easier on the hands. It's a reinvention of sorts, but one that I really love, too.

For those who may not know, lace knitting looks rather like a jumble of uncooked noodles (forgot to take a pic) and then it morphs into a fine tuned garment once soaked and then blocked.

An old yoga mat that's been cleaned to use as a blocking mat.
After blocking, I noticed the bottom points looked flat, so I re-wet and re-pined those points to sharpen them.
The yarn has a golden hue, but the camera had other ideas.

You will find the free Rosetta Mitts pattern here.

A Maestro cutout from an earlier painting. I usually cut any trash bin paintings into strips and use the white side of the strips to test paint on. But even though he's not finished, I couldn't cut through this birdie. The cutout might work in a shadow box, or as a book mark, although it may be too delicate for that.

Warm weather arrived on Sunday. It was 19C or 66.2 F. The crowd that had been hibernating most of the winter were about and about...many in shorts and flip flops.  Although those temps are cool, the spring sun was warm...hot even. Liberation! 
As the woman in the woods,  and I saw one of the first harbingers of spring: a  Mourning Cloak Butterfly. I've never seen or heard about one before. What a surprise! Another first for my nature journal.

A huge thank you for all your kind comments and support for my wee new shoppe.
xo

Have a lovely week...

12 Apr 2016

A Great Day for The Draw

We've been having a mixed bag of weather. Apparently, spring wants to take a little longer to arrive because we've had two snowstorms lately, but that's okay I can see the buds on the trees. I know things are happening underground and above it. All we need is a little more time and the cocooned leaves will burst out with glee after just a few warm days of sunshine.

But I digress this post is suppose to be about the draw, isn't it? Yes, it is. So without further adieu... I've pulled out my sun hat, dusted it off and dropped in the names; we gave it two or three shakes and my son, Jesse, drew from the depths Barbara Lillian's name. Congratulations Barbara! Barbara's choice from the above two prints (Marsh Wren and Ahoy) was the Ahoy birdie with his maritime flag, poking out from his sailor's hat that expressively says, "I wish to communicate with you."


He'll be winging his way over to Barbara hopefully as soon as tomorrow. I will be contacting her soon.
A special thank you to those who entered!

Enjoy the week...


5 Apr 2016

Shoppe Launch Plus the Maestro

I opened a shop on Tictail. I heard about Tictail on Instagram, and I really liked their store front  designs, coupled with a straight forward setup. They have a wide range of stores--from upscale to individual craft stores. 
At this point, my little corner shoppe has a few prints on offer. (I'll add more prints as time goes on. Hopefully, a few more in blue, too.)  You can find the shoppe here.

The Maestro.
I had originally planned black tie but, being me, I couldn't resist painting his tails blue.
Work in progress. I call this point the breath holding stage ~  one slip of the brush and it could be all over but the crying. 

I used Fabriano Artistico 140 lb watercolour paper. I prefer painting on Fabriano paper because if I drop paint, I can usually lift it without damaging the paper. It's sturdy.
 For music buffs, yes that's a radical treble cleft.  Actually, it's a bird cleft for bird notes. :)

* * * 

There's still time to enter the giveaway for your choice of one of two prints that I am giving away to celebrate my shoppe opening. It's open to new/recent followers as well as those who have been reading along--some for almost three years now. xo  
Thanks to each one of you! 

To enter please leave a comment. Here's the link.

'Til next time. Have a lovely week!