…..hard to capture photos of critters these days but the ducks are always co-operative

…..hard to capture photos of critters these days but the ducks are always co-operative

….thanks to Cee for posting more interesting questions on Share Your World
If you had an unlimited shopping spree at only one store, which one would you choose? Why?
I would choose a store where I could buy a variety of items, like clothing, household items, accessories, toys, and make-up. Even though I’d have unlimited amounts of money (I’m assuming that’s what an unlimited shopping spree means) I still think of Marshall’s first. Maybe I should be adventurous and say Nordstrom’s.
What is the worst thing you ate recently?
I tend to avoid foods that I don’t like and there aren’t too many of those. I would have to choose something that was badly prepared or didn’t meet my expectations. The only thing I can think of is the oatmeal my father made and he wanted me to try it because he had some left over. Is it possible for something to be too salty and too sweet at the same time? Well it was and I politely declined to eat the rest. My Dad doesn’t read this blog so I’m not too worried that he’ll be offended.
Name five things you like watching…
What did you appreciate or what made you smile this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.
This week I managed two visits to Hamilton to visit my daughter and granddaughter and my oldest daughter came over with her Frenchie, Olive on Sunday. Time with my family always makes me smile.

Photo credit goes to my daughter-in-law who took this photo back in November.
On Sunday Olive and Frances had a great time playing together and we were able to go for a nice long walk.
I’m also happy that I finally got my art studio in working order last week. I put together the last piece of furniture and started filling up the drawers. Even though I’ve been doing art almost every day since the beginning of the month, I can now do it in a neater and more organized space. 
In conclusion I need to thank my husband for taking me on one of his business trips this week. It was only up to Collingwood but I had an opportunity to take some photographs of the town and together we enjoyed a wonderful meal before heading home. We had such a nice time that we’re thinking of doing this once a week or at least twice a month. Any suggestions where we should go next? No more than two hours from Toronto, please.
Cheers!
….making up for my non-painting days
Carla Sonheim’s post the other day had us use the scraping method to make a random blob shape onto watercolour paper and then look for shapes or designs to bring out with marker. This was a lot of fun.
For some reason I saw birds and cats. I hate drawing cats, only because I don’t think I’m very good at it, so I did the two birds first. In the first blob I saw an eagle with a fish in his mouth and the second one was a random mythical bird with an angry look. Then I tackled the cat drawings. One is of a cat sleeping and the other is a cat from the back side.




…..wisdom comes from reading
You can never start too early, even if it’s reading what’s on your iPhone.




Photo credits go to me, my brother-in-law and my daughter.
How would you interpret wisdom.
….finishing with my renovation and painting beets
One of the things that I needed to do was finish putting together my set of drawers for all my art papers and art pads, palettes, plexiglass pieces, paper trimmers, assorted papers and magazines for collage and the 101 bits and pieces of stuff that I have collected over the years for my art. So one of my art days was taken up with assembling the drawers and organizing my materials.
Once that was done I was able to sit down and paint another pattern from Lisa Congdon’s class over at Creative Bug. This one is a pattern of beets. On the weekend I finally purchased a set of gouache paints. They’re a little more opaque than watercolours. These patterns aren’t as easy as Lisa makes them look. I definitely need more practice.
