Drawing Project #3

So I'm back in school and am taking a Drawing class.

It's so awesome that there are some days I can't stop smiling the whole time and I worry what the other tragic art students think of me. I can't help it.

First we did contour drawings of fruit, then we did a shoe (I did my Ugg boot from my right foot since I forgot to bring a shoe that day), then we did a complicated still life. Our next project was to pick three objects and draw them. Then make stencils of the drawings. Then put the stencils together in a pattern that moved across the page.

The Short Story is, here's my drawing:

The Long Story is this (no need to read if the Short Story was enough. I'm way too into metaphors):

My sister-in-law Amber lives overseas.

There is always more to Amber than you see or think or analyze. Seriously, she's already thought what you are thinking and is kindly, non-judgmentally, waiting for you to join her.

She studies everything that comes near her, whether it's breathing or not.

She is constantly teaching. Sometimes with words.

She travels to India a good bit and brings back jewelry and clothes that have meaning.

I try to wear a piece of jewelry everyday that she has passed along.

In my drawing assignment, I chose 2 earrings and a necklace that Amber gave me.

I arranged them into a strange labyrinth.

The goal was to have the positive space (the space the actual jewelry occupied) outline the path of the labyrinth so the negative space (the empty space between the jewelry) was the path you took in moving into and out of the labyrinth.

I drew and arranged and flubbed and erased and inked it in and tried to make sense of it all.

So I took a picture of it and printed out 2 copies, 8"x11".

On one I colored in the positive space with a sharpie. On the other I blacked in the negative space.

Here's where I get metaphorical.

You can't get out of the labyrinth if you follow the negative space. You are trapped in the loops every time.

But if you follow the actual jewelry, the positive space, it will lead you all over the page, in continual loops and curves, and deliver you safely to where you began. And you will be different.

Someone in Drawing II might have seen this coming, but I didn't down here in Drawing I and I am grateful for the lesson.

Take the Positive Space, y'all. It will wind you around, love on you a little bit, and then spit you out where you began...just a little different.

Praises be.

Chillin' on the Porch

Flyin' at Sno Biz on Fridays

Every Friday, while Svea has dance, we go to Sno Biz.

To pay money for ice.

With syrup poured on top.

Whoever came up with that idea is a genius and has no car payments.

Henry loves the flavored ice, Corinne not so much.

But they have fans that blow your hair (which Corinne loves) and Looney Tunes (which Henry loves).

And when Daddy is with us, Corinne loves to fly around the place...

Feels like Friday for everyone!

Emily Loves Ice Cream, by Svea

Come On Ride That Train...

Perk #59 To Pulling Up That Carpet:

Sibling choo-choo trains.

(Though the picture does not capture it, Corinne was giggling like crazy to be the caboose)

HAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!

Or if I were cool and up with it and all, I would say LOL LOL LOL! Or maybe you just say one LOL?

Henry's conversation with Brad and KB sums it up...

Kid Update

Henry got a new wallet. He's very proud of its flat presence in the back pocket of his skinny jeans. In it is one dollar and a picture of himself. He wanted to have a "passport" just in case we went out of the country. Or if someone needed to know who he was.

This is the picture he posed for so he could cut it out and tape it to a piece of paper and then write his name on it.

Svea loves Hello Kitty. Just wait until you see her school picture; it's impossible to look at and not grin. Svea used a pantagraph our friend Vicki gave us to work the outline of this Hello Kitty.

Then she gave her teeth.

And made her love Jesus. And Jessus.

Svea has also learned to snap her fingers. She can't do it without pushing one hip out and moving her head like a bobble head. It drives Henry crazy. So she does it about every 17 minutes. Even if Henry is in the other room, you can hear him yell, "STOP snapping at ME!"

And Corinne.

Sweet, loud, aggressive Corinne. She loves pizza: to eat and to wear.

And she likes bananas in her hair, to hold my earrings as we walk around, for the wind to blow in her bangs, to munch on a piece of celery for 20 minutes, to throw her sippy cup, to ring a bell, and to sneak in Henry's room and knock over his guitar.

Everyday.

This is the life.

Fort Morgan in August

A few weeks ago, we got the chance to go down to Fort Morgan for a few nights.

The house we were borrowing was 4 blocks from the beach, which was manageable. Once we got to the beach, we found out that August is Biting Flies Month. I'm not kidding - that's what a local told us later. Biting flies. For real.

So we got in the water to get away from the flies, and we kept seeing these fish jump out of the water around us. They were big fish, and flat...like sting rays. I didn't know sting rays would fly out of the water. They do.

So that freaked me out to go back to the shore with the biting flies.

Then a bunch of beautiful dolphins began to glide on the surface which is my favorite thing to watch at the beach, but the flies were biting again, so we left.

And went to buy a baby pool to play in underneath the house in the carport where the breeze helped move the biting flies.

And we got a couple hundred water ballons, blue for Henry and purple for Svea.

It was the perfect solution.

So we swam and splashed and pegged each other with tiny water balloons. And Brian read comic books (research, you know).

Then it was time to play Dodge Balloon (not my idea).

I think that was their favorite by far.

After cleaning up all the tiny balloon pieces, apologizing to the environment, riding bikes, swimming in another pool, and eating a fine mahi sandwich, we came home.

I think maybe we'll come back in September next year, and leave August to the flies. Regardless, hooray for the beach!

Knock-knock...

Me: Knock-knock.

You: Who's there?

Me: Interrupting second grader.

You: Interrupting sec-----

My experience today: Interrupting second grader is ME! What's your name? Are you Henry's mom? Watch me shake my milk like THIS because this makes it taste better and it also makes lots of bubbles (lick, lick). What's your address? I don't know my address. You see that boy over there? He doesn't know his address and he doesn't even HAVE to know his address because he has DIABETES did you even know that? Look at all this ketchup on my burger but I'm not even going to eat it but I ate all my pickles but maybe I'll eat my burger. I'm going to be a policeman when I grow up and when my mom was PREGNANT I got the FLU and I had to stay in my room for a week and two days until my fever went away. Do you like this picture of my FAMILY? Yeah, it's all in a day's work.

I came home from having lunch at the kids' school and had to take a nap. Interrupting second grader(s), indeed.

Day 30: In Motion

Dunh-duh-duh-duh-dunh, DUNH-duh duh. Dunh-duh-duh-duh-dunh - DUNH-TA-DUH!!!!!

(That's the Superman Theme song, just in case you didn't sound it out).

Corinne loves her hair to blow. And she loves to fly. She's all about being In Motion.

Thank goodness her dad loves Superman and singing the theme song from 5:31am and on.

Dunh-duh-duh-duh-dunh, DUNH-duh duh...

(can you tell that I haven't wanted these 30 days to end? I must have made this my 44 day challenge...)

Day 29: Purchased

I purchased this fleece for its irony:

It is the most UNdangerous thing in this house and is so soft. I can't figure out why it is softer than other fleece I have purchased. I love it.

I used it on the back of the Mariner's Compass quilt I pieced last year. I added a border...took it out, added some to the skull-and-crossbones fleece and then took it out, did some other things, and waited. I thought it was for one baby, but it wasn't. So I waited.

Then Max got born! At the end of July! And I knew what I had been waiting for!

So it's for him. Welcome to the world, Max! We love you already!

Day 28: Daily Routine

About 4pm, I start looking forward to my morning cup of coffee for the NEXT day. That's normal right? It doesn't have to be coffee, but I like something to drink that is super hot and kinda bitter. Black tea is nice, but black coffee is the best.

My newest favorite mug is getting a lot of use...thanks, KB!

Day 27: After Dark

There is this awesome frog that sits on our front stoop at night and I've been waiting the past 3 nights for him to show up so I could take his picture.

Alas, since I needed him, he has not shown.

Instead of waiting around longer, I finished these crayon aprons after the sun went down and the kids were asleep or reading or whatever they do when I "clock out."

I made four of them for the Kids Table at Aunt Beth's wedding...though I can't remember how many little girls will be there...

After seeing Carroll Lane's post about the rainbows, now I want to take those crayons and melt them! CL - how did you attach the crayons to the top of the canvas? SUCH a great idea.

Day 26: Something Old

The cake itself is not old. I just made it. But the memories attached are a little over 35 years old.

My grandmother makes a perfect pound cake. I aspire to every time, but something always comes out different - even with the same old recipe.

I remember the smell of pound cake when walking in the door as a child.

I remember waiting a few days after it came out of the oven to let the moisture settle and then cutting the perfect piece; after that piece the rest of the cake would dry out and it was time to make pound cake toast in the morning with more butter on top (something I definitely allow for breakfast in our house. Even on school days. You're welcome, teachers.)

I remember trying to make one stirring by hand and then another using a stand-up mixer and finally calling my grandmother frustrated and her telling me she uses a hand-held mixer, but not so much anymore due to the arthritis in her hands. I remember right then and there wanting to make her a pound cake every day.

I remember the perfect pound cake she made after our son was born, despite her arthritis. My husband is still talking about that cake, 7.5 years later.

I remember 3 weeks ago on Svea's 6th birthday, her made-to-order breakfast request was pound cake for breakfast.

I remember yesterday letting Corinne crawl around the dining room floor after lunch and letting her eat the big crumbs of pound cake off the floor, and not telling her to stop.

Thank you, new cake and old memories. I look forward to much, much more of you.

Day 25: Sunflare

Day 24: Smile

She loves this little crooked number...

Day 23: Sunset

This sunset post has stumped me for days. DAYS. I have the next few days done, but could not get my sunset one right.

After much thought, I have figured out why: I have not seen my perfect sunset yet.

I want to go out west and have a guided tour over Georgia O'Keeffe's ranch. I want the tour to end on a rock near a cactus. I want the sunset to begin while I wear a tank top and paint furiously to capture the colors. I want the sunset to end with a thick cable knit sweater around my shoulders and 6 or 7 drafts of the sun going down.

Then I will have the perfect picture for this post.

Until then, here's a watercolor I started years ago and I'd like to finish this week: