Getting in the hang of school things...

Hey there! This week was the first week of school for many students including my self and it has been crazy busy. For one thing, right now I'm taking a break from painting back drops for our local marching band, which I'm hoping to get done really soon, it's just gonna take some work.
   Along with that it's been the usual school stuff: classes, credits, and sylibi INCLUDING a  poetry class I'm am taking at a local university which has been an experience of its self and will have to devote some blogging time to later.
   This week has been crazy busy but it has been a great kick off to my senior year, but since I'm afraid if I sit here typing too long I won't get back to work, I'll have to chat later.

 
Have a good one!

The Beging of Adventure

   Just spending some time here before I head off to my first day of school, the first day of my senior year. I've been having mixed feeling lately, but this morning my dog, Bonnie, decided she'd help me get ready.
She opened my room's door with her nose and sat in my room when it was time to wake up, then she followed me to my wardrobe to watch me pick out what clothes I was going to wear, as I getting my bag ready she walked into my room again when the bathroom was open. If even my dog is helping me this year, I guess I shouldn't worry so much about things.
   Guess I should brush  my teeth now, talk more later!

Crochet and random photos

For one, I finished my improve circle vest thing: Can't wait to wear it to school and make more!

Ruffles!

Navy Yarn!

Cool Center Motif!

My dog Bonnie modeling!

And since I had the camera, why not take more random photos? :

Keep up the good work, Bee

So purdy....

Mom's Pear Tree

Children of the corn?

Wrapping things up...

Hey guys!

Well this is the last weekend of summer for me and it's been a mix of getting in our last kicks and getting ready for school. Although I sometimes think I should be doing more to get ready this year, on the other hand, how do you prepare for the unknown? So I guess I've been mostly focusing on spending time with family and friends.

Mom had work off yesterday (she had to considering she's been working 13 hr days lately). Most of Mom's vacationing this year has been either taking care of stuff around the house or my dad, so we wanted to try to get at least ONE good vacation day out of summer. Rather spontaneously we decided to check out a local quarry, and I'll admit at first I thought it might be better just to stay home. But it turned out to just what we needed.

Mom's sand art, arrrrgh!

    For one, the quarry was beautiful: crystal clean water and white sand, surrounded by parks and rock quarry walls. For another thing it was cheap, accessible, and not overly crowded (which means fewer things to detract from the fun). My brother and I hit the high dive first while mom started to wade around. Pretty soon we started to do our own thing, it just sorta happens that way.  Wes went to go listen to his music in the shade, mom had fun out on the shore, and me of course, the little seal that I am, had some of the best swimming I've ever had.
   The water was cool and clear, with the white sand and to reflect light off the bottom. I could dive down to 20 feet and drag my fingers through the bottom and shoot back up for air. Then I would swim across the shoreline and glide along the bank, looking up at the sunbeams coming through the surface. I was startled when a fish about the size of my hand came up to me, if I wasn't confused I could have grabbed it and been a real seal!
     It was a great trip, we all had our things to enjoy about it. It was relaxed and unconstrained which seems the opposite of what things have been. Although now mom and I are in the mood for a good fish fry...

Today on the other hand has been pretty busy. Wes had band today, mom is helping one of my older brothers move, and I had a cross country race to run this morning, which turned out okay. It was our annual Blue and White meet where our team is split into two and we race each other. I really like our team this year, I was proud to be one of the captains. Our team, the white team, lost (mostly becuase the other team had more runners than us, which makes scoring impossible). Our top runners did a phenomenal job, it wasn't a particularly great race for me though. But I'm hoping to make big improvements this year.

I'm hoping I might find some ways to prepare for school right now. My friends are having an end of the summer bonfire tonight which I'm sure will be a great kickoff to this year.  I've been reading the Bible more lately, maybe that's the best way to prepare for anything.

Peace.

Finally! My first digital painting!!!

It took all day but I FINALLY finished my first digital painting: It's a self portrait with what I think my wings would look like (cardinal wings, read previous post for more on that....).

"She with Cardinal Wings".. Click to zoom/better quality

It was fun using the tablet to draw, but it is going to take some more instruction to do more effects and such. I'm really happy with it and think parts of it are really neat (love the hand positions and details). And I know that that's male wings, not female, but I think the cardinal comes across stronger in red). I could probably go on working on it, but for a first painting I think this will do: Art is not completed, only abandoned.

Peace

I'm back! (and sore from running...)

Wouldn't you know it? I survived cross country camp! It was interesting to say the least, and definitely had some great times with the team and with running. Coach mentioned to me how he was proud of me for how much stronger I've gotten, which means a LOT to me becuase I've been struggling pretty hard to keep up with our top runners. I love running so much but I really have to work at it to make up for the natural talent I don't really have (yet...).
   But contrary to popular belief we don't really run the whole day, and we're really left with a lot of time to fill up at this campsite. Sometimes that means taking a nap, going swimming, or playing card games, but alot of the time we're just bored and we hang out under the shelter. Well one of our guys was taking a nap and someone started drawing stuff on his back (with his permission), I watched for a little bit before I suggested drawing wings on his back. He was all for it and I had nothing better to do so I took a black pen and drew a pair of arc angel wings for him, he was really happy and I loved they way they look too. Pretty soon I was drawing all kinds of wings on our guys: bone wings, dragon wings, flame wings, demons wings, even butterfly wings. The part I thought was most beautiful about them was that they really seemed to reflect a part of their personality. My favorite was the angel wings becuase the guy would had them had a really good heart and a protective (in a good way) quality about him. But what made me the most happy was how proud they were of their new wings, the one was even considering getting a temporary tattoo like that. It was a great part of camp, and I'm HOPING to get some pictures up.
    Even when I got home I had wings on the brain. I was curious to think about what kind of wings I would want. After a while I thought about how cardinals always have had a special meaning to me. When ever I see a pair I'm comforted and that flash of bright red against the dark green of a tree is so beautiful to me. I always think of God's love when I see them. I was really excited I 'found my wings' but I didn't think I'd get any one draw them for me. I thought it would be a really neat project for me to draw a portrait of me with cardinal wings with my new drawing tablet. It's looking great so far but it's taken a few days for me to get used to it and I still have to finish it, but I should be posting stuff soon.

So what kind of wings would you have?

Peace.

Getting some fresh 'Plein-Air'

Hey guys,

Well I've been doing this and that and the other thing this week. Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for cross country camp, so I won't be back until Sunday (but I'm so excited, camp is a great experience). School seems to be inching closer so fast!

It has been GORGEOUS here in NW Ohio, cool sunny and the gentlest breeze. Especially since I've been looking at that Monet book, I absolutely had to go outside and do some painting and sketching. First I stopped and the barn to paint and check out the horses before I went to camp:

The set up...See the horses in the background?

Sketching the herd to warm up...

And then today I sat next to my mom's garden to paint this rough painting. In either one I was hoping to capture the lovely atmosphere, they aren't as impressionistic as I'd like but that's easier done in oil. It was fun to sit outside and paint though!

My mom's sunflowers and corn

After I was done a humming bird hovered by the sunflower (the real one)

Extra paint? Paint your hands!

Now I think I better get my stuff together for camp. I know for sure I'm atleast going to bring stuff to crochet during the down time.

See ya Sunday!

Bonitacreates' photostream

Bonitacreates' photostream on Flickr.

New Design and Monet Ramblings...

I thought my blog page was looking a little boring so I thought I'd spruce it up a bit. I'm still getting used to blogging, and think I need to try to stick to my theme a little more, but atleast I'm not getting graded for this.
   I have cross country pictures and drug testing for most of the day today, and right now I'm recovering from our morning practice (some hot coffee sounds good, although I'm gonna be stuck at camp with out it on Thursday, instant coffee?). I consider running a real art form, we make strong bodies that  can carry us through woods and cross the country side. My legs have been giving me trouble lately and I'm not in as a great as shape as I would have liked, but sometimes its good just think "It's a gift one can run at all".
So what am I working on now you ask? Well, still getting used to blogging of course. And I started to paint country images on this white cotton dress I found (and blogged about) a while back. It has a very folk art quality to it and I think it's gonna be neat when it's all done. All of the images are stuff I've seen and has a special meaning to it from the country. I think it's almost like quilting. But with paint.

 

I went to the library yesterday and picked out a ton of art books (as usual) one of them is about Monet spending time in this garden, Giverny, to study and paint, it's really lovely. The images of his paintings and him walking around the garden are really inspiring, one quote reads:
    "His life is what he paints; and what he paints is his life.... He only wants one thing, to immerse himself in colour...He aores the whole beauty of nature, which he sees around him and which tortures him, for that is what he is so anxious to translate into paint - the innumerable, ever -changing beauties of nature."

The book tells of his experiences there and his struggle to capture not only the subject but the very air around it. 
I know how he feels. I wish I could spend all my time studying the beautiful colors and lights and greenery around me to translate into paintings. That is the life I want to life when it comes to art. I think when ever I paint, draw, or really create anything it's to honor the subject, the idea, the emotions behind it. There are SO many things I want to paint and create, but I am bound by few supplies and time constraints. Just as I sit here, the sunlight bouncing off the grass in the breeze is like a Walt Whitman poem in the form, how beautiful could it be in a painting! I've often prayed to God asking if I could ever capture the beauty He's created in the world.  If I could have a career where I could be given the resources to study the lights and colors around me I could live in peace.  I have one canvas left, it stops me from painting when all  I think "I better use this well!".
   With the white dress I'm not trying very hard, just painting what comes into memory. I really want to do some outdoor painting now, but soon I have to head back to the school for drug testing.

It's so lovely out.

Peace.

Recovering from the Weekend....

    Well this week was interesting to say the least. My mom, brother and I attempted to go to the Dublin Irish Festival yesterday, which decidedly turned into a dud. Our day consisted of: getting lost, getting rained out, getting tired, and getting bummed. Not having our dad there certainly didn't help. Although there were some highlights to the day.

   For one, we enjoyed this promto jam session after festival operations were halted due to thunderstorms. I would have danced with her, but just as I put down the camera the cops moved them into the gym to play for the jumping wigs...I mean step dancers : 

   After we decided at 3 hours in the rec center that it might be best for us to head home, I had the pleasure of running into this handsome young man from a food vendor trying to get rid of extra scones at the gate so they didn't have to lug it home. Shirtless, wearing a kilt and with free food?! Mom and Wes laughed at me but needless to say I ran after him and eagerly took a butter scotch scone. It was a lovely perk of the day.


   The weather did clear up on the ride home and we ended up missing one what looks like a great show from a few of my favorite performers, John Doyle and Karen Casey. We'll there's always next year and the long ride home meant I got some considerable headway on this scarf.

 Ya see the red bag? I finished my recycle t-shirt and jean bag to bring to the festival! Probably gonna put some pockets on the inside, then it'll be perfect for school.

   As soon as I finish this I'm going into town to run some errands, and after that I really don't know what to expect. This summer has been an interesting experience, and I'm looking forward to starting the school year on the right foot in a few weeks.

Peace.

The Gray Ships

Who rides the ships of the sky?
All of gray, and all of white
They drift weightlessly, they drift silently
Who rides the ships of the sky?
Great clippers and sail ships
They drift to shores along Heaven's Blue.

Who will ride the ships of the sky?
All of gray and and all of white
I look longingly, I look ponderously
Who will ride the ships of the sky?
Does The Captain look at me,
Cross the golden fields and rolling green

One day at a time...

    I've just been taking things as they come this week. Although my mom has had time off work, I don't think it's been much of a vacation for her yet (yet, there's still the weekend). We've faced some tough challenges this summer, I think I serve my role the best when I do what I can to help and also try to stay out of the way. Because of extenuating circumstances, I turned to painting and making stuff as a kid to keep myself entertained and maybe make nice things for people to make them happy. I think I've resorted back to those reasons lately with all this crafting: trying to make stuff for school and maybe make stuff to sell. I'm getting more and more busy with school coming up, what with working on these various projects, along with going to the horse barn, cross country practices in the morning, and getting ready for the school year. It's a somewhat frustrating and worrisome time for me. But, I know it would be important for me to do something for the sake of art before summer's end.
   I took my dog for a walk a few days ago, with a storm of worry in my head. I usually look to art as a release, but it seemed I would never decide on what to do to. With limited supplies, I had to cut back on my painting plans. It felt like I was losing control of everything. I walked along growing ever more desperate, until I found my self asking God for guidance, what should I do now? That morning while cleaning out my closet, I found this plain white cotton dress I had borrowed from my art teacher the month before. I had forgotten all about it, or why I borrowed it in the first place. I hadn't thought about what I was going to do with it until my dog and I walked past this particularly picturesque phone pole I had been eyeballing for a painting. "What if I painted that, on the dress?" I thought. Well, why stop there? Why not painting all of the images and thoughts I've collected over the summer on that dress!
    I had to smile at the fact that I knew that I came upon that idea with God's aid. So, I'll just have to stick to it and see what I come up with. I think I'll work on that today.

Peace.

This and That...

Hello again,

What a Mess! For a minute there I thought it was never going to get clean....

   Just been going through my yarn stash and cleaning out drawers today. I made a deal with myself that I wouldn't get any more new yarn until I used up the yarn I already had. I tosses the stuff I didn't want to deal with trying to untangle, put aside the 'uggies' (less than attractive/really rough) yarn for rugs and bags, organized the stuff I could use for motifs and put the remaining skeins together by style and color: all in clean, labeled baggies. I don't know if I'll really stick to the "Use What Ya' Got" rule quite yet, but I think organizing my yarn stash is a big help.
    Maybe it's this crafting binge I'm on, but I've become a big fan of Threadbanger lately (google them, neat stuff!) and I'm thinking that if I made a tutorial about this bag I'm working on it would go over really well with the community over there. Also, while cleaning stuff out I found this white cotton dress I was going to paint stuff on this summer, that would go over well on their forum too I think.
    If not that, for the last year or so I've wanted to start an Esty account, but never really had the resources to start one. But I think now that it would be a great project to work on this year, to sell the various polymer clay, crochet, knit, sew, painted, drawn, whatever and whatnot on there! It would atleast give me some extra experience and cash for college.

Well I guess I should wait for this whole blogging thing to develope....

Peace.