Where did the Weekend Go? And My First Changing Seasons Post, for January 2018

Well, I am not entirely sure how it got to be Sunday night already but here I am, needing to make a blog post to keep up with my target of at least 1 post/week!

I might be jumping the gun a tad as it’s not quite the end of the month…but I have some lovely wintery photos burning a hole in my iPhone, so here goes my first attempt at a Changing Seasons post. (Su, I hope I am doing this right!) All of these photos were taken on the Mill Run Trail  that starts in the Village:

river ice formation
Closeup of interesting ice forming in the river. Taken on First Day Hike with Mizz J – Jan 1, 2018
river dam
Speed River Dam Jan 1, 2018
Ducks on the river
Ducks trying to stay warm Jan 1, 2018. This was as close as we could get without alarming them.
pampas grass
Pampas Grass against a beautiful winter sky Jan 1, 2018

This weekend I was back down on the Mill Run Trail again, this time with Joanne of My Life Lived Full. This was our second get-together, and my pleasure to host her at my stomping grounds. The weather was a lot milder than on New Year’s Day, and the snow showed it:

snow crust revealed
Evidence of typical January freeze/thaw  Jan 20, 2018

Back indoors, when not binge-watching Grace & Frankie, I was “arting around”:

sea turtle painting
Sea Turtle painting, almost complete. Not happy with the sky at present. Need to figure out a fix.
painting of blossoms
Blossoms, almost complete

This painting came to life while following instruction from Angela Anderson

I love the way the background came out but I could have done better on the blossoms. I want to fix some stuff and do some glazing, and then it will be done!

I haven’t proceeded any farther with my Queen of Wands idea. I’m trying to figure out the best way to take a small drawing and transfer it to a bigger canvas. I’ve looked up the process of using a grid technique (cheap but looks tiresome) and also have discovered (cue angelic singing): the Artograph. Yep, that’s about 800 dollars worth of awesome technology that I won’t be buying anytime soon. Back to reality I go…

This weekend’s January thaw also meant it was finally a good time to wash Edward II, without risk of his doors freezing shut. If the sun would come out, he’d be all sparkly again. For about 5 minutes. Until covered with wintry road goo once again…

My weekend was jam-packed with fun stuff. How was yours?

Rock on,

The WB

18 thoughts on “Where did the Weekend Go? And My First Changing Seasons Post, for January 2018

  1. I love your art! The contrast of colors makes me happy. The movement of the dots. And turtles keep showing up this weekend. I think that’s the 4th time that I noticed. Keep arting!

    I was sick all weekend. This is the 4th day. I even missed the Women’s March. Sad face here. I would much rather have been hiking with you and Joanne!

    1. Thank you Reticula! Sorry to hear you are under the weather. Seems universities are as much a hotbed of flu and cold bugs as primary schools. (Pay for parking to work here plus all the foreign viruses/bacteria we can throw at your immune system…yay????) Hope you feel better soon!

  2. I’m so happy to have been part of your January!! I’m looking forward to more 🙂
    Sadly, I’m not thrilled with the photos I took on our hike – some serious photo editing will be needed to fix them. I seem to be making a recurring error that I need to sort out.

    I love your arting around – especially the blossoms. It’s such a soft, gentle image … perfect for a rainy day like today 💕

    1. Thanks Joanne! I had a blast showing you the Village and all its charms (now that it actually has some…hehehe!). I’m going to be doing more stuff in the vein of the blossoms painting. I like the soft, impressionistic images as well and aspire to get better at them.

  3. Woohoo. Thanks for taking part. Love how I was going down through the snowy shots and got that pop of bright blue. 🙂 Love the term “arting around” — and your work is lovely. The turtle particularly is very sunny and warm. 🙂

  4. Pingback: The Changing Seasons, January 2018 | Zimmerbitch

  5. Where did the weekend go indeed! Sorry to be so late in replying to your post, Deb. Time is vanishing on me this week.
    I enjoyed your photos. Many of them could have been taken in my neighbourhood. Our weather is so bizarre this year. Yesterday I was walking around with just a Patagonia sweater over my t-shirt. Today it was full winter gear and I was still freezing.
    I also really like your arting around. Great to see where you’re going with the sea turtle given that you showed us your earliest efforts in a recent post.

    1. Thank you Karen! I still need to go back to that other turtle and finish it off. But I saw an image of the dotted sea turtle on interwebs and I had to drop everything and make my own version…hehehe! I’ve done more work on it since, and will post the finished piece in another post.

  6. Great pics – and I love the art.

    I’ve been trying to forget that there are new episodes of Grace & Frankie, because I don’t have the time to watch them right now. I know if I think about them too much, I’ll stop doing the thing which need to get done in favor of watching the new episodes!

    1. Thanks for the kind words!
      I admire your discipline Sarah. I’ve finished G & F, and last night I started on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel…a very addictive mistake!!!! Now I’ll never get the house vaccuumed. 😉

      Deb

  7. LOVE the photos and the paintings! I am glad to see you’re still over here creating…..and blogging! I’m still struggling, but it’s mainly a time issue for me these days.

  8. Thank you for sharing your month, and your lovely snowy pics – we don’t have snow in Singapore so I relish snow photos any chance I get! I have all the joy without the repercussions of extreme weather!

    What fun your arting around is! Thank you for sharing your creations!

Here's where the magic happens. I love comments!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.