Mid Week 17

It's Thursday morning. So far everything is quiet. I've been low key this week and a bit sad. Not to mention, a little lost as to what to do or not do. I think mom has had another little stroke. She had a headache on Monday and willingly went to lay down for a while. When she got up a few hours latter, it was like she was jut a bit more lost and definitely she has been a bit cranky. When I try to determine what is going on, she pushes me away and sluffs it off, so I can't get a true handle on things. She has a doctor's appointment next week, so I guess we will see what he thinks.

As to painting, I have been working a bit. Here is a sketch I did a couple of days ago when it was actually nice enough to sit outside for an hour or so. It is not quite right as far as the shadows are concerned. I may try it again sometime.

I've also been experimenting some more with monoprinting to get ready. Nothing spectacular so far.

Wet and dry stuff!

Some week. Between almost letting mom's bath overflow because I was distracted by a phone call, getting the carpets cleaned and throwing mom and cats into chaos because life is not "all systems normal" and getting soaked by Hydro, its been some week!

All in all, its left me pretty dry. Tried a few things but other than this mono-print, none of it worked. I've been distracted with stuff that needs to be done, stuff I'd like to be doing and stuff that is landing on my plate unexpectedly. None of it is what I want to be doing. Griping is so over rated. Changes nothing..

Here is my mono-print for this week .I was experimenting to get ready for the next Art Group meeting when I'm supposed to be demonstrating this technique. I tried a couple. This one I liked, especially after I'd gone back in with gold ink

Carnelians Garnets & Pastels

I ended up being able to get the jewelry case moved on Thursday night and set up my display on Friday morning. Light was missing the transformer. Looked everywhere logical that I could think up till finally on Saturday (after I went back to Ikea to see if I could get just a transformer --- no such luck. Had to buy a new one) I remembered to check the hall bench. Yep, there it was somewhat the worse for wear. So its just as weel I got a new one. The cord and transformer fit the existing light in the case. It looks great.

As it turned out on Friday one of Sue's customer's was interested in a bracelet with garnets and goldstone (she used my list of Gemstone Properties to figure out stones that would support anemia and poor circlution. Not an aethetically good combination. I went through my resources  by ailment and determined that I did have some garnets, plus carnelian and hematite that would support those conditions. I met with her on Saturday and she choose garnets and carnelian. I made up the bracelet on Sunday and also made up a necklace and earrings set while I was at it. Here they are

In addition, this first request for custom design spurred me to take out ALL of my stones and sort through them and bag them by type and colour. Good to see what I do in fact have in stock and what I might want to get when I go on another buying spree. I definitely have too mcuh turquoise in every shape and shade possible. Its gotten me planning new creations.

The only other thing I got done yesterday was this pastell. I worked off the same photo from the workshop It was so nice that Mom and I were able to sit outside for a while out front during the afternoon. Its supposed to get up to 26 by Tuesday!

Mid Week 15 Report

Yesterday our Probus Art Group went for a workshop with a local artist, Tony Johnson who demonstrated his approach to painting a landscape scene using acrylics. He uses a bright (red) undercoat and then blocks in all the darks before applying lighter details. We all did the same using a photo as a basis while we followed his step by step approach. Here is my results.

I'm pleased with it.

I've started another painting and am going to try to use the same methods in another landscape. See how that  works out.

Other than that, I've gotten quite interested again in exploring the power of using crystals and rocks for energy and healing. Been reading my books again, and have moved a large piece of Rose Quartz into our bedroom and  have place a piece of Citrine in the south-east corner of our house.

No joy this week!

End of week 14 and I've not got much of anything to show for it. It's been too cold and rainy to sit outside and work, and I've not been inspired to pick up much in the way of a paintbrush.

What I have been doing though is creating in my kitchen. Went to the Farmers' Market  and bought a basket of tomatoes from a very old farmer with a beat up truck and not too much on display on his table. The tomatoes looked great though! I made a big batch of spaghetti sauce using basil and other herbs from my garden, Then I tried t recipe for slow roasted tomatoes. Made a batch of tomato soup out of them mixed half with frshe tomatoes. Quite a lovely flavour. Today I made a batch of cookies.

I've also been occupied doing up tags for my jewelry that included brief descriptions of the properties of the various gemstones I've used in a given piece. Quite time consuming.  That's in prep for setting up my dispaly case in the store.

Mid week 14!!

Tuesday it was 30 degrees and steamy! Today, Thursday, its about 14 degrees with a cold wind. Fall is here with a vengeance after this oh so hot summer. Its been a week for chores and fixing things, so I got less time to paint than I might have liked. I'm also in the process of re-organizing my jewelry pieces for sale, since I have a place that will take my case and fill it with my jewelry! Should give me the incentive to create some new pieces!

This is only painting I've finished so far this week. I was in a stylized mood and wanted to try to work with my Trius Professional 3 tipped markers on bleedproof paper. The 'bleedproof' part is not quite true. So here is my fish with waterlily.

13 weeks! One quarter of a year!

Its already 13 weeks since I started this blog. I'm thrilled that I've managed to stick to both the creative process and the journalling!! Its not unusual for me to shift focus to other projects, interests or fascinations to the detriment of what I've started.. So kudos to me for still going strong.

I had bought, with the help of my cousin Annemarie in Holland, some DVD on Holland history and geography for my mom's birthday. We thought watching stuff that she was familiar with would keep her interest a little longer. Unfortunately, DVDs are not universal, so when we got them they would not play through our equipment. Thank god for Mark, our computer guru who was able, with some challenges, to transfer them to a format that will play. Got them yesterday. It was hard to find out what was on the DVD's when I bought them through a Dutch site, BOL.com, (somewhat like Amazon), so the first one we sat down to view was all of 12 minutes with English voice over. Another one seems to have no voice over at all, just a camera going through various canals!! Not too thrilling. The 3rd one is about Historic Leiden, the city mom grew up in and lived until she married my dad. Completely old black and white films and stills from the 1930 to 1970. Some voice over that was in Dutch that was clear; other stuff from what looked like newsreels from the 40's was very rapid fire announcer type voice over that was hard to follow. Mom was quite intrigued and it did hold her attention, though she did not seem to recognize anything from the streets, canals and events shown.

I recognized places from when I was about 3 or 4 and was staying at my grandma's place above the Jamin candy store 2 of my aunts ran. I think this was one of the many times my mom was anemic and was in a sanitorium and I was left in Leiden. I caught whooping cough so I was laid up for sometime, and my uncle and aunts (un-married at the time) were living at home and taking turns entertaining the first grandchild!! I remembered being  taught how to tell time, and played at being princess Mariska! I also remember on Friday mornings the famers would drive their sheep, pigs and cattle to the market past grandma's house. I can still recall the smell. I slept in the front room upstairs. I always remembered the room being huge, until I went back to Holland when I was 11, going on 12. The room, in fact the whole 2 story apartment, seemed to be a whole lot smaller than I remembered.

Well on to the creative stuff! This week, I worked a a couple more small acrylic paintings using hand carved stamps and finished with gloss gel . The stamp is carved out of an eraser in the shape of a stylized leaf.

As well I did a larger abstract that seems to have sea horses in the patterns that evolved from the tissue paper surface when I added layers of very diluted acrylic paint.

Oasis HD!

Since we have gotten our new plasma TV with the HD package, we've become mezmorized by the picture quality, especially with some of the coral sea and South Paciifc programs on Oasis and National Geograhic  channels. So needless to say, I've been drawn to (pun intended) sketch birds and fish. Been very hot, hot, hot this week. Very abnormal for this time of year. Harder to get things done. Mom has slowed down even more this week. Hard to see.

At any rate this is what I've gotten done so far this week. This is a drawing of a wrase, a coral reef inhabitant. My source photos are nowhere near as spectacular as the HD programs. This was done in watercolour, but I may try the next one in pastels.

I'm also working on a couple of abstract paintings. Should be done by the end of the week. Today (Wednesday) lots of running around for me doing chores in 38 degrees real feel!! By the time I got home I'm wilting.

Week 12 update

Cleaned out linen closets this week. It is amazing what gets buried! Four bags later of stuff to give away and throw away! Detritus of not being able to pay attention to "stuff" accumulating in one's life. I do feel that there is way to much 'stuff" everywhere. Will take a lot of effort to go through it all eventually.

I was able to try a lino block print this week. I used a much softer version of the old school linoleum to cut a stylized fish. Added impressions of another small block I cut a while ago on an eraser. Used proper inks and brayers.

Also managed to get two drawings done sitting outside this weekend with mom. Lovely weather---not too hot 26 or so--- and no humidity.

Here is my bluebird.

And here is another try at the swallowtail butterfly. Different source photo from the one I did several weeks ago. Turned out better I feel.

I found it hard to get motivated this week to get working on something bigger and new. I have made a list of a lot of things that need to be fixed in the house and in the garden. May have something to do with it.

Feline Capers with Flying Carpets!

Max (full name Felix Maximus) and Oscar were chasing each other around the place going full tilt boogie, Up and down stairs, through the family room down the hall, through the living room up to the dinning room, onto the dinning room table (which is a no-no!). Alex has been sorting through boxes of slides on top of mom's persian table carpet. In any event they were doing so fast that the carpet  went flying onto the floor with cats and boxes of slides . I've never seen them jump so high with the unexpected carpet ride. Their genuine surprise at having everything go flying was quite something to see.Currently they are sitting on the desk beside me watching as I write this blog.

As to art projects, I.ve been trying e few new techniques with mixed result. Here are two small paintings I did using a brayer to apply watercolour right from the tube, Then I applied water and saran. Finished it off with pens to highlight.

Also tried my hand at using pastels again. This time its a drawing of trees..

Week 11 is done!

I'm rather glad this week is over. I have felt that I have had very little control over my time or anything for that matter. I did have to take the new plasma TV back to have it replaced and then the cable repair supervisor came back to hook everything up again. Lots of running around just having to do stuff. I can't even say that it amounted to much. Oh yes, I almost forgot the wing chair and ottoman came back from being re-upholstered, so the living room is pretty well set. I am still on the hunt for a unique side table or cabinet. That will be serendipity.

As to art work, I have been working with acrylics trying different techniques and mediums. Here are two small paintings using stamping and gloss gel. The stamp was cut out of an eraser.

The other one is bigger and was my first attempt at using a self leveling gel with acrylic. It did not respond as I expected. I thought I could get the paint mixed with the gel to "flow" . Not much viscosity. I will try this again, but not without a bit more information as to how it works best. I have seen some artists produce works where the paint seems to just flow beside or through other colours of paint. that's what I wa aiming for. Instead I got more of a Jackson Pollock approach with a lot less control than he achieved! Oh well, this year was about experimenting and learning (I hope)!

TV and Terrarium Wars plus Mom turning 98!

On Tuesday Mom turned 98. Beautiful day! I did have to remind her constantly that it was her birthday. I put out fancy clothes for her, but she came down with an old outfit on, so we has to go dig the new ones out of her closet. In any event we were able to go out for a drive, have some company over for a visit, and go out for dinner with her. Her mantra is the countdown to 100. This picture was taken a couple of days later.

Still having problems with the new TV and its set-up. It may come down to taking it back and getting a replacement as the lesser of all evils. On top of that we had to do an emergency cleaning of the terrarium, since Tuesday morning there was a white film floating on top. Big job!!!! The last time we took everything out was in May. We need to come up with a better system for keeping it clean longer. The pumps were quite plugged.

In spite of it all I did get a watercolour abstract done. Used modeling paste and glass bead gel to create texture for the watercolour. Then I went back in water soluble ink pencils to hghlight.

Week 10 Blahs!

This has been a frustrating week, what with technicians breaking off a connector while rewiring to complete the installation. Still not complete in that now the new TV has to be taken in for repair. Many hours wasted with this. That, plus a lot of heat and humidity and short tempers all around, its not been too pretty.

I've also been trying a couple of new techniques with less than stellar results. Its hard to be patient with myself so that I can learn to master a new medium and/or technique. So I will have to try again. One of my personal lessons. Its always been easier to go off in another direction, rather than dig in to master something that does not come easy. At least anything for myself has always been like that. If I was tackling a client project, I would just dig in until I got it done to everyone's satisfaction. Oh well, it isn't a "journey" without introspection, hurdles, and small victories.

I did manage to do another couple of drawings in pastel sitting outside this week with mom. Pastel is such a messy medium, so outside seems to be the ideal place to work.

The perspective is not quite right, but I do like the intensity of the cheetah's stare.

For some reason, I am drawn (pun intended) to wildlife drawing lately! That and abstract. This last one that I will post is an acrylic with drops of isopropal alcohol to disperse the paint. Less dispersal that I expected, so I went back in to enhance patterns.

Mid-week ten! TV hurdles!

I had been working on a pastel drawing of Anemones sitting outside since it is such a messy medium, when I got interrupted by Alex to say that Hydro was here to replace the meters to the new digital ones. All the power was off for a while. Fine! So with the power off , all the electronic equipment needs to be pampered and changed, in this case including our old TV in mom's den. Its the one we all watch together. It decided to lock up and not take any input. After a lot of fiddling we decided the time had come to dump the old one and buy an new Samsung Plasma flatscreen. We've had the old Zenith for 19 years. so no regrets, although I had been thinking that Christmas would have been the time to do this. So off to the store....... has to fit in my car..... hoist it upstairs and get it set up. Took quite some time and effort, but not nearly as much as wrestling the old one downstairs. Weighs a ton!! At any rate, nothing goes easy. Finally broke down to get Rogers in to get the connection hooked up. Some channels look horrible... most look fab!. By now its 10:00 pm. The verdict is that the reason that we don't have perfect reception on all channels is due to the old line feeding the upstairs TV. Should be replaced. So yesterday we decide that this too should be done. They are coming on Friday to replace the cable. Needless to say, I've not gotten much painting done. Worked a bit this morning on  a painting of what I hope will be a Thunderbird and perhaps this afternoon I can get back to the pastel drawing..

Well I did get it done this afternoon. Here it is.

I do love the rich creaminess of pastels, but I'm going to have to practice more to get better control over the medium.

Creativity or mediocrity?

I'm having a grey day today. Heavy and grey sky may have something to do with it, but it may also be where I'm at. Starting this creative journey feels a lot like doing a detox or throwing up a hairball. What comes out is not pretty.So what I'm feeling about what I am producing or trying to produce is that its off the mark. Probably mediocre. I've been experimenting with different approaches ----- that was after all the intent for this year----- but the results are less than satisfying to me, but still I need to just let it be as it comes out. Does not always help either to get friendly advice, in that when something is done for me, its done. I'd rather try again, later when I'm ready. I do not do well with fixing something that's not quite right. Makes me feel mediocre and like I have to meet some outside criteria. I may or may not post these thoughts. For now I'm just putting them down.

I came back to this about 6 hours later. What is creativity anyway? Who creates? I'd like to think it is God working through me. I do know something is pushing to get born. Sometimes if feels like a hairball, but I hope sometimes it can also be something inspired!  Who decides?

As to creative endeavors the last couple of days, I have created two new neckpieces. One is a tri-colour freshwater pearl necklace.

.The other was a little trickier. I had a curved piece of abalone shell, that I wanted to have as a centre piece with a potato pearl strand across it. It needed something to create contrast, so I put in a caged shell drop on one side. Odd, but it sits quite interestingly on the neck bone.

Lastly, I just finished a piece I call Whale Dreams. I have no idea where it came from, but I guess I was channeling my inner Shaman.  Although there are dark connotations to whale symbolism, I like the interpretation of the whale with the seed of renewal and the flow of the cosmic water of life
Source: The Complete Encyclopedia of Signs & Symbols: Identification and Analysis of the Visual Vocabulary That Formulates Our Thoughts and Dictates Our Reactions to the World Around Us

Mid-week nine

Its already the ninth week of this journey, and I have still so much I have not yet tried. One of my concerns is that I will go off in too many directions at once and not get to my true destination. But hey, its the journey that counts, isn't it?

Alex and I went to see Inception yesterday. Quite intriguing concept that is well done, but leaves me guessing as to what is real. Brings up the question. Is this life the real dream? When will we know what is real and what is just a pale imitation of a dream?

On to my creative endeavors this week so far. Here is a study of an golden eagle that I did sitting outside on Monday with mom. I may want to learn how to do this properly in oils someday! This is done with water soluble Inktense and Graphite pencils.

On Tuesday I worked outside with pastels. I've always loved the creamy texture and rich colours some artists are able to produce using pastels. Difficult medium to control.

I also did an abstract, but I'm not sure that I'm finished with it yet.

Tomatoes, Apple of Peru plant, and interrupted sleep

I have been reading Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love. I'm about two thirds of the way through and I find myself reconnecting with some of my post divorce passage to independent, self-sufficient womandhood! Long time ago and not something I think much about now, but this current journey has some parallels.

Tomatoes!!! Out of the garden, fresh picked and popped into my mouth! I had forgotten the intense sweet taste, unlike anything you can buy from the grocery store or even a farmer's market. Its been years since I have planted my own tomatoes. I can't imagine why it took me so long to try again. Another discovery this week has been a plant that came from a branch with seeds that I picked last year during one of my early walks through the neighbourhood. Not one I had ever seen before. I planted the seed head and forgot about it, until I discovered it peeking out from under a bleeding heart plant several weeks ago. Grows quite rapidly, so I will have to move it to another part of the garden. Sandy was able to have it identified by the Biology Department at Trent University as the Apple of Peru, or Nicandra physalodes. Lovely mauve trumpet shaped flowers  on a tomatillo type shellcase. Apparently its an annual that self seeds quite rapidly. I'd sure like to know why its called the Apple of Peru though!

On to interrupted sleep. Mom has taken to waking up in the middle of the night again and thinking its time to get up.  In the last four or so nights that has been the case. Several nights ago Alex woke me up because she had been rattling around in her closet for some time around 1:30 am or so. I went to check and she was fully dressed and had made her bed! Saturday night she calls me to wake me about 2:30 am to ask if she can have her bath. She was up again at 4:00 and at 5:30 am! Last night a bit better. She woke me about 6:30 to see if she could have her bath. I always get her to go back to bed, but its hard for me to get back to sleep after that.

I did get some more painting done. A couple of studies working outside sitting with Mom. One is from a photograph I took of a wall of hydrangeas a long time ago when Alex and I were able to take a short break and go to visit wine country in the Beamsville Bench.

The other is a study of a Swallowtail butterfly. I got a lot of positive feedback on the Monarch I did last week, so I thought I'd give it another go. Not quite as real.

Lastly, another abstract done with acrylics and modeling paste.

Aquaspas, afternoon tea and making paper

Yesterday Sandy and I went out for the afternoon in anticipation of her birthday next week. Spa day!! We went to the Aqua Massage spa in Oshawa and got massaged by water jets, and energized with pure oxygen. Next "tea" in Brooklyn. Not at the tea room I was familiar with, but at another tea room. Lovely afternoon. It just reminds me how important it is to my sanity to go out and spend time with my female friends!!!

On Tuesday, I had my first full experience making paper. A friend who has been making paper for years, offered to show me a while a go. I've always been interested in the process and have bought myself some of the equipment required. I looked at the box and I got overwhelmed with tackling the process by myself. As a hands-on learner I do best when I can do each step myself with someone guiding me. So I shredded my paper, soaked it, and brought some petals and leaves from my garden for inclusions. Discovered that I had not prepared the inclusions properly, so we cooked them in the microwave as a stop-gap. (Not sure how that will work out!). Then put the pulp in the blender and used my frame and deckle to scoop out the pulp to form a sheet. Flip it out on felt (without messing it up), load the felted sheets into a press to squeeze out as much water as possible; then peeling off each sheet to get them ready for the drying process.  Let it be said that there quite a number of steps before you have handmade paper. I look forward to seeing the final product once it's dry. I'm getting lots of ideas of how to work with this process and develop my own approach. So many ideas.....so little time it feels like.

I did do painting this week. This is one that I have finished using a modeling paste to create texture and I used four colours in acrylic which I got  to blend in the middle ground. A little addition of gold and I like the results.

Monday I had to sit outside and keep mom company, so I worked on these two studies of a picture of a sunflower. the first one is done with water soluble ink and graphite pencils and the second one is done with watercolours.

Week 7 Update

It's already seven weeks into this year of living vicariously through creativity. This week, I got focused on getting re-focused if that makes sense. Some ideas about what direction to go into next or what to re-do so that I can get more versed with a technique is pushing-pulling me. I am in the process of redoing a painting that I completed several weeks ago. I will show it when its done, maybe even today!In the meantime today I sat outside with mom and did a study of a Monarch on an echinacea blossom.It was a gorgeous day. Humidity is gone for now..

The other painting I finished this week is an abstract landscape that I finished yesterday. Acrylic with tissue paper texture. I got the idea of the very high horizon from Celebrate Your Creative Self

I think I will try something like this again, but see if I can move from realistic to abstract in the scope of the painting.

While searching for ideas for how to work with coloured  inks when I came upon a website for a collective of "daily painters". Wow! This group has set a goal for them selves to complete a painting a day and share it. Not too ambitious you say, well think again. It requires a great deal of freedom of time commitments as well as self-motivation. I am thinking of seeing if I can challenge myself that way. It would require a lot of re-focusing of my time and priorities. As I write this I realize that I'm not there yet technique mastery wise. But that is where I want to be once I find my specific voice and song.

Cats versus Alex

Spent most of the afternoon working on this study of hydrangeas from my garden. Working with miskit to preserve the whites. Been continuously hot and humid for about 3 weeks now, with no break in sight. Makes it harder to get things done.

We've been having fun with the cats lately. Alex saw a mouse in our family room late at night a few weeks ago and decided that the Max and Oscar have to earn their keep. Up until now, we have locked them up in the laundry room area at night so they won't startle mom during the night. So after running around trying to find a folding door that fits the opening to the dinning room (smaller than standard door size) we are able to  expand their space at night to include the kitchen and family room. This means that they can't get upstairs to startle mom at night. I still put them to bed as normal, and then Alex lets them out into the expanded space when he goes to bed. Always later than me, since he is a night owl. Bit of confusion for the cats the first night. Fine for about a week. Saturday morning I came down stairs and see they cats sitting in the living room They had jiggled the latch until they got it open. Alex now decides that he will put a wedge in as well to keep them confined. Sunday morning they are sitting outside our bedroom door proud as punch!! So now the games begin. New strategy to secure the door. No cats this morning, but my money is on them figuring this one out as well.

Week 6 update

Six weeks are finished already! So many techniques to try, so little time it seems. Quite a frustrating week in some ways in that I am feeling that I am being pushed and pulled constantly and that I have to fight to find snatches of time for me. Between what I have to do to "take care of" mom, cats house, plants, cooking, weeding, repair people etc etc etc., and what I want to be doing some days its a struggle to keep my temper from blowing over. I know there is a delicate balance that I have to try to maintain, but sometimes its a bit overwhelming, and being my hot-tempered self, I just blow. Had one of those this week. Not pretty and not comfortable. Thank heaven for time and cooler heads prevailing eventually.

As I reported in my last post, I got the greenhouse put together and attached this week. Here it is!

This week I experimented with watercolour  to see if I could create the atmosphere of a grainy black & white photo that I got out of the paper several weeks ago. It showed a Buddhist monk on a mountain top at Summer Solstice. I feel I got the atmosphere I was looking for, but the execution is not quite right. I may try this idea again. At any rate, here it is.

Hot Summer Days!

Mid week 6 of this journey. Its been hot!!! hot and humid. Makes getting on with things somewhat more challenging. Finally got my new greenhouse assembled and attached to the side of the house. Quite an undertaking, but this birthday present to me is finally done. Getting back to my Mother Earth persona I think! At any rate, I did complete a nature study today sitting out in the shade with Mom. She seems to be sleeping more during the day, but she loves the heat. I have become quite fascinated with the diversity of leaves. Every one seems to be unique. If only we humans could be as creative as the Great Spirit. When I stop to look (this is quite an important step for me since I always seem to be in a rush to get things done or on my way to get something) I feel my self becoming quite peaceful. I think that is why my garden is so important to me.Things that grow from tiny seeds just blow me away. Creativity takes on new meaning.

Just in case I forget, sweet potato vine, coleus, Rieger begonia and one unknown species.

It's official! I'm 65

So as the tag line indicates, I'm now officially a senior citizen! I don't feel "senior". There must be some more politically correct way of identifying this period in one's life. I do like Moses Znaimer's term "Zoomer", in that it connotes a boomer with zip. I want to feel 'refired" not retired! So there!

Since this Blog is part of my journey into "refirement", I'm focusing on all that is possible, motivating and creative.

This week has seen a lot of moving and organizing as a result of the wall unit for my stereo system. Fours rooms ended up being affected, all for the better. Lots of pruning of stuff, so now its sorting to give away, throw out or sell. Upshot is that I did not have too much time to paint this week, but I do feel that I worked effectively to recreate my space and our space. Cats are quite confused with all these changes of course. But that cats!!

Here is a picture of my new (used) wall unit in the living room. Plus the recovered sofa and chair was delivered today as well. Just waiting on the coffee table which is being refinished. You can see the new upholstery on the chair in the left bottom corner.

This is what I did finish this week, a  nature study of leaves from my garden; geranium, two different types of Japanese maple, and a dusty miller.

And last, a picture of me on my 65th.  Not sure if its how I think I see myself in my mind's eye, but not too bad.