The Best of June

Last week began, again, with flowers. There were 50 bouquets to make. I listened to podcasts and my audio book and enjoyed the peace and quiet all to myself.

The color of the protea pins, lavender, and sunflowers was so beautiful.

Tuesday I decided to drive 45 minutes north and take Laura and James strawberry picking. It seemed like a good outing during the pandemic. Most of my kids haven't ever picked strawberries so this was a new experience.

It was good to get out of our area and into the countryside.

The berries were small and hard to find due to the lack of rain, but we managed to get about 6 pounds.

Then we enjoyed strawberry shortcake, strawberries and angel food cake, and strawberry freezer jam.

I find Hollyhocks hard to grow -- they are biennial so take a few years to grow and then not all my seedlings/seeds seem to survive. This year I have two stunning plants by my garage and they bring me lots of happiness!

I went to Costco this week! First time since before March. I was researching prices for Drew's open house and stocking up on a few essentials. I was delighted to discover vanilla had come down in price by $10!

Thursday I met a friend at my mom's to do plein air oil painting -- it was my first oil outside. It was the most glorious evening and rejuvenated me.

The Northern Catalpa trees are in bloom right now. They amaze me with their lime green leaves and their huge blossoms that look like collections of some kind of orchid!

I'm trying to get my head around the idea that the summer solstice has happened and we are half way through the year. I love these long summer nights. I don't want them to shorten!

Saturday found me with my sisters sorting out the last of the belongings from my parents' old house. It was fun to see things from our childhood. We found the collection of doll cloths Christina and I had  made for Emily one Christmas -- all look-alike American Girl Samantha clothes from fabric we had. 

And I found a Beatrix Potter figurine of my own that was my mom's. I hadn't remembered she had one and I'm so excited to have it sitting on my own shelf now.

And now we head into a new week!

Life on the Home Front: Back Inside

Do you wake up every morning and have that lightbulb moment of recognition a few seconds after wakening where you remember we are in a pandemic? It happens to me every morning. And my first daily act of self-care is to take those thoughts and channel them in the right direction. I do a lot of taking my mind by the hand and leading it where it should go instead of where it wants to go. Every morning I have to remind myself of some basic truths before I do anything else: I don't need to live in fear, I am a person of faith and my trust is in the God who has every detail of this under control, I can walk through another day one step at a time. 

A big part of keeping my mind where it needs to be involves keeping my world small.  Oh I get the news via email once or twice a day, and my husband shares some with me, and I might hear a late night show clip before bed, but that's enough. And I try to remember I don't need to take on the entire world's problems, and tears, and griefs. I can briefly hand those to God in prayer and then focus my emotional and prayer energy on my family, my friends, and my immediate community.

I find it very interesting that I'm not taking many photos right now. In fact I often struggle to find one photo to post with my update. We are doing the same things everyday. And I'm not getting out and about to find new and exciting things that must be caught on camera. But, I don't miss those things I'm not doing or seeing. I love thinking about these pieces of information and what they might mean.

I love days of routine and that was our Tuesday. School for the kids, painting for me, work in his office for Michael, research and reading in the afternoon and then housework and tidying in the late afternoon and early evening. And some sewing while watching our evening half episode of Foyle's War.

Food Eaten: Tea and Toast and fruit salad, leftover soup and more fruit salad, leftover cake, more leftover soup and toast! One rice krispie treat nest for dessert. 

Life on the Home Front: Easter Weekend

In which I discuss Zoom, painting, and chicken stir-fry....

Did you know that Zoom has an "improve your appearance" setting? I can't stop laughing about this! I learned this useful information on one of my favorite podcasts yesterday (Happier in Hollywood -- a bizarre podcast choice for me it would seem, but oddly one I rarely miss an episode of). Anyway, under the preferences or settings, there is indeed a checkbox marked "improve my appearance" and it actually works! It's like instantly putting on make-up. Who knew?! Another reason for me not to worry about make-up for many months to come!

This whole virus situation is forcing us all to improve on our technology. Zoom this and FaceTime that. I hope our future life will take advantage of some of this stuff to keep me home more! Special thanks today to Hope, our bagpipe teacher (and friend!), who Face-Timed in for James' lesson.

I am making a priority of sitting down with my paints about five times a week right now. It helps that I have a table where my paints can be constantly out. And, I'm learning to work on 2-5 paintings at once, since with watercolor and gouache there is a lot of pausing to let things dry. I've been painting spring flowers as they bloom as well as finishing up some commissions.

The weather is colder again, although the sun is deceivingly bright. I'm worried about my beautiful lilacs which should bloom in one more week but are going to be in trouble with the three nights of frost coming up. I do think I see lettuce and radishes popping up in the garden! A gratifying sight after all the hard work I put in.

The kids continue with their online school. Certain ones have more work to do than others -- the 4th grader has more than the 8th grader? And the sophomore more than the senior? Some are bored, others are busy and contented.

We had chicken stir fry for dinner which was delicious and everyone ate up happily. I took a rest after dinner because I was so tired. It was peaceful lying on my bed and staring out the window at the sky and the greening trees and the white blossoms. We ended the evening with Foyle's War and I tried to knit but I've been doing so many creative things that my arms are now in a roaring fire of pain and I can't find my splints!

Food Eaten: leftover rice and hotdog, muffins, chicken stir-fry

Painting This Week

There were a few opportunities for sketching this week -- I took a walk with my mom last Sunday afternoon and we captured a few scenes at Eagle Creek.

This is such a beautiful time in Indiana right now -- there is plenty of green, lots of blue skies and usually gorgeous white clouds, crops growing, country roads about to pop with June lilies. It's taken a long time for the mountain-less scapes of Indiana to grow on me but this week I felt I was truly home in her beauty.

Painting food is so much fun. I had to do a little sketch of Olivia's birthday cupcakes.

 One of the best things I did last week was to take myself out for a little breakfast while Laura was at VBS. Being alone, having the treat of eating food I didn't cook, time for painting and sitting outside did wonders during a very hectic week in which Michael was away for several days.

While sitting at breakfast on a very boring sort of street I finally noticed the hilarious sight across the street -- a stop sign that looked like a green monster jumping out at passing cars. The red and green, being complementary colors, looked particularly good together and added to the drama of the situation. (A car pulled into the parking space before I finished so you can't really see what I was painting.)

Next Saturday will be our first Capture Summer workshop! I've got a list of things that need to be painted before then! I can't wait!

February 30 in 30 Picture 1

Leslie Saeta, an artist whose podcast I listen to, holds two 30 paintings in 30 days challenges a year. I thought I'd give February a try and see how many I could paint!

Today's painting is of "The Farm Between" in Jeffersonville, Vermont -- a farm I drove by constantly as a little child and then always passed on the way to and from Grandma's house and the cousins. It's such a quintessential Vermont scene.

You can find the 30 in 30 link up on Leslie Saeta's blog.

A Parting Gift -- Part Two

Seeing aunts, uncles, cousins, and new little baby first-cousins-once-removed was a second part of the gift of returning back to Vermont. We were blessed to spend lots of time with my dad's family growing up and grew to know and love his cousins and their families and our own aunts, uncles, and cousins. But it's been so many, many years now since I've seen so many of them. It was a treat to re-connect with several parts of the family and get caught up on all the family news!

Uncle Jack and Aunt Karen kindly hosted us over the weekend! This is the first house my parents built in Vermont. I never lived in this house, but over the decades I spent days and days running around with my cousins. See all those fir trees in the background? Mom planted those before I was born -- now they are a forest!

Uncle Jack and Aunt Karen are oil painters. Their artwork graced the walls of every home my family lived in and now I am so grateful that a few of their pieces hang in my own home today. This is my favorite painting because it depicts the scenery where my life began. All through my childhood I had only to glance up at this painting and I could transport myself back to Vermont and the landscape that is so tied to my heart.

I asked Uncle Jack if he could tell me where he painted this from. His reply, "Let's go take a walk right now. I think it's just up at the top of the driveway."

 

 Out we went. Things have changed in 40 years but we could still pick out the flow of the river and pinpoint where the farm is (hidden behind the trees). The farm in the painting is the Boyden Farm which has now become a fancy winery farm!

Looking out towards the farm -- the view behind is quite amazing!

We managed to see three of our five Vermont cousins while we were back!!!!

I love my aunt's bay window and all the light it lets in!

Aunt Karen and Uncle Jack were amazing in the food department. AND, especially the tea!!!! Aunt Karen drinks as much tea as we do!!! (as in drinks it by the teapot full!!!)

This was my absolute favorite painting that I saw while there. Isn't it stunning!!! And it's so much more beautiful in person! The flowers are from Aunt Karen's garden!!!!!

We all thought Aunt Karen had hung this painting specifically for the light to hit it! She assured us it was all by accident.

Some paintings are so nostalgic -- like this one of cousin Dan's toys.

Or especially this one of the old studio behind the house. I remember that couch so well and the fact that children were never allowed in the studio (except under very special orders -- obviously Aunt Karen had bribed the cousins to pose here).

Now Aunt Karen and Uncle Jack have an amazing studio outside the house in a beautiful red barn!!! Aunt Karen decided to gift us with a painting lesson and while we were out running errands set up this still life.

We had to spend time looking around the studio too:

Isn't this so sweet?!

Mixing up the grayscale:

Looking at a few watercolors done on colored paper:

Each one is just so beautiful! (Pardon the prejudice here. This is the art that I cut my teeth on so it's what I'm drawn to!)

And a few more hanging on the wall:

Back to the lesson: Aunt Karen paints a simple outline:

And begins to put in the background. She is a very skilled teacher and we took lots of notes:

Before we know it the picture is beginning to appear:

 Looking through sketchbooks:

I love this valentine painting!!!!!!! (It's just hanging out above the garbage can in the kitchen....)

Aunt Karen thought no trip to Vermont would be complete without some gluten free raisin bread French toast! Of course I had to spread plenty of maple cream on top!!!!!!!

Little baby Leonora got to join us for some of the time. The great aunts oooh and aaah.

Uncle Jack and Aunt Karen:

 The all-important teapots!!!!!

 In my life that has had so much change in it, I always find it amazing to return to places that haven't changed over the years. So here's a cousin gathering from the late 1980's.

And here we are last month in the same place! Amazing!!!!!

 It's fun to watch the aunts get excited about a new artistic plan. Some sort of painting trip is in the works!

It's also fun to pretend to be a kid again and fool around with your cousin!!!!!

I just love the front of the studio!!! Belongs in a magazine!

If you want to see more of my aunt and uncle's paintings, visit their website: Winslow Art Studio. We also convinced my aunt to join Instagram while we were there so you can find her @winslowartstudio. Aunt Karen also has an Etsy shop for her little watercolors: GouacheSketches.