Doodling

I came across an artist showing how she does doodling paintings and I was very enamored by it. They looked so fun and possibly easy but then she had it on time lapse which makes everything look easy. I started with an 8 X 8 gallery wrapped canvas to paint over on the sides. Grab some random colors and put them on the canvas. Then keep layering. After you are done with the backgrounds draw simple designs. Many times they can come from designs in your journaling pages. When you are happy with the colors then you outline everything in white or black and go over them a few times and add marks, dots, dashes and splatters. This painting is titled “Bluebird in Love”.
Here is “Doodling Christmas” and I made it the same way. Background, figures, painting, outlining and marks. This one sold right after I finished it.
“Oriole and Tulips” perfect for right now. A fun painting and I especially like the inchworm at the bottom. I am planning on doing many of these for the art season, I feel they will be a good addition to my tent.

Animal Faces

I love animals and creating them in mixed media is great fun for me. For this post I am going to show a few that I have done. First off this is our cat Lily. She is a funny gal who drags socks and gloves around while meowing. This is the look that is given when it is treat time at 9 pm. It can be felt across the room and my husband Tom says that she would be a great interrogator with that face.
My animal pictures are not exact replicas, they are in my style. This painting is called “Lovely Lily’s Flower Crown”. This is done in Shiva paint sticks and acrylic paint.
This is my friends dog named Rocky. She takes him to nursing homes and schools. She doesn’t use social media so she won’t see this but I am going to surprise her with this soon.
A little 6 X 6 picture done in wallpaper and acrylic paint.
This is “Houndog” and I was going to do a workshop with kids and thought making the head and body with large wallpaper pieces would work well. The rest are done with acrylic paint. It was on a 5 X 7 flat canvas panel and a fork was used to make the design on the background.
This is our dog Gretchen who we acquired in 1987. She was part German Shepherd and part big black dog. She passed away when she was 12.
I made this for my husband, where it had wallpaper, Shiva paint sticks and acrylic paint. She loved being outside, taking walks, playing ball, begrudged when we were eating pizza and one time had her whole head in a bowl eating cookies.
Many times I go on the Animal Care site and save pictures of different animals. I wanted a black and white cat for a colorful picture.
This painting is titled “Bob’s Hideout” and this phase shows it is not totally completed yet. There should be something above Bob.
Here is our cat Pavel and I used his face and body for the next painting.
It is titled “Cat Love” and I used many different patterns of wallpaper because cats come in all different colors. He is sleeping in the grass and has things around him that cats enjoy like watching birds and butterflies, and playing with feathers. I made that painting thinking about all the different cats I have had in my life.
This is Rolf and his picture came from Animal Care. He is such a happy fellow but he chewed up his bed and he like to chew boots too. He likes to play ball and have sticks thrown for fetch. Many times he also had muddy paws.
Meet Frida, she did not turn out like her picture, this is what Frida wanted her painting to look like. People ask me if Frida is a dog or a skunk, and I said it is what you want her to be. A wonderful woman watched Frida all year and by the end she decided to give her a good warm home with lots of love.
This is Mackie and she was a dog of Tom’s Ohio cousins. I loved this picture of the nose closeup. I used her picture for a few things, a postcard entry for the Artlink show in Fort Wayne.
Here I was practicing drawing in my sketchbook.
Here I made a painting titled “Unconditional Love”. For every print that I sell I donate to Animal Care and control.

This is another dog from Animal Care. My friend Karen wanted a painting done with a white dog and mostly sunflowers but with other flowers too.
I loved the way it turned out and it is call “Puppy Love”. The size is 36 X 48.
I used my niece’s pets a few times. This is their French Bulldog whose name is Watson. I loved his bow tie and ears.
He is in a painting titled “Among Friends” that contains many different elements and is very fun and colorful.
Here he is with their cat Willie which it looks like they are quite good friends.
I think Willie has great facial features.
His painting is titled “Graffiti Cat” which found a home with this lovely woman.
Willie’s two brothers and mother live with us.
My friend Michelle’s family dog Kula made a painting. I had a picture with the close up of the nose and I decided to add a baseball hat that says Adopt. With the size of the nose, I titled it “Snoop Doggy”. She bought it for her son, Elijah, for his birthday since Kula is his very good friend.

All these paintings are available in my online store, click here.

or if you would like a painting of your own with your animal, please use the form below.

Slow Stitching, knee update, 4-12-22

Slow stitching is adding fabric, felt, embroidery, buttons, lace…..anything that you can come up with along with various backgrounds. I follow House Wren Studio and watching her do all kinds of great things with just stuff we have at home gave me the itch to do this. I have made many quilts, and my mother was a quilter also and thus I have quite a fabric stash along with buttons and lace and you name it. Since my love of painting has taken over I haven’t been able to scratch the quilting itch. When I discovered slow stitching it has helped me scratch a bit. I just put together a 5 X 7 picture and matt it and then frame it.
I was selling these in my booth at The Shoppes at the Sanctuary in Columbia City. I closed it out because I just could not fill it like I wanted or like the owners wanted either. I think they were glad I chose to close it. Some things work and some don’t, you have to try. It is still a great place to go and shop and find wonderful things.
I am showing this for the framed slow stitching, but aren’t those bears cute too?
I also have old quilt blocks that I slow stitch on and bind them like a quilt. I love figuring out which embroidery stitch to use and what to make out of that piece of an old block.
I have quite a few of the geometrical blocks on the right, they have different fabrics and I just didn’t think they were pretty at all. But taking a piece of it and adding the embroidery just makes it come to life.

Last summer, House Wren Studio was giving an online workshop called My Indigo Kitchen. She put together a wonderful kit that include indigo dye and various beautiful fabrics and lace. I have not done any dying before and watched the videos and will be opening it up soon. With art shows and my knee replacements I wasn’t able to put my kit together, but it is on my list now.

My knees are good, I can bend them well and I am glad I had it done. My biggest problem is that due to sleeping on a chair for two months my lower back has inflamed nerves that go all the way down my left leg. I have gotten one cortisone shot and was due to get another, but the pain management company messed up many of my appointments. When I got the shot, it was wonderful!!! I will not tell who they are, but I would not recommend them if you ask me in person. A very poorly run business that did not manage my pain well. I am starting over with a new company which I will be seeing April 26th. I started addressing this pain in January. It is not easy getting into these appointments, a lot of people need pain help. I am looking forward to that appointment for sure, and will let you know how it took and if I am sleeping and walking normally again. .

Iris, Hyacinth, plant wall – 4-11-22

Probably at least five years ago I found this picture in a magazine and was enamored with it. I am not able to have plants because I have a certain cat that chews and destroys them. So, I thought a plant wall would do the trick and really thought this looked neat.
My husband Tom put my version up yesterday. As I spoke of in a previous post, I repotted my overgrown succulents in the white pots. I had purchased these at least five years ago and didn’t buy enough hooks or a package got misplaced, and that is why one is missing. Ikea doesn’t sell this kind anymore but luckily I was able to find a pack on the internet. It will be coming on the 12th. The plants are kind of puny right now but I put it on this wall because it gets a nice amount of light. My painting is a nice addition and picks up the colors of the wooden flowers in the ceramic pot. I have chalk paint to put a new coat of paint on the tip top table with the water ring on it, have to put that on my “to do” list. My niece had given me the old window with the lights on it. We leave it on all the time and I have changed the lights three times. It is perfect and we have become used to the glow.
A little closer view.
Yesterday I completed this 36 X 48 inch painting. “My Iris Eyes are Shining” with bees and butterflies, a robin digging for worms and brown baby rabbit patiently waiting for its mama. The stars of the painting are the colored iris along with mixed media leaves and greenery.

The front garden is slowly coming to life. The new mulch has been spread and the sun made the windflowers and hyacinths look so pretty. When I was ready to take the picture, the clouds came out and the windflowers had closed up. The purples looked so nice together. I am glad to see the multiplying of the plants too. The hyacinths started out as just five when Kevin gave them to me one Easter.

I have a book of poems titled “The Best Loved Poems of the American People” it was copyright in 1936 and I always find something good when I start searching. Here is a little poem, the wording is old and a little hard to understand but you will get the drift.

Hyacinths To Feed Thy Soul

If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,

And from thy slender store two loaves alone to thee are left,

Sell one, and with the dole

Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.

If you have any questions send me a message.

April 8, 2022 – Paintings, Buttonhole Sunflowers and Show Schedule

I had planned to create two paintings for specific places on my walls. These two that you are seeing are the ones that I came up with. In March I started an online workshop with one of my very favorite artists Carrie Schmitt. She is from Cincinnati but now lives in Washington State. She had to move somewhere that has a cooler climate because she has a heat allergy. It is becoming more pronounced as time goes on, for example she had to get her car windows tinted recently because she couldn’t drive around without having a reaction to the sun. More than 10 years ago when this allergy started rearing its ugly head, she was bedridden and was trying to decide what direction her life would take. She decided to start painting and her style is loose, intuitive, colorful and really wonderful. I have taken two in person workshops with her, one in Portland Oregon and one in Cincinnati Ohio. I really dislike flying and I hopped a plane for four hours and flew to Portland for a three day painting workshop. It had so many wonderful women from all over the US, good food, flowers and flowers and togetherness to be with Carrie.

Each month a flower is chosen plus different techniques. The first month finger painting was brought up and an artist that uses that technique was introduced. I hadn’t decided what I was going to do with the one painting. It is going to be on my fireplace to cover up cords from the television on the wall. I like hydrangeas and they are easy to make with finger painting. I wanted something in a bold pattern and it is perfect in the spot. I love the way the pots turned out with the different patterns and I just kept adding layered colors on the flowers until I was satisfied with the look. The painting is permanently in my home but I will have prints and cards available to purchase. I have titled it something unusual :)”Hydrangeas”.

This painting will be on a wall above a living garden wall we are putting up. Since my cats like to chew my plants and destroy them, I decided to get some items from IKEA that work perfectly for a living plant wall. I have repotted my succulents into these containers, and it will be my husband’s task to get them up on the wall, because he’s the best. I have to varnish these two paintings and then they will be ready. The flower for March was Iris and they were really fun to paint, more than I expected. In fact I have a large painting in process of iris to be completed soon. I have put a couple in this painting and also the inspiration were wooden flowers that I purchased from an artist a few years ago which will also be nearby. When it is done you will see the whole shebang for sure.

Another topic for that month was painting a chair and decorating it in flowers. I love the way this painting turned out with all the patterns and I will be keeping it too. It was so fun to make. I will also make some prints and cards to make available. Some of Carries paintings have been turned into fabric and then a company called Chair Whimsey has recovered some chairs with them. If you have gotten a recent HGTV magazine the Chair Whimsey house was featured in it and also some of Carries Paintings. She also was a speaker on a zoom meeting and she is a fun person, very upbeat. I took this month by month online workshop because I wanted to get new ideas for painting for my upcoming art season. Since my knee surgery I was kind of slow in getting into the beat again and this has helped immensely. You do not need to know how to paint, some people just use what they have, cardboard for one. If you would like to step out of your box or just get some new and fun ideas I would recommend signing up for this. She offers so much and you can pick and choose what you want to do. If you would like more info about Carrie and The Flower Painting Club click here.
This is called a buttonhole sunflower. Another woman I follow made these to raise money to send to the World Central Kitchen helping to feed Ukrainians. Here is what she wrote about these little gems. “I came up with the idea of celebrating our connectedness with the suffering people of Ukraine by wearing a Buttonhole Sunflower. I crafted these sunflowers from my friend Barbara’s cashmere sweaters, hand-dyed wool and a wooden button plus some stitching.”

This is the back of the sunflower. I am sorry but I couldn’t get the picture to resize. I understand that she sold enough to send over $1500.00 to the World Central Kitchen plus some extra sunflowers. So, if you see anyone wearing one of these you know where they came from. I met this person through a different workshop and she is very interesting and always has something going on. You can find Cindy on Instagram @bacibear.

Show Schedule (So Far)

  • June 4th and 5th….Village of Winona
  • June 25th and 26th….Covington Art Fair
  • August 4th and 5th….Chesterton Art Fair
  • August 13th….Bloomfest
  • October 1st….Artist Studio Tour
  • October 8th….A Renaissance in Roanoke

I am getting my Show Schedule in order and adding new shows all the time as I hear from them. You can find the list on my webpage click here.

It’s Been Too Long – catching up

I love to write blog posts. It doesn’t seem like it though, does it? I don’t get them done because it takes me too long. I want to put in pictures I can’t find. I don’t like to write a lot because I think blogs should be entertaining and informative but not wordy. When I look at blogs I really like pictures and when I see long, wordy paragraphs and no pictures, I move on. Here is my new attempt to write a blog post, because I am sure there are things you want to know…right? So maybe a short daily post, we will give it a try. April 7, 2022

Let me tell you about Whiskers. I leave food out for the neighborhood cats on my porch. I even have small heated huts too. Nothing makes me happier when I see them use the huts, there are two. Whiskers started coming around every morning and evening about a year and a half ago. I would not see him during the day, he would leave like he went to work and then come back around dusk. He had been neutered by animal care because he had a clipped ear so I was glad about that, no more making little kitties. So we became friends and I would pet him, and eventually I could pick him up, but he wouldn’t stay but 30 seconds at the most.
So he made his way into my heart and Toms too. As you can tell he made it into a painting. We would look for him and would be worried if he wasn’t around for a couple days. But he would eventually show again. We kicked around putting a cat cam on him because we always wondered if he had another family. But decided he wouldn’t put up with that. Once in the winter there was a 12 inch snowfall and I didn’t see him for a week but then here he came trotting up the driveway when he found a way around the snow. He was the toughest cat we knew. It would be 14 degrees out and he would not go into the heated hut, he would sit on our porch chairs. Finally I put one of the heated pads on the porch chair and he accepted that. He didn’t accept too many other cats to eat at the bowl when he was around, but there was one little tiger kitty that they would show up together. They would eat together, chase each other and when it was warm they would cat around at night. When it was cold she would go in the hut and he would sleep on the heated pad. She was a very skittish cat and I was never able to touch her. I could talk to her and she would roll around, and wait for the food bowl to be filled, but never get close.
Finally, this winter we were going to have a big snowfall and I snatched him up and put him in our garage, we were tired of worrying about him. After a couple of weeks I had a plan to send one of our other cats to live at our sons house. One that was very attached to Kevin and introduce Whiskers into our house. I took him to the vet and they checked him out and tested his blood and he ended up being FIV positive. That means that he cannot live with us and our other cats. It comes from getting a bite from an infected cat, so he has to live in a one cat household. Change of plans, he is going to live with our sons. The stress of change of environment maybe brought on a urinary tract infection for him, so back he came, back to the vet for antibiotics (a shot) and pain meds. Took him back when he was better because I told him he will have a whole house to wander and windows to look out of to watch the birds. Warmth and plenty of food. Two weeks later the UTI returned, we got different antibiotic of which I gave to him every day and pain meds, we were so concerned we were not going to bring him out of it, especially with FIV. But we did it, and I am happy to report that he is back at the boys house living the good life. He is playing with toys, sleeping on the beds and the couch, watching the birds. He will always be on special food but he is worth it. Oh and Little Kitty comes around and eats, probably every night. She lets me talk to her, but never too close. We also have a look alike Whiskers (possibly a brother) another cat that has a diamond marking on his nose, a yellow striped cat too. They all stop by at certain times of the night. The food bowl is usually almost empty. I keep them in a big heated dish so the food doesn’t freeze and they also have a heated water bowl too. Sometimes I have caught two raccoons feasting and I shoo them on their way. Sometimes I have to shoo them twice because they will go in the bushes and peek out when they think I have gone inside, then I clap at them and tell them to move on. They pick it clean, pick up the plastic food bowls and move them to get to the stray pieces of food and discard them on the porch somewhere. No social graces with them.

Stuck on Sidney Poitier Movies

The winter cold, staying inside makes me want to watch more movies. The death of an actor like Sidney Poitier always prompts me to watch their movies. I listened to some Meat Loaf the other day too, a little Bat Out of Hell to get the morning started. I have not watched the Golden Girls though, but I do enjoy the little bits that come up about Betty White on shows she did that Facebook keeps putting in my feed because I watched one and now as I get many. I always liked Mary Tyler Moore, so I may watch some of those if I run out of movies. I love that she was such an animal lover and supporter and that totally warms my heart. I am sure that animal rescues received so much needed support on her birthday. One more feed that I get and that usually makes me stop scrolling to watch is the Dodo. Everytime at the end of the video when the Dodo winks and and a little ding happens, makes me laugh.

So back to the movies, I have both Amazon Prime video and Netflix on my I pad, and they are my go-to for movies. I love it that it is just so portable, and I can sit anywhere and watch. My first Poitier movie was Lilies of the Field. A Black and White from 1963. Poitier is driving on his own, in the desert in his station wagon with his sparse worldly belongings in the back. He comes across a building and stops to get some water for his car. This building contains seven or maybe nine nuns in it. The head nun is older and can speak some English, but the younger ones cannot. The head nun spots an opportunity here, she is pushy and can change the subject quite quickly especially when it comes to money. Poitier finds himself fixing a roof, then building a chapel. It is apparent that there is no extra money and the meals are so meager it is painful. He was doing hard labor building this chapel, brick by brick and runs out of supplies. The nuns start writing letters to get donations, Poitier or Homer which is his character, finds a job on a construction site and gets paid and brings back food. Even though this benefits the nuns the head lady is always yelling at Homer. At the end of the three movies I have watched so far it always turns out good. People who are enemys begin to like each other and when people become helpers and there are painful racist things that are said or that happen. I read that Poitier always did movies that were on the edge and make definite points. I recommend this one.

The next one was In the Heat of the Night, I rented it as they had not made it free. The setting was Sparta, Mississippi in 1966. He played a detective from Philadelphia and had been visiting his mother. He was in the train station in the middle of the night waiting for the next train to come so he could get back to Philadelphia. A murder had happened, and he was picked up by the police because he was an unknown black man. He had a suit on, which he wore through the whole movie, and it was never ever wrinkled! He was well spoken and smart and the racial remarks that were made just made my skin crawl. People should watch this movie to see what it was like in the south for Black Americans. In Philadelphia he was a highly regarded homicide detective and they begrudgingly accepted his help in the solving of the murder. At the end as Mr. Tibbs was boarding the train to go back home it is apparent that the Sheriff realized what a good man he had with Poitier.

The third movie Defiant ones, a black and white from 1958. Poitier was in prison and was being transported back from somewhere with fellow prisoners. They were chained two by two and they were in a box truck. Well it was sideswiped and drove down an embankment and flipped on its side. They were the only two that escaped and ran away, his chained partner was a young Tony Curtis. They had to try to steal food and got caught but the townspeople did not rat them out or a women with her 8 year old son living in nowhere did not rat them out when the police questioned her. They almost hopped a train to get a way but didn’t make it. They were dreaming of a better place and life. In the end Poitier and Curtis became friends like happen in these movies. It was good also.

The last movie I watch recently was The Tender Bar directed by George Clooney. It was very good with an eclectic cast of characters. I recommend it also.

I am starting to list on my website original paintings that are for sale. This is the first “The Garden Beside Me”. It is mixed media and is a sizable 23 X 28 inches. I painted this later in the year and it only had a couple of shows to be seen at. It looks fantastic on my wall right now and gives it such interest. Here is the link to read all about it and also please contact me if you have any questions.
This picture I took last year in July in Frankfort, Michigan. I don’t even know if I showed it as when we came back from vacation, I had a show the next day in August. I was so busy from then on until my knee replacements in October that my pictures got put on the back burner. Now in the cold of the winter I can enjoy them. This week we paid our deposit on the same place for July. The people are standing on the breaker going out to the Frankfurt lighthouse. Isn’t that sunset gorgeous?
Two weeks ago I had gone to the Ortho guy for a lower back pain which I think I developed when I slept in a chair for the first six weeks after surgery. During X-rays I had to lay on my stomach which might have irritated a disc. On our way home it decided to slip out of place and my gosh that is excruciating pain. All weekend I sat on the couch, iced then used a heating pad and eventually the pain subsided, it took four days. This is what I created during that time. I am going to take it to the Shops @ the Sanctuary in my booth. I am getting a cortisone shot on February 2, because I have two nerves in my back that need calming down.

I follow Jessica Seinfeld on Instagram and how I found her is that she is friends with Beth Stern who runs a cat sanctuary. Jessica is married to Jerry Seinfeld and Beth Stern is married to Howard Stern. I started following her because I saw an article when she opened the cat sanctuary and Billy Joel and Rachel Ray helped with the funding of it. See how that goes? Jessica wrote this Vegan Recipe book and after watching for a while I decided to try it

The first recipe I tried was chocolate banana bread. It turned out really well and I had to use vegan chocolate chips which my Kroger did have. This does not have milk in it or eggs and I used extra virgin olive oil. The two things I changed was that I used pecans instead of walnuts and I only had sea salt instead of kosher salt.

Here is my loaf. I thought it was really smart of Jessica to tell us to use the parchment paper and have the sides to pull the bread out of the bread pan. Worked great! This is a very heavy and tasty bread. The thing I would do differently is to leave out the cinnamon. It takes away from the taste of the bananas to me.

That’s it for now, till next time.

Robin

Happy 2022

Let’s Party! These five sweet cats had a heck of a time last night. I heard them running through the house. I only made it to 11:30. I said to my husband lets just watch it on TV and sit in our warm bed. Well, I heard him turn off the TV and he said we might as well go to sleep you are already there. The New Year still came in without my watch.

Little update on my new knees. My last day of therapy is Monday. It is bittersweet as I have seen my therapist since the third week of October, and he has helped me so much, but it is time. I can walk without my cane (kind of like a duck, but it is coming along) I have my exercises to do at home, I can climb up into my husband’s truck, I had to use a public restroom that was not the handicap, and I was able to get up. If one doesn’t have a problem that they are coming back from they wouldn’t realize these things. That and chairs with no handles. They shouldn’t even make them.

I hope that you had a lovely Christmas as we did. Eating, opening gifts and playing Heads Up. We can get about three hours out of that game.

I had my operation on Oct. 18th and then I sat out in the garage on Halloween and took pictures of the trick or treaters. Here are a few I especially liked.

I have been getting the applications in for the art shows. My son Kevin has a different job so he won’t be helping me this year, and my husband has a different job so he will be my helper this year. The changing of the guard. I so appreciate the help.

I have to get to making and painting, tomorrow. Lots of things to do.

Take care till next time.

Robin

More Paintings added to the Store 9/1/21

This mixed media painting is called “Spruced Up Succulent”. I was browsing through a Small Garden Style book and came across a page with this image that called to be painted. I believe it was the blue bowl that really caught my eye. If you would be interested to look at it click here.
“Lovely Lily’s Flower Crown” This is my bullseye tabby cat who has a very solemn look on her face. This is the look I get when it is time for bedtime treats at 9:00 p.m. The link to Lovely Lily is here.
“Jubilant Sisterhood” mixed media painting has just a lot of happy movement. It shows different races of women through wallpaper. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and Middle Eastern. The black and white checks resembles a dance floor. To get a good look at this painting click here.
Ahh, can’t you see yourself out on the lake, letting the wind take you to a place where no problems exist. “Favorable Wind” does just that. Click here to take a good look at the the painting. The originals are going with me to the upcoming art fairs. I also bring prints and cards. My next show is this Saturday in Auburn. Market on 6th.

New: Art, Art Ventures and Art Shows

This sweet painting is “Lovely Lily’s Flower Crown” after our bullseye tabby Lily. I used Shiva Oil Sticks because they blend so nicely. She really does have that stare, especially when it is 9 p.m. and it is time for treats. It is on an 8 X 8 canvas.
“Jubilant Sisterhood” an artists job is to observe and I see many people especially during art fairs. I had this painting brewing in my mind and finally got it on canvas. The background has so much movement and is a fun atmosphere, with a checkerboard representing a dance floor. My goal was to show many different women and nationalities. dancing. I first drew outlines from a pictures, then traced it and traced it again onto wallpaper cut them out and adhered it to the painted canvas. I have a pregnant woman, a woman vigorously dancing, a Hispanic girl in a tutu, Asian woman in high heels, a Native American girl, a tall black woman jubilantly dancing, a Middle Eastern woman and an elderly woman and it is on an 18 X 36 canvas. No matter who we are, as women we have families, jobs, problems, happiness and are a sisterhood. I will have these listed in my store if you are interested in prints or if you would like to purchase the Originals come and visit me at the local art shows I will be at. Look at my list on the home page.

A new art venture I have added is having a rented area at the newly renovated old church in Columbia City. It is called The Shops at the Sanctuary and they also have a Facebook page The Shops at the Sanctuary. I will be putting art and also stitchery items in it. I am excited about this and now to get “makin stuff”. The Grand Opening is August 6th.

This last weekend was Art in the Park in Downtown Fort Wayne. I have never done this show with cooler weather before but it was fantastic. I was worried that it was going to rain a lot on Sunday but it held off thankfully, through teardown. My son, Kevin helps me put up the tent and tear it down, but the rest of the shows I am on my own. So I don’t take pictures. I would have liked to take some pictures of peoples t-shirts because there was such an array of sayings and it would have been great to do a collage. This was just my second show of the season and customers were generous and I met many new art lovers.

July is a busy month here at the Hawkins House, along with the art shows, we are helping our sons move and get established in a new to them home. Tom and I are going on a weeks vacation to Frankfort Michigan right on the lake and I have another show right after that at Covington in Fort Wayne. We are so looking forward to a little R and R time.

With the rain and humidity my garden is growing crazy, some things that are spent do need to be trimmed up and that will wait till that humidity floats away. The tree swallows babies have flown the nest and I think there is a new bunch of eggs, someone is sitting on it constantly. I hope that they hatch and we will have Mom and Dad and maybe Uncle or Aunt flying in and out and feeding them. We have a screen that we put down but not during this time, they become very agitated and we hate to rock the boat. I will keep you updated when we see their littles heads.

Take care till next time.