Category: Uncategorized
Animal Faces
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
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
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
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”.
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
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 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
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
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
New: Art, Art Ventures and Art Shows
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.