Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins...

This semester's OLLI class was this  week!  I absolutely love guiding seniors along the way to complete a painting. Just look!  They're masterpieces!!! We had such a good time, and each of them should be so proud.

These ladies worked so hard!

We even made the newspaper!!!

When I teach one of these classes, I always create a few models and examples.

As is always true, theirs are priceless.

My examples, however, are for sale in my Etsy shop.

AND...

*** DURING THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER THESE PUMPKINS AND ALL PAINTINGS AUTUMN RELATED WILL BE ON SALE 50% OFF! 

Click HERE to have a look! (Or send me a message. 😀)

I Like... (8/25)

Thank you to Leeanne of Not Afraid of Color for reminding me to notice things I like. 

Click on HER BLOG to see what positive things others like.

I like looking outside the backdoor and seeing
Fancy-like and her five crazy-fluffy babies.

I like nachos topped with vegetables from the garden.

I like making a little Lake Bag for each G4 (great grand kid)
at our yearly 3-day family gathering.
(**cat inspected and approved... below)

I like this big wonderful family!

I like having a yard full of happy hens.

I like a big garden tomato... actually any tomato from the garden.

I like an art lesson that tells me to start with a walk
around where I live to collect things I find. 
In my family, we call that a Serendipity Walk.

I like seeing flowers bloom
 and knowing a friend gave me the bulbs for them.

I like to see butterflies in my garden and on my flowers.

I like tomatoes.

I like my pretty daily harvests.

I like knowing that  although much has changed in the last half century,
somethings are exactly the same. :)

LeeAnne's  conversation starter topics this month:

Did you get school clothes and shoes for the start of school? My mother sewed everything I wore. I always had whatever clothes I needed, but I don't remember specifically getting brand new clothes made for the beginning of school. Did you look through the enormous Sears catalogue at all the possibilities and dream?  Absolutely.  But I don't think I bothered looking at the clothes.  I went right to the toy section. Remember going to the store with probably a mom, and trying on clothes?  I honestly don't have any memory of shopping for or trying on  clothes in a store. A shoe store for your "school shoes"  We had two shoe stores on Main Street in my town.  One was called Quality, and the other was called Budget. I do remember going to Budget. The guy would put my little foot in that measuring tool then bring a stack of shoe boxes. He'd put them on my foot and push on the toe to see how they fit. 

Did you take your lunch and did you use a little brown bag or have a lunch box? 

 I almost always ate the school lunches. In upper elementary I did get a lunchbox and pack myself a lunch sometimes.  It was in the shape of Snoopy's yellow doghouse. I usually bought lunch tickets too, for days when they had a really good meal like salisbury steak or sloppy joes. Ha ha... yeah, they did make a good sloppy joe didn't they!   What meals did you look forward to?  big square cheese pizza slices... fish sticks with tartar sauce... jello with fruit "cottontail"... applesauce... 
**Extra credit if you show a pic of one of your lunchbox.

Did you get a new notebook and paper to use that year? I remember having to have a red Big Chief note pad for practicing letters in first grade. The thing with those was that you needed to make all your pencil strokes or eraser strokes from top to bottom.  If you went up instead of down, you'd get a rip in your paper.  I remember picking a notebook was a big deal. I remember the year I got thin ruled paper instead of big lines. That was a big deal! I remember getting flair pens to use instead of pencils.Yep. 8th grade!  Do you still like having notebooks and calling them journals? Oh, my goodness... Do I "like" journals and notebooks? Ummm... I need a bigger word... need, appreciate, love, collect, accumulate, amass, hoard...

Did you do the pledge of allegiance every morning and then sing a patriotic song? Yes. And, as a teacher, we did that too.

What is your learning style, then and now? The main styles are auditory (hearing) rote or memorization, visual (maybe reading or seeing charts)  kinesthetic (that's me, learn by doing something like writing or making or touching) Are there other ways to learn I've forgotten? Is it still your style today? Can I just be a little of everything? I know that if I write it down and use color I am much more likely to remember.

Julia & Me, B.F.F.E

What a pleasure it was to be asked to paint this picture!  

Those two smiling little girls... what a carefree, joy-filled, happy childhood they shared.

My last name was POwell, and hers was REeves. On the first day of first grade when the desks were lined up in alphabetical rows, she was right behind me. That was where it all began. 

We got our first at-school spankings together. (Swinging double wasn't allowed.)

She was a town kid and I was a country kid, so we loved going to each other's houses... walking to hers, riding the school bus to mine.

Dozens of slumber parties where we stayed up all night.

Hundreds of cartwheels and round offs across the yard.

Thousands of flips on the monkey bars on the playground. 

Millions of antics that are just to silly to explain.

That's us in white shirts doing the splits.

My excuse for the pants would be that it was 1976, the Bicentennial year, and everyone was crazy for red, white, & blue; however, when I look at our first grade class photo (I'm front & center) I see that my choice of pants wasn't much better. 

Julia's in the back of the third row... same haircut as me. (I assume that sitting near each other didn't last long as we were talkers!)

My family had a lake down the hill from our house.  I'm sure we'd spent an afternoon on the bank or in the boat. And, I'm also sure that we didn't wear life jackets or have an adult watching us, or carry a cell phone... How did we survive!

As for the fish... I believe we took a butcher knife (as you do as kids...) and cut the top off a milk jug, filled it with water, and she took the fish home where it lived (for a short time, poor thing) in her swimming pool!!

Original Oil Painting on 12"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]

Willowing Arts: A Year of Light (July)

Another month, another batch of mixed media lessons from Willowing Arts: A Year of Light.

I Like... (7/25)

Thank you to Leeanne of Not Afraid of Color for reminding me to notice things I like. 

I like the way this flamingo plant blooms.

I like that my houseplants get to spend several months outside.

I like garden tomatoes.

I like working on my computer or reading outside.
Forest friends always stroll by and take my attention.

I like my row of flowers.

I like watching a mama hen teach her little ones how to be chickens.

I like squirrels... when they are in storybooks or parks...
not when they're in my garden pots.

 I like marigolds.
They're a humble little flower, but they add color to the garden all summer long.

 I like this cute little ugly stage that the chicks are in as their feathers are growing in.
  

I like... wait... Zoom in!!! Do you see him??

I like going to my small scrap (nearly worthless) scrap box,
putting pieces together, and making something from those scraps.

I like growing my own colorful food.

LeeAnne's  conversation starter topics this month:

Could you hula hoop? Did you or a friend have one and learn to use it? What do you remember about them?  I have hula hoops upstairs right now!  My grandlittles love them. They're only 6,6,5,4,3,2 years old, so I don't know that they hula hoop the right way, but they love to drag them around, arrange things in them, and pretend with them.

I just saw recipes for Fudgesicles would you want a fudgesicle or orange creamsicle?  While I would be happy with either, I'll choose the chocolate one every time.  

What Dairy Queen treat did you like best? Do you still eat ice cream treats?  When we go to Dairy Queen, I choose a Blizzard.  It will always be either a Heath Bar Blizzard or a Snickers Blizzard.

When I was very small, I remember going to the Dairy Queen in our small town every Sunday night after church.  We could either get a 10 cent cone with a swirl on top or a 10 cent coke.  But, alas... the price went up to 15 cents, and we couldn't go any more.

Do you like amusement parks?   Of course! Which one is your favorite?   Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri is the closest to us.  We took the kids there often when they were little.  We also did Six Flags near Dallas, Texas. A few years ago, we went to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  We spent half of our time going through the wonderful Dolly museum. But, of course, once you've been to Disneyworld, every other one pales. We've loved Disney at every stage of life, but Disney as adults without kids just might be our favorite.  Do you like rides or shows better?  I think we need both.