Wordless Wednesday (almost)

More photos from my mom.

Progress

Oil Paint. Windsor and Newton. Grumbacher. Linseed Oil. Can you smell the terp?







It's been years since I've painted anything with oils. The last time I touched them was when I lived in Missouri and my mom, her friends Carolyn and Karen, and I would gather at Mom's house every Tuesday night for paint night. The last project I worked on still lies, unfinished in a closet somewhere. It's a painting of a photo of Heather dancing with my nephew Brandon when they were about 3 years old. I always thought I'd give it to Dad when I finished it. Yes, it's been that many years since I picked it up. Dad's been gone since March, 1999.







The latest painting project I've been commissioned to do, I decided I'd do in oils. I didn't realize until tonight when I began how much I've missed it.







Friday night while Heather was with her church youth group, Marty and I decided to go out. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I said "let's go to Hobby Lobby." Some date night, huh? I knew what I needed and promised him I wouldn't detour anywhere else in the store. I headed straight for the oil paints and supplies. Although I had some I knew I didn't have near enough for a project this big. This project spans 3 24"x48" canvases! I've never taken on an oil painting project of this size before. On the other hand, this project is much smaller than the wall murals I've done in the past.

Even if no one else "gets it," I know my friend Dar totally understands the excitement of unwrapping a new canvas.

tools of the trade

Although you can't see them, the pencil lines are drawn in and the canvases are ready for paint.

It doesn't look like I've gotten far, but it feels good to have begun!

Heather Skis

I posted here about our afternoon at our pastor's house. I took many pictures that afternoon while Heather skied:

She's in the water and ready to go.

And she was up very quickly!

Being her goofy self!

She heads outside the wake right away. I always fall when I try to ski outside the wake!

I like the lighting in this photo.

Here she is as the boat turns around. She stayed up for the whole turn!!!

She stayed up a long time before she fell the first time.

I sure wish I had a photo of the duck that Mitch scared with the boat that almost flew straight into Heather! It was so funny!

As the boat turned around to go back to her this is how we found her. Look closer....

What a goofy look she had on her face!!! You think she was tired???

She got right up to go again!

She even tried a couple of tricks.

Hanging Out on the River

Happy Birthday, Erica!!!

_____________________

Due to an electrical storm Friday night, I've been without internet service at home and will be at least until Monday morning. Marty laughs that I have to find other things to fill my time now! Ha! I decided to head up to the office while he and Heather had choir practice Sunday and catch up on some blogging!


Saturday our pastor Mitch called to see if we wanted to come over and hang out and have hamburgers. It sounded great to us so that afternoon we headed over to their house on the river and joined them along with our friends Jason and Erica and their kiddos, and Bill and Denise and their girls. We all enjoyed a relaxing afternoon visiting and playing games. Of course the teenagers, who never think it's too cold to ski, convinced Mitch to drag them around behind the boat for a while. Although no one else wanted to ski, most of us enjoyed the boat rides while the teenagers did.



What better way to spend a Saturday than hanging out with friends. Thanks Mitch and Reva!!!

Several of us just sitting around chatting.

Many other activities filled our afternoon/evening.

Most of us took a turn or two playing air hockey. Marty beat the socks off of me!

Denise and Bill. Denise won. Woo hoo!

I thought it was still too cold to get in the water, but the kids and teenagers didn't think so!

Erica's kids Riley and Cameron.

Katie didn't get in the water, but sure made some of us nervous with how close she got! Her mom (Denise) convinced her to lay down to watch the kids rather than stand and lean way over the dock. Whew!

Katie and Cameron.

Bethany had the right idea: just chillin' in the swing!

For a while there were several involved in a round of frisbie.

Heather's tosses sure weren't easy for Erica to catch.

Jason.

Erica sends one flying to Jason.

Cameron.

Mathew.

As always the teenagers were able to convince Mitch they needed to ski and he was happy to take the boat out and drag them around.

Mitch and Jason getting ready to take Mathew skiing.

Mitch.

All the kids LOVE riding in the front of the boat. Here are Katie, Bethany, Maggie, and Mathew.

Heather stayed up a long long time on the skis, and impressed me that she didn't fall a couple of times when the water seemed pretty rough. This was also the first time she was able to stay upright while the boat turned around. Go Heather!

Bethany and Maggie enjoying their boat ride.

The Flooded Creek

My family in Missouri has been getting drenched lately. It has rained and rained and rained some more. Mom sent me some pictures of all the water this week. I have seen lots of water/rain there before but I've NEVER seen it like this.

Down the hill from Mom's house is the spot where we used to plant a huge garden every year. Just beyond that is this "road" to the creek. I have never seen the creek so full that it comes almost to the garden!

The spot in this picture where I've added the white line is where the bank of the creek should be!

Believe it or not, this creek is usually dry more often than it's found with any water in it.

The highway Mom lives on was even closed a few days. The highway does not even cross a river or creek. The ground was so saturated when the ponds overflowed there was nowhere for the water to go so the highway became flooded. The water you see here is from a pond.