Month: January 2009

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Refining my kitten drawing

When I enlarged my kitten drawing, I needed to expand it, add some more details, and refine it. I do this on tracing paper so I can make an image I can use for transferring. That means there is no shading, just a line drawing. If I need to indicate shading, I do that by drawing a dotted line instead of a solid one. Here, since I am working small, only 5 x 7 inches, I didn’t bother including any shading lines. Most likely, I will refine my kitten some more after I transfer my drawing to the Claybord.

I took a trip to Chapel Hill today and stopped for my mom’s current favorite cookies, Trader Joe’s Laceys Cookies, Dark Chocolate Almond. I ate some too, of course. I poked around in A Southern Season and Kitchenworks also, picking up heart-shaped spring form pans and cookie cutters, thinking about things I could make that I probably won’t get to making, sort of a baking daydream. I’m still toying with ideas for Valentine’s Day but not really coming up with anything so far. Still waiting for a heart-shaped burst of inspiration 🙂

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Two kitties and a hedgehog

I woke up this morning thinking I felt like painting. I was going to paint the little canvas I prepared in my video, but after thinking it over, I decided I felt more like continuing to paint in watercolor on Claybord. I took a scan of my Persian kitten drawing and enlarged it to fit on a 5 x 7. I also pulled out my Hedgehog drawing that I had previously enlarged to the same size.

I fiddled around for hours trying to make the floral borders at the bottom of each one, revising my ideas on tracing paper. Some days that sort of thing comes easily, and other days, it just doesn’t. I traced the finished borders onto 5 x 7 pieces of tracing paper. I’ll trace an outline of each animal onto the same pieces so that I can transfer them to the Claybord.

My assistant helped me a lot today. It was rainy and he was bored. He worked very hard though. Here you can see how exhausted he got. He fell asleep with his chin on my lightbox. That’s how devoted he is.

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Heidi’s dress fitting and blueberry muffins

At first glance, it may appear from this photo that my kitty assistant from my last post has been magically transformed into a doll, but this is not the case. He would never fit in that dress.

This is Heidi, the tabby cat. She is Max and my first collaborative original folk art cat doll. I did the final fitting on her dress today. If you look closely, you will see the pins holding it together here. I sewed all the finishing details by hand. It’s a real challenge sewing little things on a machine. Now I have to get our Siamese’s sweater and skirt set assembled. It’s going to be fun photographing them together.


I also made my blueberry muffins that I had planned to make along with the last batch of muffins I made. These are from the same book, Deborah Madison‘s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. They are made from the Basic Buttermilk Muffins recipe. I added a cup of thawed blueberries and a teaspoon of orange zest. These are so good! I ate too many.

I had them with the orange I used for the orange zest for breakfast. Really good.

And thanks, Eric, for sharing an inspiring site…it’s our cosmos, with a new view of our universe every day. Check out Eric and Melissa’s music too. They’re putting together an LP of their own original songs. Pretty exciting. It’s great to see other people pursuing their dreams too 🙂

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And whiskers on kittens

I’d like to thank Lisa Cole again, for giving me this “Kreativ Blogger” award. She is a very sweet lady and her artwork is magical. Be sure to go have a look. I am supposed to name seven things I love and nominate seven other people. I was curious about where this award started, and although I didn’t find out, I did find out that there have been a few variations on the “things that you love” theme. I found people listing things for which they are grateful, things that make them happy, and values they support and don’t support. I guess people have been “kreativ” with their lists too 🙂

I’d also like to thank my kitty assistant, because where would I be without him? It’s purely an illusion that I come up with all of these ideas myself. As you can see from his expression, he is the go-to guy for ideas. I’m pretty sure he knows what all those buttons do on that sewing machine too. He just lets me try to figure it out on my own so I’ll learn.

We had a beautiful snowy day today. The first and only real snow we have had this winter, here in the heart of North Carolina. I stomped around in the snow, then watched the inauguration, then stomped around in the snow some more. It was a good day.

Okay, so I am supposed to make lists here…I’m still thinking…Hm…I suppose I can’t steal Lisa’s list of things she loves, but I almost could, or would, because I’d have very similar answers. So, I will have to be more random. Let’s see.

1) I love today. I am grateful for today, and today made me happy too. A new president. A new, clean, white, cold blanket over everything. A little flock of juncos hopping around eating cracked corn out my back door. The ducks safely floating on the pond. My family safe and sound. Everything was fine today. I aspire to love every day, and find something to be grateful for in every day.

2) I love myself. No, goodness knows, not in some egomaniacal way. But in a quiet, I’m-worth-taking-care-of-myself way. I’m happy with who I am, and I’m grateful for the things I can do. I’m happy and grateful to be alive and well.

3) I love that when I don’t feel so happy, I have people who love me and listen to me and support me. I love that when I feel sad, even my kitties know enough about me to come see if I’m okay. I’m grateful to be loved.

4) I love that we have what we need. Plenty of food to eat, a home, central heat when we are cold, air conditioning when we are hot. I don’t take these things for granted, and I am grateful for them.

5) I love beautiful and colorful things, gardens full of flowers, quilts made up of a little bit of everything, things arranged by color…bolts of fabric, skeins of yarn, boxes of paint. It doesn’t matter so much what it is, as long as it’s visually stimulating and varied. That excites me and makes me happy.

6) I love the natural world, with all the amazing and varied living things that inhabit it.

7) I love fantasy, imagining what might exist that we cannot, or have not yet seen.

Now I have to nominate people…so I nominate you! If you are reading this, I invite you to tell your story in whatever way you want, through your own blog, a hand-written journal, a poem, a painting, a song. Share it with the world, a confidante, or just keep it for yourself. Reflect on what you love, what makes you happy, and what you are grateful for and express that somewhere. You can even leave a comment here, telling me something you love, something that makes you happy, or something that you are grateful for. I’d enjoy checking out some great artists or writers or any creative people you think I might like too.