Life is good for me right now....

Finally! A watercolor painting I'm doing that is turning out good. I am really enjoying this watercolor class. It's only going to be an 8 week course but it is giving me a good start in this medium. I am finding the teacher to be excellent. His style is really tight and detailed but every time he comes around to help me he does these wonderful little thumbnail sketches that are loose and flowing.

I am doing a painting of a tree that is in stark contrast to a dark river behind it. It's a very dramatic picture with dark greens and blues except for bright yellow leaves on the right side of the tree due to a setting sun (which is actually out of the picture.)

Like they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words." You'd have to see the picture

I was worried about painting the river and actually making it look like water. I did a smaller painting of this picture so I could work out all the problems on it before I did it on the larger, more expensive paper. On the smaller painting I overworked it so much that the river turned out to be "muddy." Not a pun. It's an actual term in water coloring. I find it hard to do it right the first time which is why I've always thought watercolors to be so difficult.

I had the teacher show me how to do the water on his paper and when I followed his instructions and example it turned out great, much different than the reference but beautiful. Instead of the dark, stark contrast the river is actually a very cool, light color but even more appealing to me. Now the tree is too harsh. I am going to see what the teacher has to suggest.

Anyway, it's a whole new experience for me. I am going to try my hand at this for the next year and see how it goes over time. Learning how to watercolor was one of the things on my 100 goals list. So, also, was spending a year doing something new and challenging. So I'm accomplishing two goals at once.

Getting up at 5:00 is something I am finding surprisingly easy. I don't have to drag myself out of bed every morning. The alarm goes off and I'm up without effort. And the "sleep withdrawals" are about gone now that I'm not getting back up due to the Ambien. The Lord is really blessing me so that I'm able to achieve this goal. I'm amazed at how much I'm enjoying the benefits of early rising. I'm loving the time studying my scriptures and writing in my journal when I 'm fresh. It really is invigorating as it promised it would be in the D&C!

Another great thing is that I've re-lost(?) the five pounds that I gained last month. Also, I'm starting to enjoy my mission and am getting more and more confident on the computer. And, last but not least, Joe has set up a small table in the computer room so that I can have all my books, scriptures and journal out and not have to have them in the way on the dining room table. He has moved his work computer up into the bonus room which makes room available for me downstairs. He has a nice long table up there for his puzzles, and we have put our family room furniture up there so it's a nice cozy place for him to be as well.

Life is good for me right now. Thanks Heavenly Father.

Simple Pleasures

I went to my watercolor class last Wednesday night. It was much better than the first class because we actually painted from pictures. I never could paint good pictures without some kind of reference.

I chose a painting from one of my Teaching Books, which are books that have pictures that you can paint from to improve your skills, so I'm not plagiarising.

I did a watercolor of three iris's on a dark background of green and purple. I have to wait for the background to dry so I painted on one of the old backgrounds that I painted years ago and never finished. It turned out to be a poor rendition of a beach. But at least I tried. I still haven't painted the iris but I will try to get it done for the next class so I can get tips on how I did. I am learning to use frisket which is like rubber cement because it rubs off when you're done. It makes it so you can preserve the white paper while you paint something dark around it, or by it. Anyway it is neat to use it and see the outcome. It turns out that you use it just like the watercolors themselves. That is, you can water it down and paint with it on the parts of the painting you want to preserve. It's a good idea to paint the things you want to stay white first, so you don't forget what your plan was and paint in the wrong area.

Watercolor is SO much harder than oils. With oils if you don't like how something looks, you can just paint over it but with watercolors, if you try to paint over something you get mud.

I need to get back to my oils, though, because I have two paintings I am currently working on (ok, I know I've had them for years and haven't finished them, but they are the next thing that I'm going to work on so in a way they are "current").

I've been sick this last week so I've missed work and doing genealogy with my brother Joe, but as I said, I did go to my watercolor class. I made it a point not to sit close to anyone and to try not to cough. I was afraid if I didn't go they would cancel the class because the first day they only had two students show up other than me. This last Wednesday they had about five or six who were already there when I got there, so I wouldn't have had to worry. Oh well, I got to have some fun while I was sick. I was sure weak the next day though, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea.

I find I always seem to do too much when I am sick. It's like I don't really believe I'm that sick but I am sick enough that I can't do my usual routine. There have been times that I've really paid for that kind of thinking. I do need to pay more attention to my what my body is feeling and rest more.

Well, I have to go have breakfast and start my scripture study, so Cheers for now.

Love to you all,

Mither