EDinNov 8 and Watercolor WIP

I've had another incredibly busy day which began with a phone call to Hughes.Net again. This is the third day in 8 in which I was unable to get internet access. To say I am frustrated would be an understatement.


I took my daughter out to lunch and then did a bit of grocery shopping before taking her to pick up her two girls from school. I came home and made a wonderful chicken salad with avocado and hard cooked eggs for dinner and finished the book I was reading.


At this moment I am able to get online, but am not sure how long that will be true. So I will show you the sketch I attempted for this 8th day in November and then will show an update of the farm scene in progress.

This is a city scene with lots of buildings and a bridge over a river.

Interestingly, blogger allowed me to upload the pencil sketch, but I had to use Flickr and copy HTML text to bring the watercolor wip into this post. Go figure.

Tomorrow I have Miss M in the morning and will take her to preschool around 12:30 at which time I will finish the grocery shopping that was cut short today because of having to be at school to pick up the girls.

After that I hope to come home and work a bit more on the farm scene. 

I hope you are finding time for your art and that your internet connection and blogger are treating you better than they are treating me.

xoxo

Busy Weekend, Daily Sketching, and A New Watercolor WIP

I'm not sure where the time is going, but it is already a full week into November and I'm not sure I was done with September yet. At least the weather has been pretty nice so far and it isn't a typical bitterly cold November (yet). I suppose part of the reason that time is going by so quickly is that I've been so busy. We had the lovely Miss Z from Friday afternoon until Saturday afternoon and then had Miss P and Miss M early Sunday afternoon until I delivered them to their Mom's and into bed last night. I got home around 11 pm. So busy, but so fun.


While Miss M was here she did a bit of art for me and I thought I'd share it with you:

While I really like the cat with the yarn, I am totally in love with the "patchwork" dog and flower.

 On Saturday and Sunday I worked in my Every Day in November journal and here are the two sketches:

And finally I began a new watercolor using a picture from a lovely book by Terry Harrison (I love how he explains things) called, "Rustic Buildings and Barns in Watercolor". I am hoping to work on it a bit more today, but I have Miss M arriving around 8:30 this morning and I have her until I deliver her to preschool around 12:30.

I am expecting my friend, Nancy, to come over for a visit this afternoon and am so looking forward to it. We haven't had the opportunity to get together for a long time and I am missing her.

The hubster continues to improve as far as exercising his right foot and ankle and has actually been outside a bit. This is not only good for his physical being, but is a great boost to his mental outlook as well. 

I am still having issues with blogger and trying to upload photos, so I spend a bit of time uploading my photos for the day to Flickr and then copy and paste the HTML code here. It works fine, but is an extra step hassle regardless.

I've just about drained my first mug of coffee and am ready for another. If I am to get anything done this morning, I'd best get moving.

I hope you have some plans for your Monday and that all is fine in your world.

xoxo

EDinNov 3 and 4

I had serious problems with my internet connection yesterday and so was unable to post. In order to troubleshoot when I call tech support, I run a web response test. The desired response time is under 12 seconds and I am asked to run the test 5 times in a row and then average the results. On Monday when I spent a bit more than an hour on the phone with them, my speeds were in the twenties and thirties. The test records the number of seconds it takes to load very small images. Yesterday the test generated these results:

64.6 seconds
82.9 seconds
128.7 seconds
128.2 seconds
74.6 seconds

Needless to say, I was frustrated to the max and unable to get even the most simple pages to load in any reasonable amount of time, and I spent way too much time on the phone to tech support again. It appears that my connection is running in the 3 or 4 second range this morning. My concern is that it will not continue this way.


Yesterday was the hubster's first physical therapy appointment and it went well, but we were there for far too long. He is now able to put a bit of weight on his right leg and is much happier with the crutches with that bit of improvement. He did a series of 6 different exercises several times yesterday and was actual in a bit of pain be bedtime. He took a pain pill and had a good night.


Later in the afternoon I took him up to the mall and out for a burger and beer. We had a good day overall.


I just read a really good book by Ann Patchett called "State of Wonder" and am beginning another by Jeffrey Archer. I will let you know how that one goes.


I drew the little girls' cat as yesterday's EDinNov assignment so here is the November 3 sketch:

Today I did a little value study of a mountain lake scene:

It is quite cold out this morning. I have an appointment for a haircut later this morning and we have Zoë overnight tonight. I am hoping to have a wonderful day. I need to stop and get some fruit after my haircut and then need to do a bit of house cleaning (ugh!). It is imperative that I vacuum the living room before the baby arrives as she can find the smallest thing on the carpet and her mouth is her major sensory organ these days.

I can smell the coffee that I made on my way in here to post and I think I need a mug or two in order to properly get this day started.

I hope you are staying warm and are making time for yourself.

xoxo

EDinNov 2 and Sunset WIP

I've sketched a garden shed as my every day in November Day 2 work. I find I have to make myself find something to sketch to meet the requirements. I've decided that my November challenge will be separate from the other art I am working on. Here is the building:

I've also added some darker color into the sunset work in progress. Here is what I have for now:

The water is looking greenish and that is not my intent at all and now the yellowish reflection needs to reflect the darker sky color. That will be my next step.

I have a couple of books ready to be picked up at the library and the hubster and I are working on a 750 piece panorama of Chicago puzzle. It's a toughie. For now it is time for the afternoon flavored coffee. 

I just finished a couple of miles of jogging on the treadmill so after coffee, it is into the shower and then to the library. The hubster finally has his first physical therapy session tomorrow so we should find out a lot more about his convalescence then.

Don't forget to make some time for yourself today.

xoxo

Every Day Month and Sunset WIP

I have joined Leah and the November Every Day Month. For my first sketch, I used what I had to hand - my coffee cup on my desktop.

I've also been working on my Leelanau Sunset painting.

This is the second time I've written this post today. The first time it acted like it was adding photos, but when I published it, there was just a broken link indicator. I hate it when things don't work.

I ran into town today and took my "Reflections" painting to the Potter Center. The other paintings that were there looked WAY better than mine, but I stuck by my decision and turned my in. I am going to take Miss P to look at the display some time later this month. She said she'd love to go take a look.

On my way home, I stopped at the office supply store and bought 100 CD-Rs that were on sale and bought some large binder clips. I then went next door to Michael's and bought 4 bulldog clips along with 2 frames that were "BOGO". After that I stopped at my daughter's and hooked up her printer to her computer.

This afternoon I made some "monkey" muffins (banana oatmeal) and the hubster and I enjoyed a couple warm out of the oven with some flavored coffee. Yummy!!

I hope you are having a good day and that you are enjoying this beautiful weather. My thoughts and positive energy I am sending to those of you who are on the east coast in the dark. I hope you get your power back on real soon and that you are keeping warm and safe.

As a workaround to my uploading photos in blogger, I copied the location and chose from a URL instead of loading directly from my computer. I think this works.

xoxo