Get Your Paint On Week 3


two pictures of the same thing, in different light.  this weeks assignment was to pick four items from around the house that we love the color of and try to match those colors as close as possible by mixing our paints.  the miniature red purse, pink feathers, green piece of wood from our old house, and blue chippy stool were my choices.

in progress

finished piece.

since we could paint any subject matter using our four colors, i wanted to try something really simple this week.  i didn't want a bunch of detail like last week.  i wish i had a more intuitive sense of shadowing and highlighting.  i don't automatically know where to shade and highlight so i get frustrated.  here i was looking at a wine bottle and just had to decided on where the light source could be coming from.  these are odd colors and not at all realistic so it was tougher for me. 
week 4 is all about composition.  we have a list of about 10 elements of composition and we are to pick one or two of them when focusing on our choice of painting.  i just saw a photo of a one room church in the Andes mountains in Peru that i want to try painting so i will be back to show you when that's finished.  the photo is in an online magazine and i cannot figure out how to lift the image to show you here so i will try making a link to it so you can see the original photo i base my painting off of if ya want....

making pasta with huge shavings of parmigiano reggiano,
xoxoxxxo
jennette



Raclette and Champagne

all photos by Erianne Berg

a few weeks ago i had the crafty aunties and friends over for a night of feasting on raclette, drinking champagne and a sleepover.
we had fun!
my erin (erianne)was sitting back taking photos and i thought you might like to see.  my house looks really cluttered to me in these photos but you get to see more here than i've been able to show you up til now.
here you can see the raclette grill that Natasha brought over.  the grill has 8 individual trays to use for grilling so it's great for a little party around the table! 
we are all wearing my old grubby t-shirts because the raclette cheese smell is so strong when it melts we didn't want our good clothes to stink forever more!
i need a haircut soooo bad!  it's so long i can tie it in a knot at the back.  the ends are just fried!
it was so lovely to have the ladies over for a relaxing night of feasting and drinks.  we drank really great champagne and even used the raclette grill to melt chocolate over strawberries on french bread.....sooooooo good!
here you can see some of the raclette toppings and the pile of raclette cheese ready to go.  if you haven't tried raclette and you ever have the chance, Go For It!  it's fantastic and such a lovely way to share a meal with friends.

putting new suspenders on old overalls,
xoxoxoooxx
jennette




Vintage Silk Kimono Jacket

this is a beautiful and delicate vintage silk kimono i picked up at a vintage clothing store in Tucson last spring.

it is old silk with silk embroidery

the workmanship is gorgeous and amazing

there is so much fine detail and i see something new every time i admire it.

if it weren't so delicate i would definitely wear it

i have it draped over an old mirror frame to hold it up and out

i love the waves and water depiction

the sleeve trim is just incredible

right now the kimono is living leaned up against these mirrors on a ledge by my front door

i need to find a different place for it to live because my front door is all glass and the light that shines through this south facing door is not good for the silk.

on a quest for another space large enough (fat chance),
xoxoxxxo
jennette


Bird Art

this is a painting August did several months ago for me.  he calls himself a "bird nerd."  he went to cascade bird banding camp last summer and attends Bird Watch at The Burke Museum once a month.  he has over 180 birds marked off his life list!

one view of Jasper's palm cockatoo, kiwi and bunny painting

another view.  he was supposed to use wild colors.  he came up with the cow kiwi and the spiral palm cockatoo.

these are paper mache on a wire structure.  his art teacher found the stick and attached it to the base for him.  Jasper loves his art class!

working on my own Get Your Paint On week 3 painting,
xoxooxxx
jennette

Get Your Paint On Week 2

a glass of red wine helps the painting along

background good to go
got my brushes ready

"Suddenly at Twilight"

this weeks assignment for my Get Your Paint On class was to be inspired by an artist(s) we like and to try to emulate a part of their style in our painting.  i am inspired by Amanda Blake who is a painter in Portland,OR., that i love. emulating her night time sky seems to be what i had the most success with.  i also used her ability to do faces as the inspiration for this little guy.  The rest of my painting and subject matter was inspired by this drawing that August did of Jasper when Gus was 10 and Jasper was 2.  Gus called it "Jasper Demon!":

the original Jasper Demon





just a few days later i already see several things i could have done to make this painting more "right."  i should have done a gray wash, especially over the tent, to give it a less bright and more night time look.  and i could have gradually darkened the ground as it goes back to make it look like it is receding.  also i have no sense of proportion so the demon's wings are just about as big as his body!  i wish i would have allowed more time to fill in the foreground with more movement.  i suppose i could still go do more of that but now we are on to week three, which is all about color.  I need to pick four objects from around my house that i love the color of and then try to match those colors as closely as possible by mixing my paints and then use those four colors in a painting of my choice.  deciding what to paint is the hard part.  i want to try something bigger, with less detail, for this next one.  i will let ya know how it goes.  in the mean time....... you could go get YOUR paint on!

attaching medals to my military jacket,
xoxox
jennette









Medals

i found these vintage swim medals at Second Saturdays for $1 each!
as soon as i saw them i knew exactly what i could use them for.  i was thinking about my revamped military jacket.  i was thinking about the millions of little drawers i have here stuffed full of cool little treasures.  and i started to think about what i could replace those medals with before attaching them to the coat.

here are a few of the items i had in mind:

a tiny scope.  see below:

gotta have a scope for outdoor adventures!


and a little tiny harmonica!  can't leave home without one!

an old sterling silver and red glass watch fob.  cuz it's cool.

and for the 4th one i wanted the arm and hand, because don't you always need an extra hand?!  but in the end i went with the key.  because keys can be helpful too.




here i am in all my glory with my cool "McGiver" medals.  clearly, i am ready for an adventure of the epic sort.
bring it on!

paying bills,
xoxox
jennette



You Are Your Own Muse


I'm taking another workshop!


it's about "telling the story of my life, stepping into my beauty and my identity, and telling the story of my history." 

 HolyScaryFaceMyDemonsScary!

i will be exploring my visual voice through self-portraiture.

the ultra fabulous Vivienne McMaster, who is offering this course, is a Vancouver based photographer and mentor/teacher.  She has other photograpy and self-discovery workshops so check out her site if this intrigues you at all. 

setting a scene for a photo shoot,
xoxo
Jennette




Guess Who





I and Love and You.

Happy Valentine's Day my sunburned Man in Mexico!

I'm thrilled that we are evolving, learning, and discovering together. 
When times get tough, the tough get growin'!
Here's to our 17th year!

I love you!

xoxox
J




















Get Your Paint On!

here i am working on my Week 1 assignment for Get Your Paint On

so i decided to take my first painting workshop!
scary!
and fun!

Get Your Paint On is a five week painting class with Lisa Congdon and Mati McDonough.  it is conducted all online in a private, safe and supportive environment where Mati and Lisa share their unique and colorful approach to painting.  each week has a topic of focus that is supported by information, tips, and important ideas from Mati and Lisa.  they post videos, images and photos to elaborate on the weekly topic.  they give an assignment each week that is connected to the topic and we have one week to complete the painting assignment.  then we post a photo of our painting to our private Flickr group.  we are asked to comment on others work in a supportive way and Mati and Lisa comment too.  there is an interview each week with an established artist about their work and process.  and Mati and Lisa each take a day to share what they are inspired by with links and images.
you might remember my "new" quilt from the antique show in november...

what does this have to do with painting, you ask?  well our first week covered selecting mediums and using materials with our painting assignment drawing on inspiration from the incredible Gee's Bend quilters of Alabama. We were asked to make a gridded or quilt like painting so we could experiment and get familiar with our paints by making blocks of color.  i love quilts and immediately thought of the one above that is now hanging over my bed.   the quilt looks like it could be a Gee's Bend quilt so i decided to be inspired by it for my first ever painting!





here is a look at my week one finished painting.  i have never really painted like this before so i have so much to learn.  these blocks of color seem so heavy and solid to me. 
i am getting to be so fascinated by paintings and how painters can make something look so real in paint.  some painters can make photo-realistic paintings!  amazing!

if you have any interest in exploring painting, you should check out the next Get Your Paint On.  There will be another level one class this spring or summer and i already plan to take the level 2 class after this one.

week 2 assignment has to do with finding artists that inspire you and trying to use or incorporate an element of their style that you are fond of.  i have been loving Amanda Blake since discovering her in November at Little Winter so i have spent this week looking at her paintings and doing a lot of my own drawings while trying to emulate her style.  i am loving it so i will try to show you the next painting and the inspiration for it, when i am done.

please be nice in your comments and feedback.  i am too new at this to be handling criticism, even if its constructive! like my mom always taught me, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say nothin at all!

drawing circus tents and floating crystals,
jennette





Splash Splash!


here is a really old piece of embroidery that i used last year to make a sewing machine cover.  i had been holding on to it for a long time and then figured if i would just finally use it, i would have it out to look at all the time.

and then look what came in the mail last week:




brand new pillows and hand towels in red embroidery from:


Pottery Barn!

who woulda thunk it?!

i still like mine since it is vintage and embroidered with different colors but it does remind me of the new series Portlandia, on IFC, which is gut-busting Hilarious, with a capitol H, and in which there is a "put a bird on it" skit that will make you pee your pants! 
just sayin, "put a bird on it!"

xoxox
jennette


Homemade Deodorant

yes, this is a very blurry picture of Sheina and i, but i still love it!

that's her.  that's the girl.  the dark haired beauty who mailed me one of the best packages i have ever received.  and it was simple, mind you.  the package, that is.  just a jar and a recipe.  nothin to it.  cept it changed my life!



so i have a nasty little secret that i am about to confess to the entire world right now.  here goes....

I STINK!

i get the worst b.o.!  it' so gross.  like, so so so gross.

and yes, of course, i have tried everything.  i stopped drinking my beloved, life-giving, delicious yet sweat-inducing coffee.  nope.  didn't help. 
i stopped eating so many allium family members, like the copious amounts or garlic and onions and shallots and leeks and scallions and chives i consume EVERY DAY.  nope.  didn't help either. 
i tried men's deodorant, toxic stuff and all the hippie stuff i could get my hands on.  to no avail.  i still had an underarm that will knock. you. down. 
the musty, dirty, stank was unbearable to me so i can only imagine what my dear family and friends thought. and strangers too.  poor people.  i was always apologizing and making excuses for the foul aroma wafting from my pits.  nasty.  just plain nasty, i tell ya.

unassuming white jar

and then low-and-behold, straight from Montreal to snohomish county, came this lovely little jar of perfection.  Sheina had told me she made homemade deodorant.  i told her i would love to try some, explaining to her all that i outlined above, and asked her to at least send me the recipe. 
I have seen Amy talk about her recipe here and now that i take a closer look, it's pretty much the exact same as the one Sheina sent me.  But Amy talks about adding essential oil, which i think is brilliant, since i lather up with scented oil every day anyhow.  the more the merrier! 
anywho, back to the recipe.  here is a photo of sweet Sheina's:

i think y'all can read the recipe so i wont retype it here.  i am telling you though.  if you have the outrageous stank, this is for you!  or even if you already smell like roses, you could still make your own non-toxic deodorant by following the recipe above.  you won't have to be rubbing those nasty chemicals in commercial deodorant all up under your arm pits! 
extra large roll-up tube stick thingy
 
and i had a thought.  i will be making some more for myself soon, adding the essential oils i already use every day.  and i will need to buy some containers.  when i made salve i used some of those super-duper big roll-up chap-stick or lip-gloss containers to hold the salve because rolling the salve up makes it easy to apply and you don't have to dig into a container with your fingers and nails to get what you need.  way less messy.

 so i'm thinking i want to try to put my deodorant in these extra large roll-up tubes!  the deodorant is a little stiff but it warms and melts in the heat of your pit so it will glide on.  and i could always run it under hot water with the cap on before i use it to get it to roll up if its being stubborn.  this way i wont have to dig my nails into the somewhat stiff and crumbly, but also very lovely and wonderful, homemade deodorant.

i'm trying to show you how big these are.  i should have taken a photo with a small one next to it so you could really see how much bigger this is than a usual size chap-stick tube.

so i will report back once i make my own batch.  i would have never thought that homemade deodorant could be so darn effective and easy!  i didn't even try using it for a few days after receiving it because i didn't think it would even come close to working, since nothing else has. 

boy howdy, do i owe a huge and full hearted thank you to my Sheina!  Thanks Love!  You made the start of 2011 just a wee bit brighter and quite a bit less stinky!  I am full of gratitude for  homemade deodorant and a sweet friend who sent it from one country to another to get it up under my stinky pits!  You are da bomb Sheina!  Love Love Love You!

Smelling sweet and not so nasty,
xoxo
Jennette