gingerbread houses

Kate's class at school made gingerbread houses.  I signed up as a volunteer for the activity--just so I could take pictures, of course! (I did help out some, too.) 



These were actually graham-cracker houses on milk-carton bases, but that doesn't sound as cool as gingerbread houses. 




Kate's house had pet snakes playing in the yard. 




Kate's friend Emma was sitting at the same table, so I got lots of pictures of her too.







The teacher had a system where she would ring a bell every so often and the kids were allowed to eat one piece of candy. Seems like a good idea, though I imagine there may have been some sneaking going on as well!

Zoolights

We went to zoolights and took along Kate's friend Emma.  It was pretty cold so we were all bundled up. 



Catharine Tracy was working the front gate.




Kate and Emma examine a plastic iguana.



(And Pikachu.)





Doug got some video, too. (He added the music.)

Delivery Day

We took the train table backdrop out to Port Orchard and delivered it to its new home.  At first we were thinking that we couldn't fit the kids and the boards in the car at the same time, but then I remembered that I had done it once before, so we squeezed everybody in.  (Both kids have grown a bit in the interim two years, requiring  more squeezing this time.)

The backdrop is a present for Jerry from his wife Sylvia.  They are also the owners of The Cupboard Under the Stairs.



When I took the boards out for the initial "setting the scene," I was able to prop them up on a little lip that ran around around the back side of the table.  I was planning to do that again--set the boards up and take some pictures.  But when we got there it turned out that the lip was gone, so there wasn't anything to prop the boards on.  (Sylvia told me that they had to move the table over the summer when they had some water damage in that room and had to re-carpet.)  So I don't have any pictures of the boards on the table yet.  But we did line them up on the floor and admire them. 

Sylvia got a couple of the neighbors to come over, and we were standing there looking at the painting and discussing how part of it reminded them of Cambria, California where they used to live (I didn't know I was painting California) when Jerry came home a little earlier than expected.  He walked into the train room where we were all standing, and Sylvia kind of gasped and said, "Oh!  You're back!"  Then the neighbor said, "Hey Jerry, we were just checking out your train table--it's got a big crack in it!  You're going to have to fix this.  Come take a look at it."

Jerry walked over and  bent over the train table, not even noticing the backdrop at first.  We all started laughing, and then he backed up and looked down and saw it. 



(Jerry's reaction... Awww!)

The train table is kind of a work in progress (it needs more trees and things--and that white stuff that you can see in the photo is some repair work from the move).  It'll be fun to see what Jerry does with it now that he's got the backdrop to pull it all together.



Sylvia said they got the boards all mounted. I'll have to go back out soon and get some more pictures. In the meantime here are a couple of details from the painting.



I remember my roommate Julie using the term "post-performance adrenaline rush." (She was a ballet dancer.) I get that feeling from finishing a big project. Now I want to paint something else!

"Mairy Crimis"

Kate made this card for her teacher. I love her spelling.

She did the whole thing in ten minutes before bed.  She says this is Santa, and he's smelling a chocolate-and-strawberry-scented bow on a present.  (No beard--beards are hard.)

Train Table Backdrop--Complete!

Yes, I have decided that it's finished! Yay! (And there was much rejoicing.)  I took all the pieces outside and got some pictures, in today's obligingly-not-rainy-but-nicely-overcast weather.






(I think my color balance is just a bit off... a little too blue, maybe?)

It occurred to me that I could add up all the audiobooks I listened to while painting  and figure out how long it took, except that I listened to them while I wasn't painting, too, so that doesn't really work.  I've had this project in the works for two years, but actual painting happened on and off over about fifteen months. (Slightly longer than The Cupboard Under the Stairs.)   Painting at home is complicated.  And now I'm done just in time to take the extra leaf out of the kitchen table so we can make room for a Christmas tree!



And here's the whole thing all stitched together. Eighteen feet long!  I'm not sure exactly when we're going to take it out to Port Orchard and get it set up, but I'll be sure to get pictures of that too.

Art Appreciation

(Andy wants to help.)

I think I may have finished painting today. I need to set it all up and look at it in the cold hard light of tomorrow, but it is quite possible that I am all done. (As long as I can resist the urge to mess with clouds.)  Being done would be good right now--I do have other things that I need to do. (I did get a little de-cluttering done today... Yay!)

Doug and Kate are making homemade pasta.  Some of the noodles have green food coloring in them.  We can pretend they're braaaaaains.

"Pika! Pika!"

We made a little squishy stuffed Pikachu for Kate.  Actually Doug made it and I helped out just a little.  She loves it! Pikachu has been going along to drop Kate off at school in the morning, and pick her up in the afternoon.





I did the stitching around the mouth, and painted the white highlights on the eyes.  I also stitched closed the opening left for stuffing.  The rest of it was all Doug.

Kate is into Pokemon lately--we got a couple of movies out of the library and now she's always pretending to be something-or-other, hopping around and repeating the name of the creature in a squeaky voice.  Pikachu says "Pika!  Pika!"



There is a kind of animal called a pika. (Pikachu's pika is pronounced like "pee-ka" and the animal pika is "pie-ka.")  They're a type of lagomorph (related to rabbits).  Pikas are a favorite in my family--we had some pictures of them in Kirsten's Bits of Intelligence, and Betsey did a super fun report on Pikas in high school.  The really cool thing about Pikas is that they make hay.  They gather grass and let it dry in the sun, then take it back to their burrows for their winter food storage.

Pikachu is definitely not a pika (the ears and the tail are a bit of a giveaway).  But I can't hear Kate saying "Pika! Pika!" without thinking of pikas.  They sure are cute little guys.  I found a video of a pika near Snoqualmie.  It would be fun to get to see one in the wild.

Time Capsule (High School Art)

A couple of years ago, when we were cleaning out my parents' basement and taking pictures of stuff, I got some photos of some of my high school art projects. Since then I've been meaning to post these, and I figure now is as good time as any.

I took drawing and painting classes all through high school. Basic Art was a requirement, and then we had a lot of electives to choose from after that. I amassed quite a collection of creations, stored in a big brown portfolio envelope in my bedroom closet.



Shoe still life in marker (as I recall, we had to do this without blocking it in in pencil first).




Figure sketch (yes, this was the eighties).



Study of hands and feet.



Self portrait.



Graphic design exercise.




I've always liked this one. The assignment was to draw a crumpled piece of paper and then turn it into a landscape.



Psychedelic vegetables (in pastels).



"The Great Bird of the Galaxy" (during the rabid Trekkie phase).



This was done with some special kind of markers on slick paper.  I don't remember what they're called.



Three-stage linoleum print.



Still life (oil on... what's this stuff called?  Canvasette?  Canvas skin? Whatever it is, it wrinkles.)



Another still life in oils (transparency exercise).



Detail from a painting that I created to be a cover for my story "The Prince Who Couldn't Do Anything" (which started out as an assignment for my Drawing I class, but I didn't actually finish it until right before I graduated.)



Notebook doodle (probably done in math class or something).



Another doodle.  I did quite a lot of these--I called them "spaghetti drawings." I was always doodling in class.

We had quite an extensive art department at my high school. Carol Walker and George Armstrong taught drawing and classes like sculpture and "Art in Society," and Paul Buford taught painting and crafts. I wonder how much that department has been cut back now. I remember that I wasn't always excited about some of the assignments (when we had weekly sketchbook homework for Basic Art, I remember drawing my breakfast bacon one morning because I hadn't done anything else), but it was all great experience. I got to try a lot of different mediums and approaches, and challenge myself, which is always good!