Thanksgiving Day.

Happy Thanksgiving Day! The turkey's still in the oven,the kitchen is upside down with pans and all, but our son,Clay just got home. Laura can't come(my daughter). Mama and Daddy are coming . Clay brought me Starbucks Christmas blend. I love it. I'm going to go make a cup to revitalize. Wishing you a great day with love and family and friends.You all are blessings to me,I've enjoyed getting to know you!! Love  to you,Diana

Pie and Maalox and a Pour

Hi,I've decided to paint another "Mad Chicken" after talking to Ed Kuhn and Donna Drew. Ed carves beautiful fish and paints them and Donna and Don Drew make beautiful copper creations. Every Christmas Donna and Don have a Christmas Open House at their studio in Melfa Va. It's very cozy inside and they've asked me and Ed and Pat,his wife, to join them for quite a few years, a few other artists too, It's small and so  cozy with the warmth of the wood stove and loaded with their art and our art, as well as enough food to feed an army. It will be Dec.15th on a Saturday. You are all invited! So when I stopped cleaning I chose a pour that I will turn into my angry chicken!That's all the art I've had time to do today.

 This is my arrangement for the table so far. I picked some bright leaves.

 And my Pie.. Gran used to make French Apple Pie. So I decided I wanted to and tried it. I had the apples cooking on the stove and ran to the computer to discover you don't cook the apples--ooops , then I called Ann Henry my sister in law.. She gave me some directions and I made the crust from scratch.. There might be a few holes I tried to fill them in. ha ha. and now I'm going back to make glaze.. just confection sugar and cream right? We'll hope so. I promise this will not be a cooking blog although it might be a funny one.

 But my recipe for Sweet Potato Wheat Biscuits is: About 1 and 1/2 cups of mashed sweet potatoes ( Yams), 2 cups of wheat flour ( you may use white if you like),1 tsp of salt, 3 tsp of baking powder, 2/3 cups of milk,1/3cup of canola oil and sugar -4 tablespoons or more. mix all together, and roll out and cut. Bake at 400 degrees until brown on bottom and light brown on top. Sherry, this is for you! 

A funny Daisy story about Thanksgiving,when she was a little yellow lab puppy. She liked to grab things and run and hide under the bed. Well I had just put my roasted turkey on the kitchen counter and yes she was tall enough to reach.. oh no. John yelled.. Daisy's got something.. So we all -- the kids too--- started running. Me, of course to the kitchen ,with a "Not MY TURKEY",,,,, ha ha.. no it wasn't my turkey, she had snatched a Bic disposable razor from the bathroom.. and was chomping it up under the bed. We reached her in time--- thank goodness.... and that is why I cry when I open the Maalox chewable pill bottle , it was for Daisy, our vet recommended we keep it for her. She only liked the orange ones.:)

 I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a great Thanksgiving, Love to you,Diana

Owl Changes and Menu

"Screech Owl",8x10,original watercolor,$99.

HI, I framed my Screech Owl and I made some changes. I went over the background with a deep dark black. My mixture for black is Ultramarine blue plus Sepia. I can control if I want it to be a cooler black.. add more blue or a warmer black add more Sepia. I just felt like all the orange around him fought with his detail. I've hung him on my gallery wall in my kitchen. I can enjoy him until the next show.

I'm zonked tonight. I've been cleaning for Thanksgiving.I put away my glass for framing,washed the bay window in the dining room,put up the clean curtain. I cleaned up my art table(not my painting table)  in the kitchen and organized my papers to make more room on it. I can keep them flat and up high so no Rudy walks on it. This is Rudy, she's 17 and unfortunately got beat up by  a feral cat the other night. She's ok. She mainly was sore,but has now developed a fear of going outside. It's difficult being a spoiled cat. :)

Still wishing for a puppy,but will wait. Tomorrow morning I go to the grocery store. We're having my parents and my son over for Thanksgiving. Menu so far is
                                            1. Roasted Turkey
                                            2. mashed potatoes
                                            3. baked pumpkin
                                            4. turnip greens
                                            5. giblet gravy
                                            6, homemade dressing
                                            7. cranberry sauce out of the can.. I love it!
                                            8.string bean casserole
                                            9.sweet potato biscuits with wheat flour
                                            10.french apple pie
whew.I'm making everything from scratch.. but the cranberry sauce I'm tired already.but we'll have tons of leftovers! ha ha. talk to you tomorrow. Diana -- tell me what you are having for Thanksgiving dinner.. and what you've been painting or sketching!

How to Capture Ice Crystals in Watercolor!l

Hi, This is ice crystals captured in watercolor. To do this: lay down a clear water wash then drop color into it. Don't make it too pale. You need to see the ice crystals. When you've done this... take it outdoors and place it on a table or wherever something won't walk on it. The temperature needs to be around 24degrees,at least below freezing. Give it a good hour or more,over night is good, and bring it in. If you see ice crystals gently place it onto the top of your clothes dryer to dry.(Have a load of clothes drying now.-- if your dryer warms up on top.. perfect. If not oh well.. Leave the watercolor wash to dry. Hopefully you will capture ice crystals as I did in this painting. It doesn't always work.. but when it does it's amazing!!!Try it and let me know how it works for you. As you see you incorporate it into your painting then... so very lovely.. So much FUN!love,Diana

Sick and Turtle Visits

HI, I haven't even lifted a paintbrush today. I've had some kind of virus. I was up most of the night,backache,stomachache and headache. So all day I've been taking it easy,watching silly movies and resting. I'm having rice for dinner. Here's a photo of a turtle that walked thru our backyard a few days ago. You know how I love to see nature. talk to you soon, love,Diana

ps. yes I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I'll take my turkey out of the freezer tomorrow. How about you?

Just a Little Chickadee and Puppy News.

HI, This afternoon we went up to Onancock for a while. I took the bottom photo there at the wharf. I haven't done much painting today so I started this little chickadee. I've wet part of the top,dropped in thalo blue, and added kosher and ice cream salt . This will make little star shapes of snow. He looks cold and I feel it,too.

Puppy news. It's sad again. The dog,Molly was supposed to be pregnant but she wasn't ... so no puppies(we waited and waited). I was so very disappointed. So I've called someone else and they are trying to get their dog pregnant.. not in heat yet,when they do , they'll save me a yellow one. It's going to be a while. But when the puppies are born I'll get to go visit them until they can leave their mother and they are close enough,that will be great. I'm trying to be positive about it. I wanted you to know.

So tell me what you are painting. talk tomorrow.Diana

Now We Can Eat Them!

"Two Peppers with Basil" 8x10, $99,framed.

Hi. It's cold today. I just finished my peppers and walked out to the end of the driveway to take a photo of the leaves. Love the colors and it smells like autumn leaves out there.I may make myself walk a little. Did you notice I said Make Myself..ah well.

 Hope you get to paint this weekend! Tell me what you are sketching or painting..anything will do. :)

 Love to you,Diana-

-we're have a salad for supper with the peppers in it..