Art

Weekly Photo Challenge: Work of Art

img640My sister wanted me to take back the pastel drawing of an Orangutan I had given her many years ago so that others would not take it after she passed.  She always loved monkeys and collected them and gave it a place of honor on her walls till her death at the beginning of this year.

One of my brothers then asked me if he could have it when I come up to visit him in the future.  I guess it must be a work of art and you never know what you are capable of until you try something.  Some of my art is mediocre and some I do really like.  When I was young, I hated everything I created.  Somehow I got over that as I got older.  Then the pendulum swung the other way for the fact that I loved everything I did, even if it was crap!

Writing Challenge: My Lost Art of Basket Weaving

Many years ago I used to love creating warp weave, yarn wrapped baskets, bowls, vases, etc.  My best-selling were the ones I trimmed in feathers.  They were really popular back in the 70’s, early 80’s at school bazaars or local craft shows.  I always worked in earth tones or fall like colors that were popular at the time.  They are still the colors I like to work with the best in all mediums.

Right after my divorce I worked a lot of hours and most all of any art or crafting I once did fell by the wayside to the pure exhaustion that became my daily life.  On weekends, or Sunday, I caught up with my children, people and chores that I didn’t get to during my work week.  Many of my work weeks were 6 days so on my Sundays off I tried to take my kids somewhere, run my errands, etc.

My actual lost art was that of living like a human being was created to live, so other than the fact that I can’t afford my balloon mortgage payments due in a few months and will be losing my home, I may actually begin to begin again now that I am finally retired by forces too numerous to mention.  Cleaning out my only sister’s apartment after she recently passed, I found a number of baskets I had given her years ago.  I still have yarns and basket supplies boxed up.  I pulled a dish out that I had been working on probably 30 years ago.  I just may finish it with some feathers when I done.

This gives me the inspiration to finish it so I can not only post the finished basket, but I will also post some how-to information on the instructables.com website when I start my next one.

Work in progress.
various baskets

 

Daily Prompt: If I Ruled the World!

I’m reminded of the line in the Wizard of Oz “If I were king of the foreeessstttt!”                                                “Not Prince, not Duke, not Earl!”

Just the thought of it makes me feel all puffed up and arrogant.

The law of nature I would change is to take away everyone’s ego so they don’t feel like I just said this line from a song makes me feel.

No one wanting to be better or have more.  No one letting their egos get in the way of anything so people would actually get along, we would have no wars, no contests, etc.

Life would be lived for the sake of life, not the sake of what we want others to think of us or what we want to gain.

whitebldheartsneonglowclrj

 

 

Daily Prompt: If I Had a Hammer and I Do!

I would love to take some carpentry classes so I can finally build the dry sink I have had the plans for since the 1970’s.

I have owned a couple of homes in my life and we have redone wallpaper and layed floor tiles and carpet ourselves, my husband doing most of the work.  I have actually managed to change my plumbing fixtures and replaced a garbage disposal all on my own as well as other odd repair jobs through the years.

Approximately five years ago I was financially forced to tile my tub surround rather than pay the proposed $3000 to $4000 quoted to me by a reputable kitchen & bath company in my area.  I took a class from my local home depot and along with my previous floor tiling experience and one of their “how-to” DVDs, I was able to tear off the loose wall board and very slowly replace all the backer board (cement board).  I used WonderBoard Lite because they are in 3′ x 5′ sheets and regular cement boards were far too heavy for me to work with by myself.  Once they were installed, I proceeded to spread on tile adhesive, setting the tiles in place with spacers.  After I got used to placement using the spacers I no longer needed them.  Once it dried, I applied the grout with my trowel, sponging off the excess before it dried.  Once cleaned, the grout was allowed to cure for a few days before I placed a grout sealant that has really done it’s job over the years.  I dry the tub once used, but I have never had virtually no mold or mildew grow in all these years.

Thankfully I thought to take a few pictures.  If I would have taken more shots I would have put the instructions on instructables.com.  Please see the following slide show for an idea on how this project went.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Monument

I never think of things like “monuments” which is probably due to the family I come from.  You can tell by the lack of almost all monuments in our family cemetery plots.  It’s not like our family has been destitute but most would rather drink away the money than “waste” it on a cemetery stone.

My Great Aunt Ruth, who didn’t drink, bought a stone for her husband after he passed and that was after he left everything to his brother.  My Aunt was one of the few righteous people I have ever met in my life.  Every so often I would travel the 30 miles or so to visit the family cemetery and see that lone gray stone in the midst of it.  On a visit in 2012 I was shocked to see two new large stones marking 4 graves.  Shocking since I was not aware of any living relatives on the Wagner side.  My Aunt and her husband were the last of the family I knew of and my Aunt passed in 1958.  It had to be a relative of her husbands because they replaced his stone with a double stone that included my Aunt and a double stone for his parents as well that both passed in 1928.  It states they brought their family over in 1900, I think from Germany.

MonumentCollageWagners