Water features and WEEDS!

Hello dear friends!

This is why I have been absent the past couple of days...

When we bought our home last year we were excited about the beautiful water feature that runs along the North side of the property....

However, with Spring, come the weeds...and all kinds of brown and green things growing in the little puddle at the top and the slightly larger puddle at the bottom...uck!!

Oh, and did I mention the frogs?  What a serenade we are treated to every night! 

So we have all been out weeding with the little ones, cutting back pampas grass, and watching an entire pickup bed of weeds be trollied off to the yard waste site (With much satisfaction I might add!)

Still tons and tons more to do, but I have rolled up my sleeves and am dedicated to getting it all in order!

There is a lot of plant cataloguing to do yet, so we know exactly what we are about, and can plan what to remove, what to thin out, what to add, etc.  It is very exciting but yikes! there is a lot to do!!

When the mountain is out, (Mt Baker, above) you can see her clearly centered over the red arch that is at the top of the lower puddle.  You can also catch a bit of the sound in front too!  It is quite something to sip a hot cuppa tea and just take her in!

Hope you enjoyed seeing a bit more of our home ~ I will be around soon to check out what you have all been up to, I promise!

S m i l e s

Julia

Sunday Sketches

Happy Sunday everyone!

For more great Sunday Sketches you can visit our wonderful hostess Sophia over at

 Blue Chair Diary!

Better yet, sketch something up and join us!

The above is a new piece I just started called 'Dreamweaver'

Still stretching myself this week, so I decided to try a downward glance and a slightly turned profile. Lots to learn I am finding, but it's fun to try different perspectives!

I had at first thought about trying to leave her hair white, but decided, (so far) to go with two shades: warm grey and a soft taupe color, with teal pieces worked in.  This is of course still in the very preliminary stages, but you can get an idea of where I am going with her.

So having fun losing myself in this lovely lady in between baking cookies and apple pies for the brood!

This is last night's baking for family game night, which turned out to be a total blast!  It is crazy busy and noisy here when the whole bunch is home, but so much fun to watch them interact, challenge each other, resolve disagreements, and just generally have fun.

Fun for Mama too as I am usually in the kitchen, baking and cooking, and just soaking up the richness that is having all of my children under the same roof! 

(There may have been some wicked jeopardy tournaments going on too!)

Every so often I stop and reflect on my fortune at having found such a wonderful community among all of my blogger friends, and I have to say again, thank you so much for sharing your journeys and encouraging mine!  Your thoughts and feedback are always so wonderful to read, and really enrich my life!

Wishing you all a fabulous and peaceful Sunday!

S m i l e s

Julia

Paint Party Friday!

First time participating in Paint Party Friday and I'm so excited!!!  You can visit the other participants here, so pop over and check out what everyone's been up to!

Ok.  You know I do not have the first idea about painting, so be kind please!  This is a little doodle from my sketchbook, started in brown indian ink and then given a watercolor wash. 

I did this yesterday with my two little boys - we often take our our art supplies and they paint while I work on whatever piece I have going at that time.

Quite a while ago, I picked up this case of watercolors with the idea of trying to paint something.  Yesterday was finally the day I tried them out! 

So how was it?  I had fun, but I still hate the fact that I cannot get the precision with paints that I can with pencils and ink!  I am just a huge fan of watercolor paintings, and wish I could get a clue how to use them properly...hmmmm...maybe a class is in order!

Wishing you all a wonderful Friday!

Smiles

Stretching Myself

Hello All!

Wanted to share this quick sketch I did from a picture I found on the internet - trying to stretch myself and try new tecniques - this artist used a lot of cross hatching in his portrait, and it was basically two toned, not a lot of color.  So I thought I'd try my hand at it!

I like how it turned out ~ fun to try different styles now and again.

Hope you are all having a great week!

Smiles

Creative Tuesdays 'rooftops'

Hello Everyone ~

Here is a peak at a fun little drawing I am doing that is a bit different from the girls I usually do...

I do love anything whimsical, and was thinking of a village that children would love to visit, and my pencil created these cute little cottages in the woods!  I had a lot of fun coloring them

 in colors I would love to use in real life when painting my children's rooms!  I haven't gotten to that yet in our new house, but soon hopefully!  I just love color!

Hope you are all having a fun week and enjoying creativity in whatever you are doing!

PS: Heather saw this and suggested I post it for Creative Tuesdays over at Mr. Toast's so this will be my first time participating in this lovely art co-op!  Do pop over and check out the other participants!

Hugs and smiles

Julia

Sunday Sketches

Happy Sunday Everyone! 

If you are not familiar with Sunday Sketches, just head over and visit our lovely and talented hostess Sophia at Blue Chair Diary.  Or if you are feeling sketchy, grab a pencil and share what you've been

sketching with us!  Don't forget to link up over at Sophia's place!

The above is the progress I've made on last week's sketch. She is still not finished, but I am happy with how she is turning out!  She makes me smile and smile!  My daughter loves the colors and so do I!

And this lovely lady just appeared this week in my 'just for fun' sketchbook - She is dedicated to

Miss Tammie over at Beauty Flows because she reminds me of Tammie somehow...perhaps the gentle expression on this lovely butterfly's face...Funny because we both drew / painted ladies

with green hair this week!

I am still enjoying very much sketching just for fun, no pressure!  Wish I had started a sketchbook like this long ago ~ I can see why so many of you like it!

We have had a quiet weekend here; several of the kids are away for a couple days, and we have enjoyed the quiet and calm atmosphere!  I hope you have all had a wonderful week and are

enjoying a relaxing Sunday.

Hugs and Smiles

Julia

Spring Break!

Hello everyone!  How is your week going?

I thought I'd post the progress on this latest piece ~ I am going for a lot of color and have also tried a new (to me) detailing tecnique of scribbling in tiny circles...How do you like it? 

It's spring break here and we are very busy with shunting kids to play dates, hosting play dates here, baking, having trampoline tournaments, riding bikes, etc!

Wow! When they are all home, it is a full house!  And when you add a couple of friends to the mix, whewww!

Still having lots of fun, enjoying this precious time with them, and yes, looking forward to Summer break, which is right around the corner!

Sending you all hugs and warm thoughts!  Off to breakfast them all and get the day started ~

Smiles

Sunday Sketches

Hello Everyone! Happy Sunday to you All!  I sure missed visiting everyone last week and sharing all of your great sketches.  I was away on vacation which you can read about here.  It was lovely to take a real break and get away for a bit! ~  The young gal above is the latest piece I am working on...so difficult to get a good picture or scan at this stage, but hopefully you can see her outline.  You can find more wonderful sketches over at BlueChairDiary, home of our lovely hostess Sophia.

And this is a doodle page from the little sketchbook I bought to just have fun in ~ I do love my hair curly, even though I wear it straight and sleek most of the time, I love me some big 80's hair every once in a while!

(Smiles)

Hope you are all having wonderful Spring weather wherever you are...The bulbs are popping up everywhere here and I am just loving it!  Acutally mowed our lawn for the first time today and it was heaven!  I love to stripe the lawn, and I especially love to stripe a curved lawn, and our new house has lots of curves in the landscaping!  Perfect for me!

Wishing you joy and creativity and peace today and for the week to come!

Smiles