52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 12

 

This week's topic was growth. I couldn't help but take a photo of these crocuses growing near my parents' house. And would you look at that - BEES! It's been too long, my busy, buzzy friends.

 

I had signed Lauren up to make a glass egg at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. When we arrived, she was probably the youngest person there. I was wondering if she would be able to work with the heavy metal tools, but she used them like a pro. She always exceeds my expectations!

 

Here's the finished product.




Given my excitement over the bees, I decided to draw one. I've also begun to incorporate Instax photos into my journals. First I picked up a Fuji Instax Mini 8
camera, but shortly thereafter, I learned about their Instax printer, which is a mini portable printer that can be used to print photos wirelessly from your cellphone. Both the camera, printer and film are a bit pricey, but I think it was worth it from a creativity standpoint and just because they so fun to use. The Instax camera has a bit of a learning curve, but I'm enjoying the process and hope to add many more photos to my journal.

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 11

This week's theme was green, but I had to find a way to incorporate our not so green chicks. Well, I guess in a way they are green, in the respect that they are inexperienced in the ways of the world. Anyway, I remembered that I had a basket with a green checked liner, and with a little coaxing, you have chicken in a basket.

Lauren named the chicks Blossom, Pepsi and Poppy. Blossom is the smallest and the most friendly. She likes being held the most out of three. Poppy is the leader and has a big black spot on the top of her head. Pepsi is the biggest, and she has a plain head.




They are all very sweet and seem to grow bigger and bigger every day.

F

Since this week was the first day of spring and it's exciting  to see the crocuses popping up everywhere, I decided to make them the subject of this week's sketchbook entry. The 20th was National Macaron Day, so that's the significance of the Eiffel Tower sticker. We celebrated by eating some macarons from Trader Joe's frozen section. They come in six different flavors and are actually imported from France. I discovered macarons all the way back in 2008. It only took six years for them to become a convenience food!

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 10

The topic for this week was "I made this." On Monday, our school district had an teacher in-service day. I took a vacation day so that Lauren and I could spend the time together. I promised that I would take her back to The Art Place studio. This time, we did canvas painting.

Usually when you do social painting, they draw a template for you on the canvas to use as a guide. For this painting, you were supposed to paint the background first, then trace the template. Well, I traced the template first so I ended up covering it almost entirely. Because I had to paint it practically freehand, it took me two and a half hours to finish!



Lauren wanted to copy a peacock painting that she saw in the gallery. It was very challenging and took her almost three hours to complete. I'm really proud of the way that she pushed through and finished it. It turned out great!



For my sketchbook journal, I had no doubt what I was going to draw because this was chicken week!



Since last summer, Mark has been researching about raising chickens, and they finally came home to roost this week. He bought them from a local farm that sells chickens on eBay. We had to meet the seller and pick up the chicks in the parking lot of a K-mart of all places. So far they are working out well and are very sweet. I've taken lots of photos of them of course, but I haven't had a chance to go through them all. I'll share more about them in next week's entry.

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 9

This week's topic was reflection. This is another one of those photography related challenges that I don't really care for, so I went with the straight interpretation.




Here's the in focus version without me in it. This is what it looks like when you make it to the Target Dollar Spot before everyone else (Is it even called that anymore? Most of this stuff was $3!). I actually went back and bought more stuff for the display. I should really do a reshoot! It may seem a little early to decorate for Easter, but this was the week that we turned the clocks ahead. I was excited to have just an extra bit of daylight in the evenings, even though it meant having to drive to work in the dead of night once again.



And although it was looking like spring on the inside, on the outside it was still cold and snowy this week. March definitely came in like a lion this year!

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 8

 

I have everything ready to get caught up this week once and for all, but we're going to take it one at a time instead of posting all at once.  This week's topic was cold, which was very fitting considering we had one the year's biggest snow storm. Italian Greyhounds typically dislike the cold and the wet and will even refuse to go outside. All things considered, Cookie does pretty well in the cold. In fact, she does a little *too* well in that she insists on dropping her loads in the deep snow. Sometimes when she's in the process of finding a good spot, her feet get too cold. Then she starts limping around pathetically, and you have to take her inside and try again later.



Apparently, Marcus does really well in the cold. No worries about him getting cold feet.
 

Here's the snowman that Mark and Lauren built after the big snow.



Lastly, here's this week's sketch journal entry. We've been preparing for (and somewhat dreading) this week for years. Lauren started her swimming unit in gym class. Our district's pool is located at the elementary school, so twice during the school year, the fourth through sixth grade swims everyday for six weeks. Thankfully, Lauren has really progressed during the last couple of years and has become a pretty good swimmer, but there is no way to prepare for the awkwardness changing in front of other girls and having to wear a swim cap. I was so relieved when I picked her up the first day and she told me, "It was awesome!" Gym is now her favorite period, and she's even considering joining the swim team. Let's hope learning to drive goes this well. Okay, maybe not so well that she wants to join NASCAR.

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 7

I'm getting closer to being caught up - only one week behind now!

This week it's all about Kitty Coconut! The topic was "framed." I just happened to notice her under my desk chair, and there it was, as easy as that!



During a day off  from school the week prior to this one, I took Lauren to a local art studio called The Art Shop. They have open studio time everyday, so you can just stop in and make whatever you want. We chose to paint ceramics, and it didn't get much cuter than this lucky cat. Lauren decided to paint it to look just like Kitty Coconut!
 


Chinese New Year just happened to occur this week, so Kitty Coconut lucky cat fit perfectly into my sketchbook theme too!

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 6

I don't have a really good explanation for neglecting the blog for over a month. I guess it was just a combination of procrastination and laziness. My plan to post the weekly photo and sketch together hasn't been serving me well either. I've actually been doing a fairly good job of keeping up with my weekly photo project, but I just haven't been posting it here because I'm always behind on my sketchbook. I'm still a week behind, but I figure if I don't do something now, I'll be too overwhelmed to ever get caught up. I've back filled all of the prior weeks up until this point, so hopefully my habits will improve going forward.

Since Valentine's Day was this week, naturally the theme was love. I spent Valentine's Day taking humiliating photos of the dogs and baking a heart shaped cake with Lauren while Mark replaced our water heater.



This is my favorite sketch so far this year. Who doesn't love conversation hearts?

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 5

This week's topic was shadows. Like silhouette, it's own of those overtly "photography" topics that I don't like. The way the light was hitting these yo-yo pillows caught my eye, so I went with it, even though I've photographed that chair countless times.



For my journal, I decided to sketch the best part of this year's Superbowl - Kary Perry's sharks!

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 4

This weeks topic was low light, so I just took a photo of the scene I see before I turn in for the night.



I sketched a little snow scene since this was the first week that we significant amount of snow (If you call about six inches significant.).

52 Weeks of 2015 - Week 3

This week's theme was yellow. When it comes to choosing colors, yellow is practically never my first choice, so it was a bit of a challenge. But I do like washi tape, and since I have a lot of it, I decided to put it to good use. I ended up framing my little impromptu artwork, and I put it on display in our spare bedroom which, in spite of my feelings towards the color, is accented with a yellow throw rug and cabinet.



Last week, Lauren had her first band concert, and literally right before we departed the house, she dropped a bomb and announced that she wanted to switch from the trombone to the clarinet. Since we're just happy that she's interested in playing a instrument, we got her teacher's blessing and rented her a clarinet. So far she's doing really well with it, and she's taught herself most of the songs that she needs to get caught up. My only regret is that I never got a photo of her with the trombone before we returned it to the music store. Oh well.

I drew the books because Lauren has been reading like a FIEND. She typically goes through two 300+ page books in a week. Her school has a program to motivate the kids to read where if they read 25 books during the school year, they get to go to a special party. Well, as of this week she's up to 34. Also, as part of her GATE class, the students are asked to read 1 million words. She's currently over 2 million and is shooting for 3 million before the end of the year. At the rate she's going, I have no doubt that she'll easily meet that goal!