Day 202, Week 29 of July 2023

Summer Rain
8"x6" watercolor, M. Flannery

Two beautiful days of summer weather this week has been refreshing. Today, we are back to thunderstorms and rain. 

Determination. I sat down to do a watercolor. It took me almost an hour to find my supplies. With no particular subject in mind, thinking of the program, "Landscape Artist of the Year," I went with the mood du jour...Rain. (above photo) It is good to finish a painting, even if it is small.

I discovered that taking photos of the artwork, before it dries, makes places that need tweaking stand out. The actual watercolor doesn't look as grainy in person as it does in the photo. Paper texture seems to be missed in person viewing.

Have a weekend of bright discovery!

Try a new ice cream flavor

Make a huge garden salad

Read about wood types

Draw a few zucchini

Make a fun flag

Watch kite flying videos

Daydream a lovely cottage

Shop for summer camp shirts

Pray for Peace

Summer Is Today, No Promises for Tomorrow

Grumpy Cosmos

Today is Summery!

Partly cloudy with nary a whiff of rain in the air. Is this Earth, my heart wants to know.

For dinner* I am pondering to have cold squash soup, a squash fry up or a baked veggies with rice medley on a bed of salad greens.  

On day 3 of exercise bike routine renewal, I have yet to feel any sore muscles from it. 

For the 3rd time in my Wordle doing life, today I guessed in 2 tries. The day before, I had a 6.

Life as life goes.

Does anyone know of a good language learning program for Irish, Welsh or Scots? I want my daydreams to be more authentic.

The more episodes of UK's, "Landscape Artist of the Year," the more I question the judges' decisions. There are too many very good artists not chosen than in the potrait series.

Are there art documentaries or shows you like to watch?

*Late lunch. I got lazy, had graham crackers and a small glass of beer.

A New Poetry Blog

Coffee Frappes & Seashells

My new poetry blog has a name posted on Blogger, (link above).

Posting will include my original poems as well as articles about the writing process, reviews, and other poetry news. One day I might actually attend a poetry reading to report about. 

It is amazing to me the amount of time it took me to figure out a title over the last few months. My goal was to have a similar one like this blog's title that combines my homeland Atlantic Ocean Boston area vibe with the Champlain Valley Vermont vibe. 

I haven't added Poetry to the title because the description of amateur poet blog should signal searches engines well enough for that category. There's also (eventually as the blog's search rank rises), the bonus of showing up with food and seashell searches.

The goal is to stop posting first draft poems. I hope to develop as a better poet by editing, seriously editing what I write. There are so many poems on my first poetry blog that make me cringe, I feel compelled to change.

I recently wrote a poem that I immediately like. That doesn't often happen. I saved it thinking this should be the first post on the new poetry blog. The day arrived. Whittled down to the easiest and most user friendly free blog host, I decide on Blogger.

At the keyboard, the 5 stanza, 20 line poem became a free verse 13 line poem. I slid along the thought that what I write has to make sense. I use to write inside how words feel, represent my mind's images. Stream of consciousness writing doesn't always translate to making sense unless edited to do so. I hope I got close.

P.S.

This entire post is inside the caption space of the first photograph. I don't know how that happened. See the shadow framing the post?  That's an indication the post is in a caption space. I discovered it when the font color turned out brown inside of the default black. I like it so much, I changed the font color for the entire blog.

Live Stream, Space Weather & Dreary

Jumping from one project to another keeps momentum going. Adjusting to another process sets the mind on a new adventure. 

Without a television since early spring, I still don't miss it. On Wifi, using live streams, I will watch live news programs. 

I learned via a Quora answer that the reason ads run without problems when the live stream doesn't is because they don't come from the same place, the files are different. It makes sense to me.

Signal strengths and signal whatever are probably the reason why channels in the same area/market differ. One channel has the live stream hiccup while another doesn't.

Yesterday my computer on Wifi, and a neighbor on cable, had weird color glitches, negative channel colors blinking in and out. I suspect yesterday's solar flares are the reason. NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) has a Space Weather Prediction Center website. 

Learning as we go is often entertaining. I viewed a live stream weather report this AM, and then left to blog. 

It is another morning waking to rain. Dreary city I will not go because I have a built in depression that doesn't depend much on the weather. I have a good book to read, dusting to do, and maybe a nice nap this afternoon. 

Enjoy your day!

OneRepublic - Love Runs Out

This is a song to dance to, near impossible not to feel the energy.

Ferns, Change, Rain & Smoke

Some Kind of Outdoor Fern

I changed this blog's background photo to ferns. This year they are nearing 4 feet tall (122 cm). Rabbits, toads, cats and such are known to explore the micro fern jungle.

How often do you change up your blog or interior décor? 

Switch out artwork and such? 

I use to changed things up fairly frequently. The last few years, my interest in change has decreased. I attribute it to getting older, an age related normalcy. It could be that I feel more at ease, mellow with how things are. 

First day of the week, there is sunshine in Vermont! 

We've had an abundance of rain in Vermont, New England, Northeast, Eastern Seaboard, surrounding areas. There is more in the forecast. 

There are also air quality alerts to pay attention to as more smoke from the devasting Canadian forest fires makes its way south into the United States.

This week I am on the hunt for YouTube photography videos. I want to become a better photographer.

Have a wonderful week!

Thoughts About Sunset Cabins

Homemade Signage

Sunset Cabins* is a fictious place that nourishes my day dreams. I made the little sign over ten years ago to remind me of a dream place where my mind can vacation.

Wondering about the psychology of cabin versus city life, a quick Google search provides me with a few avenues to explore.

 I'm not trying to decide on one or the other. I know there are benefits in both areas.

But, why lean towards one and not the other?

Frankly, I  want a mesh of woods and city life, an environment compatible with the security of services and population numbers that city life provides. Thankfully, where I live now is ideal. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

*Note,  there is a real place, Sunset Cabins Maine on Lake Darmariscotta.

Not a sponsored post

July 2023, Week 28, Day 196

After all the rain we've had in New England, I expect in the news will be reports of mosquito activity. Already, not a day goes by without reading a headline about a diseases ticks and mosquitoes carry. 

It is a serious issue.

Be Safe. 

Use bug repellant, long pants and when you can, a mosquito net hat. 

Alas, I have high hopes that August will be a summery summer month.

After watching on YouTube the UK art series for Portrait Artists of the Year, and Landscape Artists of the Year, my enthusiasm is on the rise. 

The contestants are given 4 hours to complete their artwork of a model or place. If I give myself an hour, then I might be encouraged to finish paintings.  

Torenia

I'm still writing poems, but no new poetry blog as yet. When I have a good name, I search the Internet as well as the domain name availability. Using the name of a poem for the blog name is the what I am going with.

Meanwhile, today is dust, vacuum, wash floors, shred papers, and laundry. 

Have a spectacular weekend!

Make something out of cardboard

Pack a sandwich lunch 

Have lunch outdoors

Read about celery

Sing to a flower

Draw a set of stairs

Day dream about a beach cottage

Study local wind currents

Handmade Paper: First Slurry

From bowl soaking overnight, I squeezed out a small bunch cut cotton to pound into slurry. Otherwise, the excess water will splash each time the cotton is pounded with the pestle.

 

In addition to pounding, I moved/grinded the pestle in a swirling motion inside to mortar. 

After pounding the small amount, it is obvious to me that the process will pound the fibers small enough to become slurry when water is added.

Inside the mortar after adding some water, the slurry is seen in the middle. The amount in the mortar is about 1 tablespoon. of rough cotton fiber slurry.

Conclusion for This Process:  

The amount of pounding required is too high to make creating cotton fiber slurry this way practical, for me. At the rate of 1 tablespoon per pounding session, about 5 to 10 minutes, the process is better used as a muscle building technique than making  paper slurry. 

However, I will finish the batch I started. At a consistency that will not drip through a drying screen, I'm guessing there may be enough for one small greeting card. 

The Arches watercolor paper that I use is made from 100% cotton, and, is acid free. All the old watercolors I've saved for reference will be reused. I can also buy sheets to make slurry.

For comparison to scale, the tiny white area is the slurry poured back into the soaking bowl (upper right).

After the Thunderstorms

The sky this evening had a golden glow*. There was more blue and silver lining some of the formations, mostly the fractus pieces. A large thunderstorm system passed through this lower elevation of Vermont. The thunder rumbled, but wasn't as severe as I expected in my local area. 

In the Montpelier area and the mid section of Vermont had a severely devastating flooding this week. 

Wherever you may be

Stay Safe

Enjoy your weekend

Pray for Peace

Embrace Summer

*The original golden glow photo is replaced with the bluer one.

Edited to reduce yellow
Original photo posted

Handmade Paper: First Try Soak

To be clear here,

this is my first attempt to make homemade paper, using strips of old cotton or any material 

for that matter.

I am not using instructions.

This method is based on what I have read about the process from various sources (none in particular).

When cutting up the strips, do it over a bowl pointing the cut edge downward into the bowl. 

If you don't, then the cut bits

can pop out into the room.

The bowl I am using is

hard plastic. It is smaller than I want, but it is good enough to act as the mortar I will use to pound the soaked cotton 

into, I hope, slurry.

The next step will be about the slurry making.

 

Later this afternoon, as a thunderstorm system passes over darkening the sky, a few notes.

I pounded a very small amount using a marble mortar and pestle to see how the fibers react. For sure, it will take a considerable amount of pounding to turn the cotton into slurry.

Splashing as I pounded was an issue.

And one more thing, I don't remember the last time doing an art project I felt like such a clumsy slob. Threads and bits of cotton everywhere, Water all over my shirt.