Thanksgiving, 2008

We had our Thanksgiving dinner at home this year...first time in a long time. Our kids had friends over, and we also had our Niece Kelsey and her family over. We met Kelsey's husband, Will, for the first time and enjoyed getting to know him. Will is sitting across the table from Kelsey, and Nichole, one of our kids' friends, is sitting by Bill.





Kristin is sitting across from her friend, Josh.




Kate and Paul are sitting by two more friends, Kristin and Jessica.




Logan, Kelsey's son













Ashlynn, Kelsey's daughter
The big flake out!











Nichole


The kids enjoyed playing "Apples to Apples" for quite a while.





Paul







Kate
Kristin

Josh

Nichole

















Kristin
Jessica

Final Project

O.K., so this was a very different experience for me. I've never done an abstract before, but I decided to try something new. Our final assignment was to choose a famous artist to learn about, and make a poster about this individual with a color copy of a famous piece. I chose Robert Delaunay, a french artist, and the piece was called Circular Forms (Circulaires), painted in 1930. We could copy the picture using acrylics, copy a portion of the picture, or make up our own. I decided to make up my own. We had to use the colors from the original picture and copy some of the techniques. My color scheme is predominately a triad of the primary colors (red, yellow and blue). I would like to do a similar piece, perhaps using very pale colors so I could do calligraphy on top.

Color and Culture

This was the most recent project from my color design class. We chose a pattern to paint that represented a culture. After painting the pattern in traditional colors, we were to choose the color scheme of our choice and repaint it (or a portion of it). These were painted side by side on the same illustration board, so I incorporated the color green in both pieces. I choose a triad color scheme using 3 colors equidistant from one another on the color wheel. I wanted to use orange and green for sure because the colors in the Irish flag are orange, green and white. I added purple because it is part of that triad. I would not recommend doing this particular pattern as it took me hours and hours to paint this! However, I learned about making color gradations with acrylic (which is not easy) and I improved my craftsmanship. My last project is going to be even more challenging, but I am looking forward to it.

Wild Arts Festival

After picking up Katie at the Portland Airport for her Thanksgiving break from school, we made a detour to the Wild Arts Festival before heading home. I had never been there before, but I will certainly return each year if I can! There were three levels to enjoy with authors signing books on the lower level, vendors on the second level, and a silent auction and "sanctuary" on the third level. The pictures were taken on my phone, so they aren't the best quality.


Kate and I were surprised to see birds of prey kept in captivity due to injuries they had sustained. It was wonderful to see this colorful little Kestrel up close.



Peregrine Falcon















Great Horned Owl
Spotted Owl

















I did not even begin to get pictures of the variety of handcrafted items and the many artists with works for sale.

This is for the environmentalists and recyclers! These are bracelets made from canned drinks!




These are totes made from billboard banners.




A wallet made from an inner tube...












Purses made from inner tubes and recycled parts...

These items were beautifully crafted from bark, twine, shells, stones, etc.


Although this is not a very good picture, I was impressed by this artist's use of color and detail. All of his work was done with acrylics.














This was some of the most beautiful photography I had ever seen.




This picture does not do justice to the combination of feathers, stones, shells, etc.












These wind chimes were made from all natural materials.

How about these fish made from nuts, bolts, silverware and a variety of other scrap metals?











This was one of my favorites! If you could see it up close, you would see the variety of silverware used for feathers and the screws for its beak and toes!


There was even a quiet spot to relax and listen to bird calls. Lunch selections were brought in and sold by a local restaurant. Kate and I had a delicious Cajun Chicken Pasta. I would highly recommend this festival to anyone who loves any aspect of wildlife and the great out-of-doors!

Trip to Shelton, WA

This is a picture of my mom's sister Ruth (aka Sandy) who recently passed away. Mom, my cousin Debbie Fauver and I drove to Shelton, WA to attend a family gathering at Steve and Myra Hills' home. We enjoyed looking at several picture albums depicting many special events in Ruth's life. We enjoyed meeting some of her good friends, and we also enjoyed becoming reacquainted with family. It was good to make this trip, and it was very enjoyable to travel with my mom and Debbie.






This was the spectacular view from Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain as we drove north.



We stopped in the small town of Ilwaco to stretch our legs and take a little break.


The boat basin was very picturesque.



Somehow a gull always gets into one of my pictures :-).




Mom and Debbie















We were privileged to see a couple of eagles in a field just before arriving at Steve and Myra's!



The fog had settled low in Steve's pasture.














The sky was gorgeous. Although difficult to see, the sky was FULL of birds (probably starlings!).


Myra and Steve posed with two of their
best friends.






Jamie's family: Bill, Steven, Mariah, Jamie


Some of Tricia's family: Sean, Patrick, Tricia















Stephanie and Clarence

Jo's family: Jo and his girlfriend Terry, Jim and his wife Tiffany and son Brycen, Carl and his girlfriend Teresa




While driving home we enjoyed several grand sights. This one was taken from Ecola Beach.





This was also taken from Ecola Beach.













I loved the tecture in this old snag on the trail.

This slightly foggy picture of Tillamook Head was also taken from Ecola Beach. It would be fun to paint this picture!



This was looking out from Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain again, only we were driving south this time.



This picture of the surf was taken with my telephoto lens while leaning over the viewpoint and looking straight down off Neah-Kah-Nie Mountain.



The ocean was calmer than I had ever seen it...almost like a lake! I loved how the fog blanketed the base of the mountains
and made it difficult to distinguish between the land and the sea.



The sun was low in the sky and made a lovely picture.