MARBLES AND A COWBOY

Thought I'd take a moment to show off a couple of my latest watercolors.  The cold and snow is an incentive to stay inside and work on projects in a warm place.

This is "Shiny Things Three."  It's my third effort at reproducing glass and silver in watercolor.  It surprised even me on how the surfaces appear reflective even though it is just pigment on paper.

Here is a tighter shot of the 11 inch wide and 14 inch high one-of-a-kind painting.  "Shiny Things One" is still available for purchase but "Shiny Things Two" has been sold.

The process began with a sketch on Arches 140 cold press paper.  The big challenge was keeping the marble shapes round.  I masked out the places I wanted to remain white and ran a loose wash of primary colors over the rest.

Then it was a matter of slowly reproducing something similar to my reference photos using layers of transparent washes.

This is called, "Cowboy Poet."   It is a portrait of Bill Hirschi, our friend and neighbor, who manages herds of angus cattle by profession but also can entertain with his original poetry of life in the American West.

For a sample of his work, follow this link:

Both paintings and many more can be found on my Etsy Site--

Watercolors by Leenie

WHAT WE DID LAST SUMMER

After 1030 posts over eight fun years; I promised myself I’d quit blogging after the April 30 Day Challenge.  First; because we’d be without internet and even decent phone service for our second season in the woods working as volunteers at a summer camp. And second; because publishing stuff on my blog just takes a lot of time. 

Then I discovered a comment from my neighbor, Feral Woman, a few days ago on my last blog post--

“Leenie of the Great Mountains, I challenge you to post up some photos of the last few months, and tell us what you have done!!!”

Okay, FINE. Here is our summer in 27 photos.

We moved our borrowed 26 foot travel trailer to camp in May.  We were soon joined by the other volunteer couples who would spend the whole summer there with us.

 We hoped we had moved in after winter was over.  We were wrong.

 Weather or not, we went to work preparing the camp.  Contractors and volunteers came and went as remodeling and repairs happened everywhere.

 The scenery, such as the Grand Teton Mountains to the east, was amazing.   But we had little time to stop and gaze as we prepared for our first campers.

One project was to drop a dead tree without damaging a nearby cabin or anything else.

 When the dust cleared the tree was down exactly where the guys wanted it; between two fence posts where they had removed the fence.

 The weather was still pretty cold when our first big bunch arrived.  That didn’t dampen their spirit and energy.  They put on their sweatshirts and danced.

 Mosquitos hatched by the billions.  Finally we were provided with a fogger to knock them down.

  

Every week another party of around 250 girls and their leaders arrived to enjoy life in the woods without benefit of electronic gadgets.

 There were much better things to do.

 Cooking and dining al fresco---

 Making quilts and other items to be sent to refugees and disaster victims---

 Doing service projects to help at camp, such as a bucket brigade to stock the woodshed--

 Spending spiritual time around the campfire---

And being very, very silly---

DH and I worked with the other couples there to help make the camping experience memorable.

 We taught beginning archery.

 We took them through some challenging obstacles.

 And we shared the wonders of life in the forest with the heat and the dirt and the critters.

Several times we turned out all the yard lights for a few hours of star gazing. We had a nice dark sky to view the Persied Meteor Shower in August.

 We DID NOT join the hardy groups who arose at dawn to jump in our unheated pool for bragging rights.

We warned them over and over about the very real danger of bears in the woods. There were several bear scares but we never saw any in camp.

 But we knew they were there.  This is one of the tracks I discovered in the mud just up the creek from camp. (that's my walking stick with a bear bell)

 The fun continued.  Here is a group of leaders reminding the girls that running a bra up the flagpole was not okay.

 Our resident frogs and snakes were part of a catch and release program.

 At the end of the week all the campers pitched in to clean the cabins and the restrooms.

 Then they packed up their gear and some of our dirt and bugs and left.

 When the last group disappeared down the road we set to work to winterize the camp.

We put away the benches and tables and emptied the pool.

Then when the temperatures dipped to freezing and aspen leaves turned to gold we hauled out our houses and went home.

You can till check out what I'm up to with my watercolor paintings here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/WatercolorsbyLeenie

THIRTY DAY CHALLENGE--Day Thirty

A photo a day for thirty days, plus a poem a day on most occasions to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of National Poetry Month.  So ends the challenge.  And now---

Into the woods without delay

Be careful not to lose the way.

Into the woods who knows what may

Be lurking on the journey?

 Into the woods, and down the dell,

The path is straight, I know it well.

Into the woods, and who can tell

What’s waiting on the journey?

Stephen Sondheim

 Leave the beaten track occasionally and dive into the woods.  Every time you do so, you will be certain to find something that you have never seen before.

Alexander Graham Bell