Tuesday, February 26, 2008


My little grandchildren in Germany have always thought that Nana loved hummingbirds...which I do...and so I found one to do a pastel,
thinking of them as I worked on it.

Humming birds are such a intricate little bird and I try to feed them during the summer. Wish they didn't go so fast! Zip..they come..zip..they go. Blink and you miss it!

Monday, February 25, 2008

My New Invention - Paper-Piecing.



These are paper-piecing projects. Click on them and you can see the details of the papers glued on. All you need is a catalog of any kind to get colors and textures...even a clothing catalog will do. These are from a quilting catalog. This is great for children to do. Grandchildren: Isaac did a dragon. Ben a tiger. Megan a cat. Camille a horse. They draw the picture onto the oval first, then match the colors of the picture with the papers that are cut into squares and glued on. Then you glue the oval on top. If you find a mat that brings out one of the colors, they are truly beautiful when framed.
The rose one on the left I made especially for our friends, Karl and Jeannine Franson. They seemed delighted with it. Scroll way down and you will find another of sunflowers that I made for my neice, Laura. So satisfying!

Birds of a feather flock together.


A sweet young couple moved into our Gardiner Ward and as I got acquainted with her, found that we had tons in common. It brought me to tears more than once. The most precious gift to me was that she loved to paint also. Because of her, I joined the Harlow Gallery in Hallowell. This is a picture that she water painted of a loon and it is exquisite. I took a picture of it and it is on my fridge, "my place of honor". I love looking at it and I love her. Her name is Sara Kardouni, 28 years old. Another blessing of the gospel!
These Sunflowers were done in the very first water-color class I took. They were a real still-life.
I am very partial to this picture. Lisa asked for it to go in her bathroom so I gave it to her, knowing I could see it once in a while. I hope she enjoys it as much as I have over the years!
These deer were done in an art class. I was supposed to bring a picture to work from and had forgotten. After hunting through many magazines I found this in a "Field and Stream" magazine...a little 2x3 inch picture. I took to it immediately, and figured I could at least fill the class time with working on the drawing of it. But, it went very well and I finished it. It is beautiful in real life...I have it framed on the wall. Personally, it is one of my very favorites.