Girls Adventure

This summer while Buddy Boy and Dad were with the Boy Scouts the girls went out on our own adventure.  I asked what she wanted to do and she said she wanted to camp, eat pizza, and take selfies.  So we did.  

We started at Wilder Ranch.  Really we started at Upper Crust Pizza.  My Girl has her priorities after all.  After lunch we went to Wilder Ranch.  We looked at the farm buildings and sent on a hike along the coast cliffs.  It was a beautiful sunny very windy day.  The wind kept it cool, but whipped the trail dust and sand into a sand blaster.  My Girl was quite a trooper and wanted to finish the whole loop.  I had never been on the trail, but she had come with cousins several years ago.  She was looking for a trail that led down the cliffs to a little beach with a couple of caves. One of the caves is one they call the fern grotto for good reason.  It was pretty cool to see the ferns growing out of the roof of the cave.

After the hike we headed up to the camp site at Butano State Park.  I have never been here before, but I loved it.  It is a bit chilly when the fog rolls in.  I'd heard a weather forecast for an extra thick marine layer.  That means cold on this side of the hill.  The marine layer rolled in around 4:00 and everything cooled right down.  I was prepared for the cold this time so we had enough fire wood, hot chocolate, and jackets to make it work.

We set up camp in the redwoods, played catch, explored the campground, cooked our hot dog dinner, roasted marshmallows, sang a few songs, and went to bed, just the two of us in our big tent.  We set up a sleeping chamber and a dressing room on either side.

The next morning we went on a little hike.  This was the highlight of the trip because we saw 71 banana slugs!  SEVENTY-ONE banana slugs!  After every 10 slug we sang the Banana Slug song and did a little dance.  Here's the song in case you want to sing it next time you find a banana slug.  There were big ones and small ones, fat ones and skinny ones.  They aren't too hard to find, being bright yellow and all, except they hide a bit in the yellow oak leaves on the ground.  It was a relatively short out and back hike.  By the time we got to the turn around point we were at 67 and added a couple more on the way back that My Girl thinks we missed.

After our hike we packed up and headed out.  We stopped at Pigeon Point lighthouse.  It is a beautiful spot.  It is no longer in use and the actual structure is literally falling apart.  So much so that they have removed the lens and have it on display in a building next door.  It is an amazing piece of Victorian glasswork.

After the lighthouse it was on to lunch in Pescadero and our next campsite at Portola Redwoods State Park.  By this time My Girl was tired and not feeling well so we relaxed in camp and she even took a little nap.  Highly unusual.  We accidentally left her backpack home with her stash of books so she ended up reading and rereading the same two comic books for the whole trip.

We had another hot dog dinner and this time baked biscuits inside oranges for our dessert.  It turned out better than I expected.  Temperature control can be a little iffy on a fire.

On our way back down the next morning there were so many cyclists!  At first I thought there might be a race, but none of them were wearing numbers.  Remind me not to drive out of the mountains on a Saturday again.

It was a beautiful drive along the coast.  The fog was just breaking up at the level of the road.  So cool to see.  We stopped at Bean Hollow Pebble Beach and played.  Here we saw several crab in the tide pools.  A couple of the bigger red ones, and several small dark ones.

We climbed around on the big rocks and spent time examining the small ones.  The pebbles are pretty amazing.  They are all polished and smooth and so many different colors.  It is pretty cool.  We need to go back.

On the last leg of our adventure we stopped to watch some truly adventurous people kite boarding.  It looks like so much fun, but I'd never do it.  Maybe 20 years ago, and if I knew how to surf, but not now.

It was a great adventure.  I look forward to more Girl Adventures in the future.

I'm a "Real Artist"

My cow painting and my drawing of Jane and John were accepted into the California Pioneer Heritage Foundation art competition.  I was pretty excited that they were accepted and absolutely thrilled when my cows won 3rd place!  This show was a big/little deal, a big deal for a rather small organization, but it was very fun anyway.

The judges liked the bright colors and the abstraction of the image.  When judging started my pieces hadn't been hung yet.  One judge told me that she just picked up my cows and carried them around for awhile, she like it so much.  It was so much fun and very encouraging to get compliments on my work.

 

Update:  The Deseret News from Salt Lake City covered the art show as part of their Church News segment.  Here

The first installment in the film epic "Agent 49"

The full film starring Buddy Boy.  Made with the help of his after school tech teacher and the little sisters.  It was a fun project for them all.

Class Project - Family photos

This fall I took a drawing class at the community college where I teach.  It was fun to do the project, but I don't think I learned as much as I could have.  The teacher was very laissez faire.  There was one assignment, to create a series of drawings or paintings or whatever that follow a theme.  The theme I chose was optimism emerging from rural poverty.  I used family photos for the portraits and photos I had taken or found online for the landscape and object paintings. 

"Jane & John"  22 x 30 inches.  charcoal and watercolor on paper

 

"Old and worn" 15 x 22 inches. watercolor on paper

 

"John Jr." 22 x 30 inches.  Watercolor and charcoal on paper.

 

"A Window" 11 x 30 inches.  Watercolor on paper.

 

"Karl" 15 x 22 inches.  Watercolor and charcoal on paper.

 

"Open spaces" 22 x 30 inches.  Watercolor on paper.

 

"Clifford" 15 x 22 inches.  Watercolor and charcoal on paper.

It's hard to get good pictures of the drawings and paintings, but you get the general idea.  The charcoal drawings have light washes of blue and ochre under the charcoal.  This is a little bit difficult to see in the photos.  My favorite painting of this series is the old wood and rust.  I found this reference photo online in the Wet Canvas reference image library.  I also like the skyscape.  This is from a photo I took somewhere along I-80 in northern Nevada.  Definitely wide open spaces.  I think I'll hang this in my husband's office.  The photo for the window painting I took in Idaho looking out of an old hay shed with a broken board. 

I like each of the drawings for different reasons.  Jane looks like she has had a tough life.  John looks like he is about to fade away.  John Jr reminds me of someone out of the Grapes of Wrath, or Gary Cooper, or Will Rogers.  This isn't far from the truth, except they never left the farm.  Karl is the transitional figure.  He left the hard life on the farm to go to college and have a better life.  Clifford is a cute kid in an oversized coat.  In the original photo you can see a shadow of his mom peeking out of the window.

It was a lot of fun and I especially liked using old family photos for the references.  Based on the ages of the people I'm guessing the photos were taken in the late 1920's.  John Sr. and Jane died in 1927 and 1925.  It would have been unlikely that they would have had a camera much before then.

The project was a lot of fun and a lot of work.  I was a little disappointed in the class experience, but the end result was good.

more cows

This is a second version of my cow painting.  It is very similar to the first one and I still like it.  The colors turned out a little different.  This one is warmer.  I sold the first one to a classmate.  She is nearly 90 years old and grew up on a ranch.  She wasn't sure if she wanted to keep it for herself or give it to her brother, who is still on the ranch.  It is fun to have someone want your work enough to buy it.  This one I'm going to keep.

Not a creature was stirring...

"Not a Creature was Stirring"

9 x 12 inches

A little something fun after a big series for my art class.

Merry Christmas!

The hair cut

My girl has been growing out her bangs for a long time, three years or so.  They were long enough to work in to Princess Leia buns for Halloween in 2014 and are now below her chin.  When a friend came to school with a cute bob cut we decided it was time. 

Six and a half inches later...

 

 

It is really cute and extra bonus, she can easily brush it herself.  Once it dried it curled up.  I had forgotten how wavy her hair is when it is short.  No more pony tails for awhile, but we are in headband making mode.

Baptism day

My Girl was baptized this month.  We are so happy she chose to do this.  It was a special day.  Unfortunately, I'm a little short on pictures of the family. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit.  Dad baptized her and Grandpa confirmed her.  She wore the dress I wore when I was baptized many years ago.  There's nothing like double knit polyester if you want something to last a lifetime or two.

 

Trailer for the latest blockbuster

Buddy Boy and our teenage neighbor have been working on a movie.  Here is the trailer.  It's a one minute trailer for a 5 minute movie.  They have had a lot of fun.  There were a lot of action shots and even some green screen work.  The little sisters even got in on the action.  I think Buddy Boy especially liked being the star of an action movie.  I can't wait to see the whole thing.

Happy Family

 

We wanted a family photo this year to add to a Christmas card.  We rarely have a photo with all of us in it.  Dad will be sending cards out to all of his clients and I'll send a few to family and friends.  Many of the clients are older and quite a few are Christian missionaries living all over the world.  So, here we are, our happy little family.  It took more than a few shots to get us all looking at the camera with a reasonable expression on our faces.  And bonus, we color coordinate!  I even managed to find a card template with a blue background.

Thank you GranDad for being the photographer.