Two attempts at sketching BB

One at a restaurant on a coctail napkin and one in ML's livingroom
Easter Sunday. Neither are very good.

Captured in the Cabin (First draft)

This is the first draft of an illustration for my Children's novel,
Frog Haven. I made it in the car today while we were going to pick up
Graham from his aunt, but I had nothing to look at. Now that I have
made it, I can see that it needs to be redone.

Spring rolls for lunch

I know I posted about this before but these are so GOOD and so easy.

1)buy spring roll skins (tapico sheets or rice paper)
2)run one under water, lay it on a plate, add mushrooms and/or tofu or
turkey ro shrimp,
3)add vermicelli (or thin spaghetti, (I also added tomatoes and blueberries)
4)add lettuce and/or spinach
5)fold like an envelope
add sauce or salad dressing
6) roll up and eat--YUM YUM!

Unfinished painting

I started this painting yesterday morning (after a sleepless night! [terrible insomnia!]). I worked on it briefly in the morning and then for a while in the evening. This is as far as I got last night--it's not done yet. Every time I paint a picture with real paint, I live in constant fear of ruining it--it's not like painting in Photoshop where there's an undo button if you make a mistake. So before I start working on it again, I thought I'd take a picture of it. LOL! So here it is, in all its unfinished glory. (You can stop laughing now!)

It's hopefully GOING to be poppies and bachelor buttons (cornflowers) in a brown ceramic vase in an Italian window in a stuccoed building. If I don't ruin it in progress.

By the way, this is what I was doing instead of checking my email or commenting on blogs last night.

BB at the Conservatory

BB had an extended holiday and we spent a lot of time together and
with family and not much time on the computer, so I am way behind. I
hope you had a great Easter. I will be attempting to catch up as soon
as I can. Either that or I may need to simply give up blogging so I
can "have a life," LOL! AK! I miss you, though!

Chicory

Chicory, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. A rough smudge painting (digitally altered photograph). I have included the original photo, taken in Slovenia, and the painting made from the photo. The photo was a terrible photo that should have simply been deleted. I like to challenge myself to make something good from something bad. Click images to view larger.

I know this is a summer project, but I got a new stand--it's a table easel for painting and it also fits my laptop so I was just trying it out! :-D Hope you don't mind summer flowers in the early spring.

Hope you had a happy Easter if you celebrated and if not, hope you had a great weekend. Hope you had a great weekend anyway.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

I Hope you have a wonderful day and a wonderful weekend!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

If you celebrate, Have a great EASTER! If not, a great Eostar
(Equinox), or whatever else you celebrate, may it be good! May you be
blessed, happy, full of love, and have lots of friends.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

An Old Irish Blessing
May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

123 Acrostic Poetry meme

H-Acrostic 123 Poetry Meme

This is for Andree, it's a variation on the page 123 meme for
poets--anyone can do it but it does take some time. I did this today,
this morning, but I recommend taking more time with it for best
results.

1)choose a book (mine is Marge Piercy's Three Women (Excellent book!)
2)go to P 123, Look for the first interesting word or phrase:
"Increasingly Silent All Day" (you can go on to the next page if
necessary)(Short words are quicker!)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
W X Y Z
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26

For each letter of your word or phrase, add that letters number of
pages and count down that letter's number of lines and write down the
first interesting phrase BEGINNING with the LETTER. Continuing adding
pages, and if you get to end, continue from the beginning. Or just
open any page randomly. Do NOT use a poetry book.

I=123+9= 132 p132, 9 lines down: insane desire to flee, to run off
into the misty morning and vanish
N=132+14=146, p 146, 14 lines down: nothing else, she waited until
Monday afternoon when everyone else was out of the house.
C=146+3=149, p149, 3 lines down: could no longer handle ordinary (clothes)
R=149+19=168, p168, 19 lines down: religiously, full of tales and dreams
E=168+5=173, p173, 5 lines down: Expect the brightest spot in her life
A: All he needed he could fit in a backpack
S: Sensible and cool. She liked to keep him on edge
I: I'm good for you, I only have to charm everyone, it was the
excitement she craved
N: Nothing's going on, not something she should spring on him, not fat
G: gently by the elbows as if she might fly apart. Grinning

S: Stood staring, seeing through her lashes. Scared. Bleak
I: I was innocent. I was depressed
L: Love had been a roaring inside her
E: Enjoy other people's pretend lives
C: Coward. Failure. Tried to kill herself.
E: Eyelids fluttered several times. Opened a slit. Moaned.

(Yours of course will look different.)

Now comes the hard poetry part. Now that you have a start, you can
change anything you want, look up new phrases. You can keep the
acrostic form, but if you do, try to make it not be obvious. Or get
rid of it. Revise and Edit till you have a poem. Feeel free to take
a week or two at least with this meme. Try to keep at least some part
of the original words or phrases.

Increasing Silence

I want to flee, to run off insane and vanish into morning, into mist, as if
nothing else mattered, as if everyone was gone from my life, as if I
could no longer handle ordinary relationships, as if love didn't exist. I am not
religious, but spiritual maybe and full of tales, dreams and fantasies, always
expecting love to be the brightest spot in my life, and full of laughter. If only
all I needed could fit in a backpack. If I could just be
sensible and calm. But life keeps me on edge. Remember love? Why can
I no longer charm you? Once I craved excitement, adventure.
Now, nothing happens. At bedtime, only sleep. Not even sleep. Hold me
gently by the elbows—I might fly apart. Stop frowning. I'm

scared. And bleak. I stand staring, seeing your lips through wet lashes.
I'm not innocent. I'm depressed, angry, hurt. Lonely.
Love roars inside me. Of course I still love you. But I don't
enjoy pretend lives, and silence! Distances. Touch me. Am I a
coward? A failure? I want the opposite of suicide. Give me life! Kiss my
eyelids! Butterfly kisses, moans of delight. Shhh, just hold me.

And here's another:

Complaints

Crazy you mutter the blues festival city's a mess ugh such a mob you look
over the boisterous crowd from a frowning face frown more deeply your
main gripe's the noise the surging swarm of humanity your
principle goal's to keep from slipping into the unruly streets
listen blues and laughter shrieks of joy but you shrink back
anticipate jostling pickpockets thieves and hustlers
insist always on security on your own way you would
never admit you'd prefer to hide inside turn on the TV watch the whole
thing canned later say yes you saw the sweat on the bass player's lip come on
stop grumbling lean closer enjoy with me this dancing pageant of people.

(Both poems by me, Mary Stebbins Taitt. the first one is brand new.)

on regular paper, these have an acrostic form but it is lost in the blog, which is too narrow. :-(

The H in H-Acrostic is from HARVESTED--meaning you start with harvested phrases.

The robin is from Thursday--they've been here about two weeks now.

I tag Andree, Michael, Pam, Leaf Lady, jo(e), Blue Rose and anyone else who would like
to play along. I may add links later, don't have time now.

(Oh, and of course, Happy St. Patrick's day. See next post.)

I said I didn't like memes all that much but I guess I like them better than I think--this is the third in a week--AK!