8-28-16 ~ It's Time for the Barn Collective ~ How Strong Are You?

I created this collage using pictures from Mischief Circus's Funny Farm Collection, 

but I could not find a name for the quote at the top. I was thinking of my dear friend,Rose, from Pics and Piecing and the condition of her husband. They both need all the strength they can muster plus all of our thoughts and prayers. For those of you who did not know about Roger, please click on the link above. She is posting updates on her blogs and has been a faithful participant in The Barn Collective.

Guess it knows how strong it needs to be, because it is still standing.

Please stop by Tom's Barn Collective to see more interesting barns from this week.

7-31-16 ~ It's Sunday and Barn Day at Tom's Barn Cooperative

Two weeks ago I posted pictures of my dear friend, Tracy's, old unused barn. I loved your comments where you could see that is was quickly going downhill. Well, you were right, and now I will tell you my secret. Those photos were taken probably 4-5 years ago...and what I had in my bonnet was to drive by now, take updated pictures, and post them for you. As I told you, she does not use that barn and it has continued to go downhill. Fortunately, as it was falling down, she found someone who wanted to buy some of the old boards to use with another barn. So.....these shots are what you see today...what is left. It was REALLY raining as I was taking the pictures so bear with me.

 Surprise-Surprise!

This is how the barn looked when I posted the older photo two weeks ago.

You all were right to be concerned about its future.

It was POURING cats and dogs as I drove up.

The funny squiggly thingies you see through the downpour is the barn today.

Needless to say...this was taken from inside the car :-)

And Here's What's Left

Look in the center of this shot. 

It looks to my to be a ghost of the barn rising from the ruins.

The remaining barn is being consumed by the trees and shrubs on the lot. I do not know if the gentleman is going to come and take away anymore of the wood, but I do know one day Tracy would like to sell her big old home across the road and build on this parcel. That would be wonderful for her. She and I taught school together from the time she graduated from college until retirement. She is the age of my daughter so you see...age doesn't make any difference between good friends.We have had some awfully good times together through the years.

6-17-16 ~ It's Sunday Again

It is time once again for Alexandra's Sunday Sketches at Blue Chair Diary.

Congratulations to you, Denise, being chosen the winner of Alexandra's contest for a new Sunday Sketches logo with a British theme.  Your watercolor is just out of this world. I LOVE it! Kudos to you for creating such a precious painting.

I am also linking up with Paint Party Friday.

I need to tell myself this each morning when I get out of bed...."I Can and I Will".

I found a Strathmore Toned Tan sketchbook (80lb paper-50sheets) at Michael's, and I just had to have it. This is what I did on the first page.

I used a Micron pen and a red gel pen.

Do any of you know what kind of a bird this is? The picture was on the front of an old nature magazine of Buddy's which he had finished reading. I tore off the picture and then threw out the magazine so could not look up what it is.  I asked Bud if mine looked like the one in the picture, and he said the beak was wrong and there were other things that needed work. Oh, well, I tried. At least he was willing to give me constructive criticism. I am going to try again this week to see if I can paint it better. 

As always, my best friend, Weezie, and I are the two girls having tea up on the roof deck.

I bought the book Seeing Flowers this week, and I painted this Beardstongue from one of the gorgeous photographs in that book. There is another book, Seeing Trees, that my granddaughter has, and it is every bit as beautiful. So, I went to Amazon to get the tree book, and it was there that I discovered this one on flowers. Here in the info on it and links to both books.

Seeing Flowers 

Discover the Hidden Life of Flowers

Photography by Robert Llewellyn

Written by Teri Dunn Chace

 https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Flowers-Discover-Hidden-Life/dp/160469422X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468778086&sr=8-1&keywords=Seeing+FLowers

The Amazon link to Seeing Trees is:
https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Trees-Discover-Extraordinary-Everyday/dp/1604692197/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1468778156&sr=8-4&keywords=Seeing+FLowers

Yes, we live way way out in the country so I LOVE barns.

The hat on the left belongs to the little girl and the one on the right to the little boy.

Since Alexandra is leaving for England, I was thinking about the old pictures I had of the precious British children in their traditional bonnets. I just couldn't resist trying to paint them.