And the winner is.......

Dragonfly Pond Farm




Dragonfly Pond Farm is the winning name via the pole. Mom voted too and this is the one she liked best. I want to thank all of you for voting either in the actual sidebar pole or in the comments. Cris, Lynn, Chewy, Elizabeth, Kim, Patti, Marianne, Forever Young,Honor (who gave me the idea of having a prize), Claudia, Babs, Katie Jane, Human Being, Britt-Arnhild and Mim. I hope I haven't overlooked anyone. If so let me know!!!

The surprise is this collage which I have made for you of pictures of the farm. Please feel free to download it onto your computer as a desktop picture or whatever you desire. If you prefer the previous collage you can download that one instead.

This is the best way I can think of to thank everyone who participated and the miracle of the Internet makes it possible. The whole process was such fun and it was you all out there in virtual land that made it fun. Now for the hard part. Making the sign. I wish I could carve wood as that's my favorite kind of sign. I am NOT good at lettering. But there is a ton of wood in the barn including a piece of walnut so we'll see what happens. Blessings to all, Suki

Another painting begun

The first lay in of a painting from another small black and white photo. Don't laugh at the calves legs. I hope to do some research and find out what calves legs look like as the photo is hard to see.
Second working of the picture. I lost the original photo. I brought it in to a copy shop to have it enlarged to an 8 by 10. The store clerk didn't know how to enlarge but not wanting to admit this she wasted 8 or so sheets of paper trying. Also I wanted it enlarged on a color copier. This too she resisted, then finally decided she'd give it a try. When you copy black and white photos on a color copier you get more depth and definition to the copy. I have done this many times before. Finally she enlarged the photo a tiny bit but not to the size which would have helped me see the calf better.

COMING SOON Results of the farm name poll and final decision. Plus a surprise for everyone who participated. Today and yesterday have been and will be doctor trips days for Mom. Today the mammogram.

Practicing making a photo collage

A day in the sun

Saturday was clear and warm in the sun. I lay on a rock near the barn.

I love being hot. Heat fills me with energy and gets my creative ideas flowing. My preference for this creative thinking that looks like being lazy is a lounge lawn chair, but I don't have one here. The rock retains the heat so it's like having a hot rock treatment to lie on top of it.

Bibbity is queen of the mountain. She reminds me of her lion ancestors here.

Old farm equipment lies about getting rusty. An ax on the corner foundation of what once was a chicken house.
Melange of rust.

Animal Lovers Check out this post! on Sandpiper's blog

Squirrels wrestling.


San from A life with a view gave David Mcmahon a blog Excellence award. It was on his blog that I found the link to Sandpiper's blog and the squirrels. Just to give credit where credit is due.

Wall Art

In a nearby town. This post follows on the tail of Katie Jane's wall art post. And someone else showed wall art, was it Lynn?

As I was walking to find the first picture, I discovered the following that I hadn't seen before. That's the thing about walking. The world is so different. You see things you miss in a car.


These are harder to see. I couldn't get down to the fence as it was quite a slope. Click to enlarge.

Ponder This Sunday

I am reading the book Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach, Ph.D. She speaks about pausing. She writes, "when we are caught up in striving and obsessing and leaning into the future, pausing enables us to reenter the mystery and vitality only found here and now." (Ie: in the present moment).
She suggests we "weave" pausing into our daily life. Even in the midst of an activity, we can stop, take a few breaths, check out our bodies for tightness and anxiety, and just observe the world around us as it is. Hmm, mustard flowers. Hmm, bird calls. Hmm, cars honking.
When I was younger, I rushed from one activity to the next, without conscious pause. I was never really DOING the activity with my whole self, but was always thinking ahead to the next activity that needed to be done. No wonder I felt stressed. When I began to pause between or during activities I taught myself to relax. What is so important about vacuuming the entire house all at once? Who cares? Well, I was never one to get into housecleaning big time anyway, but that's just an example.

Here's an experiment from Tara Brach. This week, choose one activity you do daily and commit to pausing before or after the activity. Just observe. Be present. Be aware of your surroundings and your inner self.

"In the midst of a pause, we are giving room and attention to the life that is always streaming through us, the life that is habitually overlooked. It is in this rest...that we realize the natural freedom of our heart and awareness. ...rather than running away, we need only commit ourselves to arriving, here and now, with wholehearted presence." pg.70

Little Houses

Worked on these houses, the road, the mountain and snow yesterday. I've put in and painted out the windows several times. The road color will not remain so bright.

I experimented with making the painting smaller than the canvas edge by placing masking tape on two sides. Of course in the end you'd have to remove the canvas from the stretchers and re-stretch it on the smaller sized frame.

I painted out the trees on the right and redid them. I prefer this color to the previous incarnation. I added snow. I like this pretty well except for the evergreen tree in the foreground. The color is still not right. I set this outside in the sun to dry and little black bugs got stuck on the paint.

I used some powdered pigment to make an oil paint glaze by mixing the pigment with linseed oil and damar varnish medium. Powdered pigment can be made into watercolor paint (add water and gum arabic), acrylic (add matte or gloss medium) or oil (add oil based medium.) I think that's pretty cool. See this previous post about Rousillon pigments.

I worked a bit more on this temple and added a top to it.

Fiber Art for a Cause

A collage by Natalya Aikens. Cast Iron Lace 3

Made from silk scraps, cotton and synthetic fabrics, paper scraps, dryer sheets, rayon and silk embroidery thread.
Inspired by ironwork on Moscow monuments. Look at those lovely stitches.

Recently Collage Mania took place. Organized by Virginia Spiegel, collages are donated to the event by various artists and then auctioned off on-line during two days to benefit the American Cancer Society. Here is the collage I bid on by Natalya on whose blog I have often seen similar sewn cloth collages. I received it a few days ago mounted on mat board and ready to frame.