Old Man On The Mountain Site

Franconia, NH

Wordless Wednesday

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Pumpkins At My Door

Inspired by the pumpkins growing near the back door.



by Big G

Progress of Pumpkin Plants

Occasional Journal

Last Sunday afternoon I started an "Occasional Journal".

It is occasional for two reasons, first I will only work on it "occasionally", and it will contain mementos from special "occasions". I had a collection of items from various occasions and had been thinking about putting them in a journal for some time, and just had never done it.

I didn't wait to find the perfect journal, I took one that had a few other things in it that I didn't care about and used it. Below are a few photos of some of the pages. I have good intentions to add some comments and/or doodles on some of the pages.

Wordless Wednesday

Tale of Three Pumpking Plants

We'll have an idea of how old you are if you don't say, "What are you talking about?".
If you don't know, just google "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.

I was given 3 pumpkin plants for our grand daughter to grow by our biology teacher whose garden club started them from seed using seeds from our band teacher's son Jack's pumpkin, thus the name Jack Novak Pumpkin Plants. They were all about the same size when they were planted and we don't have much space for a pumpkin patch so this was where they had to be planted. As you can see, the amount of sun light varies because of the corner of the house, which has drastically affected their growth rate. The pumpkin plants are kept company by some garden chickens and a rock turtle.

Too Long

I can't believe that my last post was June 19. I guess that means that I have been extra busy.
We have been taking care of our grand daughter, who turned three on the 1st, on Mondays and Wednesdays, and a few times in between. She is such a pleasure and we enjoy every minute spent with her. And I have been trying to do some much needed spring cleaning a little late. I have done the bedroom and kitchen so far. I have done a little weeding and hope to do more this morning. I haven't done anything creative since I posted last. Well, I have painted with my grand daughter, using paint brushes, fingernails, a rubber spatula and tooth brushes, on paper and on rocks, definitely creative. She loves to paint. I am planning to work on a few projects this week end. We have nothing special planned so maybe I can fit in some creative time.

Summer

School's out for summer,
So many things to get done,
but not enough time.

Yesterday was our last day of school. The last month has been more than a little hectic.
But field trips, assemblies, awards, exams, cleaning, and finally graduation are behind me and summer lies ahead. There will be a week at Johnson and Wales University in RI for an educator forum, a week in Pennsylvania to visit family and attend a wedding, and week in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with daughters, son in law, and granddaughter. And when I'm not away I will be spending two days a week with our beautiful, energetic, and amazing granddaughter. I will be able to spend quality time with my husband, and not be to busy or too tired to carry on a conversation. In between I hope to complete a few projects that have been awaiting my attention. And before I know it August 26th will be here and I will be back at school starting my 41st of year of teaching. I still enjoy teaching, and feel that I do make a difference in the lives in of my students. They tell me that they will now be able to feed themselves, and that they will think very carefully about becoming a parent in the future.

Breathe

Breathe, I don't know how.
Everyone keeps telling me
That I need to relax.

Purple Moose

On a rainy afternoon (one of many recently), Grampy, Grammy and Camzilla were sitting at the kitchen table. Grammy was having her coffee, Grampy was drawing a moose and Camzilla was painting, her paper, her hands, and her face. But not without asking first, she is always polite and considerate, so how could she be denied this simple pleasure, and of course Grammy said yes. And so we had a red faced granddaughter. She was also painting her fingernails red and then turning her hand upside down on the paper and painting with them. Who said we had to put paint on the paper with a brush. When Grampy asked her what color he should paint the moose, Camzilla said purple, so purple it is. Not only did she paint her hands, but Grampy's and Grammy's as well. She was very excited when she painted Grammy's hand and the paint was brown, " I made brown, I made brown!!" And thus she discovered that mixing yellow and purple make brown. Whenever she is around there are many moments of discovery for her and for us.

Running in the Sprinkler

"Run, Run" she said. "Gammy, put down the camera and run."
She wanted to enjoy the moment. Gammy wanted to save it.

I traced the outline of my granddaughter from a photograph I took of her running through the sprinkler. I filled in the background and added the sprinkler.

A Single Day of Sunshine

One day of sunshine
Between many days of rain
Brings warmth to the soul.

Box in Progress

This is the background for the inside cover to my supply box for "ART IS YOU" in October. This was done in watercolor. It's probably the first time I've done anything in watercolor since I was in high school (a long time ago), except for playing around with splashes of color with my granddaughter. I don't try to do anything recognizable with her since she already looks at something she has done and says, "That's not good". And we have never said anything about her art work that wasn't positive. I'm sure that a watercolor artist would have some pointers, but I was pleased. This is the only copy of the original since it has since been transformed.

This was my first attempt to do a gel medium transfer. I know that I'll do a few things differently next time. Once you lay down the gel print, it can't be moved thus the tilted table.
But it lead to a hand drawn tea cup slipping off the table as you'll see in a later picture.

I had a vague idea of what I wanted to accomplish, but this progressed as an "OK, what do I want to do next?" project. I had purchased an Alice in Wonderland stamp set, and thought I wanted to use that so those went down next. Then I used the curved part of my pie shaped stamp pad to add a border.

A few quotes, some scrolls in the border, a frame around Alice under the table, a few added items, and done. Well almost done. I finished with a coating of gel medium tinted with irridescent copper acrylic to tie it all together. When I showed my husband, he said it looked like dream.

An finally, glued into the top of the box. Now for the next phase, the top of the box.
I have a few ideas based on an article in an older issue of Cloth Paper Scissors

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday