Happy Wednesday!

OK, well Blogger has changed yet again the way in which I upload pictures, grrrrr!!!!!! Anyway now that I have that off my chest, on to the real good stuff. Yesterday, was our first painting class, with my mom, since before the holidays. Neither one of us had the time to do it. Even though Caitlin and I still paint, DJ doesn't do much, so it is nice when we all do it. He doesn't paint, he draws,and for some reason his fish he drew managed to not get in the pictures. He drew a pretty mandarin fish. Everyone got to do their own thing yesterday. My mom painted a huge pickle jar, that she will be putting homemade dog treats in to sell at the Farmer's Market. I have been cleaning and then upcycling old salsa jars into candles. First I clean them, paint them and then add the candle. They make cute gifts and reduce waste. I am hoping they will be popular in my Etsy store. I have done two Easter theme ones. One has a brown bunny, and the other this sable colored bunny. On the opposite side of the jar is a cross with a wreath of flowers. To see all the pictures be sure to visit Melissas Jewelry and Gems. Caitlin painted a picture of her very own bunny.

Then, later in the afternoon, we had our Earth Kids meeting. This was our second nature walk, and this time we went to Manatee Springs. They were supposed to be looking for specific leaves, but unfortunately there are not a ton of them out yet. However, we did see Manatees in the spring inlet, look you will see it. And a ton of deer, which are quite smaller than the deer I am used to in NY. They blend in so well with the drab surroundings, you could easily miss them if they were not moving around. Manatee Springs is one of the more dangerous springs to swim at. There are signs everywhere that say no swimming, and swim at your own risk. Yet, people still do it. There are a lot of snakes and even some gators at this particular spring. Last year, because there are diving caves under the springs, a diver got lost and died. We don't swim there.

All in all a good week so far. And tomorrow, which is Thursday, seems to be my day to relax from here on out. The only day we don't have something planned for the rest of the school year, or at least right now, lol! Kids of course continue with their book and course work, and the third semester ends in just a few weeks. Almost over, already!  Oh the first painting is my very first attempt at an abstract painting.  I kind of like it!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

All right I know I was begging for rain, but when it is just dark and dreary and then no rain yet besides, I get tired and irritable. I love the warmth and the sunshine. At least it is warm out, too warm, and humid. As I said yesterday, we were supposed to go to the Refuge for our volunteer day. The other mom and myself decided we would skip this one, as getting stuck in the woods with a thunderstorm approaching along the Suwanee River really didn't sound like much fun to either of us.

So we Caitlin and I painted, and then we had movie day later on, Mars Needs Moms. I didn't care for the movie that much, but I am hard to please after all when it comes to movies, TV, and books.

Caitlin decided since we were not going to the Nature Refuge, that we should paint some animals. Flowers are hard enough, animals are near impossible, lol! So, she picked a seal. You see hers above and mine below. I really have to remember to paint the background first, then add the foreground. I guess I figure if the animal comes out yucky then why should I have already wasted more paint doing the background first. Ugh I frustrate myself sometimes. I think we did good for our first attempts. Then I painted on a Sand Dollar and the really nice fern shown. I signed the fern because I really like it, and I think I am going to frame it. Simple yet lovely, with nice color scheme. That was pretty much our Thursday. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Painting Class

I used to blog every single day. Now I am lucky if I get in every other day, lol! Wednesday was painting class. My mom brought these cute little canvas bags for us to paint on. First of all painting on canvas is harder than glass, and you need a lot more paint. I like mine until I added the leaves to my flowers, and then that was that. My moms is lovely as always, and I am going to list hers in my Etsy store to see how people take to them. DJ did a car on his, and Caitlin made a rainbow. DJ is a fast painter. He gets his idea, paints it and then is gone. The rest of us sit there thinking, lol. Caitlin also painted the seagull and orange ocean to the left. I did the other practice ones on paper. Since this is a homeschool blog, I won't blather on about my art and how I am progressing. Since I am a tad obsessed with it, I will be sharing my progress on my Jewelry and Gems blog. I really want to paint on jewelry, that is my ultimate goal. Anyhoo what has everyone been up to this week? How is the weather? It is still fabulous here in FL, even though this is supposed to be our coldest month. We will continue with painting class until forever I guess. At least that is how it looks right now. We are starting a sort of education co op with one other homeschool family. I will let you know how that goes once we actually begin. Have a great weekend!