Cris, Artist in Oregon

Two chair paintings done

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 21:27:00 +0000

Two paintings done

I worked on these two because they have to get off soon.

I have two more going for next month.

The camera darkened the pix a bit and they seem blurry.

They are much better looking in person.

This is my favorite.

Altho I like pink.

I spray painted the easels gold and they look really good as a set now.

Here's a side view of easel.

A pin nailer was used to make the back stand swing.

Gold spray was bought at a garage sale for ten cents.

A Friend did the little easels for me for a dollar each.
Con doesn't own a pin nailer but if I keep painting these he might have to invest in one.

Very well made for such little things.

The paintings are 4''x5'' and sit on these quite well.

Con called me to the window last evening JUST before dark to show me the fog starting to rise in the back along the River there.

It was a little eerie so I had to go outside to get a shot of it.

Soon after taking this it got really dark and the fog took over. its just weird the way it rises up to fill the valley.

It was so thick this morning you could have cut it with a knife.

Makes me feel like I am at the moors in some old English novel when it does that.

Heathcliff, where are you???
:)

Update on car. We called around to different Mechanics until we found one, who had been recommended, that would test the car without it being stalled somewhere in town.

We got an appointment for last Wednesday and got it in bright and early and Walla, they found out what was wrong. The electric Fuel pump wasn't putting out enough pressure to start the car all the time. Had we tried to go very far on the FWY it would have broken down on us for sure.

So they ordered us a fuel pump and had it fixed by Thursday afternoon and what was most amazing it was a tad UNDER $300.00.

We have a new auto mechanic for sure now!!!

Also my fall on ice last week manifested into lots of pain to my tail bone and a bruise on the rear. lol

I finally got into my chiropractor yesterday and I had jammed my spine from the fall, he was able to get it to move and unjam but the rib was a bit more stubborn so I will need to go back on Monday.

Sitting is kind of painful right now.

I will try to keep up with commenting on your blogs

I will also post the other paintings as I finish them.

I am having fun doing them.

I did go out and get me two more of those little canvases, all that they had, so I can paint a few more.

But right now I need to go find some ice to sit on.

Have a wonderful weekend and week.

I'll be back when I find something to blog about.

****

New paintings I am working on, Lilly update & Gifts from Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 03:15:00 +0000

I've been painting.

Oil on 4x5 canvas

I have Anniversary gifts to do and I know how they like chairs

so I decided to try some small paintings of just chairs.

I am not done with them yet.

I have decided to make the last pink chair taller and add more detail and shadows.

I just wanted to post something.

The little table easels were made for me to use with these paintings. I am going to spray paint them Gold.
I will post them again when done.

Annie the High jumper
We went to visit J and Lilly Monday.
I took this ball and gave it to Lilly and she promptly took it to hide from Annie, but Annie saw her and went to get it.
I had forgotten my camera so I used J's and wasn't that familiar with it so these are blurry.
Story of my life. :)

Con was throwing the ball and so was little J.
Annie thought that was cool and kept jumping for the ball.
Lilly was wondering what this crazy dog was doing.

A little playing and nose to nose contact.
She is a bit of a klutz yet and Annie doesn't quite know how to handle it.
But in time I am sure she will.

A little ball playing.

I was having fun using J's camera because it snapped right now with no delays

so I could get these mid air pictures. Now if I only had had it on the proper setting.

Be sure to enlarge all these.

Lilly wants in on the fun here.

We don't know why she likes to jump high so much but she does.
***

Its been a frustrating past week.

Our car is not working right.

It has a problem 'starting' sometimes. Not always but sometimes. Usually when out and about and we are stuck in a parking lot for an hour or so until it will start again.

And it does. We called the tow truck last week when stuck in a parking lot and it was freezing and it started right before the tow truck got to us so we got home and canceled the truck.

I called around to different auto shops and they tell me they cant fix something that works even tho it doesn't sometimes. It has to break down. So drive it and when it does call the tow truck and have it pulled in.. RIGHT When Pigs fly. I finally found someone who will check it out tomorrow morning and I hope they find whats wrong and it doesn't cost us an arm and a leg to fix.

That was on Friday. On Saturday morning I went out to feed the birds. Everything was freezing around here so I was being careful not to slip on black ice and aware of any frozen bricks and walked around them only to be undone Saturday morning by one stinkin' little brick lining the lawn I didn't even think of and Of course I went flying landing on my rear and back in the bushes with bird seed all over me. Con only saw me laying there and thought I had died. I think I took ten years off his life at that moment. Once up I went in right away and iced everything and so far I have only had some minor problems. But I will have to visit my chiro again soon. Sigh. So I was a bit discouraged and then Mondays Mail came and I had a package from Andrea. See below.

She sent me some Eiffel Tower Earrings she knew I loved from her last years give away and didn't win so she got me a pair this year and sent them off to me as a surprise with a lovely Card of her mask drawings and a wonderful MISS DOODLE ATC

Thank you so much again Andrea

You made my day, week, month, Year.

What lovely blog friends I have.

:))

Its a Cat and Dog's life and Puppy (Lilly) update.

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:58:00 +0000

Daisy & Annie

The Animals rule our house.

Did you think other wise??

Check out the pillow under Annie's head.

She knows how to get comfy.

:))

I guess if you look this cute you can get away with anything.

Yesterday we took Annie over to J's house to let the dogs meet for real.
Puppy saw Annie and started barking her head off at her.
Annie backed off and let the puppy get over it and then they seemed to be all right. and puppy started to play with Annie.

Puppies name is

Lilly

because of Pink Martinis song LILLY. Jokingly she said, it has to be about a dog.

I hope I have this video right.

It should be Lilly by Pink Martini

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NcmcJT3Ddg

She sure is adorable. J said she did so well the first night in the crate and didn't whine.

and has been going outside pretty good when let out.

Yep that's Ice on the lawn.

We got down to 13 last night.

It hasn't gotten over 32 degrees in a couple days.

Worried about a few plants now.

Some I brought into the garage some I covered but even under the sheets they froze.

But the paper says that warmer weather is on its way.

Yeaaaaaa

Lilly loves little J and she follows her all around.

She liked Con too.

Look at this pose.

I love it. She's already at home.

Seems to love the crate too.

Con and I went out yesterday and got her a stuffed raccoon toy with a Squeaker in it and J said she LOVES it.

I feel like a surrogate Aunty to a puppy with deep chocolate brown almond eyes.

:))

Hope everyone is staying warm.

*****

A trip to an Alpaca Farm to help pick out a Puppy today

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:30:00 +0000

I had the privilege of going out to the country to help pick out a puppy with my Friend, and new neighbor J, and her 3 year old daughter, J. The 7 year old boy and 13 year old girl were in school and have been begging for a puppy since they moved into the new house. So after checking the ads we went way out and up a bit in the country. It was a ways out but the trip was fun.

We are heading to the farm now in this photo. the place was about center of pix in the trees. What we saw on the mountains was heart breaking. The denuding of trees for selling. Such bare areas up there.

We both hated seeing it.

This was mama. It blurred but more pix are below. Be sure to enlarge these.

The puppies were born and raised with Alpaca's.
I think they are adorable.

Look at this face. It was eating. No it wasn't about to spit at me.
:)

Mama is a pure bred Akbash
I have never heard of them before but they are guard dogs, Good for herding the Alpacas, but gentle with kids.
The lady had young kids running around too.

Look at this face. The puppies had the almond eyes like this.
They will get to be about 60 to 80 pounds.
But J wanted a bigger dog as a guard dog too.

Here's J & J with the puppies. We had just gotten in to see them. They look like mom but had a bit of yellow on them. There were THREE for sale and two not for sale that were grayish and long haired but just outside this barn.

Papa is a Golden Retriever. Mama had 11 puppies in this litter.

They went right to J and she loved it. She is fearless for a 3 year old.

I think this is the one we picked out because it kept laying its head on her. The male was bigger and the two females smaller and one was a bit smaller yet. and it was more laid back and it seemed to like J and laid her head up against her more. We all seemed to come to the conclusion that the smaller one with the fuller face was the one to get. Even tho it played like the other two it was a bit more laid back and not biting at her fingers & feet like the other two.

They were so similar in personality it was really hard to pick one that stood out more.

The one we picked was the whitest and its name is yet to be decided but last I heard Marley was the favored name. But they are still searching for names.

These 2 were separated from the other Alpacas.

This little guy is the baby and it was so dang cute. But my camera was being temperamental and I missed a couple really good shots.

I REALLY DO NEED A NEW CAMERA.

Maybe I will be like Suki and lose mine..

LOL

Look at that head

I love the little coat

She was looking right at me but the camera wouldn't click in time and she turned her head.

There were two darker gray puppies in here, one is hiding behind the chair, that were of the same litter.

Where the dark gray came from I don't know but she wasn't going to sell them. These had longer hair like the Papa.

Here we are heading to the car with the one we all picked out. Papa not sure he liked his baby leaving. The other female puppy is on the ground.

Better picture of Papa.

Hes looking at his mistress holding his baby about to leave.

I held the Puppy all the way home and it just laid in my arms, looked around and snored. She said it had gone for a long ride and been in the house but they do have to house break it. I lent them our old wire kennel so they can crate train her.

She came alive when it could be with the kids when we it got home to Js house.

First we came home for the kennel we had and I let Annie smell her as con got the kennel out of the garage. She was so good & gentle about it. I think they will be good friends. Con had to peek in too and thought it was adorable.

I didn't get a good pix of the puppy as we were just to enamored over it. :)

But I will soon.

****

Oh and its FREEZING here.

Got to 19 this morning.

Going to 17 0r 18 tonight.

I covered what I wanted to save.

NO we have no SNOW Andrea.

JUST solid ICE.

Its hard to feed the hummers right now as the water keeps freezing. So I have to have two going and keep switching them in the day time. This will be with us for a couple more days yet. :(

****

Gifts From Sue & Friends we helped move

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:40:00 +0000

Weeks ago Sue of http://abrushwithcolor.blogspot.com/ came to visit us on her way to her next destination in CA for her job. We loved having her visit. We yakked like we had known each other for years.

Yesterday I got a package from her in our mail box. it was full of Rooster things.

She had noticed all the Roosters in our dining room and kitchen.

This painting of the Rooster she did on some YUPO paper with Watercolor I believe. I have no clue how she got the paint to stick where she wanted it to as it is rather slick.

But I LOVE the look of it.

Its very small and I am going to find a frame to put it in and hang in my Kitchen with the Rest of the Roosters.

This was what was in the package. The little painting, the tea towel and the cute colorful tree ornament that has red and green chili peppers in the feathers or as feathers and it came in the cute box that reminds me of something from Mackenzie-Childs..They do clever designs on furniture and things. The box says POULTRY IN MOTION. :))

The tea towel Rooster has Fruit on it . . hence the name Fruit Cocktail.

Sue said it wasn't much but I think it was. The thought behind any gift is what is so special.

Thank you again Sue.

This 5 piece dinner plate set was in a box outside our door when we went for a walk Saturday afternoon. It was a thank you for helping our friends move up the street and help clean their old place.

While on our walk we stopped in to thank her. She said she had gotten it that morning in the Black Friday crowds at Macy's. She knew I loved tea/coffee cups. (I do LOVE that cup too). It was originally $100.00 for the box set & marked way down. It was the only one left. She decided to get it for us. She got to the cash register to pay for it and was surprised to find it marked down even more and ended up paying only $2.98.

I love that story.

Thank you also.

Someone emailed me recently and said something else would be on its way to me, but I will have to wait to tell about this one.

I just LOVE these surprises.

I haven't done any painting. My back and neck have been killing me from all the activity we have been up to. Yesterday I finally went into the chiropractor to get an adjustment. I wanted to wait till the yard cleaning was done. Its almost done but Con can handle the rest.

Maybe.

Annie and Anabelle playing

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:27:00 +0000

Well I tried to upload some pictures but it would'nt let me.

So tomorrow I am going to re download the photos and see if I can post them then.

I tried this to see if it would post and it did. Dont know what happened to the photos. I wanted to post something so this will have to do until I can get the photos on I wanted to post on.

So any of you dog lovers enjoy. Annie and Anabelle, who is a whippet, were playing really hard at first, but my camera wasnt taping it so when I figured that out I missed most of the action. arrgh

I was trying not to get Fair on camera as she was still in PJs and didnt want to be seen on camera. This was taken last Friday. She was tired out after Thanksgiving with her family, and we wanted the dogs to get exercised.

Another This and That post. What we've been up to.

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:17:00 +0000

We've had a busy week or two.

I haven't had time to paint or post much. I have tired to keep up on some blogs, commenting.

I have my trusty little camera with me as much as possible and have taken a few pictures of this and that when something strikes my fancy. So this is another one of my 'This and That' posts.

Today since it wasn't raining we went over to the duck pond to see what was going on and walk Annie a little bit.

Found these three Cormorants out sunning themselves on the barge in the duck pond.

It was a high of 51 degrees today.

I love both this shot and the one below. Be sure to enlarge all photos.
Two of them sunning.

This Egret was in the second pond and I just wanted a shot of the View.
The colorful leaves are about gone. The White bird really stands out here.

All three birds suddenly flew off and one circled back and onto the top of this pole and continued sunning.
HE'S THE KING OF THE WORLD.
I should never have seen The Titanic movie.
:)

Had to get a photo of this huge mushroom

The stem was huge too.

We spent a couple days last week helping our Friends move into this cute little house up the street from us. Its three bedroom even if it looks small. The front window is hidden behind the rust tree. Its within walking distance which is nice.

The mushrooms were in the backyard.

I took them today when I went up to see what they have gotten done.

I took this photo of our tree on the walk home from Friends house today. Lots of raking later it still has some leaves in it yet but getting fewer. Yeaaaaaaaaaa...

While I was visiting my Friend Con was raking and Annie was over playing ball with Anabelle and Fair. Like a kid going to visit HER Friend.

Then this afternoon we went out to the country to our other friends home.

(The one that had the Big Garden I posted a while back)

They had some plywood that they didn't want and Con wanted.

He has another project in mind for next spring/summer. :)

This is on the road they live on. You can come out here and pick your own Fruit in the summer for a fee. They have Walnuts for sale too. Not our friends but places along the way to their house.

You can see some of the trees off to the left.

Up ahead to the right is our Friends place. You can see the Barn in back.

He hays his field next to their house on the other side and sells it in the summer.

This is their view across the street right now.

we spent a nice hour or two visiting with them.

Below are a few pix I haven't posted.

My View out the Studio window when the leaves were still thick.

Daisy

One of our two cats

Making herself comfortable with my blanket that hangs over the back of the couch.

Out the window you can see Con raking and Annie with her ball.

Annie thinks she is a lap dog.

All 42 pounds of her.

Nikki.

She hurt her paw once and got so much sympathy from it that when ever she wants something now she comes with the paw up.

She really knows how to work you.

Well that's all I have I'm afraid.

I hope to get some painting in soon.

Have a great week.

*****

Fall still falling and another sneak peek at my painting in progress.

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:37:00 +0000

Walking towards our driveway and yard.

I had to take this photo.

The fall colors seem to be so much prettier this year then usual.

It might be due to the warmer weather this year.

We have yet to have a hard freeze like we have by Halloween each year.

Sunday con was out raking the back.

Today it looks like he did nothing.

Today I took these photos.
At least the front leaves are colorful laying around. The back ones not so.

We decided to rake the front yard as it was beautiful out. It got to 64 today and that wasn't expected. Look at the leaves.

Con got out the leaf blower and did the driveway and the parking area.

I used a push broom and did the drive way and then we raked piles and put into that bin and then dumped it into HUGE bags.

We filled four big huge black bags not shown here. As we were raking the wind came up and started blowing the leaves down as fast as we could pile into bags.

This was taken after we got done.

WE SPENT AN HOUR AND HALF AND IT LOOKS WORSE THEN THIS NOW.

WHAAAAAA

LOL

Progress has been slow on my house painting. But it is coming along.

I still have tons to do yet but here's a sneak peek.

I cant seem to find a good place to photograph my work without it blurring or the color looking exaggerated. Sorry.

Our good Friends have bought a cute house up the street from us and we will be off helping them move and settle in this week. It will be fun having them close by with only a short walk away.

****

Animal Wednesday and a trip to Urgent Care Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:50:00 +0000

Took this picture today.

It was lovely out after a nasty day yesterday.

I loved the clouds showing in the water. I am so happy my camera captured it here.

They posed so nicely I just HAD to take their picture.

We see him/her at the duck pond all the time now. She/He was hunting for fish.

A few of these guys came swimming by. At the moment what they are called escapes me.
Standing in front and to the right of me was a couple with fancy smancy cameras I would LOVE to have... getting such great detailed photos.
I need a new camera.
I want DETAILS.
:))

I looked down and found a flock of Pigeons looking up at me wondering where the food was.

This guy decided the engine was nice and warm so he sat there awhile watching me.

ON the way home we followed this guy.

I am always bummed to see Dogs in the back of a truck.

We got close when we stopped and I could see he was at least tied up to a rope in back.

He was so cute I had to get his picture.

Paint a black spot on one eye and he could be the Motorola dog from the.. what.. 50ies?

LOL
Yesterday I ended up going to Urgent care for an ear problem.

It has been plaguing me for months and it finally got to bad to cope with.

Ear wax.

Anyone suffer from that?

I have NEVER had to go get it dug out before.

Ugh.

It doesn't feel great. I tried everything to get rid of it but it just wouldn't budge and it blocked the ear canal to where I thought my head was going to explode. I felt like I was under water.

I couldn't sleep because of it and finally yesterday I gave in and went to get some help before I got an infection in the eardrum.

I REALLY didn't want to go to the urgent care with the flu season upon us and there were lots of people in the waiting room ..sick. After sitting next to some woman for some time and having just moved to another seat to see the TV better, another woman walking in recognized her asking her what she was doing there. She said. " I am here to see if I have the flu before I see patients tomorrow." OH WONDERFUL, JUST WANT I NEEDED. Groan. They supplied lots of hand sanitizer at least and I keep a small bottle in my purse. I almost drank it. LOL We waited an hour and half to get in. I forgot to take something to do.. read or draw.. the time can really go slow with out it.

Finally I got in only to sit awhile waiting for the Nurse to come in after the PA said YEP ITS WAX. Duh.

Funny thing was the nurse that came in to take care of it had just come from doing another person with the same problem. She said it is quite common.
Another 40 minutes and we got out of there.

I had a raging headache and the ears hurt today from all the water gushing and prodding with the plastic stick she put in to scrape it out. Now I pray that woman didn't have the flu!!!

We spent some of the day raking and cleaning up leaves in front. What a mess it was. So bad we found a business card on our porch drumming up gardening work. :)

We have filled 25 HUGE BLACK BAGS so far and AT LEAST that many more to go.

I just love Fall.

:))

Beautiful colors Nature paints & another Video I took

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:47:00 +0000

Con and I went walking this morning around our area

We knew it was going to get bad and windy so I took my camera with me.

This was a must show and tell photo.

I LOVE the color of this beauty.

Then I focused the camera in front of me. and got more color.

I am on the road behind our house.

This is on another street we walked up.
There used to be a house sitting on that patch of land.

It used to be there not to long ago.
we haven't come this way for a little while as we have gone to the park but it hasn't been that long but some time in that period of time someone came and stole the house. . ?
Look at the swing tire still there.

Why didn't we hear this going on? Its not that far from us.
We couldn't believe it. We can see it as we leave our road to go to town.
It wasn't that small.

Struck me funny so I had to post it.

Today I went out to video Annie in the front yard with leaves falling.

we didn't bother to rake leaves today as they are coming down faster then we could rake.

At one point in this video con tosses the ball to Annie. I couldn't see what was going on as I had my eyes on the camera when I played it back I could hear a little snort and a squeak of her ball from here.

Be sure to look at the two posts below for my 06 and 09 tour of our front area if you haven't seen them. You can see how much has grown in 3 years.

***

Fall 2009 tour of our yard by Moi as requested by Lisa

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Well Lisa I went out and took a short blurry video of our front yard as it is now.

It was a bit late in the day and the sun is going down in back & blurred things a bit but the sun took for ever to come out today & wind and rain is expected tonight. I need to find out how to get things closer in the video. The colors are pretty right now but instead of Spring this is Fall. Still lots of pink.

I also did a really quick one of Annie which I will post soon

I need to read the manual if I can find it.

You know as in; IF ALL ELSE FAILS READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.

LOL

Last time I did a video I didn't have dial up and it took me forty five minutes to down load and about that long to upload to send. needless to say I quit doing them. then when I got Faster service my computer got bad and wouldn't down load the videos.

This time they down loaded really quick and it took about seven to eight minutes to upload on here.

Now I might just go crazy here.

:))

Be sure to check out the one I posted yesterday that I did in 2006. Things have changed and not just the season, but the size of plants and trees.

***

A Video I did in 2006 of our front yard.

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:42:00 +0000

I hope this works.

I took this little Video April of 2006

Our yard has changed a lot since then. for one thing we have lost our apple tree and our weeping cherry tree due to some kind of bug. That was a real bummer. then other thing is that our plants and Fairs have grown considerably.

I am talking here too.

I have some cute but short pix of Annie around this time too I might show if this works out.

I had the computer NERD guy come out to my house today to work on my computer. He was such a nice guy. He was here for 3 & 1/2 hours working.. it was that bad. I thought I had something on my computer taking care of things but some how I got a virus.. not one I can pass on.. but one that jammed up my computer so I couldnt even defrag it. took me four hours to defrag when he left.

He said it was close to crashing. Gulp... Now he says it should last me another five to ten years If I keep up with the tools he put on my computer to defrag and get rid of spy ware etc. I can!!!

He put more Ram in. I knew I needed it and he put on a router that also helped speed up my computer. It boots up so quick now. :))

So anyway enjoy this silly little video. I hope it works.

*****

More Fall & New Painting in Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:22:00 +0000

It was beautiful out today.

We went for a walk at the park today.

We have had one day nice and one or two days dreary and rainy off and on for a week now.

Today it was lovely.

We still have some colorful trees around in spite of the rain.

This is a liquid Amber tree.

We have one in front of our house doing this same pattern of turning colors that I show below.

Geese were happy being together

This is what I am working on at the moment.
It doesn't look really great at the moment.
But I wanted to let everyone know that I am working on something.
I have a LONG way to go yet.
Its been hit and miss with time to paint since I feel guilty playing with my paint while Con is out raking up leaves.

Here's our liquid Ambur turning now.

I took this a couple days ago on a gloomy day.

It hasn't begun to lose all its leaves yet.

We will be bagging till December.

the trees in back haven't lost all their leaves yet either but they are further along then this one is.

It will be many trips to the dump to put in their compost bins before we are done wit this chore.

My Hydrangea flowers have turned a pretty red now. They were white with blue centers at first.

One lonely Honeysuckle flower I took today

One pix with flash and one with out.

This morning we spent over an hour cutting back fairy roses, from our neighbors side in back, out of our photinas and false bamboo plants. What a tangled mess. It will grow back next summer. It was a lot of work. I love this bush so don't complain about it. Once a year cutting back isn't bad for the beauty it puts out in summer.

I then drove some Miracle grow food spikes in the ground around the photina bushes I am trying to get to grow for privacy to work its magic during winter. I did it last year and they grew a bunch.

I have some one coming tomorrow to look at my computer.

It has been acting up on me and needs some TLC.

I hope his estimate isn't to high and I can get it fixed.

I haven't been to every ones blogs like I was doing because of my computer freezing on me and my deleting what I can before he comes.

Kind of like cleaning house before the house keeper gets here.

LOL
*****

Rainy day blues...& reds & greens...

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:09:00 +0000

We don't have to go far for Fall colors.

This is next door to us in Fairs yard.

Her trees in back keep changing. soon they will all be empty.
She will have a new view for winter.

Our Fruit & Veggie farm and stand.

You can see some pumpkins in the back ground.

This was taken from our friends home.

That mountain you can see is the same mountain we look out at. if you go just past the trees and go left you will drive on the road we look at. its on the other side of the river. That is the valley that is over the mountain.
Enlarge photos.

That's whats over the mountain behind us

This is farm country in the foreground.

This is how it is looking around here lately.

I just turned the camera. This is a cattle farm

We went to the duck pond on Monday and I saw this white Nutria.

I had to zoom in so it isn't as clear as I wished it were it was pure white.

The white egret had just flown over and I snapped some pix before I realized the blue heron was standing there too. He blended in so well.

Geese flew in to land. I love to watch their wing lower as the glide into the water with a splash.

I cant help taking there pix. I just love seeing them.

Finally got a close up of this Egret.

It flew to the other bank just after this.

This cormorant flew in as the egret flew off.

Lots of these everywhere right now with all the rain we have been having.

Lots of leaves everywhere too. It's to wet to go pick them up right now.

Been walking up our street instead of going to the park.

Everything is greening up

This is one of our side streets we walk down.

Another street we walk up.

If we looked thru the backyards on the right hand side we can see our back field.

Its turned cold and wet and I am trying not to sit all the time because of it.

So walking in between the showers is helping.

I am working on a painting at the moment too but its not ready to be shown yet.

Soon tho.

****

Busy like Ants...But still time for some sketching.

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:30:00 +0000

We have been busy, but not to busy to enjoy the lovely fall colors that seem to be more vivid this year. We were taking dinner over to a young couple who had just had a baby Boy 8 days before. As we came up the street and saw this I had to get a shot of these gorgeous trees. They live just beyond the trees.
I was sitting on the bed and Annie was laying at my feet. She was in such cute positions I wanted to capture them, but didn't want to move to disturb her so I just grabbed some lined paper and an ink pen on my nighstand and started sketching quickly before she moved. I actually captured her poses. The last one was so funny. She kind of rolled over and hunched her rump in the air and tipped her head to lay it flat on the bed. I didn't get to finish it as she moved to quickly.

Con got a new toy.
He has had his eye on this electric saw on a pole for awhile and it went on sale. It's for trimming tree branches up high.
I wasn't to thrilled for him to have something else dangerous, but the trees did need trimming and he was determined.

Look at the end of this thing he holds up to trim the branches.
arrgh.
I said fine but I wanted him to only use it if I was there guiding him
No more surprises.
It worked very well and cut them without hassle.
We have to many big trees that need to be maintained.
Leaves are falling fast now, so he got out the blower and had at them.
Annie thought it was fun and was trying to catch the wind come out of it.
Silly dog.

This time of year seems to roll around so quickly. Just when my impatiens are doing so well, its time to pull them out and plant my pansies. Its hard to do but they wont last much longer. The first freeze, which is usually around Halloween, or soon after, they will be a soggy mess. I wasn't going to put any pansies in this year since I couldn't find the ones I loved but then I did, so I gritted my teeth and pulled away.
:(
But first got that picture of them.
We have slowly been winterizing things.
Pansies are in.
They really should be put in before the first freeze anyway to get acclimated.
The screen is for keeping out the digging critters till they are established. I am not sure what is doing it. But I am having trouble keeping them from digging up all my bulbs I planted not long ago.
We have had to put chicken wire on the ground to keep them out.
If it isn't the deer its something else.
sigh.

Our awesome view from our sun room and kitchen right now.

I decided that the other iron critters we painted last week looked so good that we took this down and spray painted it white. It was all black except the window frame. we couldn't even see it.
Now it has pink tulips with green stems and blue birds on top.
Oh and that's con behind hooking up the lights for the eyes at night.
:))
We still have some Quail that are black.
What realistic color can I do them?
Gray?
You cant even see them now.

Be sure and enlarge all the photos.

Here's where we put the sheep.

We spray painted the bird blue here too.

Every thing is greening up so nicely out back.

One would think it was spring and not Fall except for the fall colors.

Have a lovely weekend.

*****

July 19 1924 to October 22 2003

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:09:00 +0000

My Dad and I

5/6/84

Today is the 6th anniversary of his death.

You never quit missing them.
****

Fall is here in flaming colors & A can of white spary paint lightens things up.

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

Flames of Fall.
I saw this along the River where we walk in the Park and had to go check it out. Looked like flames shooting up doesn't it?

I was in awe over this color.
Be sure and enlarge these photos.

Had to get a close up. Such a pretty setting.
We have lots of color coming on now. Lots of rain that is knocking off the leaves early too.

A walk thru the woods to find interesting colors.
This is a madrone Tree and its bark turns different colors through out the year.

Thought this was so pretty.

Wasn't long ago that the trees got their leaves now its time to lose them again.

My new colorful rubber boots I got recently.

I have to keep up with the color you know.

Bought a couple cans of white rustoleum spray paint and had at it. Painted the swing out front and what every else was white once. Then looked at our iron garden art we have been buying at the Art Festival each year we have moved up here.

Everything was rusting and painted black it just didn't show up so,

Chickens are now white and red.

Egret is now white

And our new iron sheep we got this summer was rusting so bad that we sanded it and now its a white sheep with a pink face and a black bird on its back. which con wants to paint blue to show up.

So now every things shows up nicely.

Fall colors up front and you can kind of see the Egret in the flower bed.

Annie blends in right now. :)
She is drinking water from Fairs hand after playing with Anabelle. she was so hot and needed some water, after watching Anabelle she decided to try it.

This is the same day in Fairs outback. This tree was really a bit more yellow and bright.

In Fairs outback. She eats the leaves.

At the duck pond.

This too was more brilliant in person.

My camera tones down the color in certain light.

Loved the reflections in the water.
We are expecting more rain today but it seems to be warm out.

The newspaper said yesterday that we, in the Northwest, are in for a warmer winter this year. El Nino is warming parts of the Pacific that affects weather world wide.

We will probably be dryer then normal and California wetter.

The Midwest & Northern USA are likely to get a warmer winter, while the Southeast can expect just the opposite: cooler and wetter conditions.

It will be interesting to see if any of this pans out.

*****

Met Fellow Bogger Suzanne Smith today & Duck pond pix.

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:32:00 +0000

Con and I had a delightful 2 1/2 hour visit with Sue today who has the blog;

http://abrushwithcolor.blogspot.com/

She has a delightful blog so do check it out.
She lives in North Carolina and was in Eugene for her job for recruiting students to Duke University in NC in forestry & land management ..I hope that's right Sue...and was driving south thru our town on the way to her next College to visit in North west California.

Annie claimed her as her friend first thing out of her car and seemed to bond with her right off.
LOL

We talked about everything. I gave her the tour inside and out. She said it was like she already knew us so well even tho we had never met, and I felt the same way, and she said it was like she had walked into one of my photos .
What a great compliment.
I first talked to her on the phone and I think the first thing out of my mouth was; I thought you would have a Southern Accent coming from N Carolina. :) But she told me she didn't grow up there.
She turned out to be just a sweet and wonderful as her blog.
I loved meeting her.

Sue, I am so happy you took the time to come and meet us and visit.
I know you had a long drive ahead of you.
Thank you!
Come back anytime if you're passing thru again someday.
I am sure Annie will remember you.
She couldn't quit hugging you.
:)

Later in the day we took off to the Duck pond to feed the ducks since it turned out to be such a beautiful day. We met a friend and her Grand Daughter feeding the birds too. So I joined them.
I finally got that shot of the wood duck in Full Fall plumage.

He was gorgeous

He almost looked like a wooden duck someone had painted and put in the water to float.

But he was ducking and diving after the bread being thrown out.

These two came to feed too.

I took these next two photos of the Nutrias eating bread that little Jara was tossing out. Her Grandma asked me to get some photos for them. I was happy to oblige. lol

Be sure to enlarge all these photos.

They really are kind of cute but I noticed the Geese give them wide berth.

This goose stayed right by me with its beak open begging.

I handed the bread to him ONCE and after he about ripped my finger off getting the bread I TOSSED it to him from then on. OUCH.

We were actually surrounded by these geese and pigeons

Well I am tired and heading off to bed. It was a wonderful day.

I had to blog about it.

Now I have met two delightful fellow bloggers who just happened to have been passing thru my town going elsewhere.

It really IS a small world we live in.

Especially in Blog land

****

Package From Fifi Flowers came Monday, More birds on a walk today

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:37:00 +0000

I just fell in love with this painting that Fifi did and I bought it.

I also bought a book mark she did and had on her blog for sale.

She has more for sale too.

http://www.fififlowers.com/

And I WON a book, She did some art work in, of Coco Chanel quotes.

So Monday they all showed up in the mail.

Awesome treat to myself.

Today I went to Michael's and bought this frame for it in the clearance bin.

Can't get no betta'.

Here they are all together. I hope you can enlarge them to see them better.

The book mark blurred of course. I loved the colors and the French feel of the cafe. I used to go to a cute little Restaurant in CA called Mimi's Cafe and I loved the french feeling to it. Kind of a new Orleans French theme but this reminds me of their little sun room are I used to love to go sit in.

This is the book I won."The Quotations of Coco Chanel.

She sells these on her blog too.

You can see Fifi's background painting of Eiffel Towers and she did different French and Coco Chanel themed paintings through out.

This is the back of the book mark. she leaves nothing undone.

She even signed it.

I liked the Quote Coco once said;

"When accessorizing, always take off the last thing you put on."

I have always remembed that and applied it.

Took another walk in the park again today.

The sun came out and it was lovely at 69.

The birds were in the water doing something none of us has ever seen and I missed it. my camera kept clicking to late.

They were playing in the water.

You can see a bit of one of the Geese at the bottom of this shot I totally missed. They would start flapping wings and take off a little and then land back in the water splashing water like crazy. There were several just frolicking in the pond.

This was right after landing in the water and swirrling around. Everyone was commenting on them playing like that.

I guess we aren't the only ones who enjoy a lovely warm day.

Others were Sun bathing

Look at all the Turtles sunbathing.

We are to have some nice weather in the day time till Monday. Cold at night tho, but then cold rainy weather will return next week. So I did some painting outside. We sprayed our white Iron swing in front white again or finished what I started before we got the rain and ran out of paint, and I took out a little wicker chair in the sun room and sprayed it white.. again.. and then I finished off the can of spray on anything white that was rusting outside.

I also painted a frame con made smaller for a painting, I gave to our ex neighbor, of him riding/training my favorite horse. They couldn't find anything they liked that fit, so Con made one they found, at a garage sale, smaller. Its about done and ready to go back to them.

A lot of painting going on, but just not on canvas yet.

:))

Painting framed and a Walk in the park

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:31:00 +0000

I found a frame I had for my Rose painting that I like on it.

But I had issues with my painting so I fixed a few things I didn't like and now I like it much better.

That's the nice thing about Oils. :)

I wish I could get a photo of it not blurring tho. As it looks much better in person.

We are back to walking as often as we can. The heat being gone makes it easier to go in the afternoon now if we don't go early. The Egrets back too.

I talked to a man I see around shooting photos of the birds with a really really nice camera. Wow do I wish I had that. he said the white Egret had just come in and the Blue Heron flew in after it and they got into a big fight. I missed that. The blue heron thinks it is king but he flew off to the pond right next to this one. Look at the Turtle coming up on the raft.

Some of my photos wont enlarge and I have no clue why they wont. I didnt move them around. I just posted them as I usually do. Some look much better enlarged too.

Sorry

Here was the Blue Heron fishing in the next pond.

Finally got a spot to sunbathe

This was a first for me seeing several of these guys up on land. There were half a dozen on land and two or three in the water. They are cute in an ugly way. They were eating the dandelions.

Looks like a big rat running on land

Has a sweet face tho. They cant see very well so they smell everything.

This duck is always here. We keep thinking its a cross between a Turkey and a duck.
Very Unique

This looks so peaceful.

These guys just sat here watching us as we walked by with Annie

Got the two pix out of order below

Annie waiting to get the ball thrown and Annie fetching and the geese in the Field behind us.

We see these same geese at the park. Usually they have plowed these fields to play rye grass for next year but they haven't yet and may not. I read that the grass seed from last year didn't sell well and that the economy has even affected grass seed.

I took this one for Lolo. The Crows are back in town

There was a family of five in the Park. I love how they stay in families.

One male was crippled & Fair got all excited as we used to have a crippled male here raising babies for several years, but he didn't show up this year. She wanted to get a closer look because she said, Trooper, that's what she called him, had three gray feathers on his shoulder and sure enough This bird had the same gray feathers and bad leg. So he must have just moved on from our area.
This was part of his family but not him. I had a hard time getting photos of these guys due to the sun light.

Saturdays walk. It was chilly and cloudy

But we went anyway. Even Anabelle was bundled up.

There was a family that had five dogs loose here. one was this Husky/Malamute mixture

This is the husky mix trying to smell Annie's rear and she was having none of it.

We were chilly and Anabelle was chilly. We had walked a fast clip for almost an hour by now and this Gal is running towards us in shorts and T shirt.
Burrr

Annie finally came out from behind con here. We were almost done with the walk. The car was parked just beyond the pink offices.

We got home and the wind really picked up and the rain let go. We even had some HAIL.

I'd say we got home in time.
*****

Surprise Gift from Andrea in Paris, Flowers & other Gifts.

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:43:00 +0000

I saw the mailman put something big in my mail box this afternoon and I rushed out to see what it was. Along with a bill was this package from Paris from Andrea.

I got so excited

What could she be sending me this time.

She had sent me a lovely Fridge magnet of the Eiffel Tower being struck by lightening in the 20ies which I love.

It didn't take long for me to open the package.

What spilt out was manna from Heaven.

Andrea had been to GIVERNY home of MONET.

Somewhere I have longed to visit.

How does she know me so well. :)

She sent me photos she took. Photos so good I thought she had bought them till I saw her name on them. A pamphlet of the area and Monet's gardens. and another Fridge magnet of one of Monet's paintings; Les Couquelicots. . . Poppies

She has seen this and thought of me and wanted to share it with me.

On a post card of one of her Lovely paintings That you can see in the picture, she wrote telling me that she had gone to see another Artist showing in the village. Joan Michells Paintings. Sorry Andrea don't know of her. But it sounded like you really enjoyed it and then she went to see Monet's Gardens.

Thank you so much, Andrea, for sharing this lovely experience.

My Fridge magnet collection is growing.

:))

I had to take some pictures of my Front porch potted Impatiens. The looked so pretty.
Soon they will be dying off. I cant believe it is about that time of year again. This year and warm season has flown by. Con made me the goose years ago while in California. I bring it in for winter.

I usually have pansies by now to plant in here before the frost hits by the end of October but so far I haven't found any I like, so I may not plant them this winter. I wish these would last longer I so love the colors. We have gotten most of the things done we have had on our list and then some. Rain has come and will be with us for the week off and on. Fall is here for sure now.

These were a gift to us from our Friends out in the country. C stopped by the other day and dropped these off.

We loved the cantaloupes but the little yellow ones I didn't care for as much. They are a green flesh melon called Venus. I shared with Fair. She loves everything.

Also in the mail this week came some Sand from Bermuda that a Girlfriends daughter got for me this summer. This is something my Girlfriend got me started on by going to Hawaii one year and asking me if I wanted something from there. I said, "YES SAND. Because that's the closest I will ever come to Hawaii." lol So from then on every where they went they would bring me back some sand or rocks or something. Black sand from Santrini Greece. A rock from one of the beaches in Europe.

I see the tradition still goes on. :)

This sand is very pretty. It has tiny bits of pink coral chips in it. You would think sand is sand but it isn't. It comes fine to course from black and white to pink and cream. I have displayed the pretty ones in little bottles around the house.

It's nice to be remembered no matter how they remember you.

Don't you think?

:))

Sketch of dog on couch in window

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:45:00 +0000

Did this one for practice.

Having a hard time getting lines straight without a ruler and adapting to the colored pencils again. I feel like I need to warm up again after not drawing for some time.

I only did this much of the drawing, no cropping here.

Lynn said ....

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:33:00 +0000

I sent Lynn a picture of my whole sketch/drawing before I cropped it, as I value her opinion.

She sent me this email back saying,

"Actually, In my humble opinion the tree and flowers give it more life. I like the whole thing. It is colorful and happy."

So I decided to post the whole drawing.

Below is the cropped part. I like it better. I felt the porch was to long and the building boring.. but decided to show the whole thing as is.

I think I am my own worst critic.

I'm not ready for warm weather to end.

So this came out colorful and summery.

:))

Read blog post below this one to read about this drawing if you havent already.

Ink and colored pencil sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:56:00 +0000

French Bull dog & Papillion

A summers day on the Varanda

Ink and colored pencils

Decided to try to sketch something while watching TV.

I am trying to get myself back to drawing & Painting.

This was a bigger drawing but I didn't like the rest so I cropped it.

****

I went to the Animal fair, the birds & the bees...

noreply@blogger.com (Cris, Artist in Oregon) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:06:00 +0000

OK so I didn't go to the animal fair. But we went for a walk in the park this morning.

Most of the Geese were over behind our place.

But this guy was sleeping by the duck pond when I came up.

He posed so well for me.

Things have cooled off in the mornings. Its also getting light later now.
I am thinking we will have to start bringing food for the birds. This guy came running out honking at me. He wanted food. She followed after him. or is it she and he. hmmm

I decided to get out of there after this shot as I wasn't sure it wasn't going to attack me since I had no food for it. Sure was honking at me.
:)

Met up with a few doggy friends.

This is Haley the Blue Great Dane.

Almost as tall as its master.
IS taller then Anabelle

Con wouldn't let Annie go smell but they had been nose to nose JUST BEFORE I snapped this photo.

We ran Annie in our field this morning.

We walked an hour around the park

and they were STILL playing on the ride home.

Daisy was home doing what I wanted to be doing.

But it was outside right away to get busy planting my 50 double tulip bulbs,

and eight Crocus out back.

Con got busy with the chain link fencing

If you notice in most of my photos of con working you will see

Annie's pink ball.

I think just about every photo has a pink ball in it.

:))
He still isn't quite done. He will have to put some wire around the bottom to keep the little critters out since he needed the fence taller to keep the deer out. So we took down another wire fence out back that is no longer in need and he will use that wire. But when he did that we noticed the shed that houses the Riding lawn mower was in dire need of paint on the outside. So he got busy on that which he got half done, now he has two things half done. :O

I on the other hand got all my bulbs planted and done.

So I went up front to see what Fair was doing. The dogs decided to play some more.

She was busy planting her bulbs. and some plants she had gone to get today.

Then she got the idea to give me some bulbs off her GOOD fancy Iris'

So we looked at photos and her map of where she planted them so I could pick out what I loved and I came home with SEVEN of her lovely Iris bulbs and more work to plant up front in the bed we have been working on. It meant tearing out the old fashioned not so great ones my other neighbor had given me before she moved but I did keep a few of hers.

I got,

Swing time

Wild thing

Pink pinafore

World Class

Dusky Challenger

Jessie's song

Loyalist

I love the names they give these Jewell's.

****