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Gratuitous Picture Post Hobbies

Portrait of Riley

This is the portrait of my nephew that I mentioned yesterday:

Portrait of Riley
Portrait of Riley, charcoal and acrylic (Xmas present for Nan and Todd)

It was not done free-hand, of course–I suck at drawing. Instead, I took an existing photo of Riley and used Photoshop to simplify the lines and brighten up the colors and contrast. After printing it out, I charcoaled the back of the paper, then traced the image onto the canvas. After that, it was just a matter of coloring it in–a challenge in itself, of course. I couldn’t get the perfect strawberry-blond color of his hair, and the shadows under his arm and chin refused to conform to my will. But I think it’s still pretty damned good for my first portrait ever.

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Gratuitous Picture Post

Japanese maple tree

It’s January 10th, and I’m already out of ideas for post topics. Ack! So, here’s a picture of one of my favorite paintings–of the ones painted by me, that is. It’s a Japanese maple tree, and I painted it based on a photograph that I saw on Pinterest.

Japanese maple tree
Japanese maple tree, October 2012. Acrylic.

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Gratuitous Picture Post News Travel

My Top Nine New Experiences of 2012

2012, like any year, had its ups and downs, and its own fair share of new experiences. Here’s my list of my top ten nine favorite new experiences of the year:

1. Becoming a Fairy Godmother

Riley's Baptism
That’s me, second from the left.

I’ve never been anyone’s godmother before (possibly due to lack of any religious affiliation or even belief?), so I’m very honored that my first official godmother title is for my nephew Riley. Of course, due to the aforementioned lack of religious anything, I prefer to think of is as a Fairy Godmother position, which fortunately suits my sister just fine. 🙂

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Gratuitous Picture Post Links

Happy birthday, Kerry!

Today is my cousin Kerry’s birthday, so, happy birthday, chica! Enjoy your year of enlightenment!

My 16-month-old nephew loves his two kitties. He knows how to call them “kitty”, but he more frequently calls them “meow!” Gabby tends to avoid him as much as possible, unless he’s eating, but Greta doesn’t mind risking the occasional face-plant or tail-grab in exchange for pets and hugs from the littlest tornado. Here they are hanging out under the tree together.

Riley and Greta
Riley and Greta

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Gratuitous Picture Post

A conference of ravens

Walking back from the coffee cart this morning, my friend K and I were surprised to see so many ravens hanging out on the north balcony.

The birds! The birds!
The birds! The birds!