Hello Friends and Happy Tuesday!
Hope you are having a great week. Unlike last week, I am not having a very productive arty week, in fact since about Friday I had done nothing much and some of the things I have done, I am not showing to anyone – yes they were that bad! So instead of trying to force it I switched gears and went off and did some work in the garden since the weather was pleasantly warm. I’ve also been trying to keep up with some free classes that have limited access, so that is taking up a lot of my free time. Art Is Magic free tempter weekend, took up a lot of Saturday as it was really only for the weekend with no extensions. It’s funny but I watched a class with Emma Petitt, and actually surprised myself by enjoying it and want to give it a go. I say it’s funny, because she has been a teacher on Life Book or Wanderlust or both maybe, I’ve taken one look at her stuff and moved on to the next lesson, considering it to be not my thing. But after actually watching this class, her process, and how the whole project came into being, I’m thinking I will go back to the other classes I didn’t watch and watch them too – you know, in all the spare time I don’t have lol. But I will find a way to fit it in!
Also following along with Fodder School Challenge which will finish on Friday but access till near the end of July. Here’s what I made from the first day of Fodder Challenge:
And starting tomorrow is Laly Mille’s free Artist Soul Retreat, which I did last year but I think she has new material for this year. And I’m doing a 21 Day Yoga Challenge too which is interesting as it’s by a new to me teacher, and I like how she does things.
today’s art . . .
Today’s art, well there’s not a whole lot but let’s start with today’s ICAD. If you missed the first seven days you can see that post here and Days 8-14 here and Days 15-21 here and Days 22-28 here and Days 29-35 here.
ICAD Day 42 – Ombre
Today’s card is a bit blah, the prompt is ombre, and I actually used a tester card from last year’s ICAD where I created 61 cards each with a different single pigment on them. This was one of the tests for a paint I didn’t use so I thought I would recycle it for this year since it has an ombre background for my two cats.
icad CATch-up . . .
Days 36-42 are in the slider below, it will flip through them automatically or you can scroll through them using the arrows.
kitty update . . .
One reason why I might not be getting so much art done this week is this…
She’s sitting right in the middle of my table because the sun hits that spot every morning. And she’s not alone because this also happens…
And there’s absolutely no room for me to do anything lol
I already gave up the other table to her but now she wants two!
Or maybe they’re making a statement about how there’s no room at all to spread out or roll around on the floor! After I moved everything around last week, all of this stuff still needs a home. I’m really looking forward to seeing the rest of the carpet soon and maybe then they will get off my table!
garden update . . .
So these are genuine Ayrshire potatoes from my garden. I have three potato bags with this variety growing in them, and I emptied one bag last week to see what was in there. There are still lots of tiny potatoes that need more time to grow, so I will let them go a bit longer. These are eaten as new or early potatoes, my other three bags contain main crop potatoes and they will be ready at the end of the summer. The Ayrshire potato is specific to Ayrshire, where they are grown on the coast in sandy soil and fed with kelp. I used the same variety of potato, but I did not feed them on kelp and we are about 10 miles from the coast. They have very fine, flaky skins, so they don’t need peeling, just a bit of a scrub to get the dirt out and then boiled and served up like other new potatoes. They are very delicious, have a great flavour that is unique to them, and they are my favourite potatoes. It is traditional here to serve them with Ayrshire bacon but I don’t eat that, so my preferred way to eat them is with spring onions and mint, both from the garden this time.
Also on the menu is this fruit salad, strawberries from the garden but everything else from the shop – though I do have blueberries growing it’s too early to pick them.
Yesterday I found some raspberries still growing in the garden, despite the fact that they were dug up last year. Raspberries are very easy to grow here but unless you spray them, there are too many little creatures who want to eat them too. I don’t spray so therefore I got rid of the raspberries. But look, life finds a way, and they are back.
So I picked them, but out of these five, only three were edible. The problem with raspberries is they are so open at the top that little bugs crawl right inside, so they may look fine on the outside but on the inside it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet for the critters, and I’d rather not have extra protein with my fruit!
Other things doing well are the sweet peas, just starting to flower and climb.
They have such a beautiful scent
The borage, is bee central at the moment…managed to miss all the bees when taking this photo lol. Although the flowers and leaves are edible, I only grow this specifically for the bees to enjoy.
Also doing well are the nasturtiums which are coming up below…
t stands for . . .
Decaf coffee again, but look this time it’s in the garden. Still drinking it out of my blender cup lol. I am a bit late for tea again this week but today it’s because I got up early but then spent too much time looking at Amazon Prime Day deals. I was looking at stuff for the garden, perhaps something nice to sit on, but nothing has caught my eye so far. I do remember when Prime Day was one day, not two, and they used to give you a £10 voucher to spend, What happened to that little perk?
Happy T Day! And happy 9th birthday!
I just noticed there’s an “e” missing from coffee in my post title but I can’t change it as it will break the link. I had to change the typo and add a new link, sorry, it was too annoying for me lol.
As always, thanks for reading, and have a great week!
Ingredients
as mentioned above
Challenges
Altered Book Lover – T Stands for
You might also like these posts . . .
Happy 9th Anniversary T Day wishes too! Apologies I’m so late ??. Hugs Jo x
Your garden looks amazing and I love how your kitty cats have taken over your art table, nice of them to keep it warm for you …lol ?. As always your art is beautiful, loving the two cats with the purple. Happy wishes! Hugs Jo x
I thought it would be easier and faster to leave a comment here. Your package came Wednesday, but I had no internet for two days, so was unable to let you know. Sorry I took so long to get back to you, but you can rest easy now.
Your garden is really doing well! Those raspberries are doing really well, even though it was a rogue one.
We have got rid of our grapevine because it attracted so many wasps that it was no pleasure to sit under it.
I love what you did for Fodder challenge. Are they mobiles (or ear rings? I can’t see the scale).
Your cats made me smile! We used to have a cat (way back) that would sit on the newspaper as soon as you opened it to read. Very annoying, however much we loved the cat. She wouldn’t let any of us read the newspaper. My dad would have to hide in his office with the door shut.
Oh those potatoes! They look delicious!
A Belated happy T-Day to you,
Hugs,
Lisca
Happy T-day, Elle. So I wonderful if you crafted on the floor if it would then be their favorite place. Love your kitties!
The art is all wonderfully done. The ones with critters are my favorites, but all of it is fun!
Your garden is amazing as well. I am impressed (and jealous – one day I need to make peace with the outside and try some gardening). Beautiful flowers!
Hugz
And thanks for the flower name too. For some reason I just can’t seem to remember (every year) what they are called.
Those kitties just know where the best spaces are, don’t they? I can see they’ve inspired you with your ICADS. I particularly like the kitty ice cream cone. And your garden is looking pretty productive too. I’ve never grown potatoes but I should try some next year. And those raspberries look good. Looks like you’ll at least get a little taste. I hope you had a great T day Elle. hugs-Erika
What a wonderful garden you grow! I love that the kitties keep you from your work area. At least it makes me smile. Happy T Day.
That is great that you are finding the time to do the free classes. There are so many out there!
Your food looks delicious! Loved seeing all the plants in your garden. I usually get a great yield from my raspberries but not so much with strawberries this year. I had a few blueberries growing but noticed that they are missing. Some critter got a free snack.
Looking forward to seeing what you make in all the classes.
Happy Tea Day,
Kate
The mobiles are beautiful and the ICADs superb. I was captivated by the black cat with the stunning blue eyes. So fun to see the kitties taking over your room. awesome garden. Himself just harvested a few purple potatoes today and I baked them for dinner tonight. Happy T Day