Mt. Ranier - Journal Artwork

My husband is a much better photographer than I am, but his pictures are his end product, while mine are mostly inspiration for some kind of art.  While I took less pictures at Mt. Ranier National Park than he did, I had brought my journal and some art materials to try working outside, with the supplies I brought.  We travel by car, so of course, I brought too much stuff to really carry, but was able to pick different supplies from a larger bag in the car for each hike or project, which was nice and I learned a lot!

Working in my smaller, 5" x 7" watercolor journal, these wild daisies were sketched lightly in pencil, then watercolor was added, finishing with my black artist marker.  

The daisies I was painting:

While we were by the lake, I attempted a charcoal sketch of Mt. Ranier.  I guess it's not bad, considering it's the first time I've worked with charcoal.

One of the pictures I took from that location:

Things I learned:

• It really is best to travel light.
• Make sure to take a few graphite pencils for sketching.
• Charcoal is messy, take wet wipes to clean up.
• Trying to stand and hold everything while painting is a pain - need to find a solution.

Wish list:

• Easel, or at least a drawing board.
• Something to sit on - lightweight stool?
• Backpack that is more accessible for my supplies.

Mt. Ranier

We took a little photography trip to Mt. Ranier recently, and although we were worried the weather was going to be foggy and cloudy, it turned out to be perfect!  Many of the wild flowers were in bloom, so I was able to get some inspiration pictures to use in future projects, as well as some classic pictures of the mountain.  This was the best place to take pictures of the mountain:

Because we arrived before the visitor center opened on the second day, I was able to get a clear picture of the words of John Muir, that have been carved into the steps at the Paradise visitor center.

Although you can find these all over, there are lots of these tiny, wild lilies in the shade near the lake.

The lupines are almost everywhere, and they are at their peak at this time of year!

It amazes me that we work so hard to get some flowers to grow in our gardens, while others will grow wild in the most inhospitable spaces!

If you pay attention, you can find flowers everywhere, even along the road.  This one is very tiny, but I love it with all it's details!

We were able to find this beautiful field of flowers on our second day and wished we had found it the first day so we would have been able to spend more time there.  Well, that's a reason to make another trip...

Tulips are running late

this year, but the Daffodils  are beautiful!  Here's a quick photo of some that are growing in my garden.

I'm hoping the tulips will bloom soon, because we're looking forward to the Tulip Festival again this year.

Happy Mother's Day!

Sometimes you need to look up close to see how beautiful something is, and other times the beauty is within.  Fruit that looks past it's prime may be sweeter than those that look perfect.  All the rain we've been getting has taken it's toll on my tulips, but when I take a closer look, the water drops make them more interesting than they would have been if they were dry and still standing tall.

Here's the big picture, not what I'd call a pretty picture, but they are the same tulips that are seen above.

Happy Mother's Day!

Poppies, Poppies...

The Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop was this past weekend, and although it's been busy around here, I was able to get to a few shops with a friend. Along the way I saw these gorgeous poppies!!! We've had California Poppies in the past, but I've never seen this type before, and I think I'll have to remember to look for seeds or plants for next year's garden.

These varigated blush-pink poppies are also new to me - and they would look great with the white, pleated ones above!

At first glance, these looked like the poppies I had grown before, but they are also varigated!!!

Project Progress

Hope you had a nice weekend, it was beautiful here, and look at all the daisies!


The little quilt top is complete and waiting to be layered and quilted. I didn't think about these UFOs when I cleaned out my stash a couple years ago, so I'll have to search what I have to see what I have for backing.



My original plan for yesterday was weeding, but since I was feeling a bit under the weather I decided to stay inside instead. In one of my boxes, there are some basket kits, and this tote was on top, so I pulled it out and decided to see how far I could get. I've made a little design change (it was supposed to be plain), because when the kit arrived and I saw the black, braided handles, I dropped several pieces of black reed into the package to give me design options. I ended up adding the two rows of black chain, and think it's just what it needed! Up until this basket, all the baskets I've made with wood bases have had the stakes glued in, but I didn't happen to have any, so tried doing without - and it worked!!! By the end of the day it just needed a rim, which I hope to get to soon, so that I can start using it, because it's a really nice sized tote.




Another thing I tried this weekend was woven bookmarks, using a kit from Weavezine. I only wish I had waited until I felt better to start on this, because it wasn't a pretty sight. The Tencel is slippery, but I've worked with it before, although this time I had tension issues, due to my lack of patience (and freezer paper - I think) when warping. The more I wove, the worse it got, and I think it is all because I didn't have freezer paper between the last couple rounds when I was winding the warp on the back beam. I've since cut this off the loom, and plan to re-thread to try the log cabin bookmarks.

On the scarf front, this is the longest scarf I've ever made, and it really should have been two. Of course that's what I get for not writing down my plans when I'm not going to continuously work on a project. When you don't see it for a couple weeks, it's hard to remember what to do, so I wove, wove, wove, until I was near the end of the warp, and only when I pulled it off the loom did I realize what I'd done. I'm thinking maybe I could cut and unravel the center to divide it???

Tulip Time in Tulip Town

This past Monday, some friends and I went to see the tulips in Skagit Valley, and it was the nicest day! There are huge fields of tulips between Mount Vernon and La Conner, and even though they started blooming earlier this year, there was still a beautiful display.



From left to right: Ellen, Cathy, Candy and me (Lynn), in front of the poster at the entrance of Tulip Town.

I did take some close-ups of my favorites:

A little inspiration

Just a few quick pictures from my dad's backyard:

It always amazes me when I see flowers growing in the most difficult areas, yet refuse to grow in others.

There is a whole patch of lily of the valley, tiny pansies and violets. Aren't these beautiful!