Today I was blessed with several hours with nothing planned...

so I headed outdoors to do my first oil and first en plein air painting.

Isn't the view from our backyard gorgeous?

I recently began an oil painting in my art class, but one hour a week is precious little time for a painting! So today I found an unopened set of oil paints that I had gotten when I was ten (the prospect of using turpentine scared me away from oils) and opened them up for the first time.

The painting didn't turn out the way I wanted, and I am completely humbled by artists who can create masterpieces using oil paints. I have a lot to learn. I finally decided that if I touched the canvas, I was going to completely mess it up. So I'm calling it an "impressionistic" painting and leaving it as is.

My seven year old sister came and painted with me (she used acrylics). I left her to her own devices... she only came to ask for help with making mixing a "light green that's not yellow." Isn't her treeline cute?

A nice little medley for you today... Scroll down for the printable.

Last week, I got put in charge of painting a set!!!

Read more....

A stack of books is suspended on my wall! That or else the bookshelf turned invisible. I think its just too cool.

I made this spur-of-the-moment after browsing "instructables". They give instructions for building an invisible book shelf that requires one bracket, glue, and drilling holes in a book. You can see their instructions HERE.

My first thoughts? 1) One bracket is not very sturdy. 2) Why ruin a perfectly good book? 

So I created my own reusable-book floating bookshelf. 

How to make it:

 Supplies:

2 "L" brackets

2 screws and a screwdriver

A few books

Masking tape OR a rubber band

  I did not want to screw new holes in m bedroom wall (that is, Dad didn't want me to), so I took down this tiny little shelf between my bedroom door and my closet door. My mom had a collection of little foreign dolls, and this particular shelf was the "leftover" that I was not super fond of. So step one for me: take down the shelf and use those holes for the L brackets.

Step One:

Screw two L brackets into the wall.

Step Two:

Set a hardboard book on the brackets.

Step Three:

Either use masking tape inside the book or a rubberband outside of it to hold the back cover shut. (I didn't think of masking tape until afterwards-- it would be less easy to remove the book but would also be an "invisible" way of keeping it shut.)

 Stack some books ontop so that you can't see the L brackets. 

 (See the green book? You might recognize that as my Hollow Book Box)

You are finished! If you want, you can add some books standing vertically and other things.